George and Marissa Navarro - Philippines
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George, Marissa, and their children are serving on the island of Mindoro. |
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The Island of Mindoro 
The Island of Mindoro is the seventh-largest island in the Philippines and is located in Luzon, and northeast of Palawan. Mindoro is made up of rough hills and flood plains. Oriental Mindoro’s land is very suited to agriculture. The island is known for its production of large quantities of rice, corn, coconut, and a huge variety of such as citrus, bananas, lanzones, rambutan, and coconuts, such cereals as rice and maize, sugar cane, peanuts, fish (catfish, milkfish, tilapia), livestock, and poultry. Logging and the mining of marble and copper also thrive.
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 Mindoro has no absolute wet or dry season, the temperature ranges from an average of 26 to 32 degrees Celsius. Most of the rainfall takes place between June and October, and the year round relative humidity is about 81%. Based on the 2007 Census of Population, Mindoro has the largest population of any province in the region with 735,769 people. The province is mostly rural with 70% of the people employed in agriculture and fishing, only about 30% of the population lives in urban centers. The most comon languages spoken are English and Tagalog.
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The People of Mindoro 
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The people of Mindoro are the Mangyan people. Mangyan is a term that is used in reference to seven ethnolinguistic groups inhabiting most of the highland region of Mindoro. These seven groups are: the Batangan, the Iraya, the Hanunoo, the Alangan, the Ratagon, the Buhid, and the Tadyawan. Each group occupies different locations on the island. The Mangyan settled along the shores of Mindoro Island approximately 600-700 years ago. It is believed that they had come from the southern regions of the archipelago. They were gradually forced to leave their coastal settlements by more aggressive groups. It appears that the Mangyan have traditionally been an unwarlike people, choosing to give up an area uncontested rather than fight for it. Mangyans find themselves with increasingly less space in which to conduct their age-old subsistence activities. Since the Mangyan are swidden farmers, their spiritual beliefs are related to their means of livelihood. Agricultural rites suggest the importance of farming and the belief in spiritual beings or forces that can influence a good harvest. The religion of the indigenous Mangyan population is animism. Animism refers to the belief that non-human entities are spiritual beings, or at least embody some kind of life principle. Animism includes the belief that there is no separation between the: spiritual and physical worlds and souls and spirits exist not only in humans, but also in all other animals, plants, rocks, natural phenomena such as thunder, geographic features like mountains or rivers etc. |
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For more information about the Mangyan people visit:
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Prayer Requests
? Pray for George while he is in the States raising money to build a Bible institute to train Philippine men for the ministry. Amount needed: $55,000.00
? Pray for Marissa and the children while George is away
? Pray that George can obtain a vehicle to drive to meetings while he is in the U.S. |
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Missionary - George Navarro
