The work goes on

Posted by: trudilaflair on Friday, March 20th, 2009

img_8178smWendy:

Expansion/Bible studies growing
First of all praise God for the expansions in the work here in Palawan. God opened up the way last Sabbath to add another Bible study group in the area near our land and we have both Bible studies and children's programs led by local SDA church members now. THEN, we just found out today there is another group wanting Bible studies! Simion (the charter member of the Cabar church and the donor of our land) plans to take some other church members and Eric to start that group this Sabbath.

Active local membersbible-study-man
I'm impressed at many of the church members around here who are so willing and eager to do mission work and service for God. From the young ones on up they all seem to know how to lead a children's program or a Bible study or get up front with little hesitation. They often walk for miles to get to church and then farther to get to their Bible studies and some of them have major deformities and hindrances that would give most people a valid excuse to stay at home on Sabbath afternoon. We are beginning to see the great need these churches have for vehicles to do their mission work. Their range of service is greatly limited at this time due to lack of transportation. We are doing what we can to transport them, but in all that we are doing here, we are trying to make things self-sufficient so they can continue on whether we are here or not.

tagalogDonated Bibles
The people have been begging for reading material, even though only their children can read. We had some Tagalog Bibles donated and were able to hand those out last Sabbath--one per family--20 Bibles in all between the two groups. (Those were organized by Danny Henson, our Bible worker and the one that organized the first Bible study group to begin with).

Growing medical needs
The medical needs are becoming more pressing in this area near our land, as we expected and we see the need to provide more education, natural remedies, and medications where it seems best, so we are continuing to pray and look for more nurses and help in that area. We took some of the chronic, possible TB patients and other more pressing ones to the health center in town yesterday and today to get checked out and treated. It takes a good portion of our time doing medical work. But, it is what the people need before they can listen very well to what we preach. Our job is to show our love for others and that opens the door to tell them about God's love.

Meeting the needs
We are making plans to take some church members and go out there once a week or so during the week and spend some more time with the sick ones. We will give health education, natural remedies, pray with them and give medications where needed. We'd also like to start a kind of dorcas or small store or something where we can provide clothes, soap, mosquito nets and healthful food etc. at very low cost or in exchange for produce.

No time to lose
We've been feeling the need to study a lot more of the Bible and EGW recently with so many decisions to be made regarding medical, evangelical, building plans, personnel and otherwise. And with these times we are living in, there is no time to be wasting or getting off track. We've been reading Ministry of Healing, Great Controversy and Acts of the Apostles, and have been gaining a lot from them. One thing I've been seeing more and more is the need for more prayer and more use of natural remedies and giving patients hope and pointing them to Jesus more than anything else we do.

Mobile clinics/Need for more medical personnel
We have some short-term Filipino nurses and doctors that plan to come and help with some mobile clinics we have planned for the more remote areas in the helicopter in a few weeks, and we hope to find some that are willing to stay long-term to continue this work when we move on to start new work. We also have one helicopter pilot in the works and we are encouraged with some recent progress on his license and things that have to be done before they can come.

kentHelicopter saves poisoned boy
The helicopter continues to be a blessing. The other day a first grader from our school in Kamantian ate some poisonous seeds and went unconscious and Dwayne was able to fly him out immediately and get treated at the hospital here in Brooke's Point. He recovered quickly and is back in school as far as I know.

Land/building project continues
Things are coming along with the land and building project for a hanger and missionary housing. This is the top priority right now so the guys spend most of their time with that and I try not to slow them down with my medical work which needs the truck a lot.

The truck in front of our apartments.New apartment
God has also blessed us with the "desires of our hearts" and provided a bigger temporary apartment next door! It is sooo nice to have a place to put everything now and not run over each other as we move around the house! And it is so much cooler with more windows! It's amazing to actually have a living room for people to sit when they come to visit instead of having to stand outside!

We're really excited about the growth and opportunities coming at us every day and we just praise God for your prayers and support. We believe the Holy Spirit is being poured out as these last days are really here upon us.

Sincerely,
Wendy and Dwayne Harris

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