The End of Summer

The Lord allowed us to spend most of June and July with our Isnag friends. If you haven’t read about our time in the village, please read the last two posts to our New Tribes Mission blog.

http://www.ntm.org/wp/jonathan-heidi_bamford/

This is the story about what happened after we flew out to town. When we got out to town, we found out that some of our Isnag friends were at the hospital needing assistance. Heidi and the ladies headed down to see if they could help them line up the kind of doctor appointments needed.

By mid afternoon the next day the ladies had the appointment they needed and we were ready to head for our home in the big city and to the two conferences what we would be helping with in the following weeks. We decided to take the long way home so that we could show our visitors a couple beautiful beaches here in the Philippines and visit the old Spanish city of Vigan.

We knew when we left town that we would probably not make it to the beach that night, but that we could probably find someplace to stay the night along the way.

We did find a place and it turned out to be the worst place I have ever paid to spend the night. It did have a lot of atmosphere, loud, dirty, ugly. It was great because it made everyplace else we stayed look like a palace. I ask you, how many mornings to teenagers wake up early begging to go for a car ride? We were all ready to hit the road and a couple of hours later we made it to the beach.

It was nice to have a couple of days to relax and play games with the kids. After that we drove south to visit an old Spanish style city.

We toured in horse drawn carriages and visited a pottery making business, old bell tower, small zoo, and a weaving business. The Catholic church in the background was built in the late 1500’s.

Old bell tower

Thomas, Heidi, Carrie, and Jonathan

We drove south from Vigan and spent one more night at a beach before arriving home. At home, everyone quickly got involved in unpacking the house and getting ready for the N. Luzon conference which was only a couple of days away. At the same time, Carrie and Thomas were preparing for school and registering for classes which coincided with the N. Luzon conference.

Our good friends, Patrick and Miriam graciously offered to stay home to support Carrie and Thomas while the rest of us participated in both the conferences. We had a few different responsibilities during the conference, but our main responsibility was to provide a child care program for the children of missionaries who would be attending.

It was great to have Bethany and Jacob along. They were a huge help. Jacob taught the Bible story and made sure that the outside play area ran smoothly and Bethany was in charge of the craft area for the older kids. Several other people helped as well, both on Luzon and Palawan. Thank you Peggy, La-arni, Jennifer, Chai, Brenda, Steffi, Eli, Kyle, Wheng, Mayline, Elsie, Rebekah, and Veronica.

When it was all over we had the same number of kids as we started with. If that isn’t success I don’t know what is.

We moved home for a couple of days and re-grouped in order to travel to Palawan and do the same children’s program again for those serving down south.

As you can see, butterflies and moths were the theme of our programs this year. We studied butterflies and moths, colored butterflies, made butterfly books, and made string art butterflies during craft time.

A moth landed on my shirt served as a good illustration

The kids enjoyed lots of fun activities which included Bible story time, clay time, and jump roping.

Jacob teaching the Bible story

Heidi and Bethany with those who were interested in jumping rope

Clay time

Jacob and Bethany looking for just the right hat

After a month of travel, Jacob and Bethany bought their last mementos and gifts before leaving Palawan. We arrive home on a Saturday, had a farewell dinner with the Rivettes that night and they left on airplane the next morning.

Thank you, Jacob and Bethany for coming all the way to the Philippines to visit us and help us with the conferences. Thank you Rivettes for all you did to make their visit here enjoyable.

Off we go

An end of the school year photo

Dear Friends and Family,
I had been hoping to find time to write a longer blog, but time has escaped me and I am due at the hangar to weigh our bags in just a few minutes. We are on our way to our village and Lord willing, will be there for over six weeks. During that time we will not have Internet or cell phone contact. We will have daily radio contact with our co-workers in town. Please be praying that the Lord will use us as his ambassadors during this time.
God bless,

Jonathan & Heidi

Flying was a Dream

I remember the hard travel I had back in October which involved hours of riding in unsafe public vehicles and 18 hours of hiking to get to our ministry allocation and back to town again. I remember thinking, “Someday perhaps God will provide a missionary flight service.” It was hard not to dream of flying.

After having to work so hard just to get to my ministry location, I arrived tired and without the supplies I needed to minister and sustain myself for very long.

Even back in October, God was starting to do above and beyond what we could dream of. During that time and in the months that followed, God provided the funds to purchase an R-44 helicopter and to have it shipped to the Philippines.

He even provided two pilots to fly for us. But, the helicopter and the pilots were still lacking licenses which would allow them to get airborne. Our pilots made many trips to government offices and we prayed that all the paperwork would come together. It was a long process, but by March, we had every sticker, paper, and license that we needed. Praise the Lord.

Our family, together with friend, Jeremy, and partner, Vicky Martin, scheduled the first flights to start the New Tribes Mission Aviation program on Northern Luzon.

It was a dream come true to depart and in 10 minutes to have covered what would have taken me 24 hours overland and then in another 10 minutes to have covered what would have taken me 8 hours of hiking. I arrived on location ready to serve the people. We were able to bring big box of newly translated Genesis and Exodus portions, boxes of medicine for the clinic, and enough food to keep us going for a week.

Thanks to the flight program we were able to teach in two locations on Sunday, hold Bible studies every week night, and see the clinic restocked. Due to the flight program, my family and Vicky Martin were able to come and minister to the people as well.

Praise the Lord for providing the helicopter, pilots, and paperwork!

Click this link to watch a short video of our landing in the village: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZDgHDn8Yy8

A link to the same video for those who have a slow internet connection:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uh1C4DpVH2k

Plans Change but Things Still Happen.

I had planned to fly to our Isnag village last week, but the pilot was not able to get the necessary license in time so the helicopter had to stay on the ground. With the trip to the village postponed, I decided to make a trip to our newest mission outreach and see how the Christina and the Talbots were doing. Here is an update on my trip.

The trip started out with a ride in a very crowded van.

But we were not as crowded as some vehicles we saw along the way.

The second leg of the trip was in a small red truck.


I finished the trip with a beautiful 2 hour hike to the small village where Christina Canapp and the Chuck and Shannon Talbot are working.

I found the team hard at work learning the Ga’dang language. At first I thought that Chuck was trying to learn about panhandling, but as I listened to the lesson I found out that he was trying to learn how to say, “this” and “that.” Actually it is a bit more complicated that that. In Ga’dang he has to learn this near me, that near you, that not near either of us, that sort of far away, that very far away, and that in past time. Good luck, Chuck! The Lord has provided Chuck, Shannon, and Christina with great language helpers.

Christina is working hard on language too. After her language session she took me on a village tour. It was great to see how the NTM team is making good relationships in the village and how eager the people there are to teach them their language.

Even Jenna has a language helper!

I was hoping that I could be an encouragement to the team, but instead they were an encouragement to me. It was great to see them doing so well.

My trip home was the reverse of my trip in except that instead of riding in a little red truck I rode on the back of a flatbed truck all the way to town.

I arrived home safely and am planning my next attempt to go to our Isnag village in two weeks.

The Reunion

In 1994, we moved to the Philippines to teach the children of missionaries.

Students at the school in 1996

Matt along with his fellow students

Ruth giving a book report

And we had lots of fun times with our new friends.

Erin holding Carrie

Carrie, James, Rachel, Charles, & Toby

Carrie and Sarah at age 5.

Sara now lives in Australia, but last month she and her sisters came back to the Philippines for a visit along with Toby the blond boy in the picture with the puppies.

Toby helped make the picnic fun for everyone.

Matt and Erin married and now serving as missionaries here in the Philippines. It was a real pleasure to have a couple hours with my former students. I am pleased to say that they can all read and do math without taking off their shoes to count higher than 10. Thank you, Matt, Erin, Rachel, Ruth, Sarah, and Toby, for taking time to visit us. We really enjoyed seeing you again.

“Do I look unintelligent?” The Fetcher

This sign was not hanging at the school our children attend, but still, as a fetcher, I feel saddened. I do my fair share of fetching and I hate to see my fellow fetchers discriminated against. I am getting lots of practice fetching.

For example, if Carrie stays after school to help with a bake sale, I have to go fetch her when she is done. Would you buy a cookie from this girl?

And, if Thomas has to stay for a tennis game I have to go fetch him too. The only difference between a dog fetcher and me is that someone throws the ball for the dog to fetch. I, in a manner of speaking, throw the kids out and fetch them too. I keep asking myself why.

This sign made me happy.

No more eye doctor appointments. Just look up your age on the chart, if you can see the chart, and then see what grade you need. By the way, the sales person saw me taking a picture of his chart and told me that it didn’t really work that way. While I was in the hardware store looking at a shelf, the sales person came up to me and told me that the shelf was an instrument for putting things on and gave a demonstration. I had a cup hook in my hand, so I said, “You mean that I could put this hook on the shelf like this?” and put my hook on the shelf. The clerk was happy with how quickly I had learned the proper use of a shelf. I am wondering if I look like an unintelligent fetcher.