As for the conflict situation here, things have been relatively quiet since Ramadan began Sept. 1, and it should remain so until the end of the month. However, both the military and the rebels warn that problems will resume in Oct. There have been limited engagements with the rebels since Sept. 1, and most of those are North of here. We still have some emergency bags packed in case we must evacuate in the middle of the night.

Our support of tribal children attending Kipalkuda Elementary school remains on hold. The Dept. of Education installed a new principal last March, and a new district supervisor (over the Maitum area) in June. Both persons are corrupt and dishonest, making it impossible for us to provide assistance at the school. However, because of complaints against them by the Mayor and other officials in the area, we have heard that both persons will be removed soon. So, we await changes in administration that will once again allow us to assist the school and the children. Meanwhile, several hundred little children are suffering malnutrition because the school lunch program is not operational. They are walking great distances because our transportation program is on hold. Enrollment, which increased yearly since we started our programs there, is declining. So, we place a high priority on resuming our work there.

A group of Christians in Phoenix, Arizona, contributed most of the funds needed to build the school's first restroom, plus a new feeding center. So, once we are allowed to return to the school, we will work hard.

Please continue to pray for us and the people we came to help.

Our family is fine. We have had safe refuges the past two nights, and we make plans hour by hour for continued safety. We have various contingency plans. The national police and military are watching on our behalf. We remain concerned for villagers around us, as we must not do anything to invite rebel punishment of them because of either our presence or our absence. It is a difficult situation. If I remain in the village, innocent people could be harmed in a rebel assault to get me. If I am out of the village hiding, they could punish the villagers in their frustration at having missed me.

We persevere in the knowledge that God sent us here, He has not called us out, and He is sovereign. He made us, He owns us, He will do what He pleases with us. We are grateful that God loves us enough to take that much control of our lives. As we submit to that, we find peace and joy.

Anthropologists from around the world agree that the earliest outside visitors to the Philippine islands were traders from India, long before the birth of Christ. They visited here often enough to embed slivers of their religion and culture into the culture and pagan religion of the indigenous peoples (i.e. T'bolis and other tribes). Subsequent to the Indians, various Asian peoples came to trade and farm, including all of the mixed races of Southeast Asia and China. The Chinese were the most prevalent and frequent, and came in the largest numbers. Everyone left their footprints on the IPs.

Not until the early 1300s, did a visitor from Arabia sail past Mindanao and observe that the climate and land appeared suitable for farming. He was a minor sultan who set up housekeeping on the island. He, along with his many wives, and the native wives he acquired after his arrival, formed a small community that grew over a few decades, both by natural population growth (breeding) and conversion of some IPs to Islam. Still, even today, the Muslim population on Mindanao represents less than 5% of the total population. So, it's obvious that the spread of their religion here never exceeded a slow crawl. Islamic law and social custom is very different from IP culture, so it was not a particularly appealing alternative.

Of course, subsequent to the Muslims, the islands were visited and conquered by the Spanish, who remained for about 430 years. Spain lost the islands to America when they lost the Spanish-American war, and it remained a U.S. colony until just before WWII. (The turnover ceremony was just months away when Japan invaded, so the turnover was delayed until after the war ended.)

IPs have been a beat-down people by countless people groups for at least 2,500 years. A casual observer of their religious practices, language, traits, and culture, can see evidence of many different influences. Their genetic makeup is not much cleaner than other Filipinos who have the nerve to radically reject the IPs. There is no pure Filipino race. Everyone here is a hybrid.

Today's present troubles on Mindanao (and existing for more than a hundred years), is related to the Muslim claim that they have dibs on the island. This is a rather tall argument, given the fact that they didn't arrive here until long after many other Asian settlers, and after the original IPs are known to have existed here autonomously for centuries before that. But, the Muslims make up for their small numbers by being distinctly vocal. The Muslims quite successfully convinced the IPs to resist the Spanish and Americans, and they equipped them to do just that. But, it was not on behalf of the IPs that they did that, only for their own protection and benefit. It was subjugation, pure and simple.

So, today, the Muslims claim to represent all IPs on Mindanao. They argue that before they came, the IPs were not organized, did not have their own government, laws or leaders. They ignore the fact that the IPs lived in peace and harmony among one another for centuries before the sultan arrived, and that they did indeed have their own laws. They just weren't laws and practices that Islam could endorse. The Muslims call their indigenous subjects, Moros. And, the two organized political arms of the Muslims today, are 1) the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), and 2) the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

The Philippine government, perplexed with how to deal with decades of costly and bloody turmoil on Mindanao, and the demands of the MNLF and MILF to surrender the island to them as a separate country state, capitulated several years ago. It started discussing with these groups, a solution that might give them part of what they want -- part of the island. It is known, both by their own rhetoric and documents, that their eventual goal is still to have the entire island, but they have played the game to get it small pieces at a time.

We come to the present. A memorandum of agreement (a popular but silly legal instrument used in Philippine society) that was originally drafted in 1997, was due to be signed last year by the government and the Muslims that would put into place, a series of events that would eventually surrender about a fourth of the island to the Muslims for their own country. But, at the last minute, the Muslims demanded more territory. The government balked, but when the Muslims began attacking Christian areas, the government again relented and promised to sign. Only then did the contents of the MOA become public, and that's when everything hit the fan.

None of the governors on Mindanao had been apprised of the MOA's contents, or the land give-away deal. No senators were consulted. No citizens, mayors or councilors were told. Immediately upon release of the document (about 24 hours before the signing ceremony), everyone protested, took it to the supreme court, and got an injunction against its signing. And, then the MNLF and MILF, which were waiting in the wings with their own little armies, started attacking innocent people in retaliation; a familiar tactic to persuade the government to agree to their demands. Except this time, the rest of the country was so vitalized against the illegal and unconstitutional provisions of the MOA, that no one backed down. The president this week, under fierce pressure, agreed that the MOA is not legal and won't be signed by the government. She, for the first time, is demanding that all militant Muslims be de-militarized, and that the commanders of the groups attacking, be surrendered for prosecution. The Muslim response is predictable, "no" on all counts and fierce fighting until they get their way.

So, we now have battle zones all over Mindanao. Governors have armed their own citizens. The army is pounding the rebels with everything they have (which isn't much). The rebels have promised to fight until the last man, and they treat all non-Muslims as combatants -- civilians and military alike.

All groups use the IPs as puppets for their own purposes. The Muslims claim to represent them. The government claims the same thing. But, it's really a battle between Christians and Muslims, who both use the IPs as leverage for their own benefit. One or the other group is going to lose this mess, and it's up to us to pray for God's will to be done.

It would be impractical to attempt and capture here, the content of more than 100 updates sent out via e-mail since October of 2007. So, instead, we will briefly summarize the high and low points in that period.

We have conducted two community praise and worship concerts for Maitum, which were attended by several hundred persons each time. This is a new experience for the community, as we do not charge admission or collect an offering, and we do not have a minister preach; they are simply 90 minutes of worship. We are planning a Christmas concert for this coming December, but will incorporate a slightly different format, and include a 10 minute Christmas message. Dan may have to train and direct a community mass choir as part of this, and that will be a stretch for everyone, especially Dan.

On Christmas Eve 2007, we hitched the utility trailer to the big truck, put a portable generator on it, decorated the truck with Christmas tree lights, and a sound system blasting Christmas music as we drove through several villages tossing candy to children, and distributing bags of food to the poor. We distribute more food on Christmas morning to more remote villages.

In January, we ended our preaching role at one church (New Life) and moved it to another church (Maitum Foursquare) in January. Dan continues to minister at least once monthly at the Foursquare, at various youth events and conferences, plus community events or at the invitation of the local government for their events.

In January, the local Dept. of Education made changes to the lineup of local administrators and school principal, with the intention of hijacking our assistance to Kipalkuda Elementary School, and moving it to a non-tribal school. We resisted and eight months later, we are still battling with them over that and other matters. The lunch program and free transportation for tribal children has not been allowed to resume for the current school year. The governor and mayor are furious and working to oust the new leaders and reinstate our programs. We await their success on the matter. Meanwhile, the poor tribal children at Kipalkuda are literally starving from lack of food and proper nutrition, their attendance at school has dropped off, drop out rates are once again increasing, and they are walking through the jungle (which is occupied by rebels and wild animals) in the dark to get home at night. All of this is due to racial prejudice, which places the indigenous peoples of this country below the bottom rung of the food and economic chain. It is criminal and we are doing our best to defend their rights and their dignity.

Danger in this region continues to increase on a number of fronts. Political killings continue. Muslim Rebels are on the war path, looting and burning villages, murdering innocent civilians and military personnel alike, and threatening to takeover all of Mindanao by force, if the Philippine government does not hand it over to them. The politics of this have reached a stalemate and the government has decided that the militant Muslims cannot be engaged in peace discussions and must be crushed. War is ongoing and escalating. It reaches across our island, and into our province.

The 2008-2009 school year began in June, with Datu Wali Mission commissioning our second school transportation truck. It transports only tribal children from the mountains to Maitum high schools. We are sponsoring 18 of those 22 children, and financing all of their expenses so they can break the cycle of poverty, become educated, and hopefully go on to help their own tribe someday. Perhaps a bit idealistic on our part, but if even 10% of them eventually do that, it will make a difference and satisfy our goals.

In this update period, we have taken numerous tribal members to medical clinics and hospitals for critical care, supplied their medications, given them advice, and witnessed to them about Christ (as we do in rendering all assistance here). We have a young lady living with us who is expected to give birth in October; the victim of rape at age 15. We have helped bury other people who could have been saved by adequate medical treatment, had we known in advance. We have also supplied approximately 5,000 kilograms of rice to the poorest of the poor.

Earlier this year, two of the many routine typhoons that often hit the country, impacted the Maitum area. We assisted in re-opening roads, saving a dam, rescuing people, and providing emergency food and clothing.

During this period, many Americans have sacrificed to partner with us in the financial needs of this ministry. You have fed, clothed, treated and spiritually ministered to hundreds of children and adults. Lives are being changed, and people are learning through both our demonstration of the Love of God, and our words, what it means to belong to Jesus.

Again, to learn more about our work on a consistent basis, please subscribe to our e-mail updates. You can ask to be removed from the distribution at any time.

The education objective was originally to have been met by starting our own school. But after residing and working here for several months, we came to the conclusion that we could offer more help by sponsoring existing schools. By providing school supplies, hot lunch and free transportation for students, we can get more kids into school, than if we had our own school, at less cost.

The health objective was to have come later in our work here, and the larger thrust of it will. However, even today, we are filling prescriptions for ill T'bolis when them come to us for help.

The spiritual objective is the biggest surprise, as we anticipated a very low profile focus for that. Neither of us are pastors or trained missionaries. But, we have discovered that more than 70 years of combined lay ministry experience have equipped us to fulfill a number of spiritual leadership roles in this community; roles we did not expect. Dan has preached in most of the churches here, and regularly preaches at least one Sunday a month. Aurea has taught Sunday school and spoken at various events. We are considered by the local ministerial association to have insights and experience that can be leveraged to encourage and train local pastors. Dan is currently training several local worship leaders. We are sponsoring a free Community Praise and Worship Concert in the town gym on Oct. 27, 2007. Dan is asked to speak at many public and government events we attend.

There are yet other opportunities to influence life in this community we did not expect, including counseling, professional advice for government workers, assistance to the provincial government, and more.

There is very little resistance to what we are doing, and even that is of a silly nature. For instance, when we transport children to school at no cost some local motorbike owners who offer illegal, unlicensed rides, take offense. They see us as taking away potential business from them even though the children we transport could not otherwise afford their rates. If we don't take them to school, they either have to walk up to 8 kilometers each way, or forego an education.  

One of our farming delays was due to land disputes among Aurea's brothers and sisters. One family told us our land was in a certain place, so we had the community well drilled there, a bridge built and other improvements made. After those projects were completed, they told us it was their land. We hired surveyors to establish the correct boundaries and now our land is correctly identified and our projects safe. However, their  greed and dishonesty affected and delayed us. That is an isolated case, as most people here are quite trustworthy and honest.

We face challenges every day, just as you do. However, we feel blessed to be given this opportunity to serve God in a very unique place and manner. In some mission fields, missionaries from numerous denominations pursue similar goals, sometimes in outright competition with one another. We are the only outsiders serving this community, this people group, and meeting very unique needs. I should not, however, labels us "outsiders," as we have been welcomed into this community as if we truly belong here. We tell people this our home; we are not returning to America; we will serve and die here. That means a lot to our constituency. It builds trust, confidence, and sets expectations traditional missionaries would find difficult to achieve. A common question when we meet someone new, is "how long will you be here - when will you go back to America?" They are usually shocked when we explain we are here as long as we live.

Many of you have contributed financially and in prayer to this ministry, and we trust you will continue doing so. Our family is self-supporting. We built our home here, purchased our pickup, truck, tractor, farm equipment, shop equipment and more with our personal retirement savings. So every cent we receive from our partners goes directly to ministry (food for the school lunch program, school supplies, fuel, seed, fertilizer, medicine, food for the elderly, community well, etc.). As you are able and led of God to help, we are grateful. The Datu Wali Mission Foundation is approved by the IRS as a non-profit organization and we acknowledge gifts with receipts certifying them as tax-deductible. If you are interested in giving, please see the Contact DWM page on this Web site for the U.S. address for donations and make your checks out to "Datu Wali Mission Foundation."