A Report on the Mission Tour to Santa Rosa Laguna, the Philippines
| (Tohon Newsletter Vol.2_No.1_Total No.5) by Mr. Kiyohito Mogi translated by Rev. Ueda A member of Tohon Overseas Mission Dept. Tour Period : from May 21st through May 27th, 2000 Members : Rev. Kazuoki Ueda & Mr. Kiyohito Mogi . Fourth mission tour to the Philippines was done as in the past three times. Rev. Ueda and I spread the teachings to the relatives & their friends, administered the Sazuke many times, walked the streets chanting the name of God the Parent and held mission meeting. W hen we arrived at the Manila Air Port, Mr. Obeth Atienza & Jon Jon welcomed us very warmheartedly with their Jipny, which we would not take as a tourist. I was very interested in something exotic and felt uneasy in such air. In Manila city area, we were surrounded by a lot of street children and we saw them running away picking a hat from people on the car. But not in other places. Santa Rosa was a little town on the Laguna Lake, 1 hour & half driving from Manila. On our arriving there, some children welcomed us as loving company with us. It was just in the vacation, so we met a lot of children here & there. People here have many children, for instance, Jon Jon, 27 years old, has 4. Some has 8 or so. That was not rare here. People here were very peaceful and friendly. My feeling misgiving melted away soon. They live in a simple way and their daily cash incomes are everything. So if something good or bad happened, they would be very difficult suddenly. But anyway, they looked cheerful & bright. They say SIPR (Smooth InterPersonal Relationship) is their rule. For example, traffic jam in Jipny & tricycles (bike with sidecar as taxi) could not be solved without SIPR. SIPR made our mission smooth, too. When we walked chanting Tenri-O-no- Mikoto, Obeth's son & people on the street cheered us up. Of course, they are all Catholic members. Mr. & Mrs. Anore, whom we were staying with, said, “You’d better eat more for loud chanting.” They are very pure Catholic members. One day, we visited Obeth’s sisters’, 2 hour driving away from Santa Rosa. We performed the service at their terrace and explained about the service and a little teachings, then another sister asked us to do it at her house, too. We could do good mission work here. I was surprised that they accepted foreign religion in a honest way, I was very happy to be able to have the self-confidence on the common sense of human being and the teachings of Tenri-O-no-Mikoto. On the last evening, we held a mission meeting. About 50 people including 10 or so children assembled at the small garden of Obeth’s. We performed the service on the terrace and made speeches respectively. After that, we administered the Sazuke and discussed for a long time. After the meeting, Obeth said, “I’m sorry one third of them cannot understand English.” Tagalog will be another matter for us. Mr. & Mrs. Obeth Atienza & we visited the branch church office of Tenrikyo Headquarters in Manila. We met some chiefs of Fellowships in Manila or TLI (Tenrikyo Language Institute) students learning here. While we discussed about some topics, Mr. & Mrs. Atienza made their mind to come to the church every month & they would install the object of God the Parent. At the end, I’d like to express my impression on our overseas mission. Any people in different customs or surroundings live with the same wishes as we have. That made me realize that we are all brothers & sisters. I hope people in difficult conditions like the Philippines will be cheered up and saved from the bottom of their heart, by communicating with Tenrikyo church & us. Return to the top of the page. |
Back to the 
page.
