(Printed in the book SCATTERED: The Filipino Global Presence
Edited by Luis Pantoja, Jr., Sadiri Joy Tira, and Enoch Wan
Life Change Publishing, Inc., September 2004.)
Jesus took the bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples. Then He said, "This is my body, which is given for you. Eat this in remembrance of me." In the last supper, the moment that we now celebrate during our present-day communion, Christ enacted the same process by which He fed the five thousand with only five loaves of bread and two fish, and several baskets of left over were later collected. Jesus also fed four thousand with only seven loaves of bread and a few small fish, also with left over. It was for a purpose that Jesus took, blessed, broke and gave out the bread, and His purpose was accomplished, though it seemed at first impossible.
The way my life was transformed followed the same process. Like many others whose spirits have been reborn, I first came to recognize and accept my desperate need for God. When I accepted Jesus as my personal savior and Lord, He took hold of me as I experienced an increasing desire to follow Him and to know and obey His will. When I invited the Holy Spirit to come into my life, He blessed me as He forgave me of my sins and through the Holy Spirit gave me the capacity to develop closer relationship with Him and to see the Kingdom of God. He broke me as my worldly desires, ambitions, plans and values died, and my material capabilities were crushed, when He allowed trials and crisis to befall me. And as my old self faded away and my spirit reborn, He gave me to the Church and the people for the unfolding of His plan and purpose in my life.
But what strikes me was the revelation that as Jesus set me in my journey as a Christian diplomat, I was confronted with one crisis after another in increasing difficulty. Through hindsight, however, I can now see that every crisis was a process that transformed my spirit, soul, and character and lifted me into the next level of faith as He unfolded His purpose for my life. As He led me to the next phase of my journey, He never abandoned me. In fact, He opened new doors for me and through signs and wonders He showed me His love and protection. In my years serving in the Philippine diplomatic service, I have witnessed the power and faithfulness of God.
And I hereby attest to the reality and truth of His promise.
My Spiritual Rebirth:
I was young, intelligent, and hard working and I thought that I had what it takes to assure a bright and secured future. Having passed the tough foreign service officer examination and having college education at UCLA and a master’s degree from USC in Los Angeles, California I thought I had the right to be proud of my personal abilities. Although my wife Eva and I were not irreligious, we were simply contented with just sitting in a Catholic mass or Methodist service, whichever fitted our schedule. We thought that the rosary, Santo Nino of various sizes and color, Sunday attendance, and being in good terms with others were enough to make us good Christians. Even after we spent years in various assignments in Peking, Kuala Lumpur, Hamburg, and Bucharest, and have met statesmen, dictators, Presidents, Princes and Kings, and brushed elbows with all kinds of people, we continued to think that our destiny was exclusively in our own hands and that we turn to God only when we need Him to get something more we want.
How wrong we were in all of those thoughts.
It was shortly after I assumed my posting as Minister Counselor and Consul General in Seoul, South Korea that my views began a dramatic change. My career, the source of my pride and hope back then, was threatened by a high-ranking and powerful man in the Department of Foreign Affairs, Manila. He began to transfer me from Seoul after only ten months of my arrival, a move that would discredit and humiliate me as acting Head of Mission (Charge d’Affaires,a.i.) and eventually impede my professional growth. He was a Goliath and to him I was just a small matchstick that he could easily break. All my appeals were addressed to the Secretary of Foreign Affairs but werescreened by the powerful man, and my efforts to get the help of politicians were not answered. Having no one to help me, in desperation I turned to God.
In the summer of 1991, my wife Eva and I accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal savior. Prior to the aforesaid crisis, my sister Rebecca used to give my wife and me Bible and tracts every time we visited our folks in the U.S., but we quickly turned the pages and never really read them. But this time our prayers came from the heart and were intense, and I could now easily understand the Bible as my interest on the scriptures grew.
The Lord then led us to meet in Seoul the only daughter and the son-in-law (Ben and Tina Maynigo) of Foreign Secretary Raul Manglapus. Consequently, my letters reached the Secretary. Shortly thereafter, the threat was removed as the motion set by the aforesaid powerful man was stopped and rendered null and void by the Secretary.
This experience awakened us to the reality that God is a living force. He can be reached by us even if we are not priests or pastors. He can listen directly to our pleas without us seeking the intercession of dead saints. And in His own way and power He prevails over men and overrides their craftiness as He administers justice. The essence of our relationship with God also suddenly dawned on us: it is not the outward, physical rituals and incantations that we do and say, nor the sacrifices we offer, nor the symbolic materials we buy and place in the altar, but it is the obedience in our heart that He looks at. It was in a moment of anguish and desperation during that time that Eva as she was in tears sensed for the first time the voice of the Holy Spirit: "I know how you feel. If only I could embrace you, but let me do it in my own way, in my own time." We believe that our meeting with the Maynigos was not an accident. And several years later the powerful man became very nice to me and even asked that we include in our prayers the recovery of his wife who suffered a mild stroke – and we did pray for her.
Serving God and Man:
Amazed at the power of God that we have just witnessed, I was driven to tell others and gave my first testimony before the congregation at the Filipino Christian Fellowship at Haebangchon, a humble district in Seoul. I told myself that it was going to be the first and the last time I would speak before a church audience. What I did not know was that my presentation before a group of about fifteen people including my wife, my daughter Myra who was visiting from college, and our maid in a basement of a 2-storey house would be the first step in my journey to serve God and man.
My wife and I and our maid Lita Mina joined FCF Pastor Tony San Buenaventura in visiting the Filipino workers in their living quarters where we also conducted Bible studies. To attract more workers to our visits, we announced in advance that the consul general was to come with the pastor to answer questions on the situation of undocumented workers. The various outreaches we conducted led us even to remotest corners of the city as well as to the isolated job sites and mud huts in the countryside.
Eva and I did not realize it but our attitude, taste, temper, and outlook in life began to change as we became more involved in bringing the Gospel to the Filipino workers. Our Mercedes Benz suddenly broke down and I could not afford the repair cost, so for several months through winter we moved about for the first time without the convenience of a private car. At one time, we walked to the subway station with the pastor and elders carrying a guitar, portable keyboard, and a bag of gospel songs, clung to the strap onboard a crowded train, traveled for about an hour, then ran after a provincial bus and rode for another hour, then disembarked only to walk about two kilometers from the highway. It was already dark, and as we struggled on a dirt road to reach an isolated factory few miles from the border with North Korea, and walked passed the piles of snow and against the icy wind with only a dim light of the factory to guide us, I began to see a new person in my wife and myself. Not only that we endured but we also enjoyed the long trek and the sleepless night as we stayed awake in the workers quarters to wait for the bus to operate again in the morning. Even the pit-toilet and icy cold water did not bother us. People asked us why, as a ranking embassy official, we attend worship service where workers, musicians, and housemaids are cramped in a small basement apartment turned into a mission house. The answer was simple: no longer did we look at only ourselves but to and at Christ.
The church outreach led me, as the Consul GeneralinSouth Korea, to see first hand the condition of the Filipino workers, documented and undocumented. I heard their life stories and experienced their lifestyle because we spent time with them in their places of work and in their living quarters. I understood and felt their anguish when they came to the embassy already disillusioned, mentally broken down, and raped. Some came with one eye blinded, fingers severed, and a foot amputated resulting from accidents at work.
Thus, the embassy’s assistance-to-nationals function and consular services were carried out with added Christian compassion and direct personal knowledge of the plight of the Filipino overseas workers. Passport and documentation services were made quicker, and we wrote letters to immigration on behalf of anyone who needed reduction of or exemption from penalty. The embassy basement was opened to accommodate the increasing number of stranded and victimized workers. We arranged with Filipino Catholic and evangelical churches, hotels, Filipino community and the American base for the supply of food, medicine, blankets and cots. Priests, nuns and pastors such as Fr. Ray Sabio from Inchon, Sis. Maryann Terenal from Chayangdong, Fr. Eugene Docoy, and Pastor Tony of FCF came to give material support and share the gospel. Together with Catholic and evangelical churches, the host Ministry of Labor, the Lotte Welfare Foundation, and an NGO, the embassy assisted the victims of work accident get their due compensation such as Bro. Guiller who lost four fingers and Bro. Abe who lost a foot.
The hunger for spiritual comfort among the Filipino workers became more evident in each problem that was brought to the embassy, and we discovered that sharing the Word of God made a difference to them in their moment of desperation. I recall one husband who was bent on going home to kill his wife and then himself because of her extramarital affair, but after I shared with him God’s word and prayed with him, he cried and vowed to forgive her. From that time on, I always shared the Word, prayed and gave a Bible to any worker who came with a problem, even when Ambassador F. Benedicto and I visited the hundreds of OFWs in prison who were rounded up at the end of an amnesty period.
Masuk:
Masuk is about two to three hours from Seoul by bus, and about one-hour drive by car. There were several furniture factories straddled on a cluster of hills in a mountain range, but their presence is hidden from the highway and they can be reached only through a narrow winding road. It was a perfect place for anyone to work and hide, and many Filipinos who were there indeed had reasons to hide: from immigration, or spouses, or creditors, or gossips, or even the police because some have been accused of murder while others were reportedly involved in drugs.
While FCF and other Filipino evangelical groups had opened Bible studies in various places, no one had opened a study in Masuk perhaps because of distance and other obvious reasons. But my wife and I decided to open a Bible study in Masuk in August 1994 in the midst of about 300 Filipino workers there. At first there was resistance and only four attended as other workers questioned the motives of a military general – a consul general, you see? We held the session every Saturday night inside the furniture factory where Rosie Abalos and Gina Loyola worked. My wife Eva led the singing of gospel songs backed up by Lita, and Cerich Ponteres played the keyboard while I shared the gospel. After a few weeks, the number of attendees increased, up to eighty men and women sometimes, as workers walked few kilometers to join us despite the bitterly cold Korean winter. We would usually finish our fellowship at dawn and would drive back to Seoul at four in the morning.
Many of the Filipino workers have never read the Bible before, much less owned one, and the Bible study in Masuk changed their life. The story of Manong Ben, Sis. Rosie, Sis. Gina, Bro. Rommel, Bro. Ramir, Bro. Philip, Sis. Precy, Bro Tony, Bro. Rodel, Sis. Josie, Bro. Bert, Bro. Vic, Bro. James, Sis. Daniela, Sis. Mary, Bro. Daniel, Bro. Lito, Sis. Ofie and many others are real life tales of painful childhood, broken dreams, and lost hope that were turned to a new dawn. Bro. Mac, for example, whose father died when he was very young and never finished beyond third grade, used to harbor deep hatred to his alcoholic mother for constantly beating him and his younger sister and for forcing his hand to a pot of boiling water. At first, he used to escape through a window to avoid us and to be with his friends in drinking sessions. But after he joined and accepted the Lord, his heart changed and he gave up drinking, forgave his mother and reconciled with her when he returned to the Philippines.
Six months later, a Korean prayer mountain ministry learned about our Bible study and offered their facilities for us to start a regular Sunday worship service, free of charge. On 26 February 1995, the Filipino Christian Fellowship at Masuk was inaugurated at the chapel of the Sudong Prayer Mountain, which was headed by Rev. Pastor Lee Tae Hee and managed by Pastor Chun Young-Bum. Before the last snowfall of winter melted, about one thousand Filipino workers from five churches came by the busloads on that day. Our special guests were Senator Blas Ople and Ambassador Francisco Benedicto. Thus, the Bible study grew and became a church, and I became its pastor.
A month later, the congregation in Masuk changed its name to Filipino Evangelical Christian Fellowship as it decided to be independent from the FCF in Seoul. Before my posting in Seoul ended in July 1996, I requested the help of Pastor Jaren Lapasaran of Jesus Our Hope in Cubao, Quezon City and he agreed to send Pastor Paul Pambid to take charge of the church. A year later, Pastor Paul was replaced by Pastor Charlie Pablo from the Jesus Our Life Ministry of Bishop Fred Magbanua.
EMFK:
By 1994, the number of Filipino workers in South Korea had grown to more than 30,000. The thirst for the Word of God became more evident as workers even called the pastors to conduct Bible study for them at their place. Being the head of the Masuk Bible study and an embassy official, I discussed the need for more aggressive and coordinated outreach with the evangelical pastors who, as it turned out, had the same idea. After a series of meetings, the group decided to set up the Evangelical Ministers Fellowship in Korea. I was elected as chairman and Pastor Tereso Casino of Touch International Christian Church as vice-chairman, and EMFK was inaugurated in October of that year. The other founding members who headed the committees were: Pastor Sammy Natividad of Soebuk Foreigners Church, Pastor Enrique Supsup of Philippine Body of Christ, Pastor Rey Castro of the FCF, Sis. Serlina Rufin of Freedom in Christ Church, Pastor Paula Koh of the Grace Full Gospel Church and joining us later was Pastor Jesse Arce. We received the support of associate Korean churches that had Filipino attendees, among them was the Yoido Full Gospel Church under Rev. Pastor Paul/David Yonggi Cho, represented by Sis. Helen Byum.We were also blessed with the advise of Dr. Ho-Jin Jun of Asian Christian Theological School and Rev. Yung-Joon Kim of Somang Presbyterian Church, as well as the support of organizations such as The Lotte Welfare Foundation under Chairman Lho Shinyong and the Global Mission Fellowship. EMFK published its own periodical Vision in 1996.
The EMFK served as a catalyst in the evangelism process not only to Filipinos but to other foreigners also such as the Nigerians, Nepalese, and Chinese. EMFK became the central network among the evangelical pastors for mutual support, coordination of their activities, and mapping out their respective strategies in their outreach program. It unified the Filipino evangelical ministries and linked them with the Korean body of Christ. To the workers, it provided an avenue for the Filipinos by which they share information on immigration movements, job opportunities and mutual assistance for emergency or death.
EMFK was useful not only for the pursuit of the Great Commission but also to the work of the embassy. When the labor office was set up, Labor Attache Jun Sodusta utilized the EMFK churches as contact centers to reach the workers. Consular notices and embassy-issued IDs were also sent thru the EMFK and other centers. Ambassador Benedicto called on the EMFK, Filipino community and the Catholic churches to help implement his computer training program and other projects for the workers.
I was re-elected as chairman in October 1995. In the following year, God’s plan for leading me into the EMFK and ministry work was revealed.
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Dear Vic,
Praise God for His guidance and provision!
For the last four weeks, most of my personal and household effects, including my own computer, were packed and loaded to a 40-ft container for delivery from Mexico City, Mexico to San Antonio, Texas. Thus, I have not been able to respond to most of the messages from friends. I am now in SAT for the last two weeks as I brought Sis. Eva here. My daughter and us bought a house in preparation for my retirement next year. We are waiting for the delivery to arrive, hoping sometime later this week.
Please write or visit us at:
7407 Legend Point Drive
San Antonio, Texas 78244
Until my retirement next year 2006, I will be shuttling back and forth between Mexico and SAT. Please continue to send your messages to the same e-mail as before. God bless you and the family.
In Christ Jesus,
Bro.(Amb) Rudy and Sis. Eva Dumapias
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May God bless you both in your work in spreading the Word!!
Vic
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