1st Medical Mission '08 "Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous deeds among all peoples,For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise."

Another glorious day !!! In Panoloon, Sapad, Lanao del Norte, Mindanao, Philippines, January 26, 2008..CDO Lifeliners with the barangay council members and workers, led by barangay captain Virgilito M. Bienes, holdings hands, praying and praising Almighty God for the wonderful things He has done in this place.. More than 500 patients were served medically and spiritually during this mission which was postpone twice last year because the peace and order situation was not favorable at that time.. Praise God for today , we were victorious!!! We are also grateful for the hospitality accorded to us by the barangay council members , workers, and Alliance people in the place for sharing the Good News to the people.

Next month,our mission is in Zamboanga del Norte.. Please pray for provision and protection... GOD is able to supply all our needs! Amen.

CDO LIFELINERS IN BOHOL, highlights in pictures, (click the overlapping pic to view)

Proverbs 20:18,, 2Corinthians 10:3-5

Today, January 26, 2008, is another victorious day in Panoloon, Sapad, Lanao del Norte, Mindanao, Philippines, Earth...The first of the planned 11 missions for the year of our LORD, 2008...I will feature this victorious day with the Lord next blog because I have to catch up with the events last November and December to put a chronological perspective of my blog.

The picture above was at our year-end retreat and planning at Bohol Plaza Hotel, Panglao Island, Tagbilaran City with Bro. Ed de Guzman as our speaker. This was on November 30 to December 2 . We left Cagayan de Oro port on November 29 at about 6 pm at the height of the Manila Peninsula Seige in Makati. Co-speaker was supposed to be Bishop Dan Balais, but begged off due to the near-standoff in Makati. We were already in the ship's cabin where we watched the tank smashed the glass door of the hotel on Channel 2 TV. A limited area curfew of 12 midnight to 5 a.m.in Metro Manila and suburbs was declared. Many of us calmly called loved ones in Manila to caution..We then gathered around in prayer for our nation and our trip to Tagbilaran City.

Highlights in pictures of the retreat, planning and side trip I will post next blog. As to Proverbs 20:18, "Make plans by seeking advice,if you wage war, obtain guidance"
the leadership of our team are guided with these from the Bible.. " For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ" Personally, as a former subversive prisoner during martial law years , I now know the folly of them without the Living Word.

What a Wonderful God we have!!!!

KOINONIA

This picture taken during our mission at Marilog District, Davao City, where our team hiked almost 3 kilometers to reach an outpost for the tribal community to gather for medical, dental and evangelism outreach.. In this photo,our team leader, Mrs. Jiji Sedigo is distributing food stuffs to children.. Their elders were in separate area for consultations and dental extraction which were not so many patients, mainly because there is not much availability of candies or sweets whereas in more populated areas in Mindanao there are many patients for tooth extraction.. In our observation, highlanders are prone to goiter where iodine is less available and sickness related to malnutrition. During this mission, we were able to cater to many medical cases yet we were still longing to come back for there are still many who were not able to come because of difficult terrain. A picture can tell a thousand story...which brings me to Acts 2; 42-47.

..."They devoted themselves in the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved."

How I wanted this model of a community to be in this place!!! There are already headway in this area where an evangelical church is already established but due to the remoteness, difficulty is experienced by the outreach pastor.. Our team founder, Dr. Reuben Sedigo, envisioned our group to establish this kind of a community as our base camp , which I personally has been quite passionate to start but start-up resources are still not available or other support group to assist. I pray that someone will answer this.

Tomorrow, we will have our medical mission to Sapad, Lanao del Norte, we ask our prayer partners to pray for a successful mission..Praise God.

Our God A Great Provider!!!!

This is the bus provided by our Great Almighty God thru the Barnabas Ministry of UK...

On March 2006, three of us members of CDO Lifeline Ministries,Inc. went to Subic, Zambales, Luzon, Philippines, to inspect and buy the bus with Mrs. Jiji Sedigo, co-founder of cdo lifeline. The plan was to transport the bus through the Maharlika Highway, three islands, Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, to our base city in Cagayan de Oro. Bebot Mabelin was the driver, Tony Montesclaros, mechanic on board and me, navigator and spare driver. The bus is a Mitsubishi 38-seater with front and middle entrance which is suitable for our 45 man-team and can lessen our expenses for the 5 vans we usually hire during our medical missions.The procedure in buying the bus at Subic is "Look, Pay, Test drive" as in "as is , where is " basis. After paying the bus, we were able to test drive the bus in and around the compound. The verdict by Tony was that it is able to travel to Mindanao but we have to buy 4 brand new tires and change oil for the 1,500 kilometers travel to Cagayan de Oro City.

It tooks us 3 days and 3 nights of adventure and exciting trip with land slides, Tsunami alerts, travel money shortage and insights on travel...All these with God's presence we succeeded in all.. I will blog on this adventure next time. But what is at hand with our bus is the concern.. Almost 2 years now, we have ably maintained the bus but as all things here on earth, decays, the bus air condition compressors conked out..Bright ideas were presented and discussed but one thing really is needed for a new unit of compressors.

Here's an appeal for donors. In Paul charge to Timothy : " Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life."

An appeal which I pray you will answer. Amen