Missionary Encounter

I just want to document a very unforgettable encounter I had. In a meeting invitation for this year’s Gilead School, I was able to join a team of selfless advocates. But the highlight of the experience was that I met 2 missionaries from Papua New Guinea. They are a couple who already served in various lands, and guess what, the husband is a Filipino from Pangasinan (who has been in Papua New Guinea for 10 yrs!) and the wife is a Japanese.
I learned a lot of things from our encounter. In order to be a missionary (serving in foreign places where there is a great need for preaching the word of God), one thing you need to have is ENDURANCE.

ENDURANCE: Two words can be retrieved from it – END and RUN; which means running until the end.

I was very much strengthened from the experiences and trials they encountered, and I want to share it with you.

1. Being a missionary based in Taiwan, the husband became a victim of a car accident. Reckless drivers in Taiwan, make sure that their victims are already killed (they go back, run over the victim, and run away). When a car hit him, the missionary husband, pleaded for help. The driver pitied him and brought him to the hospital. The missionary even preached to the driver while in pain. As a result, his life was saved and the reckless driver became a Bible study eventually.

2. In some remote areas, CANNIBALS do exist. The missionaries constantly flee for their lives, so that they will not end up being served on a platter for the tribes.

3. Nomadic as it may sound, but they sometimes ended up living in a bush or under trees. The wife’s most difficult scenario was having to endure insect bites for they slept without the comfort of four-walled houses.

4. Communication barrier is a major problem, and it requires a long time to learn the language of the place. Cultural difference is also a problem, and so is food. “Nothing beats the Philippine food sinigang and adobo!” exclaimed the Filipino missionary.

5. No cellphones, laptops or any high-tech devices was available in some areas. No emails, Facebook, or Blogger, for that matter :P

These are just some issues, but absolutely there are more. Being a missionary may prove to be difficult and challenging, yet these missionaries have a blissful glow in their eyes and a fulfilled voice coming from their hearts. Why? Because they adjust their lives in order to serve a worthwhile purpose, the greatest career of all time – being of service to kind-hearted individuals thirsty for the truth and being of service to God. What more could they ask for?

The selfless missionary couple who sacrificed for the love of God and neighbor.