The Faith of a 10-Year-Old Boy

OUR PLANE taxied through the runway of Fukuoka airport, ready for its departure back to Tokyo. It was a blessed event indeed, having to attend the worship service, witness the entire celebration, and above all, see and shake hands with the Iglesia ni Cristo’s (our) beloved Executive Minister, Brother Eduardo V. Manalo during their pastoral visitation in the southern part of Japan. My mind recounted all the wonderful things that took place before, during and after the event as I rubbed my 4-months-old baby’s back as he slept soundly on my chest.

One of the most unforgettable experience I had throughout our travel and the entire event was my meeting with a 10-year-old boy. He sat beside me at the nursery area during the worship service since babies and children were not allowed inside. Unfortunately, since there were no speakers and projectors set up for those seated outside, we could barely hear our beloved Executive Minister’s bible teachings. This led me to start a conversation with the boy beside me.

(Conversation translated in English)

Boy: Isn't there TV? (He's referring to a huge screen where we can see the bible teachings from the inside)

Me: I don't think there is one.

Taken during the Fukuoka Pastoral Visitation 2016.
From the left, Sis. Kim Gonzales, the writer,
Bro. Dennis Lu & Bro. Joel Cabacungan.

Boy: Then how can we see Bro. EVM?

Me: We can just hear his voice, or maybe after the worship service, we can shake his hands if we are lucky.

Boy: Oh I don't think so coz the last time he was here, the guards already blocked the way and he left so soon that I didn't get even a glance.

He was a bit disappointed because he was really expecting and looking forward to seeing and even shaking hands with the Executive Minister.

Boy: Too bad, I even skipped school today just to see him, and the long travel also gave me a hard time, because my father said we can shake his hands...

Me: How many hours did you travel by bus?

Boy: Maybe about 12 hours all in all including two stops for toilet break.

Too bad I missed to ask for his name. But later on, I learned that he was a choir member in the Children’s Worship Service in the Locale of Hamamatsu in the Ecclesiastical District of Japan.

After about two hours, our plane finally landed at Narita airport. We have already left Fukuoka but still, the conversation I had with that boy hasn't left my mind. It was just a short one, but it taught me a great lesson about a child's faith. If at a very young age, he could already make sacrifices like that just to see our Executive Minister, I just wonder why others who are older than him couldn't.

The White Clear Book and Gold Bracelet

(Photo credits to delramos)

WITH A BIG earth-coloured tote bag slung on her right shoulder and a white hardcover clear file on her right arm pressed against her chest, Shiela (not her real name) walked briskly along F. Ramos Street in Central Cebu. 

She wore a thin shiny gold bracelet with charms made of colorful precious stones that looked attractive on her right wrist against the white cover of the clear file she's holding. It was precious because her dad gave it on her 18th birthday, the same year she got her first white hardcover clear file where she put musical sheets on its clear pages. She simply called this file as her "clear book."

Sweat slid down her left temple as she anxiously turned right onto Mango Avenue. It was Thursday and she just got off from a hard day's work after politely refusing her supervisor's plea for overtime. 

She looked at her wrist watch. 5:56 PM. Her heart beat with anxiousness, slowly accelerating as the minute ticked away. As she increased the speed in her steps, she quickly closed her eyes. "I hope I can make it," she silently prayed as her brows creased in worry and nervousness.

She passed by Rain Tree Mall, then a small branch of Jollibee before she crossed the street to the other side. When she got to the opposite side of the street, she noticed a man behind her trying to catch up with her speed until he was almost beside her. Shiela walked even faster trying to avoid being tied up in any conversation with a stranger asking for directions, delaying her even more. 

However, she sensed that the man also kept up with her speed until he was already beside her. He was saying something but Shield did not quite hear him. "I'm sorry, I'm really in a hurry," she said as she quickly glanced at the man, without bothering to stop walking. She noticed that he was eyeing her clear book. 

She did not want to be rude to him, but now was not just the time to entertain anybody. She held her clear book tighter as her bracelet swung with her steps then glimpsed at her left where the man took long strides to keep up with her. 

(Photo credits to Shamelessly Sparkly)

The man was about 5 feet and 6 inches, just a little taller than she was. He looked very serious yet there was a trace of nervousness in his expression as he kept fidgeting with his hand in his pocket, trying to find something. He kept eyeing her clear book, which made Shiela curious but did not bother investigating further.

When Shiela was just about two hundred meters from her destination, the man grabbed her left arm. But before he could say anything else, Shiela almost shouted at him first. "Will you stop bothering me!? Can't you see I'm in a hurry? I'd be late for the voice drill," she reprimanded then immediately walked away from him half running towards the huge green-roofed five-spired church.

The man was so stunned by the response he got. He was not an expert in the field yet, but it was the first time he chickened out and let his target walk away without taking anything from her. He put back the small knife in his pocket and shook his head in disbelief as he walked away faster.  

A short middle-aged man in a battle green vest printed with SCAN greeted her, "good evening sister, did that man give you any problem?" He asked her with a concerned expression.

Shiela looked at her clear book, then at her gold charmed bracelet, as she realized something that was just about to happen if she was not so focused and determined to fulfill her duty in the choir. Her clear book became her shield that protected her gold charmed bracelet and herself in the facet of danger.

She looked at the man wearing the SCAN uniform and smiled. "No he didn't. It's the other way around. I think I gave him a problem,"  she said before she finally entered the gate to the Iglesia ni Cristo chapel and made it at the nick of time for their 6:15 voice drill. 

The story is adopted from a real life experience with slight changes to the name of the character, location and some details to protect the people involved.

Woman Worked Harder to Celebrate INC Day's 95th Anniversary

AMONG the long lines of vendors along the roads of Nivel Hills in Lahug, I spotted Adelaida Labajo, a 60-year-old woman working non-stop until all her vegetables and charcoals were sold out. 

At her age, she should be at home instead of working all day long under the heat of the sun. However, she even doubled her efforts in finding financial means by doing more than just selling along the road. Adelaida would also go around the neighboring places, as far as her feet would take her just to sell all her goods.

Being a born and active member of the Iglesia ni Cristo, she revealed that she was enthusiastic with the church’s 95th Founding Anniversary in the country on 27th of July. This was in the same month but seven years ago (in 2009 to be exact). She even planned on preparing a little gathering for the celebration. This was her inspiration and the mere reason why she never got tired of selling vegetables and charcoal everyday.

“I will really strive harder at work for the preparation of the church’s 95th Anniversary, because I’m really thankful that God has never forsaken me,” she said in a plain Visayan vernacular.

Adelaida was married to Amateo with twelve children, and with such number of children, life was not easy for her and her converted husband. Moreover, when financial and health condition seemed shaky before, she would find herself slipping away from her faith and courage.

Furthermore, with too much struggles for their everyday survival, she would even feel her spirits weakening then. Everything even worsened when an illness struck her in 2008. Due to lack of sleep and rest from selling vegetables and repacking charcoals as their only means of income, Adelaida’s health declined for more than two weeks, which made his husband took over their small business.

Because of her illness, she was forced to stop attending church worship services twice every week for a couple of months. Moreover, despite her silent protest, her relatives took her to a faith healer. “I was so depressed when I have to stop attending church services. I didn’t believe I’d get healed by the faith healer. I just prayed at that time,” she said with teary eyes.

However difficult the situation was, Adelaida made it through the painful trials that life had beset upon her, and because of those challenges, she became stronger in her faith and regained courage in life. She went back to attending church services in the House of Worship in Tisa, Labangon in January the following year together with her husband.

“I will die within the church’s flock because this is where truth is. I am just very thankful that despite the hardships I have experienced, God never left me,” she proudly said. (Jasmin Vailoces)

My Ideal Man

(photo credits to PAHULAGWAY)

HE IS GOOD LOOKING, neat and attractive, very smart, a good communicator and a marketing manager of a giant print media establishment in the Philippines. He is a Chinese-Filipino and is every Filipino woman's dream man. He has everything I was looking for in an ideal husband. Everything, indeed, except that he is not a member of the same church I go to.

You see, I am an Iglesia ni Cristo member and it is strictly prohibited for us to marry someone outside the church. 

I used to work as a Business Correspondent in a competing newspaper company in 2007. I was 22 when I met him then. He was a few years older than I. I was deeply attracted to him the first time we met at an event we both attended for a news coverage. Then we met again for another event where we involved in a longer conversation and hence, got to know each other more than "hi" and "hello". I enjoyed his company a lot. Unknowingly, he felt the same and unexpectedly, was attracted to me. 

Give and take a few more weeks, he expressed his feelings for me and I was in seventh heaven. Who would have thought that this almost perfect man (and so I thought) would find a plain-looking and simple young lady like me interesting. 

So, such a dilemma started. Human as we are, we're sometimes swayed by our emotions while our mind tries to battle with our heart. I was in a situation where I was torn between upholding my Christian beliefs or returning my feelings to the man of my dreams, going against the church laws, making agreements to a non-member and thus, giving in to temptations. 

I love my membership in the church because I consider it my holy calling to be a part of the flock. I value dearly the laws that I have to adhere to to keep my membership undaunted and unstained. So as to lessen the guilt I was feeling for developing mutual feelings for this man, I told him about my being an INC member and how the church strictly prohibits us from committing ourselves in a relationship with non-members. I told him he needs to be converted to INC first before I will agree to be in a relationship with him. 

Temptations do not give up easily. The enemy of our faith is also consistent on its goal to covet our faith and lead us astray. And so, he assured me that being together is not a mortal sin and won't affect my membership in the church.   

While I said "no" to him several times, I also prayed  more than once that God will call him in the church as well. But HE never did. I was sad about it, even a little disappointed you may say. But it was then I realized that such a dilemma happened at a perfect moment. You see, he came to my life a month or two before the Holy Supper. Thus, we were preparing ourselves for a very important occasion. 

During the Holy Supper, we will be commemorating Jesus' death on the cross, to remember how He died for the forgiveness of our sins. As INC members, it is imperative to prepare ourselves for such a very important occasion by living a life free from wrong-doings and sins, so we will be worthy to partake our share in the body and blood of Jesus Christ. Hence, it is no coincidence that I happened to meet this so-called man of my dreams in the advent of such a very important occasion. 

I knew then that it was Satan knocking on my door with something alluring to offer me. Temptation was waiting at my door like a lion dressed in a lamb skin, waiting for me to fall prey to its treachery. Weak as I was then, I strengthened my nightly devotional prayer. I knew I could not do it alone. Hence, I seek for God's guidance in making the right decision. I implored to Him to make me stronger against temptations. 

I knew then that I had to be smart enough to battle the enemy. With anxiousness in my heart but firm faith and trust in God, I talked to him about my decision. While it was so hard to deny my feelings for him, I politely said my final "no".  His response surprised me a lot. Because of my firm conviction in holding on to my faith, he respected me all the more. He smiled and told me, "I hope my future daughter will be like that, strong in her beliefs, just like you." 

Such stage in my life ended beautifully as we become very good friends until now. God never abandoned me even a second at that moment and thus, He closed such dilemma with a blessing of friendship. 

And so fast forward to the present, that man whom I thought was my ideal man then, is now happily living with his son in Manila. As for me, I am living the life I've always wanted. Here in my humble little abode in Tokyo, I wake up everyday and open my eyes to a good looking, neat, attractive, smart and musically-talented man. He is Chinese-Filipino and the best part is, an active member of the church, and with that, all the other great qualities follow. We perform our duties in the church together. He, as the District Choir Director and I, as a choir member/organist. Having someone whom I can share my happiness in performing my church duties is my dream man, indeed, my ideal husband. 

I continue to revel in God's great blessings as I pondered on His great love for us. He doesn't only give us what we need, but even what we want provided that we always put Him first above all else and follow His commandments at all times. I never regretted standing my grounds when beset with a certain temptation. God never forgets our sacrifices and hence, I could never ask for more now that I am married to my ideal man.