Saturday, May 29, 2010

Water, water, anywhere and not a drop to drink?

IMG_0068 As you know, water is a crucial part of life.  We depend on it in so many ways.  For our friends in the Ga’dang tribe, this is even more so the case. 

 

Over the last 6 months we have been effected greatly by El Nino here in the Philippines, and our tribal area is no exception.  Because of the lack  of rain, many of the Ga’dang people were unable to plant their corn crops in January. SDC10668 Those who did suffered significant crop and financial loss.  Fortunately, many of them were able to go out into the jungle and gather wild coffee and bananas to sell in town and therefore supplement their incomes. 

By the time we left the tribe in March to come to Manila to await Jenna’s arrival, the wells in our village were producing very little water and the river was extremely low. 

P2220016 On the bright side, having it so dry made the road into our village passable, and we were able to have jeeps bring in supplies for us, our house and also bring our visitors in and out who came to help on the house.  It also was a blessing for us as Shannon did not have to hike out of the village at 33 weeks pregnant. 

I have returned to the tribe twice now in the last month.  The first time, a friend and I went in, just overnight to assess the situation and see if there has been any relief.  Unfortunately the situation had gone from bad to worse in most respects.  All the wells except one 100_2207had completely dried up and the river had also stopped running.  As I talked with the villagers, they expressed their concerns to me about needing at least 5 straight days of rain in order to be able to plant corn and rice in June. 

I returned again to the tribe two weeks ago, where I stayed to continue working on our house and do some investigating about how we could improve the water situation.  Prior to my return this last time, it had rained significantly on 2 separate days, and so the wells were starting to give limited amounts of water, and the river had started flowing again just a little. 

By the end of the week when I left though, we had no more rain and the water supply dissipated and the river once again stopped running.  I will be returning again this coming week, and hopefully it has rained in my absence.  El Nino is finally ending and a weather system containing lots of rain is currently passing over the north end of Luzon. 

weather

With the rain returning, so does all the mud.  That means we’re back to hiking into the village until the helicopter is here.  As I think about it though, that’s quite okay.  I’ll take the mud and the wet.  It means our tribal friends will once again be able to function normally, being able to plant their crops, and have water to drink and clean, etc. 

It also helps put things into perspective for me too, as we also see the need for spiritual living water in the lives of the Ga’dang people.  It reminds me of the the story of the Samaritan woman Jesus met at the well in John 4, to whom He offered living water.  Already we can see how dry and thirsty the Ga’dang people are as they attempt to satisfy that ‘thirst’ that comes from not knowing Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour.  Their religion is only leaving them searching and unsatisfied.  Please pray for the Ga’dang people as they wait for us to be ready to tell them the Good News and satisfy their thirsty souls.

By Chuck

Thursday, May 20, 2010

And the total is…

After just 2 weeks with his cast on, Kyle has managed to make for himself 152 pesos!!!  46 pesos are from real signatures and the other 106 are from all of you with your virtual signatures!!!  This has been so fun for us to see how many people read our emails, blog and connect with us via Facebook.

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Kyle now has a new cast.  It is much lighter and doesn’t smell as bad!

IMG_3954Praise the Lord for a great doctor and for healing in his wrist.  It will be x rayed again in 3 weeks and then maybe the cast can come off.

Thank you for praying for Kyle.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Helicopter Update

taking off As many of you know, New Tribes Mission works in many areas that are remote, and access to these areas over land can be difficult and very time consuming.  To help in speeding up this process of getting us and supplies in and out of our tribal location as missionaries, NTM has set up an aviation program to assist us.  Such has been the case here in the Philippines as well.  In the past NTMA (New Tribes Mission Aviation) has used various types of fixed wing aircraft on our island, flying into places with what would be considered very marginal airstrips.  Over the course of time, the flight program here has seen it’s ups and downs, and in more recent years, we have partnered with another organisation to do our flying for us, as we didn’t have a flight program of our own.  That organisation is now in the process of leaving the Philippines and therefore NTMA is needing to once again set up it’s own program to assist us here. 

44ravenii2[1] As we have considered the options before us as a missionary organisation, it was realised that continuing with small airplanes on dangerous, often mountainous airstrips was not the best choice.  Using a helicopter to move us and our cargo is much safer and a cost effective method.  Praise the Lord, He has gone before us as a mission and has provided just the right helicopter (similar to the one in this picture) for NTMA to use here.  Most of the funds have been provided, and we are hoping that soon the helicopter will shipped from the U.S. to here. 

Here are some areas to be thanking the Lord and praying with us about as we prepare for the arrival of the helicopter:

1. A hanger and other facilities have been made available by another Christian organisation to NTM to use as a flight base in a city centrally located to several of the tribal works on our island.  Our pilot is now here, getting settled with his family, and he and several other men are preparing the flight base/hangar to be ready to start operations when the helicopter arrives.

site 3 west 2. The pilot has been into our village to look at possible landing sites.  He is in the process of getting all his legal paperwork done so he can fly here.  In a developing country such as this, it can be a time consuming and costly process.  Pray for integrity and smoothness for all aspects of this process involved. 

3. Most of the money needed to purchase and ship the helicopter has been provided.  NTM still needs $60,000 to cover the rest of the costs in getting it here in country.  From there, there will be additional expenses related to customs, etc. and getting the helicopter up to the flight base where it will be assembled and tested before it can start flying into our tribal stations.  NTM Philippines has a small airplane that was formerly used here, but needs to be sold.  The proceeds of this sale would cover the cost of most of what is left to get the helicopter here in country. 

IMG_3158 What does this mean for us as we are getting set up in our tribal work?  It will save us a huge amount of time and effort as currently we have to hike into our village, and use carabao with sleds to haul our supplies over the muddy trails.  With the helicopter, at least 2 days of organising and preparation, along with traveling, would be reduced to a 15 minute flight.  From a minimum 2 day process to 15 minutes!  That adds up to a lot time taken away from learning the language of the Ga’dang people and teaching them God’s Word.  It will also provide a much safer way for us to travel in and out of the tribe, and will be readily available to us to call on in the event of an emergency (as emergencies to happen, especially with 6 children!). 

Please pray with us as we seek the Lord to finish providing what is needed to enable us to most effectively serve Him and take the Gospel message to the Ga’dang people.

Den-Den and Freda

Let me introduce you to you another couple we’ve met in our village.  Den-Den and Freda are a couple in their mid twenties, and have recently returned to the village where both of them grew up.  They left the village several years ago to attend college and returned to get married in 2008.  Freda is currently one of two teachers at the local public school a few villages away. 

IMG_3114 This past December we were able to give Den-Den and Freda a gift for their new baby, Mina Rose, including a quilt and some clothes.  These items were donated and sent by our home church, Faith Evangelical Missionary Church, in Wasaga Beach, ON.  What a blessing is to be able to do this on behalf of our church family and show the love of Christ in a practical way. 

When we last visited with Den-Den and Freda they told us they were planning to stay in the village and build a house there.  This last time I was in the village I had the chance to see that in progress.  We are excited to know that young families like this are choosing to make this village their home.  We look forward with great anticipation to when we will be able to share the Gospel with families like Den-Den and Freda, who will be the future of the Ga’dang church. 

By Chuck

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Broken wrist

So many of you know that Kyle, our little monkey, broke his left wrist last Sunday.  He was trying to jump from the picnic table to the monkey bars (in front of girls) and he missed.

We are very thankful for a hospital close by that was very quick to see him and put a partial cast on.  We also have a great pediatrician here that just so happen to have an orthopedic surgeon in her Bible study group.  He was willing to go to the hospital on Monday and check the x rays to determine what needed to be done.  He needed to do a closed reduction cast and was willing to perform the procedure that very night, even though it was a holiday.  Kyle was admitted to the hospital that afternoon to start the paperwork and an IV.  Monday night at 8pm he was put to sleep and it was fixed.  Praise the Lord for no complications.

I asked Chuck to take some pictures of Kyle before he left the hospital.  Being that those two guys like to have fun, this is what I got……

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Trust me, he was not in any pain!!!

He is doing very well with his arm in the cast.  He doesn’t need help to get dressed anymore and has managed to play just as hard as he did before.

Chuck has made a deal with Kyle that for every signature he gets on his cast, Dad will give him 1 peso (less then 2 cents.)

If you would like to sign his cast from afar, send him a comment in the comment part of this blog.  Let’s see how much money Kyle will make!!!