What is life like being a foreign missionary?, you may be wondering. Well, sometimes it is a nice day living on one of God's most beautifully created islands with not much being asked of you except to relax and enjoy the quietness (like when we first got here). Then, there's weeks like this past one. Both ways are part of His plan.
Monday-- Normal schedule shows that this is the day when we all, minus Maddie, visit a day care center for 2-4 year olds and sing a quick song before a teaching of God's Truth. This week Fr. Joe called up and asked for us to go with him to St. James Chapel for the patron saint's Fiesta Mass. We agreed to have Stacie and Meredith stay behind and be with the young-uns while I took the boys (yes, even Julian. I was feeling brave). The Mass went well and then the chapel was cleared for the meal. Wouldn't you know that right before Fr. Joe was to say the blessing his celly goes off? And wouldn't you also know that right after saying “Oh, I gotta take this call. Very important. I will hand it over to our chaplain now (pointing to me).” Well, now you do know. “Come, Holy Spirit.”
Tuesday-- I put the finishing touches on the bunk bed I was building and we all pitched in to get the house ready for our first, unofficial short-term mission group from India and one visitor from Kahayag sa Dyos in Cagayan de Oro. We postponed our teaching on Tuesday at the high school and excused Maddie for the rest of the day so that we could pick up our visitors at the port. We all greeted each other and then headed out to Cantaan's White Beach. It was a super blessed time as we had the entire beach to ourselves. The high winds didn't stop us from having a great time and I thanked God that the rain clouds were swept away. We enjoyed our picnic lunch, fellowship, swimming in the big blue, climbing the coconut trees, and I had a revelation. I finally realized why we curve to one side with our hands pointed together while at the same time singing in the song “I'm Bananas for the Lord”---because we look like bananas! Ohhhhh, 1+1=2!!!!
We finished up at the beach and headed home to rest before going to the convento for dinner courtesy of Fr. Joe's staff. Dinner was excellent and we all accepted Fr.'s offer for transportation for our mountain visit the next day. We settled on being ready early, which for us non-Filipinos means 8am or after. We stayed up late(r) than we normally do. Yes, it was almost 10pm! We talked about biting the snake's backbone to keep it from squeezing the life out of you or something like that because my eyes were getting droopy by then.
Middle of the night comes and the power goes off. Sleeping here is great with the fresh air from the open windows (when it's blowing), but I still need my fan. I tossed and turned and could not get settled in. I finally got up and went to the front porch and lit a candle. It's still hard to believe how dark it gets every time the power goes out. In the open fields of Kansas, we at least had a lot of moonlight to work with. This time I had to use candlelight to pray and to search Scripture for a topic to preach at tomorrow's visit. With the sea breeze at my back and my drowsy eyes, I soon fell asleep and awoke with the candle just a few inches away and no Bible verse or topic in mind. Ok, time for bed. I finally crawled in and fell asleep with my prayer to have the power back on before too long. “Whizzzz..,” the fan clicked on and my sleep was blessed again. Praise the Lord!
Wednesday-- My plan was to wake up before everyone, eat breakfast calmly, and then go shopping for the food supplies at 7am. That didn't happen. I woke up after a few earlier riser-uppers, skipped breakfast, and headed out from the house at about 8am. I then got a text from Father that said we would be leaving at around 9am! “Sure, Father, we'll be ready,” hit the send button and relayed the message to the group. We split up into two groups-- I went with our Indian visitors Nick and Jeremy to get the 60 kilos broken up into 30 bags of 2 kilos each while Susanna and Eric bought the rest of the items like sardines, noodles, brown sugar, and a powdered drink. So, when my group got done, we headed to the store where Susanna was and texted for Father's jeep to pick us up. Ahhh, everything was going well as we were only a few minutes behind schedule. Screeeeecccchhhh! (insert record scratching noise here) Father called us up and said that he had just been invited to attend a speaker's address of our town of Sagay's 102nd Foundation Day Celebration. There was no telling how long he was going to be! Oh, I forgot to mention earlier how this was a real “short-term” trip for our visitors. They were only going to be with us for about 24 hours total! That meant that they had to leave by 2pm to get to the ferry that departed by 3pm! The devil really hates missions. And I mean REALLY hates missions. I say that because after feeling a little relieved to see Father Joe come out of the meeting his news of the 2nd vehicle we were taking was not so good. He said to wait just a little longer because there was something that became loose under the Mad Max. If you have seen Mel Gibson's 80's movie Mad Max, then you can see where this one jeep got it's nickname. Anyway, just another delay. No big deal. It's only 11pm......11pm!!! Time was really flying and we weren't even on the way up yet! Some sacrifices were going to have to be made. The life of a missionary. Carry out your mission, sacrifice all the extras. Yes, we were all ready to give up our lunch to give the poor all the help we could and share with them God's Word. Nothing was going to stop us.
Finally, Fr. Joe tells us of the completed repairs and that there will be a shortcut we can take to the mountain chapel. Most everyone fit in the blue Suzuki as they drove off without me and Nanding and Arlyn Ocaba. We got the newly repaired Mad Max. All in all we were at least 18 hiking that mountain trail. Many slips and near plunges into certain death (just kidding) but we still made it! The scenery the whole way was spectacular. God knows how to give one a boost at the right time. Just as your legs are throbbing from the climb, it levels out into a clear path or He gives you a great view of the sea or of giant rocks where the next rain will turn into a beautiful waterfall. God is good...all the time.
We made it up to the chapel in different spurts. We rested and caught our breath while some served us some green coconuts and coconut water. With one eye on the clock, we finally worked our way into the chapel where the people had already gathered. We read the beginning of Psalm 56. Our theme was about the importance of prayer and how great a gift it is to know that we can always talk to our Lord. He wants us to talk to Him. Have you talked to Him today? He is waiting...
After thinking, “What the heck am I going to talk about today?” it was time for the Holy Spirit to take over. I had my Visayan Bible and had only paraphrased what Psalm 56 was about. I had a little note that read, “God is on our side. Nothing to fear.” That's it! I was so thankful Teresa had brought an English copy so that I could quickly glance over some more of the key words. As I wrapped up, I gave the floor to Susanna and anyone else who wanted to share. Susanna talked about how someone must have prayed to God for help because here we were. It was true. Carrying food, babies, and the Holy Bible through narrow, muddy, and slippery trails and we were all safe! God willed it. I was also blessed by Nick's sharing of how awesome it is to work together. An even greater feeling is when we visit a foreign land and work side by side with other Christians and sharing the Love as God intended- encouraging and building each other up. I definitely felt very blessed and re-energized to be working alongside others who share the same values. Great visit!
The trek back was not as bad as the other. In fact, it went by way faster. I think mostly because by the time we were done praying over the group and distributing the food packs every minute was ticking down. I think we all had an imaginary clock hanging over us in big red letters saying that we were not going to make it. When we reached the parking area, it was a huge relief to see the two jeeps ready to go. Everyone loaded up the same way and Father double-timed it back to our cottage to get everyone's things together and leave immediately for the port. Our quick mission was successfully carried out and God's will triumphed once again over all of our “roadblocks”.
That was still not the end of the day for me. I have been assigned as a lector at Holy Rosary Parish. True, this was a Wednesday night and not as many people were there as at my first time during the 2nd Mass on one Sunday. Still, I want to try my best and sound a little less like a 1st grader reading Exodus and the Responsorial Psalm. It went fairly well and I think most in attendance got the message...probably because they had to listen really hard to what was being said :)
Thursday-- The day started out with my trying hard to connect to a Skype chat session with the home base in Louisiana. I messed up and clicked something accidentally and thought that I had entirely deleted my Skype account. After almost one hour from our scheduled chat, I finally gave up trying to re-load everything and found the original sitting right there on my desktop. At least we'll be ready for our next try.
Father Joe called us to the convento for a quick meeting. He asked us to go with him to the island's capital city of Mambajao to meet the Governor. He really wanted to introduce us to him because of his strong opposition of the Reproductive Health Bill (RH) which is trying to pass into a law that limits a couple to only 2 children per family. Crazy! If something like this would've passed years ago in the States, I never would've been born as Mom was the 5th of 9 children. Anyway, we penciled in the visit.
Stacie's day to teach in the afternoon for one hour. She usually makes lunch for all of us then puts Julian down for his nap. Today was a little different though. While waiting for Maddie to show up for her lunch break, we were surprised to see her coming down the street with 4 of her classmates. We welcomed them up the stairs and invited them to have lunch with us at our table. The lunch breaks here are from about 11:30am- 1:30pm. Many kids live too far from the school to go home for lunch so they bring their lunch and stay in the classroom, using their desk for a table. On this particular day(as they had a few times before), the girls came to eat at our home. Maddie said we might as well expect them to come everyday. Fine with us. The more the merrier. Each brings her own small portion of rice and maybe a sardine or two. If still hungry, they taste a little “American” food.
Friday-- We excused Maddie out of her classes again and headed out to meet the Governor. We drove up and parked within walking distance of his front gate. Apparently, the whole town was there celebrating his birthday! We entered and met his father who is also a Congressman from Manila. Anyway, we shook hands and were invited into his home to share a birthday meal. Everything was very nice and so tasty. Finally, the festivities were starting to pick up steam as different singers took the stage to show their karaoke skills. Then, all of Camiguin's 5 priests were asked to go up and sing the traditional birthday song. They sounded great, to my surprise and maybe to a few others. Then, Father Joe, being the leader that he is, grabs the mic and starts to introduce our family. I can pick up on a few words describing our mission. Everyone's heads turn to us and suddenly everyone's looking at us! He motions for us to get up on the stage as well as for the Governor. “Oh, this won't be so bad. He'll just have another few words, give a quick handshake, wave and smile a bit longer then we can go,” I silently thought to myself. Wrong-O! I looked over after I heard Father say my name mixed with some Visayan and then he was handing me the mic asking, “Can you say a prayer over the Governor?” My face was saying sure thing but my innards were trembling! It's very difficult being put on the spot like that, but that's why God gives us the Holy Spirit, the Helper. “Come, Holy Spirit, I need You.” I truly believe in the gift of speaking in tongues because my mouth may have been moving and my voice being projected over the speakers but I never heard anything. I later had to ask Stacie what I said :) Whew! 3-pointer for the Holy Spirit!
On our way home, Father gets a call that says he will be hosting the priest's district meeting at his place and that he should have dinner ready. This also means that his missionary family should also be in attendance. The meeting started after a delicious meal and I was the only one left when Stacie went home with the tired children. The ENTIRE meeting was in Visayan. I really gotta learn this language.
Saturday-- Another meeting request at the convento. This was really a nice gesture by Father to translate everything that was said the night before. And wouldn't you know that he closed with a request to have me take his place and open that night's Talent Show for the town's continued 102nd celebration? Well, now you do know.
I guess I must have said the right words at the Governor's place even though I still don't know everything that was said :) At least this time I had a nine hour warning. Evening came and the Talent Show was underway...but not until I opened with a prayer. It is so weird praying at a huge gym and hearing the loud crowd suddenly become quiet and then having my voice fill it with the power of a mic and giant speakers the size of a house! All for God's glory!
Father and I took our seats next to an Evangelical pastor, the Mayor, Vice- Mayor, and other city councilmen. The whole time I was thinking of Ms. Genie back at Big Woods saying how you just take everything as God gives it and follow His plan. Well, we stayed for the opening act of a magician trying his best to entertain the crowd. For us sitting at the very front and at a lower angle, it was easy to see that magic is purely illusion and not a power or force. I now know how 85% of the tricks are done. There is a reason for very loud music(to drown the clicking of buttons), wearing long coats (more pockets to hide the 42 umbrellas), and everything being black (not as visible). Just saying.
Sunday-- Day of rest you say?....hahahahahahahahaahhaahahhahhhhhh. Too pooped to start the day with 1st Mass starting at 630am so we slept in and went to 830am. Before going on our way, we get stopped by our friends, Tata and Tony Credo. They invited us to visit their Kids 4 Christ meeting at 2pm they have only once a month. We accepted thinking we could still make it back to our house and have our Youth Group at 3pm. Everything's fine according to our plan, right? Well, the Holy Spirit was definitely guiding us this week and wouldn't you know that we were invited to come to the church at 2pm for Tita Dolores' anniversary Mass of her late husband's death only we didn't know that's what it was for and we assumed it was for the Credo's prayer meeting? Well, now you do know and are probably as confused as we were.
So, we celebrated the Anniversary Mass and sorted everything out. A dinner was waiting for us at Tita Dolores', but we also wanted to share at least a little bit of our time with the Kids 4 Christ group. Tony introduced us briefly and immediately asked us to share something...anything...ummm....Holy Spirit. Bingo! Just like that we were lead to share how the youth of the world are so important in turning the way this world thinks. It is good for them to start meeting like this and to begin forming their spiritual life through prayer, faith, and good works. We closed with a children's praise song that they really enjoyed. We ended up doing it twice. Good thing, too, because we built up an appetite just in time to celebrate at Tita Dolores' place. Praise the Lord! P.S. In case you're wondering, yes, we had to cancel our Youth Group for this week.
There it is! Our crazy-busy, action-packed, Spirit-filled, Kingdom-building, super blessed week in a nutshell...kind of. We start all over again tomorrow and see where the Spirit blows us this week.
“The wind blows where it wills, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with every one who is born of the Spirit.” John 3:8
