GREETINGS FROM UNDER THE DURIAN TREE!

August Mission Link August 2017 From Dr. David Upp, full-time Conference Missionary

Big Fat Caterpillars: YES, they Sting!

I live "Under the Durian Tree". This "Queen of Fruits" has a notoriously strong odor that has caused it to be banned from commercial airplane passenger cabins [where it is routinely classified as a Bomb]! Opposite our Cafeteria at the Bishop Han Theological Seminary, [Malaybalay, Bukidnon, Mindanao Island, The Philippines] you will see 2 "Q" [kiosks] where students like to drink coffee & rest in hammocks after meals. Let’s walk down towards my room, past various tropical fruit trees [thanks to a

former Dean's Hobby]: banana, mangosteen, rambutan, soursop/guayábana, pomelo, durian, & guava! On the other side of my room, is a grove of Rubber Trees... regularly tapped; next field North is dedicated to sugar-cane, with sweet corn off to our South. Red-Orange Caterpillars larger than my index finger are prowling a kiosk, I've heard that Giant Geckos ["toka"] live in the walls at the basketball court. Rev. Mark Kevin Nebran, BHTS Registrar & professor, shares an outer door & hallway [with a refrigerator] with me, as well as an Outhouse [3 tiny spaces: sink area, shower, & flush-toilet], but we have separate quarters. Except for Tarawa, it’s the smallest accommodation I've had. I usually have a full apartment, or [twice] an entire house to live in. We are in the down-hill-half-storey beneath the Men's Dormitory, beside [partly-retired] M.D. & UMC Bishop Leo Soriano's Apartment taking up the Southern side. He teaches part-time: OT Survey [1st Years] & Prophetic Writings [3rd Years]. His son-in-law is a new Seminarian, & also lives in their larger apartment now. I bought a school-desk for Kevin and Cherry Ann Nebran's four-year-old son Matthew. That delighted him!

4:30 AM: BHTS Students sing “Mañanitas” to me on my Birthday (a lovely tradition from Spain)!

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"Under the Durian Tree"… Our Campus Tour continued… Upstairs live fifteen men [Prof. David Anota and 14 seminarians]; past the Cafeteria & towards the Chapel is the Women's Dormitory [Sec'y Nanette Olivo & 14 seminarians] live there... opposite a hammock-less pair of kiosks. Two carports are attached to Cafeteria & Chapel, for school & private cars. It has NOT been "a quiet month" for me & my Bukid Home Companions. Aug. 5th we had an Earthquake (Magnitude 6) with a bit of our chapel roof landing in its gardens. Torrential Flooding has plagued several provinces as two typhoons have swept past Northern Luzon. Ozamis City Mayor & Vice-Mayor were gunned down in a Police Raid against their methamphet-amine dealing. And the Parliament has said OK to President Duterte's request to extend Martial Law for all Mindanao all of 2017. When I preached at the Philippines Army Base ì in Cagayan de Oro, two soldiers wounded in Marawi City's warfare attended. I have renewed my visa twice & all four of my classes are progressing well. A student finially solved the mystery of my pathetic "pocket-wi-fi" service: it was set on "4G" (the local "Globe" agent knew that we only have "3G"). That's why I only had web-access for 6 days out of the two months we had paid for. The correction should let me resume Teaching Bible Classes in Pakistan starting in September. I spend my early mornings in prayer and Scripture Reading. I've finished Genesis in Hebrew & I Corinthians in Greek (that completes my second trek through the Greek NT); then I read both chapters in Luther's German Bibel!

My Research includes T.V. Sitoy's History of Christianity in the Philippines: Vol. 1 mentions a salimbal tradition among Bukidnon Manobo [like our Salimbaa]! Several of my shorter books & papers are now available in the BHTS Library. Middlers in Homiletics have finished their first {of three} rounds of sermons; Juniors have studied Poetry {through hymns} and John Wesley's model Prose; Seniors are researching Unreached Indigenous Peoples for three assignments. Mid-Term Exams are scheduled for August 22-25 [in-between two holidays]. Our Student-Retreat in July was at a Benedictine Monastery (I joined the Monks for their day’s main worship service: Chanting Psalms from 3:40 AM till about 6).

Pray for the Peace of Mindanao The Message of the black T-shirt worn by one of the wounded soldiers says: “Victory in War is spelled L-O-V-E”

- - - - - - - - - A portion of my Sermon involved the Whole Congregation digging into the Biblical Text to grasp Promises Made to those seeking Spiritual Growth,

AKA “Christian Perfection”!

Some Additional Prayer Concerns: For our Librarian: recovering from a dog-bite (swelling, infection, lots of pain).

For a Senior Student hospitalized with “very malignant” Hyper-Thyroidism.

For One of our top students who had to drop out, due to wider-family problems.

For the wife of our Bishop-in-Residence: suffering from kidney disease.

Focus & Stamina for Seminarians writing term-papers and Mid-Term Exams.

ç Patience for me… When Everything seems to be in Cebuana or Tagalog.

Travel Mercies, especially for our Student-Pastors, Commuters, and Staff.

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Hunting Maute: Muslim Terrorists Red-on-top means “WAR” in this Land

Trivia Questions:

NO, not some weird Theological Stance! It is an Evangelical Congregation on a Military Post in Misamis, pastored by an Ex-BHTS PCC Professor, & formerly by ‘my’ UM Bishop/Chaplain Rodolfo Juan.

G.W.F. Hegel on “Higher Criticism”

… Among us [Germans], the so-called “higher criticism” which reigns supreme in the domain of philology, has also taken possession of our historical literature. This “higher criticism” has been the pretext for introducing all the anti-historical monstrosities that a vain imagination could suggest. Here we have the other method of making the past a living reality; putting subjective fancies in the place of historical data; fancies whose merit is measured by their boldness, that is, the scantiness of the particulars on which they are based, and the peremptoriness with which they contravene the best established facts of history.”

from his “Philosophy of History” now published in The Great Books of the Western World, Volume 46, page 156. This explains the demise of “JEPD” & similar twaddle!

July 1st TQ: How many Countries have sitting National Senators who are Professional Boxers, currently holding World Championship Belts for their own, plus Heavier, Weight–Classes?

Answer: As far as I know, only The Philippines: Senator Manny Paquiao, of Mindanao, is THE most popular Champion in this entire Nation.

August TQ: How many of our thirteen United Methodist Seminaries in the USA are located in rural areas [since we’re a rural denomination]? I ask since BHTS is the only Rural Methodist Seminary in The Philippines [the other 2 are up in Metropolitan-Manila and Cabunatuan City].

We’re Training Pastors in a “Pastoral Setting”!

Even though Laguitas is a small village, we DO see the current Dangers and we are taking many precautions… Including armed security guards on campus ‘round the clock” (both at the gate and patrolling the entire campus, by day and by night). “Safety First!”