Participants: Jeff Reich
Series Code: LM
Program Code: LM100133S
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01:00 It's about five o'clock in the morning.
01:01 We are loading the boat have to go out through the villages, 01:04 picking up some of the supplies to the missionaries there. 01:06 The villagers were the heartbeat of the educational program 01:09 goes on here at Laymen Ministries. 01:10 We're excited to take you with us this morning, 01:12 go out and see what's happening. 01:33 We are pulling out of port in Mamburao, 01:35 heading across Paluan Bay on the South China Sea 01:39 to the remote village of Binuangan. 01:42 The trip started out uneventful 01:44 as the morning sun lit up the sky. 01:47 The closer we got to open sea, 01:49 the more the wind and the waves began to pickup. 02:05 Our boat was greeted by all the school children 02:07 and the missionaries. 02:13 This is what happens every time 02:15 the boat brings in supplies to the missionaries. 02:18 Every one helps to unload the boat. 02:40 This children who belong to the Aryan tribe 02:43 and were once so shy, they would hide, 02:46 bombarded me with hugs. 03:06 The wind was blowing about 40 miles an hour, 03:08 when we was cross Paluan Bay this morning. 03:10 And the waves were probably about two meters tall 03:12 which you've got six feet tall with whitecaps 03:15 and so we weren't able to get very good video footage 03:17 this morning on the boat. 03:19 You can see here, the wind is just blowing, like crazy. 03:27 I am Jeff Lloren, Lloren from Mindanao, 03:31 the Southern part of the Philippines. 03:33 My name is Franklin Gonzales 03:35 and I came from San Jose. 03:40 My name is Janice Lloren and I'm from Mindanao. 03:44 My name is Lowella Grace Gonzales. 03:48 My name is Chesa Lamagui 03:50 and I came from Pili and it's in Biliran, 03:56 a part of-- a former part of Leyte. 03:59 I'm from Central Visayas. 04:02 Here in Binuangan, 04:03 I work as a teacher and I'm teaching grade two. 04:09 Also in the Church during Sabbath day, 04:12 I work also as a church pastor. 04:14 And we preach to the people 04:19 and we give them also Bible studies. 04:22 I work here in Binuangan as a kinder teacher. 04:28 I'm teaching here in Binuangan, 04:30 and actually this is my first year 04:32 to be back from college. 04:34 I'm teaching the grade six students. 04:37 I work in Binuangan as a teacher 04:40 for grade one and grade three 04:42 and we are also serving as village leaders. 04:47 And sometimes we also serve as doctors. 04:51 We knew already, they told us everything 04:53 that we are going to teach but, 04:56 what surprised me a bit is that, 04:59 I didn't know that, 05:02 our work is not really to teach the children 05:05 but to teach the whole village, 05:07 like everybody from young to old. 05:10 I thought that we are just going to teach in the classroom 05:14 but actually we are teaching 05:19 parents also and everybody in the village. 05:23 Knowing that the kids learn form you 05:25 and it's really a great feeling, 05:28 and I don't know, I cannot describe, 05:30 it's really it really gives you 05:34 an incomparable happiness. 05:38 This will be our four years 05:40 of working in the Laymen Ministries. 05:43 But, actually we didn't think that 05:45 we were able to stay that period of time 05:50 because when we came here 05:51 we thought only of staying here for seven months. 05:55 But when God calls us to work, 05:57 then we cannot really say no to Him. 06:00 Without knowledge of God's word 06:03 then these people will not be able to know 06:06 Jesus in their life. 06:09 It's really an important thing 06:11 for us to teach these people about the word of God. 06:16 To destroy the kale. 06:17 ( speaking in foreign language ) 06:21 What do you use to put out the fire? 06:23 Water. Okay, water. 06:24 You said right. 06:25 You sense sometimes right to put out the fire. 06:28 This is a command. 06:33 Verses or stories or sentences 06:36 from the Bible that is the declarative. 06:39 The village of Binuangan 06:40 is one of the most recent villages 06:42 that we entered about eight years ago 06:43 on this end of Island of Mindoro. 06:45 And lot of challenges when you first start a project 06:48 like this in this remote Katutubo villages 06:50 but by God's grace, there's been a lot of progress. 06:53 Last year, we had two German missionaries, 06:55 group missionaries, actually they came here 06:57 and they raise some funds from Germany 06:58 to build this new church in Binuangan. 07:01 And so now have a very thriving village here 07:04 with a lot of things happening with the education 07:06 and it's amazing to watch the young kids, 07:09 actually leading out in the church services here. 07:11 'Cause really the purpose that Laymen Ministries here, 07:14 is to train the nationals 07:16 to be able to minister to their own people. 07:18 Our job, even though it might be kind of a long haul 07:21 is going to try to train these people 07:23 to become teachers to their own people, 07:24 to be preachers to their own people, 07:26 working among their own people group. 07:27 Ultimately, they put Laymen Ministries 07:29 out of business in this village. 07:31 Laymen Ministries doesn't just come in and work 07:33 for like two weeks and so some kind 07:34 of evangelistic series and leave. 07:36 We're in the long haul 07:37 to set a proper type of grounding to take place 07:40 so that these kids can actually do 07:42 what we are doing right now 07:43 within amongst their own people group. 07:47 When we first came here 07:50 the students were very shy 07:51 like, would not stand for people, 07:55 and would not sing. 07:56 Well, they sometime covered their faces when they sang. 07:59 But, as time passed by there was really a change 08:04 in their behavior and their confidence. 08:08 Now they are more confident 08:10 and what really amazes us 08:13 is that they are now leading the church. 08:17 They share with others 08:19 what they have learned from the school 08:22 and from the church. 08:24 And it's really amazing to see our young people 08:26 leading in the church. 08:27 And not only leading but preaching. 08:30 ( singing in foreign language ) 08:53 We left this morning at five o'clock 08:55 for Pinagbayanan in pitch black dark 08:57 'cause we thought maybe the Amihan winds 08:58 would be a lot less. 09:00 We are out there and down that they won't long last, 09:02 so we are battling waves 09:04 and probably 40, 45 mile an hour winds plus 09:09 and we made it here. 09:10 And we have a sheltered bay here in Pinagbayanan. 09:13 It's kind of nice to park in the boat. 09:24 I was excited to meet old friends 09:25 and the new student missionaries here in Pinagbayanan. 09:39 We have arrived right when they were starting 09:41 their flag raising ceremony. 09:49 We had worshiped together with the staff 09:51 where I shared words of encouragement. 10:02 My name is Sarah Harms 10:03 and I'm 23-years-old and I'm from Germany. 10:07 Hey, my name is Kelvin Moses Arellano, 10:09 I'm 23-years-old from Oriental Mindoro. 10:14 My name is Sunshine L. Trapse, 10:16 I'm 21-years-old. 10:18 I'm Matthias Stroeck, I'm from Germany. 10:21 I'm now 18-years-old 10:23 and I'm from the city of Cuxhaven, Germany. 10:26 I am a missionary teacher, 10:27 I am teaching grade two in Pinagbayanan 10:30 in a small village in the Philippines. 10:33 I'm teaching here in Pinagbayanan Katutubo Excell. 10:37 Pinagbayanan Katutubo Excell School. 10:40 I'm here as a missionary teacher 10:42 and I'm teaching kinder A. 10:46 Working here in Laymen Ministries 10:48 Pinagbayanan Katutubo Excell School 10:50 as grade one teacher. 10:52 Life in the Philippines, you know, it's very different 10:55 form Germany or from the USA. 10:58 I was first a little bit shocked when I saw all these huts, 11:01 and how the people are living here. 11:04 It's very exciting and adventurous 11:06 to teach in this village. 11:08 The people here still believe in some spirits. 11:12 It's sometimes also hard for us 11:15 to influence them in Christianity, 11:19 if they still have 11:20 sometimes the background of some spirits. 11:23 It seems for me that Jesus is closer here, or something else 11:27 because we don't have the technology 11:29 like cell phone, cell phone we have, 11:32 but we're not using so much like TV, 11:34 like radio and all those things, 11:36 and it seem that without all those things 11:40 I'm closer to Jesus. 11:42 Very nice to be a missionary 11:44 because here I'm very far from city life 11:50 And I can live here in a quite and peace. 11:56 This is an experience you will have 11:58 for your whole life. 11:59 This is a time where you can build up 12:01 a relationship to Christ 12:02 which you will have no where. 12:04 Here no internet. 12:06 No telemo, telecommunication. 12:09 And so you can really focus 12:12 in your relationship and you can pray. 12:14 And through all the experiences 12:16 you have here in the village, 12:17 you experience Christ and God in your life. 12:19 This is what I'm happy about here. 12:22 During Sabbath afternoon we had outreach, 12:25 and we visited some places on the mountain, 12:30 a remote area with children like a Katutubo 12:33 and it really impressed me like that. 12:36 If ever that God touch you 12:38 or call you don't ever hesitate. 12:44 Accept, grab the opportunity 12:46 and teach and be a missionary 12:48 and ambassador of Christ. 12:50 I can only encourage every, 12:52 everyone, everybody to come here to the Philippines 12:55 and experience for yourself 12:58 what God will do in your life when you come here. 13:01 What we are witnessing right is 13:03 what is referred to as Amihan, 13:05 which means the prevailing Northeastern winds. 13:08 The gushes are probably around 40, 45 miles an hour and more. 13:12 The swells on the ocean are around two meters 13:15 which is about six, seven, eight feet 13:17 right in there up and down. 13:19 We actually left the village of Binuangan, 13:21 Binuangan in this morning, really early 13:23 before day break in the dark, on the boat, 13:26 hoping that the sea would be quite calm. 13:28 But we ended up getting into some 13:29 really gale force winds and big huge swells. 13:32 And it was quite frightening, 13:33 'cause we were in the dark, 13:34 the first half hour, 45 minutes of our trip. 13:38 And it's been like this is the whole time 13:39 we've been on this side of the island. 13:41 Now what we're wondering is should 13:43 we actually take the trip 13:44 with the boat tomorrow morning 13:45 around this end of the island, 13:47 right into the Amihan and try to get 13:49 to the village of Agbalite. 13:51 I think it helps you to have an understanding 13:53 of the challenges that the missionaries 13:54 have in getting supplies 13:56 to some of these villages, 13:57 different times of the year, 13:59 depending on the weather conditions like these. 14:06 Well, the decision has been made this morning, 14:08 we're gonna walk all the way to Agbalite, 14:09 because the Amihan is too big for the boat 14:12 to be able to go around there, 14:14 too dangerous for the boats. 14:15 So as you can see the waves are pretty big, 14:18 part of the way that we have to walk along the beach. 14:20 And then we have to go up into the mountain lines 14:22 some trails that are harder to even find 14:24 and then make our way over to Agbalite, this morning. 15:17 When we arrived to Agbalite, 15:19 we are greeted by Din, 15:20 a long time missionary with Laymen Ministries. 15:25 The kids were clean 15:26 and very attentive to their studies. 15:28 Well, this was exam time too 15:31 so they were really concentrating. 15:34 I am Dino Pernia. And the people call me Din. 15:40 I am Isabel Alplaus Paz. 15:44 I'm 26-years-old and I'm from Sablayan, 15:49 Occidental Mindoro. 15:50 I am Dada Indico Pernia. 15:55 And I came from Region V Naga. 16:00 I'm teaching grade one and two 16:06 and, I'm enjoying my work here as a teacher. 16:11 Being a missionary is a matter of-- 16:18 putting yourself into a commitment 16:19 with God that whatever happens, 16:22 you would trust God with whatever challenges 16:25 you might experience in the village. 16:27 My friends would say like my classmates would say, 16:30 "Oh, you're in the jungle 16:32 and you couldn't even go to the town for five months," 16:36 like that, but I had been, I had been telling them that 16:41 its rewarding to work here with this Katutubo, 16:46 my students and with the people also. 16:49 In this village many parents 16:55 are not supported too, 16:59 to finish the education of the students, 17:01 and the old folks here discourage 17:05 the students to continue their studies. 17:07 With my students they inside the classroom, 17:12 it is a challenge that my students 17:15 before they were so shy to express themselves 17:19 and right now they can express themselves, 17:21 they can express their thoughts and that's what I think 17:27 one of the best encouraging 17:32 experience I have here. 17:36 This is Nardi. And how old you are, Nardi? 17:40 I am sorry. Ten years old. 17:43 Eight? Ten. 17:44 Ten. You're 10 years old. 17:46 And you live in, what village? 17:50 What's the name of your village? 17:54 You don't know where you live? 18:00 This is Agbelite, isn't it? 18:04 Now she is decided that she's gonna show us 18:06 where she lives 18:07 and so we wanted to take you to Nardi's house 18:10 and to see how her Katutubo home is in for her. 18:14 Is your mother home at your house? No. 18:18 Your father, tatay. 18:21 Your tatay or your babae? 18:24 Her mother passed away. Oh, okay. 18:27 So you want to go to your house? 18:29 Let's go. 18:32 I've been coming to Agbelite for many years, 18:34 so I know this village really well. 18:38 I let you go first. After you, ma'am. 18:58 This is her typical Katutubo home. 19:00 I guess the father, 19:01 they call tatay is not feeling too good. 19:04 ( speaking in foreign language ) 19:08 And he's got a nice house here. 19:12 Shall I go in? Okay. 19:15 Oh, she is been really shy. 19:17 This is a traditional Katutubo home. 19:19 The family will sleep together on one bed here. 19:23 And this is sister. 19:27 ( speaking in foreign language ) 19:31 And they do their cooking like this. 19:33 This is the kitchen table. 19:34 And the typical patch roof here. 19:37 And then sometimes they'll have like another bedroom, 19:40 like up here, where the family will sleep. 19:42 So this actually house has a couple of different bedrooms. 19:45 And then I'm not really quite sure what this room is, 19:50 they have a couple of little rooms here, 19:51 where they have some different things in it, 19:53 but you can see how simple they live, 19:54 they have like, a dirt floor, cooking with wood inside. 19:59 And really, just really simple construction, 20:01 also these lumbers made with chainsaw. 20:04 And it's a fairly hardwood that. 20:07 So it's just a standard typical Katutubo home. 20:10 Some times, it could be like five, six children 20:12 and mother and father living in a place like this. 21:31 Today is Friday morning 21:32 and we're going to drive all the way over to Sablayan 21:34 to visit Louie and Abel the Prison Ministry for Sabbath. 21:37 This is a little bit of a Deja vu, 21:39 because probably about five, six, seven years ago, 21:41 we did exactly the same thing on video, 21:43 except we were driving a beat up little van 21:46 that we borrowed from our friend. 21:48 And we really question weather or not 21:49 it was gonna make it all the way over there or not. 21:51 But now we're driving Laymen Ministries 21:53 little ranger pickup truck 21:54 which we are being blessed with here. 21:56 So we're gonna check out what's happening 21:57 with the prison ministry and we're gonna show you 21:59 just a few sites along the way on the drive 22:01 all the way down to Sablayan. 22:23 About 10 years ago, when we used to do this 22:24 drive to Sablayan, we take the buses 22:27 and about two thirds of this road was gravel 22:30 and it was terrible. 22:31 You would have to have a cloth to put over your mouth 22:33 and the dust was just building up. 22:34 By the time you got there, 22:36 you really need to take a quick rest, 22:38 just to get the dirt off your body. 22:56 In the Philippines, agriculture is a very big part 22:59 of their culture, 23:00 much of its sinners around planting 23:02 and harvesting rice, which is a main staple here. 23:26 Another common agricultural product 23:28 in the Philippines is corn. 23:38 A good part of the corn harvest is used to feed livestock. 23:41 The green kernels are laid out on a flat surface 23:44 like a basketball court or a highway to fully dry. 23:48 This way the corn can be stored for a longer period of time. 24:31 On Sabbath morning, we took Laymen Ministries' 24:34 miracle Jeepney to the prison. 24:36 We call it a miracle Jeepney, 24:37 because it is proven itself indestructible over the years, 24:41 even being swamped once in a river for nearly two days. 24:46 This is a regular routine every Sabbath 24:48 as lay member from churches in the surrounding areas 24:51 are picked up to go help minister 24:53 and participate in the prison church services 24:55 with the inmates. 24:59 ( singing in foreign language ) 25:18 My name is Abel Miralles. 25:21 I have a wife and two daughters. 25:23 I work in the prison ministry by the Laymen Ministries. 25:28 I've been working with the Laymen Ministries 25:31 in the prison ministry about 13 years. 25:36 I've been involved with the prison ministry 25:38 for about 12-years now. 25:42 The area of the prison facilities 25:46 is about 62,000 acres. 25:50 It's a very huge facility. 25:52 The objective of prison ministry 25:54 is to educate inmates spiritually 25:59 because we want to recover 26:02 their lost moral and spiritual aspects. 26:06 Every Saturday from the Sabbath School program 26:08 down to the hour of worship service, 26:12 they are the ones doing the program alone. 26:15 As we teach the inmates 26:16 there are consistent discipleship happening 26:20 because of the evening Bible study inside the dormitory 26:25 where the inmates are teaching their fellow inmates 26:29 and also the things that they are learning 26:31 when we are around. 26:33 That's one of the great factors that we should consider. 26:38 The inmates come and go but as the inmates go inside 26:46 when they were released they went out as a missionary. 26:51 There are inmates who have been released 26:53 and they are living now outside the prison, 26:56 most of them are in the central part of the Philippines, 27:00 and we have communication with each other, 27:03 especially during Friday evening they send text messages 27:10 telling that they are in the church 27:15 attending the vesper 27:17 and greeting us "Happy Sabbath!" 27:19 It's very rewarding to hear 27:24 that after the inmates were released 27:27 they still continue with their faith. 27:28 According to 2 Peter 3:18 "Grow in grace 27:34 and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." |
Revised 2025-02-04