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

"How Beautiful Are The Feet Of Those Who Bring Good News"r

Sitio Maluan, Marilog District, Davao City, April, 2005.

"How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news" Indeed, so beautiful, and physically strong also to hike downhill and uphill just to reach a tribe in sitio maluan, marilog, davao city.. about three kilometers of gravel road that only our medicine 4x4 pick up can navigate to reach the nearest outpost which we gathered the tribal people of three other sitios which are reachable only by horses or on foot.

Roadblocked!!!!

Roadblocked!!! It was raining hard the night before our mission to Lopez Jaena, Misamis Occidental, Philippines. at about 4 am our convoy of five vans and a toyota hilux pick up carrying the medicines started out for mission to the western side of northern mindanao. I was on the front seat of the first van following the pick up.. We usually hire vans before we acquired the bus we are using now.. As our standard operating procedure, we do our travel in convoy form without leaving sight of one anothers vehicles although we have walkie talkies in each assigned person in a van and ready cellphone numbers of each member. We were just past the boundary of Lugait and entering the city of Iligan ,except for the driver and me, all were fast asleep in our van. I was steadily looking at the red tail light of the pickup which was fading out in the distance and just suddenly this big tree on the left side of the road came crashing down in front of our van. I let out a sudden cry waking my companions inside. The driver was quick to brake just barely 10 meters away.. A loud hizzing sound and a big thud in front of us...A quick sound of relief vibrated in our group...Prayers of thanksgiving were offered and lessons experienced from our constant prayer of protection before leaving for a mission...we were blocked and yet with protection from Great God Almighty, we succeeded in our mission....

Medicines for the Poor, .. in Camalan, Lala, Lanao del Norte,Philippines

The picture was taken during our mission to Barrio Camalan, Munincipality of Lala, Lanao del Norte, Philippines two years ago.. the barrio is located along Panguil Bay which can be reached by banca during high tide and along fish pen pathways...

Today, January 5, 2008, We are going to do a mapping survey of our first medical mission for the year... to a remote barrio in Sapad, Municipality of Lanao del Norte.. Our supposed schedule for the year is in Basilisa, one of island towns in Surigao del Norte, but our contact warned us of bad weather in January so we have to pospone it to a better day. Mapping for the site is very crucial in any event which many forego that can lead to unsuccessful mission... We usually timed our departure from base to the site..meet with hosts in the area for venue preparation and scheduling, gather information for expected patients and medicine requirements, crowd control arrangements and security.. I will go on details with this subject of mapping next blog. .so now, we are leaving for Sapad, to do God's work...Pray for us.

The REASON for the Season

" For to us a child is born,to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end."
Isaiah 9:6-7

We have to go back to the real reason for the season, the real meaning of this wonderful occasion, rejoicing for what God has done, providing us the way, the only way for the salvation of the world...God is with us.

Know Death, Appreciate Life

I took this picture during a medical mission in Lapuyan, Zamboanga del Sur, Philippines sometime in Feb. 2006. I have the priveledge of serving the Lord, Jesus Christ, in two Christian medical-dental-evangelism outreach groups. One is church-based, composed of church members in medical professions and some pastors and lay professionals , dedicated to support church planting within the Alliance Churches. The other group which I do the documentation and crowd control assignment, is an inter-denomination,evangelical, dedicated medical practitioners that caters to medical-spiritual needs of a community in and outside Mindanao.The team has already done three years of medical missions which were scheduled at least once a month.

This particular photo which is also featured in our website,www.cdolifelineministries.org has a story... It was during the medical mission in Lapuyan that i got to know this boy.. He was brought by his mother to our surgeon for operation but after a thorough consultation with other doctors present,it seems a more hospital-equipped type of medical surgery was needed. The doctors made necessary referrals for the boy to be brought to Pagadian City or in Cagayan de Oro where modern medical facilities are available and the local pastor was advised to facilitate the transportation. I took pictures of the boy during this time, making myself as dispassionate observer as i can but my heart really went out for this child. I have learned from his mother that he has not eaten solid for a month already, only liquids using plastic straw and even that is very hard for the boy to swallow. The swollen cheek and tongue, according to his mother, started from a mosquito bite and got infected. They did not have money to go to a rural health unit in the area which is far from where they live, they resorted to go to a quack doctor....After giving the mother some medicines for boy to take away the pain temporarily, our group prayed over the boy for His highest Will..Many cried. Later on the day I saw the boy sitting by himself, thats when I took this picture..his look has eerie effect as if he knows that his time on earth is fast ending..He has smelled death, and I can say literally because he really smelled..Just recently we learned from the local pastor that the boy died one month after..we were all sad upon hearing but the pastor told us that the boy was definitely in a better state now because he has heard the goodnews, and the only salvation is from the LORD..Amen

And as a way of a dedication, I celebrate this blog from hereon to post our medical missions every week or as often as I can. May God be glorified..