mapline The Official Newsletter of
MEDICAL AMBASSADORS PHILIPPINES INC. Volume XXVI No. 3
What’s
Take a look at some of their stories:
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Our Story, God’s Glory “Remembering Operation Samaria 2014”
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September 2014
by Joab Afuang, RN OS14 Director
peration Samaria (OS) is a short-term, cross-cultural medical mission exposure that basically encourages the participants, primarily health professionals, to be involved in community health practice and spiritual care ministry. For the past 30 years, OS has also been an effective missions’ mobilization activity that changes perspectives and lives to be directed to God’s heart and His global purpose. It has always been this challenge that compels the OS organizers to see health professionals (doctors and nurses), medical/nursing students and young leaders synchronize their lifestyles to the rhythm of God’s heartbeat for the lost, the poor and the powerless. This year’s OS theme is “PARANAWAN” which is an Iraya Mangyan word for “Sanlibutan” or “All Nations”. Last May 2014, twenty-eight people responded to God’s call to go out of their comfort zones and be a blessing to other people. They were all aware that the OS trip would not be easy. They would endure long hikes, sleep without a comfortable cushion, deal with limited water and power supply and other uncomfortable things. The large group was divided into three teams. Though most of the teams were composed of medical students (16 medical students, 6 RNs, 3 nursing students and 3 non-health people), we saw how the whole team worked together as one.
“This experience actually shaped my heart into God’s heart. I now understand why God was and is passionate about this that He sent His Son to be a Missionary for His people.” - Christine Marianne Sy / 3rd year Medical Student “Operation Samaria has been a great tool for my change of perspective regarding what God really cares about. He has always cared about the nations and forever will.” – Kreezane Bethany Afuang, RN “God changed my desire through this mission. This changed me to go out of my comfort zone and to not put my wants above what He wants.” – Eunice Ching / 3rd year Medical Student “Missions is not glamorous. Fulltime missions is hardcore because you really have to know and be sure of God’s call upon your life. God speaks to us individually in every nation, but His love for everyone is just the same, same amount, same intense ravishing love.” – Mical Tapales / 2nd year Medical Student “Matthew 24:14 as the theme for OS 2014 and the cry of missions, taught me that everyone should be concerned about the unreached nations. God calls all of us to be concerned about those in our field who don’t know Him, but there is a large need for those who have been sent to the unreached peoples to have support.” – Kathrine Fernandez / 2nd year Medical Student “God wants us to go to the unreached places and we should tell that the salvation is for all nations as He said in Matthew 28:19” – Elen Mae Valencia / 3rd year Nursing Student to page 3...
MAP nurses. During visits, he volunteered to help carry the nurses’ baggage, hiking almost 3 hours to the village. With his small physique, he could carry baggage heavier than a sack of rice.
Never Too Late
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by Oliver Yanos, RN One day, Ambo verbalized his desire to learn to read and write.
He didn’t show any timidity, only hope that someday he would learn to read and write. That night, Ambo started his lesson with MAP nurse Julius Melad and continued on with Oliver Yanos. Although he was very tired and exhausted because of his work in the mountain, he showed enthusiasm to learn. He didn’t mind that the flickering torch light was dim. He had a hard time in writing at first because of the stiffness of his fingers. He wrote the letters of the alphabet like a kinder pupil. Because of his passion and patience to learn, he indeed learned to read. Now Ambo is Ambo grew up in the mountainous able to read his own Tagalog Bible. western part of the Tarlac province of Luzon, reaching into the He also joined the health class with the mothers. He never Zambales mountains. His father showed any discouragement even if he was the only man in the had wanted him to go to school class. Ambo was able to finish the health class modules. He was but he didn’t show any interest. He preferred to take care of their recognized as a community health worker in the village. animals rather than learn to read and write. He escaped during classes and played with his friends. Education had no value to Ambo came to know Christ and accepted Him as his personal him at that time. He grew up, got married and never learned to Savior. When sometimes he committed mistakes, he learned to read and write. recognize his faults. He also shared to his fellow tribespeople how the Lord is faithful to them even if life in the mountain is not When MAP did community organization in their place, Ambo easy. hesitated to get involved, thinking about what he could gain. Ambo has courage, determination, patience, timing and a senEvery month, the MAP nurses visited. They stayed and lived with sitivity to make the most use of opportunities. Regardless of his the community, displaying God’s love and affection to the people, situation or status, God chose to use him. The goal of God for his especially to Ambo. He volunteered his house as a home-base life will always be for his good. And the glory and the peace of for the MAP nurses to stay in. Ambo became a close friend of the God which transcends all understanding will guard his heart. “ thought I will never learn to read and write.” (“Kunak man sanak nga makasursuro nga agbasa ken agsuraten.”) These were the words of Ambo, a native of the Abellen Ayta tribe of San Jose, Tarlac.
Typhoon Yolanda
destroyed many communities in the Visayas region. The aftermath of the storm showed damaged houses and other structures as well as wrecked spirits of all the survivors. After a few months, I flew back to Hernani, Eastern Samar. The images of devastation were gradually disappearing. The trees started to bloom. Grasses on the land were growing. Fields were being plowed. Establishments were opening their businesses. Disappointingly, there were more families who depended on the help of the government to have a place to live in. Some temporarily stayed in bunk houses and some moved into smelly tents. Time slowed down after the typhoon because there were still families suffering from its effects.
The Aftermath by Oliver Yanos, RN and Tess Calupig, RN water in the pump well turned salty. People from one barangay needed to fetch drinking water from the neighboring barangay. I asked one local why there was no fishing boat in the seashore. He answered that all their materials for fishing were swept away by the typhoon. There was silence between us. Tears almost dropped from my eyes. The people are trying to live normal lives amidst difficult conditions. The assessment results disheartened me. I wondered how our small organization could offer help to these surviving spirits. The scale of the problems seemed overwhelming. But God is great and mighty. He works in ways we can’t see. I know there are generous individuals, churches and like-minded organizations that are willing to extend help to our countrymen through Medical Ambassadors Philippines Inc. (MAP).
Our trip to Hernani offered a lesson on what it feels like to have nothing, to have everything taken away from you. In the face of In our survey and assessment, we found out that almost all the this scenario, there were still many stories to celebrate, stories barangays had no comfort rooms. In one barangay in Hernani, only 8 out of 175 households had toilets. It was the same story in of hope and strength in order to reconstruct what nature’s wrath the neighboring barangays. Some had no safe water supply. The had put to waste.
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“God works through you. He focuses on your heart and that love translates to any kind of work you do. You just have to let Him in and let Him speak through you everyday.” – Elizabeth Grace Perez / 2nd year Medical Student “I was so overwhelmed with the great need to share the gospel in the community and the need for humanitarian projects.. I had a glimpse of the worker’s hardships, enjoyment and fulfillment which makes me want to be part of the work, either be a goer or a sender.” – Christian Brian Bron /1st year Medical Student “Missions is not about the people or their needs but about Him who sent us. This experience enlarged my heart for the nations.” - Mary Christine Petate / 2nd year Medical Student “God reassured me that His calling is not just doing the things God wants you to do, but being the person God wants you to be.” – Kydee Estigoy / Social Science Graduate “I learned that it is dangerous once God’s call is replaced by the needs of the people. Our motivations of serving in the mission field will be deviated from the reason why we are there in the first place, which is God’s command, the Great Commission.” – Krista Grace Libo-on / 2nd year Medical Student “The Lord loves every culture no matter how diverse they are. And He longs for these people to worship Him, honor Him and obey Him – Fellowship with God will once again be reunited.” – Lois Eunice Gonzales / 2nd year Medical Student “God revealed to me that when you love someone truly and faithfully, your heart’s desires will be as one with Him. God’s love for everyone is so great and
once you experience it there’s nothing left to do but to share it and tell everyone about it.” – Krista Dela Cruz / 2nd year Medical Student “Seeing the life there and knowing that there are some people who don’t know God yet, lit up the fire in my heart to help them and share the Gospel.” – Loren Pioquinto / IT Student “Being in missions is a lifestyle. It should be visible in everything you do, big or small, in every person you encounter, good or bad and in every situation you have, make or break.” – Stephanie Sy / 2nd year Medical Student “The greater challenge is stepping out to use everything I have learned in circumstances when my best would be utilized for free. It is only by His grace that we are able to transcend beyond our human nature, to tame our desire for comfort and compensation.” - Carielle Joy Rio, RN “We must use our hands for the weak. We must use our feet to follow the right road to salvation. Above all, we must use our heart to love the needy and the weak.” - Rochelle Limjoco / 3rd year Nursing Student “I’m really thankful that the whole OS experience is more than a medical mission. It has helped me realize that God does not want perfect people to share His love to the rest of the world.” – Jackie Adlawan / 1st year Medical Student “The need is vast and knowing this more through OS, experiencing it firsthand, broadened my care of not just the people within my circle… there are many more people before and beyond me in need of this knowledge, His saving message.” – Fae Therese Bernaldez / 2nd year Medical Student
God has given us this passion to recklessly abandon ourselves and our comforts for His Name’s sake. He is the Author. This is His story. We are just mere pens. Oh, what joy to take a tiny part in the greatest Story of all! The story of God’s love, His love for the nations.
Photos from Operation Samaria 2014
A Christ-changed Life by Cris Gardon,RM, RN
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“ Christchanged life changes life.” This describes the life of Miyo. Before he came to know the Lord, he was living a miserable life, and harbored resentment toward other people. Now, he spends his life serving the King of kings and Lord of lords—Jesus Christ. I met Miyo the first time I visited Sitio Singawan. At first I thought he was an NPA rebel because of his look—long hair, always with a bolo and his ‘kaingin’ (farm) uniform. He spent his day in kaingin and every afternoon, bought liquor and drank alone. He had no friend in the community except for Tatay Amado. One night, in our ‘kape’t kapit-bahay’ (coffee & neighbors) ministry I was surprised by his presence. He was invited by Tatay Amado to attend our fellowship. He just sat at the back and didn’t speak at all. The topic that we shared then was about God’s love and his wonderful plan for His people. That was our last night in Singawan. We left for Manila the next day.
ACKN OW LED G M ENT O F SU PPO RTERS BECAUSE YOU PRAY We are encouraged and inspired A month after, in a Sunday service, I saw to minister and provide healing to Miyo standing in front of the congregation, the sick, strength to the weak, and sharing his life. He was an orphan, never salvation to the lost. had a chance to go to school. At a young BECAUSE YOU SHARE age, he learned to live alone “in the crazy We are enabled to go places and world of Manila,” then wandered until he bring to many people your tanreached Aurora province. He was once gible expressions of love assuring accused as a rebel and tortured by the them they are not forgotten military—a reason why he harbored resentment toward people and reached the point BECAUSE YOU RESPOND TO THE CALL of doubting the existence of God. He said that the Word of God taught him to forgive Many lives have been blessed by your presence, showing comfort, those who wronged him and that forgiving and letting people know they are is very important yet very difficult. It was not alone in their suffering. much easier to harbor resentment but he learned in the Bible that it is not God’s will. Despite those painful experiences that he ed ito r ia l sta ff suffered, still he praised God that he is still alive. He has a very touching story, but Mrs. Belle Puruganan-Villanueva Editor what struck me was his realization that he was not forgotten by God. Instead, he Mrs. Alice T. Bañas, RN, MHPEd. realized God loves him and has a wonderful Editorial Adviser plan for him. MAP Workers Contributing Writers Miyo is now a Sunday school teacher with a group of believers in Sitio Singawan, DinAsheri Ira C. Bañas galan, Aurora Province. He is an ordinary Layout man used by God to spread the gospel. His life is an example of a Christ-changed MAPLINE via EMAIL life and through his testimony he helps his MAPLINE is available via PDF. Email us at neighbors draw near to God. medicalambassadorsphil@gmail.com if you would like to receive our newsletter via email. Thank you for helping us cut down on mailing cost.
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