Riding in the car with Bubit and Jilin to Puerto Princesa to shop for Bubit’s wedding dress, I took some time to start writing my next AF article. “Girls, what do you think I should write about?” I asked them.
“Camp meeting!” they both chorused. Then they began listing the highlights of our 2014 Palawano Camp meeting. “Write about the baptism. Write about the people who want to prepare for baptism. Tell about the concert Saturday night. Tell about the communion service. Tell about the workshops. Tell about the women’s night. . . .” And on and on.
In the past, we have held camp meetings in mountainous Kemantian where water and electricity were limited, but at least the attendees felt comfortable, surrounded by their people and culture. Since most of the attendees live in the mountains, Kemantian was also nicely central for them.
But this year, anticipating a larger crowd and more people from our lowland Palawano churches, we decided to hold camp meeting at our mission-project farm in the lowlands, which we have named Mountain View Farm because of its panoramic view of the mountains to the north, south and west. At Mountain View Farm, we have several acres of flat land interspersed with rice paddies.
Since this was our first camp meeting at this new site, there were some challenges. There is virtually no housing on the property yet, except for a couple simple structures for farm workers. Napthali Margate, our faithful lay-pastoral supervisor, came up with the idea of tall A-frame-style buildings made of bamboo covered with large tarps. So he and his crew built six large A-frames: four for guests to camp under, and two for children’s meeting houses. Then they built three more end to end to serve as a meeting house. A number of men came down from the mountains a few weeks before camp meeting to work with Napthali in building these structures. They also helped build walls for the outhouses and shower stalls.
Kent worked to pipe water from the pond to be used for showers and washing. We purchased lots of five-gallon water jugs to be filled at our project house in town and then trucked to the farm to keep everyone supplied with drinking water. Kent and a crew of high school girls wired all the meeting places for electricity and lights powered by our diesel generator. We purchased cement charcoal stoves for our guests to cook over and stockpiled charcoal. Rice had recently been harvested off the land, so we calculated how many sacks of rice would be needed for the five days of camp meeting. Staple goods were stockpiled in the farm store to sell as needed, and guests were advised to bring as much food from their homes as they thought they would need. Staff nurses set up a simple clinic, and security guards were coordinated for continuous surveillance of the extensive grounds. We collected our own Palawano songbooks from all the congregations and repaired them to look like new. We borrowed chairs and an amplifier/speaker system and trucked them to the site. A backdrop was designed and printed on tarpaulin as a visual aid. Drivers and trucks were borrowed to pick up people from the many different locations. And so our infrastructure came together.
A team made up of our mission high school students and our project administrative staff coordinated the details of camp meeting for several months before the event. We outlined a schedule that would give people a variety of things to do throughout the day, but with adequate family time for worships, cooking and eating and also visiting and playing together. We agreed that the purpose of camp meeting was to provide time and space for God to speak to us through nature, through presenters and through our association together. With that in mind, our schedule included early morning personal worship time followed by a group worship that taught highlights from Steps to Christ. The mid-morning meeting, Spiritual Warfare, was taught by Sunday Villarica, (a teacher who has worked with us for many years. He and his family live and work in a village across the river from Kemantian). Kent taught the evening meetings on our camp meeting theme, Will Your Anchor Hold? Small groups, led by the high school students and staff, gathered after each evening meeting to talk about what they had learned and how to apply it personally. Mid-morning and mid-afternoon workshops taught basic literacy, small-engine repair, plant propagation, making charcoal and its medicinal uses, massage for men and women, cooking class, children’s choir, knitting and a coconut-frond weaving class. (The resulting tiny bag is filled with soaked rice and cooked in coconut milk. It is a traditional food, but not all Palawano women know how to make the bags.) The attendees loved the workshops and learned many new skills.
We scheduled recreation time for each day. We provided equipment for group games of badminton, soccer, baseball and Ultimate Frisbee. We also supplied old but working bicycles for people to learn to ride. We even had a riding mower for people to learn how to drive, and there were extensive grounds for walking.
Daniel Malabad, president of Palawan Adventist Mission in Puerto Princesa, presented a series on Jonah during the Sabbath hours. It was special for our people to see him again. At the annual convention in Puerto Princesa last November, he made our people feel very welcome. Though our Palawano group speaks several dialects, interpreters helped everyone understand Elder Malabad’s messages. His topics were right on target, addressing the main weakness in our churches—reluctance to take leadership.
Before I tell you the other wonderful ways God blessed our camp meeting, I want to give a personal testimony. I was nominated to be the camp meeting director. While I enjoy organizing and coordinating events, this type of duty usually brings me a great deal of stress. This time, however, I was able to keep giving the challenges back to God and receive His peace. I slept well at night and did not wake up in cold sweats worrying about some aspect or another. This was, to me, the biggest miracle.
We serve a God of miracles, and we witnessed many throughout the camp meeting. During the Thursday evening meeting, men, women and youth separated. The women’s group is fun to lead but also a challenge. In the past, they have slipped too easily into making fun of the negative character traits of their husbands. As we began this session, I told them that this was a time for us to share, but it was not a time for us to tear down our spouses. Instead, we would seek to discover new tools and gain courage to build better marriages. The women were giddy for the first 15 or 20 minutes. Everything was hilarious and dramatically re-enacted to make everyone laugh. I was praying silently, Lord, I want these women to enjoy being together. Laughing is something we all need to do and something these Palawano women do to feel close to each other, but how do I pull something thought-provoking out of this and send them home with fresh perspectives? I had planned a short devotional centered on several texts, but in the moment I shared just one text with them and told them how much God loved them and valued them. I acknowledged that sometimes we as women don’t feel valued by those closest to us, but that we could, through faith, see the smile on God’s face when He sees us, His daughters. From there, many women started sharing how God was transforming their marriages. Others shared their challenges and asked for advice. It was encouraging to watch the lay-pastors’ wives giving advice from their own experiences. When we divided into groups of two to pray for each other and for each other’s spouses, the ladies began to really open up about their deepest pain and give each other personal attention.
Praising God for the work He had begun, with prayerful anticipation I watched the communion service unfold Sabbath evening. In preparation for the foot-washing and communion service, all were reminded to make sure that any personal differences were resolved between members, spouses, or anyone they had a grievance with. Our camp meeting communion service is family oriented, so we had the chairs arranged in family groupings where husbands and wives could serve each other and train their children. It was tremendously gratifying to me to see husbands and wives, whom I knew to have had significant issues, praying together and holding hands after washing each others’ feet! Palawano couples typically don’t display affection openly. It is uncommon to see husbands and wives sitting together, let alone holding hands. Praise God for the miracles He works in hearts that are open to Him!
Many members shared touching testimonies that evening. Several told of how they had at first thought they would not come to camp meeting this year, but how God had changed their circumstances and their minds, and how glad they were that He had done so. Several of the newly baptized members testified to how God was working in their lives.
In the quiet of the evening, without any music, Kent called for those who would like to prepare for baptism, and 13 people immediately stood and came forward! They ranged in age from six years old to more than 70 years old. It is precious to see young children want to give their hearts to Jesus and make a stand for Him. It is awesome to see young people do the same. But it is absolutely miraculous to have an old man step forward. (I will write about this man and the marvelous things God is doing in his life another time.) In a culture where the old people say they can never change and can never leave the old ways, this man is a sign that perhaps there will soon be a breakthrough among the older generation. Praise God!
On Sabbath afternoon, we trucked as many people as we could to the ocean where nine precious youth were to be baptized. Each one had studied anywhere from 1 to 3 or more years to prepare for this day. Several had been demon-possessed, drunkards, slothful or scoffers. Four of them were children of our workers, so it was exciting to see the next generation taking up the banner of Christ.
For our church, baptisms are a big deal. Each candidate chooses a Bible verse that is particularly meaningful and chooses whom they would like to read their verse. Then as we sing their favorite hymn, they walk down into the water. After their baptism when they come back to the water’s edge, their Adventist family members meet them there, welcoming them into the family of God. When all have been baptized, they line up, and each attendee greets each candidate, sharing encouragement and congratulations. It is always a very moving event, and this time was no exception. Seeing husbands and wives holding hands as they went to greet their children was moving enough in itself! To see families becoming complete in Christ is a dream come true.
Saturday night, the communion service went long, and I feared that people were too tired for the scheduled concert. But they assured me they were not too tired, so we moved to the meeting house and listened to a number of groups who had prepared music in praise to God. It was heartwarming to see and hear a guitar ensemble, predominantly made up of Palawano young men, playing a medley of hymns they had arranged; a violin ensemble of two missionary daughters and their teachers playing “Nearer, Still Nearer;” our two daughters, Bubit and Jilin, singing together; the high school choir singing several hymn arrangements in perfect harmony and some of our other congregations sharing their joy in the Lord in song. What a wonderful way to end the day.
The following morning after the last worship with Pastor Kent, I asked the attendees what they would want to do differently in future camp meetings. The response was overwhelming: “Make it longer—like two weeks!” “Have it
last forever!”
As I stood there before my people, I realized that they had experienced a Palawano Christian culture for close to a week and found it to be close to heaven. Oh, Lord, enable them to take this to their homes and villages and continue to live it out to Your honor and glory, drawing others to You.

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