Because of His Grace…(brief story of me)

Because of His Grace…
I came from a Kalanguya village. Before I was born, three of my siblings died while still young. My parents believed that evil spirits were taking their children from them. When I was born, my parents decided to name me after the missionary, Robert Bagley from Australia, who was living in our village. As soon as I was born, a cloth was wrapped around me and I was given to someone who walked around the house and said, “This is the baby from the missionary.” In doing this, my parents believed they could confuse the spirits and protect me. My parents were not Christians then, but they had a growing respect for the God of the missionary and His power.
When I was four months old, I got very sick. My parents were told that I had a fifty-fifty chance of living. My grandparents and parents had a ceremony with animal sacrifices to try to appease the spirits. Robert Ambrosius, a New Tribes missionary from Alabama, saw people gathered around for the ceremony when he was out walking in the village. He encouraged my parents to bring me to him for medicine as I showed symptoms of a serious fever and dehydration. My parents allowed me to be treated with the missionary’s medicine and I got better. Later, when the missionary and witch doctor saw each other, the witch doctor claimed that his sacrifices had caused me to be healed (which our missionary of course disagreed). God used this situation in the life of my parents. Later, they came to understand that bacteria had affected my body and that God had used medicine to heal me. The missionary who gave medication said I almost died. I had a 50/50 chance of living. As you know, He made me lived. This is one of the reasons why I love missionaries for without the missionaries (who obeyed) so that our souls can be saved (and physical body/ies as well) I would not be around waling. thank you missionaries!

My mother became a believer when I was around seven. My father didn’t go to church, but he allowed my mother to take their seven children. Unfortunately, my father sometimes came under the influence of evil spirits that caused him to fly into fits of rage. This resulted in a temporary separation. Eventually he returned home, and in 2000 he became a believer. Now that my father belongs to Christ, I have observed a great difference in his life, especially in the way he relates to people.
In 1985, while in college, someone from Campus Crusade for Christ shared the gospel with me. I understood the gospel clearly for the first time and knew that I was saved. I completed a Master of Divinity Degree at World Missions Seminary in the Philippines and was a pastor for eight years.
I was invited to attend a translation workshop in 2003. Through this experience, I felt burdened to help with the translation. The Kalanguya New Testament had been completed in 1983. Nineteen books of the Old Testament have already been printed and are being used.
As many of you know, on April 7, 2007, God blessed me with a beautiful wife and partner in the ministry. In October of this year, I’ll be done with my M.A. in Community Development at Alliance Graduate School in Manila. I’m also interested in ministering to other countries in Asia someday. After school, we plan to minister in my tribe before going to another country as the Lord leads. For having been spared from death while I was young, I know the Lord meant it for greater use.
For those that do not know, my website is http//:bet-ew.blogspot.com our picasa web to view our wedding pictures is http://picasaweb.google.com/baglyandesther