Life & Love, Photography

Little Veejay in Bukidnon

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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.

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