Ninety Nine To One

In November 2004 I travelled to the Philippines to finalise the purchase of land for the Divine Grace Love Of God Fellowship, Sierra.
The church that they were using at the time was on land that did not belong to them but to another person in the village. The land was donated to the church some years before but with no papers to confirm the donation. The son of the owner, Jong, is now saying that he wnts the land for his inheritance and will sell it from under the church’s feet. Needless to say Pastora Fe Esperanza Pallesique and her church were very concerned. NNTO had agreed to purchase the land so that they could stay there.
Below are some extracts from my Journal so that you will have a taste of how things were.

Thursday 18Th November

Pastora Fe has arranged for her and Pastors Ricky, Jamin and Jong to visit me at the house to discuss the way ahead in purchasing the land in Sierra. I have asked that the Title of ownership will be available for me to see and that all negotiations be made with the owner only. I say this because I believe the owner is the father of Pastor Jong and not Jong himself. I will be informing them of the conditions that NNTO will want in place in order to go ahead with the purchase. I have also heard that the land at the rear of the church in Sierra is no longer for sale. I will clarify this when they arrive.
The weather has taken quite a change. It was raining quite heavily last night and looks like it will rain today. It is a little cooler (29) but is still very humid.

Pastora Fe, Carolyn and Rick turned up at 11.15 a.m and not at 9.30 as arranged. Jamin was not with them, as he had to work in the rice fields. We discussed the sale and I was able to see a photocopy of the title deed. I was assured that the original was with the owner. We talked about the conditions that NNTO have for helping to purchase the land and they were very happy with this. The brother of Jong, who is at present living in the house attached to the Church building will vacate within one week of sale. He has a lot and house a small distance away in the same village. I have agreed that NNTO will also help toward the building of a perimeter wall and towards the extra costs of getting the title transferred to the name of the Church in Sierra. This will require some extra funding, as it needs a surveyor to accurately survey the plot and give it’s co-ordinates in order for a title to be made and a wall to be built on the boundaries. Tomorrow I will meet with the Pastors and the owner at the church in Sierra to finalise negotiations and to then, hopefully go to the attorney to get a final check on the title and to be sure all is well and then hopefully get things signed and sealed.

Friday 19Th November

Well we went, as planned, to Sierra to talk with the owner of the land, Mr M, and to go from there, to see an attorney in Lapaz. Meanwhile I had been taking another look at the title deed and found what I believed to be a problem. In the deed it was clear to me that the land had been granted to the family by the Department of Agrarian Reform (D.A.R), a department set up by the Philippine Government to provide land for the landless. As a precaution against fraud or abuse of this system, the title deed states that the land shall not be sold, transferred, subdivided or in any other way encumbered for a period of ten years from the issue of the land without the written permission from the D.A.R. Now the land was signed over to the family on 29Th November 1995, so this means that the land connate be sold until 30Th November 2005 at the earliest. I raised this issue with Pastora Fe and Pastor Ricky and they said that this is not a problem, although they did not give a reason why. Pastor Jamin, however, felt that this is a difficulty and said that we should ask the attorney about it. In all other respects the negotiations were fine. After our meeting in Sierra we travelled some six miles to the town of Lapaz to consult with the attorney. He took a look at the title deed and confirmed my concerns that the land cannot be sold until 30Th November 2005 without a permit to do so from the D.A.R. Pastora Fe, Ricky and myself went to the local D.A.R office in Lapaz and were told that it is not possible to get a permit and that we should wait until 2005.This has, of course, caused great disappointment all round. Pastora Fe, Ricky and Jamin did try once more at the Tarlac office of the D.A.R but still had no success. They have text me about this and are coming to talk about things tomorrow morning. My personal feelings are that, unless there is a dramatic change of events, we will not be able to complete the purchase legally until November 2005 and that I should bring the money back to England and put the money for the purchase of the land into a separated allocation, ready for the time we can buy the land. I know that Pastora Fe will try to persuade me to buy the land under any conditions but I am not willing or able to do this, as my first responsibility is to conduct all of this in righteousness and not to do things in a state of panic or to be rushing ahead of Christ’s plan for the church in Sierra.
I was able to telephone Merci tonight. We had a long chat about the land issue and about family members and various things that are going on in the family here in the P.I. I told Merci how much I missed her and how hard it was for me being here alone without her. Se is feeling the same as I and was quite upset over the phone. We said goodnight to each other, although Merci was just at the start of her day. I said that I would email as soon as I can.

Saturday 20Th November
I have met yet again with Pastors, Fe, Ricky, Carolyn and Jamin this morning following the events of yesterday.
There has been a further development about the Sierra Church. After we were told about the difficulty of buying the land before November 2005, two things happened.

1.
The first was that the brother of Jong who lives on the land has said to Pastora Fe that if they do not buy the land now, even though they cannot do so legally, he will “Padlock” the building and prevent the church members entering into the building. I know that they can go to the barrio captain and prevent this but it is a strong indication to me of what kind of person we are dealing with. I am sure that if they will not wait we cannot buy the land.

2.
The other thing that has happened is that a member of the church has said that he will give land to the church. He will sign over the title to the church. Pastors Fe, Rick and Jamin will check that it is not restricted in any way to build a church on the land.
It will cost approximately 200,00.00 Pesos to build a new church, which MAY also include accommodation similar to the house at the rear of the original property.
I believe, as I really believed in April, this church needs to make a complete break from Jong and his family. Maybe this is the way ahead. Anyway we will need to know the results of the checks on this latest piece of land.
I know that we have allocated separate monies for the land of the church and the land with the house on it at the rear of the church but I believe that if the land donation works out and has no problem with building on it, we should go ahead and do this.
Pastora Fe and Pastors Jamin, Ricky and Carol will meet with the church member who is offering the land with a view to going with him to the attorney to check that he is free to transfer title and to build a church on it. If this works out we may still be able to proceed with helping the church in Sierra. They will get back to me as soon as they can.
I truly believe that the churches in the area are going through a trial of their faith because God is about to birth something new among them. I believe He is seeking to move them on in new ways where they leave behind old, religious habits and ways and demonstrate the true and authoritative Gospel of Christ. Where they give up individuality of ministry and unite with their brethren in the proclamation of The Gospel to the poor and lost.
I have been praying a lot about the land in Sierra and have come to the conclusion that I have allowed myself to become intimidated by circumstances and in some cases, by people. I have asked pastors Fe, Ricky, Carolyn and Jamin to meet with me tomorrow and we will pray together again and believe God for a resolution to this issue.
I am even more convinced that there is a real contention over the testimony of this church in Sierra and therefore we should stand in faith that The Lord wants to strengthen His Church in this village.
I have had advice from all directions, from people here in the barrios and pastors from nearby towns. I have even had advice from the U.K.
I am reminded by The Holy Spirit that, “if any man lacks wisdom, let him ask the Lord…”
So I have resolved to do this and trust my heart and His Spirit within me.
We had a visitor today. Her name is Violeta. She is female and very noisy and destructive. She arrived late afternoon, early evening. She remained all night. At no time did she keep still and ran all over the villages in the area pulling up trees and destroying roofs. On a more serious note she has killed more than twenty people in the past two days. Violeta is a typhoon. She travels at about eighty miles an hour accompanied by extremely strong winds and the most torrential rain. As I lay in my bed listening to her pass by the sound was like that of a freight train rolling down the tracks, except that this sound lasted all of six hours. Another way of describing her is like that of a really loud drum roll, you know! The kind you hear just as the acrobat is about to spring into action, except, as I said, it lasted about six hours. It is really an uncanny experience. I had to leap from my bed in the middle of the night, as the rain was so strong that it began to blow through the window and give me abed bath. I opened the mosquito screen that is around the windows and closed the outside window frame. In doing this I managed to put a hole in the screening so now I have given a way in to my room for the mosquitoes, GREAT!!!

Tuesday 23Rd November
Well, as planned, the pastors came around this morning. We prayed together and Pastora Fe tells me that now the family who are selling the church and land are suggesting that they want to ask for 500,000.00 Pesos instead of 150,000.00 Pesos. I am not inclined to even entertain the idea. I am reminded of my first instinct that I had in April. That is not to deal with this man or his family. After we prayed together Jamin and Fe told me of another piece of land that a member of the church was willing to sell at a discounted price. I said that I am tired of running around, being forced to panic and chasing after possibilities. I needed to know what God is saying and therefore wanted to talk to these folk personally, initially not with a view to negotiate but to get to know them and their hearts for The Lord.
After I had settled this in my heart and got the others to understand I had such a peace in my heart that I felt more relaxed than I had done since the beginning of my visit. I had asked the Lord for some kind of confirmation of His will in all of this and on the way to Sierra I asked Him to tell me where the land was that He wanted for this church. Immediately I had in my heart that the land was very near to the mosque. Now I knew that there was a mosque in the village but had no idea where it was. Neither did I know where the land that was on offer was but I was sure that The Lord had said that it was near to the mosque and that He wanted His Kingdom testimony to stand near to it.
Well we went to visit the couple, Mr and Mrs Castro in their home in Sierra. They are seriously committed Christians and really love The Lord and His Church in the village. The land that they are offering was originally priced at 100,000.00 Pesos (£1000) but they were willing, in the interest of blessing the Church, to offer it to the Church for 80,000.00 Pesos (£800). Having checked out many examples of land in the area I knew that this was more than generous. The land also seems to have none of the complications that the existing land has and is half as big again, leaving room for growth. Having talked and prayed together I felt very comfortable about things and asked if it were possible to look at the land. We set of to take a look at it immediately, to find that the land is at the entrance of the village right in front of the mosque. This gave me enough confidence to take things to the next stage, that of going into Lapaz and take a look at the title deed. This appears to have no problems and only requires the land to be sub-divided and a new title deed made out in the name of “Divine Grace Love of God Church, Sierra” I have said that we should go ahead and get on with things. So Pastors Fe, Ricky and Jamin are making the arrangements for the purchase of the land. I hope and pray that this will bring a satisfactory and glorifying end to things. The process of surveying the land, subdividing it and finalising the sale will take three or four days. The issue of a brand new title deed in the name of the church will take two to three weeks. So I may not be here for that but the pastors have assured me that they will send a copy of the new deed to NNTO as soon as it is issued. If arrives before I leave I can have a copy then. I will have full copies of all other documents such as, a bill of sale and receipts for all monies given. I will also get a signed agreement between NNTO and the church in Sierra regarding the conditions required for the gift of this money by NNTO.

Sunday 28Th December
Today I am invited to speak at the church inn Sierra. This is quite an important day as the church is about to leave its present location and move to a new lot and a new building that has yet to be built. I do believe that The Lord is giving a new beginning to this Church and a new and fresh vision.
I went to speak at the church this morning at about 9.30. We had a wonderful time of worship, even though I did not understand all that was going on (it is really strange being here without Merci to translate for me and explain things).
I preached on the need for Christians not to be romantic about our faith but real. It is not enough to say, “Jesus is in my heart” in a slushy romantic way but we need to be sure that our lives and characters are grounded in the same character as that of Jesus,
I referred to the Psalmist, King David, who said “I have hidden your word in my heart so that I will not sin against you…” I explained that when the bible talks about the heart it is talking about the very centre of our being, the place where we have our character and motivations, the place that defines us. Whilst worshiping I was looking through the window of the church and saw a kite that was caught up in a distant tree. Immediately I believe that The Lord spoke to me saying “This Church had been caught up in the wrong kind of relationships and commitments that was preventing them being all that He wants them to be in the barrio”. He is taking them from entanglements that He has not wanted for them and giving them a completely fresh start free from the influence of unhealthy obligations.
At the end of the meeting I gave an invitation for prayer and for prayer for the sick. Several folk responded to this. One lady who is about sixty-five years of age came forward. She has had two cataracts, one in each eye. She has had both eyes operated upon but only the right eye was successful. She could only see blurred light shapes through her left eye. She asked for prayer so I anointed her eye with Coconut oil (I had no olive oil) and prayed for healing. After praying I asked her what had happened. She replied that she could see clearly and that both eyes were healed. I covered up her good eye to test this and she truly could see things in detail, Praise The Lord!
Pastora Fe has told me that the surveyors of the land should be coming tomorrow and that they will sub-divide the land. This will mean that we can finalise the purchase of the land for the church in Sierra. I will really be happy when all of the details are complete and the church can get on with rebuilding on their own piece of land.
Wednesday 1St December
The Pastors from sierra are coming around today. They are bringing the final documents for the completion of the sale of the land.
Christopher and Leah have taken my floppy disk into Tarlac to get the agreement with Sierra and NNTO document printed. They have already been to Concepcion but it appears that all of the offices in the town that provide this service only have Msn 95-97 operating systems on their computers (frustrating or what!!) So you have to travel forty miles to get four printouts made.
Well pastors Fe, Ricky and Jamin arrived at about 10.30 am with copies of the completed documents of sale between the Divine Grace Love of God Christian Fellowship and Mr. and Mrs. Castro. All seemed in order and we discussed the estimated costs of buying the land and building the church. Jamin will get me a more exact estimation in writing before I leave but the total amount including all of the extra costs involved will eat into the total amount of money that I have available. It is also necessary that we compensate Mr. and Mrs.Castro for the loss of their corn crop that is at present on the land. This has yet to be estimated. So the land purchase is at last complete, Praise The Lord!!!