Senior-couple missionaries are treated like celebrities when they show up to church. Of course, our first time in each of the seven branches where we serve, everyone was anxious to see who would be replacing Elder and Sister Dinkel, who served here before us. We got lots of big smiles and handshakes, even from the youth and the little kids. And lots of questions! Are the Dinkels gone home? No, they've been transferred to Baguio. Where are you staying? In Manaoag, in the same house where the Dinkels were. Where from you are? (Every single time I've been asked where we're from, it's 'where from you are?') We're from Portland, Oregon, in America. Is that in California? No, it's just north of California, by the Pacific Ocean. (Then they tell us what relatives they have living in California.) How old are you? (Perfectly acceptable question in the Philippines.) How many children do you have? How many grandchildren? Oh, and questions about what we'll be doing while we're here - - visiting members? teaching piano lessons? I think that I was asked on our first Sunday here if I would do some Primary leadership training a few weeks later. I've been asked to pinch hit at the piano a couple times (not really a good idea), and Tony's been asked to speak once, just as we were going in the door.
Most of the church buildings are very modern and clean. Most are H-shaped, with the chapel and the hall are in one wing, classrooms and offices in the other. Some are air-conditioned, some not, but they're loaded with ceiling fans and windows. The floors are usually white tile, and the benches are wood, not upholstered. Some smaller chapels use stacking plastic chairs, rather than pews. Nothing cushy, anywhere! Classroom chairs are all of the Filipino-sized plastic stacking variety, too - - not too comfy for three hours, though it doesn't seem to bother anyone but me.
One creative use of plastic stacking chairs!
We'd bought ourselves a Tagalog hymn book when we were in the MTC and were surprised to see that they only use English hymn books in the churches here. Hymn-singing is accompanied on piano or electronic keyboard by whomever has enough skill to play from the book, "Hymns Made Easy" or sometimes "Simplified Hymns." No one in our seven branches plays from the standard hymn book. Each branch seems to have a small handful of beginning-to-intermediate-level pianists, some of whom are now students of mine. Hymns are directed by one of the Young Women, all of whom seem to have had a little training, and most of them do pretty well. In the classes, where there are no pianos, the person directing just sings the first line of the hymn, then says, "sing," and we start singing. And everyone loves to sing the hymns. They may not have learned them all correctly, having sung them a capella for years, but they sing happily.
The meetings and classes are conducted in whatever language a person is comfortable with. In Manaoag, where we live, the native language is Ilocano (there are well over 100 languages spoken in the Philippines), and I suppose that's what most of them speak in church, though it's pretty well mixed with English and maybe Tagalog. It's funny - - most speakers and teachers use English terms for gospel-related words, even if they're speaking another language, so often it's fairly easy to follow. And when they read from scripture, it's usually in English. Also, when they write something on the chalkboard, that's in English, because it's a lot shorter. There are some speakers or teachers who speak only in Tagalog or Ilocano, but mostly we get enough 'Tagalish' that we can kind of tell what's going on.
Rainy days . . .
It seems that women in the church here all call each other 'sister,' whether they're just meeting or are lifelong friends. (At home, we call each other 'Sister Last-name' until we know each other better, then we just call each by our first names.) Here, it's 'Sister First-name' all the time, once they reach adulthood. I'm trying to remember this, to fit in better, but they do have some funny names and it's hard to call someone 'Sister Susie' or 'Sister Lady,' with a straight face. : )
One thing we've found to be annoyingly common is the children running freely in and out of church meetings and classes. No one seems to mind that the kids just come and go and spend half the time running around outside, unless they get too noisy. Teachers prepare lessons for them, but they don't keep them in the classes if they want to leave. Kids are always coming into the adult classes to get snacks, which their moms readily dispense from their purses. It's a big cultural difference we're trying to address . . . gently . . . little by little.
But mostly, it's been delightful to get acquainted with the church members here and to begin to realize how much they do to build up God's kingdom in this little part of the world. Their lives are not easy and, for many of them, just getting to church at all is a sacrifice, but they are so dedicated. In Manaoag, in particular, Sunday is a big market day, because of all the weekend tourists visiting the Catholic shrine here. With tiny businesses providing the livelihood of so many here, it takes a lot of faith to close up shop on Sundays and keep the sabbath day the way we're taught to do, but many make that choice.
This is typically how many vehicles you'll see at church on a Sunday, because most members don't own vehicles. They walk, or hire a trike or pedicab to get them there and pick them up afterward.
Here's one trike owned by a family. I counted seven getting out/off when they arrived one day. : )
We attended a convert baptism soon after we got here. It was scheduled for 6:00 one evening but didn't start until 6:30, after everyone arrived in the back of one pick-up truck, coming from San Jacinto, the next town over. There's no baptismal font in the San Jacinto building, so they come to Manaoag for their baptisms. It was funny to us, though, to see that truck pull up with all those people in the back. : )
Neighborhood kids love it when the church gates are open and they can play on the lawn.
