Issue #23, Christmas 2008
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Just the other day we had an interesting event in our
village with the tribal people –
Friend, we have no food. All our money is gone, and all
our rice is gone. We have eaten all our potatoes, and there are only a few
vegetables and bananas left. Will you help us please?
If Palawanos were straightforward and direct, this is
perhaps what they might have said to us. Instead, it transpired more along
lines like this –
Village lady: |
Hi friend! Good
morning! |
Missionary: |
Hello to you,
friend! How are you this morning? |
Village lady: |
O we are doing
ok, friend. You see here my rash is getting better. |
Missionary: |
It does look
better, friend. Here, friend, would you like a drink? |
Village lady: |
Yes, friend,
thank you. Do you see, friend, as I take this cup that my hand is shaking? |
Missionary: |
Yes, friend, I
see that. How long has it been doing that? |
Village lady: |
Well, friend,
about 2 days, since my rash has been starting to get better. |
Missionary: |
Friend, are you
feeling better? Have you been able to eat without throwing it up? |
Village lady: |
Yes, friend, but
the problem is, my stomach hurts because we don’t have any food to eat. |
Missionary: |
O really, friend?
You don’t have any potatoes left? |
Village lady: |
No, friend. They
are all gone now. |
Missionary: |
Well, friend, do
you think your husband could walk downriver to the town to buy some rice for
you and your children? |
Village lady: |
He can’t, friend,
because we don’t have any money. In fact, no one in the whole village has any
money, and everyone is out of food. |
V. grandmother: |
Yes, that’s
right. We are all out of food, and all out of money. |
From that point led to a village discussion into how they
were going to get some food for the time being, and how we were to be involved.
They know the jungle well and how to get food from it in times when their crops
have not done well, but it is not easy for them, and the jungle only yields a
little for them to eat.
Here we are at the end of 2008! It is almost Christmas as
I write this, and we are rejoicing in the provision of our dear Savior’s birth!
This was our 2nd year in the Philippines, a year of transitions.
From the big city of Manila to the Palawano jungle tribe, this has been a year
of many changes. Here is a summary:
-
May 2008 – Finished Tagalog studies
and made initial move into the Palawano tribe.
-
June 2008 – first task in the tribe –
to paint, repair, and build furniture for our house, formerly occupied by some
other missionaries. First week – 3 emergency medical flights and a baby dies.
-
July 2008 – We return to Manila to
move out of our house (which we are still paying rent on). We pack, sell, and
give away.
-
August 2008 – Isaac moves into the
dorm. We return to the tribe.
-
September 2008 – After 1 week we receive
a report of some peace and order problems. We are forced to do an emergency
evacuation. It looks like a possibility that we will have to leave the Palawano
ministry.
-
October 2008 – The peace and order
problems settle down around the country. Through much prayer, we decide to
continue in the Palawano ministry and make plans to return.
-
November 2008 – We return to the
Palawano tribe and spend the last 4 weeks alone there without our partners.
-
December 2008 – A couple of big events
described below:
o A
family has their first baby. After 2 hours of 6 or more men pushing on the
woman’s stomach (the way they do it here), the baby comes out, but is
still-born. The cord was wrapped around his neck.
o An invasion of centipedes in our house – the
fast aggressive type that bite the moment they touch you. One falls on my neck
and bites me. Villagers say my skin will soon turn rotten. Hot water and
benadryl, and no more problems.
o We
receive word that Ginny’s mom is sick and in the hospital. Ginny flies home to
Texas to help take care of some things with her family over Christmas.
Ginny is back in Texas now, and the rest of us are back in the capital for Christmas and our
annual field conference! It it nice to see Isaac again, and to take a break
from the constant demands of the tribal ministry! While we are out we ask for
your prayers for the Palawano – that they will be safe from sickness while we
are gone, and that we will all be able to get back real soon!
As you read above, our Palawano friends we live with are
without the provision of abundant food, and are still without the provision of
abundant salvation through Christ. Please pray for the day we will be able to
teach them about this incredible gift God has given them!
So as remembering all that God has done to make us all
part of His family, this Christmas remember us also as we serve Him bringing
the message of grace to those who have not yet heard!
In Christ’s love
George (writing) & Ginny
Isaac, Sarah, & Abby