Another thing that really hit me this year and last was the commitment and dedication many people have for God.  One Philippine missionary made a statement I will never forget.  He said, “I would die for these people (meaning the mountain people called Mangyan’s).  Jesus is coming back soon and they need to know.”

We were a group of 12 mostly from Kelowna and Kamloops area who split up into 5 different sites on the island of Mindoro.   With me was Dr. Larry Shipowick and Pastor Mike Lowe, we spent 8 days at the Mangyan village called Balangabang.

Each evening we shared stories, experiences, and bible truths about Jesus while our interpreter tried to keep up.  One evening Larry handed out 5 Frisbees that had a Canada flag on them.  The next day one of the missionaries asked me what it was that we handed out the night before.  I said, “You have never seen that before?”  She said, “No, the people think it is a plate.”  We got a good chuckle out of that.  So the next night we demonstrated how the Frisbees’ worked and everyone was amazed.  They learned that it was a flying plate.

During the day, Larry ran a dental clinic while Mike and I did some visits locally and to other villages.  Larry pulled out over 100 teeth during our stay.  People came from many different mountain villages some 2 and 3 hours hike and all bare foot of course.

This time of the year, summer for the Philippines, water is a big problem for this village.  There was nothing flowing from the water source pipe until night time when the usage further up the mountain was less.  This became a big problem for cooking, washing, toilet and drinking water, etc…  Some money was donated from several people in our Kelowna church and these funds will help to provide a better solution for water supply and the churches sanitation.

From all 5 sites, there was a total of 503 individuals who gave their lives to Jesus and were baptized.

There is much more that could be said but I don’t want to bore you with any more details.  I know that it is very hard to relate to these experiences unless you were there.