Many years ago, Pa was asked to go on a missionary trip to the Philippines, and Jeremiah, a storyteller himself, loves asking him to retell the adventure. This is an adapted transcript of their most recent conversation.
Favor for Pastor Des
Jeremiah: Pa, to kind of kick us off, (1) how old were you when you went on this trip to the Philippines, then (2) kind of give us the story about how you got to be on this trip.
Pa: Well, I was in probably in my early 40s or late 30s, and what had happened is that I had a good friend, Des Evans who is now deceased. He told me that he had been solicited, given the opportunity, to go on a world prayer tour, and the place it was going was the Philippines. He called me one day, and said, “Mike, I need you to go somewhere for me.”
And I said, “Okay, Des. I’m gone. I’m gone. I’ll go for you.”
Then I called him back, and I said, “Des, I forgot to ask. Where am I going?”
And he said, “You’re going to the Philippines.”
I said, “Okay. Fine.”
Earthquakes and Communists
Now the backdrop of the Philippines at this time was the fact that they’d just had a 6-, 7-point, or higher earthquake, and it had destroyed a lot of things in the Philippines, and it was still active with earthquakes in the sense of aftershocks. Also, at this point in time, the communists were rising up and creating insurrection in the Philippines, and so the American Embassy had issued a no travel advisory for the area.
Considering those two things, God said, “Go to the Philippines,” and I’m like, “Okay. I’ll go to the Philippines.” Because I really believe that when God says it, it doesn’t matter. He understands the circumstances more than we do. So, I’m like, “Okay. I’m gone.”
Fickle Friends
Now, I won’t say that I was like, “Oh wow. This is wonderful.” I’m saying, “Okay God, you’re sure?”
People would ask me and say, “Don’t you know that it’s dangerous to go to the Philippines right now with what’s happening?”
And I would say, “Yeah, I do know.”
And they’d say, “You’re sure? You’re sure? You’re sure God said to go?”
And I would say, “You know what? If the plane leaves, I’m on it. That’s all I can tell you. That’s what I believe.”
Arrival in Manila
I had contacted the State Department earlier and had been warned to avoid a place called Bacolod City, because that’s where the hot spot for the communists was. When the plane landed, it landed in Manila, and I’m like, “Oh, thank God. This is okay. I’m in Manila. Manila is not this other city.”
Well, we had a layover for about an hour. We got on another plane, and it took off. And, then we landed. Now, let me describe this. We landed on a jungle airstrip. I mean there was jungle right up to the airstrip, and we landed. We got off, then the airport was like a shack, a building. There was no tarmac or hardly anything.
Well, I’m walking up to it, and it has the name of the city on a small wooden sign, and I’m walking with this guy, and I said, “You know, I don’t understand Spanish very well. I’m reading that sign, but I’m not sure what it says.” [Because I didn’t want it to say what I thought it said.]
Bacolod City
And I asked him, “What is this place?”
He said, “It’s called Bacolod City.”
And I’m going, “Oh great. The one place the State Department said, ‘Do NOT go. You will be in danger, because you’re American.”
And I’m like, “Oh, God. What have you gotten me into?”
So, we go.
Mission Begins
The first day, the guide who was leading all the missionaries says, “Okay, Mike, you’re going to be speaking to the people today in the city.”
And I said, “Oh, in Bacolod City?”
She said, “Yes.”
“Okay. Where? What church am I going to?”
“Oh, you’re not going to the church. You’re going to the city square.”
I said, “Okay. You mean right downtown?”
“Yep.”
So, we go there, and it’s like a lot of little cities around here with courtyard areas, and they had a platform. And I got up on the platform, and I preached to the people that were there. There were quite a few people that came. And I preached Christ, and salvation that was to come, and healing that God would bring. And I preached and I preached. And it was well received, and a lot of people came forward to accept Christ, to be prayed for, to be healed. I was elated. I was like, “Wow! This is really great. Thank you, God, for bringing me here.”
Newspaper Editor
And a little guy came up to me and said, “Excuse me, the editor of the newspaper [the one newspaper of Bacolod City] would like to talk to you.”
And I thought, “Ah, there you go. They’re interviewing already, and it’s my chance to witness.”
So, I go to his office, and I’m sitting there, and he comes out, and he’s very sober. He says, “What are you doing here?”
I was like, “You asked me to be here.”
“No, “I don’t mean my office. What are you doing in Bacolod City?”
I said, “God sent me to preach the Gospel.”
And he said, “Do you know where you are?”
And I said, “Well, uh, Bacolod City in the Philippines, is all I know.”
He said, “No. You’re in the heart and the center of the concentration of communists in this entire Philippine region. This is the greatest concentration of communist. There are 5,000 armed-communist in and around this city.”
I said, “Okay.”
And he said, “Do you know who you are?”
And I said, “Yeah? I think so?
“No. You’re an American, and you’re a Christian. Those two things are the enemy of these communists.” And he showed me pictures of what they had done. And these were graphic pictures where they had gone into Chrisitan villages.
He said, “This is who they are, and you’ve come here, in the midst of them, and you are daring them to do something.”
And I said, “You know what? That wasn’t my intention. I am here preaching the Gospel.”
Good Intentions
“It doesn’t matter your intention. That’s what you’re doing. You’re challenging 5,000 communists. There are 500 policemen, at the most, in this town, and they’re barely armed. These guys are fully armed. You’re challenging them. You’re standing up in the city square saying that your God is greater than their God. You are 1 to 5,000, and you are defying them.”
And I looked at him, and I said, “Then, it is what it is, because that’s what I am. That’s what I’m here doing, and I’m going to continue doing it.”
He said, “You’re taking your life in your hands.”
I said, “My life is not in my hands anyway. It’s in God’s hands. Thank you, but I cannot change,” and walked out.
And so, I went back to my hotel room, and it’s starting to dawn on me what he said. And I pass this policeman in the lobby of the hotel, and I notice that he’s armed with a very powerful 38 revolver, and I’m going, “Oh great! Anything against an AK-47, especially a 38 revolver, ain’t gonna work!”
Your Life is in Danger
And so, I go up to my room, and I’m sitting there going, “God, this is serious. This is really more serious than I thought it was.” And, in a minute, I get a knock on the door and I’m like, “Hello,”
And I open the door, and this little Pilipino guy walks in, and he says, “Shut the door!”
“Okay.”
And he says, “Don’t answer the door that way!”
And I said, “What do you mean?”
He said, “You’ve got to look through the peephole and see who’s there! Your life is in danger.”
He said, “I’ve travelled for three nights in boats and even on donkey to get here to warn you that they are out to get you. The word on the outskirts of Bacolod City is that you are challenging their authority,” and he said, “They’ll kill you.”
And I said, “Thank you. I appreciate the warning, but there is little I can do about that except go down and get on a plane, and what would that accomplish? Nothing. Ain’t gonna do that.” So he left. He prayed for me, and I prayed for him. Great guy! Great, great . . . what a disciple of Christ. Wonderful guy, wonderful preacher!!
Look at the Stars
And that night, I was feeling kind of troubled in my flesh – but much more in my spirit – and I walked out of the motel, up on kind of a balcony area and I looked up. And man, I could see stars all over the sky. There were just thousands of them. And I was like, “God, I don’t want to leave my family, but I’ve got to do what I’ve got to do. I’m not necessarily courageous, stubborn as hell but not terribly courageous. I don’t know what?”
And He said, “Look at the stars. Can you count them?”
“No.”
He said, “You know what? There are only 5,000 communists, and I have more angels than I have stars. Don’t worry about it. Keep on doing what you’re doing.”
And I said, “Okay. That’s all I needed God, to know that my ‘good’ Christian friends back home that tried to discourage me from coming [were just fearful], but I know that I’m meant to be here.”
So, that was the first part of my journey.
To hear the interview, visit our YouTube channel.
Part 2 is coming soon.
