Sara remarked recently that it seems every week we post a
testimony strengthening experience. It’s true, we have those every week, but
then you do too, right? Granted, some of
ours are sometimes pretty action packed, colorful, maybe exotic, so it is easy
to write about them, and way easy to recognize them and acknowledge the origins
thereof. That’s just one of the blessings of serving a mission.
God really is in control. It’s true not everything is fast and
easy. Some things take months,
sacrifice, pain and concern, but mostly we are so blessed that we get to see
astonishingly quick outcomes, miraculous turn-arounds, and huge changes that
are only possible through God’s intervention and direction .
To illustrate my point, let me tell you of two baptisms and
two weddings all within 24 hours (with reference to a third). These actually
occurred a few weeks back, but due to birthday posts, and time constraints we haven’t yet recorded
these events here.
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| Sister B has flare--sequins on her baptism blouse |
Back ground to Baptism
1: Sister B is a single, woman—maybe my
age. She has always been a school
teacher and also a farmer—she raises crops like mango, banana, guava,
vegetables. In recent years she has had some MAJOR set backs. Her husband, a
German man, left her and converted to Islam so he could take another few wives
without divorcing her (yes, divorce is not possible here, but polygamy is—if
you are Muslim—go figure). Then the relatively nice house he left her in
(because the property was hers) got demolished in a flood 3 years ago—one stone
wall still standing as evidence of her destroyed life. She moved farther from the river and built a
native house, but it too flooded last year and washed away all her belongings
and crops. Then her work and salary were
reduced due to reduced enrollments at the school—the floods have scared
families enough in the barangay that they are sending their children downriver
to the school on the hill in the central part of town. Then, she was attending a church, but they
stopped fellowshipping her, and failed to hire her for a teaching position
there that she was qualified for.
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| Sis B working with us in her kindergarten |
We first met her when we started helping out at the
Tambojangin School after last year’s flood.
She is the kindergarten teacher there, and it was her classroom that had been demolished from
typhoon, flood, and earthquake, (another setback) and that we are just finally
finishing up.
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| Zone work project at Sis B's pre-school |
The Elders invited her to learn about the church, she was
intrigued on many levels—foreigners who spoke Visaya; a whole congregation and
a dozen missionaries willing to spend a day helping a school that was not even
their own; then missionaries coming back for several more days over the next
few weeks to chisel the schoolroom floor down to existing cement and
paint walls and doors—serving and working physically with no pay to help
others; people in America who actually were providing the funds for the
materials and skilled labor.
She wanted us involved as she was being taught, so we all four (us
and the full-time missionaries) went and she has been so receptive. She accepted every commitment, kept them,
read everything we assigned, attended church every week, and in a few weeks she was
baptized. This time Elder Cropper was the one to perform the ordinance: his
first one since we got here.
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| Only pic I took at the Catholic wedding. Notice the date, our anniv. |
Background for wedding no 1: Way back just after the typhoon
we were doing water delivery runs in the truck.
We took water to a member of the branch who was digging out from a
mess-load of mud. He and his sister were
there and very grateful for the fresh water. There was also an American
lingering about. He finally admitted he
was from Utah—a very in-active Mormon, dating the sister of this Filipino
member. Well a few weeks ago he and his
Filipina fiancée and his very white mother showed up in church. They invited us to attend the wedding in the
Catholic church and the reception here at the resort we live at. We attended that Friday.
Wedding no 1: The
wedding was elaborate: with white calla lilies galore and tons of flowers and
ribbon and tulle and candles and matching outfits for bridesmaids and
groomsmen. We were the only people there who were not from the girl’s family or
friends. There was even a jazz band
right there in the church, soloists, readings, and all the pomp of a wedding
and mass, including communion. There was
no doubt of the devotion to Christ and the focus on supporting the couple in
their new life together.
The reception too was elaborate. More flowers, more singers, sit down buffet
dinner for 200: the kind of thing that I think is only possible here on our
island if there is a lot of debt involved, or a foreigner. We were very well treated—everything was
lovely, and the resort owners (our landlords) and staff did an amazing job,
setting up everything under tents because it had not stopped raining for 2
days. A few minutes into it I asked one
of the men I knew, who was connected to the family, if we could maybe use the
flowers for the wedding that would happen the next day—a wedding that would NOT
be so elaborate. He asked, and it was okayed, so after the banquet, the flowers
were delivered to our porch. I made a
bridal bouquet for the bride from several of the lilies, some yellow mums, and
a green fabric I had to cover the stems.
It looked really lovely.
SO, background for wedding 2: a few years ago, a single man
in his forties, Brother V, a temple going man in the branch, fell in love with
a younger girl, Sister C, and tried to get married. But there were complications with her
paperwork. She needed a written
permission from each of her parents. Her dad is dead, but there is no death
certificate to prove it. The process
stalled. Several people, including the
former missionary couple and the branch president, intervened, trying to sort
it out, but the dad died in Mindanao, where the records are different and hard
to access, and even if they went there, there was probably not really a certificate
made, and there was nothing to be done but wait till she was 25 which was a few
years away and would need no permission.
Well, waiting proved too great a task. The couple moved in together and soon she was
pregnant. Of course the man had stopped
coming to church, feeling more than awkward there. A few months ago, we tried to get involved,
wondering what the problem with the paper work was. At the same time the Elders sought out the
family and started teaching the woman.
She was very receptive to the gospel, understood it, loved it, and
wanted to be baptized. Then her baby was
born and it was still not settled with the marriage. It looked like a dead end.
Now go back in time to another wedding (we'll call it wedding 3 even though it happened first). It too had been held at Paradise—wedding AND
reception—and had been performed by the Mayor, and Elder Cropper had been asked
to speak since the groom is LDS. So, Elder C. and the Mayor at the
head table h became best buds, chatting for an hour about everything. That friendship, along with some colossal
community service by church members over the last few months, has completely
changed the mayor’s view of Mormons—from a quirky fringe group to a mainstream,
valuable contribution to the community.
So, in a climate of friendship with the mayor, we made an
appointment to see him about this problem—there’s always a solution right? We explained the problem and he confirmed the
former conclusion—there had to be a death certificate—no way round it. But then we pointed out that the girl’s
mother is re-married, something that is impossible in the Philippines without a
dead former spouse (believe me we did NOT delve into what documentation may or
may not have been available for that union--maybe it was purchased).
He grinned and said oh then let’s see what we can do. He called in his head of Social Welfare, asked
her what could be done, she said they could have the mother sign an affidavit
that the dad was dead, we set up the appointments and found out fees and signed
them up for the pre-marriage class, walked them into the office a few days
later, with the mom, and soon it was squared away.
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| Sis C and Bro V getting married at the mayor's office. Sis C with the bouquet |
Finally, wedding 2:
There were still sticky moments, two or three times when it looked as if
it would fall apart, including a document that had to be produced and filled
out at the Mayor’s office, but this was Saturday, and no one was there to do
it, so he had to call in his secretary and the document worker and we
waited. But eventually, we stood in the
Mayor’s office as he pronounced them husband and wife in front of several
witnesses from the branch and from her family. She was carrying the bouquet I’d
made of left over flowers, but she was tearfully, joyfully happy, and so was
the groom.
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| Happy family! Married and baptized. |
We hurried from the City Hall back to the church (Elder
Cropper shuttling several people in the truck in several loads) where we were
now over an hour late for the baptism.
They (Brother V and Sister C) wanted both wedding and baptism to occur on
the same day. Soooo many people were
there for Sister C. and for Sister B. and for the wedding celebration that the
branch had pulled together for after.
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| A day to smile about. |
Baptism # 1 and 2: The baptisms themselves were
wonderful—Sister B was waiting all this time for Sister C and the rest of us,
but she was fine with it. Because the
wedding was so late, there were lots of people who had come only for the celebration
later, but who ended up being there for the baptisms, and everyone there was
able to feel the spirit of the event.
The nervous waiting in the office for the mayor, the years of waiting
for the marriage, the sacrifices each woman had made to be there were all
forgotten as they each stepped into that font, accepted the name of Jesus Christ
and made promises to Him. Afterward each
woman bore powerful testimony of the truth of what they had been taught and
accepted, and we cried for joy with them over all the miracles and trials that
got them each to this point.
Wedding 2 reception: We were so proud of the branch members.
The branch knew the bride and groom’s families had nothing, so they pooled
their activity budgets from every organization and called this a branch
activity—they set up a food committee, which I helped with (relegated to
chopping for hours since I have NO skill in the menus and cooking equipment
here) We matched the branch funds to add to the quantity and variety, a couple
families added to the menu as they could, the set up looked lovely with the
flowers from the night before, and we had ordered two large sheet cakes. The Branch
President pulled off a small ceremony and our Branch nightingale, Sister K,
with a voice that should be on American Idol belted out a love song in Visaya.
The couple danced, the bride cried.
Everyone celebrated.
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| That's right, 36 years. A celebratory lunch. |
They didn’t know that in the midst of these 2 days of
wedding and baptisms, we celebrated our 36th anniversary—we even had time for lunch at a restaurant that day. We received not a single well wish from home (I add that as part of our reality here so far away, not as a guilt trip for anyone) but it felt good to share in all this goodness
while we thought about our own wedding and life together.
