Malaria again and PFM trip
Dwayne: I am recovering from the worst malaria episode that I have had. It started 4 days ago. I had close to 104 degree temps a lot of the time. Part of why it lasted so long was I was trying some natural stuff (Demol) that you spray under the tongue at certain intervals. It really seemed to have worked for some of the student missionaries up here so I thought I would give it a try. Unfortunately, it just prolonged my misery. But I praise God for the miracle of health for the last 9 months that I have gone without any Malaria.
Other than the last 4 days, the past couple of weeks have been good. God has been opening doors for us to work with some of the Philippine Frontier Mission projects that are within our reach. Wendy and I visited one across the mountains from Brooke's Point that is about a 15 minute flight. These PFM missionary girls, in their mid-20's have a three-hour hike from the nearest small town and an expensive, five-hour bus drive to Puerto Princessa where they can get most supplies.
They have a nice little open-air church with several baptized members, and they are teaching basic reading and writing to the kids. They spend a lot of their time just treating sick people--hiking to their homes and using the charcoal and basic medicines that they have to treat with. They live on approximately $65 a month and their monthly project money is around $25. Because of the limited resources they have, there is little to buy medicine with.
I praise God that we have no set stipend or budget to work within, but are free to give as much as is needed, knowing that God will provide as He sees fit. Because of this, we are in a position to greatly assist the work of these dedicated missionaries by exercising our faith in freely giving what we freely receive. We are able to help them with medicine and in time saving with the helicopter, using our project donations as it comes in. Pray that God will use our medical visits to open doors for their Bible work.
Last week I flew Leonda George over the mountain to a neighboring valley for a meeting with some village officials about opening a school they'd been asking for years about. As Leonda talked with them about it, they said they also wanted a church. Mrs. George had not yet mentioned anything about a church. We thank God for continuing to open doors in expanding the Georges work here as well.
Wendy: We are at the end of a quick trip to Puerto right now and I am finally able to write a little addition to this letter. Dwayne already mentioned some of the highlights of the last few weeks, but I will add that our visit to the PFM project the other day was very fun and encouraging to me. Even the smallest little handful of medicine or an occasional trip to town in the helicopter to help them get supplies would help them out so much and hopefully help their ministry.
One of our reasons for coming to town this time was to pick up medicines and supplies to be able to start helping these projects out more. It is a big job but I actually was having fun picking out all the things I thought we'd need for the next month or so. You can get most basic medicines and supplies here, though it is slightly more expensive than in the States. It is cheaper to get things in Manila so we are just getting what we need from here for now.
Another main reason for coming out was to pick up our new missionary couple that is coming today! They are the Hensons. She is a Filipina, he's an American and they are excited to serve God here for an unset amount of time.
Dwayne's brother, Eric is here now also and he has been up and down the mountain a couple times working and helping wherever there is a need. He and Dwayne have spent several days over in Kensuli (the new school and growing church across the river) using their building skills helping Pastor George and Sunday build a long needed house for Sunday and his family (They are a Filipino missionary couple who have been here for years).
We thank you for your prayers for this project and the health of the missionaries and church members so we can continue forward without delays. We wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving with family and friends. Wish we could be with you. But soon we can have the biggest Thanksgiving reunion of all and that is something to look forward to!
God bless each of you.
Love, Wendy and Dwayne
Updates and thanks:
-Praise God and thank you for just enough donations in our project fund that helped us to get needed medicines and supplies to help with PFM projects/medical visits that we will be holding at the end of this month and in the future.
-Keep praying for helicopter fuel to become available in Puerto soon. We still haven't been able to get anymore and the price is still very expensive.
-Thanks for your prayers on land for a base and helicopter hanger in the lowlands. Things are moving along and we pray that God will speed up the process of purchasing land soon.
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