A Tragic Tale

Thank you all for praying for wee Gio & Seke – the two brothers with dengue fever. I have some very sad news and also some very good news for you. Sorry for not being in touch sooner, usual story. The internet was off during the rain we have been having this week.

I went back to the hospital at midnight on Friday morning to pray through until 4 am. Pastor Adonis was my partner. I checked on Seke, the youngest brother, and he was fast asleep and looked very well. His dad said that he has responded to the medicine and was doing great. His blood platelet level was up and his body was fighting the dengue. The Doctor was there and she said that Seke would be discharged on Friday morning. Praise God!

But when I went to see Gio, it wasn’t so good. He was still heavily sedated and was on all the medicines and the respirator was breathing for him. The worst news was that his urine was full of blood … and that meant his internal organs were bleeding.

I sat with Pastor Adonis and Gio’s dad for most of the night, praying for Gio when the Doctor and nurses were no working on him. It was so tragic to see a wee 6 year old boy in the state he was in. Mary & Anne said that he was a really smart boy who always loved to answer questions first. He was a lovely guy …

…but here he was fighting for his life. I prayed for him and left when the next two pastors arrived at 4am. I went to bed ... and when I woke up I had been sent a text by Pastor Danny -"Sorry to say that little Gio just passed away." This was sent at 5:35am and I read it at 7:30am. I was so saddened and Mary wept when I told her. I immediately sent a text to the family with or love and prayers.

At the start of a meeting I had on Friday morning, I received a text from Winston (who was at the hospital for his prayer slot) saying that they think that they are going to switch off the respirator now because he was showing no signs of life. I couldn't believe it ... Danny had already told me Gio had passed away and I had sent a long text of condolence to the mum & dad! "Oh yeah, the family did asked me why Pastor Mark had sent them this strange text!" Even now I squirm and cringe! Only in the Philippines! Pastor Danny ....... wait till I get hold of you!!


But around 9:30 am Gio left this life. In the end, the sad thing was that it was not so much the dengue that was the main factor in his death ... his weak heart could not cope up and gave in. So sad. We spent some time with the family later in my home and tried to help them in various ways. Yesterday we went to their house with the teachers. They were all devastated because most of them had taught him. We brought all his school things and a certificate that he would have received in a couple of weeks time at Grduation. His loyalty medal is being made as we speak ... that is what he was most excited about.

The family are quite poor and where they live is not far from the river ... and full of mosquitoes. The funeral will be tomorrow (Monday) in the town where the mum & dad come from. We will all go there to pay our last respects.

Apart from the recovery of Seke, there is some good from this tragedy. When I went there on Thursday afternoon, Gio's dad (Gilbert) was in a real state. He was pacing around, confused and so emotional. He had prayed, "God, if you are there please help us." When Winston & I arrived we calmed him down and took control of the situation. We organised blood donors and took the pressure off Gilbert.

When I went back at midnight Gilbert was a changed man! He even looked different. His spirit had changed. As I prayed for Gio in the ICU, he opened up to Pastor Adonis. When he was younger, he gave his life to the Lord in Manila and served the Lord in a baptist church. But when he came back to the province he backslid and went after 'wealth and women.' After he got married he devoted himself to raising his family. God had no place in his life. But now ... this happened to his kinds and in his own words, "It woke me up."

When Adonis and Gilbert went in to pray for Gio, I saw Adonis lean over and grab Gilbert's hand. Adonis told me later that Gilbert started to pray for his son Gio, but half way through the prayer he started crying out to God and repenting of what he had done. Adonis led him back to the Father! Amazing!

Even yesterday, as the body of his son was there in his living room, he was telling me that from this day on he and his family were going to walk in the ways of the Lord. He told me that as he watched his son die, he began to see for the first time how God must have felt as he saw his son die on a cross. He had a revelation of true love and found true life at the point of a terrible death.

So pray for us tomorrow. It will be a hard day for us all ... especially the mum & dad. Thanks for all your prayers. Sometimes, you meet sadness on the journey. It's not easy but we have to pray that out of tragedy ... something good will emerge. In this case it is a repentant father. Please pray for Gilbert as he starts a new life and pray for Pastor Winston as he mentors him.

Thank you for all your prayers ...

Job Giorgio Francois Elducal
26th Jan 2002 - 22nd February 2008

Medal of Hope

Probably every day here in the Philippines I hear of a sad story about poverty, sickness or death. I am thankful that on most occasions I am never actually involved in real life dramas or extremely difficult situations. But on some days, like today, I find myself face to face with tragedy and hopelessness.

Imagine the scene. There is a family we know that lives not far from Sefton Village. They live in a place called Mabini - which is one of the most dangerous and dark places to live in our city. Drugs and prostitution are norm. There are always police cars there and plenty of stories. But this family have made Mabini their home and they have two handsome little boys - Gio and Seke. They grew up and started attending our Kinder School - the KMGLC. This year Gio (above) is in Kinder 2 and is preparing to go to grade 1 at our new school. Seke (below) is in nursery class and he is a lovely wee boy. These pictures are taken from our class photos taken just last week.


Then tragedy. Last weekend both boys fell sick with vomiting and a fever. Mum took them to the doctor and they were given anti-biotics. But over the weekend there was little improvement. On Tuesday mum & dad again took the boys to the doctor and they were given blood tests. It was dengue - a terrible disease similar to malaria except far more dangerous and potent. It begins with a mosquito bite and soon the body is under attack.

Gio got worse. He was soon at stage 3 ... very serious. His platelet level fell dramatically and soon it was a fight for his life. Thankfully, Seke responded quickly to the anti-dengue medicine and began to recover. But the problem fro Gio is that he has already had dengue 2 years ago and when it comes for a second time ... it is far more dangerous. Added to this, he has a heart problem that has weakened him.

Mary went in last night. Gio was concious, although weak. He asked his mum to hug him and said, "Don't worry mum, I am not going to die. I won't leave you here. Anyway, I haven't got my medal from school yet!" if a child attends our school for all three years they get a Loyalty Medal - and this is the desire of wee Gio's heart!

But things worsened overnight. His body began to fail. The family ran out of money and Mary asked me to go and pray for the family and see what they needed. When I got there I was so sad. His mum was waiting for us and when she saw us she bust into tears and crumbled into our arms. "Please help my baby," she sobbed. Winston and I went up and saw Gio. He had tubes going into his nose, hands and feet, a ventilator was breathing for him and I counted five medicines going to his body by drips. It was a terrible sight. I managed to pray for him on a couple of occasions - in between nurses and doctors working away at him.

I know the doctor and she said it is a very serious case - 50/50. I spent most of the afternoon there, encouraging the family, trying to find blood donors and praying for the boys. I am getting our Cornerstone Pastors to be at the hospital for 24 hr prayer and support. Tonight and tomorrow are critical. This morning hos platelet level was 15 ... near death.

Will you pray for these two little boys - especially Gio? Take time to lift him up in prayer. Can you get the people in your church to pray? Inform the prayer chains and intercesors. Send this blog to your friends and ask them to stand with us. This is a spiritual battle. Pray that Gio pulls through and recovers fast. He needs us ...

His medal is waiting.

Our Valentine Blunder - The Truth after 21 Years!

Wehey .. we're back in action again! The internet was off from Mon-Thursday night ... but it is on today! Miracles DO happen ....

Well, yesterday was Valentines Day. Oh I remember the excitement of being a teenager wondering if ... maybe ... there would be at least one valentines card coming through my letterbox! Was there one girl that would like to show that they were a 'secret admirer'? We all pretended to be cool on Valentines Eve ... but deep down we were desperately praying, like Samson, 'just one more time Lord ... at least one valentine PLEASE!'

I remember when I was around 15 I suffered a tragic moment ... no valentines card on the 14th! Ultimate embarassment! You spend a whole year trying to act cool in fromt of the girls, cracking you best jokes, wearing your best clothes, trying to be nice to them ... and not even one showed enough interest as to send you a valentine card! Heartbreaking stuff for a mid-teen. But there was good news ... my best friend Ben Ritchie never got one either! And he was better looking than me. So at least I was not alone in my hidden grief. So we got together and hatched a plan ...

Next year we bought very nice feminine valentines cards. Yup, you guessed it. Ben wrote some lovely verses and stated how wonderful and handsome I was. He wrote things like HOLLAND (hope our love lasts and never dies). I did the same for him and we even faked the handwriting. Very lady like. I was impressed with my work and even more impressed with Ben's efforts as I opened it proudly (in front of my whole family) next morning. Off I went to school ...pretty chuffed. 'Of course I got a valentine' I would say to one person after another after another.

Problem. Ben's parents and my parents were, and still are, best friends. I cringe to tell you this but the truth must be told. Ben's mum noticed my beautiful card and made her way over to read it. I mean, you couldn't miss it ... standing there in the cabinet as big, pink and beautiful a card as you ever did see! As she picked it up, panick filled my once excited heart. I saw her face beginning to smile and then she looked at me eye to eye, " Did Ben send you this? I know his writing!"

Up until this point in my life this would have to be the most direct and difficult question I ever faced. Here I was, facing a woman of God whom I loved and respected so much ... and who knew the truth. Would I lie and possibly spend the rest of my life needing to ask forgiveness to Aunty Anne? Or would I tell the truth, bare all and hope for the best? At best, they would laugh, keep it a secret and use it as blackmail fodder. At worst ... it could be contrived as me and Ben coming out of the closet ... if you know what I mean! So I decided to take the truthful way out and take the consequences on the chin ... like a man.

Thankfully, they laughed, I almost killed Ben, we got over it, I went to Bible School, married a real woman and am now a missionary! I have never sent another valentines card to a man since that horrific moment. Honest. So there is hope after disaster! So to all you 12-16 year olds who pretend that you don't really care about valentines but we know you really do ... take some advice from the big man - if you aint got a valentine don't try and change it. Admit it ... some guys have it and some guys don't! Just pray you're a late bloomer and better days are ahead!

Nowadays it seems as if those halcion days are long gone. This year, I recieved two valentines ... from my kids (which they made at school and was really for their mum!) Mary said to me, "I don't want roses and I don't need chocolate ... but of you want me to have a great valentine day can you get me new containers for coffee, tea bags and sugar!" Oh how the mighty have fallen. Such a great event and momentous day , for me, has turned into a bit of a downer.

Never mind ... Ben, me old buddy, let's get our thoughts together and hatch a plan for next year - coz I'm 96.7% sure that you didn't get a valentine this year either!

Mmmmm....

(By the way, happy birthday to my dad - 62 today! Well done dad - you the best and we love you so much. Make sure that mum spoils you and that you have a great weekend. And dad .... did you buy mum a Valentines card this year? He used to be a hopeless romantic!)

Hope for the 'Hopeless'

Watch this and listen to the amazing story of what God can do with a 'Hopeless Case'...Hallelujah!