Bridge Community Church Harstine Island

I was born at home on May 10, 1949 in Lag-on, Daet, Camarines Norte, Philippines.  I was the 8th and my twin sister was the 9th in my family of 10 children consisting of 5 boys and 5 girls.  We lived in a very small house made built on wooden posts with a nipa roof and bamboo floors.  My father was a farmer and my Mother’s job was to raise the children and maintain our home.  My parents were both Catholic, so my identical twin sister and I were baptized as Catholics when we were just infants.  My parents did not attend Church every Sunday, but when they went to church, they took me and my other brothers and sisters. 

The Catholic Church in Daet was about 4 miles from our house and I enjoyed the ride to church in my Father’s Calessa which is a horse drawn cart.  I also enjoyed looking at the paintings on the church ceiling.  One thing I remember about attending church was the smell of incense as the Priest walked by swinging the incense pot.  I didn’t really know why I had to go to church; I just went because my parents took me there and told me I had to pray. 

My Mom and Dad did not teach me how to pray, but I remember my Aunt NaEnciang would visit our house and pray for anyone who needed prayer.  Aside from church, this was my first exposure to prayer.  Each year our barrio held a celebration of Saint Mary which was called Aurorahan.  A statue of Mary was carried in a procession by four men at night through the streets of our barrio.  It was decorated with flowers, palms and rosaries.  Many people carried bamboo torches to light the way.   For 9 consecutive nights, different families hosted the statue of Mary in their home for the entire night.  Whoever hosted the statue prepared food for everybody attending the procession.  The people sang and prayed and ate food, well into the night.  It was a lot of fun because of the free food and excitement of having a parade pass through our barrio.  A dance with loud music was held on the last night of the celebration which provided an opportunity for young men and women to visit and dance.  The focus of this yearly ritual was more on Mary, having fun and meeting people than on Jesus.

I didn’t really understand what praying was until I began school at Alawihao Elementary which was about 2 miles from our home.  Even though it was a public school, religion class was required for 30 minutes daily.  Catholic Nuns taught us about God, how to pray and other religious topics.  I made my first Confession and Communion when I was in 3rd grade.  When I went to my first communion, I was so nervous because my twin sister and I rode in a big bus with several other children who were also receiving first communion at the church in Daet.  All the girls wore white dresses. 

I continued receiving religious instruction throughout my elementary school years.  It was no longer provided or required when I entered high school and college.  So I continued in the same pattern as my parents; attending church periodically, participating in processions and praying the rosary.  Most of my prayers were recited from memory such as the “Our Father”, “Hail Mary” and “Glory Be..”.  We occasionally said prayers from pamphlets, but never from a Bible.  Someone in church would lead prayers from a pamphlet and others would respond.  There were a few times at night that my sister led our family in praying the rosary at our home.  I remember praying the rosary with my Mother, brothers and sisters.  We kneeled on the wood floor in our bedroom while we prayed.  The emphasis in most of the prayers in the rosary is on Mary, not on God.

The reason I prayed is because others said “let’s pray” or I was told to pray.  So I prayed!  When I prayed, I wasn’t thinking about others or asking God for anything, I just prayed because that’s what we did.  Mostly I just thought it was boring saying the same thing over and over.  But there was nothing else to do, so I prayed.  

As I grew older and attended Mabini College, I continued going to church and occasionally someone I knew got married or baptized or had a funeral ceremony in the Church.  All of this religious activity was without sincere purpose.  There was no real meaning to it other than going through religious motions that I had been taught when I was growing up.   I believed in God, but my prayers and religion weren’t really for God, they were just learned activities that were part of my life.  None of it really came from my heart in the form of a sincere relationship with God. 

After graduating from College in 1971 with a degree in Elementary Education, I began working as a Clerk Typist in the Mayor’s Office in Daet.   We used manual typewriters to type various forms for citizens conducting business with the Mayor’s office.  After 2 years I went to work as a pre-school teacher in remote areas around Daet.  I continued to work for the Municipality of Daet as a pre-school teacher until 1977. 

In December 1973, an American named Bob Thiessen who was serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Daet, visited the Mayor’s Office.  I was surprised when he came to my desk and asked me to type a list of local businesses for him.  Of course, I said yes.  Bob was assigned to the Rural Bank of Daet and eventually moved into my Uncle’s home next door to our house.  It was there that we became friends.  During the two years that Bob lived in the house next door, he occasionally visited our home with my cousin who was his best friend.  Sometimes Bob gave me a ride from our house to Daet on his motorcycle.  In the Philippines, ladies ride side saddle on a motorcycle. Sitting next to Bob made my heart jump and I was happy when he gave me a ride because I liked being close to him.  Disco dancing was popular during the 1970’s, so Bob and my cousin, my friend and I often went dancing together at the local discothèque.  Bob returned to the U.S. in 1976, but we continued to write letters and he proposed to me in 1977.  So the next big event in my life was my marriage in December 1977.  Bob was also Catholic, so we were married in Santo Domingo Catholic Church in Quezon City which is the Capitol of the Philippines.   After our wedding, we went on a one month honeymoon to Basco Batanes which is a very remote island in northern Philippines.  Nine months later, our Son Zack was born in Astoria, Oregon where we lived when I immigrated to America,  Two years later, our daughter Vanessa was born and we continued to live in Astoria until 1986.  Bob and I have known each other for 35 years and we have been married for 31 years.

My husband and I were both raised within Catholic families and we both viewed our faith similarly as more of an obligation than a desirable relationship with Jesus.  So, we attended church occasionally which was about the same as when I lived in the Philippines.  We also felt that we should take our children to Church as our parents had done with us, so we enrolled them in Catholic classes to prepare them for taking their first communion.  We repeated the same type of religious upbringing for our children that we had received from our parents because that is what we thought we were supposed to do. 

After we moved to Beaverton, Oregon in 1986, Bob and I were both very busy working and raising our children.  We continued to practice our Catholic faith on a part time basis.  I continued to say recited prayers silently every night before I went to bed or before I traveled.  I believed that God would watch over and protect me if I prayed.  I was content with all this because this was the religion that I knew.

As our children grew older, we continued to be part time Catholics, halfheartedly meeting our obligation to go to church.  In 1994, our son Zack went to a summer youth group camp with friends from Village Baptist Church in Beaverton.  He later began to play trombone with the worship team at this church.  He invited us to go with him and this was the first time Bob and I went to a non-Catholic Church.  During this time, I noticed my husband becoming very unhappy with the Catholic Church.  He would get upset with people or the priest at the Church and would want to go to another Catholic Church to see if it would be better.  So we went to several Catholic Churches within the Portland area, and he was still unhappy with all of them because they were all the same.  So he mostly starred at the ceiling or went to sleep during church services and I frequently had to poke him to wake him up. 

In 1998 at the urging of a good friend at his workplace, my husband began reading the Bible.  It took him 4 years to complete the entire Bible.  He read it quietly to himself, but not to me.  As he became more familiar with the Bible, he became even less interested in attending Catholic Church.  So, on Sundays, he started going to a Christian churches and he went a second time to Catholic Church with me.  I did not go with him because I didn’t want to change religions.  Catholic was the only religion I knew and it was hard for me to think about changing.  This troubled me because I was committed to following him wherever he went from the beginning of our marriage.  Eventually, my husband stopped going to Catholic Church, and I started noticing a change in him.  He was becoming more friendly and kind to others.  He was more patient and willing to listen.  He began praying aloud and it was the first time I was able to hear what was in his heart.  In 2003, he invited me to Sweet Water Community Church. The experience was OK because I liked the group singing, but I still attended Catholic Church after I was finished with Christian service.  My husband also encouraged me to start reading the Bible before I went to bed at night, but mostly it just put me to sleep. 

After Sweet Water Community Church was discontinued, my husband invited me to attend SW Bible Church in Beaverton.  It was a much bigger church and I really enjoyed the singing and the worship service.  Pastor Scott Gilchrist explained Bible verses very clearly.  I heard God’s word presented in ways I had never heard before and it touched my heart. 

After attending SW Bible just a few times, I decided this was now my Church and I left the Catholic Church forever.   While at S.W. Bible Church, my husband and I began attending Sunday school and we joined a Filipino Bible Study group.  For the first time in my life, I was reading and hearing God’s word from the Bible instead of hearing it in bits and pieces from a Priest on Sunday.  As a Catholic, I never really heard or understood God’s word.  I just thought that as long as I prayed, went to Church and was a good person that I would probably go to heaven.   I did not know that these things are not what save me or anyone else.  I learned that Jesus is the only way, the truth and the life and no one goes to the Father except through Him. (John 14:6).  I also learned that God so loves the world that he gave his only Son Jesus, that whoever believes in him will not perish, but have eternal life. (John 3:16).  I was aware of God from a very early age but I didn’t feel any kind of relationship with Him.  I never really understood God’s plan and purpose for me until I began attending a Christian Church that focuses on God’s word and how it applies to me. 

Since 2004, my husband and I have been attending church regularly.  We have attended Essential Christianity classes, Marriage Classes, Relationships Classes, Retreats, several Bible Studies and other Church functions.  We also read the Bible together, pray aloud together and even sing Christian songs together.  We do these things because we love Jesus as our Lord and Savior and want to please him. We never did any of these things before we truly accepted Christ into our lives.  As a result, God has strengthened our marriage.  We now understand that it is by God’s grace that we have been saved, through faith--and this not from ourselves, it is the gift of God,-- not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:8, 9) 

So, in 2007, my husband and I decided to fully commit our lives to Christ by being baptized.  While kayaking in the San Juan Islands, our good friends Terry Hill, who had lead my husband to Christ, baptized Bob and me on the Shore of Patos Island.  We had both been baptized as infants, but now we knew what we were doing and did so of our own free will in response to the Holy Spirit. 

As a child, I was taught that there is a God, but I never really knew Him until I began reading and studying the Bible. As a young woman, none of my learned religious activity came from my heart in the form of a sincere relationship with God.  I realize now that God sent his son Jesus to die on the cross which paid the penalty for my sin.   I understand that “the wages of my sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23).  Now when I pray, I understand why I am praying and who I am praying to.  I love Jesus with all my heart and I thank Him for His loving kindness, His mercy and forgiveness.  When I pray I ask God to bless our marriage, and our children and to fill me with His Holy Spirit so I can continue to grow in my faith and love for Him.  Thank you for reading my testimony.