As I grasped Mentapang’s hand in welcome, he fell into my arms sobbing. As I held him, I cried, too.
A few moments earlier, as he was standing out in the Sulu Sea with Kent’s arm around him, it had hit me: Mentapang is being baptized! The man whom I’ve called Maman (Uncle) for so many years, is today becoming my brother in Christ! It isn’t every day that one has an opportunity to baptize an elderly former witchdoctor! It isn’t every day that one has the privilege of witnessing the fruits of so much prayer and transformation through the power of the Holy Spirit. It was indeed a day of rejoicing.
Durman was the first to be baptized that day, and he and his wife Gining went out with Kent together. As I watched him go under the water, I realized that I was witnessing the birth of the Kebgen church. Today was the first fruits of the work among the former Taw’t Deram! Along with Durman and Mentapang, Durman’s brother Kinit and his wife, Gining’s sister Nutun, were also baptized, as were Gining’s other sister, Nirun, the wife of Kalbu (one of the first Kemantian missionaries to go work among the Taw’t Deram), and Medyulin, the mother of Gining, Nutun and Nirun. Counting Kalbu, the new Kebgen company now has seven members! After six years of hard work, we’re starting to see fruit!
The Kebgen company has endured persecution. Medyulin’s husband is a devoted witchdoctor and frequently communes with the spirit world. He has a second wife and has at various times rejected Medyulin, leaving her for months at a time. He has threatened to take away her young children, to beat her and even to kill her, but she persists in her faith.
Several weeks before camp meeting, a non-Christian young man in the Kebgen area became demon-possessed. He injured some people and was threatening to kill others. Durman and Kalbu went to the young man and prayed for him and helped his family tie him up so he couldn’t hurt more people. After some time, the young man quieted down, and his family untied him. But he still wasn’t in his right mind, so his family called the elders and witchdoctors. They said that unhappy spirits had driven the young man mad because Christians had brought God into the area. They reasoned that, to appease the spirits, they needed to ask God to leave. So, through various incantations and sacrifices, they proceeded to do just that. So here were these baby believers surrounded by people praying that their God would leave! Because the fledgling Christians were soon to come out for camp meeting anyway, and they were not enjoying being around all the spirit rituals, they left. This is just a small example of the difficulties Christians face in our area. Please pray for them as they grow through persecution and work to lead their people out of this intense spiritual darkness.
Also baptized that day were the spouses of long-standing members in both the Kemantian and the Kensuli churches, making these families joyfully complete in Christ. I remember watching as some of their pre-teen children led song service at church the following Sabbath and realizing that these children now had a much better opportunity to grow up into Christ as part of a supportive family. One of the baptized was Abil who attended our Kemantian school for years and then married Bilin, a girl from Kensuli. There were times when Abil studied his Bible intensely, and other times when he would drop his studies. At times he seemed to be under conviction of the Holy Spirit, but then he would return to his old habits. Bilin had been baptized years before and was sorry to see the choices her husband was making before he finally returned to Christ. When Abil came out of the waters of baptism, he and Bilin hugged and cried in each other’s arms, so grateful of what God was doing in their lives.
I remember seeing Mitil at the baptism. She had tears in her eyes as she witnessed the baptism of two of her children, Butuy and Istir. This brings to three the number of her children now in God’s church. Mitil and I have been friends for years. She is a young mother of nine children, forced into marriage to an older witchdoctor when she was nine years old by her abusive father and stepmother. She is severely hearing impaired due to injury inflicted by her father. For many years Mitil slaved for her family, and her husband Abew did little to help. She lived in fear of him, bearing him child after child and striving to keep them all fed. It was hard for me to spend time with Mitil because Abew was jealous of her time with me. He rightly suspected that I was teaching her about Christ, the true Way to freedom.
Through the years, Mitil came to know Jesus. It was exciting to see how she grew in her faith and self-confidence. She is finding her voice, and Abew can’t push her around like he used to. Her teenage son Butuy stands up to his father when necessary to protect her.
For the last year or so when I have visited Mitil and her children on Sabbath afternoons to have worship with them, Abew has been sticking around. He has said on a number of occasions that just because they don’t go to church doesn’t mean they don’t believe what I’m teaching them. He has even begun to sing some of the Christian songs with us. His favorite is “Do Lord.” Mitil wants to be baptized one day. Abew isn’t so sure he will take that step. Please pray that Mitil and Abew will continue in their faith and commit to Christ alone. Let’s watch for the transformation God will surely work in their lives and in their home . . . And we will see another witchdoctor converted!
There were many others baptized that day, each with a unique story of how God has been working in their lives. What a joy to watch as each candidate came up out of the water, and a family member or teacher or close friend would walk out to meet them, welcoming them into the family of God. This is a tradition we started many years ago that serves to help already baptized realize the importance of their responsibility as older brothers and sisters in Christ to nurture and guide the babes.
It never ceases to amaze me how much emotion and affection the people show at baptisms. Palawanos are typically distant with the opposite gender, and even married couples never show affection publically. They are embarrassed to cry in public, yet as they come out of the water and the Holy Spirit descends on them, there is such a holy sweetness that falls on us all with much crying and hugging and praising God.
A pastor friend shared in the baptizing with Kent that day. He commented how different our baptisms were from others he had been part of. He said that typically after baptisms people just quickly dispersed. “But here it is a real event, an occasion that everyone is part of. It is special, beautiful.”
I love being on the inside of this story, knowing much of each person’s journey. There is nothing more exciting than being an eyewitness to the working of God in people’s lives, seeing them make commitments to Him and knowing we will share eternity together.
Thank you for your prayers. They are the catalyst for all of this.
