Participants: Jeff Reich
Series Code: LM
Program Code: LM000110
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00:29 This is the first part of March in Northern Idaho
00:32 and they say that this has something 00:33 to do with global warming. 00:34 Anyhow, this is the time of the year 00:36 that we go over to the Philippines 00:37 so we're gonna go from this to this. 00:39 It's hot and sweltering here in the Philippines. 00:42 Over, 95 degrees today, high humidity. 00:45 Why we are here in the Philippines? 00:46 We're gonna take you over to Sablayan and show you 00:48 the Prison Ministry that's going on. 00:49 We're gonna take you out to the remote villages 00:52 and show you the work and the missionaries 00:53 and the student missionaries are doing out there. 01:44 Manila is the capital of the Philippines. 01:46 The Philippines is the 12th most populated country 01:48 in the whole world with over 90 million people. 01:51 You know what that means, that means crowded. 01:55 This is Joe and Ellen Beazley 01:57 they came over to Philippines here in December. 01:59 Right now we're, we just met him here last night. 02:01 We're gonna hop on this bus. 02:02 We're gonna head over to the port of Batangus 02:05 and cross over to island of Mindoro. 02:08 And go see our mission house there. 02:10 So you guys are ready to go? 02:11 We're ready. Okay, let's go. 02:16 On reaching the Batangas we've to check through security 02:19 before boarding the ferry 02:20 to cross over to the Port of Abra. 02:22 Ferry schedules can vary and prolong with bad weather. 02:25 Well, sometimes you can get stuck at the port for hours. 02:28 We're gonna take this ferry over across to the port of Abra 02:32 and then we're gonna take a jeep or truck 02:34 and cross over to the town of Mamburao 02:35 where we have our mission house. 02:37 The Philippines is made up of 7,107 islands. 02:40 Some of the islands are huge landmasses 02:42 where other ones are just not even inhabitable 02:44 because they are so small. 02:46 The very windy day here on the ferry. 02:48 We're looking forward to getting over 02:49 to our mission house this afternoon 02:51 probably, around 2 o'clock. 02:56 The next step is to find a taxi 02:58 which in most cases is a small minivan. 03:01 The distance to our mission house 03:03 is about 30 kilometers and that's 19 miles. 03:06 It takes around 45 minutes. 03:08 Soon we arrive at Laymen Ministries mission house 03:10 located outside the town of Mamburao. 03:13 Mamburao was a medium sized town 03:15 that has a lot of hustle and bustle and well noise 03:19 because of the constant driven of motorcycles and jeepneys. 03:22 The open market is a beehive of activities. 03:24 You can find an interesting assortment 03:26 of such things as fresh fruit, 03:28 a lot of different types of fish, and well, meat. 03:32 The mission house is full of activities. 03:34 It's used as our main business office, 03:37 also a temporary high school 03:38 for our graduate students from the villages, 03:40 then we also hold our training seminars 03:42 here for all of the missionaries. 03:44 During the school hours Ellen Beazley helps 03:46 tutor our high schools students on laptop computers. 03:49 To fully appreciate this, you need to better understand 03:52 where these students came from. 03:56 These students are from a regional tribe called Ryans. 04:00 They refer to as Katutubo 04:01 which translated means native or indigenous. 04:05 The Ryan tribe 04:06 is one of the most primitive people groups in the world 04:08 living a semi-nomadic lifestyle 04:11 in the mountainous regions of this area. 04:14 They live in very simple crude homes 04:16 that change from month to month. 04:18 There're times they simply live out in the jungles 04:20 making the trees and the branches their home, 04:23 foraging food crops and other things to eat. 04:26 Diseases extremely prevalent among these people 04:29 as many do not understand basic hygiene or nutrition. 04:33 I will explain more to you in a little while 04:35 about what is created the change you see here 04:37 but it is truly a miracle 04:39 that these kids now use laptop computers. 04:41 Lead out in worship services, 04:43 do public speaking and read and write 04:45 better then many of the national children 04:47 in the public schools. 04:49 Anna Lin teaches the classes using DVD home school materials 04:53 from America along with other textbooks. 04:55 The kids love to learn and well, quite frankly 04:58 they can do math much better than I can. 05:00 Joe Beazley leads out in Bible classes 05:02 with the students on a daily basis. 05:04 The students are responsible for also leading out 05:07 in evening and morning worship services with the staff. 05:11 Moni, Webb and Ellen Beazley work together 05:13 on the book keeping and monthly budgets 05:15 for all the villages and the prison ministry. 05:17 Speaking of which, as this day comes to an end 05:20 tomorrow I want to take you to see the prison ministry. 05:27 This morning I wanted drive this trustworthy hopefully 05:29 trustworthy little minivan over to Sablayan, 05:32 it's about 90 kilometers from here 05:34 and we're gonna go see Louie 05:35 in while over to prison ministry. 05:37 I'm hoping this minivan makes it, 05:39 it's not the most that, it's not the most, 05:45 I don't know how to say it 05:46 but I hope it's dependable. 05:48 The tyres are a little bit worn on it 05:50 and it has few rust holes that they keep telling me 05:53 that there is a good chance 05:54 that this will make it over there in back 05:55 so we'll find out this morning. 06:14 The trip is mostly over dirt roads 06:16 intermixed with a few smooth areas of pavement. 06:19 It's around 70 kilometers that's 45 miles 06:22 and it takes around three hours to drive 06:24 due to the conditions of the roads. 06:27 The trip is hot and dusty 06:29 especially when trucks and jeepneys drive by 06:31 leaving huge dust clouds. 06:34 They use the roads it's a dry a lot of the grains out. 06:38 They actually spread them out on the highways 06:40 and cars and trucks oftentimes-- 06:41 we just drive right over top of it 06:42 and that kind of helps threshing process. 06:45 And then they rake in several times 06:46 and they pick it up and put it in bags. 06:48 The planting, cutting rice is a difficult task 06:52 especially when you consider how hot it is outside. 06:54 Right now they are taking the real mature husks crops 06:57 and they're putting them through the thresher 06:59 separating the kernels from the husks. 07:02 Life here in the Philippines extremely difficult 07:04 and this is just bare, the bare existence for them 07:08 trying to survive, trying to do this kind of work 07:10 and provide for their families. 07:14 At the prison Luisito Benitez and Abel Miralles lead out 07:17 in training the inmates to do outreach. 07:20 When we have the idea of turning the 62,500 acre 07:24 Pino colony into a Bible seminary 07:27 we thought that it was kind of a crazy idea 07:31 but over the years it's turned out 07:32 to be actually quiet successful. 07:34 The inmates here as you've witnessed 07:37 they, they conduct their own church services. 07:39 They're trained in such a way that they basically run 07:43 their whole organizations inside the prison by themselves. 07:47 The church service today was done completely by the inmates. 07:51 We had one native that came from Paradise church 07:54 who did special music but all the special music 07:57 and even the sermon which was very well done today. 07:59 It was done by the inmates. 08:02 And this is the second church Laymen Ministries 08:04 has helped work together with the inmates to build. 08:07 We don't just give them money to build the church 08:10 what we do is we give them some of the cement 08:12 and we use an intensive program to get the inmates involved 08:15 with being able to get wood and cogan for the roof 08:18 and such so that when they build the church here 08:20 this church is actually their church. 08:22 Recently we had 93 inmates 08:25 who sealed their decisions to accept Jesus Christ 08:27 as their personal savior through baptism. 08:29 And Pastor Pernia did the baptism. 08:36 For 10 years working in the Prison Ministry 08:38 and nine years working with the Laymen Ministries 08:41 I would say that God sustained all our needs. 08:49 For me working with the Lord 08:52 and Prison Ministry was a big privilege. 08:56 My life before was on the dark side 09:03 but something happened God called me 09:07 to work for the Prison Ministry. 09:09 He changed my life. 09:11 By now we have prison guard 09:14 who is regularly attending our Sabbath worship with us. 09:20 He is also studying the Bible and together with his wife 09:24 they came to attend every Sabbath. 09:27 I can say that I'm an ordinary layman 09:30 but with the power 09:33 and the blessings of the Holy Spirit, 09:36 God used me mightily. 09:38 If you have the willingness and commitment to do God's work 09:42 you can be a powerful worker for that. 09:50 After a busy and dusty trip to Sablayan 09:52 we'll get some rest 09:53 and tomorrow we'll be off to the villages. 10:00 We went shopping for our groceries 10:02 for the missionaries for the month 10:04 and we're sorting them and packaging them 10:07 and boxing them up 10:09 to put on the boat to take to the missionaries. 10:13 It's early in the morning here 10:14 about supposed to 5:30 in the morning 10:16 and we're getting ready to go out to the villages. 10:19 This is a really nice time in the morning 10:20 because the humidity is down and the temperature is down. 10:23 We're gonna be loading up the boat here 10:24 and we're going to spend probably about almost two weeks 10:28 about ten, eleven, twelve, days out in the villages 10:31 to see what missionaries are doing and checking 10:32 on the student missionary down there. 10:34 We're gonna move the boat over right now 10:35 and load it up in and head on this morning. 10:57 Jim had just told me time and time again 10:59 that he can really rely 11:00 with lot of those old Adventist camps 11:02 you know, like throughout the lifeline 11:04 and all those song that have do with sailing 11:06 because the ocean current is black, 11:08 the water is clean white 11:09 and billowous and it is rough indeed 11:12 but today by God's grace its just as calm 11:15 and its beautiful as it could be. 12:08 They got a dirty kitchen here. 12:13 That's a cute little place. Yeah. 12:16 And have you had any problems with snakes or-- 12:18 Oh, just a few. Big spiders? 12:19 Big spiders. 12:20 Oh, have you were afraid of spiders? 12:22 Oh, just a little. 12:23 So you even got a sink upon concrete here. 12:25 Yeah. 12:26 So tell us about your little house, what do you got? 12:27 This is my house and this is my kitchen 12:30 and my living room altogether 12:32 and this is my room here I share with another missionary. 12:36 This is your bedroom? Yeah, this is a bedroom. 12:38 I see you got your mosquito nets up. 12:40 Definitely, because the spiders out. 12:42 And so what do you have on over here? 12:44 This is my lowest bathroom, my CR. 12:47 Why do they call them CRs? Comfort Room. 12:50 Oh, it's a comfort room. Is this a comfortable room? 12:53 I mean it depends. 12:55 So how do you take a bath here? 12:57 This is my shower and I just take the dipper 13:03 and this my shower. 13:04 So when you knew that you're going to be out here 13:06 did you think it was gonna be this primitive 13:08 or is this better than you were hoping? 13:09 This is better than I was hoping. 13:12 And when you saw this toilet? 13:13 I was a little bit shocked. 13:16 I was thinking in my expectations 13:17 where I was gonna be very primitive 13:19 and it was gonna be glorified camping which it 13:22 mostly is but its enjoyable glorified camping. 13:25 And then you don't think about it after a while 13:28 becomes like a nature. 13:36 I work in Binuangan 13:37 its one of the three laymen villages in the Philippines. 13:41 I work with the Katatubo people 13:43 they are primitive people in Mindanao. 13:51 Working with the children has been 13:53 a wonderful blessing for me. 13:55 I love kids and these kids are very sweet and gentle 13:58 and the experience has been wonderful 14:00 the bonding has been awesome. 14:32 This is our first graduation of Grade 6. 14:36 Grade 6 is the end of the elementary school 14:39 here in the Philippines 14:40 and after this our one graduate 14:43 today will be going to Mamburao to the home office 14:46 where we have an immediate junior high school 14:50 and then further high school. 15:41 Our next stop is at the village of Pinagbayanan. 15:43 Boni Hosea who has been working for us here seven years 15:46 along with his wife Mercy greeted me. 15:48 And of course, there are the kids. 15:51 It's hard to believe at one time 15:52 these children were so shy 15:54 they would hide from us when we arrived. 16:01 Well, this is the group from Pinagbayanan 16:02 and this is our teachers from this last year. 16:04 Michelle who is also one of the Katatubo teachers 16:06 she went back to the village 16:08 but we thought maybe we'd give you 16:09 a tour of the places that are, the buildings 16:12 that are on the facility here and their houses 16:14 and just kind of take a general look at the campus. 16:16 So where should we start? 16:19 The accommodations are rustic and simple. 16:22 We have power by only solar panels 16:25 which provides light and some power 16:27 for charging cell phones 16:28 that is if it's not raining too much outside. 16:35 This couple here they, they were teaching 16:38 last year in different villages. 16:40 Yes. 16:41 And then you decide to tie the knot, right? 16:43 Yeah. 16:44 And they got married 16:45 and they're planning long term missionary work here. 16:48 And this is your little house up here? 16:49 Yeah. 16:50 A really nice campus. 16:51 There is everything is nice and clean. 16:56 The classrooms are made from cement or bamboo 16:59 using thatched or metal roofs. 17:01 In this village we have four school houses 17:04 consisting of six classrooms. 17:08 So this is where you're teaching 17:10 and what grade pupils you have here? 17:12 Kindergarten. 17:15 And did you do all this beautiful artwork here? 17:18 Yeah, interesting. 17:20 God is love, 1 John 4:8. 17:24 We have a clean kitchen and a dirty kitchen? 17:27 A dirty kitchen. 17:28 And when we talk about dirty kitchens 17:29 here in the Philippines we are not saying 17:31 that their kitchen is dirty. 17:32 It just means it's an outdoor kitchen 17:33 where they cook with charcoal and wood, yeah. 17:37 And so they have an outside kitchen. 17:39 And sometimes it's really dirty. 17:41 Yeah? 17:46 Now they're ready for the graduation, right 17:48 and its all setup for graduation right now. 17:51 Yeah. 17:52 And how many people you said are gonna come? 17:54 Five hundred people. 17:56 And today they have practiced 17:58 and they practiced and practiced 18:01 and can be a lot of people here. 18:04 Nice roomy classroom 18:06 its kind of metal roof it's been insulated. 18:07 And how do you actually say it? 18:12 Pinagbayanan. Pinang? 18:15 Pinag. 18:16 I will never learn Tagalog. 18:20 This is Andy. 18:21 Andy is gonna demonstrate 18:22 how they actually climb these coconut trees 18:24 and harvest the coconuts here. 18:26 Believe me, Andy makes this look much easier than it really is. 18:30 I tried this once and I got about half way up the tree 18:33 but I decided it was a life threatening situation 18:36 and returned to the ground well with a "thud." 18:41 They call this young or tender coconut 18:44 because it's newly picked. 18:46 The juice inside is refreshing. 18:48 And coconuts are major staple in the Philippines. 18:51 They're used for making soap, oil and even candy. 18:59 You can make right now, is the spoon 19:03 out of the outside of the coconut 19:04 because the inside of the coconut is really soft. 19:07 And you could pick it out like this-- 19:13 and get it. 19:20 Tender coconut, it's really good. 19:24 This is Neng-Neng and how old are you Neng-Neng? 19:28 You know? Thirteen. 19:31 Thirteen, she is 13 years old 19:33 and exactly one year ago almost exactly today 19:37 we had her in Mamburao to see Dr. Baron 19:40 because she had a really severe cleft palate 19:42 and we worked with Dr. Baron and he actually told us 19:46 that he would donate the operation 19:48 to correct the problem. 19:50 And that Laymen Ministries have just paid 19:52 for the hospital expenses. 19:53 And Jim and Moni worked with them to do that. 19:56 And lot of times so that we have other children 19:58 that have come to ministry that have different problems 20:01 and we have special situations like this 20:04 for people in America donate funds and help 20:07 with doing different types of corrective surgery here. 20:10 One boy we took to Manila 20:12 and he had some extensive corrective surgery done 20:14 and today he is functioning normal. 20:16 He was actually born without a rectum 20:18 and they did reconstructive surgery 20:20 on him to have that fixed. 20:23 So there's some serious things here 20:24 and lot of time the kids will never have a chance 20:26 to live a more normal life 20:28 if there wasn't the opportunity for missionaries to be here 20:31 at to really help with the situations. 20:35 Then we pull that one going out here 20:37 so that there will be-- we're going to palate them. 20:40 Today she is really beautiful and looks good 20:43 and the surgery turned out really good 20:45 and she is living here with Boni, Mercy now. 20:48 And she is happy and she's got a beautiful smile. 20:56 And what, what grade are you in. 20:59 In grade one. In grade one. 21:01 I think after that. 21:04 So you'll be great one next year? 21:05 Yes. 21:06 Oh good. That's good. 21:23 The change in my children's 21:27 or my students got here 21:29 the way they treat the people around them. 21:33 It really show their love, their affection 21:37 and like before it did. 21:38 They hide it and it's their very bashful 21:41 or they're very shy with those people. 21:44 But now they're really trying and they've been matured 21:49 and their level of education is improved. 21:53 And it's very nice 21:56 and the words that came from them 21:59 really encourages me to still 22:01 or to teach more of this kind of students 22:05 although its hard but its worthy. 22:13 Our village projects here have 22:14 continued to grow and be blessed. 22:17 Over the 12 years that I've been here 22:18 I watched the quality of education increased. 22:21 Seeing the ignorance disappear and the kids burning to read 22:24 and write and learn basic Bible. 22:26 We have a lot of young students in this particular school. 22:29 And we're now ready to enter to the next level of education 22:32 and Biblical training and that is with our high school project. 22:35 Now, we want to build some new buildings 22:39 and such on a piece of property we've already acquired 22:42 so that these kids as classes keep growing and growing 22:45 we have more and more graduates 22:46 so they'll have a place to be able to go 22:48 where they can have good solid Biblical teaching 22:51 and to be able to advance in the academics. 22:53 This is the closest village to the property 22:56 that we've purchased for building a high school. 23:00 Now that property is behind this. 23:02 We actually can't see the property 23:03 exactly from where I'm standing. 23:05 It's over this next ridge line. 23:07 Our plan is to build a road 23:10 to the property from here from this village 23:13 and establish a working academy 23:17 for our native graduates from our elementary schools 23:23 so that they can get a high school education. 23:25 This way they can come back 23:27 to be missionaries to their own people. 23:28 We have quiet a number of young students right now. 23:31 Eighteen, nineteen years old 23:32 that are ready to go to that level 23:33 that have a burning desire to comeback to the villages 23:36 and to really work amongst their own people 23:38 and we're very excited about this. 23:39 This is really a wonderful opportunity. 23:42 We need to build real buildings, we need to put a road in, 23:44 we need people that would be willing to come 23:47 and be staff for our academy or high school 23:50 and also to be involved with building. 23:53 So I just ask that you would pray with us 23:54 as we move forward to this next level 23:56 because it is a wonderful opportunity to serve God 23:59 with a Katatubo people here in the Philippines. 24:20 This is village of Agbalite and we are really blessed 24:24 because the way is really big, 24:26 we probably gonna have to swim in 24:27 but we are actually able to get the boat right up to shore. 24:30 This is where Neng-Neng and Joe and Bilgrade 24:36 and Lindsay are working. 24:38 We'll be spending a Sabbath here with them. 24:54 Oh. Hello. 24:56 Hi, how are you? 24:57 It's kind of hope when I get it toward your house. 24:59 Looks like you got a new place here. 25:01 Yeah. 25:03 Now my name is Lindsay Charlton and I'm from Helena, Montana. 25:07 I'm 18 years old and I've been here in the Philippines 25:12 for about 10 months now. 25:14 Being here is really made me realize 25:16 the need to have a one on one relationship with them 25:20 and that you need them everyday. 25:24 And to have that extra support from God 25:28 is just like to have a peace of mind. 25:33 The second year has been exactly 25:39 what I could ever wanted to be. 25:42 It has been a year for me to get closer with the God 25:48 and to expand and grow my faith 25:52 so that I now have much more confidence in my God 25:56 then I did before I became a missionary. 27:01 Sulong Ipil is a newest village project that we've started. 27:05 Located at the base of where we want 27:07 to build our secondary academy 27:09 we seek to help these people 27:10 find a new way of life in Christ. |
Revised 2014-12-17