December 12, 2005

It is time for me to say my goodbyes here in the Philippines.  Actually I have already said goodbye to my Higaon-on family.  Stephanie and I returned to MJ Santos last Wednesday for debrief with Jess and Wendy.  There is so much I want to tell you; I have no idea where to start.  I want to thank all of you for your continual patience with me as communication has been one of the biggest struggles for me since being in the village.  I found that writing hand written letters worked much better than email, and I want to thank all of you who emailed and wrote letters to me throughout this trip.  I really have felt that you have been with me every step of the way.  Because I have not written a mass email in such an extremely long time I will tell you a few of the most significant stories about how amazing our God truly is.

The first story is about Kuya Boho.  He is the motorcycle driver I told you about way back in October.  Well the Lord has really been working in his life.  His family has become one of the closest families to me.  He has a wife, who is a teacher (Mama Lisa), and an adopted son Mac-Mac.  Mac-Mac is so cute he calls me Ati and when his mom asked him who his girlfriend was he said "the American, Ati Miranda."  His mom just laughed at him, and he said "don't tell anyone mom" (but don't worry everyone he is only three years old).  Anyway the last day we were in Lawan-Lawan Kuya Boho really opened up to me and we actually sat for a long time going over our favorite scriptures.  It was really a special time.  He was our driver to MJ Santos and when he got ready to leave we asked if we could pray for him.  We all laid hands on him and prayed for his life and for the Lord to work mightily in and through him.  He left as quickly as he could because he was crying (I will explain why he didn't want to cry in front of us later).  Anyway so I was glad that the Lord had given us such sweet time with Mama Lisa and Kuya Boho in the last days, but I was a bit upset that I did not really get a good goodbye from Mac-Mac.  He was crying so hard when we left that he refused to give me a hug, but the Lord is so good to me.  The family came in to Butuan on Friday and we were able to sit down that evening and eat with them.  When it was time for us to part, Mac-Mac said "Mom can I give Ati a kiss," and he leaned over and gave me a kiss on the check.  It was so precious, and Ati Lisa promised that she would never let him forget me.  Continue to pray for this family.  Mama Lisa is Higaon-on, but Kuya is Cebuano.  He has a long road ahead of him, and if he is going to allow the Lord to use him he has many things that he needs to allow the Lord to bring repentance and forgiveness to.  But as of the last day when I talked to him he is still letting the sins of the past cripple him by not allowing the Lord to bring forgiveness to his heart.  Additionally, Ati Lisa is not a Christian so pray for her salvation.

I also want to tell you about Ikis and Eton.  These are two young boys who made a commitment to stop drinking, which is a testimony in and of itself (but trust me there is so much more to the story).  When I first met Ikis he said that he did not believe getting drunk was a sin as long as you did not hurt anyone or anything when you got drunk.  Well as fiesta time rolled around we were getting ready to leave the village.  Fiesta time is a time of huge cultural events, but lots of drinking.  This was not something we wanted to stay for, plus we had a huge Ethnography paper to write.  Fiesta started on the 23 so we had planned to leave the day of the 23, but to our lack of knowledge just because fiesta starts on the 23 does not mean that the drinking waits that long.  The night before the fiesta many of the men in the village got really drunk.  The only two men in the village who were not drunk were Ikis and Eton (and that was because they were with us).  We were all inside playing cards and just talking when several of the men came to our house looking for the boys.  They started pounding on the door and finally I went out and told them that they really needed to leave and if they wanted to come back they needed to be sober.  After they left Ikis buried his head in his shirt and said "Nothing good comes from drinking.  They were so rude to you all just then."  We gently said "that was what you were like before."  He was ashamed and kept his face hidden for quite a while and then looked up and apologized.  They said we don't want to drink anymore, but if you all leave us now who will be our companions.  We wanted to show them we respected their commitment, but also that they needed to stand on their own.  So, we agreed to spend one day of Fiesta with them and leave on the second day.  This allowed us to attend many of the cultural events that we wanted to anyway.  Then  when we returned for our final week in the village on the 30 of November we brought the "God Story" with us.  This is a movie that chronologically tells the stories in the Bible.  We showed this movie to everyone in the village the last night that we were there.  Ikis sat by me and kept asking questions the whole time.  When the movie was over we were walking home, and Ikis grabbed my elbow and said "Ati, do you still have a Bible?".   I said, " Yes, why?".   He said, "Will you please give it to me?".  I said, "Sure".  Later many of the young boys were talking and Ikis and Eton said, " If you had not come here we would have never been able to even touch a Bible let alone read one or have one of our own". 

Back tracking a little. . . The day we left during fiesta, a little boy was hit by a motorcycle.  We gave him first aid, but told the people he needed to go to the hospital.  We said if there is internal bleeding there is nothing we can do.  While we were administering first aid one of the men, who was really drunk, yelled at us (in front of the whole village), "if this boy dies I blame you because you believe in God."  We were really shook up. . . first because of the offense this was to our God, but also because all we wanted to do was help.  When the comment was said it made us feel like the people did not trust us or want our help.  We continued to help see the boy off to the hospital, but were really on edge the rest of the time.  After the boy went to the hospital we prepared to go ourselves.  Kuya Boho was our driver, and we told him how upset the comment had made us.  We said that all we wanted to do was help; we did not mean to cause trouble.  While we were working on our paper in MJ Santos that week the counsel members had a meeting.  Kuya Boho told them that the comment had really offended us and they agreed that an apology had to be made.  Since this is a third party culture the apology was not done by the man who made the comment. Instead the father-in-law of the man killed a pig and invited us to dinner when we returned.  Also, one of the datos publicly apologized to us during a program at school.  He said that if something was said that hurt us they were really sorry and asked us to forgive the person.  Jess and Wendy were there and they were shocked that an apology was made in public to us by a leader in the community.  This was a very humbling thing to do and I was honored that maintaining a good relationship with us was that important to the people. 

I want to tell you about what leaving was like.  The last night we were in Lawan-Lawan the young men in the village killed our pig Gaga (who we named after our companion).  They stayed up almost all night cutting the pig up and other veggies and spices for the Despadita party we had the next day.  This was such a sight let me tell you.  I, of course, went to sleep eventually, but they were very funny.  They waited to kill the pig until after it had gotten dark because they didn't want anyone in the village to hear.  The Higaon-on way is to share everything you have and so if the people heard a pig being killed they will show up on the doorstep of your house within the time it takes the pig to bleed-out (well actually the tree stump of your house because there are no doorsteps in the mountains).  So the next day around noon the food was ready.  We,  us four and our really close friends, all ate together first.  This was the last meal that we shared together, and it was a bitter-sweet time.  I prayed over the meal, the shortest prayer in history, because after the second sentence the tears started to fall so heavily that I could not continue.  When I started to cry everyone started to scream really loud trying to make me laugh.  They said don't cry!  don't cry!, and then Junior said something like, "Awa your love for God and your love for us is overflowing."  (This is the part where I tell you why crying in front of people is not really accepted).  So when we finally said our last goodbye only a few people cried and every time they did everyone would try to cheer them up.  Crying is not an emotion that is outwardly expressed in this culture, at least not in front of people.  (O' and when I say few people cried I am excluding the two Americans).  Crying is something that is done after the persons leave.  Let me tell you it was hard to be one of the only people crying while everyone was putting on a happy face.  Of course it made it better when the Captain texted us and said that almost all the people in Lawan-Lawan cried once we left.  I really found out how much the Lord had done through our presence once we left.  The people told us that the lives of everyone in Lawan-Lawan were better because of our presence.  We were told that because of our belief in God and our willingness to pray and help the sick, many people are alive now who would have died.  The people said that many people go to other places in the Philippines to help, but we were the first ones to live with them, teach them about the Bible and help them with health problems.  Sarati (who's family is one of the only Christians in Lawan-Lawan) said that since we came to Lawan-Lawan "the burungay had been flooded, to overflowing, with blessings."  One young man said, "Before you came here we were all really bad. . . We drank; we smoked, and did many bad things.  You should not have become our friend but you befriended us anyway.  You did not condone our actions, but you did not condemn us.  Your friendship and willingness to teach us about the Bible has changed us."  Through all the goodbyes and thank yous the Lord spoke to me and said, "This is what the power of the Gospel lived out among a people who live in darkness can do."  Before, I did not realize the power of Christ in the life of a Christian.  The Lord has taught me that though we taught the Gospel with words, it was not necessarily our words that God used to speak to the people.  It was the life of four girls who loved God, made mistakes, but strove to obey Christ, that spoke to the hearts of these people.  I am thankful that the Lord has begun such a great work among the Higao n-on people of Lawan-Lawan, but I know that there is more work ahead.  For those who will follow up, the road is muddy, the weather is rainy, and the lies that Satan has told these people for years have barely been scratched.  Many strongholds still remain, but our time with them is up.  We did what we came here to do . . . to show them the love of Christ, That the Love that the Father has for Christ might be in them, and now it is time to go home.  However, for us and for you as co-partners in sharing the Gospel, the Higaon-on people still need our prayers.  I thank you for your prayer support over the last month, but I also want to challenge you to continue to pray for these people, who believe a lie because the do not know THE TRUTH!

I realize that your eyes are probably beginning to ache so I will end by saying I will be home in one day and when we see one another again we will rejoice before our King over all that he ha s done in the Philippines through my life and all he has done in America through your lives. I love you all and I will be home for Christmas!

He is continually increasing our measure of faith through His grace in our lives and we are blessed.  Your sister. . .

Miranda