More people who need Jesus
A tough hike and a trip to a distant hospital recently put George Olson in contact with two other groups of Palawanos who need to hear Bible teaching.
George and Ginny and their family have been working with the Brooke’s Point Palawano people, and he and his son Isaac hiked to a mountain village.
“There are mountain people that live scattered up and down the mountains all over the southern part of the island here,” George wrote. “They are the people that are the most unreached by the Gospel, and therefore they are top priority in the expansion of the Gospel. Getting there, however, is a very serious challenge!”
They walked up the river for two and a half hours, and then it got rough.
“It became very steep very quickly. For the next two and a half hours, we trudged uphill.
“In some places it would level out, but for the most part it was like ascending a very slippery and steep set of stairs, with many branches and bushes tearing at our clothes and skin, leeches attaching themselves to us, and sometimes the ground falling out from under us on account of unstable mountain slopes.”
They reached the top and had planned to spend another day, but had to return to get an ill Palawano boy to the hospital. And the relatively nearby hospital sent him to a more distant hospital because they were unable to treat him.
There, as the boy recovered, the family of another patient stunned George.
“All of a sudden one of them turned to me and started speaking in fluent Palawano,” George wrote. “Totally unexpected! Why would any educated Filipino take the time to learn Palawano, the language of the native people, especially since knowing that language doesn’t help anyone further their business?”
George found out they spoke Palawano because they were Palawanos, from a group that had split from the mountain people a few generations ago. They live closer to the coast and practice another major world religion. He was able to spend some time talking with them and ascertained that they had never heard the story the mountain people tell about why the two groups split.
Please pray that missionaries continue to make progress learning the culture and language of the Brooke’s Point Palawano people, so evangelism can begin through foundational Bible teaching. Pray that His Word can also be taken to the mountain people and the coastal people.