Olson Family Newsletter Update

Serving in the Philippines with New Tribes Mission for Evangelism and Tribal Church Planting Issue #24.

September 2009

click below on any picture to enlarge!

Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

~ Galatians 3:21-22

A bengkal is used to smoke out beehives

Moving the bridge back

Holding up the dead cobra before throwing it out

Man with the swollen foot

Isaac makes a tackle

Tribal vacation home on the dry river bed

Burning the field to prepare for planting

Family feeling dejected after their house burned down

Consultants training us in new language study techniques

“Those lights over there are moving pretty fast!” I said to Ginny as we sat out on the porch at night. We had been sitting out enjoying the stars when over across the creek we saw a pair of lights moving down towards the creek and towards us. As we waited and the lights got closer, we saw that it was one of the men in the village with his wife and baby, and they had a blanket. There was a 3rd person with them, and he split off and went down towards the airstrip.

When they got close to our house, I asked him what was going on. “Oh, it’s nothing, Ogsa! Just a little problem at my house, so we can’t sleep there. I’ll tell you about it tomorrow!” They didn’t stop moving, continued to walk very fast, and pushed on past our house until the got to the village to stay the night in someone else’s house. (Ogsa means “cousin”, and that is what they call us.)

The next morning I started to inquire about what was going on. One of the village ladies, who is more open with us than some of the men, told us that one of the guys had been in the jungle smoking out a beehive (which they do at night) to get honey when something grabbed him. He was convinced it was a lenggam (like some kind of jungle troll or spirit that kills people and sucks their blood). The only thing to do when a lenggam tries to get you is to run away as fast as you can. The path he took went right by house of the guy with his wife and baby, so he told them, and they quickly gathered their things and took off before the spirit creature could get them as well.

Later I talked to the fellow who came running by our house with his wife. He doesn’t like us to think he believes in those spirits, so when I asked him about what happened, he just said that bees had followed the first guy down to the house, and they weren’t going to be able to stay there because of the bees. There were no more bees in his house by the next morning, but it was about 2 or 3 weeks before he and his wife moved back.

Dear Praying friends and family,

The above story is just an example of the kind of things we have experienced from time to time as we study the life, language, and culture of the Palawano. Since our last printed newsletter, there have been a ton of things happening here:

• A big flood in January washed away the bridge over the creek, but the Lord protected our airstrip.

• Ginny opened the medical clinic one morning to find a 5 foot long cobra coiled up over the window sill! We (us working with the tribal guys) managed to kill it without being bit.

• We learned a ton about the language and the culture of the tribal people, only to find out that we had barely scratched the surface!

• We sent a man out to the hospital with a horrible looking swollen foot from an infection brought on by stepping on a stinging caterpillar. We thought they might have to amputate, but the hospital doctors saved his foot!

• The tribal people had their “vacation” time! During the dry season they make lean-tos on the river bed and sleep under the stars. It was nice to join them one night!

• Life was a big struggle for the Palawano through their hungry season, as their crops all failed last year and they have all been exceedingly hungry. It was a good to be able to help them in their time of need.

• Isaac played on the Faith Academy rugby team and loved it! He has decided that rugby is the high school sport he will focus on while studying at Faith.

• We observed the people burn their fields to prepare for planting. They told us that if they didn’t get a good burn this year they would all be dead by next year from starvation.

• A family lost their house and all their possessions when it caught fire.

• I accidentally spilled water on my computer and put it out of commission, which set me back a couple of weeks in language study while I tried to restore my old computer.

• A consultant came to visit us in the tribe and taught us some better language learning techniques!

• All our kids were with us in the tribe for the summer!

• We dispensed probably 150 or so malaria treatments, sent 4 people to the provincial hospitals on their own (but with family), accompanied 2 patients to provincial hospitals, and accompanied 1 patient for advanced care all the way to Manila for treatment, besides treating other sicknesses. Wow, praise the Lord for the help he has enabled you all to give through us!

• The beginning of the harvest finally brought an end to the hungry season!

• We finished the cement slab under our house! That took a lot of work but it is so worth it!

• Manasi passed away, one of the older men in the village. He had been blind for many years and in poor health.

• While in Manila putting Isaac and Sarah in the dorm, we got to attend the Filipino wedding of one of our former Tagalog teachers!

• We put Isaac and Sarah in the dorm in Manila for the first time! They are doing very well there but we miss them!

So here we are! We are excited to get back cracking on language and culture study! It is really good that our people are no longer afflicted by the terrible hunger that they endured from last year up until the harvest! We plan to continue our language and culture study, and continue to give medicine to those in need!

We ask for your prayers as we continue on in this pursuit. There are many challenges we face. We miss our kids at the dorm, and we miss friends and family back home. We long to see the Palawano people come to Christ now, but we know we have to wait until we can communicate better. Faith is about trusting God in every area of your life. We know He is trustworthy to carry out His plan to completion, for the Palawano to hear the Gospel!

Many thanks to everyone for your prayers and financial support! We could not do this without you!

In Christ,

George & Ginny

Isaac, Sarah & Abby