A New Place

If people welcomes a newcomer to a new place by providing the best that they can offer, I thought of my entrance to Mindoro in a similar way by the Lord. There's only Asian Spirit available aircraft carrier going there so I had some apprehensions. In Bohol, they say you leave an Asian if you ride the Asian Spirit, and you arrive a spirit. And the plane we rode in needed repainting too. But when I checked in, a man offered to share his ticket so I don't have to pay extra for my luggage. Then, the weather was so nice that the whole ride was one of the smoothest I've ever had. Papa Domy was apprehensive in Mindoro because the sky was not too clear on their end but there were no problems at all.

To me, those all seemed a portent of a special care shown to me by the Lord. The night before, I was struck by a passage I read in the Bible. It said about the Lord choosing to be my father on that day and the nations my inheritance. I really savored the first part. The second part I didn't understand as clearly but who cares since it sounded good enough. It might mean I'll have lots of homes all over the world, or I'll be going all over the place. Oh well, as long as I have Someone who has offered me a true home by choosing to be "father" to me, that's good enough.

When I arrived at the Bagatsolon compound in San Jose (a municipality in Mindoro), it was a pleasant surprise to be greeted by numerous faces all ogling curiously, though smilingly, at me. The whole compound is filled with Papa Domy's (my Mama Ester's older brother) children and their children that I had to say, please excuse me that I can't memorize your names at the moment. Coming as I am from a two-children home who lived together infrequently, I was a bit apprehensive about the numerous people but mostly happy to be with family. I'm now a squatter at Honey's, my cousin's, place and it's really just fit for me since it's a bachelor's pad. She's in Oregon so I'm safe till she comes home, probably in two years' time.

To me, in the Lord's kindness, and to give face to His fatherly love, I have Papa Domy. Papa is a bit like me, a bit like Mama, and a whole lot like the rest of the Bagatsolons I know. He is noisy, curious, gung-ho. You must not forget intelligent or he will kill me here for not writing that. He is like me because he is curious and likes to philosophize and looks at the world and how it can be improved. Well, not to mention that Frodo will not find an alien in his and my height. He is like Mama because he can very well manage you if you let him. So I asked him to fix my light at my place, and he submitted my bank forms this morning. I could have asked someone to do the electrical part, or waited patiently at the bank to do it. But he likes to do all these things. Besides which, why find 1001 people when you can have one person who can do it all for you? That's why he is given more and more work at the munisipyo as a legislative consultant. And he is like all the Bagatsolons because they say they're intelligent and they prove it by how noisily they make their presence felt. Truth be told though, Papa can be very silent, just like me. Just give us a book we like and we don't know your name.

So I'm in Mindoro now. It is indeed a new place. But the Lord who is always kind shows me His never failing faitfulness and His constant love in many and different ways. And for as long as I have that certainty, I'm home enough.