The Arrival – Chapter 2
Preview from Prince of Sumba, Husband to Many Wives
Tony abruptly pulled the tricycle to the side of the road and announced:
“We’re here!”
I surveyed the neighborhood, my eyes moist with tears. I’d arrived. I was overwhelmed. My grandpa used to tell me I had the eyes of an evangelist. He’d say, “Just shout the gospel news and they’ll be pierced to the heart when they see the joy in your tears.”1
I wondered now if he was simply humoring an over emotional boy. Well, now I had the chance to find out. Evangelism was my mission. Would the locals think I was an over emotional fanatic? Or would they indeed see the joy in my tears?
At that moment the truth for my being here hit me. I loved attention. I was selfish. Had the Lord used my desire for friends and attention to carry out His purpose? I felt ashamed but the Lord always knew my heart. He knew my heart and my reasons before I’d left on this mission. I often prayed that He would be gentle in chastening me for my selfishness. But this time, I wasn’t sure how gentle He would be. After all, Pastor Sam’s house was just a few hours’ drive from The Islamic City of Marawi. Could that city, its residents nearly all Muslim, be my end? Thousands had died in the last battle, not so many years ago. Or would it be the Maskers, should the American doctatorship regain power? I couldn’t spend time worrying about it. The Lord was going to have His way. I simply had to follow Him. Yes, my selfishness brought me here, but it was no more than the vehicle the Lord used to start me on this journey.
I remembered my professor’s words, “Mindanao is one of the few places on earth where Christian and Muslim worlds intersect.” I pondered how its people would respond to the Lord’s message of love and hope2 and what part in delivering that message I would play. Would the local Born-Again Christians grasp the epic nature of the prophesies concerning Mindanao. Would they even take part in them or would the Lord raise up new converts to carry out that task; new wine into new bottles.3 Could I love this people? Could they love each other?
From Pastor Sam’s front yard, I could see a mosque in the distance. It was imposing. Its gold dome was polished to a glass like finish. What would happen to the people who prayed there? Would they realize that they could not find salvation in their works?4 Would they know the joy of salvation or would they go to their graves in a so-called Jihad? By what method would the Lord bring His way to be held in high esteem there?5
Now that Tony had turned off the engine of his tricycle, I could hear other tricycles in the distance. The sounds of their engines would rise then fade like the ocean surf beating against the shores. Mary could never understand how I identified city sounds with nature. Well, to me, the cities were alive. These were the sounds of Cagayan de Oro; the motorcycles, the trucks, the children laughing, a rooster crowing in the afternoon, I should say a confused rooster crowing in the afternoon, the clip clop of hooves as a farmer wearing a turban sat atop a wagon pulled by a huge water buffalo on his way to market.
“Hiya, hiya,” he shouted.
I could hear the keys of an antique typewriter slapping paper as we coasted past a government office down the hill to Pastor Sam’s house. I would remember these sounds.
Pastor Sam was waiting in his driveway. I managed to exit Tony’s miniature taxi without a can opener, popping out like a cork.
“Pastor Ishmael David!” Pastor Sam greeted me. “How was your ride? Not too many flats, I hope?”
“We really enjoyed the ride.” I answered. “Actually, we enjoyed the flat. It gave us an opportunity to have a chat with Suni, a girl at the sari-sari store next to the market.”
“Oh, you met her? She’s been looking forward to your coming. She’s a member of our choir.”
“That’s odd, she didn’t say a thing about it.”
“Maybe she thought she’d like to meet the real Ishmael David, not the one who comes here as a missionary. Did she ask your occupation?”
“No, mostly she just asked a lot of personal questions. She didn’t ask my occupation.”
“She must have enjoyed that. In fact, I’d bet you’re the first Americans she’s spoken with outside of the missionaries she’s met here at church. All the other girls are going to be envious of her.”
I was tired from the trip and didn’t want to stand outside talking shop, so I asked:
“Is your wife at home?”
“Yes, Sarisa is at home, and this is your wife, Mary?”
“Yes, I’m Mary.” Mary answered for herself. “Nice to meet you, Pastor Sam. I hope you won’t mind that I don’t try to pronounce your last name.”
“Oh, not in the least. Everyone here calls me Pastor Sam or just Pastor, and I’m the one who’s been rude.”
Pastor Sam motioned Tony to take our bags inside, then quipped:
“Come in to my humble adobo er abode.”6
I think I was the only one who got the joke. Adobo Filipino style, is a meat dish that is sautéed in red wine vinegar and soy sauce.
Chapter 2 Footnotes
1. Psalm 126:5-6 They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves [with him].
2. Romans 5:5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
3. Matthew 9:17 Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved.
4. Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.
5. Acts 18:25-28 This man was instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John. And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue: whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly. And when he was disposed to pass into Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him: who, when he was come, helped them much which had believed through grace: For he mightily convinced the Jews, and that publicly, showing by the scriptures that Jesus was Christ.
6. Among themselves pastors tend to be fond of joking and making puns. A pastor’s congregation often takes him so seriously that it isn’t kosher to kid and so he relishes getting visits from other pastors who can cut the mustard and, in this way, he avoids getting into a pickle with his flock.
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