OB Emergency (Lali’s life saved again)
Lali's delivery 9 years ago
I expected the worst, but was still amazed by what I saw. Lali's husband, Buba and another friend trudged down the trail covered in sweat and mud with Lali in a hammock on a pole. Lali was white as a sheet and in and out of consciousness. Another girl, Bapa, with muddy and tattered clothes, carried the baby who was still covered in blood, mucous and poop since his birth 9 hours earlier. I asked Carrie, the AFM nurse (in Kemantian) how the baby was doing and she said, "His heart rate is low." As they awkwardly tried to figure out how to place Lali across the back seat of our truck, blood oozing everywhere, I said, "Never mind the blood. Hurry, let's go!" And we all jumped in and raced for the hospital, praying the whole way.
When I got the call earlier that morning from Carrie, I knew very well the patient, the place, and the situation. I had taken care of this same girl with the same problem 9 years ago with her second baby at the age of 14. (This is now baby number 4. Baby one and two did not live past 1 year). This time the baby was born at 10 p.m., the placenta did not deliver, and they called Carrie at 2:30 a.m. to hike up to their village and help. Last time, God helped me to deliver the placenta in their home and Lali miraculously stabilized so we did not have to take her out. But I know this is not always the case and we trust Him no matter how He answers.
In the hospital, the nurses looked at our group with obvious disgust, though they are used to us bringing patients in this way. Several of us missionaries worked quickly to get medicines, lab tests, and blood donors. It seemed painfully slow but they finally got Lali started with the first blood transfusion and into the O.R. When they wheeled Lali out of the O.R. and back into the ward, she looked great! I explained to the family that the doctor was able to remove the placenta without surgery and that she and the baby were going to be fine! Buba (the husband) listened intently and began to cry . . . tears of joy. He thanked us for our help and we prayed a thanksgiving prayer to God for saving Lali's life once again.
Helicopter Funds Begin!
We’re back again after 3 months of traveling, seeing family, and sharing in churches etc. Dwayne spent 3 intense weeks doing flight training and now he has his flight instructor rating for both multi and single engine airplanes. This will help him keep other missionary pilots current and enable him to give them some advanced training. We had a great time, especially with family, but it’s nice to be “home”! (Actually we were only home (in north Luzon) for a week and now we’re in Palawan doing the annual inspections on both airplanes).
Helicopter Funds Begin!
We can hardly wait to tell you that your faithful prayers for a helicopter are being answered! A donor has offered $150K towards a helicopter, provided we can come up with the matching funds towards the rest. Another friend has also pledged at least $40K so we are finally on our way for the much needed helicopter! We’re looking for a used, 4-seater Robinson R44, which runs for around $300K.
As we’re here in Palawan now, we are reminded of the needs even more again for a helicopter. Just hearing the stories from the AFM and other missionaries here gives us new urgency for this to become a reality soon!
Laboring Woman loses Baby
Just one of many stories is of a Palawano friend of ours who was giving birth the other day in the mountains and the missionary nurse found that the umbilical cord was coming out first (a dangerous situation)! She gently pushed it back in and they carried the lady out on the 3 hour, slippery trail, and drove her to the hospital. Not surprisingly, the baby did not make it on the long journey, but thankfully, the mom survived. This unnecessary death (and trial for all involved) might have been spared had we been able to evacuate her in a 10- minute flight from door-to-door. Unfortunately, this is not an uncommon story, as these types of emergencies happen on a regular basis.
Bible Workers Anxious to Reach the Unreached
One of our older (late 70’s) Bible workers here has been anxious for a long time to go deeper into the mountains to reach those who have never heard the Good News, but no one has time to help him go. We always tell him to keep praying for a helicopter so we can reach these people with the limited time and workers that we have.
In fact, one year ago he and I and another missionary hiked up a mountain, crossing a flooded stream multiple times to reach a village because they were requesting us to come and teach them about God. The villagers came from far and wide to the little hut on the mountain and they just soaked up the Bible stories and health lectures we gave them. They were so thankful for our visit and asked when we would come again. It broke my heart to tell them honestly I didn't know when it would be (knowing that our Bible workers already have so many requests for Bible studies that they can't keep up with the ones they've already started). I told them to pray for more missionaries and for a helicopter so we could come regularly to teach them. They were disappointed but they seemed to understand. No one has visited them since. I hope to visit them while I’m here.
Our other Bible workers are also anxious to reach into more remote villages, but that would mean leaving their other Bible studies unattended for several days or more every time they would go for a visit.
In the News
Welcome Baby Seth!
Wendy had the privilege of being here just in time to help Pris and Sean with their new baby boy who was born last Friday. They drove to Puerto in record time and Pris gave birth 4 hours later in the Adventist Hospital of Palawan! The bumpy road helped speed things along, no doubt! Praise God for the gift of a healthy baby and normal delivery! Sean continues to stay busy with multiple med-evac flights each week for the remote, Muslim island of Mapun (except right now while Dwayne is working on the planes)
Goodbye to long-term Missionaries
Recently we had to say goodbye to our faithful missionaries of the last 5 years! Andriy, Tanya and kids have returned to the Ukraine and they will stay there indefinitely until we get a helicopter for him to fly. We will miss them greatly and we pray it will not be long before God provides a helicopter and they will be back again.
Missionaries back again
We praise God for bringing Briane and joy (and 2 girls) who will watch over things now at the Luzon project, especially whenever we’re gone. We are so happy to have them back again with their passion for missions, talents in soul-winning and music, and their language abilities (both Ilocano and Tagalog since they grew up in this area).
Briane and Joy stayed in our house while we were gone and have been a big blessing in continuing the children’s ministries (of Tanya, Andriy, and Anzhela) at our nearby Banuar SDA church. They have now divided the youth from the younger kids, which we see is helping to keep the youth engaged and more consistent. It’s amazing how this church stays full with kids 3 days a week, but only a handful of adults attend. The kids have learned so much that they often know more then the church members themselves! We’ll tell you more next time about all the exciting things going on there. We're also still praying for a helicopter for this large, unreached area of north Luzon as well.
If you'd like to help, please click the "Donate" button on the top of this website, or contact us by clicking on the "contact us" button. To help with the helicopter, simply specify your donation for "Helicopter fund."
Thank you!
Making Friends for Eternity
Off to a good start
The new year started with joy and sleepless nights for missionary pilot and nurse Andriy & Tanya, and daughter Anzhela, with the birth of their first son Nazar! The end of January brought much appreciated help from Dwayne’s brother, Eric and wife, Katie who sacrificed a month of vacation time for manual labor and cold showers! We took them to Palawan where Eric visited old friends from his time there 5 years ago. Dwayne finished the annual inspection on the Cessna and Sean, our Palawan pilot, and Dwayne did some supply drops into the mountains. We flew on to Mindanao where we officially began work on the next airbase which will be at the old MVC (Mountain View College) airstrip. After doing all we could in Mindanao, we headed back “home” to north Luzon where the guys built a fuel shed and a “chipper” machine for recycling branches into mulch for the fruit trees and garden. Katie helped Wendy finish a big project preparing 29 nights of crafts for a children’s program.
New Missionaries to Dark Provinces
We took another journey last month to the “Mountain Province” in northern Luzon, which is one of the most beautiful and also least reached with the Seventh-day Adventist last-day message. In this area English is preferred over Tagalog, but many of the tribal groups are isolated with different languages and strange customs. The Ifugao tribes are known worldwide for their hard work and incredible skills in rice-terracing. They are lesser known for their not-so-long ago rituals such as hanging their dead in coffins on the sides of rock cliffs and even cannibalism! Just a few months ago we were praying with our district pastor for more missionaries for these neglected areas. God answered our prayers and helped us place three more missionaries in the field! Though we realize it is a drop in the bucket, we know God specializes in doing much with little! Please pray for these missionaries and the great work God has given them. We also ask for your continued prayers for Heaven’s resources to be opened in providing helicopters to speed this work!
A broken heart and the heart of missions
The joys and the heart of missions is in the personal friendships made and in seeing lives changed. All around us in this world there are people in crisis - people longing for relief from emotional and physical pain that money cannot fix. These pictures are just a few of the stories of lives we’ve had the privilege of touching recently. Another story not pictured is a young man in his late 30’s that we, our district pastor, and some SDA youth started visiting lately. His wife left him 3 years ago and his health has declined rapidly ever since, seemingly from a broken heart. June lives in a rural village in a small, dark house where he spends most of his time sitting and staring at his wasted, useless legs. In our visits we focus on hope and joy with plenty of songs, smiles, and praises to God. During our last visit we saw the first smile on June’s face, and though it’s hard for him to read, he now spends a few moments a day reading a Bible study guide we gave him. He and his mother thanked us for our visits and pleaded with us to please keep coming!
A Children's Church
The Banuar Seventh-day Adventist Church (located just in front of the PAMAS airbase in Quirino, Luzon) is becoming a point of interest lately. Though it is a comparatively big church for it’s rural location, it’s attendance has never been high until lately when an interesting phenomenon began to take place. Last year after the usual summer VBS program, children of all ages (5 to 15 years old) began attending the regular church services 3 times a week. The prayer meeting and vespers programs that usually consisted of 4 or 5 people began to grow to 20 plus! We began to tailor the programs more and more for the children, and after some time we saw the need for a more structured program. So we started a child evangelism series two nights a week that included scripture songs and crafts. The children loved it! Before long there were close to 40 children attending every Wednesday, Friday and even Sabbaths. Until now the children outnumber the adults and make up the bulk of the congregation! They love to sing out of the hymnal and take part in the services. On Sabbaths they stay most of the day, joining us for a simple vegetarian lunch. The parents are pleased to have their children doing something safe and uplifting and we invite them to special programs and pray for them often!
It’s an ongoing challenge to keep the children engaged, but it’s amazing how they come early to the church, rain or shine, craft or no craft. We are just finishing the series so please pray for ideas and more help! The future of the church may already be sitting in the pews of the “Banuar Children’s Church!” We cannot let this opportunity pass by!
Typhoon Yolanda/Haiyan
Dwayne and Sean getting ready to take relief supplies to Roxas in both airplanes
Looking below at town after town completely destroyed by winds and flooding makes us shake our heads in disbelief. We follow the path of the storm in our mission plane, documenting each area with pictures and videos. It looks like a giant 20-mile tornado path. Trees are stripped of leaves and coconut trees are uprooted and laying around like matchsticks. Every big and little village and town we see below is devastated. Anything that is not a solid cement structure is completely destroyed. Even most of the cement structures have lost their roofs. Other towns are completely underwater. It’s incomprehensible how many people are suffering right now and I feel so helpless and a bit guilty at the same time. We are snapping pictures and videos from above with food in our tummies, fresh water and a warm place to stay each night.
It’s eerie that we haven’t seen many people around at all on our surveys. We hope it’s not a bad sign. It looks so peaceful and quiet from above---like a bad dream or movie with no sound. We can’t sense the hurt or chaos from our height.
We chose Iloilo as our base (for the Yolanda/Haiyan Typhoon relief work) where we have friends with HCBN (He’s Coming Broadcasting Network) who are hosting us and coordinating things. Our aim was to get here as soon as possible after the storm and do aerial surveys to share with others to help speed the relief work. The first two days we were able to do two aerial surveys of some areas that weren’t getting any news coverage. We also did several supply transports for the government to one of the affected cities until the roads became passable again. We called our other pilot, Sean from Palawan to come over with the Cessna and help.
Sometimes the work is exciting and we feel like we’re really making at least a small difference, and other times it seems so slow and like such a drop in the bucket. We have had various minor delays with airplane trouble, weather issues, poor Internet connections, and taking time to get organized with the different people involved. Today we finally got the compiled and labeled footage and details out that we had hoped to share a couple days ago. We hope it will be useful to someone.
We continue to hear stories trickle in from family members and friends of the volunteers and church members here in Iloilo and around the country. When we arrived, 4 of the HCBN volunteers had not yet heard from their family members since the storm. As I write this, 3 of them have heard from their families that at least their parents are alive but they don’t know anything else. One volunteer still had not heard anything until today when he heard that a body was identified with his family name in a nearby town to his clan’s island, which was directly in the path of the storm. He is on his way there now to see what he can find out.
Some areas are still completely out of touch and no one knows what’s going on there yet. Other areas are starting to get road access or cell signal restored. We have heard that tarps are a big need in many areas, aside from food and water. At least they could be sheltered from the weather that way.
The government agencies keep asking if we have helicopters. Those seem to be the most useful tools in disasters like this—that and float planes . . .
Someday . . .
We planned to go to one small island that has a grass airstrip to see how we could help, but we heard that a military helicopter already tried to go there and they were met with armed locals ready to be the first to take the food and supplies. The helicopter immediately flew away for safety reasons without delivering any goods.
We have mostly been working here on Panay island since it seems most of the aid organizations and efforts are focusing on the bigger need areas like Tacloban, but there are many other areas that will no doubt be neglected for quite awhile.
We did aerial surveys immediately after the storm to help speed the relief work
Jeleta– Who’s Your Master?
Jeleta and her brother at their house
It’s seems like just another normal day and I don’t think too much about it--until I do stop to think about it. “This is absurd!” I realize. “I’m laying across a writhing demon possessed 14 year old, with my head propped on a pillow, falling asleep peacefully, like nothing’s out of the ordinary!”
We’ve got it down to a routine—Jeleta’s feet are securely tied and Milette is lying across her legs. Amy holds her wrists, while I lay across her upper body. After awhile Jeleta will stop trying to fight, and she’ll fall in and out of sleep, and we can move off her body and just watch her hands so she doesn’t untie her feet or grab the mattress where she will catapult herself off onto the cement floor.
Holding Jeleta during an attack
Actually, this scene really has become a “normal” part of our missionary life on Palawan these last few months, as we’ve been filling in for our missionaries that have been in the states. It started with some of our students in the mountain village of Cabulnucan becoming possessed, and then the demons came to Jeleta, our Palawano neighbor whose family now lives right next to our project. They moved down from Cabulnucan about a year ago when they were having some trouble and needed work. All of our missionaries have gotten to know them very well, as they work with us every day and Jeleta goes to school with the missionary kids. Satan has had a hold of these ignorant mountain people for so long and their deep cultural beliefs and satanic practices do not easily go away with an occasional Bible study or a weekly visit to church. They need intense prayers from solid believers and frequent, personal Bible studies prepared just for this kind of people.
Jeleta is a very sweet, fun-loving 14 year old girl who loves to laugh and talk and run and read and write (she’s only in 1st grade). She loves learning the memory verses we have given her. Her favorite is James 4:7. “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” I made it into a song for her. Her family loves it too. We have taught her and her family how to read and pray and sing and to have worship as best they can each morning and evening. At first I would go every morning and evening and help them with their worships and check on Jeleta. Now we try to keep Jeleta with one of us missionaries at all times and we just have worship with her in our homes. We still have Bible studies with her family a couple times a week.
Jeleta with some of her family getting ready for worship
I am learning several things during this experience. Normally I am so jealous of my personal time, sleep, meals, and time with Dwayne. I realized the last few weeks that when you are motivated enough, you can do almost anything to help someone have a personal, saving relationship with Jesus! I just wish I were always this motivated.
Jeleta and family have suffered a lot under the power of Satan throughout their lives. We have learned many sad things that have gone on under his power. Without going into detail, but letting you know the absolute horrible character of Satan, I will just say there has been separations in marriage, sexual abuse, and even several murders, and attempted suicide in this family under his rule. We pray they will completely understand and accept Jesus’s better Way that He has for them.
Tonight I was reveling in the thought of sleeping in my own bed again with my husband. I slept with Jeleta last night in our living room so she would not feel lonely and to make sure she didn’t have any attacks. The two nights before she had been attacked while we were gone to Puerto.
It seemed like Jeleta was doing well today. The missionary girls are back from Cabulnucan and they do such a great job with Jeleta. She will sleep with them tonight (and no doubt as long as they are off the mountain.) But, not surprising, I hear commotion outside just as I’m crawling into bed. I jump up without a word, change my clothes in an instant, grab my phone and headlamp and dash out the door. Dwayne is right behind me. Milette and Amy struggle to hold Jeleta as she’s dashing for “the tree” where the demons “live” near her house.
We all grab a limb and support her writhing body and with sweat and bare feet stumble past the hangar and into Milette and Amy’s house . . . We plop Jeleta onto the mattress on the floor and we ladies fall on top of her while Dwayne ties her kicking feet. Hardly a word is spoken. We are not upset or discouraged . . . it’s just another missionary day.
I am disappointed that I can’t sleep with Dwayne tonight. We all wish we could sleep in our own beds without a writhing body underneath us, and a bright light in our eyes, but we are all happy to help in this important work. Dwayne prays for Satan to flee and Jesus’ angels to be with us before he leaves. I ask him to bring my pillow and ipod (with my Bible on it). And I take my place, sprawled across Jeleta’s body. I’m so thankful for peace and the knowledge that Jesus in control.
We don’t feel the need to stay awake. We have read every verse, sang every song, and prayed in Jesus’ name with confidence and boldness for the demons to flee. We have had several annointings with our missionaries, pastors, and Bible workers. We have seen progress and God’s intervention several times even when the signs of imminent attack were at the door. We have heard Jeleta audibly call on Jesus for help during a couple attacks. We don’t try to understand it, we just pray that soon she’ll be released. Tonight, we simply kneel as best we can across Jeleta’s body and have our own silent prayers before settling in for sleep.
You may be asking the question that many of us have asked. Why don’t the demons flee when you pray?! Haven’t we been given power over the enemy through Christ? We don’t have all the answers. We know that people’s choices have a part to play. But we do know that Satan is getting uncomfortable and he will eventually have to leave. The other day while some of our Bible workers were studying with her family, Jeleta went into an attack (it often comes during or after a worship time or on Sabbath). The demons said (through Jeleta) that “these people have a lot of faith!” and they told her to plug her ears so she couldn’t hear the Bible study.
Also, Jeleta told us that during her last attack the demons (there are 3 of them) were angry with her because she keeps refusing to go with them back to the mountains. They finally said in disgust that they were leaving to go back to the mountains because the prayers were too powerful!
They are not gone for good, no doubt (they come and go to the mountains regularly), but we found this news to be very encouraging! We have been sharing updates with all our network of friends throughout the Philippines and we believe the intense prayers will eventually overpower the devil and make him flee! We invite you to join us in praying for this dear girl and her family.
As I edit this email that I wrote a few weeks ago, I wish I could end it with good news. The reality is, Jeleta had a few more attacks recently. We learned some poor choices she was making that might explain some things. She also became determined to go back to the mountains and though we pleaded, prayed, and practically begged her to stay, she made her decision and left. She knows where she will find love and acceptance and help again when she’s ready for it.
It is a real battle between Satan and God that is going on in this world with each person’s eternal life at stake. It is incredible to watch it taking place before our eyes. I believe it is not always so obvious in the states as it is here when Satan is taking control of someone’s life. Here you will find that everyone knows someone who has been possessed. It is not unusual to have multiple cases in the academies, especially during week of prayer meetings..
I remember in Kemantian dealing with these similar cases many times. Each case boiled down to who the person chose to be their master. I watched people become free from Satan’s possession as their family asked forgiveness for them, or they verbally confessed they wanted Jesus as their master. I decided back then that I would make a point every day to ask Jesus to be my master!
Did you ask Jesus to be your master today?
One of Jeleta's brothers peeking out of their house
Aina’s New Life
We hardly ever share follow up stories, it seems, but here is one case you may remember. A few years ago we learned of a medical mission group coming to Puerto Princessa to do free cleft lip/palate surgeries. We sent word out and were able to help several children and teenagers get the life changing surgery. One of the biggest life changes was for Aina, a teenage girl from Balabac, the remote, southern islands of Palawan. She was born with multiple deformities and her face especially was severely misshapen. One of our student missionaries, Allison accompanied Aina as her “mom”, since her own mother had died some years back and her father was unable to go with her. Allison stayed with her day and night and even cared for her for several weeks during her recovery. We did not expect the surgeon to fix all of the deformities on her face, but what a surprise when she came out of surgery! Aina was the most surprised of all! She was so happy. She wrote Allison a very sweet letter thanking her for helping her to have a new life. Allison decided to sponsor Aina to Palawan Adventist Academy, which she has been attending for the last couple years.
One day, during a recent medical mission trip (with Dr. Norbert’s group from the States) we did a free clinic near the academy, and we were privileged to see Aina again! She had come to avail of our free dental work. She was just as excited to see us as we were to see her, and she squeezed us tight as if we were family. It was great to see her beautiful smile! She is doing well in school, despite the difficulties she faces. (We continue to support her tuition and books and sometimes lodging and a little food but there are many other needs that come up). It is amazing how she has survived and we never hear a complaint from her! She struggles with headaches and eye problems and she recently lost her father, so now she is a real orphan. But, she now stands with her head held high and she no longer covers her face with her hair. She has managed her way alone through the trials of her life. She even somehow found a way to earn enough money to get some dentures for her missing front teeth! This helped her looks and self-esteem even more. Best of all, through the influence of her Godly teachers and classmates, Aina chose to be baptized into the Seventh-day Adventist Church and she gives God all the glory for her new life.
It was a whirlwind week in Narra, during the medical mission trip with Global Village Ministries. Since we were just a couple hours south of there in Brooke’s Point, it was easy for me to go up and help while Dwayne continued working at the project. (He came up a couple times during the week and helped). Every day we went out to a different area to hold clinics with consultations, dental work, free medicines, and counseling (health and spiritual). We saw on average around 400 patients per day. In the evenings we helped with an evangelistic meeting by providing health talks and VBS for the children. It was great to have my old friend from academy and her family with us this time (Nurse and Dentist), and also some doctor friends from our Adventist hospital in northern Luzon. Also several other of our local fellow missionary friends and their families came to help. We also had fun getting to know new people, several of whom were enjoying their first mission trip ever. They got the full mission trip experience!
The whole team
We ended the busy week with a delightfully relaxing time on the beach with the group, (thanks to wonderful friends who made that possible!) It was especially nice to relax since Dwayne was in the middle of a 10 day round of Quinine, treatment for Malaria. Those who have ever taken Quinine can empathize. We call it “The Poison”. It makes you deaf, nauseous, dizzy, draggy, and have headaches. But, the good thing is, it usually kills the persistent Malaria cases. 
We headed back down to Brooke’s Point again after the mission. We never run out of things to do in this project! Dwayne finished the annual inspections on the airplanes and continues to fix our run down truck and work on all the other maintenance projects. He continues to get regular calls for medical evacuations from the southern island of Mapun, and it seems to average about one flight per week. I continue to help with multiple Bible studies and children’s programs along with taking care of various patients that we find along the way. I have also been getting our small Learning and Wellness Center building fixed up and organized with all the meds, hydrotherapy supplies, and children's, and Bible study supplies.
What has kept us most busy is working day and night with our neighbor girl, Jeleta who continues to struggle with regular demon attacks. We have had times of great progress and other times where we seem to be losing ground. There have also been recurring attacks with some of our students in the mountains. It’s a very real battle we’re dealing with in this unseen world, but, we know Jesus has already won the victory! We’ll tell you more about these stories next time.
Until then, please continue to pray for Jeleta and all of our missionaries as we strive to help her and her family have peace and love with Jesus in their home!
Palawan Adventures
Wendy with Kemantian kids
I, Wendy, have also had a very busy, but enjoyable month. It has been such a blessing for me to be here in Palawan and it’s been full of adventures and experiences. It's great to be back where I can speak the language again! When I first arrived, I prayed how I could be a blessing and resource for the local missionaries and Bible workers. One day our LIGHT medical missionary called from the mountain village of Cabulnucan where she helps run a small school. She said one of her teenage girl students was having weird symptoms and she suspected Malaria. I asked a few questions and began to highly suspect demon possession. I told her what she could do, and she soon realized she was not dealing with “flesh and blood” but with “principalities” and “rulers of the darkness”. Over the next few minutes, hours and days I kept in regular contact with her and then with her relief missionary who she takes turns with in the mountains. We prayed for them and gave them regular encouragement and counsel. This was the first time for these missionaries to deal with demon possession and it was a bit scary for them, but they did really well.
Other students began having the same “symptoms” of sudden wild behavior, super-human strength, and then suddenly they’d be fine again a few hours later. One girl told the missionaries what she saw and what the spirits told her when she was possessed. It was disturbing. She went to a witch doctor, against the missionaries’ advice, who interpreted what she saw, explaining the bad characters she saw were the missionaries. The people report that a couple of the girls have had this before off and on in the past. The people are very steeped in demon worship and satanic, tribal rituals. We know Satan is not happy with God’s saving message coming to this village. But many of the students and parents are not distracted with Satan’s temptations. There are many attending church each Sabbath, as the missionaries explain their need for a Savior. As I update this letter, we have recently had more attacks with our neighbor girl, Jeleta who is originally from this mountain village. Please pray with us for her and for her people that they will choose Jesus and not Satan to be in their hearts and in their village.
The highlight of my time in Palawan has definitely been my visit to Kemantian, the AFM project where I served for 5 ½ years. God provided a sunny couple days in the middle of monsoon rains for me to make the 4 hour trek up and back and be able to visit as many people as possible. I had not seen most of the people for four years! Every kid or adult I met on the trail or at the clinic I recognized as someone special and I would ask with excitement, “who's this?! What's her name!” and then oh how exciting to hug and talk with them! Many of the children were very small the last time I saw them. My last morning there, a bunch of the school girls came over to sharpen their machetes at the clinic (for their work-bee day—they cut the grass and clean things up). Some of them I had not seen yet and I went through the whole excitement again of guessing and finding out who was who. And then I would always say “But you don't remember me, do you?” and they would say “E'nga!” “Yes, I do!” I had so much fun talking and playing with them that morning; I just couldn't take my eyes off of them or pull myself away. I taught a couple of the girls how to play the guitar and they learned so quickly. I bet they will be experts by the time I see them again.
I gave worship for the high school students one day, talking about temptations and how we should strive to obey God rather than men. I gave them each a small, English New Testament Bible and their eyes grew so big as if I had given them a piece of Gold! One of the boys kept flipping gently through it, saying reverently “this is food for the soul!” They do not know English yet, but they have Tagalog and Palawano Bibles they can compare it with and some of their teachers are American student missionaries so they can ask questions also.
Another highlight was my visit to the mountain village of Karusuan. One day after church, a Palawano man approached us and told us that his cousin really wanted to learn about the “Words of God.” He was from Cabulnucan, the village I mentioned earlier where we have missionaries working. He was blessed by their presence and had come down specifically to talk to us. He said there were other religions accessible to his cousin's village but they had not studied with any of them. When I talked directly to the cousin, he said that their village was not interested in any other religion and that they only wanted the “religion of Kemantian.” The Palawanos have all heard of Kemantian and seen the blessings it has brought. I didn't have the heart to tell him that we had a dozen other similar requests and that we didn't have enough missionaries to even keep up with all the areas where we had already started work. But for some reason I did not hesitate or even ask too many questions, and I promised to come visit and give a Bible study.
We arranged a place to meet and I brought a couple other Bible workers with me. It took 45 minutes to drive there and we had to drive across a rushing river to get to the base of the mountains. At this point I thought we were just meeting in someone's home in the lowlands with maybe one or two people. But when we arrived and the man said “are you ready to hike?” we were all surprised! We were not prepared to hike. I had miraculously recovered from Malaria just that morning and our patriarch companion, Simeon was in his late 70's. But the man said the whole village was waiting for us, so we looked at each other and said, “God will go with us. Let's go!” We crossed the waist-deep river 5 times before climbing up a beautiful trail an hour and a half to the village. Sure enough the whole village was expecting us and they began to trickle in from far and wide. We gave a simple study and introduction to the Bible and after more people arrived we gave a health lecture about where sickness comes from. They were so attentive and interested in all of this very basic information that we all take for granted. The adults could not read, but they seemed more intelligent and less sickly then many villages. Many of their children could read because they were going to school in the lowlands. I could not believe that they had really never heard any of the Bible stories or any of the Gospel since they are not that far from the lowlands. They fed us a couple unripe, cooked bananas for lunch and we asked for some coconut water which sustained us all day. As a parting gift they gave us a small handful of wonderful smelling, raw mountain rice. They kept asking us when we would be back. We were honest with them and did not give any empty promises, but we told them to pray for more missionaries or a helicopter-- or both! I told them to make a landing pad for a helicopter and they showed me an area on the ridge that looked perfect. Our missionaries plan to visit there whenever they can even if it's just once a month.
The fields are truly ripe but the workers are few! We continue to see the need for more, small, medical-missionary training schools, and we are eager to assist, but at this point we don't have anyone to head it up. Thank you for remembering all these things in your prayers and for your continued support for the work here in the Philippines.
The God of Hope
Flying a motorcycle accident victim to Puerto
The last month has been very busy in Palawan with some medivac flights and making repairs and finishing some projects.
I (Dwayne) got a call from Jomar, a friend of mine that had been our foreman when we built the hangar and houses here in Palawan 4 years ago. He was in the Adventist hospital in Puerto and had just had some tests done that revealed a large mass in his bladder. He did not know what he should do so I rode the motorcycle up to Puerto and consulted his doctors to get the full story. Jomar had a tumor in his bladder that was obstructing his urinary tract and backing things up into his kidneys. I helped him get some blood donors because he had already lost a large amount of blood. He needed surgery soon to remove the tumor before it did damage to his other organs. He hardly had enough money to start paying for a surgery but at my urging that God would provide he went ahead and had surgery. After the surgery and getting all of the financial help from government sources and discounts from the hospital and doctors, they were still financially short and the hospital would not discharge until most of the bill was paid. I was flying a couple people from Puerto to Mapun to visit an Adventist school down there. I arrived in Puerto early and stopped at the hospital before picking the people up and ended up giving Jomar some money to finish paying his bill so he could get discharged from the hospital. This was a financial sacrifice because funds are tight this month. Two hours later, on our way flying down to Mapun, my passengers handed me a donation-- the exact amount of money I had just given to Jomar two hours earlier. This was just a reminder to us that God knows all of our needs and as we sacrifice to help others He is standing by ready to bless with more than we gave.
Side note: They have since confirmed malignant cancer in Jomar. He needs more surgery, but has chosen not to pursue that. He found an Adventist health book (though he is not an Adventist) and is already putting some things into practice. We have been giving him more resources which he is eagerly accepting. Please pray for him and for us as we witness to him. We know God has a plan for him.
As we arrived in Mapun the people there had a patient waiting for me to medivac to Puerto on the return flight. As we boarded the plane they handed me another donation. We have made it very clear to the people there that we do not charge for medivac flights but they wanted to contribute anyway. God is good.
The island of Mapun is far south of Palawan, closer to Malaysia. It is isolated with no other way to get to advanced medical help except with our plane or by a very long boat ride that is extremely expensive, unpredictable, and often not available due to weather. They have an airstrip, but no commercial flights are ever made there.
One of the patients I evacuated was a Muslim Sheik. After his recovery in Puerto they traveled back to Brooke's Point where he has relatives, and he requested to catch a ride back to Mapun the next time I flew. I was making a flight in a few days, so I told them to come early the morning of my flight. Wendy ended up hosting the whole family all that morning while we waited for heavy rains to clear up. It was a good opportunity to get to know them and also for them to see who we are. Their granddaughter is our close neighbor and she has shown interest in the Bible and attending church with us. They told us that before we came, most people on their island just died if they had an accident or serious illness. Some of their own relatives have died throughout the years due to lack of transportation. The Sheik was always very serious looking, but when we arrived in Mapun and I was getting ready to leave, I gave him a smile goodbye and it was great to see his smile in return. They requested me to come to their home next time I go there so they can thank me in proper Muslim tradition.
Pushing the Twin back in the Palawan Hangar
Medevac Flights
Things are finally moving along with the airstrips. The Palawan airstrip in Brooke's Point is now completed, thanks to your support and God's providing for good weather and equipment. Our new missionaries, Sean and Pris Knapp will be taking the Cessna there by next month to support the mission work in that area until we get a helicopter.
The Quirino, Luzon airstrip is also moving along nicely, even with all the set backs with rain and waiting on equipment. We hope to have it done in the next week or so. In the meantime, both airplanes are still being kept a couple hours drive away in a nearby, small airport.
A couple weeks ago Dwayne had the privilege of flying the LIGHT missionaries to Batanes (the island way up north between Luzon and Taiwan) where they will assist the fledgling church in reaching out with medical missionary work. The Northern Luzon Mission and LIGHT ministry have been wanting to place missionaries in Batanes for a long time now, and thanks to this airplane we were able to help them make it happen.
We recently found a displaced tribal group (called Badjao) in the middle of Santiago City and were appalled by their state of living. They remind us in some ways of the mountain people of Palawan--with very poor sanitation, no education, and many don't even know their age, the language of the area, or even how to count. Their place in Mindanao that they fled from is a lawless area where there is alot of fighting between the Abu Sayaf and the military. Tanya immediately enlisted support from the local church members after learning about these people and they are continuing to help weekly with food, clothes, medical help, and education.
Last week, Danny informed me (Dwayne) of a critically ill patient who needed immediate transport to Manila for more advanced medical treatment. I came down with Malaria about that time, but thankfully I was able to take treatment in time and I felt fine by the time I needed to fly. Our airstrip is too short for the Twin Commache at my comfort level so we arranged to land at a private airstrip to the south. They refused our request initially for permission to land but after the local mayor and congressman got involved we were given permission. After loading the patient we had a nice flight most of the way back toward Manila. We had arranged to land at a small private strip south of manila and have someone meet and transport the patient from there to the Manila Adventist Medical Center. As we neared the intended landing strip I could see heavy rain pouring from a big thunderstorm that was directly over the airstrip. I started to divert to another airport that the GPS indicated was to the east a short distance and found nothing but a phantom runway. There was a gap in some of the thunderstorms that allowed us to fly toward the Manila International Airport and we got a clearance and landed there. I dropped the patient off and waited in line for 30 minutes before I could take off again. Even though things did not go as expected I was praising God for working everything out anyway and I still got back home that evening and was able to get things prepared for pouring the cement pad in front of our Luzon hanger that next morning. A group from the Adventist hospital came out and helped us pour the pad.
It's encouraging to see what God has done the last few months, and yet it seems we are barely scratching the surface of what needs to be done. The opportunities come faster than we can keep up with, but praise God He is able to do more than we can imagine possible. We appreciate very much your prayers and support for us and this ministry.
Sean pouring cement pad in front of Hangar
Medevac flight from Palawan to Manila
Mission Flights Begin
Dwayne and Wendy with the Twin
In front of Batanes Adventist Church
Dear Friends and Family,
I made a couple flights this last week with the twin to some remote areas. I picked up 3 PFM missionaries and the local pastor in Palanan which is on the east coast of Luzon where there is no road access. The only way in or out is by boat or plane. I then made a flight to Basco, Batanes, a group of islands in between Luzon and Taiwan. L.I.G.H.T. in connection with the Northern Luzon Conference has been planning to place missionaries there for awhile, but due to the remoteness of the island it has not been possible. Recently we were able take one of the conference pastors, the LIGHT director, and one missionary up there to prepare the way for the two missionaries that will go there next month. We will provide them air-support as needed. We praise God for this opportunity to help in a small way to further His work.
We had a great time with my parents who visited for a few weeks. We had unusually cool weather, which they enjoyed since they came from very cold Montana. They were a big help on the project and my dad even made Wendy two book cases that she had been asking for.
We have been asked various questions lately that made us realize that others may be wondering the same things so we will share a few of them below.
What are you doing with the airplanes?
There are a number of small, remote islands and coastal areas that have no road access but they have airstrips. We are servicing some of these hard-to-reach areas by transporting missionaries as well as medical teams to assist the work. Airplanes also enable us to open up more areas that have previously been inaccessible to missionaries. Airplanes are good for long distance, whereas helicopters have more limited range and are not as fast.
Why do you need two airplanes?
We actually could use even more airplanes as we expand into other areas of the Philippines. The 4 seater Cessna is being used for flight training and transporting missionaries. It is also cheap to operate. The 6 seater Twin Commanche is great for inter island work where the distances are greater. It can carry more passengers and supplies.
Why do you need helicopters?
Most of the mountainous areas in the Philippines are so rugged it is impossible to put airstrips. The only way to access these areas is by many hours or days of hiking, or a few minutes flight in a helicopter. Helicopters can land virtually anyway and they are a tremendous help in reaching the many tribal groups in these areas that are often without medical help or education and who are in spiritual darkness.
How many pilots do you have?
Dwayne is a fixed-wing and helicopter pilot. We have one other helicopter pilot and 2 other new fixed-wing pilots.
Where are you based now?
We are currently in Quirino, northern Luzon, about an 8-10 hour drive (or a couple hours flight) north of Manila. We are finishing up the hangar and airstrip and have recently moved into one of the adjoining hangar apartments. Andriy, the other helicopter pilot, is also there helping to finish the other apartment where he and his family will stay as soon as it is finished. We are all eager for God to provide a helicopter for this large, mountainous island. Our next project will be in Mindanao as soon as we get trained pilots and aircraft in Luzon and Palawan.
What about Palawan?
We still have the project in Palawan with several missionaries and Bible workers continuing to reach the very poor people in those remote areas. We are still anxiously waiting for a new helicopter to replace the old one that we had to sell for parts because it was too old to find replacement parts for.
How do you plan to reach all these remote areas?
We work closely with the church and different mission organizations, helping them to accomplish their task faster by providing medical and air support. We also are in the process of starting a missionary training school in Quirino to help with the great need for more local missionaries.
How do you plan to get helicopters?
We have seen how God provides for His work and we believe that He will provide for this need as well. A Robbinson R44 helicopter has been offered to us for a greatly discounted price. It is worth $400,000 and through many of your donations, we are now only lacking $150,000. We thank you very much for your help and for your prayers for God's continued provisions for this work.
Dwayne and Wendy Harris
Cessna flying over Quirino-Luzon Hangar