Karusuan and the Prayed for Helicopter
Karusuan with the all purpose building in background built by the villagers
Wendy Harris
We don’t often get around to writing follow up stories from previous newsletters but here is one we had to write. You may remember a story I wrote 2 years ago while we were in Palawan of a village man that showed up to church one day requesting our help saying, “We don’t want any other religion in our village except the religion of Kamantian." (Many people associate our work with AFM's because we work together to reach the Palawano people.) Though we have many requests like this, somehow this one seemed different and it was hard to say no to his urgent plea to start a church in his village. We felt we had to at least go and make a visit. So two of our local Bible workers and I made arrangements and the next week we arrived at the designated meeting place. We were surprised to learn that the village was actually a couple hours hike up the mountain, with 5 crossings of a raging river! Durialan, the village leader who met us told us that many people were waiting for us because they wanted to learn about the Bible. We looked at each other wondering what to do as we were unprepared for a hike, but we decided without hesitation that we must go! We set off on an adventure with homemade walking sticks and with Durialan to help us cross the rivers. We arrived to the beautiful mountainside village with luscious greenery and a spectacular view of the ocean. We had the most wonderful visit with the friendliest, most eager villagers of Karusuan. We shared with them about a loving God who gave His Word to us in a book so we could learn about Him and know how to live. They were amazingly attentive to our stories and health lectures. We asked them if they had ever heard the story of creation or Noah or Jesus but they all said “no”, they had never heard any stories from the Bible! When it was time to go, the inevitable question came, “When will you come back?” We had to honestly tell them we had no idea how long it would be. We told them to pray for more missionaries and/or a helicopter that could help make the best use of the missionaries' time and also help with their medical emergencies.
The Rest of the Story
As we suspected, with limited missionaries and with our return back to our other airbase in northern Luzon, another visit had still not been made after 2 years. We had very occasional contact with the villagers throughout the years when we would see them at the lowland market. We told them that we hadn't forgotten them and to keep praying for more missionaries and a helicopter!
The Long Prayed for Helicopter
This last May we were privileged to finally bring the long prayed for helicopter to Palawan! It didn't take long for regular calls to start coming in with requests from remote missionaries with AFM, PFM, and our project in Kabulnukan for medical evacuations. But we did not forget about Karusuan. As soon as we found them at the lowland market we told them the good news about the helicopter and instructed them how to clear a landing pad. We promised to visit them soon, but 'soon' wasn’t good enough for them and they persistently called asking when we would come to start a church in their village! They said, “Ma’am, how can we go to church when the nearest church is so far from us and the river is so high!”
First Helicopter Visit
The day finally came for us to visit Karusuan for the first time in the helicopter. The flight is only 5 minutes from our airbase (versus a 40 minute drive plus a 1.5 hour hike if the river is not too high). Many villagers were happily waiting for us! They crowded into a tiny hut near the landing pad and pressed in to hear the continuation of the Bible stories we started 2 years before. Many could not fit in the hut and had to peek through the bamboo walls, and when the rain came it was difficult for all to find shelter. We found many people with Malaria and other complaints so we treated as many as we could before we had to leave.
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