After an exhausting Sunday treating perhaps 70 patients, nurse Ellen Grace (from Mindanao, Philippines) saw a young man approaching with a rattan pack on his back. Her heart sank. Not another patient! As Abi unloaded his cargo onto the clinic porch, Ellen Grace saw it was his aging father, Sunganan. Ellen Grace examined Sunganan, diagnosed typhoid and began treating him. He was very sick and required a lot of care. Ellen Grace was glad for the new student missionary nurses who had just arrived.

Within a few days, Sunganan’s fever had abated, but Ellen Grace was still concerned that he still wasn’t eating very much and not sitting up. Then he started complaining about heart pain and showing some signs of impending heart failure. As Ellen Grace and the other nurses continued caring for him, they began talking with him about the possibility of death and the need to be prepared spiritually.

One day, Sunganan began having heart pains that wouldn’t resolve with medication, and he cried out in severe pain. Knowing the end was near, the nurses called for the high-school students and teachers to come and sing and pray for Sunganan. As they surrounded him, singing songs, praying and caring for him, Kent asked him if he would like to invite Christ into his heart, and he said he would.

Seeing their father in pain was traumatic for his children, Abi, Nuwi (a teacher in our school) and Hilin (one of our high-school students). Eventually, his pain resolved, and he was able to rest. After about 24 hours of IV medication, Sunganan perked up a bit. His children were able to be with him for several more days. It was a time of closure. Also, we were able to talk with him quite a bit about the Lord. Nuwi teaches a branch Sabbath School near Sunganan’s home, so he had some knowledge of the Gospel. It was thrilling when he acknowledged that he wanted Christ in his heart. He told his children that he did not want a traditional funeral; he wanted a Christian one. And so, when he died a few days later, we were able to minister to Sunganan’s family from a clearly Christian perspective and to give him the burial he had requested.

In a Christian Palawano funeral, the family first makes a request to the owner of the land where they wish to bury their loved one. At the same time, several people hike to the various family homesteads, often several hours away, to notify them of the death. They also request permission from the relatives to go ahead with the burial—a formality that is never denied. When the family gathers, they discuss who will dig, where they will get the needed materials and other logistical matters.

For Sunganan’s funeral, the church members and family dug the grave together. Some men cut bamboo and covered the floor of the grave with it to keep the body off the dirt floor. They put Sunganan’s body on a stretcher, covered it with a clean white sheet and carried it to the burial site. They carefully lowered the body onto the bamboo slats and placed more bamboo over it, taking special care that no dirt would hit the face. During the burial, a number of Christians sang song after song, setting a mood of surrender to the will of God and hopefulness in His soon coming and resurrection. After the bamboo was in place, the grave was filled with dirt. Kent gave a homily about the state of man in death, the blessed hope of a new life in Christ at the resurrection and the joy of heaven and the New Earth. After reading a few verses, another song and a prayer, everyone quietly went back down to the clinic. Sunganan’s wife was waiting there, having decided not to watch the burial (this is not unusual here). Earlier in the day, food had been prepared for the family as a gesture of caring. After eating, they went home in a contemplative mood.

We are grateful for the opportunities we are given to share our hope in the Lord. We are grateful for Sunganan’s children who are all believers and faithful followers of Christ. We believe Sunganan will be part of our heavenly family, and we are grateful for the mercy God showed in giving him a few more days of life to prepare to meet his Lord.

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