LUSK – Prairie Hills pastor Ty DesEfnfants and five other members of his church recently spent 10 days in the Philippines helping local villages and tribes.

Accompanying DesEnfants was his daughter, Evelyn DesEnfants, and his father, Greg DesEnfants. Rounding out the group of sojourners and Mike Taylor and Callie Taylor.

DesEnfants said this was the second trip he and some of his members had taken to the Philippines. The reason for these trips was to spread the gospel to the ends of the Earth. This was Evelyn’s first trip.

“My wife and I wanted to be able to travel with our girls to see the world,” DesEnfants said.

During this trip to the Philippines, they traveled to two main islands to help local villages and indigenous tribes. The first island they spent time on was the island of Bohal. The second island was Mindoro.

While on Bohal, they spent time volunteering at a medical clinic and taught songs to preschool kids. Of course, the recitation of lyrics was complicated by the inescapable language barrier. Nevertheless, that barrier was traversed astride the faith DesEnfants and his fellow travelers shared with other Filipino Christians. DesEnfants and company also delivered coloring books, crayons and bookbags to the preschoolers.   

DesEnfants spent time at a few churches attended by local tribes.

During their time at a medical clinic, they became acquainted with the deep spiritual and physical needs of the community.

“There’s no shortage of medical needs, but they are short on supplies” DesEnfants said.

Not only are supplies scarce. So is staff. A dentist and a midwife come to the clinic once a week. Doctors and nurses are there throughout the week. Callie Taylor, who aspires to be a midwife herself, spent an entire day at the clinic and experienced the privation firsthand.

DesEnfants relied on a network of connections with local church pastors and their families. These connections were initially forged in 2016 through the Converge church movement.

Of the 2016 trip, DesEnfants said, “It was a wonderful trip. We made some real connections with the people.”

According to DesEnfants, the most recent stay in the Philippines gave them to opportunity to reconnect with the same people they met in 2016. For DeEnfants, that reconnection fulfilled a deep yearning of the heart.

“We really love them,” DesEnfants said. “They are really great friends.”

Every year, DesEnfants and his church participate in Operation Christmas, which sends presents overseas to less fortunate children. According to DesEnfants, present delivery to preschools has been complicated by linguistic disparities.

Throughout their time in the Philippines, they met up with old friends and made new friends. During a presentation at their church Prairie Hills Community Church the four sojourners spoke of their experiences. A common theme was how inviting and giving the people were, even though they had very little to give. The people gave all they had. Another advantage was the food and how the Philippine’s always had meals cooked waiting for them after a long day. They made lasting relationships with several pastors and their families during their time. At the end of their time, one pastor gathered several other of his brothers in Christ and had huge feast as a sendoff for them. The next morning when they were ready to leave, they found out that all of visiting pastors and their wives had slept over that night as well just to see them off. 

DesEnfants and his family moved to Lusk in 2015 and established Prairie Hills Community Church. They recently completed their new Community Center where they not only host church services but several events throughout the week, playing hosts to school children, adult bible studies and now a recovery meeting once a week. To learn more about Prairie Hills Community Church visit www.prairiehillschurch.com.

Church services are held on Sunday at Prairie Hills Community Church at 10 a.m. at 635 East 8^th Street.