I want to
share with you what has been on our hearts in these months since we’ve last
written. To do so, I will quote Henri Nouwen from the book, The Only
Necessary Thing: Living a prayerful life, as it captures these feelings so
well.
“We can well live in
community while being physically alone. In such a situation, we can act freely,
speak honestly, and suffer patiently, because of the intimate bond of love that
unites us with others even when time and place separate us from them. The
community of love stretches out not only beyond the boundaries of countries and
continents but also beyond the boundaries of decades and centuries. …The space
for God in community transcends all limits of time and place. Thus the
discipline of community frees us to go wherever the Spirit guides us, even to
places we would rather not go.”
In this new
mission here in the Philippines, where even the location of our service is
different and unfamiliar to us this time around, we have never felt so lonely
for you while at the same time feeling so empowered and encouraged by the
prayers and support we receive from you – our strong home community. When we
begin to doubt our call into this life so unconventional for a family, it is
your belief in us that gives us the zeal to continue. When we receive the list
of your names each month, our spirits are lifted as we realize that we are
really not alone in this mission because you stand behind us. We invite you, then, to come along with us
now and see all that we have accomplished together thus far.
Our greatest boast is the birth of our seventh child, Josephine Eva-Marie, who arrived about six weeks after our arrival here in Malaybalay on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines. She was born at our current mission house on November 28, 2012 and baptized in Holy Rosary Church on Camiguin Island during the Parish Christmas Celebration on December 29. She is the greatest proof of our aim towards oneness with our Filipino brothers and sisters, who feel surprised but honored that we would deliver a baby in a country other than our own. She is also a quiet witness to the preciousness of life - another life of Christ to be uniquely lived out, starting right where it is planted. This was well-symbolized when she was asked by Father Joe Villamil to be Baby Jesus at the same Christmas celebration Mass on the very day of her baptism. Odilio and I stood in as Mary and Joseph, of courseJ
We were
privileged to be able to celebrate Christmas here. When we arrived in
mid-October, the Christmas season was already well underway. Here in the
Philippines, the people begin Christmas preparations as early as September! One
very popular Christmas tradition for the Filipino people is Christmas-caroling.
Young and old alike form groups and go about daily from September to January
singing at as many homes as possible and collecting pinascohan (Christmas
presents, aka pesos). When carolers sing at your home, whether you are rich or
poor, you are expected to cooperate with the spirit of the season and give
pesos for the entertainment. It’s like a four month long trick-or-treating! Of
course, more often than not, the carolers are poor people and children. We were
blessed to give to and receive from each and every caroler who came to our
gate. We also used the opportunity to give out the many holy cards and medals
that you all donated the last time we were in Kansas.
On Christmas
Eve morning we drove high into the mountains to a little village of about 20
families to hold a Communion Service and to give them gifts of food and small
toys. The people were so happy to see us. They are rarely able to come down to
the city for lack of funds; and because of the great distance and lack of
available time; they are rarely visited by a priest. We hope to be able to
visit them at least monthly to share the Sunday Gospel readings. To do this,
however, we need a vehicle, as the one we were using broke down just days after
our first visit. The estimated cost of repairing the Tamaraw is $1000.
We also
bought Christmas gifts of toiletries and simple foods to take to the almost 300
prisoners at the local jail. The prisoners must purchase their own personal
necessities from little stores inside the jail. They make handicrafts and try
to sell them to visitors in order to have money for some of their living
expenses and also for something to send home to their families. Odilio has
decided to begin visiting the prisoners at least once a week, and he has
permission to hold a Bible study for them.
As in every
place that we go, we have looked for opportunities to make home visits to those
who are unable to attend Mass and the Sacraments. One of our home visits is an
elderly lady who has insisted on helping us with our mission by giving us
Visayan (the language of this part of the Philippines) lessons. She lived in
the U.S. and worked as a housekeeper some years ago for ten years and is,
therefore, very familiar with English. She has encouraged us in our mission by
her eagerness to receive our family of nine into her home, saying what a joy it
is to see a large American family as she is most familiar with seeing no more
than three children in an American family. She has also given us an insight
into our mission by explaining the typical Filipino mindset concerning
Americans. “Most Filipinos, who know no better, believe all Americans to be
naturally rich and intelligent. They hold them in high regard. This can work to
your advantage as a missionary because they will believe your words over mine.”
The many
priests that we’ve met here in our new diocese think that the people will
believe not just our words but our actions as well. “Just continue to attend
Mass as a family. Your presence is very powerful.” This has been the response
of most of the priests here when we ask what we can do to help. One priest
explained that often the members of a family will go their separate ways, the
father to one place, the mother to another, the children to still another.
“When the children see you here,” Father said to our kids, “they will flock to
the church!” The priests also believe our arrival here to be very timely, as
the Reproductive Health Bill - which highly encourages families to limit the
number of children to 2 and which will give greater access to artificial birth
control - has just been passed into law. Father Suarez, one of the priests
assigned at the Cathedral, has asked us to be involved with the Family Life
Apostolate by giving marriage preparation courses to engaged couples two
weekends per month. This ministry will begin at the end of January.
When we arrived here in October we met with
the bishop to request his help in obtaining missionary visas as opposed to the
tourist visas, which are incredibly expensive. He is still in the process of
putting all of the paperwork together. He is waiting for a required letter from
the Conference of Catholic Bishops, which is comprised of all the bishops in
the Philippines. In the meantime, we have been obligated to purchase the
tourist visas - first at 21 days, then at 30, and now every 60. Please pray
that God will continue to supply all of our needs according to His good plans
for our family.
Truly, we
cannot tell you how grateful we are to all of you for all that you do for us.
The only way we have of repaying you is in pleading with God on your behalf to
grant all of your petitions, along with an abundance of His grace to see you
through every trial and circumstance. Please pray for us also to have the
strength and the zeal to continue spreading His Truth around the world. We miss
you all and would love to hear from you. A short-term medical mission trip to
the Philippines has been planned through FMC. They will be arriving at the end
of February/beginning of March. You can send letters for us to Louisiana and they
will hand-deliver them to us then! Just a thoughtJ
All of our
love,
Stacie and
Odilio Alvarez
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| Visit to Pamunglo on Camiguin Island |
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| Christmas Carolers |
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| Christmas Eve in Caleb |
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| Odilio and Brian |
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| Brian and Kathy's daughter, Maria Daniela |
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| Vincent, now age 5 |
