Requests and Needs

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ

Blessings and greetings in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We want to reconnect with everyone and share our heart, vision and needs here in the Philippines. For those of you who may not be familiar with us, we are serving as a missionary family here in the north of the main Island of Luzon. I, Chris Mapes, have been in the Philippines for almost 7 years.

I came to the Philippines in 2005 through the Vineyard College of Mission out of Boise, Idaho. The training was for Mission Medics…learning primary health care in developing countries. We would learn health, sanitation, and nutrition in dealing with the sick, undernourished, and diseased while presenting the love of God to the tribal peoples of Kalinga. We conducted medical outreaches, health fairs, Vacation Bible Schools, and feeding programs during that time. Originally, the students were only supposed to be in the Philippines for 4 months of practical training. After the four months, I stayed.

After my first year in the Philippines, I began dating a special woman I worked closely with and another 8 months, we married. Cathee is a Filipina who has been involved with missions since her mid-20’s when she worked as a midwife to the poor in Manila for 8 years. After that, she felt called as a missionary to her relatives in the tribal areas in the North.

HEALTH

We now have 2 beautiful children Samuel (who is 3years) and Miriam (1 year old).

Throughout the years, we have had different types of ministries. We started out with a focus mostly on medical outreaches. We are now currently focusing our resources on sponsoring medication for children and adults with tuberculosis. We have sponsored the 6-9 months of treatment to over 75 children with TB and many adults as well.

DISCIPLESHIP

We have had a boarding house for college students from the tribes. These students were mostly from the mountainous areas or the resettlement villages and ranged from 16 to 24 students living with us at one time. They were our church. We had prayer services, bible studies, Sunday service, and many activities. Our hear t is for discipleship. Today, we don’t have students living with us, but we host a mobile bi-lingual video bible school in the village. Through this Bible School, we have had testimonies of healings, of boldness in witnessing, and many powerful class teachings and discussions. These classes go out and evangelize other villages in their own tribal dialect. Our last outreach, we saw 11 salvations from older people who understood the gospel in their own language for the first time. After that we learned that one of the old ladies died about a week later. Praise God for his perfect timing. Facilitating this Video Bible school is one of the few times I have had complete assurance that I am where God wants me to be.

CHURCH STRENGTHENING

Our vision for our the Kalinga Vineyard Christian Growth Center is to get behind the local churches and missions and push them forward in their vision. We do this through discipleship (such as trainings, seminars, and the Mobile Bible School), through technical support such as gospel recordings, sound system for outreach, and computer usage for ministries. We believe the local people are the most effective missionaries to their own people and believe that God will pour out his Spirit in Kalinga and we will see great salvations, miracles, and boldness in the people to preach the Gospel.

Our current need is for monthly supporters. We are in the center of a financial emergency. With our current budget, we cannot meet our family’s basic needs. We need to raise the equivalent of $2000 dollars per month to sustain the ministry and our family’s needs. During the financial crisis in the US, our support dropped by 33% and since June, all our savings has been spent to supplement the loss of income. This month has been the hardest month financially since I have been here. We are at30% of our target support for our family and mission. Many would assume it is inexpensive to live in a developing country, but the prices of many things are higher here than they are in the USA. Gasoline is at $5.50 per gallon, vegetable prices increase drastically due to typhoons and rainy season, grocery prices keep rising due to the cost of fuel, the value of the dollar drops as the US continues to be the center of negative financial news. Currently, our monthly income is $600 per month and the duration of this income is uncertain.

The second need is monies to build buildings that will serve as our residence and a Christian Training Center. The estimated cost of this is about $35,000. We have been given a beautiful piece of land on a hill away from the main city. We envision a place we can call our own along with a training center to conduct seminars, trainings, and Bible Schools for the tribal peoples of Kalinga. If we have our own residence, our monthly cost will be decreased and having a space for trainings gives more opportunities for discipleship and Christian Growth. We've begun the work one of the buildings, but presently have no more funds to continue. We'd love to be able to finish the buildings by February. We believe the LORD will provide. We need your help.

Thank you for your consideration in financially supporting us through monthly support or one time gifts.

I am thankful for the body of Christ around the world. I know that together we can continue to reach out to be the hands, feet and mouthpiece of God through evangelism, discipleship, and power ministries.

Sincerely,

The Mapes Family

Field Trip

Oct 29. we took 50 elementary age kids from Pakak on a field trip to the park about 15 miles away.

we were 66 people jammed into 2 vehicles. the children dressed in their best clothes. rode in the jeepney for about 1 hour and when they arrived at the park, their eyes lit up. for the next 4 hours they climbed, slid, swang, ran, laughed, and had snacks.

the children talked about the field trip to the park for weeks to come.

in the villages of Kalinga, a major problem is that many of the children (especially boys), drop out of school after the first grade. many would rather play marbles than attend class. education, for many families is not a priority as most of the families are farmers and don't see a life other than farming. Some families can't afford the school supplies and the children are too embarrassed to attend class due to lack of supplies or worn, tattered clothes. some of the children that try to go back to school get teased if they are older and eventually quit because they are too far behind.

we hope to be able to work with the children of pakak to keep them interested with school and give incentives for children who stay in school (like this field trip to the park).

Salvation has come

In this picture taken just a month ago are 10 tribal grandmothers and 1 grandfather. We just learned that one of these grandmothers died this past week.

The good news is that this picture was during an outreach lead by our Bible School students last month and that grandmother put her faith in Christ after hearing The Good News explained to her for the first time in her own tribal dialect.

Everlasting Peace in the presence of God! Praise Him!

i have the best kids ever!

Class testimony time

August Update

Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I just wanted to catch everyone up on what's been going on here lately.
Family- Samuel and Miriam are quite the handful. Miriam is quite an independent 16 month old and a joy to be around. She's almost ready to start talking with just a few words in her vocabulary so far. Samuel is also very intelligent and always asking many questions... "Why do spiders have 8 legs?" What does the ladybug eat?" "What do you mean by that?" and on and on. There are times we find them playing quietly together and other times not so nice and quiet.
Cathee and I are doing well. Between the kids, household work, facilitating the Bible school, maintenance, building a house, and other ministry projects, we stay pretty busy.

Our vision continues to be solidified as we continue the work. We are working in Tabuk, Kalinga. Kalinga has a very poor reputation of being a place of violence. There have been many hold-ups, car napping, and robberies around town.

Just last weekend we were coming back from a trip to the north when our vehicle lost it's lights and we were just driving off a yellow fog light. I finally had to stop alongside the road to focus the fog light. It was about 10:30 at night and Cathee and the kids were in the pick-up with me. As i was finishing to tighten up the fog light, i noticed a youth walking toward me. He seemed upset at me being there and was apparently drunk or high. I didn't bother to talk to him, but got into the truck as fast as i could. As i shut the door, i noticed another person kneeling behind the truck and another man approaching from another location. As i shut the door, the man slammed the window with his hand and i took off as fast as i could. i'm not sure what the intention of the men were, but i knew my family was in danger and am thankful the truck wasn't broke down.

The other form of violence here in Kalinga takes place in the form of tribal revenge killings. If one tribes -person insults, injures, or kills a person from a different tribe, then a retribution must be paid at a very high cost and if an agreement cannot be reached, the whole tribe becomes involved and will attempt to injure or kill the opposing tribe. Many times the price demanded is impossible to pay and tribal war becomes immanent.

Just 2 years ago, i had an accident with an older man that ran out in the road in front of me. I bumped him with the handlebar of my motorcycle and he fell. It wasn't a hard hit and i didn't fall, but because he was older, he broke his hip when he fell. I accompanied him to the hospital and he told the police to keep me at the police station or maybe one his sons might kill me in revenge. Since my wife Cathee, is also from a different tribe, the incident suddenly involved my while extended family. during the next two weeks a fear fell over my extended family including my wife and many were worried of a retaliation from the tribe of the old man i had accidentally injured. (Long story short) we had to pay the family about 4,000 USD or a tribal war would have started.

Our vision is to see the violence, fear and and cultural witchcraft come to an end. There are still animal sacrifices that take place regularly in the villages, ongoing tribal wars and a fear that grips thousands here in Kalinga. People are too fearful to go out after 6pm. Everything closes after 5 or 5:30pm. The local police and army also submit to the tribal law.

How we envision this is through the local tribal church. We want to focus our resources on discipleship of the local church and mobilization of local ministries, so the local tribe will reach out to their own neighbor in with love for God and their fellow neighbor and the power of the Holy Spirit. Right now our ministry is focused in the village of Pakak. We have been working in pakak for the past 7 years. (In 5 months, I will have been here for 7 years). Pakak is a mostly Christian village where many of the families resettled from the mountains to escape persecution from tribe mates for converting from animism to Faith in Christ. The currently have outreaches to other villages where they hold Church services and teach tribal worship songs.

Pakak is also the current location of the Bible school. There are 20 students currently in the second semester. When we have prayer times with the students, I feel very strongly that Pakak will be a missionary sending center in Kalinga. They will powerfully and effectively reach out to their own people, then other tribes and provinces and nations. Peace in Kalinga can only come when people experience and accept the Love of God through Christ Jesus.

We see ourselves as a church strengthening ministry. some of the things we have been doing and are in the process of doing include:
*Seminars
*promotion of Video Bible School (ISOM)
*implementation of ISOM Video Bible School
*plans to make recordings of original tribal worship songs to distribute to other villages
*medical missions
*(planning) translations of Jesus films to the tribal dialect

Another project we are currently in is building our house in the village of Pakak. This is also something we feel God has led us to do.

Friends and family, right now we NEED supporters AND prayer partners. I have been too timid in fundraising in the past 6.5 years and have just been sliding by, but now i understand i need to be direct in this. We are currently not able to meet even close to our budget. We need monthly, faithful supporters. we currently receive $600 per month that covers cost of living but leaves little for the work of the ministry. This is not close to the estimated $2000 per month estimated that would help provide adequate financing for the ministry work plus some for emergency funds like hospital visits or vehicle repairs.

In addition to this, we need to raise approximately $35,000 to build a 2 story building (that will serve as our house on the bottom floor and ministry center for the bible school, medical ministry and multipurpose center on the second floor. There will also be a separate ministry office that serves as a recording studio and tribal media evangelism center in Pakak. We have been given a piece of land there that is a perfect for the intended use.

I ask you to consider financially supporting us. I also ask for your prayers. With more people partnering with us, we can accomplish more for the kingdom of God.

International School of Ministry (ISOM)

Hey friends!

we're about to start a new semester of the Bible School in Pakak. The curriculum is through world renown teachers and pastors that are translated to the local languages through video. so all you need is a DVD player and TV or projector and you have an instant class.
this semester will focus on prayer, Old Testament survey, healing, and helps minstry. we have 20-25 students planning to join us. the class will start this sunday and will continue for approximately 4 months with 32 class hours total. Our last semester was a huge success with most of the students returning for the second semester. once 5 semesters are completed, the students can apply for a diploma in Biblical Studies from the Christian Leadership Institute.

Go! and Make disciples!

this is our mandate right now. This is what God has placed in my heart and i feel fulfilled while we are facilitating classes. there are few times i have paused in the middle of something and thought, "this is what i was created to do".

each student only pays $14 per semester! many cannot afford the cost and need sponsors. if you would like to help a student(s), just let us know. we do all we can so anyone who wants to join, can.
Tuberculosis Sponsorships

We are continuing the TB sponsorships. The government has finally committed to helping children with TB, so our sponsorships have decreased as we want to direct people to existing programs first, so we can utilize our resources the best we can. We have a few adults we are currently sponsoring. some, we sponsor until the government can approve their medicines, and others are supported fully from us.

Lives are literally saved from TB meds. We make sure we take time to pray with our patients and provide them with education and hope for their situation. Thank those who have donated money for medicines so we can continue this ministry

Home construction

One of our primary tasks right now is building a home. Our family has moved 4 times in the past 5 years and we need a place to call home. After this month, our support has significantly dropped and we can no longer afford to keep renting. We have spent all we had in savings and need donations for this project to be completed. We are in the process of building a deep well, repairing the ministry office and building a septic tank. (read the next blog for details and pictures).

thanks for your concern, prayers, and partnerships. they are appreciated and needed.

Chris, Cathee, Samuel and Miriam

Ministry Parners Needed!

We are in need of ministry partners. People who will commit to pray for us and/or support us financially. During this time of financial crisis, our support has significantly dropped. We need at least 300 dollars per month additional in support and at least $28,000 in donations to help us build a house and ministry office. Please consider partnering with us in at least one of these areas.

Support address
Tax-deductible

Boise Vineyard
4950 W. Bradley Garden City, Idaho 83714.
Phone 208-377-1477

or

Elizabethtown Vineyard
201 South Mulberry Street, Elizabethtown -

(270) 234-0590

just include "chris and cathee mapes" on the memo line of your check. all donations are sent directly to us.

thank you for your support. please let us know if you decide to support in prayer and/or financially. It is much appreciated.

A Place to Call Home

Friends and Family! Greetings from the Philippines.

We hope that you are well and continuing to grow in the faith. We want to share with everyone what’s been going on with us concerning family and ministry. This past Chrismas Eve, Cathee’s mother had a stroke. She lost the use of the muscles in her throat and was unable to swallow. She was brought home from the hospital to recover, but slowly kept losing weight and became very weak. She died this past Friday. So please continue to lift up Cathee’s family in prayer.

Our family is doing well. Samuel and Miriam had birthdays in April and turned 3 years old and 1 year old. They continue to bring us much joy and excitement as they grow and learn. We are thankful for them and the challenges they bring as they grow.

You can’t have purpose without a vision

Recently, I’ve really had to step back and take a look at what we were doing and why we are doing those things. In each of the projects we are working on or planning to work on, I have to ask, “Why are we doing this?” Is it because it’s needed? It’s a “good” thing to do? Is it that someone else thought we should be doing it? Are we doing it cause we just need to “do” something? OR…This is something that we’ve had a vision for and know it is a mandate from God?

Sometimes things fall apart and it’s God that breaks them. For the past 4 or 5 years, we have been looking at land to build a house, but when we thought we found the right place, the deal would fall through, we would not be able to finance it, and another time we were sold a fake lot that did not belong to the seller.

The Pakak Project

Recently, I was looking at another lot when God reminded me of the vision He gave Cathee and I when we were writing a vision statement as missionaries of the Vineyard. The vision statement had to do mostly with health and was concentrated in the village of Pakak. In our vision statement, we would begin by building a deep well, then we would group the houses to build latrines, then pigpens, then gardens, and eventually Pakak would become a training center for other villages to see as an example of becoming a self sustaining, healthy example village.

After the well was finished, we began the latrine project. For various reasons, it took one year for the first Latrine (Comfort Room, as they are called here) to be built. More followed after that with about 25 houses having access to a latrine. When we wanted to begin the pigpen project, there was much resistance to the idea and for the few that wanted, an inability to agree on the project. Without the feral pigs being penned, gardens would be destroyed, and the project died.

During the time we were doing the “Pakak Project”, we were given land in Pakak on a hill. We built a small hut made of wood, bamboo and a grass roof where we stayed when we hosted outreach teams or when we would visit Pakak. After some time, we built a concrete foundation where the house would sit. About 60 of the men in the village picked up the house and sat it on the foundation. It was a community event complete with a pork lunch that fed the entire village.

The mission house served us and others well, but was destroyed during the big typhoon in 2010. About 25% of the roof was missing and the whole house was leaning to one side. We had to tear down the house and salvage whatever we could from the remains.

A Place to Call Home

While I was looking at the land for sale(mentioned earlier), God reminded me about the vision for Pakak and about the land that was given to us. When I shared this with Cathee, she said that she felt that God had been sharing the same thing with her. Before this, we had resisted the idea of moving to the village because it was still far from town, our children might be at risk for the many respiratory illnesses found there, malaria was rampant during the rainy season, and the conditions were less than sanitary because of the wondering livestock. But we knew those were excuses and God would protect our children from harm. That same week we began to make plans for a place for our family to live.

Phase 1. Water Source

The first thing we need is a deep well. The well will be about 100 feet deep and dug by hand with the workers cementing the sides of the 3 feet-wide hole every 3 feet down. The work is hard and the laborers face the danger of underground gas pockets, heat and debris falling on them.

Estimated completion time -50 days

Estimated cost $2,300

Phase 2. Septic tank

The Septic tank for the house will be built with a leeching chamber and a digestive chamber to maximize decomposition of waste.

Estimated completion time-1 week

Estimated cost-$350

Phase 3. Repair of ministry office

We will rebuild the old house to use as a ministry office, but with cement this time. The ministry office will be used as a center for church resources. The Bible school office, a recording studio for indigenous worship and Gospel recordings, a office for video editing for video ministries, and a guest room. the space is 12 feet by 22 feet.

estimated time to complete- 3 weeks
estimated costs- $2000.

Phase 4. Land preparation

This consists of flattening a hill and leveling the area for the house. Hiring a bulldozer and local workers will be the majority of costs.

Estimated completion time-1 week

Estimated cost- $700

Phase 5. Building of Residential house

Built from Concrete and hollow block. Size is at 800 square feet. it will be located just next to the ministry office. This will be a home to accomodate our family and any personal guests that visit.

Estimated completion time- 3 months

Estimated costs- $20,000

Reasons we need a home built.

#1. This is the place we feel we are called to serve.

#2. The majority of the work will be done with locals from the village. It will provide much needed income for many.

#3. We have been renting for the past 6 years and can no longer afford to rent.

#4. We need a stable home. We have moved 4 times in the past 5 years. This is hard on us and especially our children.

#5. With the unstable economy, we are unsure of future support and need to be able to becoming self sustaining. Owning a home and gardening will help us move that way.

#6. We are in this for the long run. Our children need a place to call home that is safe and comfortable.