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.