February 27th Report

I have included with this Report a photo of Miko. He is 17, weighs 68 pounds, and was assigned as my guard on the boat trip! He cannot swim either. I nicknamed him “flotation device”….and he likes that! He is great kid. Plays guitar and drums and is one of leaders of youth group and Pastor candidate! Will be Pastor when is twenty (minimum age here)

It is now Wednesday and I last wrote on Saturday afternoon. Sorry for the delay but we have been very busy. Saturday afternoon was return to San Emilio (the half-way point on trip to Luba where we switched to the high-powered Jeepney to climb the mountain). St. Emillio is a Christian Faith Center operated by Assemblies to serve the small mountain communities. It is a humble church and houses a retired Pastor couple who apparently arrange the Jeepney schedule to reach Luba and further inland communities. They contacted eight small churches to announce our program. It was absolutely enchanting to see the mountain people coming at dusk to the Mission, many carrying torches made from bamboo to see their way. All eight churches and their pastors arrived along with others. The little center was packed and the entry way and patio were filled. All eight pastors participated in introducing their people, giving opening prayer, the offering, and extending greetings. All are already part of Caleb Ministries along with a whopping 51 other small churches on the mountain. I preached using Deuteronomy 30:6, the 23rd Psalm, and Malachi 3:1-3. The message has become a favorite of Marbens and is requested often. The response was incredible as even the Pastors lined up to be anointed. Many went down under the Spirit and heaviness filled the mission with people weeping, crying and dancing! The pastors and Marben all want Caleb to take three weeks to travel through the mountains to many more communities. It is so clear this area is ripe for the harvest. We journeyed back after a late dinner at the mission of fish, rice and noodles with fish. (I had oatmeal)

Arriving back at Santa Maria at 1 AM, it was quick to bed as the dawn service is at 4:30 AM each Sunday for shopkeepers! I preached on The First Fruits using Joshua 3 for the text. As always, we anoint each after the sermon here so I was back to bed at 7 but up at 8:30 for the 9 AM service. This time I preached on The Power of The Word, using Psalm 19:7-11 and the parable of the sower. The town’s people attended this as the main service of the day and lots of new people came forward. After, we commissioned a young man named Danny who is going to Taiwan as a missionary to establish churches for Marben and Caleb! These people are dead serious in their challenge to bring one million to Christ and Marben sees Caleb Ministry as one tool of that program!

Then we packed up the trikes, motorbikes and jeepney and headed for the mountain village of Cabaritan, the place where I had the motorcycle accident last year. This is a small village set in a valley in the hills, with a cliff overhanging. It was a perfect setting for me to talk on Caesaria Philippi in Matthew 16! The sermon went well as they had no idea of the setting and meanings involved in Peter’s declaration! People gathered from surrounding houses, bringing stools, plastic chairs, logs and sitting in the “street” as we spoke from a porch using the sound equipment the team had set up. After the worship time, the team was inside preparing more candy packs as the crowd was twice the size we expected.

Finishing there about 4, we packed up everything and rushed over to the next village to set up for 7 pm service at Silag. Again, this is done from the porch but has large yard. Neighbors dragged in chairs, sat on the “grass” and several lights were placed in the trees. The team has been working here with the kids for over a year so we had huge crowd of children and many brought their parents. I repeated the lesson on Deuteronomy, 23rd Psalm and Malachi 3 at Marbens request as I gave my testimony here last year. (I try to vary the village messages as most of the TEAM hears each one and I am sure they would tire of the same lesson over and over, unless it is a first visit there in which case my testimony is expected) We finished by 10 pm, had light dinner of noodles, rice, fish and cake!

Monday is our day of rest with just one service but Marben wanted to take me to a big Pastors Meeting in Vigan for Assemblies. We went at 8 AM and I was introduced around but could not stay for the business meeting so Joy and I went to the zoo! About noon Pastor Marben arrived along with a Bishop from the next north Province. He asked if his 300 churches could join Caleb Ministries and presented me with the completed applications! We went to Jollibees for lunch (a McDonalds clone) and then returned just in time to pack up the equipment to go to the area called Nalvo. This is on the beach and we met in a bamboo hut. The power was run from a house across the street to run the sound equipment and lights. The hut was packed with kids! With only a few adults, I decided to bring a message more suitable for teens so I spoke on Matt 15 and 16 where the lad provides the bread and fish for feeding the multitudes (twice). We ran out of candy packs again but the team teaches there twice a week so will bring the rest. (They take names of those not getting candy packs when we run out). The van would not start for the trip home so one of the motorcycles took Joy back to the church and she returned in the Trike. Got home about 1 am.

Up at 8 as we were going to Abra today to visit Cynthia and Alan and Jeff at Morningstar Mission. We got the van running finally and headed north into the hills, arriving at 11 am. The mission was full of people lining the drive, patio and mission entry waiting to be attended by the medical teams. There were doctors, nurses, dentists and military personnel all at work in orderly fashion. Cynthia, Alan and Jeff greeted us warmly as did the kids who remembered me from last year. Brandon kept sitting on my lap every time I was still. About one the Mayor and his wife and his military escorts arrived and we enjoyed the pig roast prepared by the mission. It was a very good visit. Cynthia gave me a mango and Alan slipped me TWO cold diet colas!

We got back to Santa Maria, stopping to visit Marbens uncle along route. The uncle lives in Renton 6 months a year. His father started the Assemblies church in the Philippines in the late 40’s and he enjoyed telling me all about it.

Getting back to the church at 5 it was time to pack speakers and candy packs and guitars into the van to go to Ag-Agrao village. But again, the van would not start. So we moved everything to trikes but Marbens trike would not work. (He broke part of the frame falling off edge of a road). So they called for the Jeepney. It arrived about 8 and we arrived at the village at 9. The people had been waiting quietly since 7! They were seated on rocks, benches, chairs, in the trees, one the ground, everywhere! Marben asked me to again do the Deuteronomy-23rd Psalm-Malachi message as he likes it and I gave my testimony here last year. I did and the Holy Spirit clearly was in control. As I anointed the adults, one went down and then another and another. The first got up, and went back down. She got up again and went right back down and stayed! One woman was yelling Hallelujah so loud I thought my ears would break! Another, an older lady, just kept crying and laughing! It was truly indescribable and we understood why all the attacked on our coming. The lady who hosted us at her house had prepared a special sugar-less lemon cake, knowing I was diabetic. It was great! God is so good….

On Wednesday, we held the ground-breaking service for a new village church at Barangay Badallasioan. This was very special as the Pastor assigned to shepherd this flock is Connie Phillips cousin Vinnie. She became a Pastoral candidate at Marbens Elohim Covenant Community last year after the “pig roast” we held for the Paclab family. A neighbor to Vinnie has offered her home and wanted it used for services for two years. The Elohim young pastors have been holding youth programs for two months to promote the church, enrolling twenty youngsters. At 5 pm we started hauling chairs, sound equipment, food, candy packs and beverages to the house. By seven, it was set up and after a prayer time, we started the worship music. By 8:30 the place was packed with people standing in the road and neighboring yards. We counted 73 children as we had only 50 candy packs and had to take names to deliver the rest later. I preached my testimony as it was first visit to this village. Many came forward at the altar call and Vinnie was truly blessed by the response. Marben assigned two assistants to help her with the large numbers of people.

Thursday, we went to Vigan to meet with Vice-Governor Jeremy “Jerry” Singson. I met him last year and sent medicines for his medical days, his favorite project. He has been sending e-mails ever since requesting more. He is good friend of Marbens, having accepted Jesus in Elohim Covenant Community Church two years ago. His office is in a Cinema multi-plex building. He was most gracious. He has several ministries sending medicines for the medical days and 40 doctors donating their time. His largest response was in San Fernando about 2 months ago when 5,700 were treated and given medications totally free! He has a medical day this Saturday in Santo Domingo and wants us there so Caleb ministries is acknowledged as he says we supply fully a third of his support! I met his dog “Bubbles”. His office is interesting as it has two wall clocks and a desk clock. One said 9:47, another 10:12 and desk clock 10:05. It was actually 10:40! We gave him three boxes of medicines and promised to try to be there Saturday.

While visiting the vice-Governor, my friend Alex walked in to the office to ask for medicines for his Cornerstone Church. He is an Action-International Missionary from Nigeria who has started a large church in Vigan. He invited me to preach there last time but we had no room on the schedule. He was surprised to see me in the Philippines as he had not read his e-mails. He asked what we have been doing and I showed him the photos on my camera from last nights meeting. He was awestruck, could not believe this was a village and insisting I come preach in his church before leaving, He and Marben and trying to work out the schedule. Marben says our evangelism is very powerful and would be good to demonstrate it for Alex to encourage his reaching out to villages too.

Bishop Marben plans to visit Filipino churches in Seattle this summer to encourage their support of Caleb and wants me to accompany him to Hawaii where there are hundreds of Filipino Churches he wants enrolled in Caleb. He envisions a Caleb Center for Asia located in Hawaii at one of his relatives churches!

Thursday night we took the van, cycles, trikes and chairs to the Barangay Suso. There we set up on the yard and patio of a small house. It looked like a small group of about 30 but when the worship started they came from all around. It was a good gathering and as it was my first visit to this home I gave my testimony. The response was very good as I anointed and prayed for each coming forward. Then we delivered the candy packs, had a late supper on the patio of rice cakes, juice and fish. The team then gathered up the chairs and sound equipment and headed home. I came back in the Trike as again our van would not start and they sent for the battery charger.

Friday was a long drive in very bad roads. There are four construction zones between Santa Maria and San Fernando in LeUnion Province and we had to traverse all of them in heavy traffic, hot weather, and one-lane zones. It took over four hours to reach the village of Greenich, south of San Fernando. There, we met with Pastors from Isadora Province, situated on the west coast of Luzan Island, three provinces across the mountains. They were here for a conference and wanted to meet with us. Then we came back north past San Fernando to a little village in Bangar called Barangay Lusong. This is situated still in LeUnion District and is the church of Pastor Jerry whom we worked with two weeks ago. The LeUnion churches wanted to see how we conducted our evangelisms in the villages so we agreed to do one in their area. Our team from Santa Maria came, hauling the sound equipment, candy packs, and even chairs! I gave my testimony again as it was the first visit to this village. It was received well and literally all came forward. As has become our practice, Marben gave the altar call and I then anointed the people. We now separate out the children and then anoint them as they receive their candy packs after we have received the adults. This works well. Pastor Jerry then presented me with a plaque and gift book on behalf of the LeUnion Pastors. It was very nice. We then went to his home for dinner and returned to Santa Maria about midnight.

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