I think I need to write a few light-hearted things down so that if you read this, you will know that things are not all serious and terrible and desperate. We actually have even a somewhat “normal” life here at times. We get up in the morning, cook, eat, do our work (which is a lot of language study for me), homeschool, and often have a lot of fun with the tribal people. We go swimming in the river with them and visit at their houses or at ours. They will always have some kind of interesting story to tell, either about spirits, ancestors, or a simple walk through the jungle. Animism penetrates everything about the way they think here.
The tribal people love to have fun and make jokes. A lot of times their jokes are very integrated with their culture, so you have to understand their culture to understand their humor. For example, one time I was talking to someone about the mythical ancestors of the different animals of the forest. Every animal has some kind of mythical ancestor, which they say is its grandfather. So they told me some stories about the grandfather of the monkey, and the grandfather of the python, and others. The grandfather of the python is who they say went through the land and carved out all the hills and valleys.
So I was asking about the different grandfathers of the different animals and listening to the stories. I was sitting in one of the tribal people’s homes as we were talking, and I asked who the grandfather of the skunk was. This lady looked at me, and said, “Egsa (that means cousin), he’s sitting right there,” and she pointed at her husband sitting next to me! Well, everyone laughed at that, including the one being pointed at, because they all knew what that meant!
That is just one of the ways we have fun with the tribal people.
Even in somewhat scary situations, we can often find something to laugh about. Consider the following. Yesterday morning I woke up to find a snake in the middle of the kitchen. Don’t worry, it was not one of the very poisonous kinds. Yet nevertheless, it was a snake, first thing in the morning. I held the dog and sat there staring at it. For some reason I couldn’t think of what to do. Probably because I had just woken up and was still a bit sleepy. Remember that time when I had to pour boiling water on the snake that was hiding in a crack in the wall? Well, that was the only thing I could think of. But I figured the snake wouldn’t wait around for me to boil water to pour it over him! Hmm.
Suddenly like a light shining in the darkness came a voice out of the silence, breaking through with magnificent thought and reason. It was Ginny. “Would you like me to hand you your machete?” Wow! I wonder how long I would have sat there staring at the snake if she hadn’t prompted me! So I took the machete, chopped off the snake’s head, and end of snake!
The tribal people never chop off a snake’s head. They think that if you chop it off and throw it out into the jungle, the next time you cook rice, the snake’s head will magically appear in your rice pot, jump out, and bite you on the neck! So naturally I want to challenge this assumption (gently of course), and so I took the snake with the severed head over to the tribal people’s home next door and showed it to them. I asked them what kind of snake it was. “Sawa manok,” they said (which means chicken snake). Later I came by and I told them I had thrown the snake and its head out into the jungle. There was a pause as they stared at me uncomfortably. So I asked, “Do you think the head will appear in my rice pot and jump out and bite me on the neck?” That broke the tension, and they all fell over laughing!
The reason they laugh at that is because they know it is a silly idea, but they still believe it enough to not chop off a snake’s head. They have no basis for thinking that the snake’s head might not reappear, but they are still scared that it might.
So, score 1 for the challenge, done gently and in love.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Monday, May 2, 2011
It happened again
"I, the LORD, have called You in righteousness, and will hold Your hand; I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people, as a light to the Gentiles..." Isaiah 42:6
Making God central to our ministry
I have been reading a lot lately from scripture and in other places about making God completely and totally central to our ministry. As I look back and reflect on our time in ministry from when I first left my engineering job in New Mexico, there have been times I have totally focused on God, and other times that I have been a whole lot more focused on myself. During those times that God has been central and we were walking by faith, stepping out and trusting Him to go before us, our fellowship with the Father has been the sweetest. This work that we are doing, to bring the Gospel to people who not only don’t know God, but who regularly serve demonic forces, cannot be done in our power. Other times when I served my own ideas (instead of the Lord’s) stand out as times of spiritual failure.
I will recount the great things God has done in our lives. He sold our house in a miraculous way, provided for the funds to get us through our training, found my lost keys just off the highway in Utah :), guided us to an interest in the Philippines, and led us to a tribal location that did not yet have the Gospel. Here we are now, and we are pressing forward, guided by His Spirit, and your prayers. I am convinced that nothing in this world happens that is not somehow connected to God’s greater plan for the world.
What I am about to write may be a little disturbing to some who read this, and completely unbelievable to others (also it is probably not suitable to be read to children). Be that as it may – I write about what we see and pray that God gets the glory. The Palawano here do not know Christ yet and have centuries of animistic darkness holding them down. We believe that by your prayers and ours God will soon lead them out of that darkness into His glorious light…
It happened again
We heard that the young girl was getting married, and finally figured out that was the reason so many people were around. Every day for the past week there were kids out in front of our house playing soccer, volleyball, and badminton. Our porch was always full of people wanting to look at pictures. They especially like looking at pictures of themselves. :)
So then last night, they all started to go to bed in the house right next door feeling happy and contented. All was right with the world. It was dark with no moon, so people would be asleep early. Then it happened. All of a sudden there were screams, yelling, banging, crashing around. Screams of terror. “Keep him away!” “Help!” “Hold him down!” People jumping out of the windows of the house, off the porch, escaping through holes in the floor, and running in every direction just to get away. Some came running up to our house, holding especially their little kids.
Egsa, it’s Tabung again! He’s nemulpug! The bad spirit has him! He is trying to kill the children! Many of us were bitten by him!
I looked and there was his little brother, a boy of about 13 years old. He showed me his arm where he was bitten hard. There was a huge bruise.
So then the conversation follows as I try and find out more information.
Where is he now – did he run off into the jungle?
No, he is still in the house.
Is someone holding him?
Yes, there are 2 or 3 guys holding him, but they are not strong enough to hold him down. There are still children in the house in the room on the side, but they can’t get out. Can we stay in your storage shed, Egsa? He can’t get us there.
Well there is gasoline in there. I will have to move it. Let me go check on Tabung first.
I walked over to the house and went up on the porch, and there I saw him. He looked similar to the last time he had this affliction, only a bit worse this time. His eyes were wide open, and he was making a growling sound. He was crouched like a tiger ready to spring, facing the door of the room where the remaining children were being held for their protection. There were about 3 guys holding him down. I called his name. “Tabung!” No response – he was totally focused on the door. As he started to make a move for the door, the guys holding him held harder and called for one of the adults to start moving the children out of the room and out of the house. I looked at his face – it was the face of someone being controlled by something more powerful than himself. It was the face of evil. This is not the Tabung that I know and talk with every day.
Some of the men from the other side of the village came to help hold him down. By this time I had moved the gasoline out of our storage shed so the mothers could hide their children in there. We got everyone settled. I went back to our house to pray. Ginny and Abby had been praying already. So we all 3 prayed together. “Lord, we pray that you protect the people here from evil. We trust in your protection over our house and our family. We pray for the children here to be kept safe and the people to be delivered from fear. We pray especially for Tabung, that you will deliver him from this demonic presence that seems to affect him from time to time.”
Things were now settled for a bit – there were men guarding Tabung and holding him down during his fits, and the women and children were all hidden in various places in the village. Then suddenly we heard more commotion from the house. Shouts. The men running out of the house with their flashlights. I went out to talk with them. Sure enough, it turned out, he had broken their hold (7 of them holding him down) and had run off into the jungle. Nobody had any idea where he had gone. When he has this madness come upon him, he seems to have multiple times the normal strength of a man.
Well, as it turned out, he did come back in his right mind an hour or so later in the evening and went to his grandparents’ house. He told the people there to make sure that they kept the children away from him in case his malady returned. He didn’t know what had happened, but he had some idea. The children were taken away, but the men stayed with him all night. In the morning, he was physically fine, though emotionally spent.
The difference between this time that Tabung was sick and the first time, when we treated him for cerebral malaria, is that this time he has not been sick or physically weak during the day. In fact, he has been one of my main guys for a particular project I have been working on at our clinic, and has been able to work hard every day without a problem. During the day he is a perfectly normal guy. However on some nights he seems to have this type of madness come upon him. Before, he showed definite symptoms of another sickness in addition to the madness. This time, there is only the sporadic madness with no accompanying symptoms. When I talked to him the morning after, he said that he did not remember anything, but that he is beginning to feel separated from his own people now (as in they are scared of him and want to make sure they are sleeping somewhere far away).
As we thought and prayed about it, several things came to mind. First, we know there is an Enemy that wants to keep these people from hearing the Gospel. If we fail to recognize evil, we are sure to be defeated by it. We know that the teaching of the Gospel is coming soon, so this is an attempt by that enemy to keep the people in darkness, where they have remained for hundreds of years. Secondly, it seems that part of the strategy of the enemy may be to bring out the Gospel teaching prematurely, before the people are ready. If we bring out the Gospel teaching before the people have an understanding of sin, this gives an opportunity for cults to come in and usurp the authority over new life in the church. This has happened in many places, and we seek to avoid it by wisdom.
So instead of attempting to exorcise the demonic spirit right now, we ask for your prayers over him, us, and our families. God is doing a work in the hearts of the Palawanos right now, but they are not ready yet. We are plowing the ground, preparing the field for planting the seed. There is more than just this one incident affecting them. 3 weeks ago there were multiple people who were affected by this same type of spirit in one night, and they all had to be held down to keep from going after the children. Though this has not been a common type of malady in the past, it now seems to be increasing in frequency.
There are other things happening as well right now. The government program of financial assistance to the Palawanos for putting their kids in school has people concerned. They were very happy to get the money when it was offered. Now that the start of school is getting closer, they are realizing that putting their kids in a school 3 hours away is not going to be easy, and they are constantly talking about what they are going to do when school begins again in a couple of weeks.
So again, we are making a call to prayer. Prayer for the Palawanos to be drawn to Christ, drawn away from the darkness that has enveloped them for centuries. Prayer that they will question the teachings of the ancestors, understand their sinfulness before God, and look for a way of deliverance. We also call you to pray for us and our families. Pray for our team to be united in our work and fellowship. Pray that us and our kids will be protected from the attacks of the enemy, will be kept safe, and will remain faithful in trusting our loving Father.
Update May 2, 2011
Last night everyone in the village tried to sneak off to the houses up on the mountain so that they wouldn’t have to sleep near him. I talked to one of the dads, and he was very concerned that Tabung would kill one of his children. When they were out on the airstrip trying to sneak off, Tabung saw them all and went to join them. These are, after all, all his extended family – aunts, uncles, cousins. He is 18 years old and naturally feels a need to be with the people he knows and loves. So they ended up sleeping in the houses near us again, with several men sleeping close to Tabung to guard him in case he woke up in a fit of madness. Thankfully, nothing happened.
Making God central to our ministry
I have been reading a lot lately from scripture and in other places about making God completely and totally central to our ministry. As I look back and reflect on our time in ministry from when I first left my engineering job in New Mexico, there have been times I have totally focused on God, and other times that I have been a whole lot more focused on myself. During those times that God has been central and we were walking by faith, stepping out and trusting Him to go before us, our fellowship with the Father has been the sweetest. This work that we are doing, to bring the Gospel to people who not only don’t know God, but who regularly serve demonic forces, cannot be done in our power. Other times when I served my own ideas (instead of the Lord’s) stand out as times of spiritual failure.
I will recount the great things God has done in our lives. He sold our house in a miraculous way, provided for the funds to get us through our training, found my lost keys just off the highway in Utah :), guided us to an interest in the Philippines, and led us to a tribal location that did not yet have the Gospel. Here we are now, and we are pressing forward, guided by His Spirit, and your prayers. I am convinced that nothing in this world happens that is not somehow connected to God’s greater plan for the world.
What I am about to write may be a little disturbing to some who read this, and completely unbelievable to others (also it is probably not suitable to be read to children). Be that as it may – I write about what we see and pray that God gets the glory. The Palawano here do not know Christ yet and have centuries of animistic darkness holding them down. We believe that by your prayers and ours God will soon lead them out of that darkness into His glorious light…
It happened again
We heard that the young girl was getting married, and finally figured out that was the reason so many people were around. Every day for the past week there were kids out in front of our house playing soccer, volleyball, and badminton. Our porch was always full of people wanting to look at pictures. They especially like looking at pictures of themselves. :)
So then last night, they all started to go to bed in the house right next door feeling happy and contented. All was right with the world. It was dark with no moon, so people would be asleep early. Then it happened. All of a sudden there were screams, yelling, banging, crashing around. Screams of terror. “Keep him away!” “Help!” “Hold him down!” People jumping out of the windows of the house, off the porch, escaping through holes in the floor, and running in every direction just to get away. Some came running up to our house, holding especially their little kids.
Egsa, it’s Tabung again! He’s nemulpug! The bad spirit has him! He is trying to kill the children! Many of us were bitten by him!
I looked and there was his little brother, a boy of about 13 years old. He showed me his arm where he was bitten hard. There was a huge bruise.
So then the conversation follows as I try and find out more information.
Where is he now – did he run off into the jungle?
No, he is still in the house.
Is someone holding him?
Yes, there are 2 or 3 guys holding him, but they are not strong enough to hold him down. There are still children in the house in the room on the side, but they can’t get out. Can we stay in your storage shed, Egsa? He can’t get us there.
Well there is gasoline in there. I will have to move it. Let me go check on Tabung first.
I walked over to the house and went up on the porch, and there I saw him. He looked similar to the last time he had this affliction, only a bit worse this time. His eyes were wide open, and he was making a growling sound. He was crouched like a tiger ready to spring, facing the door of the room where the remaining children were being held for their protection. There were about 3 guys holding him down. I called his name. “Tabung!” No response – he was totally focused on the door. As he started to make a move for the door, the guys holding him held harder and called for one of the adults to start moving the children out of the room and out of the house. I looked at his face – it was the face of someone being controlled by something more powerful than himself. It was the face of evil. This is not the Tabung that I know and talk with every day.
Some of the men from the other side of the village came to help hold him down. By this time I had moved the gasoline out of our storage shed so the mothers could hide their children in there. We got everyone settled. I went back to our house to pray. Ginny and Abby had been praying already. So we all 3 prayed together. “Lord, we pray that you protect the people here from evil. We trust in your protection over our house and our family. We pray for the children here to be kept safe and the people to be delivered from fear. We pray especially for Tabung, that you will deliver him from this demonic presence that seems to affect him from time to time.”
Things were now settled for a bit – there were men guarding Tabung and holding him down during his fits, and the women and children were all hidden in various places in the village. Then suddenly we heard more commotion from the house. Shouts. The men running out of the house with their flashlights. I went out to talk with them. Sure enough, it turned out, he had broken their hold (7 of them holding him down) and had run off into the jungle. Nobody had any idea where he had gone. When he has this madness come upon him, he seems to have multiple times the normal strength of a man.
Well, as it turned out, he did come back in his right mind an hour or so later in the evening and went to his grandparents’ house. He told the people there to make sure that they kept the children away from him in case his malady returned. He didn’t know what had happened, but he had some idea. The children were taken away, but the men stayed with him all night. In the morning, he was physically fine, though emotionally spent.
The difference between this time that Tabung was sick and the first time, when we treated him for cerebral malaria, is that this time he has not been sick or physically weak during the day. In fact, he has been one of my main guys for a particular project I have been working on at our clinic, and has been able to work hard every day without a problem. During the day he is a perfectly normal guy. However on some nights he seems to have this type of madness come upon him. Before, he showed definite symptoms of another sickness in addition to the madness. This time, there is only the sporadic madness with no accompanying symptoms. When I talked to him the morning after, he said that he did not remember anything, but that he is beginning to feel separated from his own people now (as in they are scared of him and want to make sure they are sleeping somewhere far away).
As we thought and prayed about it, several things came to mind. First, we know there is an Enemy that wants to keep these people from hearing the Gospel. If we fail to recognize evil, we are sure to be defeated by it. We know that the teaching of the Gospel is coming soon, so this is an attempt by that enemy to keep the people in darkness, where they have remained for hundreds of years. Secondly, it seems that part of the strategy of the enemy may be to bring out the Gospel teaching prematurely, before the people are ready. If we bring out the Gospel teaching before the people have an understanding of sin, this gives an opportunity for cults to come in and usurp the authority over new life in the church. This has happened in many places, and we seek to avoid it by wisdom.
So instead of attempting to exorcise the demonic spirit right now, we ask for your prayers over him, us, and our families. God is doing a work in the hearts of the Palawanos right now, but they are not ready yet. We are plowing the ground, preparing the field for planting the seed. There is more than just this one incident affecting them. 3 weeks ago there were multiple people who were affected by this same type of spirit in one night, and they all had to be held down to keep from going after the children. Though this has not been a common type of malady in the past, it now seems to be increasing in frequency.
There are other things happening as well right now. The government program of financial assistance to the Palawanos for putting their kids in school has people concerned. They were very happy to get the money when it was offered. Now that the start of school is getting closer, they are realizing that putting their kids in a school 3 hours away is not going to be easy, and they are constantly talking about what they are going to do when school begins again in a couple of weeks.
So again, we are making a call to prayer. Prayer for the Palawanos to be drawn to Christ, drawn away from the darkness that has enveloped them for centuries. Prayer that they will question the teachings of the ancestors, understand their sinfulness before God, and look for a way of deliverance. We also call you to pray for us and our families. Pray for our team to be united in our work and fellowship. Pray that us and our kids will be protected from the attacks of the enemy, will be kept safe, and will remain faithful in trusting our loving Father.
Update May 2, 2011
Last night everyone in the village tried to sneak off to the houses up on the mountain so that they wouldn’t have to sleep near him. I talked to one of the dads, and he was very concerned that Tabung would kill one of his children. When they were out on the airstrip trying to sneak off, Tabung saw them all and went to join them. These are, after all, all his extended family – aunts, uncles, cousins. He is 18 years old and naturally feels a need to be with the people he knows and loves. So they ended up sleeping in the houses near us again, with several men sleeping close to Tabung to guard him in case he woke up in a fit of madness. Thankfully, nothing happened.
This is the spot where they told us someone fought with a spirit, killed it with a machete, and it fell down knocking a hole in the bushes.
Replacing the clinic wall
Repainting the wall on the other side.
The young man and his new bride.
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