Reunion in the Philippines

Thirty one years ago Gary Barto, a veteran electrician serving on the Doulos, responded to a World Vision appeal and began to sponsor an 8-year-old Filipina orphan each month. After some time Gary actually got to meet Flordeliza when he went to the Philippines to do some telephone work at a Christian radio station. He continued to correspond with the girl for another seven years, but then his letters were returned unopened and he lost track of her.

This March, when the Doulos tied up in Manila, Gary tried again to find his lost friend—and finally discovered her working in a clinic. Flordeliza was now 39 and had been a midwife for 18 years, delivering about 20 babies a month for poor mothers who cannot afford to go to a hospital. When Gary saw her she was still holding a 4-hour old baby she had just delivered. The mother could not take care of him, and had given him to Flordeliza as she left.

“God is good!” exclaims Gary. “When she recognized me, all she could say was, ‘Oh my goodness.’ It was a wonderful reunion.” Praise God for the ways God uses his people, and for bringing Gary and Flordeliza together again for a mutual blessing.

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