Starting up again in many places...

With the momentum of the new year now really starting to get going, I would like to take a moment to talk about how we have started the new year, what this may hold, wrap up some things from last year, and commit this time to the Lord.

The people of Tacloban where the typhoon hit hardest are starting up again, as are the people of Bohol after the earthquake, and as are many other places. We are starting a new semester at Faith Academy, and our Tagalog language program is starting again...

As many of you know, I returned to Texas just after Typhoon Haiyan hit the Philippines, and was able to convey to many of you all about the damage and devastation that was caused. You all were exceedingly generous and gave to help our mission so that we could in turn help those who were hurting. I have attached a personal thank you letter explaining more of our operations at the bottom of this, and a link so that you can download our mission's explanation of some of the work we have done.

Many of you are aware of the health problems that have beset me over the past 2 years, and how this really affected my ability to return to the tribal areas. I have been on an alternative diet treatment plan for digestive illness, and have seen some great progress. My entire 4 weeks in Texas I felt really good (as long as I stuck with the diet) and did not have any major reactions. This was a huge blessing.

Within just a few days of returning to the Philippines, I had a strong food reaction to some mushrooms I ate (which I haven't had much of a problem with before), and then a week after that something went wrong in my back, and it hurt so bad that it was difficult to move around. I have recovered from the food reaction, but I am still getting regular treatment at the chiropractor to finish fixing up my back. Just as that started to feel better, both Ginny and I came down with a major cold/sore throat/bronchitis infection. So ever since I returned from Texas, it has been hard to have much energy and get going. But we are starting up again!

The Lord knows all these things and we trust that we are being held in His hands. He brought us here to the Philippines, and will see us through to carry on with the work He has given us - that of reaching the tribes with the Gospel, and sharing life through education to missionary kids. So we press on!

We are due for a long home assignment (1 year or so) in the latter half of this year, and our current plan is to return to Texas some time in June. We would appreciate your prayers as we prepare for that!

Right now work is on the increase, as we just brought in 3 new missionaries into the Tagalog language program. We are starting it with an entirely new emphasis, one that we hope will better equip people for a follow on ministry in another language in the tribe. We are currently in the process of finding housing for them, so that they can get started in the work God has called them to here in the Philippines!

Thank you all so much for your continued prayers and support, so that the work may continue to go forth!

Blessings in Christ,
George for all of us

_______________________________

Here is a link to download NTM's disaster relief accountability report, written by our chairman here in the Philippines.

http://www.reachthetribes.com/201401/Phil_DRFA.pdf

Below is the text my letter, separate from the link above, explaining the how NTM carried out the relief work in the aftermath of typhoon Haiyan (local name Yolanda).

Dear Praying Friends and Family,

When Typhoon Haiyan hit the Philippines last year, it hit an area that was uniquely situated to receive a massive storm surge. The area of Tacloban sustained an incredible amount of damage, as was well reported on news throughout the whole world. 

NTM is in a unique position in the Philippines. When the typhoon hit, we were the only mission here that was operating small aircraft going specifically to out of the way remote tribal places. There used to also be JAARS here, but they pulled out a few years ago. We work in multiple remote locations all over the country, where the use of a small fixed wing plane or a small helicopter is necessary to sustain operations, because there is no other quick access. 

When Typhoon Haiyan passed over Tacloban causing extreme devastation, one of our planes in the southern part of the country was available to immediately fly relief goods to the devastated areas in and around that city. They were in contact with Philippine governmental authorities in order to coordinate relief operations. As they were preparing to begin ferrying relief goods to that stricken city, they were ordered to stand down by the Philippine government, as the devastation was so great on the ground that they were concerned for the safety of any civilian aircraft. The airport itself was devastated and without power, so there was no way to have air traffic control for any flights that might come in, and there was a high risk of hijacking the airplane by desperate people on the ground. 

We were told to wait until they could secure the safety of the area. Only after they made sure things were safe would they allow civilian flights to begin ferrying relief goods. Over the next few days the security situation grew worse rather than better, as the devastation was far more than anyone imagined. Our planes were able to do some aerial surveys in order to assist in gathering information about the devastation, which was helpful for the people that needed to know that, but we were not able to fly directly into the devastated city. 

After a few days, the Philippine authorities were able to open the airport to the Philippine and US Military conducting relief operations in the main area around Tacloban. They had large aircraft that could bring in large volumes of relief goods, so they found that our services were not necessary, only having small aircraft. However, other areas that were hit in the Visayan islands region still had some significant needs. People that live on those islands (remember, there are around 7000 islands in the Philippines, most of which are very small) had their rice crops, homes, boats, fishing nets, and fish farms all destroyed. All the survivors were sitting on these islands in the ocean, with no food, no means to get food, no shelter, and contaminated water wells. These areas were far from the devastated regions around Tacloban, so none of the large quantity relief goods were being brought to these people.  The only way the people in those places could survive was by wading in the shallows around their islands and trying to gather clams, salvaging fishing lines in order to try and fish, and drinking the rapidly depleting coconut water that was still available. In some places they may have had some canned food, but very few people store large quantities of that. 

This is where New Tribes Mission found itself in a unique position to help. We set up supply lines using our fixed wing airplanes to ferry relief goods to the closest island with a large airstrip (in Cebu). From there our helicopter was able to ferry relief goods to the multiple small islands in the Visayan region that had been devastated by the Typhoon. Much food was delivered and many lives were saved. I have written some about this already in previous updates. Many of the places where our helicopter was able to go were areas that we had never been before, and the people were very blessed when they saw the helicopter land on their beaches and start handing out food and materials. In addition to this, there are 2 specific areas that were hit hard by the Typhoon where our missionaries were working, on the islands of Coron and Agutaya. 

One thing that is important to understand about our mission is that we already serve very needy people in remote locations. Therefore, pulling our aircraft off of the service of those remote locations for extended periods can cause some hardship to the people in those areas. For that reason, we normally do not involve ourselves in disaster relief, as there are other organizations that are here for that purpose and do get involved. However, in this case because of the extreme nature of the devastation and our ability to help in a unique way, we chose to re-direct our efforts and help out with disaster relief as a temporary measure. 

Our mission's involvement was always from the beginning considered to be something that would be a temporary measure. In the last few weeks of our assistance, we were able to coordinate with 2 other mission organizations, help them rapidly get established in the Philippines, and share the burden of relief efforts so that it did not depend solely on our small helicopter. The 2 organizations we worked with for this period are Helimission and Mission Aviation Fellowship. 

As of the time of this writing, NTM's direct involvement in the disaster relief has come to a close (with the exception of long term rehabilitation of the 2 specific areas mentioned above where our missionaries are working). Our pilots have needed to get back to serving the minority people groups and mission stations in their respective regions, and all of our NTM aircraft have been returned to servicing those regions. Helimission has been able to continue relief operations to many of the Visayan islands after our aircraft returned to their bases, and our missionaries on the ground on Coron and Agutaya are coordinating long term livelihood rehabilitation in their respective locales. 

We have been asked to communicate to our churches and supporters that it is no longer necessary to send funds to the NTM Typhoon Haiyan relief fund. The target amount of funds has been raised, and much of it has already been put to good use, as you will see from this attachment and the link to the youtube video below. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nxbqEV-Urs&feature=share

We thank you all very much for your generous support of the work we are doing to bring the Gospel to the minority people groups of the Philippines! Helimission and MAF were able to really help out, and they have now completed their operations also. Below is their web page, which at the time of this writing still has some good information on the front page about the work they have done with us here in the Philippines. 

http://www.helimission.org/english/

The reason we are able to wrap up our relief efforts on many of these small islands so soon is that beyond the immediate relief needs and getting started again, life on many of these islands is relatively simple. There was no infrastructure to start with on these islands, so there is no need to restore infrastructure to them. They needed help with immediate food needs, and then building new boats, buying new nets, and getting new fish farms started. Much of that work is already complete, and the Lord allowed us to stand in the gap for a time in order to help them with that work. This has opened up relationships with people in these areas, and we are looking at where the Lord will take these relationships in the future. 

We have still received requests from some people as to how they can donate to help the relief work in the Philippines. Even though we are no longer receiving funds for our mission's rehabilitation work on the islands where we work, I am in touch with people from another mission that are doing some rehabilitation work in the more devastated areas around Tacloban. Those areas are of a different character than the small islands where we have worked - all major infrastructure in a large city was destroyed, and the relief work there will go on for years. I would be happy to refer anyone that is still interested in contributing to the relief work to the people we know working in the major devastated areas. Just send me an email and let me know, and I can get you in touch with them. 

Thank you again and God bless,
George for all of us in the Philippines
George, Ginny, Sarah, and Abby

Layover in Singapore on the way home from Texas

The whole family together again... :) 

On  RORO - Roll On, Roll Off (or sometimes called Roll On, Roll Over)

Family time on the RORO... as you can see we didn't roll over

  

Come to the Philippines where you can have a White Christmas on the beach every year!

Our neighbors butchered a pig for New Year's

Visiting old friends from where we used to live before the New Year

2014 and the Philippines gets back to work! Packing people onto the train...

Christmas 2013 - The Year in Review

Christmas 2013 - The Year in Review

Dear friends and family,

As we look back on 2013, this has been a year of both blessings and trials for us. The blessing of continuing in ministry and seeing the Lord work to reach the tribes with His message, and the trial of developing a long term illness significantly weakened my body. The blessing of finding out that my illness is not life-threatening, though it does have some debilitating effects. The blessing of seeing the Lord do incredible work in the lives of believers all over the Philippines, and the trial of seeing the devastation of rebel activity, an earthquake, and a powerful typhoon. The blessing of being able to assist in relief efforts, and of being able to visit family in Texas for a few weeks. The blessing of seeing the beginning of recovery from my illness, and the trial of knowing it will be a long recovery process. The blessing of seeing our own kids grow, and of seeing the Lord work in the lives of young people at Faith Academy through Ginny's teaching.

So who is Jesus to you? To us He is our Savior and Lord, the one we have chosen to follow with our lives. This Christmas season we are reminded of the greatness of God sending His own Son, God in the flesh, to live on earth as one of us, and pay the penalty for our sins. Make no mistake, though the world is inherently hostile to all who choose to follow Christ and be His disciples, He will come again and set this world right. We may not understand right now all that He is doing or why He is doing it, but we can trust that He does love us, and is actively involved in drawing us ever closer to Himself. Christ in a manger, a humble child, born into this world of wickedness, to lead us in the way we should go.

The Philippines had a lot of news exposure this year, with rebel activity, followed by a major earthquake, followed by the biggest typhoon ever to hit land. There was and still is immense suffering caused by these catastrophes. Our mission was able to have a hand in distributing a significant amount of emergency relief aid to the survivors of the typhoon. We are not a relief agency, but we adjusted our operations for a time because the needs were so great.

In the language consulting world, 4 families finished their national language study on Luzon, 5 new missionaries began national language study in Mindanao, and 1 missionary family got started on their tribal language study. The 4 mission stations that we checked last year continued their discipleship teaching for the tribal believers in their respective local languages, and we are preparing for the work to carry on to a greater extent next year.

God is also moving among our Palawano brethren, as the Gospel goes out and we see lives changed. We lost 2 friends from the tribe where we lived – one to murder and another to cancer. Yet the work is carrying on. I was able to accompany a translation expert early in the year to make some assessments on the Palawano Bible translation in one area, and again we saw how great is the need for more teaching in so many areas.

Towards the end of the year, right before Christmas, I was able to spend 4 weeks in Texas. It was so encouraging to see the faithfulness of our brothers and sisters in all the churches back home, even as the world today grows more and more hostile to those of us that have chosen to walk with Christ.

So now as we carry on faithfully, we so appreciate your prayers for the ministry, for health, and that the Gospel may continue to go forth! We are so thankful that He has enabled us to serve Him here in the Philippines, and we will continue to press on in service to Him!      

Blessings in Christ!

George for all of us

George, Ginny, Isaac, Sarah & Abby

Below are all the main pictures from our end of the year newsletter, which summarize our activities for the year. You can download the actual newsletter in PDF format by clicking here.  

January – Returned to Palawan with a translation consultant to do a comprehension check/ reliability assessment of the Palawano Bible.

     

February – Flew into the Agta tribe up North to get a new family started in language study. 

After this I accomanied our church to Mindoro to assess a new ministry opportunity with Mangyan people.

March – We went with our friends to a church conference and reunited with the leaders of the Mangyan people there. 

I started my strict diet in earnest and had to learn to cook according to a specialized plan.

April - Sarah was in the high school play “Beauty and the Beast.” 

Then we had an encouraging visit when some friends from Texas came to stay with us for a week.

May – Performed a final evaluation for the husband of a missionary couple, the last 2 missionaries that were studying Tagalog.

June – Moved to a new rental house!

July – Celebrated Sarah's birthday! Also took some time to rest over the summer.

August – I preached at the funeral for one of NTM's first missionaries in the Philippines.

Also school started again, and Ginny had a whole new set of students to teach!

September – Flew to Mindanao to do a language evaluation on the 5 missionaries studying Visayan.

We lost Dilto, one of my former language helpers.

We also lost Nerdak to lung cancer.

October – Ginny and Sarah took a trip to Malaysia for a soccer tournament and a ministry project with a group of refugees from Myanmar.

November started with All Saints' Day. 

Then Typhoon Haiyan hit the Philippines and NTM Aviation delivered relief supplies to some of the islands that were in the Visayan region. 

I then returned to Texas for a medical checkup and to visit some family.

December – I flew back with Isaac, had a stopover at the airport in Moscow, and then a long layover in Singapore where the airport gave us a free tour of the city.

Finally we were all back together again!

Three languages and a baby

Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding, for the gain from her is better than gain from silver, and her profit better than gold. Proverbs 3:13-14

I have just returned from a two week trip down to Mindanao, where we have several missionaries studying the trade language (Visayan, also called Cebuano). Their task is to become fluent in the trade language of that region before allocating to a tribal area, where they will start again by studying the tribal language! As many of you who have followed our work here, this was precisely what we did several years ago, when we first studied Tagalog, and then moved out into the jungle to live with the Palawano people and study their language and culture.

I am happy to report that my health seems to have improved and I am getting some of my energy level back, though I am not yet to the full strength that I was this time last year. In Mindanao, I did get sick on the 2^nd day I was there and had to rest for that day. After that, however, I was able to recover and carry on with the work I was doing there – that is, checking on and coaching the language progress of the missionaries studying in that area. Thankfully, we always do this as a team, and the new consultant we are training in this area was able to pick up the slack on the day that I had to stop working and rest. The big challenge for me is that while I can speak Tagalog, I don't know Visayan. Nevertheless, our Filipino teacher, who is fluent in both languages, helped fill in some of the details. So with Visayan, Tagalog, and English all mixed in, we were able to get the job done.

The results of the visit were very encouraging, to say the least! All of the missionaries in language study are doing well. Right after we finished the evaluation of one missionary, she went to the hospital for a check up on her pregnancy, and they decided to deliver the baby that day! Wow! And praise the Lord, mother and baby are doing fine. On the day I was leaving, as a friend was driving me to the bus station, coming down the road just opposite from us was this family returning from the hospital with their new baby girl! It was a fantastic moment, and I was able to take this quick picture.

The trip was not without other faith tests. For example, when I left, Sarah had bronchitis and was feeling quite ill. It is always difficult to leave on an extended trip when one of your own kids is sick at home. Of course, she was in good hands with Ginny, so there was nothing to worry about, but it still adds to the stress level of the work. I am sure many of you have experienced exactly the same thing when you have had to travel for work back in the US.

Another thing that happened, which some of you perhaps have read about on the international news, was the fact that some trouble began with a rebel group making an attack on a town on the same island we were on. Fortunately, this trouble was a long, long way from where we were located. So while we needed to make sure we were aware of what was happening, we were never remotely close to getting caught up in the trouble. A fellow missionary said it to me this way, “It is just like living in a big city in the USA. You know there are certain areas that you just don't go visit. Here on this island, there are certain areas where we just don't go visit.” I am always thankful to have your prayers covering us while we serve here in the Philippines. One day I believe the Lord will show us how His invisible hand protected us because of your heartfelt prayers as we sought to serve Him here and make the Gospel known to the tribes.

As of the time of this writing, the news reports that the trouble down there has been basically contained to one city. There are many evacuees, however, so we ask that you also remember them in your prayers, and that the trouble may be resolved peacefully.

God is moving in other ways also in the Southern Philippines, and not just in the tribal areas. I was able to learn while down there about how God is using one particular family to bring the chronological Bible teaching into the mainstream thought of many regional churches (using the Visayan language) in the areas of central Mindanao. This is an answer to prayer to see God moving in this way. So many errors and factions in Christian teaching are a result of a misunderstanding of Scripture. This misunderstanding leads to division among churches, and syncretizing animistic, pagan, or worldly thinking with genuine Christian thought, producing much error. However, looking at scripture from a historical and chronological perspective helps reduce and eliminate many of those errors, and brings greater unity among the body. So we are thankful to see the Word of God moving forward in a way that we hope will bring greater unity and glory to God in the Philippines!

Meanwhile, back home, Ginny continues to teach the missionary kids, and Sarah and Abby are still active in school! Sarah has gotten better, though we are all fighting off a kind of cold/allergy thing now which seems to be related to the excessive rain the last week. In any case, I am glad to be home now and to have been able to rest for the weekend after 2 weeks of being gone!

In my final note here, I would like to just mention something that happened recently among the Palawanos where we used to live. As we have related before, our former partners are currently teaching through the Bible chronologically in the downriver village (this is the 2^nd village where they have taught). A couple of weeks ago on market day, the chief's son, Dilto, who had listened to some of the teaching, went downriver to mix with the lowland people, as everyone normally does on market day. There was alcohol flowing, and he returned to the village drunk and belligerent. When he passed by his sister's home, he started slashing at the walls of her house with his machete, angry about something. His brother-in-law came out and confronted him, and there was an argument, and then fighting, until finally the brother-in-law pulled out a gun and shot him, killing him. It is a terrible tragedy for the village, and of course you can imagine how this could be tearing the family apart. So please remember this village in your prayers, that the teaching would continue, and that there would be forgiveness. As far as we know, Dilto, the one who was shot, had not yet heard enough of the Gospel to know that Christ had paid the penalty for his sins. And we know both the men involved quite well, so this hits close to our hearts.

Thank you all again for your support and prayers, keeping us here in the Philippines!

Pressing on in His service,

George (& Ginny)

Here are some more pictures from the trip:

One of the missionary families in language study with our consultant team

Another missionary in language study with her language helper

Observing and listening to language in action at the market

preparing to visit the local electronics store

Some views of this provincial town:

Selling wares at the market

View of the market in this mountain town

looking out from a Rela tricycle

That is what is called a "Rela" - a kind of tricycle for public transportation

local man with his horses

 

Remembering God's Faithfulness

In today's day of tweets, instagrams, and all the latest and greatest timely information that can be put out there, you can find out what is happening practically anywhere in the world right at the current time! I have read that the best distributors of information are the ones who tweet the most timely information the instant things happen. Well, I must be one of the worst, because I am going to give out some information that is already 2 weeks old! And if you think that is old, wait until I tell you about something that happened 60 years ago!

Today, we are able to fly by helicopter to many of the tribal areas to bring them the Gospel, as this family is getting ready to do. It was not so in the old days.

About 2 weeks ago, I was asked to speak at a funeral of an elderly missionary who passed away. Her name was Emma Ronquillo, and she was one of the first 3 NTM missionaries to the Philippines. Her story goes all the way back to the beginning of NTM.

If you have any familiarity with the history of New Tribes Mission, you will know that a lot of crazy things happened in the first few years of the mission. The first 5 missionaries were killed by natives in Bolivia in 1943 (10 years before the more well known Jim Elliot and his team in Ecuador). Then there were 2 plane crashes, and the founder of the mission, Paul Fleming, was killed in the 2^nd crash. However, shortly before the 2^nd crash, he had commissioned a young single lady named Lorita Enti-Dizon to come to the Philippines and establish New Tribes Mission. She boarded a ship with missionaries from several other organizations, some of whom were returning to the Philippines in the years following World War 2, and crossed the Pacific Ocean at a time when travel by boat was still popular enough to compete with flying.

She arrived in the Philippines and got to know some people in a local Methodist church (New Tribes is generally non-denominational). There she met these 2 Filipina ladies, one of whom was Emma Ronquillo, and told them about her vision to establish New Tribes, and then begin taking the Gospel to the unreached tribal people all over the country. They hired an attorney to incorporate the mission, and he drew up the documents, charging them only the fee for the seal that made it official. So in 1952 New Tribes Mission was incorporated in the Philippines for only 50 centavos!

These ladies moved to Mindoro, hiked up into the hills and opened up the Gospel to one of the Mangyan tribal groups. Then a few years later, they moved to Palawan, and opened up the Gospel to one of the many Palawano groups that are there. They served there for many years, and afterwards served the mission in various other capacities.

So two weeks ago when Ate Emma (Ate means older sister in Tagalog) passed away, the mission asked me to represent the expatriate missionary community at her funeral. You can listen to my short sermon here (don't be scared off by the few Tagalog words I spoke – it is mostly in English).

So how is a funeral for an elderly missionary relevant to us in the high paced world today, when the latest hot news is right in front of us almost instantly? I offer up this reason – it is good to reflect on the life of someone who has been faithful to God for all those years. As I see and hear things on the news, we Christians are more and more under assault for our faith. We don't bear any hatred towards others of an alternative lifestyle or any other religion. After all, we recognize that we ourselves are sinners in need of God's mercy and forgiveness. However, because we believe that God has spoken truth, and that truth is held by holy Scripture, we are more and more being villified by the anti-Christian forces of this world. It has been this way since the beginning, and it will continue on until Christ returns and establishes His kingdom on Earth. So this funeral is a call to faithfulness and endurance on the part of the saints.

We called it a celebration of life instead of a funeral – Ate Emma served the Lord Jesus with her whole life for many years, and has now gone to her reward. She carried no thought of an entrance into God's presence based on her own good works, but based entirely on the finished work of Christ on the cross. She is a fine example. And even though today it is so easy to get all the instant messages constantly bombarding our brains of what is happening here and now, it would be well for us to step back from time to time and remember that we too will one day face our Creator. These times we are in will pass us by – will we live a life of service and devotion to our Lord, and happily enter his presence one day? Or will we compromise with what the world says, and give into the current trends in order to avoid the trials of this world?

We thank you all and bless you for continuing to support this mission and lift us up in your prayers! God is at work all the time, here in the Philippines and wherever you are!

In Christ for us all,

George

Here are some pictures of our latest events:

High School Retreat at Faith Academy - every year they have an afternoon where they play some kind of crazy game. This year it was Ultimate Frisbee - with a cow tongue! Here are some pictures of the kids tossing around a cow's tongue:

Here are some pictures of Ginny teaching missionary kids at Faith Academy:

Here are some pictures of the church and the funeral, and me with Ate Lorita, who started NTM in the Philippines: