It was June 3, 2001 when my family settled in our new village, Sulong Ipil.
Located in the outskirts of Mamburao, the Katutubo living in their village are different in many ways from the two other villages where we served before.
Challenge number 1:
There are at least three Christian denominations of different churches that exist in the village. They all have worship on Sundays and most of the villagers attend one of them. It will cost some money for my family to attend Sabbath worship in the Mamburao Seventh-day Adventist Church, so we made up our mind to have Sabbath worship at school. For the first two Sabbaths my family spent Sabbath reading religious books and studying the Bible. In the afternoon, we visited the villagers, especially the homes of our students and tried to become acquainted with and befriend them. We prayed that God will help us find ways on how we can start Sabbath worship in our school.
Blessing number 1:
It was June 18, 2011 when 17 children, students and non-students came to school (at least 30 minutes earlier than the time I told them to come) to listen to Bible stories and learn new songs. This was our first Sabbath worship with the children. They enjoyed the stories and songs and stayed with us for more than two hours. The next Saturday, June 25, 2011, children came again to have Sabbath worship with us. I am so glad that God made a way for us to serve Him and worship Him. Truly, the kingdom of God is for the children!
Challenge number 2:
Visiting the village to be acquainted with the people is not enough. I prayed for more opportunities to make relationships or friendships with the villagers, especially the mothers. It didn’t take a long time to wait, for God answered my prayer in an amazing way.
Blessing number 1:
I was able to make an arrangement with the Katutubo BHW (Baranagy Health Worker) to include me in the list of pregnant women in the barrio. On June 22, we went to the Barangay Health Center to have the monthly pre-natal check-up. In the Center, each of us was given a bag, a mosquito net (treated to keep mosquitoes and malaria away), and a mother and child booklet, which was written I English. The midwife felt hopeless, because she didn’t have the time to explain the booklet’s content to the pregnant women. I was then promoted to volunteer to explain the content
to the pregnant women from my village. Relieved, the midwife gave me permission. I immediately made an appointment with the BHW to gather the women on Saturday afternoon, June 25, at the school. I enjoyed the meeting with those eight pregnant women and Percy, the BHW. I am so thankful that God gave me the opportunity to meet them and open a friendship with them. I can see that God is working. Surely, He will make a way so that His message of salvation will make its way to the hearts of our villagers in Sulong Ipil.
Other Blessings:
There is an abundant supply of vegetables and fruits from the garden. For almost three week, we enjoyed eggplant, camote tops or young leaves, squash – fruit and flowers, malungay, papaya, banana, some mangoes, kalamansi, chaya and santol. God provided us with an almost one- week supply of rain-water when He sent the typhoons Egay and Falcon. Our water supply comes from a deep well, which needs to be pumped manually to get water. We truly appreciate God’s faithfulness and blessings every day.
There is a lot of work to be done in our village. Please continue to pray for us that we will be a shining light and a blessing to the people in this place. May God use us as His instrument to bring our villagers to Jesus’ feet.