Burning Bridges

On the island of Palawan, on the western border of the Philippines, there is a small fishing on the eastern coast, right in the middle of the norther half of the island. This small town is called Roxas, there are several towns further north which are so far removed that they are home to several resorts, tropical getaways, though you'd be hard pressed to call them tourist towns, they're just that small. Some things I'd like to tell you about Roxas. It's economy is supported by two industries: fishing and cashews. Those who aren't fishermen or farmers run one of the town's few shops, and then there's your random mix of city and church officials and constructions workers. Roxas is a very small town.

I spent four months there and in that time I personally spoke with three of the town's city councilmen. I met with members from every church in town (Adventists, Catholic, INC, Pentecostal (two dif. churches) Baptists, and Muslim) and with pastors from 4 of those. I knew the home and names of the top ten richest people in town, I knew family relations between many of them, and I met several of them. I walked every single street in within the 'downtown' area many many times, and even explored some of the alleyways. I met with school principals, radio announcers, and big business men, but not because I was so cool, or even because I worked so hard to find famous people, it's just that there were so few people that you couldn't help but meet all of these people.

Pictures: (1)Google map image of the entire town (2)me being 'lost' looking for the seashore.

So it's a small town. On the western edge of the town there is a large school run by some Canadian/American charity that takes donations from 'sponsors' and uses the money to teach kids, (a good education can be a very big thing in the Philippines). The only stipulation for families enrolling in said school is that the kids and the parents attend a bible school type thing. It's some strange non-denominational 'We read the bible" hotshots who think that their reading of the bible make them superior to everyone else (and this attitude rubs off on the families).

So those two factors (small town, crazy bible schooled adults) combine to make this story:

I was wandering down sandy walkways going from house to house talking to people, we had taught a simple first lesson at the home of an older lady, and noticed some people watching/listening outside (easy to do since the houses are bamboo and windowless). We left and started talking to those who had been observing us, this one lady was rather stern about not listening to us, but I guess she was too polite to send us away because we got invited in.

Being the great missionary I am, I had her round up all her kids, and bring her husband in from the back room and we began to teach a lesson, however she made me promise that we weren't there to baptize her into our church. Her husband was quiet, and she was compliant mostly agreeing with everything we said, but not really caring. When we started teaching about Joseph Smith and modern prophets I asked her if she believe me, she said yes. I asked her then if she would be willing to follow the prophet, she said sure. I didn't think she quite understood my point so I repeated myself, she once again agreed and said something to the effect of, Oh good, Joseph Smith's a prophet, that's a great thing for him, I read the bible too, and it's a great thing for me. I'm normally a calm guy, but something a her saying "big whoop" about Joseph Smith really caught me on fire, so I did my little logic thing again, saying prophets have authority (sure) Joseph Smith's a prophet (sure) you must get baptized by authority like the bible says (sure) then you have to get baptized in the church restored through Joseph Smith- the one with authority!

She wasn't happy that I told her to get baptized, and I felt really bad that I had told her to, we quickly finished the lesson, got a return appointment and left. The next morning right after comp study I couldn't contain myself to do what we had planned, I had to go back to that house and apologize to her for breaking my promise. Sadly, it was too late to apologize, the bridge was already burned now that family, and likely any one in their neighborhood will listen to the missionaries ever again... and it is sad.

Luckily I had enough success on my mission that I didn't beat myself up too much over that one. Now it serves to teach me a very important lesson on promises, trust, and the influence for bad and good that one man can have.