Participants: Jeff Reich
Series Code: LM
Program Code: LM000133S
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01:00 We're back here in the Philippines in Manila.
01:02 Philippines is the seventh most populated country in Asia. 01:05 You can tell that by just looking around us here. 01:08 We're on our way to catch a bus to go the port of Batangas 01:11 to catch the ferry to go over 01:12 to our mission house in Mamburao. 01:14 So come along with us right now. 01:15 I'll tell you a little bit more about the Philippines. 01:20 We've been working in the Philippines now for 17 years. 01:22 It's hard to believe that we've been here that many years 01:25 and the work has just really progressed 01:27 and God's blessed in many ways. 01:29 Right now we're heading down to-- 01:31 it's a big bus station here in Manila, 01:34 take it over to the port of Batangas 01:36 and our bus is right up here. 01:38 It's always interesting just trying to get around in Manila 01:40 'cause it's such a crowded city. 01:51 The Philippines consist of about 7,000 islands 01:54 and is located in Southeastern Asia. 01:57 Its total land mass is equivalent 01:59 to that of the State of Arizona. 02:02 Our bus is taking us from Manila to the port of Batangas. 02:06 We're at the Batangas here right now. 02:09 This is where we go and get our tickets to get on the ferry 02:12 and head over to Abra De Log 02:14 which is over on the Island of Mindoro. 02:17 Oh, it's fun 'cause you got to carry all your stuff 02:18 a long ways to get over into the ferry. 02:42 Christian Schrock is a pastor from Switzerland. 02:45 He has been to the Philippines several times. 02:48 This is Christian. 02:49 He's gonna actually be working with us. 02:50 When are you gonna come work with the ministry? 02:53 In February or March? 02:54 I will be joining in August. August, okay. 02:55 I have to finish my duty in the conference first. 02:57 Yeah, it's a small world when you're traveling. 02:59 We're always running into people we know all over. 03:01 Good to see you. 03:02 Well, we're gonna go up there and sit down 03:03 and we'll see up there. Yes. 03:12 In about a year ago Christian Schrock 03:15 brought a team of young Swiss students 03:17 to hold evangelistic meetings 03:18 in connection with Laymen Ministries 03:20 and to help for several weeks 03:22 with Laymen Ministries academy project. 03:44 After reaching the period Abra De Log 03:46 we then took a bus to Sea Breeze 03:48 which is our mission headquarters near Mamburao. 03:54 Laymen Ministries headquarters in temporary 03:56 present truth academy is located in this building 03:59 just outside of the city of Mamburao. 04:03 I am Edith Ramos. 04:05 I came from Artacho Sison Pangasinan 04:08 in the northern part of the Philippines. 04:11 My name is Diana Baricanosa 04:13 and my friends usually call me Lenlen. 04:16 I'm 36 years old and I came from Calamba City, Laguna. 04:23 I teach Bible subject and I'll be teaching Filipino. 04:28 Sir, Bible subject is also a very big, 04:32 a very important part of the program 04:34 because that is the center 04:36 of every academic program that we have here. 04:39 I'm working here at Sea Breeze in Occidental Mindoro. 04:44 What I'm doing here is a high school teacher 04:49 and also an administrative assistant. 04:52 We have the A Beka program because it does provide 04:57 a consistency of curriculum in education. 05:00 And at the same time our students have a live teacher 05:07 that is with them in the classroom 05:10 assisting them in their education. 05:13 A Beka program they have this video 05:16 and then there's also questions, when they asked question, 05:21 it's the time-- it's the only time I will give the answers. 05:25 I play as a facilitator. 05:27 And most of the time the teachers, 05:29 the video teacher usually do the teaching 05:34 and I only facilitate the students 05:39 or if the student needs some clarifications and also, 05:45 I try to review my students as well if he understood, 05:53 or if they understand the lessons. 05:57 The A Beka program is a Christian program 06:01 and while we may not agree 06:04 with the 100 percent of the things that they do. 06:07 They do have quality teachers and quality materials. 06:11 They have a variety of teachers with different accents too 06:15 and that actually helps our students. 06:19 It helps them to learn faster or listen better, 06:22 plus, the way this program is set up, 06:25 it's like they are sitting in a classroom with a live teacher 06:30 and other students that are interacting. 06:34 So we've been very pleased with the quality of the program. 06:40 And our students have done well 06:42 whether they have studied on their own 06:45 or whether they have studied as a group. 06:49 The book education has given us a real foundation 06:54 for our instruction here. 06:58 And as the book of education points out, 07:02 the Bible really should be our first textbook. 07:05 And we've personally found that, that's absolutely correct. 07:09 When we can raise the level of understanding 07:12 so that our students can read the Bible 07:14 for themselves and understand it. 07:16 They are excited about it. 07:19 Through education these young people 07:21 or these Katutubo could have the self confidence 07:25 that they can prove to the world 07:27 that even though I am a Katutubo I'm part of this tribe, 07:31 I can do what they are doing also, 07:33 that I can also be on top where they are now. 07:38 Yes, some Filipinos or the Tagalogs, they call it. 07:43 They make fun with the Katutubos, 07:45 they call them Mangyans and they said 07:48 the Mangyans have tails, so they make fun of them. 07:54 To really understand where these Katutubo have come from, 07:58 we need to go to these mountains. 08:00 The word Katutubo simply means indigenous. 08:05 In this part of the Philippines they are the erie tribe 08:08 and are considered to be some of the most 08:10 primitive people on the planet. 08:12 They live a semi-nomadic life and are mostly uneducated. 08:17 They are shy, superstitious, animus people 08:20 often laden in filth and affected by disease. 08:24 Over the last 15 years Laymen Ministries 08:26 had brought about a great change 08:28 to many of the young people of this tribe and their villages. 08:36 My name is Angelito Taasan. 08:39 I came from the village of Pinagbayanan. 08:41 I'm 19 years old. 08:43 I'm grade 9 student of Katutubo Excel Academy. 08:49 My name is Meleth Parisan. 08:52 I am 16 years old and I come from the village-- 08:56 from the remote village of Pinagbayanan. 08:59 I'm Benjie Parisan and I am 21 years old. 09:02 I came from a remote village 09:05 Agbalite, Paluan, Occidental Mindoro. 09:07 I'm Bernie Villanueva and I'm now 17 years old 09:13 and I came from the remote village of Agbalite. 09:16 My name is BongBong Parisan Lagnaan 09:19 and I came from the village of Pinagbayanan 09:23 and now I am 19 years old. 09:27 I am Dennis Villanueva 09:30 and I came from the village of Binuangan 09:33 and I am 19 years old. 09:37 My name is Rodel Punlaan. 09:40 I am 25 years old 09:43 and I came from the village of Pinagbayanan. 09:46 There are many changes in my life 09:49 compared to my life in the village. 09:53 I can see the growth in my life especially spiritually. 10:00 Before, when I was still in the village, 10:03 I didn't read Bible, I hated reading Bible, 10:07 it seems for me that it is very boring but, 10:12 when I came to high school 10:15 I realized that it is very important. 10:18 I stayed with one of the missionary 10:22 and they teach me about the Bible 10:24 and also the superstitious belief that is not really true. 10:28 One of my favorite memory verses is found in 1 John 1:9. 10:39 "If we confess our sins 10:41 He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, 10:45 and to cleanse us from all our unrighteousness." 10:48 In Christmas time we had a short vacation 10:52 and I had done Bible study with my parents 10:58 and every Sabbath I was the one who handled the program. 11:03 The Bible had done to me to changed my life 11:12 because before I didn't know about God 11:16 and now the proof of it is that 11:19 I am sharing His love to my villagers. 11:26 When I get older I would like to go back to my village 11:30 and teach them also about God 11:33 and I would like also to help them and educating them, 11:39 so they will not be also treated by the Tagalogs there. 11:44 I am so much thankful to God that He sent people to help. 11:50 Actually, my favorite subject in school is the Bible. 12:00 Jim is taking us to see our newest grade school 12:03 located near the little village of Sulong Ipil. 12:06 Then, after a short visit at the school, 12:09 we're gonna head up to the mountain 12:10 to see the new campus of Laymen Ministries 12:13 present crew with Katutubo Academy. 12:48 We have just arrived at Laymen Ministries' newest school 12:53 in the village of Sulong Ipil. 12:55 This school has been in operation for three years 12:59 and we think you're gonna be excited 13:01 about our teachers and our students here. 13:04 Good morning, my students. 13:06 Oh. Oh, I get a double hug. 13:09 Thank you, thank you, thank you, a triple hug. 13:12 Oh, how sweet. 13:14 The human touch is very important 13:19 and even the sixth grader that finished last March 13:25 and came here in June. 13:27 When I first touched her she jumped, 13:31 she-- not all the children are the touchy kind. 13:35 So now she reaches out and touches me to 13:39 see if I noticed that somebody touched me 13:42 and so we're making a game out of it. 13:44 Did you do math this morning? 13:46 Yes or no? I didn't hear. 13:49 Brother. Bible? 13:52 Oh, how exciting. 13:54 Did you have a memory verse this morning? 13:57 Yes, yes. What was the memory verse? 13:59 (1420 indistinct ) 14:22 Oh, how wonderful. Thank you, thank you. 14:27 ( indistinct ) 14:33 Throughout the day. 14:34 Thank you for hearing our prayers and amen. 14:37 Okay, you may go to your classrooms. 14:40 My name is Boying Celestre. 14:43 And my name is Mae Celestre. 14:45 I am Mercy Jose from Mindanao. 14:49 My name is Nora and my family name is Senerser. 14:53 We are working now with Laymen Ministry. 14:55 We've been here for almost four years. 14:58 I've been working nine years now. 15:00 I've been working in Laymen Ministries for five years. 15:08 I work here in the village of Sulong Ipil. 15:12 This is my second year here 15:14 teaching students particularly higher grades. 15:18 I'm teaching grades three and four. 15:21 I'm teaching the kinders. 15:24 When we came to the village 15:25 they were also thinking that we cannot speak Tagalog. 15:29 So they tried to speak to us and entertain us in English. 15:33 And so I was so amazed with 15:34 what the Ministry was doing to them. 15:37 I was not expecting that I would see them clean 15:40 because I was thinking that they will be uncivilized. 15:44 But when we came to the village the students we served 15:48 are clean students and they know how to speak English. 15:52 I found out that education did a great part for them. 15:56 Yeah, and our education is not only teaching them in school 16:01 but how to be clean and they were filthy before, 16:06 but now because of the education or the program of the Ministry-- 16:12 there's a 360 degrees change in their lives. 16:15 The children adapt very nicely to the Bible stories 16:21 that the teachers have worship our classes, 16:25 values classes and have grown spiritually 16:30 because there is so much spiritism in the villages 16:34 that they are afraid of this and they are afraid of that 16:38 and now they know that Jesus loves them 16:42 and so that's something wonderful. 16:46 That's they have never been told that somebody loves them. 16:50 Well, in Katutubo's situation, sir, 16:54 their parents sometimes no attention to their children. 16:59 If their children are running or playing outside, 17:02 even though they're hungry 17:05 because sometimes there is no food, no eating. 17:09 Of course if you're hungry your stomach is aching. 17:12 Though they're reading sometimes there is no understanding, 17:16 and I think food is one of the factors 17:20 that affects also their learning. 17:23 I think education a big part in what happened to the villages. 17:30 This was a temporary school. 17:34 We're using this now for grade one. 17:38 But we want to tear this down 17:41 and construct the missionary house here 17:45 and then down below we'll enclose the open area 17:48 and make an additional classroom, 17:50 so that we have all the classes there 17:53 and the missionary quarters here. 18:30 Good morning. Good morning. 18:32 Nice to see you. 18:33 Yes, I thought I would get a big hug from this girl, thank you. 18:39 We've taken a different approach here in Sulong Ipil 18:42 than we have in the other villages. 18:43 One reason is because I'm here frequently. 18:46 And I see what goes on, on the day to day basis. 18:51 And I've been able to teach our teachers here 18:56 that affection breaks barriers. 18:59 And as you see I did not ask these children 19:03 to give me a hug this morning. 19:05 Yeah, they just came right out, immediate response. Oh. 19:07 When I-- they hear my truck 'cause it's so old and rattly 19:10 so when I'm driving by and they are on break 19:14 they stand on the road and expect me to stop 19:18 'cause they want to hug. 19:20 And as a result barriers have dropped 19:23 not only with the children but with the parents here. 19:27 And we've not pushed anyone to come to school 19:31 and we've maintained very strict rules. 19:34 It's a privilege to come to our school. 19:37 And as a result our numbers continued to increase 19:41 as our students are the witness in the village. 19:45 My name is Lowell Ramos. 19:48 I'm working here at Sulong Ipil teaching. 19:53 Today I'm teaching grades one and two. 19:56 I've been working here since June last year 2012. 20:01 And as you know our schools are four of the minority. 20:06 So I've to say, sorry I can't do that. 20:11 But it is well known in the community 20:15 and in the department of education 20:17 that our students excelled. 20:32 We're halfway up the mountain called Capowan 20:36 which literally means baldhead and you can see why. 20:40 Years ago the timber was ripped off of it 20:43 and never been replanted and it was burned many times. 20:46 This is the high school property. 20:48 On top you see our wind generator 20:50 and you see the two buildings, 20:53 these are staff housing that one is almost complete, 20:57 99 percent complete, 20:58 the other ones in maybe 70 percent complete. 21:02 We're close enough to the city for convenience sake 21:07 but we're far enough away to avoid the pollution 21:11 and the distractions for our students. 21:15 So this is going to be as you will see in a minute 21:20 the high school site, the high school academy site. 21:32 We're standing beside the academy 21:34 that we're constructing here on top of this ridgeline 21:38 for our Katutubo students 21:40 who graduate from our elementary schools. 21:43 We've designed the building to be an octagon. 21:46 To take advantage of the wind from any direction for cooling, 21:52 for circulation because we're in the tropics, 21:54 it does get hot. 21:55 But we get the wonderful sea breeze 21:58 usually starting about noon 22:00 and up here because we're also on a ridgeline 22:03 we get the advantage of the uplift of any air 22:07 that stirring as you can see 22:09 from our wind generator behind us. 22:11 Now the octagon is a 25 meter diameter 22:19 and it will contain classrooms and administrative rooms 22:24 and then the next and I hope the last building 22:28 that we built will be here adjacent to us 22:30 and that will be the dormitory and the cafeteria. 22:34 So our goal is that 22:37 next year this time we will have moved everything 22:41 from our present location in the town 22:43 up here to the mountain to have our academy here. 22:48 On top of the container which houses the battery 22:51 and the invertors for our whole electrical system. 22:55 We also have six solar panels, 280 watts each. 23:01 This is our battery bank which stores our electricity 23:04 from the wind generator and the solar panels. 23:08 And then comes in here 23:10 and right now we're producing 53.9 volts 23:15 so that's our storage capacity now. 23:18 These are our invertors 23:20 and then from here we take the power, 23:22 either as 220 or 110 23:26 depending on what we're using. 23:40 Since this one is presently being worked on. 23:43 Why don't we go to one that's almost finished. 23:46 We don't have cabinets yet, 23:48 but lighting, flooring, 23:51 plumbing is all complete. 23:55 This being the cooking food preparation area. 23:59 This is our dinning tables, 24:01 so we can have seats around here. 24:06 We're in an efficiency apartment 24:08 and we only have about 350 square feet. 24:11 And then here a small bedroom 24:14 and then this will be a master bedroom 24:19 because it has its own bathroom. 24:22 God has provided us here with a beautiful location. 24:26 We're sitting on a ridgeline. 24:29 We have the beautiful ocean, 24:30 unobstructed view of the ocean in one direction 24:33 and an unobstructed view of mountains 24:35 in all the other directions. 24:37 Meaning, we get really nice breeze without pollution. 24:43 So we've tried to design the houses 24:45 so that they will take advantage of the breeze 24:49 because it does get hot here. 24:50 And also to inspire both students 24:54 and teachers in God's nature. 24:57 Laymen Ministries is special for us. 25:01 As a team Jim and I have grown spiritually 25:05 as well as having helped other people to come to Christ. 25:10 If you are willing to learn and to grow come 25:14 and visit this young people at Laymen Ministries. 25:19 Thank you for giving and helping us 25:23 to know more about Jesus. 25:24 I'm so happy that I have a privilege to have an education 25:28 that I can learn spiritual and academic things. 25:32 God still gives us strength 25:33 but we desperately need people with a burning desire 25:40 to help these children continue 25:44 and to carry some of the load that we're carrying today. 25:47 I know that there will be a lot of challenges 25:50 that will come in your life. 25:53 When you come here but, if you are really willing 25:59 God is ready to help as long as it is God's plan. 26:04 I would like to encourage the studied missionaries 26:08 that are from the other counties to come 26:11 and see what our fellow Katutubos 26:17 and help us to educate more and learn especially about God. 26:24 If I could speak to you personally I would say, 26:28 one, make sure of your position 26:33 in your relationship with Jesus Christ. 26:36 And if you do that I am absolutely positive 26:40 if you're listening to His voice, 26:43 He will take you where He wants you to be. 26:47 And I can tell you that's the only place 26:50 you're gonna find joy. 26:52 That may be a place like Occidental Mindoro, Philippines, 26:57 but it could also be right where you're living now, 26:59 your own family, your own community, 27:01 your own church. 27:03 So I can't tell you what is best for you 27:09 but I know who knows what is best for you and for me. 27:21 Breaking through this superstitions 27:22 and backwards way of life 27:24 of the indigenous Aria tribe is a challenge. 27:33 But through Christ centered education 27:35 progress is being made. 27:40 There is hope for the future as the Aria's students get trained 27:45 and go back as missionaries to their own people. 27:50 Laymen Ministries appreciate your prayers and support. 27:55 Together we can make a difference. |
Revised 2025-01-27