Philippine
Mission Trip
ANOTHER
WEEKEND!
Don, Jamie
Walker and Chris Gerber
April 25-May
14, 2013
Urdaneta,
Pangasinan, Philippines
FRIDAY, MAY 3, 2013
9:00 AM
After breakfast Jamie and I headed out
with Celine to our last day of VBS at sister Reggie’s house in San Vincente
while Chris left with Arnold. They were
going to do a Bible study and then look at some other land options. I already believe that the Lord will help us
work something out as I am already dreaming of how the building will look and
dreaming of building a missionaries’ room on the property.
When Jamie and I arrived at sister
Reggie’s I did something I have not done in any of my previous 11 trips here…I
drove a vehicle! OK, I just backed up
Celine’s truck into an alley from about 5 meters away…but that’s progressJ. We began my class with Shervin Cruz translating for
me. He is a very talented young man with
some physical challenges but they never slow him or his sister, Cookie, from
their love and work for the Lord. They
are two of my heroes! He leads a
wonderful prayer and we started our discussion of Cornelius and the Philippian
jailer. All 7 ladies brought back the
Bibles we had given them and were working hard at keeping up with the
scriptures. At the end of the study 5
of the 7 wanted to be baptized. As we
were preparing to go, there were some non-Bible related problems that put the
baptisms off until Sunday. I will see
all the ladies again on Saturday at the Urdaneta chapel (church building) for
VBS graduation and I will encourage them again to do it now! This has been a
most enjoyable study with these ladies!
Jamie taught 38 and then had the entire
group of over 95 for singing at the end of the session. There were 3 classes and it was extremely
well organized and executed. Jamie was
assisted by a sister who was an official with the public school system and
Jamie said she was an excellent teacher.
12:00 noon
We went to Magic Mall in Urdaneta and
ate lunch at the food court upstairs with Celine, Chris, Dana and Arnold. Much of the day Arnold and Chris had been
working on finding property to consider for buying. We discussed this and made plans for the
afternoon as we received our second rain in two days. It was a good shower and cooled things down
for a bit.
3:00 PM
We met with another 4P group. This was the 4th group Chris or I
have spoken to about life improvement.
These are some of the poorest of the poor in Urdaneta. The city of Urandeta has a poverty level of
70% and many of these we were speaking to subsist on less than P6000 per
month for the family. This is less than
US$150! The government assistance they
receive is only about $38/month. Arnold
serves as a mentor to over 200 families within about 1.5 km of the Urdaneta
chapel so this is a tremendous opportunity to reach out to families and serve
their physical as well as spiritual needs.
To see a difference in governmental philosophies, in the Philippines,
these families must attend a one hour per week group counseling session and
religious and moral values must be part of the mentor’s agenda with no
restrictions. I spoke on setting priorities for your life based on Matthew 6:33
and then invited them to services on Sunday when I will be speaking. Chris then spoke about the Biggest Problem in
the Philippines (and the world)-Sin. There were 29 adults present with 4 of us
teaching.
Jamie, Dana, Celine and Jake had a group
of 31 children that they had Bible class with and sang then played games
with.
6:00 PM
We attended the birthday party of Cookie
Cruz who turned 42 at her home. This
might not be such a big deal, except when she was born her mother was told by
the heart doctors she would not live to age 30!
She has lived 12 years beyond the most optimistic prediction and is a
very active Bible teacher. When we sang
Happy Birthday to her before the birthday supper, she just sobbed. She said, “Happy tears”. Her mother spoke
very emotionally about her daughter living long enough to accept and serve
Jesus Christ. A very touching time. Jamie had found some earrings for her and
she was so proud and said she would wear them on SundaysJ I had to leave about 7 PM to return to Lisland for
another appointment.
7:00 PM
Chris and I had a chance to meet with a
Filipino preacher and his family to discuss some future plans for the Lord’s
work in Pangasinan. These preacher’s and
their families are very dedicated and really recharge me and encourage me on
each trip.
10:00 PM
Left the restaurant and went to bed
after a very satisfying first week!
SATURDAY, MAY 4, 2013
8:30 AM
We a woke and had breakfast at the Bal Marin Restaurant at Lisland and
Jamie and I were picked up by Susan and Butch Boniel and taken to Urdaneta church
of Christ for Bible Study and worship services.
Chris was taken by Celine and Benny to speak at Binalonan church of
Christ and then in the afternoon at Laoak church of Christ with brother Reuben
Menodoza.
At Urdaneta, Butch, one of the three
elders there, taught to Bible lesson in Tagalog, Why Study the Bible? There
were 53 adults present and about a dozen children for Bible study. Included were 3 of the ladies that I had
taught during the VBS at San Vincente during the week. During the worship hour, I spoke on Two
Sermons—Two Responses from Acts 2 and Acts 7.
I gave the lesson in English and then brother JM Haban, one of the young
preachers there, summarized my lesson in Tagalog. JM’s father, is the one of
the other elders along with Arnold Zambrano.
Following the worship which was attended
by over 90, there were two baptisms. I
was honored to baptize two of the ladies we had studied with in San Vincente. One of them, Jeane, had a daughter and
daughter-in-law that had been in my classes and wanted to be baptized but had
sick babies that morning. She said they
have planned to be baptized next Sunday if not before.
After the baptisms, the congregation had
a fellowship meal for us. Jamie had gone
by the market and had Dana purchase fresh pineapple, bananas and pandesal for
her to take to the meal. You know
Southern women, no way that they would go to a fellowship meal and not take a
dishJ. It was a delicious dinner and allowed us time to
renew many acquaintances with friends and brothers from past trips.
4:00 PM
Jamie and went with Arnold, Dana, Nico, and Jake to Urdaneta Zone 2-B
for another meeting with the government group 4 P that Arnold is
mentoring. Besides running 4 businesses and
serving as an elder at Urdaneta, brother Zambrano is mentor to over 200
families that live with in ½ mile of the Urdaneta church building. Chris and I
have had the opportunity to meet with most of these groups and the response to
the spiritual side of life improvement has been very positive. In fact today, it was so positive that we met
our first opposition. When we arrived,
there were just 5 women there. As we
inquired about the others, we were told that 3 members of the Iglesia ni cristo
(a group claiming that Christ reappeared in the Philippines in 1914 and told their
leader that the Filipinos were the new Israelites) had been talking to the
members of this group and told them that they would have severe repercussions if
they continued to attend these meetings.
They further said that the Americans and the Filipinos teaching would try
to get them to become members of the church of Christ. Well, they were right on
that point! After a few minutes of visiting and encouraging 11 of the 29 adults
that has attending the previous week came to my lesson and Jamie and Dana had
15 children that they and Jake taught while Nico interpreted for me. After the lesson, we had purchased merienda
(snacks) for the families and visited until about 5:30.
After a quick run to Arnold’s office at
the mall, we returned to the hotel at about 6:15 to have dinner and rest.
By the way, Cinco de Mayo, came and went
without any notice hereJ…Not even a taco eaten…
