“We boys and girls learned sitting at the feet of our fathers and mothers, and our grandparents or other older people, and listening to their experiences.”
In the early 1960s on assignment in Tarlac Province, Luzon Island, Philippines, my wife and me, with a couple of other families stationed at Clark Air Base, inspired by a Filipino maid asking for the Gospel message in her barrio (village), we opened the first mission in the straw-thatched hut on stilts of a 98-year-old lady, Mrs. Sibal.
When we left for the USA, there were four missions going, including one in Tarlac, the province capitol. A missionary with family came there as his choice of place to serve, not knowing of us or our missions. He served for several years after all of us returned home.
A young Filipino, David Saludez, who graduated from high school while we were there, later attended college and seminary. Years later, on an exchange program, he came with his wife and preached at our church. He told of several missions begun by the four missions we had going when we came home. Missions have been started in many parts of the world by service personnel and their families.
Christ is risen! He is on His throne! The Holy Spirit working in ordinary people do extraordinary things that change lives and glorify Christ through their testimony and service. I think of that old lady who died at age 100 and how she overcame language problems – could not speak English – and even opposition from a priest in her village because she heard the words of truth and salvation.
Now at an age when those half my age are the achievers and earth shakers, I and other men and women who once stood tall and walked in the sun go unnoticed and often ignored. Time and change go together and whether better or worse new generations tend to ignore older people and perhaps never even think of what they may have experienced in their day. I realize that in my youth growing up in a rural setting we were taught to listen to older people and be polite to them. Instead of TV and cell phones and Internet, we for years had no electricity or phone service.
We boys and girls learned sitting at the feet of our fathers and mothers, and our grandparents or other older people, and listening to their experiences. Our chores at home and in the fields led to us younger workers listening to parents and other adults. We asked questions and thus learned the principles of life as learned by our peers.
In the one room school in our community I learned from the single teacher, usually a lady, but we had one man, James Keener, who walked about three miles each morning to teach us. He was a kind and considerate person, and so was his wife. One teacher, Louise Parker Hill, a daughter of a farm family living near the school/church building, became a lifelong friend and we swapped letters until she died.
Growing up, working and associating with parents and grandparents on the farms in our lovely valley did more to impart principles and virtues – and common sense – than anything else, anywhere else the rest of my life. A great asset came from the real faith these dear people had in God and the Bible.
