The Maypa family
As I anticipated the memorial service and burial that would begin in a few hours, I contemplated the high cost of cross-cultural mission service for the Maypa family and many others I’d come to know and love over the years.
I first met the Maypas, originally from the Philippines, in Thailand as they were preparing to serve as cross-cultural missionaries.
Dr. Pacifico Maypa, a surgeon, and his wife, Delie Mae, a nurse, had accepted a call to serve at Yuka Adventist Mission Hospital in Zambia. Their 16-year-old daughter, Carlene, would continue her schooling in the Philippines while their 14-year-old son, El Rej, and their 13-year-old daughter, Kaye, would be homeschooled for at least their first year at Yuka to anchor the family in their new environment.
Yuka Adventist Hospital is some 500 miles west of Lusaka, Zambia’s capital city. It’s remote and exhausting to reach, requiring many hours of travel by plane, bus, and boat. It’s not an easy place to serve, especially for a family with two early teens. But easy wasn’t a priority for either Pacifico or Delie Mae. They were always willing to serve in the most needy and challenging areas.
After their first year at Yuka, El Rej and Kaye attended Maxwell Adventist Academy in Kenya. While Kaye adapted well, El Rej struggled to develop a sense of belonging. I visited them during the school year, and it was clear that El Rej felt isolated and alone. His parents brought him back to Yuka and then decided it would be best for him to return to the Philippines to continue his education.
Kaye graduated from Maxwell Academy and then attended Southwestern Adventist University in Texas. Her mother helped her register and settle in the dorm and left her there to study. Being on three different continents was difficult for the Maypa family. Communication was unreliable at Yuka and only somewhat better when Pacifico and Delie Mae transferred to Akomaa Memorial Adventist Hospital in Ghana. The sadness and loneliness of being separated as a family was hard for each of them.
After six years at Yuka and two years in Ghana, Pacifico and Delie Mae decided it was time to return to the Philippines. Their trip home included a stop in Texas to attend Kaye’s graduation. They were proud of Kaye who had earned a degree in medical laboratory technology and secured a job at Kettering Medical Center in Ohio.
In the Philippines, Pacifico and Delie Mae spent what seemed like too little time with El Rej and Carlene before taking up responsibilities at Calbayog Adventist Hospital, the smallest and poorest Adventist Hospital in the country. They chose to go to Calbayog rather than Palawan Adventist Hospital where they had worked before going to Africa, because the need for a surgeon at Calbayog was so great.
Ten months after relocating to Calbayog, Pacifico and Delie Mae enjoyed a beautiful Friday evening vespers with the hospital staff, singing, praying, and talking together before retiring to their small apartment. It had been a busy week, and they were happy for the Sabbath rest. Just a few hours after they went to bed, Kaye called from Ohio, and they had a long and enjoyable conversation. Around 2:30 AM they said goodbye to each other, and Pacifico and Delie Mae went back to sleep. An hour later, an electrical fire started in their apartment. The flames spread quickly. Pacifico and Delie Mae were unable to get out.
Daniel Lui and Janelle Alder
I traveled to the Philippines in 2023 to provide crisis intervention and psychological support for missionaries serving with Philippine Adventist Medical Aviation Services (PAMAS). PAMAS is a self-supporting medical aviation organization that provides medical evacuations for people living in the remote mountainous regions of Palawan. I was asked to go to the PAMAS base near Brooks Point after their medical relief helicopter, known throughout much of the Philippines as the Yellow Bee, disappeared.
When the call came to transport a patient in need of emergency medical care, helicopter pilot Daniel Lui and nurse Janelle Alder quickly responded. Andrew Hosford, also a mission pilot with PAMAS, tracked the flight. When the Yellow Bee’s signal suddenly stopped and he was unable to contact the helicopter, he organized a search team. Pilots throughout the region converged at Brooks Point and systematically combed the area where the Yellow Bee sent out its last signal. When I arrived, the pilots had given up the aerial search but still gathered at Brooks Point to search the numerous nearby islands. They found Janelle’s shoes and a cushion the patient had brought on board but no trace of the helicopter or its passengers.
Daniel’s parents, Dr. Gordon and Janet Lui, were on site when I arrived. They had been missionaries at Hong Kong Adventist Hospital. Growing up as a missionary kid, Daniel had developed a passion for sharing the gospel and helping people in areas of the world with the greatest need. Although he had served as a medical relief helicopter pilot in Palawan for the past seven years, he and his wife, Prima, a resident physician, had been married only two years when the Yellow Bee sent out its last signal.
Janelle’s parents, Mark and Cheryl Alder, and her four younger brothers came to Palawan a few days after I arrived. Mark was a pilot, and both he and Cheryl supported Janelle’s decision to become a missionary flight nurse. They had lived many years in Alaska where Mark had worked as a civil engineer and his job often required him to travel the state in a small plane. One summer, he and Janelle traveled together, she as his assistant, inspecting bridges and roads. From a young age, Janelle had a love for sharing the gospel and helping people. Living and working on Palawan fit who Janelle was and what she believed God had called her to do. She and Andrew (Hosford) shared a passion for mission and were planning a future together. Andrew had intended to ask Janelle’s parents for her hand in marriage the next time they were together.
While with the PAMAS missionaries, I was touched by the willingness of the pilots and their families to risk their own lives to serve others. Each was keenly aware that what happened to Daniel and Janelle could happen to them.
The Bellosillo family
While in Palawan, I visited Elma Bellosillo and her two daughters, Fem and Joy and her son LJ, as well as Joy’s husband and sons. Elma’s daughters are both physicians, like their late father, Dr. Manuel Bellosillo, and both work at Adventist Hospital Palawan.
Manuel and Elma were long-term missionaries, who served cross-culturally for more than 32 years. They spent their first 11 years at Yuka. Fem
and Joy attended Maxwell Academy, and when LJ left home to go to Maxwell, the Bellosillos left Yuka and continued to serve throughout Africa and Asia for the next 21 years.
When the pandemic started in March of 2020, they were serving in Cameroon. Even though most foreigners returned to their home countries as borders closed and air traffic ceased, the Bellosillos stayed. The workload was heavy, and the demands were high, but Manuel continued to serve. In May, he contracted malaria, and before he had fully recovered, he tested positive for COVID. This was an extremely challenging time for Elma as well as Fem, Joy, and LJ. Early in the pandemic, the disease was poorly understood and treatments were extremely limited. With his health compromised, Dr. Bellosillo succumbed to the virus more quickly than anyone anticipated. Not even Elma could visit him and he, like many others, died alone—the first Seventh-day Adventist missionary in active service to die of COVID.
The Roberts family
Ten years ago, I traveled to Papua, Indonesia, to support my good friend, Jan Roberts and the aviation team that she and her husband, Bob, had led for more than 22 years. On the morning of April 9, 2014, Bob’s plane had crashed on takeoff killing Bob and one other passenger.
Bob and Jan were long-term missionaries. I got to know them in Africa before they went to Papua. Their sons Eric and Gary were teenagers, and their daughter Stephanie was a toddler when they moved from Zaire [DRC] to Papua in 1992. As the longest-serving mission pilot in our denomination, Bob was experienced, having flown over some of the most difficult terrain on earth. I didn’t make it in time for his funeral, but the sense of loss among the whole community was palpable when I arrived.
When I met with Jan, she told me that she had begun each day with the realization and acceptance that Bob might not return. Of course, she grieved, but not as many others do. She saw what had happened as a part of the package she had signed up for in marrying Bob and accepting a call to missions. Like our Savior, it was a part of taking up the cross that she had been asked to bear.
The Roberts children, Eric, Gary, and Stephanie, all grew up in the mission field, aware of the risks involved yet choosing to serve as missionaries themselves. Like their father, Eric and Gary were both mission pilots.
As a family, the Roberts understood well the high cost of cross-cultural mission service. Gary and his wife, Wendy, were serving in Chad when their four-year-old son, Kaleb, died of malaria in 2009. Gary and Wendy grieved as they buried their son by the runway there in Chad. Like our Savior, they shared in the suffering of the people they had gone to serve, people who frequently lost children to malaria. After Bob’s death, Gary, Wendy, and their daughter Cherise left Chad and moved to Papua to continue the mission there.
In June of 2024, while feeling physically strong and energetic, Gary began experiencing symptoms that neither he nor Wendy could explain. To find out what was wrong required getting medical care outside Papua. Upon arrival in the States, Gary was diagnosed with two glioblastoma brain tumors and died one month later. Wendy and 18-year-old Cherise now face the challenge of building a life without Gary.
The death of a parent and spouse is always hard, but it is particularly hard when that loss entails the loss of one’s home, identity, and way of life. Gary and Wendy had built their lives serving God cross-culturally. Cherise has never lived in the United States. The cost of cross-cultural mission service is disproportionately high for missionary kids, particularly those who lose a parent.
Gary’s brother, Eric, and his wife, Heidi, having worked in Papua themselves for more than 20 years, understand well the demands and challenges of the work there. Leaving their two sons behind, Eric has already returned and Heidi will join him soon. Before he died, Gary shared details of the work that will enable Eric to more effectively carry on the mission and legacy of the Roberts family.
The Villagomez family
Before leaving Manila in 2023, I met Lorraine Villagomez and her son Matthew. Unfortunately, I never had the privilege of meeting Lorraine’s husband, Johnny, who had died several weeks before.
Johnny had grown up as a missionary kid in East Africa. When he and Lorraine received a call to Kenya, Johnny was delighted. He loved Africa and was happy to return with his wife and their 15-year-old son, Matthew.
Eleven months after arriving in Kenya, Johnny had a fatal heart attack and died on the campus of the University of East Africa, where he and Lorraine both served. Lorraine and Matthew decided to bury Johnny there on the campus.
Several months later, I stood with Lorraine by Johnny’s grave and grieved with her. I sat with Lorraine and Matthew in their home as they shared the challenges they were facing as cross-cultural missionaries without their beloved husband and father. Remaining in Kenya after Johnny’s death has not been easy. I personally know the pain of burying a husband in Africa and the challenges of being a widow and single mother.
Yes, cross-cultural mission service is costly. It has always been costly. But for the Maypa, Lui, Alder, Bellosillo, Roberts, and Villagomez families, the cost has been particularly high. As followers of Jesus, we are all asked to take up our cross and to follow Him. None of us know what that cross will entail but we know and can trust the One who invited us to take it up.
Photos courtesy of Ann Hamel and the family and friends of those honored in this article.