SEPARATED TO MARRY
By Muriel Lane
Dulenas
Lapangon Mission
School
March, 2000
Maruon is a young man whom everybody admired in Lapangon
Mission School. He can preach and get
the audience spell bound. He can sing
beautifully with his quality baritone voice.
He is the leader of the youth in his village. We student missionaries count on him to
handle our level one class.
He was one of the first 36 baptized from Lapangon at the
SULADS Jamboree 1999 held at Mountain View College. He was instrumental in bringing his entire
family to be baptized. He gave them
Bible studies and taught them the way.
Although he was young, his older brothers looked up to him because of
his good decision making ability. They
called him a young datu (chief). His
parents and the village datu are shaping him to become the next generation
datu. What a promising position and
honor!
Marriage is a Manobo tradition that one can hardly
escape. Mauron was spotted by another
datu from a neighboring village to marry his daughter. The custom is for the father or datu from
either the lady’s side or the man’s side to bring a dowry for the purpose of
marriage. This dowry is expensive and it
is dangerous to refuse once the dowry is offered.
In this situation, the parents of the girl brought five
horses as a dowry. The only respectful
refusal would be to counter with ten horses as a return gift. The problem was, there was only one horse in
the entire village! Obviously, the
wedding was set. There was no way to
refuse without serious repercussions. To
refuse without the ten horses would have led to a bloody war.
Mauron did not want to marry yet. He enjoyed the schooling he was receiving in
Lapangon and the opportunity to teach and lead out in the youth
activities. Further, he dreamed of one
day studying at Mountain View College and becoming a student missionary himself
to his own people through the SULADS program of MVC. He was frustrated.
He cried and asked for our counsel. We were helpless. We could not give counsel that would change
the situation without bringing the retaliation of the other village. If we advised him to escape and they learned
that the student missionaries had done so, we would have placed our own lives
in danger. We could only advise Mauron
to bring his problem to the Lord in prayer.
He prayed everyday and night asking for a way to escape the plan. Each day brought him closer to the wedding
day.
We noticed that he was no longer the happy young man he had
been. Each evening, he would face the
sinking sun and crying because he could not prevent the sun from setting and
bringing him one day closer to the wedding.
The wedding day arrived.
Everyone in the village went with Mauron to the next village to meet the
bride. Each one brought something to be
given as a part of the dowry according to tradition. The wedding was successful in bringing the
two villages closer together. After the
wedding, Mauron’s family and friends went back to Lapangon but Mauron was left
with his new wife in her village.
Life was no longer the same in Lapangon. Everyone felt the absence of Mauron. His advice to his brothers and sisters was
missed. His good sermons and the
beautiful singing was no longer brightening the day. His parents wiped away their tears the first
three nights when we visited them.
Life was not bright for Mauron and his new wife either. The fact was, he had never met this young
lady before. He was forced to marry
her. He badly missed the morning and
evening worship back in Lapangon.
“I cannot stand this any longer,” he said. “I must do something. I think I should be a missionary to this
village. Since I am already married and
there is no turning back, I must make my life here bright. I should be a shining light to my new wife
and her people.”
With that, Mauron started to sing the Manobo songs that had
been translated by the student missionaries.
These songs penetrated the hearts of his parents-in-law. He began gathering the children and told them
stories from the Bible. He taught them
children’s songs. His wife learned fast
also. Now Mauron was happy again. He was now a missionary even though he has
not yet studied at MVC.
The father of the bride was happy for Mauron because he
observed that he had learned to love his new wife. The father is now requesting SULADS student
missionaries to come to his village and educate his people.
Will you help us by sending a donation to provide two new
teachers for this new village? We pray
that the Lord will guide you in your decision.
Mark your donations for MVC SULADS and send them to:
AWESNA
2417 S.
Azusa Ave
West
Covina, CA 91792
THANK YOU!!!
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