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By the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, Edgar Garza and I went on another
mission trip to the islands of the Philippines. Pastor Belshiezar Simbran
invited me last year in June to minister to a part of the Mindanao Island – the
second largest and easternmost island in the Philippines. It is also the name
of one of the three island groups in the country of 7,107 islands, which
consists of the island of Mindanao and smaller surrounding islands. The
other two are Luzon and the Visayas. The island of Mindanao is called The
Land of Promise. Mindanao is the only area of the Philippines with a
significant Muslim presence. A guerrilla war is ongoing on the islands. In
addition, the crime rate on the island is the highest in the country overall. I took a step of faith accepting to visit
such a territory even though I didn’t know Pastor Simbran or anyone else from that island. God’s Holy Spirit
who knows everyone and everything guided my steps toward accepting the invitation. According to the Bible,
“The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD, and He delights in his way” (Psalm 37:23-24) [NKJV]. And
so I decided to make all the arrangements to meet other people in Manila (capital of the Philippines). Pastor
Florin Cîmpean from Philadelphia Romanian Church of God had visited Manila a couple years ago together
with Pastor Tony Lane from Church of God. I inquired them to give me some contacts and churches in Manila,
which they were glad to assist with.
What is remarkable about this is that I visited Romania two years ago
and had a conference in Bistrita with Robert Brown of Chaplains for Christ
International, and I was proposed to do a lesson called “Ignite the Fire” and
someone else from another part of the world called me with the same topic
again to come into their country. Well, God’s Spirit wants to ignite the fire in
His church throughout the world. We have to be torches of fire with burning
desire and passion of revival wherever we go. Flames of fire we need to
become to destroy the works of evil and set the people free from bondage in
the Name of Jesus Christ.
On Sunday October 31st, we visited attended morning church service at Pastor Simbran’s church. A lot
of children were there and we also had the pleasure of meeting a 90 yr. old man who was praising God, jumping
and singing enthusiastically. The church building was incomplete with no windows and no floor. Even so, the
congregation is full of joy and thanks for what the Lord has done in their lives. We encouraged them with the
message “Today matters”.
At noon, we visited another church of Pastor Lanyohan and held another service there. Although this
church consisted of bamboo walls and dirt floors, the members truly worshipped the Lord and maintained and
active faith in Jesus.
• “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:3) [NKJV]
• “Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of
the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?” (James 2:5) [NKJV].
Afterward, we were invited to have lunch at Pastor Lanyohan’s home
and headed to the town of Ipil where we the Simbran family lived for many
years and build their altars there for God. On April 4 of 1995, Ipil was
attacked by a part of the Abu Sayyaf group. The town was set on fire and
razed to the ground, and people were butchered to death. Press reports called
it a massacre. All that had been so laboriously built went to rubble in a matter
of hours. During this time, Pastor Joey Delapena that attended our
conference says he was shot in the leg during the Ipil massacre and God
spared his life because he promised he would commit his life to Jesus for his
entire life, while he was bleeding to death. He kept his promise and is now a
leader of the church of Christ in the mountain village.
A Christian security guard, Franklin Ramo, which we had met at Gata Mauswagon pastored by
Lanyohan, invited us to Ipil city jail. We ministered to over 350 inmates whom were all incarcerated in their
cells but were able to hear the word of God because of the courtyard. We brought them some hygienic supplies.
On our way to Dipolog we stopped at another church at the town of Tampilisan pastored by Pastor Bagnol
where we held an evening service. His wife translated for us at most of the places we visited. We met someone
who had a tumor and we prayed for her. This was our last church service in the Philippines where the people’s
love and joy had such an impact on us that we would love to go back and visit or send another missionary team.
Our driver, Dong Dong, drove us back safely to the Dipolog City. We spent the night at Pastor Simbran’s home
and prepared for our departure to Manila the next day.
On Monday morning, after having fellowship with the Simbran family, they drove us to the airport for
our departure towards Manila where we stayed overnight at the CSM and departed early Tuesday morning,
November 2nd to the states with one stop in Tokyo, Japan.
Once again we thank God for encouraging and guiding us to do His will and opening a window to
minister to such a great country. We want to thank the Holy Spirit for motivating us to take the step the faith.
We want to give a more sincere thanks and gratitude to all members of the Simbran family and all the pastors
and attendees. To God is all the Glory, Honor and Praise.
-Constantin Lupancu
-Edgar Garza