Day 1
For some peculiar reason during the flight, the presence of God was deeply impressed on me. In the train of silent prayers, I knew within that this trip would be no coincidence. I remember only a day before I was invited to the Philippines, reflecting on the footprints of life, not wanting to look back at fifty years of age wishing I should have done this when I had my youth. D’s SMS was not only God answering my prayer, but also a precursor to a mighty miracle that LX would experience: Only a week or two ago, LX could not find herself in a position for travelling to Hong Kong for a holiday with our Pastor. Today we found ourselves on a flight to Manila with D, a man she has not even met.
After a rather turbulent flight, an in-flight meal and somewhat of a get to know other session, we arrived at Manila at around 330pm in the afternoon to a sweltering 36 degrees, an exceptionally fine day in typhoon season; our first impressions of course would prove wrong by dinner. We were greeted by a few church members, R, Toto, Joey, Pastor M and his wife J, whose church we support, which has grown from roughly ten members twelve years ago, to three services a weekend, to a flock of over three hundred today.
After loading up the air conditioned passenger van, we embarked on our nearly three hour journey toward Binangonan, Palangoy. In the midst of rush hour traffic, we had a mini-cultural exchange and a basic introduction to the sights and sounds of the Philippines. We passed by children playing on the streets. On the edge of the slums where the locals would set up booths as what the locals might term, sari-sari stalls, selling almost anything. We passed by an interestingly named ‘Junk Shop’, and a salon intriguingly called ‘One-Look’.
On the way to the hotel, we stopped by for dinner at a “Chinese” restaurant. Slices of beef cheeks in curry, roast suckling pork dipped in a beefy sauce with a hint of pineapple, and some delicious pork and beef stew served with plain white rice on a plate. Desert was served in the form of pandan boku, a cold local dish of green agar bathed in coconut milk. We repaired to the hotel Maysha soon after, only to our disbelief that we were the only occupants tonight. The hotel is priced at 3000 pesos on week nights, and 3500 pesos for weekdays for a twin room, rather steep in comparison to the average Filipino’s monthly wage of similar amount.
Day 2
The Angono sun greeted us at 6am in the morning, almost an hour earlier than usual back in Singapore. Breakfast was served at the hotel lobby. As we would soon find out, the Hotel Maysha served a standard breakfast set of an egg variation of your choice, scrambled, one small piece of sausage, one slice of ham, three triangular slices of toast and instant 3 in 1 Nescafe coffee mix; a westerner’s menu, with a less than average western portion. Our orders return in disarray. We were greeted by Emmanuel, Manuel as he would address himself, a young man in his early twenties. He had previously been appointed by Michele, to source the streets of Manila for potential artists, taking pictures of their paintings and earning a small commission in return. I observed an esteem of seriousness in his posture, probably out of respect for D whom I gathered they look up to a lot.
Shortly after we were greeted by Pastor M, Cronica, R, L, Francis and a few others. We walked a short distance stopped by Chow King (超群), a popular fast food joint for a quick meal at about 1030am. Little did I know this would be lunch.
Later we made our way to church constantly weaving in and out of traffic on a jeepney, the national vehicle of the Philippines. The jeepneys were left by the Americans after World War Two, which explain the resembling revs of a typical American muscle car. We arrived at church at about 1230pm. We would soon find out that L’s husband Onik owns a small fishing boat. After a quick visit to L’s house and after a cordial meet-and-greet session with her family, we found ourselves under the scorching afternoon sun in the middle of the lake on the fishing boat.
Our first IT session started at about 2pm and lasted briefly over an hour. In retrospect I honestly question the effectiveness of lecturing computer skills, albeit basic usage of Microsoft Office applications. The common Pinoy does not own computers let alone an internet access. Technology would only be available either in school or the local internet café, where an hour of internet use would cost 15 pesos. It was exhilarating to share with them what technology can do: walk the streets of metropolitan US city, see the neighbourhoods of Singapore and even find out how to travel from one part of the Philippines to another. It is truly my hope that in the very least of the session, that it would pique the curiosity of these young people, broadening their horizons of possibilities.
Later in the evening, we joined local church members in their weekly Friday night prayer meeting. It turned out to be more of a service. It was absolutely incredulous to witness a prayer meeting in church filled with young people packed to the brim. D shared about building a solid foundation, building a house on sand and on the rock, encouraging the young people to obey God, to work hard and not to be lazy as this issue seemed to be the common trait especially in male Filipinos. D prayed for those who had recently graduated and were unable to find a job, and also for those who had to travel long hours to and fro school or work daily.
As we got to know more people, we soon discovered that the bulk of these youths come from broken families. Twelve years ago, Pastor M gave up his job as a marine engineer in Singapore to start a church in Palangoy, amidst a drug addict colony. Most of the young people here are children of those addicts. They shared that when they first started, how difficult it was, where construction of the church would only go as far as finances were able to bring them. We heard of stories where people would disrupt the church service throwing rubbish and items into the chapel and where neighbouring families would blast loud music. Today the neighbours turn down their music when the service starts, a tremendous testimony to know how the presence of God is being manifested in the transformed lives of the children. We hear of parents coming to church because of their children, eventually knowing Jesus Christ as personal saviour.
Day 3
We made our way to the chapel to be greeted by a group of maybe 15 to 20 youths. We had a repetition the IT session the day before, with a question-and-answer session as well. After a delicious home cooked lunch, we had our last and final IT session. We met even younger people who had never heard of the internet. We had to explain terms and things that we take technology for granted, like searching in Google. LX stepped in momentarily to fill in the gaps when I got carried away by my technical point of view. She shared about the dangers of the internet and how we can use it for God or for the devil, inspired by talks with D.
We spent the rest of the afternoon learning Talagog songs with Manuel, Cronica and Kathy. We had initially prepared to sing English songs as a “special number” for the church service tomorrow but instead we were highly recommended to sing two beautiful Talalog songs, Ikaw Lamang (You Alone), and Kahanga-Hanga (Awesome Person?), melodious local tunes which I suppose must draw a very strong sense of meaning to the local community.
Lin got to meet a lot of young mothers. L in her late twenties shared about how their children used to fight and quarrel a lot, until they started going to church and slowly had their lives transformed by God, and they even offered to help her in household chores! It was through her children that began her curiosity in God. She also shared how her husband used to be a drug addict, and it was only until she had bore him children that she found out the truth about his addiction. Today he has overcome his addiction, but still has to take medication daily, lest he will have drug induced psychosis, as Ate Jr would so clinically describe. LX also got to speak with other women, sharing about everyday struggles and how God has been their strength and provider.
I got to know a few young people but being the introverted creature that I am, I was struggling internally to communicate beyond the small talk like their name, how far they stayed from the church, what they do, what they studied and how they came to church. We really had nothing much in common except the same God we all try to love and worship. We hope that our initial aim of coming Palangoy to encourage and help the church in whatever way possible, would be met.
I shared with a young man named R of how I truly felt this incredible presence of God when the congregation claps and sings in the most beautiful voices in unison. It seemed to occur that the most under privileged people often turn out to be the most gifted people. Even as I deliberately tried to hold back my tears from this overwhelming presence, questions were continually popping in my mind, how these people live, the culture of respect and most prominently the poor, simple yet joy you see in their smiles. We heard a story of how a young lady travelled a distance away last year to take an exam, only to realise that the exam was cancelled due to typhoon season. The flood was up to her waist, as she walked back home. I asked a young man how much they would earn a month after a proper education, just about S$100 to S$300 per month. The gospel of Christ is so needed by the people here, in their orphanhood, poverty or lack; this being in stark contrast with people of developed nations like Singapore where affluence makes people think that they don’t need God.
The Kitchen team Grace, Eden, Emilyn, Flor, L, W and probably some we forgot to mention, tirelessly toiled to present hearty meals and snacks throughout the day. They reminded LX of the women who were always with Jesus and His disciples, providing needs.
In the evening over dinner we met Chandra, an Indonesian Chinese who deals with electrical cabling, and Yang, a student studying business administration in the university of southern California. Jr shared over dinner how Palangoy Christian Church was started with 2000 pesos, and how God miraculously sent people over and over again to build this beacon of light in the middle of the residential district in Kasibulan. Literally just next door to the church are residential homes. God provided the mortgage of the land to be “paid whenever payable”. Having no money to hire professional contractors, church members were the ones who started building the foundation from scratch. Along the way an American stranger showed up and provided 150,000 pesos for further construction. Church members all played a part to building the church, one tile at a time, 100 pesos apiece. This contributed ultimately a sense of belonging to the place with their hard earned pesos. She shared of stories of children coming to the church at any hour of a day when their family got into an argument, how Pastor M having to be there for them, also needing to tell them to go home because they sometimes didn’t want to go home. I’ve always yearned for a church like this where the gates are always open and where you know somebody would be there for you, instead of a church being too caught up about missing items and thefts and finger pointing. As I closed in prayer that night, truly I said God’s work is not done yet.
Day 4
We had a 7am breakfast, and met S Teng, a bubbly cheerful Malaysian in her late twenties. She used to be a special needs teacher back home, having been in Philippines for the past two years, is a missionary in her own right. She volunteers as a teacher for children of missionaries, draws no salary, is funded partially by herself and her parent church in Malaysia, and have only managed to raised 2 years of funds. As of today she considers going back to Malaysia to work, primarily to raise more funds. She yearns to learn Tagalog proper, hoping to translate English Chrsitian literature to the local language.
The first service started at 8am mostly filled by an older looking congregation, and was supposed to finish at 10am, but instead ended nearly at 11am. This was immediately followed by the second service, mostly a younger looking congregation which then ended at 1.30pm. In here they have “rubber time”, nothing to rush to and nothing to complain about; fellowship and afternoon activities were then postponed to a later time due to the extended services. We had a ridiculously sumptuous lunch of roasted pork and other assorted dishes after that.
Mark B is a 16 year old in his last year of college, a secondary 4 education equivalent. Just the night before, LX and myself shared about how God completely crushed our hearts with compassion to moment we met Mark. Mark is completely blind on his right eye, and the degree (power) on his left eye was last approximated, not measured at 1200. We brought Mark to SM Taytay (pronounced tai-tai), a mall about 30 minutes’ drive away, in attempt to purchase a new set of glasses for him. We were accompanied by R, Manuel, and S who drove what the locals called an FX, on loan to her for two months, somewhat of a land rover, SUV type of vehicle. We went to three different optometrists to get different quotes for new spectacles. The optometrist gave us rather disappointing news that Mark had to be sent to an ophthalmologist, an eye specialist for a more advanced and thorough test. This was due to the excessive movement of Mark’s left eye, which meant that the conventional equipment available at the optician shop would not give an accurate result. Mark shared that he got his current pair of spectacles from a medical mission’s team about 5 years ago. Today his eyesight has deteriorated for the worse, and the nose pads on his current pair of spectacles have already broken off completely. We could assume that Mark had a very uncomfortable fit for many years, needing to keep adjusting his glasses every few seconds as it kept falling off the bridge of his nose. For someone who has only not much of one eye left, knowing his eye will eventually deteriorate for the worse and lead to eventual complete blindness, it was very humbling to know that we as affluent Singaporeans might have the capacity to somehow enhance his quality of life for even just a few more years, tremendously moved us to compassion. We entrusted 4500 pesos (S$135) to R and Manuel, hopefully more than enough to cover the specialist appointment, a sustainable pair of glasses and the transport costs.
R shared being married man has changed him, to be responsible and to sacrifice, to not give up so easily as before, inspiring him to find work to support his family. He told us of how his wife was his greatest pillar of support, and spent a considerable amount of time sharing that it is because of his wife that he is able to be where he is right now in church and ministry. Later in the evening we visited R’s house. As he greeted us with “Welcome to my beautiful home!” we were humbled once again, to visit this cramped apartment, a barely furnished home probably a little larger than the size of a standard typical budget hotel room, partitioned by curtains. They rent the home and it costs 1200 pesos (S$40) a month. They have so little, yet they are content.
We met W, a beautiful lady who works as an actress in commercials in a local TV station. Years ago, she got married and had a child with an American man. W found out soon after that he was not single and had an existing family. He abandoned W with her son, Jonathan D, as we all call him JD. We could easily observe and especially for me, as he clung onto my legs, how JD was yearning so hard for father’s validation, in his hugs, in wanting to stick around with older men. It completely crushed our hearts.
Brokenness and trials sometimes though may seem sad from a temporal and external perspective. However it is amazing to witness how the people of Palangoy receive so much more than us, notably the simple joy that is truly infectious.