Bugkalot 70th Anniversary Conference

Steve and our teammate, Brandon, were blessed to be able to attend part of the big anniversary celebration of when the Gospel first came to the Bugkalot tribe. There were about 2,000 in attendance at the believers' conference, and they represented 37 churches. It has been so encouraging to our hearts to see what God has done through the years with the Bugkalot - from fierce headhunters to sending out their own cross cultural workers - and even what he's done in more recent years. When we first started mobilizing them in 2010 to send out from their churches to reach the nations, there were 16 small tribal churches. As they've caught the vision of being a part of God's work beyond their own boundaries, not only have they sent out dozens to reach other tribal groups, the church has also been revived; the number of churches has more than doubled, and all the individual churches have also grown. Giving has increased exponentially, and many of the churches are now supporting their pastors in addition to giving to those they've sent out and other programs, like their own Bible School. It is always such a blessing to be reminded what GOD can do. To HIM be all the glory!

They always do a parade of churches to come in to the celebratory session. Steve was able to take some drone shots of it. This one is in the meeting area, and this one is of the parade still coming to enter the meeting area. 

The leaders wore their cultural costumes to celebrate and shared a moving testimony of what God has done over the years.

I was not able to attend this conference (or several of the other ones I posted about) because I finally pulled the trigger on knee surgery. They went in arthroscopically and discovered two tears/holes in the cartilage. One was 1/2 cm and the other 1.5 cm behind the knee cap. Since one was in the weight bearing area and the other in the bending area, I had two weeks where I couldn't put any weight OR bend it all. That was tough for sure. After that, I was gradually able to do a little more but still meant I was very limited with any real mobility for 6 weeks. Recovery has been very slow, but the doctor is encouraged with my progress & my prognosis is good. I'm hitting the PT hard now, so appreciate prayers for continued healing. This next wk will be the first time in 2 months that I head into our tribal areas, and I'm honest a little nervous about how I'll handle camping, the rough terrain, and keeping up with PT there; prayers greatly appreciated!