The Major Tribe

Every time I have visited the tribe I have always left with several distinct impressions one of which is, “There are so many kids here!” When we visited this last time as a family a group from Don and Char’s church in the city came to put on a DVBS. There was a great turn out, 75 kids came!

This is also the first of two videos we put together from our trips into the tribe in May. We hope to upload the second sometime in the next couple weeks.

The thermometer on the right is for tracking the funds saved towards the first of two phases in building a house for our family in the tribe. Actually this weekend Jared is headed into the tribe to finish working out where to locate our house and start having wood cut. Its crazy how fast this has all started rolling!

If you want to find out more about the project you can click here!

It was my priviledge to get to take part in a youth camp here a few weeks ago.  The camp was put on by New Tribes Mission of the Philippines (sort of the national arm of NTM here) and was a 4 day introduction to tribal missions for college age men and women.  There were cultural demonstrations, testimonies from missionaries working among tribes here and overseas and lots of small group discussions.

I was so encouraged by the whole experience.  After over 8 years of training and preparation (if you can believe that) we are on the edge of jumping into the work of tribal church planting among the Dupaninan Agta and the Lord knew what I really needed first was to return to the beginning and see the task through the eyes of young men and women the same age as when we started down this road; to strip away all of the technical aspects of what it takes to do tribal ministry and be reminded of God’s heart for the world and His call to take the Gospel to its furthest corners.  

I had been asked to give the closing challenge on the last morning.  To be honest it was quite a leap for me in language to give a 45 minute message even in Taglish (A sort of mix of English and Tagalog) but it was the kind of challenge that can be really helpful to a language learner.

Of the 50 or so campers who attended 4 put in applications to attend the next cycle at the NTM training school here and many others shared their plans to do the same in the near future.

These young people are the future of tribal missions here in the Philippines and we believe a priority focus as we head into tribal church planting ministry.  We are asking God to give us more opportunity to work with Filipino believers in raising awareness among churches here and in partnering with them in the work.

Thank you all for your prayers for the camp!

The sign behind me reads, "Ethnos: A challenge to youth" which was our theme for the week.

We are really excited!  On sunday we will be headed up north as a family to visit the Agta for the first time together as a family.  The kids can’t wait!  We plan to fly in by helicopter and spend 4 or 5 days in the village before coming back to Manila.

It’s exciting to visit but even more so knowing that this is where we are also planning to move long term to serve!  We are so grateful to all of you who have prayed with us about where God would have us serve and He has been faithful in directing us.  Its been great to get to know Don and Char Epp and their children along with John Burbidge who are already working in the tribe and we look forward to joining them in seeking to reach the Dupaninan Agta!

Please pray for safe travels and that God would guide us as we seek to build relationships with the people.  Please also pray for wisdom in the planning process for us building a house in the tribe.

We hope to share more with you when we get back!

In Him,

The Major Family

One of the things Bana has focused on while we have been here in Manila is improving her medical skills.  She has enjoyed the learning process and we are frequently reminded by missionaries here of the need for even basic medical care among people living in remote areas.

Recently we have been reminded of the huge need for medical care among the Agta.  Sickness and death from preventable disease is one of the most tragic things among the Agta children.  So many kids are affected by things that clean water, improved nutrition and basic medical care can prevent or cure.

When Jared visited the Agta in February he and John, one of the missionaries serving in the tribe, visited a family who’s young son Siti had been very ill.  After spending some time talking with the family and listening to his lungs John supsected that Siti was suffering from tuberculosis, which is very common here in the Philippines.  The family carried Siti the 20 plus miles out of the village to a small clinic to have him tested.  After a few days the test came back positive for TB.  They were able to get a plan of treatment in place and return to the village.

Within a few weeks, however, Siti’s health had continued to deteriorate and just recently he was taken to the hospital in town.  Tests showed he had more serious issues as well as the TB.  New treatments were pursued but he was already extremely weak.

Siti passed away in the hospital a few days ago.

Please pray for Junior, Siti’s dad, and his family.  Just two weeks prior they lost another one of their children.  Pray that God would open their eyes to the hope and comfort to be found in Christ.  And please also pray that a sustainable medical clinic can be started in the village.

Naomi was really excited to get to show everyone her new smile!

We are celebrating Christ’s Resurrection today! We have hope because He is alive!

It was such a blessing to share in the service this morning!  Here are just a couple quick photos we snapped at church.  We are so thankful to get to be a part of such a great body of believers here in Manila!

Recently Jared had the opportunity to return to the tribe we visited last June in Northern Luzon.  He along with John Burbidge and Donovan Epp, two of the missionaries already working among the Agta there, took the 6 hour boat ride in, spent a few days and then hiked the 20 odd miles out.  It was a chance to visit with the people and see how they were doing after the big typhoons last year.  Because of the weather none of the missionaries had been able to get into the village up until that point.

Overall it was a good trip and thankfully the people and their houses had faired well through the storms.

Below are a just few photos from the trip.

The boat ride in was much colder and wetter than the last time.

Don visiting with one of the Agta families there in the tribe.  These guys are making swimming goggles from scratch out of the plastic carved from a fishing net float, a broken bottle and a bit of resin.

Lightening had struck a tree near Johns house and it looked like it had affected his radio antenna so one of the men helped us get the wire down out of the tree.  This is pretty impressive when you consider this guy is likely into his 60′s.  I’m not quite 30 and I’d need a ladder or a chainsaw.

Kids being kids.

The trail out is a bit over 20 miles and was a sloppy mess in many places.  The mud varies from the brown buttery gravel "careful not to break your neck as you fall" variety to the shoe sucking knee deep kind to the sticky sort that graduals builds up on the bottom of your boots til you realize you are about a foot taller and your feet feel conspicuously heavy.

There were too many river crossings to count but they were all a welcome opportunity to cool off!

We arrived back at the flight base to see the helicopter take off on one of its early check out flights. Its either 6 hours by boat, 20 miles on the trail or just 20 minutes in the helicopter.  Praise the Lord for a flight program! 

We hope you will pray for the Agta people, for the Epp family and for John, the missionaries living and working among them.  There is such a need there and the response to the Gospel has been slow so far.  Please pray for John as he prepares to begin teaching again and for the Epps as they work towards moving back in as a family once the helicopter is up and running on a consitent basis.

Way back in June we took time to visit several of the tribal works NTM is involved in here in the Philippines. We spent time on the island of Palawan and also in Northern Luzon. Above is the 3rd and final video from those trips. We visited with the team there, Don and Char Epp and John Burbidge, all from Canada, who are working to reach the Agta. The Agta live extremely simply in some of the more remote areas of the Philippines. When considering the unreached here in the Philippines the Agta are among some of the poorest. They are semi-nomadic, meaning they pick up and move regularly, and instead of relying on farming they tend more towards hunting and gathering. Praise God He is at work here! Please pray for the team as they continue to work toward teaching and discipling new believers.

Please also continue to pray for us as we seek the Lord about where we will be serving in ministry in the future.

In Him,

The Majors

Right click here and "Save as" to download the HD version.