Ragnar and Elizabeth Niclasen, who serve among the Kankanaey people in the Philippines recently spent a weekend on the east coast – in an area that they had not previously visited. One of the families, who used to work with them among the Kankanaey people is from there, and a few years ago, they moved back to their home area to church plant. Lots of relatives have since come to know the Lord, which was their main reason for moving ’back home’. Praise the Lord many others have been led to the Saviour too, and now there is a good-sized group of believers meeting several times a week. They asked Ragnar to share the Word with them at their fifth anniversary. It was an exciting weekend, seeing all that the Lord has done.
Ragnar has been enjoying his ministry with “Global Equip”. He is mentoring three men as they go through the mission’s two-year course. They meet, ‘on-line’ once a week to go over that week’s lesson, plus Ragnar meets weekly with the other advisors. On one occasion the students visited them at their home, which was a really encouraging evening, and on another night they and their wives joined Ragnar and Elizabeth for dinner. They were amazed at the wives’ testimonies of how they saw their husbands growing in their walk with the Lord! (Ragnar often meets with the students individually for a coffee and chat too.)
One weekend as Ragnar and Elizabeth were on their way up north to speak in a Kankanaey church, they stopped in to see friends. It was the husband’s eighty-eighth birthday and his wife, also in her eighties, had asked them to share something from the Word with the guests. This couple work hard to stay healthy, and it has paid off.
Once a year the Kankanaey ladies meet with the ladies from the neighbouring Ibaloi tribe. They call it ‘Ibakana Fellowship’. Elizabeth is thankful that she was able to join them again this year. Approximately 100+ ladies were there. She is always encouraged to have time with the believers from the various churches and meet new ladies. In the afternoon, each church represented sang a hymn.
Together they attended the Annual (Kankanaey) Believer’s Conference which was a very encouraging time. Being surrounded by Kankanaey believers from fourteen churches was fantastic! Each group took turns leading the singing, allowing lots of people to be involved. Also, leaders from the various churches shared all the messages –it was wonderful for Ragnar and Elizabeth to be sitting in the audience listening to what God has been teaching the Kankanaey leaders.
One lady shared her testimony with them. Many years ago, this lady had joined a group of Kankanaey people on an annual visit to where they served, and it was while she was there that she understood that sin had separated her from God, but Jesus had paid the price to bridge that separation. That made their eyes light up seeing how God used those trips!
Another exciting impending, more than exciting, adventure is – one of the girls at the conference, shared with them that she would love to be a full-time missionary wherever God would call her. Lots of questions followed about the next steps that need to be taken.