Maddrell's in the Philippines

For some reason, God had us 'foster' a malnourished young girl for 10mnths, her name is Jocell. She came to us weighing just over 6kgs and was five years old. We bonded immediately with her and she quickly became a member of our family and the christian community in which we are living in the Philippines. She learned English quickly, loved watching The Wiggles on Sophie's iPad and swimming in the above ground pool we brought over from Australia. Her health went up and down due to her lower resistance to infection and she also had many Acaris worms (something we were never prepared to see) that she was infected with by eating sand from the dirt floor of her home on a small island. Her mother had said that she was treated so we were not at all expecting her to be so infested. The reason that her family  had us look after her is because she was 'failing to thrive' on the formula given to by the Malnourish Team here. Usually the children stay with their parents and the formula is taken to their homes once a month for twelve months and during that time the ministry works with the family to provide a livelihood for them so that they can rise above the devastating poverty that has led to the malnourishment of their child/children. Jocell was the middle child of five.

Jocell was able to speak with her family and have them visit during the months she was with us. These were delightful times for her and she loved to share her 'blessings' with her siblings eg dolls, clothes and food.

We left the Philippines in late Jan 2013 to return to Australia for a five week break and Jocell went back to her family two weeks later (weighing 12kgs!). However, within three weeks she was brought back to the ministry centre unable to sit up, having sores on her arms and legs and barely able to talk. The mother said 'she is not eating'. We were so shocked to hear that she had lost 6kgs within the three weeks and reasoned that she must have not eaten at all in that time. She was taken straight to hospital and given food through a nasal drip. Within days she was in a critical condition and I decided to come back to the Philippines a few days early to see her and pray for her.

By the time I got there she had been incubated by hand for a couple of days. I asked the Dr's if there was anything at all we could do and they said that there was only a slim chance but the thing she needed most was a mechanical incubator as the mother would get tired during the night and not supply adequate oxygen. We searched the city for a machine but not only was there none available, but there were waiting lists for each of the handful of machines in the whole city. The next morning at 11:25am Jocell died .

How can I say that we were grieving but full of joy at the same time? Well, our wonderful loving Father had shown us all something on the last Sunday before we left for Australia. I was preaching that morning and I had to share how I thought that God was showing us all something that morning. What was so special was that Jocell was up the front with the worship team with her little wooden ukelle singing loudly and raising her hands in praise to God. Why was this so special? Well, I had taken her up the front only weeks before to see if she would share a word of thanks (as we all often do) but she got absolutely stage shocked and just stared and hid her face. However, this Sunday she was full of love and joy. I noted to the group that God was showing us how our love had made Jocell whole, we had each shown her God's unconditional love in various ways and now she was able to put aside her shyness and praise God in abandonment. What a gift from God. He knew He would be taking her to himself soon but gave us a glimpse of the joy that she would be experiencing with Him.

We all still miss her but are so comforted in the knowledge that she is with the Lord and we will see her again.

The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord!                                  

Good news! Well sort of., Von has finally rung her mother and spoken to her personally. This is such good news because now we can finally be reassured that she is still alive. To date, all communication from 'Von' had been via text and whoever had been sending them was very vague and careful never to give away anything that could be confirmed or which would give anyone any chance of locating Von. At the same time, nothing was put in any of these that could conclusively prove it was Von who was sending them. Because of that, there has been widespread concern for her safety because of the absence of any concrete evidence that she was even alive.

From early June, the ‘story’ has been that Von had gone off and married a man with serious health issues whom she met on the internet and that both he and his family are intensely private. However, nothing of this could ever be confirmed to enable the truth to be known, there had only been text and facebook appeals to, ”trust us” when their very behaviour had consistently been so selfish and untrustworthy, including deliberate attempts to send malicious email viruses to Von’s friends – hardly an action that would win trust and friendship!

The sad side of all this is the confusion and hurt felt by so many, myself included, who simply couldn’t believe that Von would treat her family, friends and the ministry so badly by acting so impulsively in the first place and then repeatedly refusing to come forward personally to allay our fears and concerns.

There is still much that is unknown and my hope and prayer is that, when the dust settles and the full story comes out, there will be circumstances come to light which will go some way to reassure and relieve Von’s family and friends that their respect for, and trust in, her was not entirely misplaced.

Thank you to all who have been praying for her. Please continue to seek God's will to be manifest in her life.

Two-thirds of our world are oral communicators? That's 4 billion people who can't, don't or won't read or communicate by literate means!

Wow, being a 'westerner' I didn't know that! So how do we make disciples of these people when they can't read or study the bible?

Well, at a recent meeting of pastors here in the Philippines I heard of the 'orality' network (http://oralbible.com/) who are teaching 'biblical story telling' as the means of sharing the 'good news' with people. 

Talk about coming a full circle. Its encouraging to hear of these ministries who are learning to once again meet the local needs rather than imposing 'our' way of doing things.

If you have been using this method of evangelism I would love to hear about your experiences.

Please join me in praying that the truth of who God is will be understood in life changing ways as our brothers and sister share God's Story from creation to eternity.

Coming back to a 'third world' country obviously has its challenges. Before coming, God was sensitizing me to how I often 'buy, make, collect' things and how they make me 'feel' better.

Today I read these words from T.W. Tozer:

"There is within the human heart a tough, fibrous root of fallen life whose nature is to possess, always to possess.... The ancient curse will not go out painlessly; the tough old miser within us .... must be torn out of our heart like a plant from the soil; he must be extracted in agony and blood like a tooth from the jaw. He must be expelled from our soul by violence, as Christ expelled the money changers from the temple. And we shall need to steel ourselves against his piteous begging, and to recognize it as springing out of self pity, one of the most reprehensible sins of the human heart!.

Pow! How's that for between the eyes!

Becoming aware of my need to 'possess'  materials is one thing (and certainly a first world problem) but what of my need to 'possess' adequacies, reputation and respect?

Our God is so wise. He knows its not the 'possessions' we need but the process of His transformation. I think of the verse; Be still and know that I am God and how He has set up from the beginning of time, 'the way' to live so that these fibrous roots that entangle us are regularly kept in check. For example, He knows that we need one day a week to stop our striving, creating and collecting, and 'know' that He is God (the provider).

More and more as I submit to His ways, I discover He is indeed transforming my life. How good is our God!

We leave Australia on 22nd Jan 2012. So many things to get organised before then, immunisations, visas, sorting through our home and packing it up. Its amazing how much 'stuff' we collect and how little we actually need.