Skip Navigation

Redirected for a Purpose

By Phil and Barb Klumpp, USA

It was one of the darkest, most confusing times of our lives. We had spent a year raising support to return to the Philippines, but on September 6, 2005, the door closed for us. For the sake of our children, our local church felt that we needed to stay longer in the US. After ministering there for over twenty years, the Philippines was our adopted country, and the Filipinos were our adopted people. What purpose could the Lord have in not allowing us to go back?

Opening our eyes

During this time of disappointment, a friend said to us, “If you can’t go to the Philippines, why not go where the Filipinos are?” At that time, we only knew one Filipina in the area, but the Lord led us from one contact to another, and soon we were meeting groups of Filipinos as we visited Philadelphia, New York City, and New Jersey. Filipino pastors in these areas were helpful to us as we researched where the biggest groups of Filipinos are and where work for the Lord is already being done among them.     

In our travels, we learned that internationals are extremely lonely when they first arrive in the States and that this time in their lives is a key time to share the love of Christ with them. We already knew that Filipinos love to get together with their own people to play games and just have fun. Every Bible study and church service we visited involved a potluck of Philippine food; therefore we’ve eaten more Philippine delicacies (including balut, a boiled egg that is ready to hatch) in these last several months in the US than we ever ate in the Philippines! The first months were fun as we made new friends, but we knew that we needed to share the gospel with the lost. So we were excited when in October, 2005, we were able to lead two Filipina ladies to Christ in Philadelphia.    

Continuing to work with our contacts in Philadelphia, we marveled as we saw the Lord provide a building for one of the Filipino groups. A once empty building is alive again with voices of children, songs of worship, and sounds of fellowship, and we’re sure this is the first time that delicacies like frog, eel, and balut have been served there!

Finding our new mission field

Closer to home in nearby Lancaster, Pennsylvania, we heard that a large hospital had recently hired thirty Filipino nurses who had moved to the area with their families. We pondered how we could share Christ with them. First, we left our names and phone numbers so they could call us, but no one did. We then decided to plan a Maligayang Pasko (Merry Christmas) party, complete with a roast pig, and invite them to come. We sent thirty invitations to the hospital, but since the hospital did not know us, they would not pass out the invitations. At this point we didn’t know what to do.     

Once again the Lord did something amazing, when a neighbor came to our house asking for sugar. We started talking, and she mentioned that her husband knew the CEO of Human Resources at the hospital. When we contacted the CEO, he immediately passed out the invitations, and over thirty adults came to our first evangelistic outreach. Even more came for a Valentine’s Day party. Since then, we have started volunteering one morning a week at the hospital so that we can get to know the Filipinos individually.     

In My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers wrote: “Ministering in everyday opportunities that surround us does not mean that we select our own surroundings—it means being God’s very special choice to be available for use in any of the seemingly random surroundings which He has engineered for us.” Although we initially did not choose these surroundings, the Lord gave back to us what we missed the most about the Philippines—the opportunity to minister among the Filipino people. For this we praise His name.