As we begin this next chapter of our ministry amongst the Ga\u2019dang people, we could see a number of uncertainties ahead.\u00a0 During our last term, I was able to establish some great relationships with people living in the closest town on the border of our tribal area.\u00a0 Some of those people were a huge blessing to us over and over as they helped us, especially in the early stages when we were setting up our home in the tribe.<\/p>\n
During much of our last term, we only had land access to get us and our supplies in, and therefore relied heavily on 2 different groups of people.\u00a0 Our supply buyer, who was based out of the city where the NTM helicopter is, could drive our supplies out to the trail leading into our village.\u00a0 This involved leaving the NTM center at 5 am and driving 2 \u00bd hours out to this meeting spot.\u00a0 We would hire local Ga\u2019dang guys to go out with their water buffalo and sleds to meet them and bring our supplies from there back into the village.<\/p>\n
The other person we relied on a lot was my friend, Elias.\u00a0 Elias is a young Christian man, originally from one of the surrounding tribal areas who now lived and worked in the town located near our tribal area.\u00a0 He owned a small multi-purpose vehicle (aka a multicab) and so his job was to shuttle passengers from one part of town to the other.\u00a0 From very early on, Elias began driving us and\/or supplies from town out to the trail leading to our tribal village.<\/p>\n
The beauty of having a friend like Elias was that he was always available and had many connections to others.\u00a0 If we needed him to pick us up last minute when we hiked out of the tribe, or needed some supplies taken out to meet the tribal guys and their water buffalos, he would drop everything and do it.\u00a0 If his vehicle wasn\u2019t big enough for our cargo, or if the trail into our village was dry enough to get a vehicle all the way in (it did happen once in while) he always seemed to know of another guy with the appropriate vehicle to do the job.<\/p>\n
Elias was committed to helping us in any way he could.\u00a0\u00a0 So much so, that, if he had someone else bringing our supplies and\/or us, he would ride along and accompany them, even though he wouldn\u2019t get paid for any of it.\u00a0 He especially enjoyed it when he was able to ride all the way into the village to visit us.\u00a0 It was his way of being a part of our ministry there with the Ga\u2019dang.<\/p>\n
While we were back in Canada for our home assignment this time, some changes happened.\u00a0 First, our supply buyer went home to Australia, as well as several other of our support personnel based at the NTM flight center, leaving a significant hole in man power. \u00a0The new supply buyer is not able to provide the same service of driving us and\/or supplies out to the trail.<\/p>\n
Also while we were away, our helipad in the tribe needed to be relocated.\u00a0 In order for our helicopter pilot to be able to fly onto our new helipad, he first needs to be checked out and approved by a senior pilot from the NTM Aviation training center in the U.S.\u00a0 We had plans for this to happen in July, but just last week we were informed that the helicopter is now down for major repairs.\u00a0 It won\u2019t be up and running again for at least 2 to 3 months.<\/p>\n
Finally, my friend Elias moved back to his home area, located an hour away from the town he was in before when he was helping us.\u00a0 I lost contact with him while we were in Canada, and he changed cell phone numbers (a very common occurrence here).\u00a0 Needless to say, I had no way to get back in touch with him again.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m explaining all this so you can understand how the Lord went before me last week as I made my way into the tribe for the first time since we arrived back in the Philippines 3 weeks ago.\u00a0 My new co-worker, Dennis, and I travelled from Manila, north to the NTM flight center and then I continued over to the town near our tribe on my own.\u00a0 (He would join me the next day.)\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t sure how this was all going to happen or even if we would be able to make it into the tribe.\u00a0 Not having any of our previous set up made it feel like we were starting all over again from scratch.<\/p>\n
For those who know me well, this kind of situation can be very intimidating for me to say the least.\u00a0 I am thankful that the Lord helped me recognise this fear immediately and that I needed to give it to Him to work it out, so I did.\u00a0 What followed only could have been orchestrated by Him.<\/p>\n
Upon arriving in town, I went straight to the terminal where the \u2018mulitcabs\u2019 and drivers gather to get passengers and talked to several of the drivers there about Elias.\u00a0 This is how I found out he had moved away.\u00a0 Unfortunately, I couldn\u2019t convince any of them to help me by taking us out to the trail, so I started asking around to various people I met, including some friends I knew from our time when we lived in this town several years ago.<\/p>\n
By the end of the day, I was getting concerned, to say the least about how we were going to get out to the trail.\u00a0 I was exhausted, emotionally, mentally and physically.\u00a0 I went back to my hotel room that night and prayed long and hard about what we should do.\u00a0 Then it happened.<\/p>\n
The following morning, I walked out of the hotel and stood by the road, waiting for a jeepney or multicab to pass by so I could catch a ride.\u00a0 I was going to go out and try again, talk to more people and see if I could convince someone to take us out to where we needed to go the next day.\u00a0 I was bracing myself for getting out of my shell and being the kind of person that is really, really difficult for me to be.<\/p>\n
As I stood there for a while many vehicles passed by, all of them full of passengers.\u00a0 I was beginning to rethink my plan of how to get to where I was going.\u00a0 Then I sensed something inside me telling me to go over to a group of men with tricycles (motorcycles with sidecars) to talk to them.\u00a0 I knew that mode of transportation wouldn\u2019t work for getting to the trail but maybe they would know someone who did have something.<\/p>\n
I approached them and explained my situation, and sure enough, one of them had several friends with vehicles available to hire.\u00a0 So off we went, this tricycle driver and I, to find me a vehicle.\u00a0 After several stops and questioning different people, we ended up at Noni\u2019s house.\u00a0 Noni had a van, which I hadn\u2019t thought of (I was only thinking of jeeps and trucks).\u00a0 He readily agreed to take us the next day and we settled on a reasonable price.\u00a0 Later that night, as I went to bed I half wondered if he would really show up to take us.\u00a0 Oh me of little faith!<\/p>\n
With the ride now settled, I was free to inquire about future possibilities and look into finding out exactly where Elias was now living.\u00a0 It was great as I was able to gather information, talk to several others who may be able to help us in the future, and visit with some people I hadn\u2019t seen for a long time.\u00a0 Finally I arrived at the open market in town where I figured I would have the best chance of finding out about Elias\u2019 whereabouts.<\/p>\n
Before we left for home assignment, Elias had taken us to this market to meet his wife and new baby.\u00a0 She was working at his aunt\u2019s stall, and so he wanted to introduce us particularly to their new baby, which he named after our own daughter, Jenna Lee.\u00a0 We felt very honoured when he asked me after his daughter was born if he could use Jenna\u2019s name.<\/p>\n
So here I am, standing in the market looking around at all the vendors and stalls (there are a lot!), wondering where Elias\u2019 aunt could be.\u00a0 Maybe she didn\u2019t even have a stall here anymore and I wouldn\u2019t find out anything.\u00a0 I prayed a quick prayer asking the Lord to direct me once again and decided I would pick one and then move around, asking if anyone knew of Elias.<\/p>\n
I approached the stall where a lady was sitting (I had never actually met Elias\u2019 aunt), and asked if she knew of a guy named Elias So and so, and that I was looking for his aunt who had a stall there in the market.\u00a0 \u201cOh, of course\u201d, she said, \u201cI\u2019m Elias\u2019 aunt!\u201d\u00a0 Of all the people in the market that day, and all the stalls I could have approached, the Lord directed me right to the one I was looking for!<\/p>\n
Come to find out, after we left for home assignment, Elias had changed jobs, but it didn\u2019t work out so he moved back to his home area an hour away in the mountains.\u00a0 I was able to get Elias\u2019 new cell phone number from her as well and I texted him right away to let him know we were back.\u00a0 Later that night he called me up and we had a good time catching up on what\u2019s happening in each other\u2019s lives.<\/p>\n
During our conversation I was reminded of how much of a blessing Elias has been to us, and his belief and commitment to helping us in any way he can.\u00a0 \u201cAny time you need help\u201d, he said, \u201cJust let me know and I can get to town within the hour to do what I can do.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a reminder to me that as missionaries serving the Lord here in the Philippines, we are not alone.\u00a0 His Body is functioning here as well, and there are local members of that Body ready and willing to work alongside us in taking the Gospel message to those who haven\u2019t heard it before.\u00a0 To Him be all the glory!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As we begin this next chapter of our ministry amongst the Ga\u2019dang people, we could see a number of uncertainties ahead.\u00a0 During our last term, I was able to establish some great relationships with people living in the closest town on the border of our tribal area.\u00a0 Some of those people were a huge blessing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":226,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1767,4,3375],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-gadang-people","category-ministry","category-news-article","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/chuck-shannon-talbot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/chuck-shannon-talbot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/chuck-shannon-talbot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/chuck-shannon-talbot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/226"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/chuck-shannon-talbot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=847"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/chuck-shannon-talbot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/chuck-shannon-talbot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/chuck-shannon-talbot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/chuck-shannon-talbot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}