Chitse Magaspag, a devout Roman Catholic, was in her last year in chemical engineering at Colegio de San Agustin – Bacolod City, when she heard the teaching of the cross in one of their school in campus bible studies. She was struck by the message of the cross and realized that Christ’s death on the cross was especially for her. She became a Christ’s follower through this bible study. Her new found joy in Christ led her to be involved in joining the IVCF chapter in the campus, sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ and participating in all IV activities in the campus. Chitse also attended leadership trainings and conferences and became a student leader in the campus. She also started going to Ebenezer Christian Reformed Church in Bacolod.
After graduation, while reviewing for her chemical engineering board exam, she volunteered to be a Grad Team member. She served as GT both in high school and college for five terms from 1987-1994. She stayed in IV Home in Bacolod, where she experienced living with Christians, being nurtured, mentored and discipled by IVCF staff in Bacolod. Slowly, Chitse’s gifts and skill were being honed for service and her vision for God and His work in the world was widening. The time came, when she decided to be involved in full time missionary work.
Chitse Magaspag is now a missionary of Christian Reformed Church in the Philippines (CRCP) serving with the Translators Association of the Philippines (TAP) and Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL), part of Wycliffe Bible Translators International (WBTI).
“How can a person know and experience the love and salvation of the Lord Jesus Christ if there’s no Bible written in their own language?” This question challenged her when she visited Cambodia in 1997. This led her to join fulltime in Bible Translation ministry where she is involved in language assessment, translation, literacy, and community development among the people groups who do not have the Bible in their own language.
Her experiences as a Chemical Engineer, a missionary in the mountain tribes, a church deacon, a researcher and a community development facilitator prepared her for mission work. She finished her academic training on Bible Translation and Applied Linguistics at the Alliance Graduate School (AGS) and M.A. in Linguistics at Philippine Normal University (PNU). For her field training, she lived among the Butbut tribe in Kalinga, Philippines. She learned how to analyze their language, their culture, and translate a portion of the Bible and teach them how to read and write in their own language. She also had opportunity to join the field training in Chiang Mai, Thailand with SIL.
In mid 2004, she has been seconded to SIL – Mainland Southeast Asia Group (MSEAG) assigned in Cambodia. She did language assessment for almost four years among the ethnic/tribal minority groups to identify the literacy and translation needs. She trained other colleagues to do language assessment as well. At present, she is assigned as an advisor/consultant of Ratanakiri Integrated Development and Education (RIDE) project of International Cooperation Cambodia (ICC) where SIL is one of the member agencies. Her vision is to see lives transformed through the sharing of God’s Word, His love and salvation through translation, literacy and community development work.
Chitse asks prayers for:
• Good relationship with my new team – expats and locals. Also, support group of friends.
• God’s provision for a motorbike. It is needed when I visited in different villages.
• Good health – God’s protection against malaria, dengue, and other prevalent sicknesses in the province.
• Provision for my monthly needs in Cambodia. Partners who will pledge for my medical and life insurance – this includes evacuation and repatriation. This is required by our organization.
• My nephew – Shem – that God would bring real transformation in his life. God’s wisdom for parents as they guide Shem in God’s way.
• The minority people groups in Cambodia would have access to God’s Word in the language that they understand best.
• Continued growth as a servant of the Lord especially that I would keep my eyes firmly fixed upon Him.
If you want to send a letter of encouragement to Chitse, please write her at:
International Cooperation for Cambodia (ICC)
P.O. Box 612, Phnom Pench, Cambodia
Website: www.icc.org.kh
If you are led by God to send some monetary support to Chitse for her medical insurance, MEANS has made a special arrangement with Ebenezer Christian Reformed Church, Bacolod City, Philippines for Chitse’s support to reach Cambodia. Make your check payable to MEANS and in a separate note write for Chitse’s support. MEANS address is: P.O. Box 8434 Bartlett, IL 60103-8434, Bartlett, IL USA
Article contributed by:
Chitse Magaspag and Lina Padilla