Philippine Trip - Third Report - February 15th
We left Santa Maria Wednesday mid-day, heading south on the General MacArthur Highway, Again, the road is in terrible conditions as all the bridges and most of the roadway is under repair from the floods. We stopped in Candon City at McDonalds for lunch and then journeyed on to the Town of San Juan in LeUnion District, the adjoining District to Il Locos Sur. A District is much larger than a county. At San Juan, we picked up the LeUnion District coordinator, Pastor Luna. She is a powerful and determined Director, doing the same kind of church building as Marben has in Il Locos Sur, Abra and north. Pastor Luna has twenty churches established under the banner Voice of Judah. They are all members of Caleb Ministries and under the leadership of Elohim Covenant Community and Bishop Marben. Our purpose was to visit as many of those Voice of Judah churches as we could in three days.
From San Juan, we went further south through St Lucia, which has seven additional Caleb churches we would not visit this trip. At the village of CabanJuan, a Barangay about an hour off the road, we visited the site of land donated for an additional church, not yet started. Walking a great distance through corn fields, rice paddies, cows and tobacco fields, we located the CabanJuan house where church was in session. A tiny home in the fields, there was a great cross-section of ages represented. About 30 children had assembled and were singing greetings to us on the small porch while inside an additional 20 were waiting, including several in their 80-90 year range! It was severely hot in the fields but waking in was necessary as farmers had covered the roadway with drying corn and grains.
I gave a message and we anointed all present and then presented candy packs to the kids. You can picture a small house with plastic stacking chairs, a table set for us with rice, fish, sticky rice paddies and crawdads, two bottles coke and bottles of water. This was a handsome gift to us from their modest holdings! The elderly was very appreciative as they had never had outsiders visit.
About 5 pm it had cooled a little, making the walk out more comfortable. I would guess it was in the 80’s at least, and muggy in this area. I was exhausted!
Arriving at the car, we drove to the other side of the highway to a Barangay Bluing. This one was tricky as it involved driving through the plaza where many had spread their wares for sale on the ground, past small shops, down long narrow drive with concrete block walls on each side! These roads are made for motorcycles and trikes so our van barely fits, sometimes having just inches on each side and requiring three or four attempts to make a corner! About 7, we arrived at Bauang and parked in a rice paddy (drained) as there is literally no road to the house. We were at a new church, Anchor of Hope. This church has many very young adults and is full of energy! They love to dance for Jesus as they sing and they do songs with animation, hopping, dancing and swinging! Stand back! And in the intense heat is it a sight. Most everyone has a towel stuck inside their shirt at the neck to mop themselves. I thought I could sweat not another drop after the last church but here it never stopped!
They were very excited at our visit and it was made clear. I preached on the cup of redemption, bringing in the Last Supper and Garden of Gethsemane portions of scripture. I then anointed many and most ended laying on the floor! It got to be very amusing as some would hold on to the stakes holding up the lean-to type structure and yet I would just touch their forehead and down they went! The spirit is very strong at this church and at most we visited.
The church then brought in a table and set for us for dinner in the center of the church. They had mostly fish but I had a pear with me which was sufficient as it was still too hot to eat much. As we sat at the table the people ate around us in their chairs. I was pleased they gave the people the same food as we had as sometimes ours is clearly “better” and that ticks me off so I spoke to Marben about it. He said the local churches each decide what to prepare.
We then went into the house to which the lean-to church is attached. It is a big brick home with many comforts for this area of the country. There, we had a Pastors Meeting with 14 pastors from LeUnion. They asked me to tell about Caleb Ministries, which I did. They each presented credentials and applications to join Caleb Ministries. Then I was led to a small bedroom for the evening, complete with electric fan! I like the young pastors in this church very much.
In the morning I was able to take a “shower” and to use internet briefly. I gave the thumb drive to a young man and I gather he sent all the photos at once. I hope this not mess up anyone’s computer. I asked him to break it into three. The thumb drive was prepared to send from Santa Mari but I never had the opportunity so thought it best to send it when I could to let everyone know I was okay.
After breakfast (another pear) we went into the village town to visit the small mission church of Bauang pastured by Pastor Marco. This is a rented building in town. The Pastor lives alone in a small room in the back, (stereo, bed pad, shelves for clothes) and cooks on the patio in the back. It is about as Spartan as a place can be. He has built the church up into two services on Sundays and a big youth program! He is a dynamic Pastor for this town and very committed. His church growth program is posted on bulletin board in the meeting room.
We then drove to another area with an orphanage housing presently 22 children. The Pastors asked I anoint each of the teens and pray for them as well as staff and the building. It is a very large and fine facility! One of the residents is a lady whose daughter was brutally murdered. She clung on to me tightly as we prayed. Another was a young girl gang-raped. The residents are troubled and are getting good counseling in this place. The facility is sponsored by private donations .
We then visited the home of the Pastors (husband and wife) who operate the orphanage. It is quite modest, being three small rooms with a well and outside cooking arrangement. They are not permitted to live in the orphanage as that would be to benefit from the donations, so they rent this small house close by.
From there we drove to a meeting of young adults. I prepared a message on the way but when we got there I found they were in fact young children for whom my message would have been unsuitable. This meeting house was a bare frame building in the middle of a field by a village. It is literally four walls with a stage of sand held up by concrete clocks. It was packed with young kids. I toned down my message considerably and then we did candy-packs and anointed each child and staff. It was excruciatingly hot but well worth the effort. With children this young I anoint and dedicated them to Jesus as they are too young to make the decision as yet. Older ones will tell me they have elected Jesus and then I proceed in the usual manner to pray for them. By now it is very clear to me the entire LeUnion District has been anticipating our visit from Caleb. Most of the churches have Caleb supplies and several have our computers.
We stopped in San Fernando at the community hospital to visit Mechelle, Pastor Marbens daughter who is a doctor there. She renewed the list of requested medicines from Caleb and thanked us profusely for what she has received.
We returned to the Anchor of Hope church at Bauang for a service with the teens. I spoke on the 23rd Psalm. We snacked on raw turnips dipped in vinegar. We ran short of candy packs so Pastor Luna said only to give to the Sunday School kids. I told her that was not permitted under Caleb Ministries as all are treated alike whether they attend the church or not. She then gave the three kids some candy.
We then visited Calvary Chapel, another rented building with new church. This one is right on General Douglas MacArthur Highway (the ONLY highway here) and has a dynamic young minister. He asked that I pray for his six staff before leaving (there was no service during our visit) and all six fell under the spirit in a row! Pastor Luna and another young pastor then left us as we journeyed to Lydia’s’ house. Lydia is a Filipino lady from Michigan. She is committed to church planting in this area and has a home here in Barangay Gusing where we spent the night. She has built two churches here and spends about half her time in LeUnion. We were invited to stay the night in her home in Barangay Gunsing. Later in the evening, Pastor Luna rejoined us, bringing candies, toys and sacks to make additional candy packs so that each child would receive something. I was pleased she came to agree with me. Later, we stopped in town and Xeroxed more coloring sheets to add to the new candy packs.
I had a nice bedroom on the upper floor at Lydia’s’, complete with fan! Dinner was sticky rice, urchins, fish, and I had my apple and a boiled egg. Breakfast was the same. At breakfast, we discussed future plans for LeUnion District as we had five pastors now traveling with us. This was followed by a communion at the breakfast table, using coffee creamer cups for the juice! I asked Bishop Marben to preside as I felt it more appropriate as by then eleven of his Pastors were present.
After communion, we piled into the van and headed out into the brush to a small village about an hour in towards the mountains. There, we found a new church called Ubbog, meaning “spring” as in water source. Pastor Fernando and his wife live in a concrete room which serves as sanctuary in rains and store rest of the time. The side has a lean-to covering where they store their belongings and have a bamboo pad to sleep on. The front has a well and a roof-awning under which they preach. We were just visiting to bless the church but while we sang songs people and especially children, from all over the hillside, gathered. I spoke on 1 Sam 24:2-10 and anointed people and prayed over them, gave out candy packs and saw several healings! Many fell under the spirit again. We told them we would return for full services the next day. We enjoyed lunch of Tupig (roasted sugar cane) and rice, and I had a pear.
Our next stop was Nagulian, a larger city in LeUnion district. Here, we saw the Heavenly Sanctuary, built by the missionary Lydia. It is a beautiful church. The service was electrifying! Many came from the smaller churches including 20 pastors! I spoke on Malachi 3:1-3, the refiners fire., and on The dead water vs. living water, and Jesus as the fountain of Living Water. As I was anointing, people started dancing and eventually formed a parade dancing around the sanctuary! Then we gave out candy packs. In the back room, we had dinner, it being nearly 11 pm. Mostly seafood so I had a little rice and an apple. During the dinner, Sister Ruby and another, Pastors from Marbens Church, announced they want to go to Indonesia as Caleb Ministry missionaries next year. Three others volunteered to go to India for us! Plans are being drawn up to send them as The Philippine Caleb Churches want to get into world missions and this is their natural target mission field! Back at Lydia’s, we spent a second night sleeping.
The next morning we returned to Ubbog to find over 150 children and many adults waiting for us. The first thing , Pastor Fernando announced they had changed the name of their church from Ubbog (spring) to Fountain of Living Water! After many songs and worship, I spoke on The Transfiguration of Jesus and His being both Perfect High Priest and Perfect King. In praying for one lady, she kept clinging to a rosary and complaining of things buzzing in her head. She finally released the rosary and gave it to me. Then her head cleared and she started singing. Many in the Philippines suffer from a mixing of Catholicism, mysticism and spiritualism. Once they release those, they can see Jesus alone as Savior. She is a good example of that. We gave out candy packs and blessed the children. Lunch under the awning in the church yard was a surprised as someone had thoughtfully broiled a chicken thigh for me to accompany my pear.
We then journeyed to two Barangay villages in Mamat-Ing Sur where we had outdoor meetings and gave out candy packs. The children start coloring the papers to turn them in for prizes from Marben. There was a nice breeze at Mamat-Ing Sur but we were under a big tree and tiny worms like miniature caterpillars kept falling on us! I spoke on Paul’s visit to Ephesus.
Then we returned to Burang Town and had fellowship at Pastor Jody’s church. I spoke on Malachi 3:1-3 again, as it is Marbens favorite, and we then said goodbye to the LeUnion churches. We stopped for supper at McDonalds in a mall. (I had McSpaghetti!) We arrived home at Santa Maria late Saturday evening.
Sunday was market sellers service at dawn (4:30 AM) and I spoke on the 23rd Psalm. At the nine AM service I repeated the Refiners Fire sermon at Marbens request as they had not heard it here. At 5 pm, we formed a parade of Jeepney, trikes and motorbikes, and went out about an hours drive to Barangay Pachane, a very remote hill village. About 30 children were waiting. This is a new village for Marben so he did not know what to expect. His leaders there are very young and new but did great job. As we started the singing and stringing a light in the tree, more kids and adults kept coming. The team workers were hastily creating new candy packs in the jeepney as I have my testimony! There were 71 children anointed and 34 adults! When we got back, I went directly to bed, exhausted!
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Additional Reports
View March 2nd, February 27th, February 22nd
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