Since in the Philippines we have been visiting many pastors around the Bacolod area. We have a lot more money available, for reasons unknown to me, so we are able to fund the construction of some small church buildings (or at least some of it). Half of our time has been spent aiding this process. The pastors are overjoyed about it all. Here are their stories:
Pastor Robert Nunez was unsure about his life, but he wanted to serve the Lord so he fasted. He fasted every Wednesday and Friday during college. When he graduated he still didn’t know what to do, so he continued fasting. He fasted like this for five years without missing a single week before the Lord gave him a wife and asked him to move away from the city to an impoverished village. All of Pastor Nunez’s income comes from what the fishermen in the village can afford. They usually survive off of $5 per week. Sometimes they get fish when the fishing is right.
Pastor Mark Desuyo is a computer graphics designer living with his wife in Bacolod (a decent sized city). They make enough to rent out a small place. They are leaving everything behind and moving to a small village of sugarcane farmers – also very poor. They will live in a 5 x 10 area in the front of the church building. We visited him today and he fed us grilled chicken, fish, and rice. This can feed them for four days.
Still another pastor who lives amongst the poorest of the poor. He used to design signs in the city, but like the others, God called him to minister to the poor. He does not make enough money to even buy food. He and his wife and daughter find what they can growing on the trees – unripe bananas. The child cannot remember a time when she ate something else.
