Pinagbayanan

Cast Your Bread

Many times we read verses like “Cast your bread upon the water …” and if you are like me, you’re not giving the verse a lot of thought. Perhaps due to the fact that the verse indicates some distant event in the future, we push any focus to the nebulous “someday”. We are so caught up in the busyness of that moment that we oftentimes minimize the opportunities standing before us to be ambassadors for Jesus (2 Cor. 5:20). In 2005 Mercy and Boni Jose came to work with Laymen Ministries as missionary teachers in remote indigenous villages of Occidental...

Who Becomes a Missionary?

For the past 19 years, my wife Monika (Moni) and I have had the privilege of serving God by uplifting the “almost forgotten people” native tribes of Occidental Mindoro, Philippines. God has blessed the efforts greatly and today we are ministering to 200 students in four elementary schools and 12 high school students in the only senior high school in the Philippines exclusively for native students. It is a real joy to be involved in helping an animistic people, who are barely out of the stone age, into a personal relationship with Jesus. Of course, Moni and I have not...

FIRST – Prove It to Me!

19 years ago, we built the first school in a native village on the island of Mindoro, Philippines. Prior to this, the natives were denied an education. Even worse, they were programed by the majority population of Tagalog and Visayan, who had moved into the native’s areas, that they were dumb and therefore school was a waste of time for them. Being already deeply in debt to the “lowlanders” who abused the uneducated natives, and having no reasoning foundation, the native parents did not see any value in education. The “lowlanders” would say things like, “your children can’t learn. They...

A Powerful God We Serve

We have a powerful God that we serve that’s the distinct difference between us, missionary teachers, and the public school teachers. It’s not good to say, but we have more integrity and love for God than they. In this experience that I’m going to tell, they, the public school teachers, saw something in us that they lack and want to have. In just recently, we had celebrated the “Buwan nang Wika”, where KESI, Katutubo Schools Inc., and the public school merged together to make a program and to present it. They were the ones who came to us and begged...

Rough Seas

The vacation was over and it was time to go back to the village where I’m working for Christ. My parents were very worried because of the strong wind. They suggested that I should hike over the mountain. They didn’t know that I was also worried. I was praying that the ocean would be calm. I returned to the mission headquarters with fear in my heart. The day came that we needed to go to the village. I was expecting big waves and strong winds. But, God is really good; the sea was very calm and peaceful. I appreciated the...

Unselfish Service

Arjay is one of Ma’am Mechel’s students in Kinder. He was diagnosed with streptococcus that caused him to be absent for almost the first week of 2010. Ma’am Mechel took pity on him because he became so thin due to lack of nutrition. He was not able to eat. Ma’am Mechel then asked help from the team and with Tito Jim’s advice we decided to treat him with Amoxicillin for five days. We could not trust him to take his medication religiously, nor could we trust his closest family to administer it, so, Ma’am Mechel and Ma’am Mhae volunteered themselves...

The Surprise of the Sea

I consider December 20, 2009 the day of the “Impossible Trip.” On this day the missionaries had to make a lot of tries just to get on the boat. Some of us were rolled by the big waves. We were all wet! We missionaries with children were in awe seeing how difficult it was to get our children on the boat. I had nothing to say, but just took a deep breath knowing that I would be very seasick. God protected us and we made it safely to our destination. At headquarters we spent three days running errands. We visited...

God’s Mercy

Who would ever forget the mercy of the Lord when we are connected to Him? God is merciful and He never fails to show it fairly! Neneng is a Grade I pupil. She had a harelip before, but Laymen Ministries helped her to undergo an operation. Before the month of November ended, Ma’am Mechel, our Kinder teacher, brought up an issue about Neneng – her mother is harsh with her. She’s spanked sometimes and crying is the easiest response of Neneng. She is also forbidden to come to our church to worship on Sabbath. Poor girl! We teachers are trying...

Count Your Blessings

I can still remember the time when God called me to work here in Pinagbayanan. It wasn’t my plan, but His. It could never be part of my plan. He is so good because He has chosen me to be part of His mission field, His worker; though I am not fit to be. Tears almost fell from my eyes when we had our last Sabbath of the year 2009. I was asked to share and reminisce about the blessings I am thankful for. I told them I couldn’t say everything because there’re too many blessings to mention. I simply...

Pursuing the Truth

My missionary life is a gift from God; I realize how God blesses us here in spite of many challenges. We started the school year with 71 students and as of this month we have only 49 students. They dropped for different reasons. Some of them dropped because they have to work with their parents. Some students were dropped because they didn’t obey some of the rules and regulations of our school.

One of the rules we implemented is that students are not allowed to watch television. It created one of the major challenges that caused them to drop. The students were thinking that we are too strict and not giving them the right of doing this recreational activity. Some of the parents, instead of helping us to discipline, were criticizing us that we were not giving their children whatever they wanted. We tried to give them some punishments to persuade them not to watch television. It was hard for them to understand the value of morality and the truth behind it. ...

Using My Talents

One morning during our devotional, Sir Boying suggested that if you are the leader for the week, you should be the speaker during the Divine worship on the Sabbath. I didn’t agree with the suggestion of Sir Boying! I said that I couldn’t do it, but God is really wonderful. He wanted me to learn. Before my week came, I asked Sir Butch to be the speaker, but the suggestion was finalized and I needed to take my turn. When my Sabbath came I felt very nervous. I couldn’t even think to have an opening song. I sweated so much!...

The Road of His Will

By Annalyn Altamirano, Missionary Teacher in the remote village of Pinagbayanan Missionary life in the field is really interesting! We touch all sorts of life. I feel that I’m standing on a pedestal. People expect that missionaries shouldn’t err. People think a missionary is like a saint.

When we came here to Pinagbayanan, I knew that I wasn’t prepared for a leadership role. I knew myself as an affable person that could easily deal with people; yet, I’m still a reserved type too. I wasn’t prepared to deal with the problems of others, hearing negative comments, and being corrected about my habitual actions which are not good for the others. In other words, I wasn’t prepared for a public life. Like Moses, as he murmured that He couldn’t lead the Israelites, God placed me here to learn the road of His will. ...

God Answers

It is here in Pinagbayanan that I really feel closer to God. As I pray to Him more often, He is allowing me to know Him more by answering my prayers. God’s plan is sure and He is so amazing! First, He taught us about His Word, then, He taught us how to pray, and finally, He gave us the hands-on situations to really apply what we have learned. Prayer is now a very essential part of my life. I pray for everything, anytime, anywhere. I tell Him all things that worry me as a mother, as a wife, as...

He’s Able

I was very blessed by the Week-of-Prayer held in Agbalite last October. I learned a lot about prayer. My prayer habit grew and I was encouraged to be a prayer warrior, especially since Tito Joe is always texting us to pray – morning, noon, and afternoon. After the fellowship with other co-missionaries, we’re back to regular school days. One of the parents came to us one Sunday afternoon and asked that his son be excused from classes because he was suddenly experiencing blurred vision. We were alarmed, especially when we checked in the book, “Where There’s No Doctor.” We don’t...

Helping each other

There was an old man around 70 years old. He loves his family and has five children. Last year, this old man and his family lived in a very small house. I gave him some ideas on how to improve his living conditions. Days and months passed and he came to me and said, “Sir, would you please tell me if my idea is good or not?” I told him to tell me his idea. “I want to sell my male carabao, because it’s in danger. Some other male carabao’s want to kill mine. I will sell him and I...

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