A Mother's Prayer

The circumstances by which my mom’s prayers were answered was told in a blog (http://sunnimoreno.blogspot.com/2010/06/my-blessed-testimony.html) that I wrote more than a decade back. What was lacking in that account was the other side of the miracle that happened many years earlier. 

In the year 1986, my dad passed away, and since mom was left in Iligan City all by herself, she decided to move back to where she lived and grew up prior to her marriage and migration to Mindanao. In Manila, she had a sister who was also widowed and she reckoned that at their age they might work out a way to enjoy the last years of their lives together. My sister was also doing her residency in Pediatrics at a hospital there, which was a perfect set-up for that moment.

Mom was 63 years old then and needed to socialize with people of her age to keep active and happy. It so happened that there was a group in Christ Commission Fellowship (CCF) at Pasig City that was organized for this purpose to which mom’s sister belonged and so mom decided to join them. At this point in the story the only information that reached me in Mindanao was that mom was attending some Sunday activity, that she had an accident while riding on a horse during one of the out-of-town sorties and that she was happy and contented with her life. I didn't have any idea that my Seventh-day Adventist mother - a pioneer in the SDA educational work and a pastor’s wife was regularly attending Sunday worship in Manila.

In the Mid-1990s I decided to bring her back to Mindanao to live with me in the school campus of Mountain View College - the school that she and dad helped pioneer and where they retired after serving for so many years. This place is the bed-rock of SDA education in the central and southern Philippines and it is here where the doctrines of the church are aggressively guarded. 

Mom was very discreet with the new beliefs. The only thing that was apparent was her frequent communication with someone by the name of Danny De Guzman. A name that was the addressee of the regular letters that she asked me to mail for her. She also received mail and parcels of reading material on a regular basis from the same guy. Another thing that could have given her beliefs away was when she would sometimes wash her clothes on a Saturday - the adventist holy sabbath. I thought that maybe she was just mixed up with the days of the week and forgot that we should not wash on the sabbath. I also noted that she wasn't particular about the food that we ate in the restaurant - if there was shrimps or pork, etc. But all in all I never suspected that she had a change of heart in terms of religious doctrine. 

In retrospect, I think that she was hesitant to open up to me due to my position and employment and it could be possible that I would react negatively towards her.

In the year 2000 mom passed away and 3 years later I had that moment of divine calling that I mentioned in my other blog. About a year from that fateful day I happened to visit Manila to attend a work-related convention, and I took the chance to visit my mom's sister. It was there that I told her of my conversion and the trouble that it was causing my family and the institution that I was serving. My aunt was ecstatic and said that the prayers at CCF were finally answered. She invited me to the Wednesday night service while I was there and after the meeting she took me backstage to meet someone - Pastor Danny De Guzman. All she said to him as introduction was "...meet Sunny Boy," and pastor said "a-te Priscy's son?" When auntie answered yes and added that "he's already born-again" Pastor Danny exclaimed - "a mother's prayer has been answered. Hallelujah!"

Mom prayed and cried and prayed for her children - there's no doubt about that, and I know she had that peace and confidence that her prayers would be answered even if the answer came after she passed away. 

The tribes, the orphans and decisions in life.

God called Noah one day. It was not in a vision this time nor was it a personal visit or a booming voice from the sky. It came through Facebook from Noah's schoolmate in medical school centuries before the flood, with whom Noah had no previous association. The lady was able to reach Noah through her classmate and she was asking if Noah could help her put together a medical mission to the tribes in the north of the Indochina region. She represented a church group from New Jersey, USA that wanted to share their love with the less fortunate and they were eyeing this area.

If there is anything that Noah likes most, it is God talking to him about going to poor villages and orphanages. Noah never gives a “no” answer for invitations of this kind and he immediately started drafting the plans for the medicines and supplies to be bought and packed.

The day of departure dawns and Noah takes the stuff to Suvarnabhumi airport where he would meet for the first time the team who would be making their connecting flight to Chiang Rai. The anticipation to give and serve was felt by every cell in Noah's body, but he didn't foresee what God had in store for him. This would be evident as the mission winded up.

the Asian Mission Outreach Foundation

at Chiang Rai was the host to this team

The day after they arrived at Chiang Rai they were brought to a village were english classes were ongoing and the host organization had an existing welcome presence among the village folk.

the shed where the english classes are held.

This is the village hall where the free

medical clinic was done. at this point

the villagers were still arriving, but the 

team had to start by introducing themselves.

Jeffree and his dance number. he was in

a group dance, but his actions were worth

documenting alone.

a group photo after the clinic with

the village officials, host team and

visiting team.

The next day the team traveled to Mae Sai Northern Thailand and crossed the border to the city of Tachiliek Myanmar.

on the Thai Myanmar Friendship bridge

before getting into Myanmar.

 at the Myanmar immigration's office for the visa.
Note the breakfast of the officer to his right. No 
doubt his stomach was growling.

that's the visa

met some monks on their morning rounds

The expensive fare of this taxi didn't

guarantee a comfortable seat

After checking in at the Sansai hotel the team immediately got down to business which included:

treating sick grandmothers...

...and babies

and visiting the orphans in 2 orphanages:

 applying shampoo for head lice...

...and scabies

  the shampoo has to stay for 5 minutes to 

kill the adult lice. Louse eggs will hatch

in a week's time and the shampoo has to be repeated

washing after the shampoo. Deworming

pills were also given to each child.

 teaching the kids new songs and games while the 

shampooing is done

 bathrooms of the orphanage

 a huge hall-like bedroom for the boys

 the stove where the meals are cooked

 a huge boiler-steamer for cooking the rice

 it's chow time and the kids line up for the food

 he's back for a second serving

well nourished orphans

the orphanage activities was capped by the dabbing

of the traditional Burmese facial lotion on the

team by the orphans.

The next and last day in Myanmar was for the graduation of a batch of Bible students. It was here that God again spoke to Noah through Pastor Nestor Arellano - the commencement address speaker. He touched on the subject of never outgrowing prayer and he said that we may not hear God's voice speaking to us because we do not talk to Him often, if at all. This message found it's mark in Noah's heart and struck him like a bolt of lightning.

Pastor Nestor with a Myanmar interpreter

It could be read in Noah's previous blog entries that he just got terminated from a job at a hospital, because he already reached the mandatory age of retirement in Thailand. With the many offers (at least 3) for him to work at a hospital in the Philippines and some other opportunities (unrelated to his career as a physician), Noah was in a quandary on which step to take, and he was not hearing anything from God about this particular decision that needed to be settled as soon as possible. 

God's answer came in the moment before Noah separated from the team for his flight back home to Bangkok. The team gathered around Noah and prayed over him, and Pastor Nestor prophesied that Noah would become a witness for the gospel - not as a medical doctor this time, but in a different vocation.

With a song in his heart Noah boarded the plane home and thanked God for once again giving him a taste of His kingdom and for pointing Noah to the direction that he should take.

Noah would like to thank the team members of the Jesus Is Lord church of Tom's River, New Jersey for 'borrowing' him for a season and for being God's mouthpiece for a decision he had to make. 

Rockin’ with the Foursquare Gospel Church

Congregation singing in the Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) church is done with hymn book by pre-modern standards. There’s no clapping, dancing, waving of hands or cheering. Drums, cymbals, electric synthesizers, guitars, etc are taboo. 

There is no spontaneous individual praise, speaking in tongues, prophesying or crying. Everything is kept in a formal, outwardly reverent and strictly prescribed format - and that is from my own experience being born, raised and educated by this church for the 47 years of my life.

At the other end of the church decorum spectrum stands the Pentecostal church - specifically the Foursquare Church. In my teenage years I had the chance to observe them worship and my friends and I labelled them as weird, possessed, drunk, etc. Honestly I thought that they were not worshiping God at all.

My perception could have stayed that way were it not for the intervention of the Holy Spirit that transformed me into a Pentecostal believer. My daughter who followed me out of the SDA church had the chance to serve the Foursquare church just recently and the experience stirred her soul like nothing before. Here are some photos that I gleaned from her album and Kathleen's.

The Evangelical church of Bangkok praise team led by Pastor Adam was invited to the Foursquare Youth Conference in Baguio city, Philippines. Kukie - my daughter, is in the left with a hand 
raised in prayer. 

This is conference is done every two years for the youth 
leaders of the church

that's how they pray... If you did that in the SDA church 
you'd be considered odd.

sing and dance... why not?

speaking in tongues... prophesying...

cheering...

All that is considered old-school compared to the SDA style of worship when one considers these examples in the ancient Israelite era:

Psalm 149:3 "Let them praise his name with dancing and make music to him with timbrel and harp.

and in the early Christian era:

Acts 2 "When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome(both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”

Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine."

Nehemiah Nepal

The Old Testament prophet - Nehemiah, was tasked by God Jehovah to rebuild Jerusalem from ruins. A similar restoration job, Pastor Kaji and Rasmira Maharjan of Lalitpur, Kathmandu, Nepal, took upon themselves, howbeit with a different twist.

Pastor Kaji - now in his early sixties, started the gospel work in Kathmandu as a very young man. He figured out that sin ruined mankind and that it will take someone - a Nehemiah, to help rebuild sinful man - particularly in Nepal, back to God's design. At that early stage of the gospel work in Kathmandu, Pastor Kaji dubbed his mission - "Nehemiah Nepal." His strategy stuck and now there is also a "Nehemiah India" and a "Nehemiah Bhutan."

In the few days that I stayed in their home and had fellowship with them in church, I was inspired by this couple in many ways. Their simplicity, sincerity and burning love for their countrymen and for God was so evident and contaminating.

in the guestroom dining quarters

 The Ananta Shalom church in Lalitpur

 worship is on the second floor...

 and there are no pews... 

just beautiful rugs where the worshipers 
can make themselves comfortable

I wanted to join in the singing but I couldn't make
out the head and tail of their alphabet

It was the first Saturday of the month (the official 

weekly holiday in Nepal is Saturday - not Sunday) and 

it was my blessed opportunity to break bread with

them in the celebration of the holy Eucharist.

Pastor Kaji related to me how the gospel work is now seeing a bountiful harvest. The indigenous people of Nepal are basically animists and they have a lot of taboos and superstitions, which keep them in the bondage of fear of the unseen. 

Any illness is first taken to the village shaman and then to the medical doctor if the former fails. When the medical doctor fails the last resort is the church upon recommendation by the doctor. And like in the days of Paul and Silas miracles have been happening in Nepal. 

I wished that I didn't have to fly home so soon, but I realized that God needed me more with my family. 

A "Nehemiah Thailand?" Who knows!

Jungu, Dolakha, Nepal

Jungu (pronounced joogoo) is one place I have never heard of ever since.  I didn't have the slightest idea what awaited me in terms of sights or culture. The most I knew of it in my research was the temperature at this time of the year, which could range from 5 – 21 degrees Celsius.

The maps below show where this remote place is in relation to the country where I come from.

the red line is the Airasia route that brought me from 

flat Bangkok to steep Kathmandu

That's Nepal in relation to its neighbors: Tibet up north, 

India in the south and Bangladesh and Bhutan to the east

Jungu is at the Gaurishankar reservation in the Rolwaling 

mountain range. Mt. Everest of the Annapurna range is next 

to the Rolwaling range.

You may note that the highways (yellow lines) are limited compared to India. It can also be seen that Jungu is not anywhere comfortably near a highway. So what was I expecting?

I got into the Tribhuvan International Airport at Kathmandu at about 8 pm of November 1 and was met by Pastor Kaji and Gunraj Praja (below). 

That night I was briefed with the activities, which started with the departure at 6 am the following day and arrival at Jungu after 10 – 11 hours, granting that the bus survives the rugged trip and that no landslides happen that night to obstruct our passage.

The entire medical team of 30+ persons inside a 30-seater bus. At this point I wasn't yet introduced to them and my acquaintances were limited to the church folks who numbered about a dozen. I soon discovered that the majority of the team were Hindu and were connected with the Dr. Iwamaru Memorial Hospital and school of medical arts at Bhaktapur.

 we traverse through the Araniko highway linking Kathmandu 
to Tibet, China with the view of the beautiful Sunkoshi 
river taking my breath away...

 ...and then leave it behind at the junction in Kadichaur to make

the steep climb to the mountain town of Charikot/Bhimeshwor.

this stretch of highway (Lamosangu-Ramechhap) is one-lane 

with designated areas where you can pass slow vehicles 

or stop to let the oncoming car through.

main street Charikot - a city set on a mountain

the dizzying descent to the Tamakoshi river that drains the 

melting glaciers of the Annapurna mountains.

 The bridge across the Tamakoshi river

and then a muddy/rocky stretch of about 15 km

The final climb from the Tamakoshi to this spot on a ridge

with the village of Jungu (center of photo) in sight at last . But mind you, it will still be another 2 hours from this spot and under the cover of darkness before I finally set foot on ground zero.

sunrise the next day revealed this spot where we had

set camp.

Medical camp would commence after some ceremonies and preparations and this would be my home for 3 breezy days and 4 bone-chilling nights in the land of the legendary Sherpas and Ghurkhas.