(cool uplifting music)
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- Hello and welcome
to "Jesus for Asia Now."
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I'm Natalie Wood and my
husband Jon is joining me today,
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as we bring an
update to a project,
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that is living under difficult
and dangerous circumstances,
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but they do it in
order to reach the people.
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Hi, darling, where
are you taking us today?
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- Well, it's a place
we've been to before,
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and In fact, we've had the
missionaries that are there,
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actually here in our studio.
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- Right, right.
Mike and Michelle Cortez,
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- [Jon] Yes.
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- are their names.
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And they're living
in South Philippines,
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on a big Island called Mindanao.
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- Okay.
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- And they're not on the coast,
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where most of the Adventists
are and the Christians are.
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They're way up in the mountains,
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where it's kinda dangerous.
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- Hmm. Yeah, Yeah. We've
heard some stories from them,
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over the years.
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- Yeah. We first met Mike,
when we moved to Idaho 2005.
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He was going to the same
church that we started going to,
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and that was the
beginning of "Jesus for Asia."
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- Right
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- And he was in the
congregation, really nice guy,
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friendly,
outgoing, loved the Lord,
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and a very
encouraging person to be around.
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- Right. (chuckles)
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- And he started
coming to our Faith Camps.
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And I remember one day we were
actually at a men's retreat.
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It was like eight
of us or 10 of us.
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And he was sitting
behind me and I was thinking,
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man, you know, Mike,
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he should really get
involved with God's work.
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So I turned to him and says,
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"Mike, why don't you
you do something for God?"
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And he told me later,
he was shocked by that,
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because he was
sitting behind me thinking,
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I wish I had a
ministry like he has.
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I wish I could work
for the Lord like he does.
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And I turned around and
said, "Why don't you do that?"
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And he was just so taken back.
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And how did he find
out about a Mindanao?
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- Well, he met this girl online.
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(laughs)
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A lovely lady,
actually, Michelle.
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And this is a picture of
the two of them together,
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Mike and Michelle.
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They got to know
each other a little bit.
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And their story, I think
they've shared here before.
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And so, I won't tell
the whole thing again,
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but God really worked.
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I mean, God was very clear
that they were to be together,
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and they were to minister
together for these people.
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- Yeah. And so,
he went to visit her,
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and she lives in Mindanao.
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- And so, he was
visiting and he's like,
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"What about all these
people up in the mountains,
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that no one's going
to witness to them?"
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So, that burden just
really grew on his heart.
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And then after
they were married,
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they started sending
Bible workers up into that area,
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and then they felt
convicted after a few years,
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and they moved there full time.
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And they bought some
property up in the mountains,
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and they have a clinic and
a garden and a radio station,
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and we're gonna look at that,
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see what's
happening there today.
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- Right, right. We've
got several videos today,
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and we wanna to
jump right into them,
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because it's
gonna take some time,
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and we don't wanna miss
out on any part of the story.
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So, this first
video, what are they doing?
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- They're going out to
visit the different villages.
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Now, it's not very
safe to travel there.
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So, we don't
have a lot of footage,
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and we don't have a
lot of different villages.
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Our videographer, we had
to kinda like protect him.
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Just to give you an idea of
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some of the things
that we're up against.
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There was forces in
the village below them,
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that was actually
sending water shells,
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to the village above them.
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(chuckles) Some water
shells were being lobbed over,
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where they were living,
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and like, 80 people died
in the village above them.
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So, this is, you know,
they've got different forces,
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that are
happening around that area.
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- Hmm. Wow.
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- Well, let's just go
ahead and go right into that.
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Let's show some
video about the project,
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and what's happening
there in the villages.
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- Okay.
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(cool music)
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- Back at Faith Camp, when
we claimed our inheritance,
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and as the Lord led, he led
us to the top of a mountain.
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And that mountain was
the sanctuary where the
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insurgencies, for the
new people's army all began.
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But this place
is where we stood,
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and looked over the mountains.
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We claimed these
mountains as our inheritance.
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And it was here that one of
our first churches was built.
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Later, though the
church had to be taken down,
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because he got
sandwiched in the war,
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and the bullets were flying,
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and they had to move the
church down the mountain,
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to a place called Huwawi.
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We had a school in
the area for six months,
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until we were asked to leave.
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And we still have a heavy,
heavy burden for the area there.
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(cool music)
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Right now,
we're in an area that,
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we've been in for
a lot of years now,
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doing vacation Bible schools,
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and we got
church established here.
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We almost had a second
search established here.
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We had Bible
workers in the area,
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and they were almost killed.
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The war broke out
in front of the church,
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that night while they were
waiting for the next morning,
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to come back to
the mission post.
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There were insurgencies, outside
people from the insurgent,
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and they were saying, "We're
gonna kill the missionaries.
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"Let's just do it
now. Let's just kill them,
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"get it over with now."
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And for some reason
they couldn't enter.
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(cool music)
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We're always
looking for remote areas,
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that have a large tribal,
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or a hundred
percent tribal presence.
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And we're working
in areas of course,
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that are in the
middle of the war zones,
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because that
burden has been put on us,
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to try and give the
young people a new vision,
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besides just killing each other.
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(motorcycle engine roaring)
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Today we wanna talk
about the elder and his story.
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He was a drunkard and a
fighter, brawler ,gambler,
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abusive in his
home and found God.
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Many times through his life,
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he'd been
approached towards the truth,
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and kind of just
rejected it, pushed it away.
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But when the missionaries
were finally here, years later,
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he couldn't shake it off.
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(cool music)
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- (speaking in foreign language)
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So before he
became an Adventist,
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he was a
Catholic, Roman Catholic.
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And then the good thing before,
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he's not being
forbidden to do anything,
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and there's no prohibitions.
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He can do whatever he
wants. He can hit somebody.
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2014, when the
ministry of GoBeDo Missions,
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came in their place, he was
convinced to listen to them,
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and hear the 28 fundamentals.
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What was important to him
was just the three major topics,
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about food, Sabbath,
and why Adventist people,
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don't bow down to images.
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And when he heard
all about those truth,
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he was totally convinced.
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So, before he was finished
with the 28 fundamentals then,
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he just gave up
and surrender to God.
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(speaking in foreign language)
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- He said before, they were
just being called Christians,
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but they were not taught how to
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have a relationship with Christ,
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but now, they have
family worship, which bind him,
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to have a good
relationship with his family,
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and with his
family to the community.
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And then all of them,
all of the good teachings,
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that he had heard
and he's been doing,
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can be found in
the Holy scriptures,
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that's why he's
very, very thankful,
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because now there's
peace in their home.
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(cool music)
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- And it wasn't just him.
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The other elder
in this church also,
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had a similar story.
He's not here with us today.
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But
life-changing stories for sure,
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that that only comes from
above and the power of God.
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Because of many
of the members here,
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having to go to
different places,
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because of the livelihood
being taken away here,
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and also, because of
the war that's often,
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going on in this area,
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there's a sincere
desire from not only elder,
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but from the mission
that this church be revived.
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And it's gonna take a lot
of work. It's gonna take money.
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It's gonna take laborers.
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And we're lacking
laborers at this present time.
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It's hard to
work in the mountains,
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and it's hard to find
people willing to come up here,
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after all these years.
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So, we need a lot of prayers,
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that God will send
forth more laborers,
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because the
harvest is truly ripe,
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and we wanna see
this church flourish.
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We wanna reclaim the lost sheep,
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and we want God
to be honored here.
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(cool music)
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- In a recent email
I received from him,
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the village that
they were working with,
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has been identified as
against the government.
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And so, that village
was surrounded by the army,
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and three
people have died there.
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But they had the
chieftain's daughter,
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was living in their house,
and will tell the story later.
00:10:04.63\00:10:09.17
But now we have another video,
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that focuses on more
of the work that they do.
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- Okay.
00:10:15.31\00:10:16.68
(cool music)
00:10:16.68\00:10:19.11
- Years ago, when we
first started the work here,
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we taught Bible workers
in a very conventional way,
00:10:25.55\00:10:29.42
the doctrines,
and it wasn't working.
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It wasn't working
for reaching the heart,
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and the cultural
aspects of the people,
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we're ministering
to, they're tribal.
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They sacrifice pigs
and chickens to their God.
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They worship
rocks, water, trees.
00:10:43.57\00:10:47.74
So, we were asking the Lord,
00:10:47.74\00:10:49.94
"What can we do to
reach this cultural divide?"
00:10:49.94\00:10:54.02
And the Lord told us that,
"My way is in the sanctuary."
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And it just
popped out of the Bible,
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my way is in the sanctuary.
00:11:00.62\00:11:02.02
(cool music)
00:11:02.02\00:11:05.29
So, we took the sanctuary
model, the actual furniture,
00:11:05.29\00:11:09.70
and we realized that,
00:11:09.70\00:11:12.83
there was a perfect
sacrifice to be made,
00:11:14.00\00:11:17.11
and that was in the Son of God.
00:11:17.11\00:11:20.28
He came to the world.
00:11:20.28\00:11:21.51
He gave up his seat
next to the Father's,
00:11:22.68\00:11:24.78
on his Father's throne,
00:11:24.78\00:11:26.35
to become a sacrifice for us.
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And not only that,
but you can (mumbles)
00:11:30.62\00:11:33.56
that Jesus Christ
is our high priest,
00:11:33.56\00:11:36.19
but that a man manly priesthood
is no longer necessary.
00:11:36.19\00:11:40.23
That at the veil, when
Jesus died, that was torn down.
00:11:40.23\00:11:44.57
And so, there's a lot of
things that we can teach now,
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in a visual, to help
them realize that yes,
00:11:47.20\00:11:50.11
sacrifices where reality.
00:11:50.11\00:11:53.11
Your ancestors,
they really had it right.
00:11:53.11\00:11:56.01
But here's the way
that God intended it,
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and God is trying to restore us.
00:11:59.41\00:12:01.98
He's trying to make us
healthy and happy again.
00:12:01.98\00:12:04.52
And by having
tribal Bible workers,
00:12:04.52\00:12:06.49
which came from that lifestyle,
it gives a better impact.
00:12:06.49\00:12:10.89
(cool music)
00:12:10.89\00:12:14.00
Before Faith Camp, I
gave my heart to this mission.
00:12:14.00\00:12:16.36
I was radio
station manager in America,
00:12:16.36\00:12:19.13
I was the editor,
00:12:19.13\00:12:20.40
and God gave me some
training in this field.
00:12:20.40\00:12:23.67
But throughout the
years, it seemed like,
00:12:23.67\00:12:26.51
that wasn't gonna be
something I would be doing.
00:12:26.51\00:12:28.84
We were so busy
training Bible workers,
00:12:28.84\00:12:30.65
and living in a mission life.
00:12:30.65\00:12:32.51
And then just a few years ago,
00:12:32.51\00:12:34.18
the Lord began to open up
the doors for radio for us.
00:12:34.18\00:12:37.19
And I was excited,
00:12:37.19\00:12:38.49
because I've always
had a burden for radio.
00:12:38.49\00:12:42.02
Now, we've got a radio station,
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that has potential of
reaching over a million people.
00:12:43.69\00:12:46.33
Not only here on the mountain,
00:12:47.40\00:12:49.83
in places where they
may not hear the gospel,
00:12:49.83\00:12:53.00
but also down in the coast,
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where at a 4,000 foot
elevation between a draw,
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that goes two different
directions of populated areas.
00:12:58.97\00:13:02.58
And this is an
enormous opportunity for people,
00:13:02.58\00:13:06.15
not only of animals
belief like the tribal people,
00:13:06.15\00:13:09.02
but also Christianity
and Catholicism, Muslims,
00:13:09.02\00:13:12.69
because on the
back side of us here,
00:13:12.69\00:13:15.62
is quite a few
Muslim communities.
00:13:15.62\00:13:18.66
So, this is a wonderful
opportunity to share God's word,
00:13:18.66\00:13:22.23
and we're looking forward to
what God's gonna do with this.
00:13:22.23\00:13:26.17
(cool music)
00:13:26.17\00:13:29.47
Another aspect of ministry,
00:13:29.47\00:13:31.17
that God has opened
up for me is cycling.
00:13:31.17\00:13:33.58
Being that we
have a lack of help,
00:13:33.58\00:13:36.21
I'm forced to
take care of my health.
00:13:37.55\00:13:40.88
And so, for all the
years we've been here,
00:13:40.88\00:13:43.52
we've been paying
taxes on our stipends,
00:13:43.52\00:13:46.76
and it hasn't
been a big stipend.
00:13:46.76\00:13:48.49
And then somebody in...
00:13:48.49\00:13:49.89
when we went back to
the US (mumbles) said,
00:13:49.89\00:13:52.33
"You need to
talk to our tax guy."
00:13:52.33\00:13:54.20
So we did and he
said, "Wait a minute.
00:13:54.20\00:13:55.86
"You've been
doing your taxes wrong.
00:13:55.86\00:13:57.70
"We gotta do this right."
00:13:57.70\00:13:59.00
And we got this
huge tax return in 2017.
00:13:59.00\00:14:02.77
And I talked to
my wife, she said,
00:14:02.77\00:14:03.71
"Why don't you buy a bike?"
00:14:03.71\00:14:05.91
And so, I went out on a
limb and prayed about it,
00:14:05.91\00:14:08.78
because we had
already gotten to this point,
00:14:08.78\00:14:10.71
where everything we have
is committed to the Lord.
00:14:10.71\00:14:13.01
I didn't want this
to be any different.
00:14:13.01\00:14:14.82
So, my wife said, "Why
don't you go ahead and do it?"
00:14:14.82\00:14:17.65
I said, "Oh yes,
thank you, Lord. (laughs)
00:14:17.65\00:14:20.09
"Thank you wife." And
I bought my Enduro bike.
00:14:20.09\00:14:23.29
Of course this
country is full of trails.
00:14:24.43\00:14:26.59
Houses are on trails
where there's no roads.
00:14:26.59\00:14:29.63
And I said, "Lord, I've
committed this to you. You know.
00:14:29.63\00:14:33.07
"Now give me a
ministry to use it for."
00:14:33.07\00:14:36.40
And the Lord has
opened up that ministry,
00:14:36.40\00:14:38.74
through sharing steps to
Christ and praying people.
00:14:38.74\00:14:42.21
(cool music)
00:14:42.21\00:14:44.65
And the wonderful
thing is they speak English.
00:14:47.28\00:14:50.29
Here in the mission, there
is not much English speaking.
00:14:50.29\00:14:52.85
It's tribal, and it's
the local dialect of Bisaya.
00:14:52.85\00:14:56.22
So, sometimes I'm
trapped and not understanding,
00:14:56.22\00:15:00.96
unless I'm teaching classes
and my wife is translating,
00:15:00.96\00:15:04.77
or I'm preaching, I'm on my own.
00:15:04.77\00:15:07.84
My wife gets very tired
and translating sometimes,
00:15:07.84\00:15:10.14
and living that
double translated life,
00:15:10.14\00:15:13.07
and she needs to rest.
00:15:13.07\00:15:14.51
And so this was
an outlet for me.
00:15:14.51\00:15:16.64
And, you know, I went
in for a health check,
00:15:16.64\00:15:19.41
a heart check just last year.
00:15:19.41\00:15:21.72
My past life before Christian,
00:15:21.72\00:15:23.65
apparently did a lot
of damage to my heart,
00:15:23.65\00:15:26.59
and I had plugged arteries.
00:15:26.59\00:15:29.06
The doctor said
in my last test that,
00:15:29.06\00:15:32.43
my cycling had
forced diversion roads,
00:15:32.43\00:15:36.43
providing the needed
oxygen and blood to my heart,
00:15:36.43\00:15:40.27
that grew around my main artery.
00:15:40.27\00:15:42.27
He said "Just in time."
00:15:42.27\00:15:43.81
He said if it hadn't been for
that, that I would have died.
00:15:43.81\00:15:47.18
So, this has been a
threefold blessing in disguise,
00:15:47.18\00:15:51.98
and I'm just praising God
for all the opportunities,
00:15:51.98\00:15:55.08
that he gives us.
00:15:55.08\00:15:55.92
(cool music)
00:15:55.92\00:15:58.29
- Amazing. - Yeah.
00:16:03.29\00:16:04.69
- Those guys live on
the edge all the time.
00:16:04.69\00:16:06.80
- Right, right. But it's
neat to see how the Lord has,
00:16:06.80\00:16:09.86
you know, kind of
expanded the ministry,
00:16:09.86\00:16:11.63
into different avenues,
00:16:11.63\00:16:13.23
to reach different, you know,
00:16:13.23\00:16:15.30
different connections
of people around them.
00:16:15.30\00:16:18.61
And he's given them the idea,
00:16:18.61\00:16:20.34
of showing all of the
doctrines from the sanctuary.
00:16:20.34\00:16:23.98
That's so beautiful.
00:16:23.98\00:16:24.95
- Oh yeah.
00:16:24.95\00:16:25.88
- [Natalie] So beautiful.
00:16:25.88\00:16:27.12
- It's a picture
of the grace of God,
00:16:27.12\00:16:29.68
and the plan of
self of redemption.
00:16:29.68\00:16:31.49
It helps people
understand some aspects of it.
00:16:32.85\00:16:35.52
- And the scripture says,
00:16:35.52\00:16:36.99
"Thy way oh God
is in the sanctuary."
00:16:36.99\00:16:38.99
And so, if we wanna
know the way, Jesus said,
00:16:38.99\00:16:41.33
"I am the way the
truth and the life."
00:16:41.33\00:16:42.80
So, if we wanna know the way,
00:16:42.80\00:16:44.03
and we wanna
show people the way,
00:16:44.03\00:16:45.93
it's so beautifully
represented in the sanctuary.
00:16:45.93\00:16:48.40
- Absolutely. It's
a beautiful message.
00:16:48.40\00:16:50.07
- Yes. Very much so.
00:16:50.07\00:16:52.21
- And I love how they take
whatever, you know, the bicycle,
00:16:52.21\00:16:55.98
and they
dedicate it to the Lord.
00:16:57.31\00:16:58.88
He's out there using
the exercise to meet people,
00:16:58.88\00:17:01.35
that he wouldn't normally meet.
00:17:01.35\00:17:02.58
- Right. Well, I know
we have one more video,
00:17:02.58\00:17:05.09
talking about some of
the challenges that they
00:17:05.09\00:17:07.72
experienced. - [Jon] Okay.
00:17:07.72\00:17:09.09
(cool music)
00:17:09.09\00:17:11.49
- For me, I would never
exchange my work for God,
00:17:15.83\00:17:20.64
with a high-paying job.
00:17:20.64\00:17:21.67
(cool music)
00:17:21.67\00:17:24.07
- There's been many incidences,
00:17:25.51\00:17:27.38
where we've encountered
danger in the mountains.
00:17:27.38\00:17:31.48
For an example, I had
just put brand new tires,
00:17:31.48\00:17:35.12
and inner tubes, heavy duty
inner tubes in the 200cc Honda,
00:17:35.12\00:17:40.12
because the tires
were completely destroyed.
00:17:41.32\00:17:44.03
So, we put new
tires on that motorcycle,
00:17:44.03\00:17:46.13
and we had five other
motorcycles with us that day,
00:17:46.13\00:17:48.43
and some of their
tires were not that good,
00:17:48.43\00:17:51.10
but we got to a
certain part in the mountains,
00:17:51.10\00:17:54.44
and we had a flat tire
in the 200cc motorcycle.
00:17:54.44\00:17:59.41
And we spent like 25
minutes repairing the tire.
00:17:59.41\00:18:03.14
(cool music)
00:18:03.14\00:18:05.55
When we got to the next village,
00:18:07.75\00:18:09.22
people ask us if we
had seen the 300 armed men,
00:18:09.22\00:18:13.59
that had just passed.
00:18:13.59\00:18:15.09
Well, we hadn't seen them,
but we knew at that moment,
00:18:15.09\00:18:18.79
that the flat tire
prevented us from facing them.
00:18:18.79\00:18:21.46
(cool music)
00:18:21.46\00:18:23.87
I remember Tim Maddix came over,
00:18:27.54\00:18:29.77
and did a mission
trip with us one year.
00:18:29.77\00:18:32.17
And we were up here on
this mountain in that hall,
00:18:32.17\00:18:35.11
and this was where the
insurgency began back in the
00:18:35.11\00:18:40.12
1960's. And we were eight hours
away from any the nearest army
00:18:41.52\00:18:45.69
base. We were in a
bright yellow tent.
00:18:45.69\00:18:47.86
It was bright yellow,
00:18:47.86\00:18:49.32
and we were right off
the trail head at the top.
00:18:49.32\00:18:51.69
We were evangelizing.
00:18:51.69\00:18:52.79
We were pulling teeth.
00:18:52.79\00:18:53.93
We were doing a
medical missionary trip.
00:18:53.93\00:18:56.63
But when we went
down, the military took us,
00:18:56.63\00:18:59.57
and they interrogated
us and they scolded us,
00:18:59.57\00:19:02.00
for not getting permission
to go there ahead of time.
00:19:02.00\00:19:05.17
And he said, it
was their anniversary.
00:19:05.17\00:19:06.98
What are you doing?
00:19:06.98\00:19:08.44
That place is covered
with armed men right now.
00:19:08.44\00:19:11.11
We never saw them.
00:19:11.11\00:19:12.61
God is our
witness. We never saw them.
00:19:12.61\00:19:14.55
But when we left,
one of our members,
00:19:15.72\00:19:17.79
that was with us on that trip
was taken by the other side.
00:19:17.79\00:19:21.49
And she was taking
for three days and nights,
00:19:21.49\00:19:23.63
questioned about
why we were there.
00:19:23.63\00:19:26.13
But they were
looking for me everywhere,
00:19:26.13\00:19:27.83
and they couldn't find me,
so they took one of our members.
00:19:27.83\00:19:30.60
But in any case, we
were there for several days,
00:19:30.60\00:19:34.54
and they never saw
us, bright yellow tent.
00:19:34.54\00:19:39.11
So, God shielded us,
he must have shielded us.
00:19:39.11\00:19:41.98
(cool music)
00:19:41.98\00:19:45.21
- Oh, the first year in staying
here is really, really scary
00:19:45.21\00:19:50.02
because we just live in
a, I think 14 by 14 house.
00:19:51.45\00:19:56.29
It's made of
"Amakan," you know, bamboo.
00:19:57.43\00:19:59.73
And I think there
were like 14 of us,
00:20:01.13\00:20:04.40
staying in the small house.
00:20:04.40\00:20:08.17
- And at night time
rubber boots would come in.
00:20:08.17\00:20:12.14
The insurgence from
the communist party,
00:20:12.14\00:20:15.44
would come in around the house.
00:20:15.44\00:20:17.35
I'm a very light sleeper,
and I would always hear them,
00:20:17.35\00:20:20.12
(inhales and exhales)
00:20:20.12\00:20:22.58
they're breathing
around the thin bamboo walls,
00:20:22.58\00:20:26.82
that are surrounding us,
00:20:26.82\00:20:28.39
and we're not
knowing if they have "bolos",
00:20:28.39\00:20:30.56
which are machetes or AK-47's.
00:20:30.56\00:20:33.26
All we know is
that they're there.
00:20:33.26\00:20:35.33
And so I would
wake up my wife next.
00:20:35.33\00:20:37.70
(background noise
drowns out other sounds)
00:20:37.70\00:20:40.64
and she would wake
up the Bible workers,
00:20:40.64\00:20:42.24
that were all with
us and our children,
00:20:42.24\00:20:43.97
and we would quietly
be inside praying to God.
00:20:43.97\00:20:47.51
Not only would we be
praying for our safety,
00:20:47.51\00:20:50.75
but we would be
praying for, we'd ask the Lord,
00:20:50.75\00:20:54.58
"Are we right with you?"
00:20:54.58\00:20:56.48
And that was what
became most important.
00:20:56.48\00:20:59.42
In our mission here is
God was showing us that,
00:20:59.42\00:21:01.59
we needed to be right with him.
00:21:01.59\00:21:03.29
Not sometimes, but all the time.
00:21:03.29\00:21:05.13
(cool music)
00:21:05.13\00:21:07.56
- The joy you have
is really satisfying,
00:21:08.96\00:21:13.07
compared to the job that
you can have with a big pay.
00:21:13.07\00:21:16.54
Although there are
a lot of difficulties,
00:21:17.74\00:21:21.58
but for me, it's just not the
people that are being blessed,
00:21:21.58\00:21:25.55
doing missionary work, my
family are also been blessed.
00:21:25.55\00:21:30.45
(singing in foreign language)
00:21:30.45\00:21:34.66
- Over the years,
we've lost some support.
00:21:34.66\00:21:38.09
People have written
in and said, you know,
00:21:38.09\00:21:39.96
"We've seen the news over there.
00:21:39.96\00:21:41.56
"Get your family
out of there, you know.
00:21:42.80\00:21:45.43
"Why do you
insist on staying there?
00:21:45.43\00:21:47.37
"We're not
supporting you anymore."
00:21:47.37\00:21:49.60
And all we can do is say,
00:21:49.60\00:21:50.97
"We haven't had
permission to leave.
00:21:52.14\00:21:54.21
"Where else would we go?"
00:21:54.21\00:21:55.94
"The Lord gave us a
calling over 10 years ago.
00:21:55.94\00:21:59.05
"We've got these
young people surrounding us.
00:21:59.05\00:22:02.05
"Their lives are changed.
00:22:02.05\00:22:03.45
"They're healthy.
They're not sick anymore.
00:22:03.45\00:22:06.22
"God is making a difference.
00:22:08.22\00:22:10.33
"We're just channels.
We're just instruments."
00:22:10.33\00:22:12.73
But it's a joy
to be an instrument.
00:22:12.73\00:22:15.20
It's, it's a
joy to be a servant.
00:22:15.20\00:22:16.87
And so when you can see a
family, or Phillies get it,
00:22:18.30\00:22:22.74
you know, and put
their trust in a living God,
00:22:23.91\00:22:27.44
there's no greater joy for me.
00:22:27.44\00:22:30.41
Again, where would we go?
00:22:31.58\00:22:32.95
(laughs)
00:22:32.95\00:22:34.15
Where would we go?
00:22:34.15\00:22:35.55
(cool music)
00:22:35.55\00:22:37.95
- Wow. That's powerful.
00:22:47.00\00:22:48.46
- That is so powerful -
You know, people saying,
00:22:48.46\00:22:49.76
get your family out
of there, it's dangerous,
00:22:49.76\00:22:51.60
and he's like,
"Where would we go?
00:22:51.60\00:22:53.34
"God, hasn't given
us permission to leave."
00:22:53.34\00:22:55.80
And to think
about that, you know,
00:22:55.80\00:22:58.31
that's really opposite
from the way most of us think.
00:22:58.31\00:23:01.21
You know, we think,
well, yeah, it's dangerous.
00:23:01.21\00:23:03.18
Let's get our
family out of here.
00:23:03.18\00:23:05.05
But to be like, "Are
we right with you Lord?
00:23:05.05\00:23:08.18
"And are we where
you want us to be?"
00:23:08.18\00:23:10.45
Constantly asking.
00:23:10.45\00:23:12.29
And I know that's part of
00:23:12.29\00:23:13.49
what we're gonna
talk about next is,
00:23:13.49\00:23:15.06
constantly asking God,
"What do you want us to do?"
00:23:15.06\00:23:18.83
You know, in
light of the fact that,
00:23:18.83\00:23:20.73
it's getting more dangerous.
00:23:20.73\00:23:21.96
They've had to
move from some villages,
00:23:21.96\00:23:24.37
because of the danger there.
00:23:24.37\00:23:25.97
Because armed soldiers
or armed men are there,
00:23:25.97\00:23:28.64
and, you know, it's
like, to be willing to say,
00:23:28.64\00:23:32.51
"Lord, what do
you want us to do?"
00:23:32.51\00:23:34.88
And then to stay put
when that's the answer.
00:23:34.88\00:23:37.78
- Yeah.
00:23:37.78\00:23:39.31
- Right. Well, we want
to move on to the next part,
00:23:39.31\00:23:40.52
which is update from
the COVID-19 situation,
00:23:40.52\00:23:43.39
the coronavirus situation.
00:23:43.39\00:23:44.92
- Yes. Several months
ago they started seeing fear,
00:23:44.92\00:23:48.79
on people's
faces from the jungles,
00:23:48.79\00:23:51.86
and it was an unfounded fear.
00:23:51.86\00:23:53.26
They didn't know
why they were afraid.
00:23:53.26\00:23:54.73
And so they also started
seeing their donations drop.
00:23:54.73\00:23:58.53
And so, that's always
been an indicator to them,
00:23:58.53\00:24:01.17
that God wants to
communicate something.
00:24:01.17\00:24:03.91
And so, they took a whole week,
00:24:03.91\00:24:05.74
and spent it in
prayer and fasting.
00:24:05.74\00:24:07.91
And out of that came
this impression from,
00:24:07.91\00:24:12.61
many different people that
was involved with that prayer,
00:24:12.61\00:24:15.75
that they should
spend 80% of their time,
00:24:15.75\00:24:19.95
in planting
food into the ground.
00:24:19.95\00:24:22.56
- And so, they have tried,
you saw in the video that ox,
00:24:23.96\00:24:28.40
pulling the plow.
00:24:29.13\00:24:30.30
They've tried
planting for many years,
00:24:30.30\00:24:31.60
and it's a
limited success because,
00:24:31.60\00:24:34.27
they've got a lot of
bugs. They don't use pesticides.
00:24:34.27\00:24:37.27
And in the tropics, you know,
00:24:37.27\00:24:38.91
they got a lot
of species of bugs,
00:24:38.91\00:24:42.14
that come in that
we don't really have.
00:24:42.14\00:24:43.61
So, they've had limited success,
00:24:43.61\00:24:45.58
but they started doing that,
and then the Lord has blessed.
00:24:45.58\00:24:48.48
They even had a box
of beans sent to them,
00:24:48.48\00:24:51.35
from somebody in the state
several years ago, dried beans.
00:24:51.35\00:24:54.52
They went out and
planted those, they all came up.
00:24:54.52\00:24:57.59
- And there's a picture of
the miracle beans. (chuckles)
00:24:57.59\00:25:00.53
- And so now, this all happened
before the lockdown happened
00:25:00.53\00:25:05.07
and the lockdown was very
severe in the Philippines.
00:25:05.07\00:25:08.70
You can't leave your house.
00:25:08.70\00:25:09.87
You can't go
anywhere and some parts.
00:25:09.87\00:25:11.91
And so, that was like
just in time for this lockdown.
00:25:11.91\00:25:16.91
So, they haven't been hungry.
00:25:18.28\00:25:20.28
In fact, they've
had so many veggies,
00:25:20.28\00:25:21.95
that they're able to share
and help the other villagers
00:25:21.95\00:25:24.22
in the area that
are suffering also.
00:25:24.22\00:25:26.99
So, here's a little
video of the radio station.
00:25:26.99\00:25:30.83
You can see it's a
very small recording room.
00:25:30.83\00:25:33.03
And here's the tower
that looks a lot taller,
00:25:33.03\00:25:35.53
from the ground than
it does from the air.
00:25:35.53\00:25:37.30
(laughs)
00:25:37.30\00:25:38.47
But it reaches a long ways.
00:25:38.47\00:25:41.07
And this is how they reach
out even while they're at home.
00:25:41.07\00:25:44.81
- Wow. - Yeah.
00:25:44.81\00:25:46.34
Here's Mike in
his recording studio,
00:25:46.34\00:25:48.21
and here's Michelle
in the recording studio,
00:25:48.21\00:25:50.48
and they're putting
these shows together.
00:25:50.48\00:25:53.01
- Okay. So now,
we have the story,
00:25:53.01\00:25:55.18
of the chieftain's daughter.
00:25:55.18\00:25:56.42
- Yes. When she
first came to their house,
00:25:56.42\00:26:00.46
she was very cold and
she would look at you,
00:26:00.46\00:26:03.66
like she was
looking through you.
00:26:03.66\00:26:05.16
She was just, and now this
is the chief of the village,
00:26:05.16\00:26:10.03
that has been surrounded
by the government army,
00:26:11.23\00:26:15.87
and three people have died.
00:26:15.87\00:26:17.37
This is like what I learned
yesterday, so this is new.
00:26:17.37\00:26:20.98
But now the
daughter is just warm.
00:26:20.98\00:26:24.01
- So, she's living with them.
00:26:24.01\00:26:25.51
With Mike and Mitchell?
- She's living with them,
00:26:25.51\00:26:26.25
- Okay
00:26:26.25\00:26:27.18
doing the school that they have,
00:26:27.18\00:26:28.85
homeschooled type of schooling,
00:26:28.85\00:26:31.02
and learning the Christian way.
00:26:31.02\00:26:33.59
And obviously they
have a lot of Bible studies,
00:26:33.59\00:26:35.52
and they have a lot of sharing
time and things like that.
00:26:35.52\00:26:38.09
But now she's had such
a huge change in her life.
00:26:38.09\00:26:41.46
She's warm and bubbly
and a joy to be around.
00:26:41.46\00:26:44.13
And you can see in
this picture, she's got a,
00:26:44.13\00:26:46.40
electric smile yes. (chuckles)
- [Natalie] A happy smile yes
00:26:46.40\00:26:48.14
beautiful smile.
00:26:48.14\00:26:49.07
- So, these are the things that,
00:26:49.07\00:26:50.67
really make it all worthwhile.
00:26:50.67\00:26:52.17
A lot of people, you
know, in their past life,
00:26:52.17\00:26:54.78
they were going for money.
00:26:54.78\00:26:56.01
They were going for
the things of this world.
00:26:56.01\00:26:57.91
But now they don't have as much
of the things of this world,
00:26:57.91\00:27:01.22
but they have the true gold.
00:27:01.22\00:27:03.39
The true riches, that's
people, to change lives.
00:27:03.39\00:27:08.39
- Right. That's
beautiful, that's beautiful.
00:27:09.72\00:27:10.93
And I know that's
what keeps them going.
00:27:10.93\00:27:12.49
- Absolutely.
00:27:12.49\00:27:13.43
- In spite of the danger.
00:27:13.43\00:27:14.46
- It keeps us all going.
00:27:14.46\00:27:15.70
- Yeah. It's to
tell people about Jesus,
00:27:15.70\00:27:18.07
and to see him
work in their lives.
00:27:18.07\00:27:20.00
- Yes. So Mike and
Michelle, they inspire me.
00:27:20.00\00:27:22.90
- Yeah. And they
challenge us as well.
00:27:22.90\00:27:25.01
- Right. Sometimes living
here in America, you know,
00:27:25.01\00:27:27.61
I wanna maybe upgrade
something in my house,
00:27:27.61\00:27:32.61
and I think of
Mike and Michelle.
00:27:33.75\00:27:34.68
I'm like, "You know what?
00:27:34.68\00:27:35.95
"That can wait until heaven."
00:27:35.95\00:27:37.42
(chuckles)
00:27:37.42\00:27:38.92
I wanna do something that's
gonna be really impactful.
00:27:38.92\00:27:41.29
- [Natalie]
Right, right. - Yeah.
00:27:41.29\00:27:43.09
If you would like to
encourage Mike and Michelle,
00:27:43.09\00:27:45.06
to continue this work
that God has put before them,
00:27:45.06\00:27:48.03
you can contact us at,
00:27:48.03\00:27:49.53
Jesus for Asia PO Box 1221,
Collegedale, Tennessee 37315.
00:27:49.53\00:27:54.30
Call us at 423-413-7321,
00:27:56.04\00:28:00.28
or visit our
website at, Jesus4asia.org.
00:28:00.28\00:28:03.71
May God richly bless you,
00:28:03.71\00:28:05.38
until we see you next
time on, "Jesus for Asia Now."
00:28:05.38\00:28:08.38
(cool uplifting music)
00:28:08.38\00:28:11.62