Traveling Show

While we were on furlough in the US, friends answered a prayer of ours by providing the equipment we need to be able to take Gospel movies to the people to whom we minister.  The equipment is lightweight, portable, and battery powered.

This weekend I had the first opportunity to put it to use.  I traveled with Pastor Rudy to the village of Chapyosen to show the Jesus film.  In the picture below you can see the equipment that is lying at the turn-around in Can-eo which will bring electricity to Chapyosen in the months to come.  But as for now, it is a place without electricity.

Utility poles and cables staged to take electricity to Chapyosen

We drove from Bontoc to Can-eo which takes about 45 minutes when the road is good.  From Can-eo, the only way to Chapyosen is to hike down the valley along a narrow path.  (You can see more images or Chapyosen from other trips by clicking here.)  This time the trip was unique because it is the first time I made the hike after dark.  Thankfully, it did not rain as it has nearly everyday since our arrival in the country and we were able to make the trip in about an hour.

It was a moonless night, almost.  When we arrived in the village, several of the children were saying, "Look at the moon," or "See the moon."  It took me a minute to realize that there was no moon in the sky and that I was the only white thing out in the night.

Watching the movie; the projector and speakers are in the foreground.

We pushed aside the loom (the wooden frame in to the left of the screen), quickly set up the projector, and were soon watching the movie in the space below someone's house.  I counted more than 40 faces sitting in the darkness.  What was amazing was how quiet and still everyone was throughout the movie, especially the children.

Afterwards, Pastor Rudy and I shared how the events of the movie are true and give us hope of God's love and forgiveness.  Then it was time to hike back.  We were prepared to spend the night, but our guides wanted to get back to their families in Can-eo.

The next afternoon, Pastor Rudy had a meeting with the leadership of Can-eo Station Church.  He has been teaching the leadership about commitment and the purpose of the church.  By coincidence, I had a short video about the purpose of the church with me.  We showed that video in segments, translating and discussing the various ideas as we went along.  That was not a presentation we had planned on, but it was good to be able to help.

Church leadership meeting - there were more than shown in the picture

During the time for the Saturday night Bible study in Can-eo, we presented the Jesus movie to a group of 30 or so.

Just for fun, Sunday morning after service, we showed a video I had made about ice fishing and another about our ministry here which includes several scenes of Can-eo.  It was fun to hear people's excitement as they saw photos and video of them and their friends.

I am so thankful for the opportunity to bring the Gospel to people through various methods:  Bibles, Proclaimers, video, and teaching.  God's Word does not go out without effect.  Thank you to all who partner with us and make this possible.

A Light for Chapyosen

We spent much of Saturday in the village of Chapyosen.  In order to get there, we rode through the mountains to Can-eo and then hiked a little over an hour along the river to Chapyosen.

This washout is under the road to Can-eo

After arriving in Can-eo, we needed to pass through two sitios (neighborhoods, of sorts) before beginning the hike along the river to Chapyosen.

A typical house in the sitio of Favfey

Along the way we passed people going about their work. This young man was returning from gathering firewood; over his shoulder was a bundle of wood and strapped to his side was a machete.

A workingman

My last attempt to hike to Chapyosen was foiled by the typhoon and the active landslide that had wiped out the trail. The old trail is still blocked, but now that the slide is no longer active, a new footpath is being created by people packing the soil as they hike over the slide.

We are so proud of our girls. The hike was over an hour long in the sun. In many places, steep grades and loose soil made for tricky trekking and a few slips. Yet, there was never a complaint.

Hiking over the landslide

It was a beautiful day for a hike and the breeze helped to reduce the heat of the sun. Still, when we reached Chapyosen, we were a bit tired and thirsty. We had underestimated the amount of water the six of us would need. We chose to be thirsty until we made it back to Can-eo where we had clean water rather than risk introducing any friends to our intestines.

A well deserved break

Weekends have little meaning for farmers so most of the adults had gone out into their fields for the day. But the arrival of visitors, plus the excitement of our girls twisting animal balloons, brought the children to the house where we were resting. After a while, Alexie and Karin Joy, one of our guides, read and taught from the Read Aloud Bible Stories to the children and mothers that had gathered. They all asked to hear stories again.

Balloons and Bible stories

Karin Joy and Alexie

Alayna and a new friend

Everything can be a toy

Seeing the boy with the firewood and the children caring for their younger siblings in Chapyosen while their parents worked in the fields, reminded me of the difficulties of living in mountain villages. Later, the boy below was chopping wood for the rocket stove with his sister on his back. Lisa and I both noticed that when we were giving out balloons, none of the children asked for another. Neither did any of them cry when their balloon popped; often they would re-inflate what remained of the balloon.

A brother's love

After resting for a while, I introduced the rocket stove. They will be able to use the one we left for them as a pattern to make more.

The rocket stove boiling the camote treat we had later

Making sure the fire is still burning

Then we prepared a solar bottle-light.

Thomas and Alayna preparing the bottle-light for Espirita's house

Annalise smiling because she got Daddy's hat

Lhany smiling from the porch

The ladder I used to get on the roof was about as sturdy as other homemade ladders I have been on, but this one was a little shorter than I preferred. Had it sunk into the ground at all as I climbed, it would no longer have reached the fascia of the roof it was resting against - not fun! But everything worked out and the dark room below now has light.

Installing the bottle-light

A highlight for the girls was when Karin Joy took them to a waterfall nearby. It is really tall and they enjoyed the cooling mist it provided. Each of them is looking forward to the next time we go and hoping to be able to get soaked by the falling water.

The 4-As at the waterfall in Chapyosen

After a snack of camote, a native sweet potato, we hiked back to Can-eo. But that is an adventure for another post.

Grace,
Thomas

Can-eo - October 8 & 9

The original plan had been that everyone on the team, as well as our family would make the trip to Can-eo. But there were two problems with that:  people were sick and the road was not doing so well either. Many members of the team were still recovering from abdominal issues that kept them from participating in too much physical activity. At the same time, typhoons Pedring, Quiel, and Ramon were wreaking havoc with the mountain sides. The road to Can-eo was impassable to vehicles and the shortcut over the mountain was too steep and slippery for safe passage. This meant that only those who were feeling well would be making the hike. Since none of the children on the team were going, Lisa and the girls stayed to accompany the rest of the group to Sabangan on Sunday.

The traveling team with Pastor Rudy, Bridget, Jesse, and Nigel

We were able to hitch a ride to where the road to Can-eo turns from the main road. From there, we had to hike through the mud in a steady rain. Fortunately, everyone expected this and spirits were high as walked around and sometimes over the many landslides. Finally, we came to the road washout that will keep vehicles from making it all of the way to Can-eo for a while.

The road washout is in the photo on the lower right.

After making it to Can-eo Station Church, we rested for a while and had lunch. The next hike would be even more challenging. Most of our group planned to make the hike to Chapyosen. This is always a long hike and it was sure to be an adventure in the rain. It was!

In fact, there were several places along the way where landslides and washouts made using the trail impossible.

You can see in the picture above where the trail continues. What is no longer in the picture is the portion of the trail and the resting shelter that used to be next to the trail in this place. The rain and the river have washed them away.

The video above shows how we were forced off of the path by an active landslide which had completely covered it. At this point, we are walking on the slippery rocks between the rice fields. We could actually see Chapyosen in the distance, but did not feel it was safe to continue the journey. Instead, we prayed for the people there before beginning the hike back to the church, where we were staying.

On our return to the church, we stopped at a few houses to pray with people. At one house, we prayed for a young man Pastor Rudy and I have prayed for before, Romeo. He does not talk and often physically shuts himself away from others. When we visited, he lay on the floor with a blanket over his head and would not respond to anyone. His family has experienced several tragedies which have left his elderly mother alone to meet their needs.

Once we arrived at the church, everyone was ready for some rest and a chance to dry out. My waterproof hiking shoes did a good job for the first 40% of the trip. The gore-tex probably never failed, but after a while, the water running down my legs had soaked my socks such that every step was a squishy event. It felt good to take them off.

Leigh presented a teaching about Jonah that evening during the Saturday night Bible study. The rain made it so attendance was lower than usual. But it went well.

In the morning, Amy and Marie taught Children's Church. As you can see in the picture below, the kids had a great time.

Then of course, the team presented skits, testimonies, and the sermon during the morning service.

Can-eo Station Church with some of the YWAM Salem CDTS team

After lunch on Sunday, we were invited to visit Ochawan. None of us had met Ochawan before, not even Pastor Rudy or Bridget. We were told of her age and failing health. She was not known to be a Christian.

This bridge spans the river to the sitio in which Ochawan lives.

When we arrived, several ladies were already there waiting for us. Ochawan expressed how happy she was to have us visit her home as she sat on her porch covered with a blanket. The home was simple, like the rest of the homes in the village, but the porch had an incredible view of the valley and the mountains.

When we got there, Pastor Rudy began talking with her. She spoke no English, so besides his position as pastor in the community, it was only natural that he would be the one to talk to her. The rest of us lined up against the wall and listened and prayed as they talked. Pastor would give us a synopsis of the conversation as they went along.

Pastor Rudy and Ochawan

Nobody was sure how old Ochawan was, not even she knew when she was born. She did tell us that she remembered hiding in caves with her grandfather when Japanese planes made bombing runs in the area during World War II. She was a little girl then.

I was blessed to be a part of Ochawan's story of grace. One disappointment I have is that I never got a picture of her incredible smile.

Ochawan - a new child of the King

When we left Ochawan's home, we stopped by to pray again for Romeo. He was still curled up on the floor holding a blanket over himself. His mother wept as we prayed. Please continue to pray for them.

Then it was time to begin the hike back up the road to return to Bontoc. We were past the time that it would be easy to catch a jeepney when we got back to the main road. But the delay of meeting with Ochawan and praying for Romeo were definitely worthwhile. What a blessing it was to find that the landslides were cleared and within 100 meters of passing the washout, we saw a jeepney heading toward us. Of course, riding in any vehicle here comes with the high probability of needing to perform some sort of maintenance along the way. In this instance, a tire change.

10 minutes from Bontoc

Here's another blog post about our weekend in Can-eo, written by Amy, one of the team members. (http://amyrenee78.blogspot.com/2011/10/can-eo.html)

A Long Hike and a Late Night

We spent last weekend in Can-eo and Chapyosen.  First we had to take a jeepney to Can-eo.  It is about an hour through the mountains.

Are we there yet?

Lisa took some time to talk with Rosita, a teacher and mother in Can-eo.  Rosita was busy separating camote greens.  When Lisa asked Rosita to show her how to help, Rosita was concerned that Lisa would get her hands dirty.  As you can see, Lisa was able to convince her that it was okay to get her white hands dirty.

Lisa and Rosita chatting and chopping.

Saturday morning we began the hike to Chapyosen.  It is a beautiful hike along the river, but it was a long hike under the hot sun.  (Annalise stayed behind with Bridget in Can-eo.)

Wendy and my lovely ladies on the way to Chapyosen.

Crossing the hanging bridge to enter the sitio of Chapyosen.

When we finally made it to Chapyosen, we were hot, tired, and surrounded - by children.  The kids especially liked it when Wendy photographed them then reviewed the photos on her camera.  In this place without electricity and isolated by mountains, they don't see many foreigners or photos of themselves, so she garnered a lot of attention.

Let me see!

Adriana, Alexie, and Alayna all enjoyed holding the little ones of the village.

Espirita, one of the believers in the village, invited us to have lunch at her house.  We shared our peanut butter sandwiches and she shared her rice and potatoes.

Lunch at Espirita's

While we took a break, we set the Proclaimer in the sun to charge.  Espirita's sons sneaked over to investigate.

Investigating the Proclaimer through the curious eyes of a pair of boys.

Above our heads as we ate, we noticed this spear.  I understand that most spears and shields have been sold to antique collectors over the years.  It is the first time I saw one outside of a store or museum.

A not-so-fierce warrior!

When we returned to the house where the church meets, the girls played the Read Aloud Bible Stories for the people as they gathered.  People of all ages listened intently as the Ilocano translations of the stories were read.

When we were preparing for the trip and talking with Pastor Rudy, pastor of the Can-eo Station Church and fellow YWAMer, we found that several of the mothers in Chapyosen had expressed a desire to have a Bible.  So before going, we obtained Ilocano translations.  Before beginning our Bible study, Lisa wrote their names in the Bibles and presented them with their own Bible.  The first passages they asked about were the stories they had just been listening to.

It was exciting to see them intently follow along in their own Bibles when we listened to the Proclaimer later in the teaching.

With Pastor Rudy's translation, I taught an overview of the Bible.  Afterward, Pastor Rudy talked about how helpful this type of teaching is for this group of people.

Thomas and Pastor Rudy teaching an overview of the Bible.

The "Bridge Illustration" in Ilocano

The roof was too low to stand up all the way.

We made it back to Can-eo in time to make supper and lead the evening Bible study at the church.  Wendy presented We are Going to See the King using sign language.  The congregation requested her to teach them the motions.  After service was over, many stayed to have Wendy work with them until they could do the signs on their own.

In our preparations for the weekend, Pastor Rudy did not tell us about the Bible study.  But Saturday he asked who would be teaching.  Lisa volunteered and taught from Colossians.

Some of those attending Saturday night Bible study.

It was a full day and when everything was over, I believe everyone slept well.

Grace,

Thomas