The Ohio Independent Baptist, December 1972

J/ z Tlz • ''. . . I 1 otie t /1 c J> /1 i 1, pp i, 1 c a11d I love tlze people, becattse I love 1ny Lord who died /or t/1em.'' ... Ken Cole A,fr k e11t1etl1 E. Cole is present!)' a Senior at the Ohio State University C<>llc,~e <>/ Me<licine ancl is also a gradt1ate of Cedarville C(Jllege - Cl<1Jr <>/ 1970. He is tl1e son of Rev. and Mrs. Harry E. Cole, First Bapti t C/111rc·l1. Ga/lip<Jlis, 0/1io . Brot/1er Ken spent tl1ree 111onths in 19.., 2 as a .sl1cJrt ter111 111issionar)' in tl1e Philippine Islands under t/1e A ssociati<Jn <>/ Baptists /or World Evangelis111 . This was to co,nplete a co11rse at tl1e College of Medicine in "Cot111nunity M edicine'' . - T/1e follolving is a condensation (1nade by Miss Nancy Siot-1x - Cedarville College) of his 111ost interesting report which ltvas presented to tl1e College of Medicine and tl1e Association of Baptists for World Evangelism. ~1)· three month tay in the Phil– ippine began at the ai rport in Ma– nila. Here I wa met by Rev. Russ Eber ole (ABWE). About fi ve day later. after a brief transition time getting acquainted with Filipino cul– ture, I flew to the town of Malay– balay on the I Jand of Mindanao " ·here the Bethel Baptist Clinic is located. This Clinic i ituated in a ten building compound. It was staffed by four Fi]ipino doctors and one Ameri : can mi ssionary doctor working on a part-time basis. The C linic Director is Dr. Antonio Maravi11a. He is assisted by a hu band I wife team - Drs. Rene and Fily Sison, Dr. Jose Si son and Dr . Stevenson - the American doctor. I pent my first few weeks observ– ing and becoming fami li ar with the di ease and therapy and later saw m)' own "out-patients' ' with the aid of an interpreter. I a]so assisted in surgery and obstetrical cases and per– formed minor surgery and non-com– plicated deliveries. Som~ of this medical student's most exhaus.ting yet valuable experience came in the operating room where I Sa\\' my first Caeseran section de– lt,.er}'.. To me, the most impressive thing in .the operating room was the pra}'er give~ by the surgeon before each operation. . The. d.ay before leaving Bethel Bap– tist CJ1n1c, I had the privilege of de– l1v.ering the seven pound boy of Mrs. El.1e~er ~ Ca t.anus, the local Baptist m1n1ster s wife . 6 DECEMBER, 1972 Along with the births came the realitie of death. To some patients, death came quickly-to others, slow– ly. As a young training physician, I felt I needed to see that there is a world dying constantl y without the knowledge of everlasting life through Christ Jesus. Although I was a doctor to many patients within the three months. I al– so experienced the doctoring of the medical team as a patient with fever , chills and diarrhea. This lasted some 48 hours. I was g1ad for the medical . care gt ven me. During my stay a t the Clinic, I made two medically related trips. One of these was to a mountain barrio (village) called N abaliwa. The other with Drs. Sison to the Bukidnon Medical Society meeting in the town of Don Carlos. Not on]y was Bethel Baptist Clinic a place of medical tr aining, but it was also a source of spiritual encourage– ment. !he medical team began each dar Wtth prayer . . . keeping them unified. On Thursday mornings, the group had devotions which I was privileged to lead several times. In the evenings, this same clinical s taff met in homes for Bib]e study. The greatest spiritual impetus for me came from atten~i~g the Bethel Baptist Church. This 1s an act ive church with over 400 people. Pastor Ca tanus con– ?ucted ~he Sunday morning services in English and the Sunday evenings and Wednesday prayer meetings in Cebuano, the local dialect . The cli– max of my stay in MaJaybalay was inging with the church choir for their Easter Cantata. Culturally, the three month stay in the Philippine Islands was a great learning experience for me . It is good that I like rice for I cannot remember more than 12 days when I did not eat it. Of the 88 dialects spoken in the Islands T agalog is the major dialect. This di alect and Engli h help to unite the Philippines. In my three months, I was able to memorize a hymn in Cebuano the Malaybalay dialect. Our next vi it was to Puerto Prin– cessa, Pa1awan. A Filipino brother Dindo Caporal, travelled with m~ from Mindinao to Palawan. We were me t by Dr. James Entner and his family. While there we al o met Mr. and Mrs. Ron E son and the Bud De Vries family . All these are a part of the ABWE. Then too, there were ' th~ .C harle Smiths" of Mis ionary Av1at1on Fellowship. The three men mis ionaries and I flew to Bonbon, a barrio on the smal] isle of Bugsuk where we et up a clinic. From there we flew to Lara , a New Tribes Mi ion station and on to an abandoned Jogging camp called Tagusao. Two "first ' ' occurred here! Under the supervis ion of Ron E on, I pulled a patient's tooth and got to treat my firs t Palawanos, a tribal people supposedly the original Pala– wan inhabitant . Leaving Tagu ao, we flew to Quezon on the we t ide of Pa]awan where mis ionary Leigh (Continued on page 8) THE OHIO INDEPENDENT BAPTIST