FACE TO FACE
Joy Unspeakable Virginia Hughes
One snowy day, we were shoveling snow as a family in the back alley of our Indiana home where our car was stuck. Dad’s approach to life was always to get moving, go more and plan less. He was not one to waste time with the deliberation of planning every detail. Shoveling snow before driving? Such an obvious obstacle need not hold us back for long. The old station wagon had easily started, which was a golden sign on a wintery Saturday morning. Dad backed out of the driveway and started driving up the alley. It was about thirty feet until the tires were spinning in place. Dad groaned, “The very enemy of our souls!” which had us kids giggling. Dad pretending to be at wit’s end was hilarious to us. He knew he had eight energetic children eager to dig a car out of the drifting snow. We ran to the garage to retrieve snow shovels, buckets, gardening shovels, a scrap of carpet and anything to dig, scoop and throw the snow away from the car’s tires. As we worked, we sang, “I’ve been working on the railroad all the live-long day. . .“ Then Dad started a story which he had in endless supply due to the nature of his “Let’s get going,” work ethic in ministry, and all around colorful life. He often landed in predicaments which he called God’s Plan. “Say, did I ever tell you kids about the time we took that group of ministerial students up into Mountain Province?” Of course, he had, but we listened again to the story set in the Philippines, whose tropical heat would have brought a welcome melting to Indiana’s snow. PREDICAMENTS AND GOD’S PLANS The Bible college where my parents were stationed overseas often took small groups of students into areas where a church could possibly be planted. Sometimes a request would arrive at the Bible college or students would suggest interest on behalf of their home provinces. These trips involved driving as far as a road would go, and then hiking up into remote areas and sometimes into the mountains. They carried straw sleeping mats, mosquito nets, water canteens, dried fish, cooked rice, bread and fruits. Generous families along the way would offer a stew or delicious rice cake wrapped in banana leaves. As the students and my parents walked through communities where there had been no prior contact, they would ask, “Are there any among you who will trust our one true Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and be saved?” Sometimes heads would move side to side with a firm negative; other times, there was a hunger for God’s Word, and the gospel lessons and worship would begin.
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WHISTLING IN THE DARK The village they arrived at was not interested in talking about Jesus or starting a church today. Daylight was slipping away, and the group was told that tomorrow would be a better time to talk. Bernito, an older teen from the village who spoke Ilocano and a little English, led the group to a schoolhouse and gave them bowls of kamotes (sweet potatoes) baked in the fire and rice to eat. They were informed it was against village rules to whistle after sundown. Well, that was hardly an issue since everyone was sleepy. Who would possibly want to whistle now, in the dark, when it was time to sleep? However, being told not to do something sometimes mightily motivates the doing of that very thing. A curtain was pulled across the center of the school room to give privacy between the girls’ side and the boys’ side. The students unrolled their straw mats and try as they might, no one fell asleep. It was chilly at night in Mountain Province and they tossed and turned. Thoughts of not being allowed to whistle lodged in their minds. “Why can’t we whistle?” they wondered. While none of them had contemplated whistling up until now, their thoughts persisted, “What’s so bad about whistling after sundown? We are in an unknown place. Whistling right now would be very nice since a person cannot sleep.”
