Sunday, August 20, 2023
Considering this happened almost a month ago, I don’t think I have all the precise details on this one. Or for the other days, moving forward. Thankfully I had events at least outlined so I that helps.
I woke up to the alarm set for 5:30am, but I was really up and out of bed by 6. I don’t think I did anything besides taking a bath and getting dressed… and it was a good thing I was out because the van arrived early, and we all left at 7am sharp.
After a short ride we arrived at what looked like the Tboli terminal for UV Express vans. We took a quick bathroom break, and I got change for 500 pesos thanks to Mama Josie. While the majority of the team rode out to Gbangkaing, Pastor Ronnie, Pastor Gilbert and I rode with brother Pastor Jomar and Gerald.
Now up until this moment we were riding around in vans… But today it couldn’t be avoided: We had to go to Mungu, riding in motorbikes. I learned something – instead of the embarrassing ‘safety measure’ of wrapping your arms around the driver or grabbing on his thighs (as I did last 2019), you can easily maintain stability by just grabbing on the lower back of the driver’s jacket. Not so cringey.
That was probably TMI but I will share this for sure – something that I was thinking about while I held on as we rode through the highway and into dirt roads. I’m quite aware of the fact that we trust pilots to fly us in heavy metal tubes from one corner of the earth to another, over altitudes of thousands of feet above sea level. We don’t see their faces; all we know about them are their names and their voices – On the same note, we trust a driver to take us from one place to another, riding open with our bodies exposed to the environment and other vehicles, through questionable terrain; we see these drivers, we talk to them, we see how they also struggle with the bike and/or the terrain.
I was thinking about this all throughout this time and I think this is what we’re to learn – when you trust someone, how much you know or how much you don’t know about those people doesn’t matter as much. It all depends on you. Or rather, when you want people to trust in you, you can only go so far – the decision ultimately lies with the person. Or, something like that.
Anyway we made our way to Mungu safely – getting out to cross a makeshift wooden bridge over what I’m assuming is Allah River, so the motorbikes could cross quickly and safely, and then getting out another time so the motorbikes could make it up a more dangerous slope with ease. That’s another thing I guess – you need to trust the driver even when he tells you to get out, almost the same way we trust a pilot when he turns on the ‘Fasten Seatbelt’ light. Goes to show that much is required of us when people place their trust in us, because they will comply with whatever we tell them.
Soon as we got to Mungu we were met with a bamboo table with a simple breakfast for us. I tell you, native chicken and freshly cooked rice never tasted better. And if that wasn’t enough another container was uncovered to reveal buko salad; and this isn’t buko salad with fruit fillers, mind you – this was salad consisting of pure buko meat.
After we were settled in, we started the service, and it was a breath of fresh air to be back as part of the congregation. Worship music was led by Pastor Jomar’s team of the usual vocalists and musicians, but I noticed something about the musicians that I haven’t seen in a very long time – that is, the musicians were singing along as the vocalists were leading. That meant a lot to me. They sang mostly Tagalog fare (except their customary greeting song), and I was surprised even further, pleasantly surprised when they also sang Sukdulang Biyaya – that was really nice.
And it seems that they worshipped, then opened the service in prayer, then worshipped again before encouraging the congregation for giving, worshipping again before finally opening the actually singing portion with a psalm reading. I also noticed that Pastor Jomar’s son and his worshio team wore the clothes I gave from my own wardrobe. It was quite funny to see the musicians wear shirts with statements like ‘Antisocial, but selectively social’ as they played their instruments.
Eventually Pastor Ronnie was up to bat. He spoke to the people about enjoying the presence of God, quoting the experiences of Jacob, and taking something from the Gospel of Luke. When he finished, I spoke on how Christ lay His life down, and He surrendered and He gave everything first just so that we could enjoy that said presence. I pushed it even further by telling the people that it is Christ HIMSELF who is the presence of God… and with that said, Christ is the greatest blessing we could ever receive, and in line with what we sang, Christ is our Sukdulang Biyaya; Our extreme blessing.
On that note, we wrapped the service up and proceeded to give away the school supplies that we bought earlier that week, thanking God that there was enough to go around, and that they were gracious to adhere to the list that Pastor gave me. Note to self, however, to buy extra next time… just in case.
We took pictures before moving back out. This time I was pretty much used to riding on the motorbike again – what I mean is that there wasn’t as much fear as there was on our ride to Mungu.
We made our way safely to Gbangkaing to link up with the main group, and had lunch with Pastoras Sayda & Lucy. Native chicken was good, but I also really enjoyed the goat they served. I could say more about their church, but I was already amazed by what I saw in Mungu. Not too long after we headed out to a private pool for Water Baptism. Pastor Rey N took lead and shared the reason for baptism just so everyone was on the same page, before Pastors Alvin, Anthony & I assisted with the actual baptism.
After the baptism we all headed out, back in the van, to Pastor Anthony & Mylene(?)’s business – what looked to be a salon – back in the main Tboli area. There wasn’t much to take in from there besides just praying for Pastor, before we left. We drove back home, and I suited up before jogging at the Surallah runway again. I was supposed to hit two birds with one stone, I was supposed to withdraw extra funds but the ATM I intended to go to was offline.
On the walk back I saw Pastor Alvin, joined him as he did his own thing, before eventually went to withdraw at another bank that was further away. I tell you, it’s not so hard to hit 10000 steps a day there. We saw some of the folks back at the common 7-11, then we all went to a carinderia close to the rotunda for dinner. To my amazement we paid a total of 600php for all our meals… before we all headed home and I slept.
Fast-Tracking this so I could finish everything already. Until the next post, God bless you.
JB's Personal Brain Defragmenter 
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