Carmen Sunday

August 8, 2011
A week ago, early Sunday morning, we caught a taxi to the north bus terminal, boarded an air conditioned bus for Carmen and were surprised when the bus took off just minutes after we got on. We expected to be traveling for two hours but were delighted to make the trip in just one hour and five minutes. Usually the bus stops a dozen or more times to pick up passengers waiting along the road who wave it down, but this time there was only one stop made—maybe because of the early hour. Just as we approached the chapel Larry called out to the driver, “Garlong!” which means “stop here” and the bus stopped right at the gate of the church. We were an hour early and the gate was locked. I thought we would be standing at least thirty minutes waiting for the branch president or some priesthood holder to come open the church, but to my amazement a young man walked up right then with a key, opened the gate and then beckoned us to the church which he also had the key for. He introduced himself as Kenneth Pacana and said he was eighteen years old and was preparing for his mission. He got the sacrament table ready, set up the chairs in the chapel area, turned on the microphones and fans, then greeted the little children and mothers as they came to church. I was so impressed with this young man. He is the branch president’s nephew and was so responsible. Before very many had arrived, Kenneth asked Larry if he would help him tie his tie. Larry took him into the CR and had him watch in the mirror while Larry demonstrated a few times on himself having Kenneth follow, until he was able to do it himself.
I was also impressed with how clean the church building was.
When our missionary, Sister Divina Sabio and her companion, Sister Rachel Fleury walked in, Sister Sabio was surprised and delighted to see us. She gave me a big hug. The branch president’s wife, Genevieve Pacana, filled in more details about Sister Sabio’s persecution from her family. Her brother was robbed, then shot and killed two weeks before she was to enter the MTC; her family blamed her for this tragedy. One week before she entered the MTC, her sister was hit and killed by a car, and again her relatives said it was a curse because she had joined the Church and was going on a mission. She fervently prayed about going on a mission and received an affirmative answer so entered the MTC. About a week later, her mother was taken to the hospital and diagnosed with cancer. Again, her family said it was all her fault and told her that she must quit her mission and come home, that she was the cause of all these catastrophes. Talk about the trials of Job! She was so torn but decided to stay in the MTC. She had been baptized on the day she was to have entered the convent to prepare to be a nun. Her family emails her constantly telling her what a bad person she is, what problems she has caused and is continuing to cause. It is heartbreaking to her and is causing her so much stress. She has had two wonderful American companions who have been a strength to her but I wonder if I would be as strong as she has been under similar circumstances.
We got a sweet letter from Sister Fleury this week thanking us for coming to Carmen and saying in part, “Thank you for being so kind and loving to my companion. Your presence in Church today meant more to her than you’ll probably ever know. Today was the perfect day and at the perfect time. . .” A tender mercy of the Lord. Daddy is inspired so many times as to where we should go to Church.
Our 23 year old friend, Nelie Bagaan, from Moalboal, emailed us to say that she was not coming back to school since she had not been able to find a job and had no money to pay for her tuition and housing. Larry told her that if she could come up with half the amount she needed we would pay the rest. She called Sunday afternoon saying that she was in Cebu. We invited her to come to dinner. She told us that she had been working as house help from 6 in the morning until 3-4 in the afternoon, cooking the meals, taking the children in the family to school, doing the laundry and ironing, cleaning the house, literally doing all the work, (I wondered what the mother was doing all this time) and making 1000 pesos a month! (That is about $25 a month for 9-10 hours a day, six days a week!) She would go to school in the evenings from 5 until 10 walking 40 minutes each way. She spent 5 pesos a day for rice and 5 pesos a day for something else—vegetables or fish, and that is all she ate. She is tiny and no wonder! The college she goes to is the least expensive in Cebu. The tuition is 5,500 pesos a semester—about $130. It is used as an elementary school and high school during the day and for college classes at night. She was wearing herself out. Her mother said she was working too much for the pay she was getting and needed to quit. She talked to her woman employer and asked for more money but the woman said, “ I can get someone else who will work for that amount.” And I'm sure she could—some people take advantage of others—and there are so many who are willing to work for nothing, just to have that little bit of money. She had hunted for a job to no avail. She had talked to the finance office of the college and they told her she could pay her tuition in installments. So in faith, she had come to finish her last semester of her third year in office administration not knowing how or where she would get the balance. After listening to her Larry felt impressed to do more than he had originally planned. She whispered to me as she left our apartment, “I had given up hope, but now you have given me hope.” She is in Cebu for more than just schooling, we feel. She is actively involved with the single adults in her ward and is growing in her testimony of the Gospel, something that could not happen if she were living at home with her mother. Like Dolly Levi expressed, “Money is like manure—you spread it around and it helps things to grow. . .”