CONFUSED and unsatisfied, young Swiss couple Richard and Miriam Derrer gathered their courage to step out of their normal living, being both professionals in Switzerland, and left their country for a better life in the Philippines.
In 2008, the Derrers felt the call to respond to the existing famine and poverty issues in Asia. “God has put a burden for us to serve him in Asia yet we were unsure which country He has called us to go,” Richard, 32, said.
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“It took a long process of prayer and waiting until deciding to go to the Philippines,” he added.
“We met a friend from our church who arrived from a mission trip in Manila. Hearing his testimony seems like God was speaking to us to pursue our desire to have our mission trip in the Philippines,” Miriam, 31, shared.
Immediately after the church service, the newlyweds went to the missionary and asked him about his ministry in the Philippines. The couple was referred to Operation Mobilisation (OM)–Switzerland.
OM is an international missions organization with ministries focused on land work, ship, and the like. It is the umbrella organization of the world’s oldest passenger ship and floating bookstore, M/V Doulos and a new one, M/V Logos Hope.
The Derrers arrived in Cebu City in 2008 to join local missionaries of OM in reaching out to children and teens with its ministries. The couple’s short mission trip commitment turned out to be a long-term endeavor to serve God through His work in Cebu.
“We came here for one year. We were involved in so many ministries in OM that we decided to extend our mission trip,” Richard said.
Richard said most children in Cebu that OM is reaching out lack love, “they don’t experience love from their families… In my heart I asked God to use us in community development and to transform these people’s attitudes and life for a deeper purpose.”
Richard recalled that when he was 14 years old, life was too easy for him. He said he didn’t care much about anything and did some wrong things. “But my parents never stopped praying for me despite my bad and careless attitude.”
He said his parents enrolled him in a missions camp “forcibly.” It was in the camp that Richard found God and knew Him deeper. He said his life changed after that.
Richard and Miriam said their life testimony during their teenage years is a living hope for the young people in Cebu, through OM teen’s ministry, to know that moving against the flow and standing out from others is the best way to live life worthy for God.
With the young couple’s passion for the ministry, in 2009 they formally studied the Cebuano language and lived in a mountain barangay under a local family to practice the language fluently.
“It is really important to learn the language especially that we are reaching out to the locals,” they said, and both agree they are now Cebuanos at heart (in the Cebuano language).
Although the couple has to return once in a while to Switzerland for legal obligations, they said Cebu and its people have a special place in their hearts and they would always long to come back over and over again.
“Our presence here is to encourage locals who are truthfully committed to help those in need. Locals have advantages with their natural attachment with the culture and language.
We are happy to be a helping hand to local missionaries here and help other Cebuanos see and get involved in the ministry God has set to them,” the couple said.
About the couple:
Richard and Miriam are now both fluent in Cebuano language. They are also good at bargaining goods, especially in carbon market - the couple’s favorite “shopping center.” (Joy Eva Bohol)
