Our eldest daughter Veejay was about 6 years old when I along with my wife was assigned as a ministerial trainee in the province of Bukidnon sometime in May 1986. We lived in Don Carlos, Bukidnon for about one year after which we were moved to Cagayan de Oro City in about May 1987.
Little Veejay embracing a coconut freshly picked from the coconut tree. Enjoying soft coconut meat or flesh (“botong”) to the max hahaha! The owner of our rented house allowed us to harvest whatever was inside their lot property . A generous owner.
Below are some photos of us at our rented house in Don Carlos. The church members in town visited us once in a while and that was great. They were a very close-knit family. Everyone knew each other or were relatives. They made us feel at home.
This is the dining area of the 3-bedroom bungalow that we rented in Bukidnon. The furniture has been provided by the owner. Would you believe it if I tell you that we only paid One Thousand Pesos a month for house rental? That was in 1986. In this photo is my wife and little Veejay.
Living the Rural Life
Looking at the pictures and looking back, I keep on remembering that Veejay as a child never complained. She was always happy where we were as long as we were together. In my heart, I was the one who’s complaining why we were assigned in such a remote place far, far away from where we came from — in Manila.
Our source of water back then was from an open well. My wife had to boil our water each time before we can drink it. We did experience the difficult “missionary life” for some time hahaha! But my daughter did not seem to mind it.
My wife adjusted easily well with rural life. She was happy learning Cebuano and the local folks enjoyed her company. Some of the church members gave us chicken so my wife raised chickens and did some gardening too within our rented space. She sure did have fun experiencing the rural life. But after a year, we were moved to the city of Cagayan de Oro to live among city dwellers.
Little Veejay playing with the manual water pump. We requested the owner of the house to cover the open well and instead install a water pump. Unfortunately, the pipes used were old and rusty. So my wife continued to boil our water before drinking it and sometimes the water had a rusty color. We somehow survived hahaha!
You could say that we did experience how it was to live as missionaries during that one year away from the city where there was no television and no telephone too. There were no cell phones yet at that time. Overall, we did enjoy our one year living with the rural folks and we did gain a lot of real friends since 1986 up to now. It was the rural life but we did enjoy it.
Playful little Veejay with her mom fetching water from the well.This is the dirty kitchen. I love this snapshot of me and my daughter at the back of the house. The owner of the house built this dirty kitchen at the back of their 3-bedroom bungalow.
I thank the Lord for having brought us there as a ministerial trainee. I’ve learned lessons in life, learned some lessons in what pastoral ministry was all about and I’ve gained a lot of friends in that province. It’s always a joy to go back there and visit dear old friends.
I am once again inspired by the thoughts of Thomas F. Torrance, a great theologian whom I consider a genius and a man blessed by God with so much wisdom and understanding about the Triune God and science. Here are some quotes I got from him recently:
“I sometimes argue that you can be a good scientist or a good mathematician without being a morally upright person. An immoral person can be a good mathematician but you cannot be a theologian without being a good person.
Theology Transforms
“It is relatively true that in mathematics where you are concerned with impersonal or abstract truth, your personal being is relatively unaffected. But that is not possible in our relations with one another, when you know other human beings. You cannot engage in that kind of knowledge without being affected by it. In fact, you are able to know another only in so far as you enter into such a reciprocal relation with the other that you are affected by the other. And it’s certainly not possible in our relation with God.
Knowing God and Holiness Belong Together
“If it is an ultimate scientific principle, that you can only know something in accordance with its nature, you know it only as you allow its nature to dictate to you the mode in which you must know it, and therefore determine for you the way in which you must behave toward it, then it is certainly true that in knowing God in accordance with his nature as he discloses himself to you, you need to be adapted to the nature of God.
“Knowing God and being reconciled to him, knowing God and being called to holiness, belong together. It is the pure in heart that see God.
“To know and to be holy, to know God and to worship him and to commit yourself to him in utter dedication and consecration, they go together.
Cognitive Union, Radical Transformation
“So here then we have this principle that genuine knowledge involves cognitive union with God and genuine knowledge of God which is in accordance with his nature as holy love cannot but involve radical transformation of our being and reconciliation to God in our estrangement.
“Knowledge of God and holiness then are locked together in an intense interrelationship.”
Knowing Involves Being and Doing
Clearly, knowing, being and doing go together. Or we can also say, that the head, heart and handought to go together. We have the tendency sometimes to dissect and dichotomize because maybe of the influence of Western thinking.
Knowing Affects Our Personal Being
When one studies about God, when he learns more and more about God in accordance with his nature as holy love, he cannot but be transformed by his relation with God. Yes, theology transforms a person. It’s not just mere head knowledge. Knowing God who is love does affect our very being.
I remember that as a young boy in the town of Esperanza, our house was beside the river. My brother and I used to play in that river. During my recent visit to the place, I now realized that it was part of the Wawa River. Our house was located at a place near where the two rivers met, the Agusan River and the Wawa River in Esperanza. According to a local folk that I have interviewed, that exact spot could have been gone now due to erosion. Oh well, I would have wanted to go to the exact spot.
On the left side is the mouth of the Wawa River while on the right is the Agusan River which stretches all the way from Davao in the south to Butuan City in the north leading to the sea. This is the view from the old town of Esperanza.This is the Wawa River as can be seen from the bridge in Esperanza.This is the Wawa bridge along the national highway in between Bayugan and Sibagat. When I was a young boy, the original bridge was on the left side. Then a new bridge was built on the right side. And now they’re constructing again a new bridge on the left side. Interesting.This is the Agusan River as can be seen from the new bridge in Butuan City, southbound.This is the mighty Agusan River on a rainy day as can be seen from another new bridge in Esperanza.A new bridge in Butuan. I still don’t know the name. I missed seeing the old familiar Magsaysay Bridge.New bridge in Butuan.This is the Andanan River in Bayugan. My brother and I went with our dad and his business partners on a speedboat but due to a strong current the boat overturned. It took some time before my brother was found — underneath the overturned speedboat. We both survived. I remember my dad crying. He thought my brother was already gone. That was some experience. The river seems quiet now unlike during our boyhood years.
In the featured photo above is the mighty Agusan River as can be seen from the new bridge in Butuan City. Part of my boyhood years was spent in Butuan City and we also lived beside the river. My brother and I along with friends also used to play in the Agusan River in Butuan City.
If I recall rightly, our house was on the right side of the street and at the end of the road is the entrance to the Esperanza Central Elementary School. That’s how I remember it. I could be wrong of course.
I took these snapshots below a week or so ago when I had the chance to visit the town where I was born after the passing of more than 40 years. It was like a journey back in time. It somehow looks still the same to me. It looks like a peaceful and quiet neighborhood.
These flowers attracted my attention. Isn’t it nice that the roadside is filled with colorful flowers?A peaceful and quiet neighborhood. I reckon people know each other here very well.This is the entrance to the elementary school. It was like going back in time more than 40 years ago. Of course the place has more buildings now than during my boyhood years.Old abandoned furniture along the road. The furniture design reminded me of my boyhood years.After the boat ride to cross the river, people use these stairs to go up and get into town. The place now looks abandoned and deserted except for the local folks living in the neighborhood.Boats on the river. Down the stairs. According to a local elderly man I talked to, this was a busy place during the 70s when there was no bridge yet that connected Esperanza to Bayugan.
Last Tuesday, March 19, 2019 I had the opportunity to visit again my birthplace, the town of Esperanza, Agusan del Sur after the passing of about 48 years. My youngest sister visited our home city of Bayugan and I went there too last week.
This used to be a busy place with stores and eateries in Esperanza during the 70s according to a pioneer I interviewed. Down below are boats people can hire to get across to the other side of the river and go to other places.
I have visited Bayugan City back again countless of times since I left the place during my high school days during the 70s. But I have never visited again the town of Esperanza where I was born some 11 kilometers away from Bayugan.
Boats for hire. Not so busy anymore now that there are concrete bridges connecting the town of Esperanza to other places in the province.
So I told my brothers and sister about my interest to visit Esperanza again after a long while. I was curious about how the place would look like now. I heard there was a bridge already that connected the town of Esperanza to Bayugan. During my boyhood years during the early 60s, I remember that people needed to cross the river on a boat to get to this town. In my imagination, it was such a remote place.
This is the Wawa River as can be seen on top of the new bridge in Esperanza, Agusan del Sur. I heard the town can still be flooded sometimes. This river connects to the Agusan River right in Esperanza.
I do remember once or twice maybe when I was with my dad and we travelled by speedboat to Butuan City and back to our home in Esperanza through the Agusan River. From what I can recall, my dad owned several speedboats with several powerful outboard motors back then. This was when we lived in Esperanza, a river town back then. We moved to Bayugan later on.
I remember that I walked this street going to school at the end of the road. Our house was on the right side of the street. A pioneer I talked to said that maybe that place where our house was located was already swallowed up by the river through erosion. We lived beside the river back then where I used to play.
I also remember that I went to the Esperanza Central Elementary School during the first half of my grade 2 in elementary. Then we moved to Bayugan where I completed my Grade 2 schooling.
My youngest sister excitedly photographing everything on top of one of the bridges which connect the town of Esperanza, Agusan del Sur to other places. Finally, no longer a remote place.
I do remember that Bayugan was once part of Barrio (now called Barangay) Maygatasan which was a part of the town of Esperanza. But then Bayugan became more progressive as it is located along the national highway and it soon became a town and now a city. My dad had a part in the early days of Bayugan being the first Tiniente del Barrio of Bayugan.
By chance, we met a pioneer (wearing a white T-shirt) in Esperanza. We have the same age at 64. He said he is the eldest son of the former mayor of the town. It was interesting to get some bits and pieces of information from him. He knows one of my classmates in Grade 2.It was interesting to see our dad (with the number “2”) in a photo album showed to us by one of the pioneers of Esperanza.
During our visit to Esperanza, it was interesting that we met one of the pioneers of the town. By chance, we met the eldest son of the former town mayor, Mayor Enad. That family name is familiar to me. We have the same age at 64 and he knows one of my classmates when I was in Grade 2. What a coincidence!
The son of the town’s former mayor showed us his photo album and my sister was so excited to see our dad in one of the photos.The Agusan River as seen on top of another bridge which connects Esperanza to Butuan City. Esperanza is a place where two huge rivers meet. On the left side is the mouth of the Wawa River while the Agusan River is on the right side which stretches all the way from Davao in the south to Butuan City in the north.
The Golden Tara found at Wawa river in Esperanza, Agusan del Sur (Wikipedia photo)
Although it was unplanned and just a spur-of-the-moment visit, it was a great visit to my birthplace after the passing of some 4 decades. It was something. It was great to recall some moments in time when I used to live there as a young boy. I was also amused because my youngest sister was also excited to visit the place although she was born in Butuan City hahaha!
According to Wikipedia, it is at the Wawa River in Esperanza that the famous Golden Tara was found. That’s interesting. That just goes to show that this town was a trading center centuries ago when the major means of transportation back then was through the rivers. I imagine that through the rivers, foreign merchants (Spaniards, Chinese, Indian, etc.) reached the deep jungles of Agusan and Davao through the Agusan river and its tributaries. I continue to believe that the first mass happened in the port of Masao, in Butuan City and not in Limasawa. But that’s another story hahaha!
I’m glad I visited my birthplace again, the town of Esperanza in Agusan del Sur.
