Story of Pepito

To understand Pepito you must understand the extreme poverty of many in the Philippines and where he lives. It is a mountainous region nearest to Initao in Northern Mindanao. Initao is a small town between Cagayan De Oro and Iligan City. Cagayan is on the northern most edge of the Island.


Here is a picture of Cagayan at night.




By traveling about 70KM south out of Cagayan along the coast you will pass thru Initao and eventually reach Iligan City.

To get to where Pepito lives you must travel north from Initao about 15 miles and then turn east and begin to climb up the mountain for about 15-20 miles. The view is beautiful, there are coconut trees and sometimes the road will curve and you will see the ocean on the horizon.

The day we traveled here was beautiful. We hired a "jeepney" to drive us as far back as he could, there were about 15 of us who made this journey. The road was very bumpy and hard to drive on. It was extremely hot but all were glad for the cool breeze in our faces from the moving jeepney. Eventually the jeepney came to a stop and we began to walk down another road. It looked as if we would walk about a half mile down a very steep road. About 2/3 of the way to the bottom we turned off the road and walked up a foot-path. We walked about 50 yards and it opened up into a clearing. What I saw with my eyes was a scene of horror. There were many people who were sick. Some had TB, and were skin and bone. I knew if they did not get a miracle that day....they would not live another week.

I hope I describe the remoteness of where we were at...it was miles and miles from the nearest ANYTHING. The Filipinos do not own cars. They are much too expensive for them to own and gas is about 33 pesos a liter, over $4 a gallon. They simply cannot afford to buy a car and to keep gas in it. Therefore, the whole nation commutes. There are jeepneys (long truck like vehicles with benches that will seat about 25), motorela, motorcycles, and bicycles with side cars. All charge a few pesos to ride, more for a longer distance.

Pepito and his family live so far out in the mountains that they must walk to every place they need to go, and then hire some sort of transportation. When they survive on a few pesos a month...it can become so expensive they cannot make the journey.

Many in Iligan City want to attend church each week but they cannot afford the fare.

Here are a couple of the pictures of the huts that are Pepito's home and house church pastored by his father, Pastor Mario Saluna. The family sleeps in a loft above the church.






Filipinos love to serve their visitors food. They will prepare the best dinner they can afford. The day we visited Pastor Saluna he did not have food for us, instead he gathered coconuts and served them. I drank fresh coconut water for the first time. When I was leaving the church Pastor Saluna gave me a roster. It was his best offering, I received it like it was a thousand dollars...to him it was.

I prayed for all the people there. There were several who had TB and many who had other diseases that are caused by mal-nutrition, I saw a baby with a large tumor on the back of its head. There was a young man playing a cheap made in China guitar. It was about a $5 guitar but somehow he made good music, they played and worshiped God for an hour.

When I finally had the chance to pray for Pepito the Lord told me to anoint him for the ministry. I got out my anointing oil and put it on his head and pulled off his shoes and socks and anointed his feet. We cried and prayed together. Pepito cannot speak English. The schools are free for children, but if they cannot get to them because they are too far to walk, or if they have to try to sell to earn money for rice, then they will not be in school. Pepito has not learned English, so he has not been able to be in school. I was talking to him thru an interpreter. I wanted so badly to give him something. My bible, no he cannot read English. My MP3 player, no, he does not have a computer. So I gave him a new handkerchief as an anointed cloth. I told him to keep it as a memorial for the day he was anointed to preach and to remember that he has a spiritual father, who loved him like a son and would be praying for him. He cried and was thanked me for praying for him. He had broken his leg and the pin was coming out...but the government will not operate on him a second time, they would have to pay before the operation.




I prayed for him that the pin would be dissolved and that God would give him a miracle so that he would be able to walk.

Pepito began to talk.....
He told me thru the interpreter that he had been approaced by two organized churches. One said they would give him a house and cow if he joined them. Another told him that if he would join them they would send him to school. But he told me, "there is only one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all." I told him, "what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul." He said that he would not compromise the "gospel of Jesus Christ" for money. He told me that he had preached one time before, and that he was going to start preaching again, but being hit by a car and breaking his leg had prevented him from being able to walk to go preach.

Pray for Pepito. The last report I heard was that he and other members of Pastor Saluna's church and been able to travel to Iligan and give testimony of the many miracles they received while I was with them. I pray that Peptio is preaching the Word with power and that his leg is well. My prayer is that I see him again soon.