Sunny Side Up In Paluan (Part 2)

The journey continues...

April 1, Sunday, very early in the morning I spent time with God as I seek guidance for His Word to be shared to His people. There in the stillness of my soul He lead me to His fountain of wisdom found in the story of three amazing people of the Bible. We were blessed as we dwelt on the Scripture from 2 Timothy 4:11, "Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you. Because he is helpful to me in my ministry."

The message is about Paul's painful truth and HONESTY, Mark's humility in ACCEPTANCE and Barnabas' encouragements and COMFORT. We were all spiritually energized by God's powerful message that morning. The Holy Spirit has moved and ministered in our midst as the people worshiped and thank the Lord. 

After the Worship Service we spent visiting houses sharing more of God's love through counseling and prayers. It was an awesome day with our awesome God as it passed so swiftly with all the things we have accomplished in His name.

April 2, Monday, the day started early as usual with His Word and a hearty breakfast prepared by ate Marlyn and nanay  Patchie. It's the start of the holidays in the city but not here for the work of the Lord must be done. We were all prepared to go to Agdilao tribe as the program for this day was spearheaded by Ahlie herself. The group will reach out to them in their new location bringing God's love through His Word, with some food and medicine supplies.

Later in the day I went to the construction site again to supervise the work. The newly installed column and beam in the dining hall area are cured already and is ready for carrying additional loads like the hallow blocks and trusses. Pastor JR and I also went to Mamburao on a motor bike to buy all the needed electrical materials, few pieces of floor tiles for the bathroom and a toilet bowl. Then we loaded them all on a passenger truck bound to Paluan and have it delivered for a fee. Back at the mission center the electrician started lay-outing the receptacles on the wall in preparation for the wall finishing. 

We were also visited by our good friend Sandy from Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) who is also very excited about the building project. He is one of the locals who is very supportive to our mission work with the Mangyan tribes.

Later in the evening our team went to a wake service in barangay Marikit for a sister in the Lord. It was very dark when we ride home on our bikes, it's good we have built in head lamps on them which is powered by a dynamo when engaged contact on the front wheel, big help!  

April 3, Tuesday, just right after dawn Ahlie suggested to spin around the farm lands of Maduron for a quicky exercise before another big day. Before when I was still into regular running this route is one of my favorites. It is very quiet in here and has scenic view of the mountain ranges mixed with local farmers working while the farm animals are gazing around. The route includes some steel and old wooden bridges over natural streams and irrigation pathways. The loop ends up in "barangay uno" which is a long paved road along the shores.

After a good morning spin we went straight to the construction site where we found the workers very early in their job. A lot of work needed to be done this day because there's only two days left before they take a long holiday rest. 

We ordered additional materials like Portland cement, good lumber for trusses and ceiling joists, both rough and fine sand, PVC pipes just among others. Pastor JR is doing hands-on this time on the installation of the trusses. We have hired two extra laborers for finishing masonry, and an electrician who will lay-out the wiring. The work must be done fast before the month of April ends because we need to move out of our currently rented building and we need this place ready for occupancy by that time.

We have gone way beyond our projected budget and and we are already short of funds because of so much adjustment being done on the actual construction process. But we know God will provide through ways yet we cannot see.

Extra! Extra!
Penitensya or Public Penance is an age long tradition here in the Philippines which was brought about by the Spanish Catholics who invaded our land long time ago. This gruesome tradition is being observed by some Catholics every Lenten season or holy week. It is said that people do these self-infliction acts for the belief that their sins will be forgiven, wishes will be granted or illnesses will be healed. There are different forms of practices they do in different places like carrying of the cross, actual crucifixion, inflicting wounds and whipping of bodies, walking a long way under the heat of the sun barefooted or on knees, etc. All these practices has been discouraged by churches including the Catholic church itself because it is found to be "unnecessary" and "non-biblical". Still these taboo observance of Lenten season has been a tourist attraction in the country.

In Paluan the most common practice is by inflicting wounds on their backs using razor blades then whipping them using an improvised whip made of nylon chord with strips of wood or bamboo attached at the tip. Then they would walk around for a day (or days) barefooted. Some would cover their face with cloth and banana leaves while others would just expose their faces as they do it.

In this mission trip the last itinerary that we need to accomplish is to visit Hinugasan Tribe to meet our KKP scholars and their families there, and to visit the tribe elders specially Tatay Pedring who is very dear to us and the oldest among them. We intended to travel by our service motor boat and just load our bicycles so we can bike on the way back to the mission center. Since we moved kind of late already we will then be needing to sleep over Datu's place in the mountain since the walk up there will be long and steep as usual.

We have loaded our backpacks with clothes, food supply for dinner and breakfast, a pair of two-way radio, flashlights, and other utilities needed in the mountain. We also brought Tatay Pedring a simple present, his favorite milk which he normally calls as "puti".

As usual we staged for a while in Pastora Jane's place just to regroup and check if we have everything we needed with us. It was quite late and we need to catch up with the remaining daylight as much as we can, so we got moving fast. It's going to be a long dusty climb to Hinugasan and for sure we will be reaching the place in darkness.

Along the way I was able to spot a gecko which was stunned by the very strong light coming from my flashlight. Gecko is an exotic tropical reptile with a very unique loud vocalization or sound. It was rumored that this specie of lizard is being sought after by some scientists for cure of cancer and that geckos that can pass the size requirements can be very expensive. Well, I am not sure about that and even if I have seen a lot of gecko in the mountains but I am not interested. First, because I don't want to harm these endangered species. Second, the government said it was illegal to catch them. Third, I haven't seen any proof that these creature can be a cure for cancer and haven't seen or heard of a successful sales deal made. So, enough with my gecko talk and just proceed with the climb, hahaha! 

When we reached Datu's hut it was kind of late and everyone was already tired and very hungry so the 

ladies rushed preparing "ginataang kalabasa" and fried "daing" (dried fish) for dinner, yummy! Everyone was happy and satisfied with what we had. Now once your very tired and had your stomach full the next thing you will think of is bed. It was already late and the day after this must start early as usual so no need to explain things, we just cleaned up and changed our clothes, had a little group devotion and the day has been concluded.

April 4, Wednesday, we were all greeted by the awesome beauty of the mountain. It was always like that in the morning, so glorious and so blissful! Fresh air with scent of hay, late noise of the crickets, rooster's early crowing, birds chirping, farm animals making their own morning melodies... so amusing, so amazing!

We are in the middle of the mountain and there are no mornings such as this. A perfect place to contemplate on God's Word and feel His presence in every creature around. Soul nourishing indeed!

For breakfast nanay Patchie slaughtered one of her native chickens while Ahlie and ate Marlyn prepared the ingredients for "tinola". Tinola is best defined by wikipedia as a soup-based dish served as an appetizer or main entrée in the Philippines. Traditionally, this dish is cooked with chicken, wedges of green papaya, and chili pepper leaves or Bird's eye chili leaves in broth flavored with ginger, onions and fish sauce. A common variant substitutes pork for chicken, chayote instead of papaya, or moringa leaves known as marungay or malunggay or "kamunggay" (in Cebuano), instead of pepper leaves. However, an all-vegetable broth in Cebu with 'kamunggay' in prominence is called "utan kamunggay" or "utan bisayâ".

After we had a quick breakfast we set off to Hinugasan Tribe to visit the Mangyan villagers. Hinugasan belongs to the Iraya group of Mangyans, they are one of the established tribal communities in Paluan. I started my mission work here in this place and has serve these people for years. But before I came to this place the people were under the Seventh Day Adventist mission program. But due to some conflicts between the Adventists and the tribe they were abandoned for more than a year before I arrived. We were able to establish the ministry there and was able to help a lot of families, but somewhere along our ministry the Adventists decided to comeback and reclaim their rights to the tribe. We soon just gave way since we found their means and strategies kind of offensive to us. But there are people in the tribe who are still connected with our mission, those people whose lives were somehow touched by our ministry, Tatay Pedring is just one of them. 

The minority school was first established here by the Adventists, but when they abandoned the tribe their school operation stopped too. When I came to the place one of the programs we focused with is their para-schooling for the children. Time came when the local Dep-Ed people noticed what we have been doing and saw that the children are very interested with schooling so they brought their extension program to this tribe. Today the Adventist resumes their school operation and Dep-Ed also is building a concrete classroom there, and we are somehow happy with this because at the end of the day the Mangyan kids are the ones who would benefit. We were able to meet our goal as we also met the families of our three KKP scholars from the place.

Before we left the tribe one family handed us a "langka" (ripe jack fruit) and some bananas. When we returned to Datu's hut we sliced open the langka and and had it for snack. A Mangyan farmer also gave us a liter of fresh carabao's milk. Also, I was able to buy a gallon of pure wild honey from a Mangyan for Php500.00 only which we have taken with us back to Manila.

We now head for Pamutusin, time to wave Hinugasan goodbye. It was an awesome experience as ever and Hinugasan never failed to bless our souls. Our group will have to descend fast since it's almost noontime and it's getting hotter and we still have a long way back to the town.

 Back in the mission center Ahlie and I just had enough time to take a bath and pack our things before we hit the road back to Manila. It was Maundy Thursday and we were informed late that there was a chance if we move a little bit later then we will be stuck in Paluan for the rest of the week because we heard passenger vans and jeepneys will stop traveling to Abra De Ilog Pier starting in the afternoon of that day until Easter Sunday. We got to rush because it was only a blessing that there's a truck of onions bound to the pier that is moving out and we are allowed to squeeze in just to get there. We can't miss it.

Upon reaching Abra De Ilog the port was already almost empty. Everybody's coming to the provinces at this time and very few are moving out. So when the Roro ship which was jam packed arrived and have unloaded on the way back to Batanggas Pier there were very few passengers with us. And it was also the same with the Bus bound to Cubao, very few passengers and the road traffic was very light. This is the advantage of travelling on a Lenten season, it's just a matter of timing.

We were home safely by God's travelling mercy around 11:00pm. It was indeed a victorious trip for both of us. We were able to accomplish so many thing in just a matter of one week. Now that we're back in Manila it is necessary for us to continue the cause of the mission. The DFCM building project needs to be completed in time and we know for sure that God has already prompted people to bear with us the burden, the calling, and the challenge.

“Success is not a place at which one arrives but rather the spirit with which one undertakes and continues the journey.”

-Alex Noble

Our God is an awesome God and He never fails! 
Thank you Lord for the golden privilege of serving You.  

To go back to Part 1 just click the link below:

Sunny Side Up In Paluan (part 1)



For another good blog on Mindoro Tribal Missions you can click and read:

A Ride To The Land Of "Truth And promises"