One evening, in the years before World War II came to the Philippines, an old Palawano named Erot, whose name meant “Guide”, gathered a group of young people around him and told them “I have something important to tell you. One day an American will come to you bringing a book with him. When he comes, listen closely to his teaching, because the book that he brings tells of the true eternal God, and how to have eternal life”. Nearly 50 years later, one of those young people, Inting, now an old woman herself, heard of an American who had brought a book with him, and was teaching nearby. Excitedly, she sent her husband, Putek, to listen to this teacher. As Putek heard the Story of Creation, how sin entered the world through the sin of Adam and Eve, and of God’s promise of a Redeemer who would take away their sin, his own excitement began to build. After showing them how God had revealed himself and reminded people of his promise of a Redeemer throughout the Old Testament, the missionary told them of the life of Christ, and how he fulfilled all of the prophecies, and was sacrificed in their place and then rose again to bring eternal life. As the missionary told them story after story from the book he carried, realization dawned on Putek: this is what Erot had told them to wait for! This was the true story of the True God, and at long last He had sent someone to bring them the truth! He hurried home to tell Inting what he had heard, and she also believed.
The missionaries had the book that Erot had told them of and they regularly taught the Palawano believers from it, translating small portions for the lessons that they taught. As years went by though, the church was still dependent on the missionaries for every bit of truth that they needed. Last week all of that changed!
As the year 2014 dawned, excitement began to build among our team, and among the Palawano believers. The Palawano New Testament translation was complete! We waited only for the printing and proof-reading process to be completed. In April, we began making plans for a celebration and dedication service. By early June, NTMA received a list of the passengers, food, cases of bibles, and other cargo that would need to be flown in. We quickly realized that because of the onset of rainy season and the short periods of good flying weather that we experience this time of year, there was simply no way that a single Cessna 185 would be capable of handling all of the flights on schedule. Our NTMA team began praying that the Lord would provide the funds needed to bring our second aircraft from a neighboring island, and within 12 hours the Lord had provided all of the funds we needed! We quickly sprang into action, pre-positioning fuel to give us more options to handle bad weather, organizing cargo and passenger flights to maximize the available weight and seats on each flight, and ensuring that the cargo for each flight was weighed and ready to load. The Lord granted us the windows of clear weather that we needed to fly the entire team in for the dedication services, and back out again in time for their international flight connections, and we had an amazing but exhausting 8 consecutive days of flying. Most amazing though, were the testimonies we heard from the Palawano church. As he held his brand new Palawano New Testament in his hand and wiped tears from his eyes, Abil, one of the church leaders, testified: “This book is a treasure to us worth more than gold or money. We are so thankful to our white uncle that God sent to us to bring us God’s Word in our own language so that now we can read it and understand it for ourselves. Now that we have God’s Word we are responsible to be faithful to study it and obey it.”
Thank you all for the role you have played in bringing this treasure to the Palawano church! Rejoice with us that the Word of God is alive and at work in his church, in yet another language!
Mark Ellis says
I would like to feature this story on God Reports.
Would it be possible to get a few more details?
We could connect via email or skype.
Blessings!
Mark Ellis
Carleen says
What a blessed story! We are so thrilled for the Palawano people… PRAISE GOD.
Stacy says
That is wonderful! His response to receiving God’s word is truly precious. May all who belong to Christ feel this same way about the holy scriptures!!
Carol Brown says
Another glorious chapter in the history of redemption. What precious people. What a great God.
Elizabeth says
I love reading about the things our Great God is doing through my long time friends!! It really does bring tears to my eyes. I love y’all and am so thankful The Lord has brought y’all to this place serving Him and spreading His Word in more ways than one! Praying for each of you!
Joe Taylor says
This is wonderful news! God bless those humble people who see that the Word of God they were foretold of is worth more than money. They are completely right. God bless you and Candy, Josh.
Treat that airplane like the Army, always do preventive maintainence.
Tessia Lewis says
Praise God!!!! That’s all I can say!
Ron & Karen Pulaski says
This was a real blessing to hear about these people receiving the Word of God in their own language. I assume they already could read their written language. What a lot of hard work to coordinate those flights and see them accomplished, plus the actual translating work. May God richly reward His faithful laborers.
Doug Hambright says
To God be the Glory. Great things He has done. This is exciting news…Good News. Thank you for sharing.