| “May
we use your church, Chief?” I asked him one day. “We have
our worship every Saturday and we don’t have a church here. You
don’t use your church anyway. May we use it?” |
| “Of
course! Why not?” he approved. “It is good that our children
will be attending church as we parents hunt for food in the forest.”
And so it was that we gathered every Sabbath in that church together
with the many children from the village. During the first Sabbath,
we covered the Santo Niño with a thick cloth so that the children
could not see it. |
| Lando
wanted to be baptized, even if it meant his life. |
| “Why
did you cover Santo Niño, Ma’am?” the children chorused. |
| We
answered, “We don’t worship a god who cannot hear and see.
We worship a GREAT, LIVING GOD in heaven who can hear and answer our
prayers. He also is the only one who provides for our needs.” |
| The
children were worried. They couldn’t understand at first. The
parents were angry. They told their children not to attend our Sabbath
School anymore. But the children loved the stories from the picture
rolls. They enjoyed the songs and memory verses. They loved to come
to Sabbath School every Sabbath. No matter how much the parents tried
to prevent their children from coming to Sabbath School, they came
just the same. Every morning they came to our cottage for worship. |
| Lando
and his family were interested in receiving Bible studies. Every Sabbath
afternoon we went to their house for that purpose. They were so happy
for the new light of truth they discovered every time we studied with
them. |
| The
Ultimatum |
| Then
a problem arose. When the whole village learned that Lando and his
family was receiving Bible studies, they scolded them. The chief was
especially angry. “Enough of this foolishness you are doing with
these SULADS teachers. You stop your studies with them or else we
will cast you out of our village and you will have no more rights
to the land that our gods have given us. You, your children, and your
children’s children will lose their inheritance.” |
| This
was too much for the family. They would surely be cast out of the
tribe and would never be given the right to be heir to the land of
their fathers. With this big blow, the family was discouraged. “We
had better stop it, Ma’am,” they suggested. As much as we
wanted to continue the studies, we did not want to make trouble with
the people. |
| We
prayed to the Lord that He would remind the family of the truth they
had learned about the Sabbath. The family also, convicted of the truth,
prayed for the Lord’s guidance. They planned to go to their farm
that Sabbath to work. But when Sabbath came, it rained heavily all
day and they were not able to go to their farm. Sunday came and the
sun shone brightly until Friday. They had a good time working on their
farm. Another Sabbath came and that morning the sun shone brightly
just like the rest of the days that week. “We can go to the farm
today,” the father said. |
| The
rest of the family agreed. “Maybe we can go today without any
problem. Maybe it is all right to work on this Sabbath the SULADS
missionaries are talking about.” |
| A
Mysterious Fever |
| As
they were preparing their things and food to take to the farm that
Sabbath morning, they suddenly all got so sick that they could not
walk. |
| That
Sabbath afternoon, both my partner and I were inspired to visit the
family. We were hesitant at first because they had already told us
not to continue the studies. But we had no intention of studying with
them. We just wanted to pay a visit. |
| We
were surprised to find them all sick with very high fevers. |
| “Thank
you, Ma’am for coming to our rescue,” the mother said. “I
was praying that you would come today to help us and God answered
my prayer. Your God really is the true God!” |
| We
gave them each a sponge bath and they felt better. By sunset, they
were all well. |
| Then
they told us that they were testing God and the truth about the Sabbath.
Then the father spoke. “Now, whatever happens, I want all of
us to be baptized into your church. I now believe that the God of
the SULADS missionaries is the true God.” |
| “What
about the chief?” I inquired. “This will mean a bigger problem
in the village.” |
| “We
will take care of that, Ma’am,” the father said. “This
will be another big event where a pig will be sacrificed to release
us from the tribe. They will never consider us their brothers anymore.
They will never count us as members of our tribe’s family.” |
| “And
how is that with you?” I asked. |
| “When
this ritual is done we will no longer be animists worshipping the
false gods but we will be one of your church’s family worshipping
the only one true God in heaven.” |
| A
few months later, about three hundred Mission School children and
adults gathered in Mountain View College for the ALL SULADS Mission
School Pathfinder Jamboree. Twenty-eight delegates came from Victory
Mission School. The DATU (chief) himself led the group to make sure
that no member of his tribe was baptized. In fact the missionary teachers
had a hard time convincing the parents to let their children come
to the Jamboree. Their big fear was that the teachers might baptize
the children and that would be a disgrace to their animistic religion.
"No, that will never happen," the missionary teachers promised.
And so it was that the parents consented that their children attend
the Jamboree. |
| It’s
always a joy for the delegates to the Jamboree is to see it culminate
in a baptism. A jamboree is never complete without it. The missionary
teachers always prepare candidates for baptism but the Victory people
did not come for that. Only twenty-three year old Lando, who had been
studying with his family, had come to the Jamboree with that purpose
in mind. He did not tell his chief or his teachers about it. His family
had made up their minds to be baptized no matter what after they had
proven for themselves that the Sabbath is really the true day of rest,
sanctified and hallowed by God. We had already planned to have the
family released by the tribe through a ritual of sacrificing chickens
and pigs before they were baptized, but Lando did not want to wait
for that. That Sabbath afternoon 28 candidates from other villages
lined up before the minister beside the stream. We did not tell the
Victory delegates what was happening in case the chief might not allow
the children to attend any more Jamborees. Lando was upset when he
learned that he had missed the baptism and asked to be baptized. |
| “Brother
Lando, do you really want to be baptized?” “ Yes!,”
he said. “Are you aware of the consequences if the chief discovers
that you have been baptized?” “Yes!,” was his bold
answer. “Are you ready to be cast out by your family, tribe and
people?” “Yes sir!” “And now, Lando,” said
the minister. “I’m happy for your bold decision. I have
learned that to disobey or betray the culture and tradition of your
people could mean death. Are you ready for this?” With tears
in his voice he said, “If I perish, I perish!” |
| And
so we went down again to the stream for the special baptism of Lando.
“Brother Lando,” Pastor Baragona prayed, “because you
have chosen Jesus rather than your people and have made this dangerous
decision to accept Jesus through baptism, as a minister of the gospel
of the Seventh-day Adventist church, I now baptize you in the name
of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.” |
| Together
with the SULADS missionaries, we knelt in prayer around Lando as the
pastor prayed again in dedication of Lando’s life. There were
warm and teary hugs and handshakes in welcoming Lando to the worldwide
church. Please keep Lando and his family in your prayers. |
|
By
Daryl Famisaran and Virgie Amora
*Socio-economic
Uplift Leading to Anthropological and Developmental Services (also
means ‘brothers’ in the mountain dialect)
|
