Malita Mission Ministry

Rina Atap (left) with Daday Mendoza of Malita Mission.

Malita Mission started the first church in Tubalan, Malita, Davao Sur in the year 2000. God allowed this mission to grow into 6 churches within Malita municipality.

Malita Mission went out of Malita and planted another 4 churches in the adjacent municipality called Sta. Maria.

Towards the end of 2011, the mission goes out again, not in another adjacent town, but this time, across the Davao Gulf, in the place called Tucanga in the Samal Island.

The move started when one of the Malita Mission workers, Rina Atap, was concerned of the possibility of losing her land share at a Tucanga coop due to her continuous absence. She has been in Malita since 2003 due to her ministry calling. The mission allowed her to go back to Tucanga, Samal for her to restart her residency again.

When we visited Rina last May 2011, she started ministering to more or less 5 children.  Seven months after, she invited us to attend her ministry’s Christmas party. We were surprised how the number of kids grew and some parents were also attending.

The heart of a God’s worker never dies.

(More Tucanga photos)

Last February 19, 2012, the Malita Mission workers visited a group of  people who are so hungry with the Word of God that they asked if it is possible to build a church in their uphill place called Silangan in Basiawan, Sta. Maria, Davao del Sur.

The decision to build a church they requested was concluded in just one afternoon. This Kaolo people will provide thatched roofing from coconut leaves and sampling trees for church structure. The mission will provide nails, carpenter-pastors, and merienda as its counterpart.

For the meanwhile, nothing can prevent this simple people to start right away to study God’s Word and worship Him even without a church yet.  Groups of children, young people, and adults are contented to find places and squat, or stand, or sit in order to happily hear the Gospel.

(More photos…)

Ms. Norma Hindap, CEF Davao Director, giving inspirational message before the CEF training participants.

CEF or Child Evangelism Fellowship is a worldwide ministry that reaches out children.  It conducts training for workers who shared Bible stories, teachings, and gospel message to children by way of teaching materials, visuals, and songs.

In the Philippines, the Department of Education allotted classroom time to CEF workers to teach children.

Most of the CEF offices are confined in the cities only, until recently when it establishes its presence in the remote town of Malita.

” It has been my prayer and desire starting 20 years ago that CEF will come to Malita. Now God answers my prayer.”, one teary senior lady pastor testified.

Another pastor regularly traveled to Davao City for many years just to borrow CEF materials.  Davao City is 150 kilometers away and the bus fare is almost 200 pesos, a significant amount for most Filipinos.

This is why the start of CEF office in Malita generated tears of joy.

God just arranged everything in due time. It started when CEF Davao planned for expansion program. Since the CEF Davao Director is a prayer mate of Malita Mission chairman’s wife, the rest is a story why CEF finally came to Malita and the reaching out of children to hear the gospel continues.

Norma Hindap conducting one of the trainings.

Mrs. Billy Estrada, the main CEF trainor, demonstrates to the group how to teach elementary children in the classrooms.

CEF training participants taking a blood circulating break.

A series of exams is a regular part of the training.

Testimony time.

Group Picture

Epilogue

Joy affects all participants, majority of them pastors and members of Malita Ministerial Fellowship. One pastor observed that after the CEF trainings in Malita, attendance to ministerial meetings and prayer increased, and cooperation and unity became more evident. He said CEF is the catalyst to these.

Malita Mission celebrated 1st anniversaries of two churches towards the end of 2011.

The two churches that celebrated their 1st anniversary are,  the San Isidro church on October 28, 2011 and Malita Poblacion church on November 7, 2011. Both are the 8th and the 9th church of the Malita  Mission, respectively.

The celebrations were full of thanksgiving and joy for God has been faithful and kind and allowed Malita Mission to establish two churches in 2010.

San Isidro 1st Anniversary Celebration on October 28, 2011

<More San Isidro Anniversary Photos>

Malita Poblacion Church 1st Anniversary on November 7, 2011

<More Poblacion Church Anniversary Photos>

The Mission Boat

It has been our desire that the ministry will have a boat of its own.

By having a boat, the ministry can bring the Good News to the remote coastal areas in Malita and Sta. Maria towns of Davao del Sur.

Another significant benefit is that we can transport the pastors and workers of the ministry to the mission house for the weekly prayer meeting with significant savings of their time and money. Before the boat, most of them will have the choice of either spending 100 pesos each for transportation money or to avoid the cost, they will hike 3 hours across the mountains to reach to the mission house for the prayer meeting. Now all of them will be gathered in less than an hour and 2 liters worth of gasoline using the boat.

Building the boat is quite a feat for us. We built it for 2 years as the money comes. Since we are first-time boat builders, we source the internet for free boat plans, how to fiberglass, how to finish, and how to find cheap but durable paint. After lots of trial and errors, we finally built the boat.

Liftable Rudder and Propeller System

It is a 19-footer boat, with 3 layers of fiberglass outside the hull and 1 layer of it inside. It has a liftable rudder and propeller system so that it can beach and allows the passenger to embark or dis-embark without getting wet. It has canopy to shed the passengers from the sun and to protect the fiberglass and paint works from sun’s ultraviolet rays.

We have tested the boat, and quite happy about it. We praise God for His help and provision in building the boat.

Click here to view more boat photos.

First Youth Conference

Meager resources and facilities did not prevent the ministry to hold the first youth conference last April 27-28, 2011.

It was a very moving experience for youth from nine Malita Mission churches to gather together for the first time. On the second day, all of them forwarded in response to the altar call and they dedicated themselves as intruments for the Lord’s work.

The next time around would be much better and we praise God for His wonderful works on the youth.

Click here to view photos of the conference.

Aroma Congregation And Their First Anniversary Celebration.JPG

The Aroma Church congregation celebrated their first anniversary last July 27, 2010.

This Kaolo tribe church is unique in a sense that most of the church goers are family members of those who had experienced divine healing.

Remember Soledad? She was healed from migraine and now she and her whole family are happily worshipping and following the Lord.

Happy Family Of Soledad

It was a joyful celebration for the whole day.  Part of the celebration was dedication of children in the morning and baptism in the afternoon.

Anniversary Worship Service

Dedication Of Children

Kids Praying And Giving Thanks For The Food

Women Of The Church

Future Church Pillars

We have created the mission picture gallery. We will be posting photos to the gallery from time to time.

To see the first batch of the photos, click here or click the Mission Picture Gallery page link at the right.

This is the account of two tribal chiefs who followed and dedicated their lives to Jesus. One did it many years ago; the other one did it last year.

Pastor Fortunato Quidato and Datu Agrifino Matampole

Pastor Fortunato Quidato (left) is a “datu” or a tribal chief. He is the president of the association of tribal chiefs in Sta. Maria, a town adjacent to Malita. He became one of the Malita Mission Ministry pastors in 2004. This humble pastor also possesses healing gift from God. One time, he and Pastor Tigas (another Malita Mission pastor) healed a violent and mentally deranged woman whom they encountered. She was healed instantly after their prayer.

Agrifino Matampole (right) is also a datu. Many pastors had attempted to enter his village to share the gospel but he persecuted them all. Eventually, no one dared to enter his village.

Both meet each other every month during the meeting of village chiefs.  Last year, Pastor Quidato felt the burdened in his heart to share the gospel to Datu Matampole. He fasted for two days and then visited Datu Matampole in his village called Aroma. Matampole gladly welcomed Pastor Quidato, and accepted the Lord last July 2009.

The two datus worked together immediately and established the house church in Aroma last July 2009 with Pastor Quidato as the pastor and Datu Matampole as the elder. Now, the church is growing steadily.

God gave another bonus to the partners. Datu Matampole’s drinking, smoking, and gambling vices suddenly vanished from him and he never experienced any withdrawal struggle.

When I visited Aroma church last October 2009, Datu Matampole pointed to me the plain and hills where the 18 “sitios” or localities under his jurisdiction are located. He said to me, “When Aroma will become a stable church, I want to share the Gospel in those places.”

On Sunday (January 31), the day after training, we went to Aroma Church, the youngest church of the mission. There, I preached and conducted the dedication of the bamboo and nipa church. It was the first Sunday of the congregation to use the church. Since July 2009 they were fellowshipping in a house church and open ground.

Aroma Church

There, after the service, I heard the following amazing testimonies:

1. Soledad’s Testimony

The woman above is Soledad. She testified God healed her from migraine during our first visit  in Aroma last October 2009. During that time we conducted prayer and healing session after the worship service.

However I didn’t know about the healing until that Sunday (January 31) when she told me she suffered terrible migraine since she was 18 and had spent to her estimate around fifty thousand pesos in trying to have cure from pain. Last October she was 40 when God healed her.

2. Carmelita’s Experience

The woman at left above is Carmelita Matampole, the wife of Aroma village chieftain and Aroma church leader, Datu Matampole.

Her husband testified she received late last year God’s gift to heal the sick ones.  Many sick people came to her and they got cured when she prayed for them.

Besides healing the sick ones, she assisted two mothers to deliver healthy babies during child birth.  She never assisted child birth delivery before and these two mothers couldn’t afford doctor or midwife fees. Above are the photos of two babies she delivered.