Participants:
Series Code: LM
Program Code: LM000154A
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00:00 (majestic music)
00:29 (bright music) 00:48 - [Narrator] We are taking you again to the Philippines 00:50 which is located in Southeast Asia in the South China Sea. 00:55 (calm music) 00:59 - It's a Tuesday morning here 01:00 at the medium security prison in Sablayan. 01:03 It's a maximum, medium, and minimum security prison 01:07 facility here on this 62,000-acre facility. 01:10 And today we're gonna be having baptisms. 01:12 It seems like a Sabbath but it's a Tuesday morning 01:14 and they've made special provisions for us to come here 01:17 and shoot video and see the activities for today. 01:20 (men singing solemnly) 01:26 - [Narrator] Laymen Ministries' success in this large prison 01:28 facility is due to these two dedicated workers: 01:34 They have worked with us for nearly 20 years! 01:37 Over these years we have seen lives changed 01:39 by hearts surrendered to Christ, 01:41 and we have witnessed nearly 800 baptisms. 01:45 (solemn music) 01:53 - This is also a time where we have new beginnings. 01:56 (interprets in Filipino) 02:00 - [Narrator] Several years ago, 02:02 Laymen Ministries built this church 02:04 inside the medium security section of the prison. 02:07 We shared words of encouragement with those 02:09 that were going to be baptized that morning. 02:12 - There are only two options in life. 02:14 (interprets in Filipino) 02:16 Either God is God or I'm god. 02:19 (speaking in Filipino) 02:28 Because people... 02:30 (speaking in Filipino) 02:31 Because without Christian, without Christ in our life-- 02:35 (interprets in Filipino) 02:37 - Do you want to be saved? 02:38 (interprets in Filipino) 02:40 - Yes! - Do you believe the Gospel? 02:42 (interprets in Filipino) 02:44 Do you want to be baptized? 02:46 - [Men] Yes! 02:48 - Amen. - Amen. 02:49 (praying in Filipino) 02:52 (gentle music) 02:58 - Amen! 03:01 (singing in foreign language) 03:16 - [Narrator] When we first talked about turning this 62,000 03:19 acre prison and penal farm into a Bible Training school, 03:22 it seemed impossible. 03:24 But that's exactly what has happened. 03:26 Inmates are trained to teach inmates, 03:29 and by the simple Biblical principle of teach to teach 03:32 as it says in Matthew 28:19, "Go ye therefore, and teach 03:37 "all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, 03:40 "and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 03:42 "Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever 03:45 "I have commanded you." 03:48 Also in the second chapter of the Book of Mark, Mark says: 03:51 "Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is 03:54 "in Christ Jesus. 03:55 "And the things that thou hast heard of me 03:57 "amongst many witnesses, the same commit thou 04:00 "to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also." 04:08 - [Pastor] Bless them in a special way. 04:12 - So when we have a baptism like this, 04:13 do you think that these guys 04:15 are really grounded in the truth? 04:17 - Jeff, to be honest with you, I think these brethren 04:21 are much better grounded in the truth 04:23 than many people who joined our churches by baptism. 04:31 The program here from the very beginning 04:34 has been teach to teach. 04:37 Our two faithful workers of almost 20 years 04:43 are training inmates to be disciples. 04:48 And they are the ones who hold the prayer meetings 04:53 and the Bible studies in the dormitories. 04:55 They're the ones who preach on Sabbath. 04:58 Of course our coworkers intermingle and teach 05:01 and help and preach also but the majority of the work 05:07 is being done exactly as the Bible says it should be done. 05:12 That is we are teaching new people who come to Christ 05:16 to go out and teach-- 05:18 - And make disciples. - And make disciples. 05:20 They are the ones bringing Him in and I remind us 05:24 that with the baptisms today we, the Layman Ministries, 05:30 prison ministry has baptized almost 800 people 05:37 from the time we were first allowed to baptize. 05:40 - Amazing. - At first 05:41 there was objection, we could not baptize, 05:44 but almost 800. 05:48 And we still are in touch with many of the inmates 05:50 who have been released who are faithful 05:55 Christians in their communities, in their families, 05:58 in their churches. 06:00 So praise God! 06:01 It is working. - That's good to hear. 06:03 - And I will also tell you, Jeff, 06:06 that with the use of the Bible, 06:10 the Amazing Facts Bible Study Guides which they allowed us 06:14 to translate into Tagalog and with Spirit of Prophecy books, 06:23 I'm not bashful to tell you that I believe 06:27 that our men here admitting that this is a captive audience, 06:32 our men here had probably read more of the Spirit 06:36 of Prophecy than most people 06:38 and the churches around the world. 06:41 And I also think it's exciting to tell that every Sabbath 06:48 there is a Sabbath service, 06:50 and each of these four facilities here in the prison. 06:54 And people who live outside the prison choose 07:00 to come to the prison to worship God. 07:03 - Yeah, amazing. 07:04 - Because they're being fed also. 07:08 - [Narrator] Laymen Ministries' Jeepney has been a faithful 07:10 workhorse for many years hauling church members 07:13 to worship with the inmates week after week. 07:16 Some times there are so many people they are riding 07:18 on the roof! 07:20 It's hard to realize how large this prison facility is, 07:23 literally having to drive from one section to another. 07:27 - We just got done being over at the medium security part 07:30 of the prison we baptized 27 men. 07:33 This is a minimum security part of the prison 07:35 and this is the baptistry. 07:37 The men will be baptized in a barrel. 07:39 It's the only accommodations we have in this 07:41 particular part of the prison facility. 07:44 (calm music) 07:50 (singing in Filipino) 08:00 And the reporter asked the same questions. 08:02 (interprets in Filipino) 08:04 He said, what would you do if you were free today? 08:07 (interprets in Filipino) 08:09 And the inmate asked the reporter a question. 08:12 (interprets in Filipino) 08:16 Are you free? 08:18 (interprets in Filipino) 08:20 And the reporter said, I'm asking the question here! 08:23 (interprets in Filipino) 08:24 And the inmate said, I'm free already. 08:27 (interprets in Filipino) 08:30 And the reporter says, you're not free, 08:31 you're in prison. 08:32 (interprets in Filipino) 08:35 No, I'm free in Christ. 08:38 (interprets in Filipino) 08:41 Jesus Christ has set me free. 08:43 (interprets in Filipino) 08:45 I'm free at my heart. 08:47 (interprets in Filipino) 08:48 And he looked at the reporter and said, Are you free? 08:51 (women singing in Filipino) 09:09 - [Man] No, he will change his clothes. 09:09 - That's okay, I still wanna hug. 09:40 - We're outside of medium and maximum security part 09:42 of the Sablayan Prison. 09:43 This is our third stop. 09:44 They said there are 17 inmates here that are gonna give 09:46 their life to Christ through baptism. 09:49 These inmates not only have been studying the Bible 09:51 for themselves but in their cellblocks in the evenings 09:53 they're having group Bible studies. 09:55 I wish we could get in there and take pictures 09:57 and some of that but they won't allow us to take 09:59 video cameras in those portions of the prison. 10:03 (singing in Filipino) 10:18 - [Narrator] Lukas, a former Laymen Ministry student 10:19 missionary from Germany, who continues to return 10:22 to the Philippines, shares with the inmates. 10:26 What happens next is almost too hard to believe. 10:30 The prison officials allowed the inmates to leave the prison 10:33 with us to go to the river to be baptized! 10:37 I noticed the security guards who accompanied us 10:40 with weighted sticks wore green Laymen Ministries shirts. 10:44 When I inquired about this, 10:45 I was told they were all church members 10:47 who were previously baptized! 10:50 (calm music) 11:18 Another amazing thing that happened 11:20 was one of the inmate's wife and daughter came 11:22 and they were all baptized together! 11:25 (calm music) 11:32 I praise God for the hard work and years 11:34 of dedication by Louie and Abel. 11:37 Prison ministry is not an easy task, 11:39 and there are and have been many challenges. 11:42 And also donors, such as yourselves, 11:44 have helped with support of these workers, 11:47 along with simple provisions, 11:49 Bibles and spiritual literature. 11:51 Thank you! 11:53 (calm music) 11:56 The heart of Laymen Ministries operations takes place 11:59 on top of this mountain called Kaupawan, 12:02 which when translated literally means Bald Mountain. 12:05 It's now a campus for our indigenous academy. 12:08 When we first bought this property, 12:10 the local people asked 12:12 "Why would you want the dry bald mountain top? 12:14 "You can't grow anything up there!" 12:17 But today we have thousands of trees planted 12:20 and it's green and beautiful. 12:22 It's a picture perfect place to help young adults 12:24 to grow mentally, physically and spiritually! 12:27 To the left is our dormitory and cafeteria 12:30 and to the right is our admin building and classrooms. 12:40 The cafeteria serves as a place for not only eating 12:43 but for social interaction and worship services. 12:49 This octagon building houses several classrooms 12:52 and an administrative and accounting office. 12:54 Let me take you inside to see some of the activities 12:57 taking place today! 12:59 We have strict account procedures 13:01 which are audited regularly. 13:03 In this instance, our boat captain Mario, 13:06 is giving an account for recent repairs on our boat. 13:09 Christian Stroeck, an administrative assistant 13:11 who came to us from Switzerland, does our accounting. 13:16 When I visit this project I go over the books 13:18 to see how the funds are being handled. 13:20 I'm very proud about the level of integrity our team has. 13:24 Every peso can be accounted for. 13:28 We operate the only indigenous boarding academy 13:31 in the country of the Philippines. 13:33 God has blessed, and our students test higher 13:35 than those attending the public schools 13:38 and this is with a people group that the Filipino majority 13:41 say are not capable of learning. 13:43 - My name is Isabella Franca. 13:45 I'm from Brazil. 13:47 And I heard about this project through a friend 13:50 that owns a mission YouTube channel, 13:54 and I saw some videos of her here and so I got in touch 13:59 with her to find out a little bit more 14:01 about Laymen Ministries. 14:03 - It's actually my second year already 14:05 working here in Laymen Ministries. 14:06 It was actually a friend of mine, also my classmate before, 14:11 Ma'am Jam Mabell, who referred me. 14:14 - Well, I'm with grades seven and nine, 14:17 so I help them through English, Math, 14:21 Social Studies and Science when they take the video lessons 14:25 so I help them on that, but the actual teaching is my favorite, 14:28 which is Music Arts PE and Health. 14:32 - Currently I'm teaching grades 10, 11 and 12. 14:37 Well, here in the high school in Kaupawan, 14:39 you have to teach basically all the subjects. 14:42 Although we have video lessons already for English, 14:44 Math, Science, and Social Studies, 14:47 we still have to basically know all those subjects. 14:53 In case students have questions, we should be ready. 14:57 (speaking in Filipino) 15:00 (calm music) 15:06 - I am here to help teachers to improve their teaching style 15:12 and helping the students also to learn better. 15:14 That means sharing with them some strategies 15:18 for teaching and learning. 15:20 And actually this is a thing that I'm very passionate about 15:23 because I am a great supporter of education, 15:27 but I believe education has to be done right 15:29 in order to really make a change. 15:32 So my idea of education is very centered not only 15:37 in the Bible but also all we have from our pioneers 15:41 and so on in the sense that I believe is very important 15:46 that education is making people more autonomous 15:50 and able to think for themselves. 15:53 In the sense that when we just memorize things, 15:56 we are not really giving students a chance 16:00 to really succeed in life because they won't have 16:04 the tools to go about challenges 16:07 that will come their way and so on. 16:09 And sometimes teachers also are trained in a way 16:13 that is just a repetition of what their teachers did 16:17 in the past and so on, 16:19 so it's nice to have some time to talk 16:21 and really think about the strategies 16:23 and go through even new ways of approaching education, 16:29 and that's what I'm doing here for the next five months. 16:34 - We are very blessed here at Katutubo Excel School 16:39 to have a large enough piece of property. 16:42 Let's see, we have 38 hectares which is approximately 16:48 100 acres that belongs to the school, deeded to the school. 16:55 And we have an elevation difference 16:58 because the school buildings are up on the ridge 17:01 of a 150 meters, so that would be about 450 feet 17:07 down to a creek where we have relatively flat area 17:12 for our school garden. 17:14 And here at the garden it gives employment for the students 17:18 but also, and food for supporting the school 17:23 but also teaches the students how to grow a variety 17:29 of foods, which later our goal is that they would 17:34 duplicate that in their villages 17:36 to improve the nutritional standard of the natives 17:40 here in this area. 17:41 We are using tunnel greenhouses in addition 17:46 to our walk-in greenhouses, and we actually like 17:50 these much better. 17:53 We are using a lot of organic material 17:56 to loosen this clay soil. 17:59 It is hard as cement, in the summer time it's washed out. 18:04 It's been badly abused over the years 18:07 and we're trying to teach our students 18:09 how to recover the soil. 18:13 Now, I haven't been here for a month 18:15 but I'm going to just show you with my fingers 18:17 how easy it is for us to use just our hand 18:22 to work in this beautiful soil. 18:27 Now, in addition to a lot of compost, 18:30 which we make ourselves, and carbonized rice hulls, 18:34 we also have our own worm production, vermicast, vermifuge. 18:40 So we are trying in multiple ways to become self-sufficient 18:48 but we are super happy that we can do this. 18:54 - So you're telling me that you wanted to build a shop 18:56 here and we're talking about doin' it right here 18:59 with the containers are at? 19:01 - Yes, basically we're here coming to the end 19:03 of our road. 19:04 You know here on top there's the wind generator and then 19:07 the housing of administration. 19:08 So here we are at the end of our road 19:12 and we have containers with some of the material donated. 19:16 And the idea is since we have a wide open space here 19:20 to start building a maintenance shop 19:22 where you can also put equipment storage 19:25 where you can train the young people 19:27 how they can learn about carpentry, 19:30 about welding, about repairing things 19:33 that they get equipped with practical skills 19:36 not only knowledge in school. 19:38 - [Jeff] So you're gonna use the container that we've been 19:40 shipping over somehow for building walls or something. 19:42 - Exactly, it will be an outside wall. 19:44 Then the idea is to have two containers apart 19:47 by about 15 feet and on top we will have a rolling, 19:52 I don't know how you call it, like a tripod 19:54 with a chain hoist. 19:56 - Oh yeah, it's like an I beam steel 19:58 for moving heavy equipment. - Exactly, exactly. 20:00 So you can put a generator on a truck. 20:02 You can get an engine out of a truck if you need 20:05 to replace things. 20:06 So we try to use what we have. 20:09 - All the years that I've been coming here 20:10 it's like we have all these things 20:12 that need to be maintained, but we don't really have a place 20:14 to really take care of any of the equipment, 20:17 so having a shop would be a place to be out of the sun 20:19 because even right now this is blistering hot. 20:22 So to be able to be in the shade some place 20:24 and have a place for the tools and everything 20:26 could be locked up would be really good. 20:28 I was just talking to Don. 20:30 Don is the maintenance man for the whole project here 20:32 and he's been working in that little teeny 20:35 generator building is what it is 20:37 to try to fix things in there. 20:38 He doesn't have the space to do it, 20:40 so this is a really important thing. 20:42 - We estimate that the floor dimension will be like 20:44 80 foot by probably 30 feet. 20:47 - That's a pretty good size. - That's a good size, yes. 20:49 Yes, good size. 20:50 We have a donor in the US who is willing to donate I beams. 20:54 So that's good for some of the posts. 20:58 And we have to use metal. 21:01 The termites are so bad they eat anything 21:04 which is out of wood, so we want to have a metal structure. 21:07 I beam posts and then metal trusses and simple roof 21:12 but it adds up. 21:14 Cement and steel and the labor, 21:17 so probably we're looking at about $25,000-- 21:21 - But really isn't that bad for building a shop that size. 21:25 - But for here it's a big amount. 21:27 - (chuckling) Yeah. 21:28 Yeah, it's a next step though for really being able 21:30 to make this operation work better. 21:34 - [Narrator] Laymen Ministries operates 21:35 Church schools projects in three very remote villages 21:38 as well as one school at the base of the mountain 21:41 where we have our academy. 21:42 To staff and supply the remote village projects 21:45 we're extremely dependent on our boat. 21:48 The only other way to get to these villages 21:50 is by a six hour hike over Mount Calavite! 21:57 - Over the 20 years that we have operated 22:01 as Laymen Ministries Philippines, 22:03 we have had three boats because we have to travel 22:11 to remote native villages and we have to travel 22:15 on the open ocean, 22:17 and the South China Sea is very treacherous. 22:22 Our Laymen Ministries II boat had become very dangerous. 22:28 It had become rotten and at that point 22:32 we decided to build a new boat that would better 22:35 meet our needs because of the size of our operation 22:40 has grown so we're dramatically many times we have 22:45 building supplies and a lot of people 22:48 and we need to be very safe. 22:51 Our typical trip on the ocean to the villages 22:56 could be five to six hours on the ocean. 23:01 Then in July of 2018 when the boat was only six months old, 23:08 Mamburao experienced a major flood. 23:11 Mamburao is the city in which we live 23:13 and the river in which we anchored the boat. 23:17 - The boat is at the harbor in the Mamburao River 23:20 and there are many boats around us. 23:23 That's the shelter for storms. 23:25 You go in the river, you tie your boat up tight 23:28 and you protect that against the typhoons 23:31 and the severe weathers which are happening here. 23:34 The water rose so much that it almost went 23:38 up to the bridge at the back. 23:40 It pulled out to the ocean one of the construction boats 23:45 and with it all the other boats which were nicely tied 23:49 to the piers. 23:52 - 50 predominantly fishing boats, 23:56 ours was the only non-fishing boat, 23:59 that was parked in the river, 24:02 were all washed out into the ocean. 24:05 - The provincial government tells us it was the worst flood 24:08 since 40 years. 24:10 People had to be evacuated whole sections 24:12 of the town were evacuated. 24:14 The main road was underneath of the water. 24:17 It was terrible. 24:19 - Our boat had two anchors on it plus three or four 24:25 ropes tying it to different secure areas 24:30 but when a two-meter flood, two-meter rush of water, 24:36 wall of water, two meters is six feet roughly, 24:42 washed through and boats started breaking their tie, 24:50 then one would be stacked against the other 24:52 and then finally just wash the whole river totally clean. 24:56 Water can be extremely powerful 24:59 and in this case with all of these boats 25:02 stacking up on each other and tumbling, 25:06 they got washed out into the ocean. 25:09 - When our captain informed us about what happened, 25:11 we immediately prayed. 25:13 We did not know the full story. 25:15 He himself was evacuated 25:17 and he didn't know the full picture. 25:19 We went to the coastguard, to the police, 25:22 to the military, to the provincial government. 25:24 We asked everybody we knew for help 25:27 to find our boat and retrieve it. 25:30 - In other areas where there was no flood, 25:34 the fisherman could get on the ocean, 25:39 they stripped the boats including ours. 25:40 When we found our boat it was submerged to within 25:47 maybe a meter of the top of the boat. 25:52 And we were able through a very kind gentleman, 25:58 who own a fishing boat, to hire him to pull 26:03 our boat in near Mamburao. 26:06 We finally got it beached and emptied the water, 26:10 emptied the sand that was in it. 26:13 Our boat had extensive damage. 26:17 Not only broken ribs, broken side walls, 26:23 of course being totally submerged 26:26 the engine had to be totally rebuilt. 26:31 There was also major damage to the shaft 26:35 and the propeller. 26:37 And the total cost of repairing the boat, 26:45 making it sea worthy again was an excess of $12,000. 26:52 We really are appreciative for the donors 26:56 who stepped in and helped us rebuild our boat 27:02 so that we could again service our schools 27:08 in these remote areas. 27:10 So thank you very much for joining hands with us 27:16 and putting our boat back in condition. 27:20 (triumphant music) 27:29 Just this last Sabbath we had eight adults 27:35 baptized in one village by their request. 27:41 This is a long time in coming. 27:46 It's a major, major change in these people's lives 27:53 that they would accept Christianity 27:56 and accept the need and the desire to want 28:04 to serve the creator, God. 28:07 (gentle music) |
Revised 2023-04-11