Olson Family Newsletter Update

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quick update on the kids

Another bit on the animism and spiritism faced here...

We want to share the following story with you as an example of the kind of spiritual battles that are happening in the Philippines. Even though this happened in a province in the national culture, this is even more common in tribal cultures like where we will be moving. This was told to me by my language helper - it is the story of his uncle, one of his mother’s adopted brothers. I have translated it to English with as much of a direct translation as possible. When it says “the man” this refers to his mother’s adopted brother, and when it says “the lady” this refers to the spirit-lady that they all say he had a relationship with. As incredible as you may find this story, please understand that the people involved believe these events really happened. I have recorded the story in interview fashion below:

 

Language helper: They were friends. Our grandmother got used to it; whenever he would come home, birds would accompany him. One day, he told our grandmother this story. He said, “The reason for these birds is they are sent to guard me by a lady on the mountain.” This kind of lady is called an Enkantada.

 

Me: What is an enkantada?

 

Language helper: A lady that is, like a fairy. There was a lady there on the mountain that was an enkantada, and she liked him, she liked the adopted son of our grandmother. And whenever he would go work on the mountain, the lady would talk with him and tell him stories. And if he would come back to the town, the lady would send the birds to guard him.

 

Me: Well, what kind of work did he do on the mountain?

 

Language helper: He planted sweet potatoes and other vegetables.

 

Me: And so, was this really a woman, or some kind of spirit?

 

Language helper: She was not really a woman. She was only a spirit that is called an enkantada, or fairy. There are not really any fairies, but that is what our grandmother told me. One day, my uncle (a brother of the adopted one) went to the mountain to see what his brother was doing on the mountain. He had a small house there that he slept in. My uncle saw that he was kneeling, kneeling with his arms outstretched, and completely naked. No clothes. And my uncle did not know what he was doing.

After (he saw him kneeling), because the man had his eyes closed, when he said “Good morning!” the man was suddenly surprised. He opened his eyes and said, “Why are you here?” My uncle said, “Because I am visiting you, and coming to see what you are doing here on the mountain.”

Then it seemed that the man was talking to someone, but my uncle did not see anyone. The man told my uncle that the lady had gotten angry that they had been interrupted. The lady said she was angry at the man and at my uncle.

              When they went home, the man spoke with my grandmother, and he said that the lady wanted to take him there under a certain cave. The cave there was the dwelling place of the lady and her family, and he said that it was happy there, no problems with money, and lots of gold there. And also, he wanted to go with the lady, because they were boyfriend and girlfriend. But my grandmother would not agree to it, because she did not believe that he really had a girlfriend that was a fairy.

 

Me: So the adopted one told your grandmother what the fairy wanted to do.

 

Language helper: Right.

 

Me: Why did he tell his mother about this?

 

Language helper: It seems that it was to let her know that he was going to go with the family of the enkantada and live in their house (in the cave). You see, I think that she had been taking him into the cave, and until now that cave is still there. And nobody wanted to go in that cave because they were scared. Also, the lady had fed him some of her food there. And according to the older ones, if you eat the food of an enkantada, you will not be able to return to your own house. However, that is what happened. One day, because my grandmother would not let him go to the farm (on the mountain), the man said that the lady was angry at them. So one day while he was asleep, he rose up suddenly from bed and arranged his things, his clothes, and put them in a bag – he packed up.

 

Me: Who rose up?

 

Language helper: The adopted one. He packed his bag.

 

Me: So the fairy came down to the house to get him?

 

Language helper: No. She did not come down. The birds. The birds arrived at the house there, it seems like, in order to fetch him. However, my grandmother knew it. So she called my other uncles and neighbors. She said, “He cannot leave, we need to stop him!” So my uncles restrained the man like this, holding him like this, but he was [suddenly] very very strong. No one was able to hold him, so he did like this to them all, Whsshhh! <gesture of popping out quickly from a cannon ball position to straight up with arms and legs extended> My uncles flew back from him like sparks exploding out from a fire. He pushed them back just like that. So there was suddenly great disarray inside the house, and the man jumped out the window to get away.

              Then he ran towards the lake, because their house is by the lake, like you saw in the picture. There is a lake there. The house is real near the lake there. He ran there and suddenly plunged into the lake, diving headfirst. The other men of the town also plunged in, following him, but they saw that he swam off very very fast. They could not follow him, because the place he went was very dark, so they (the other men) came back. They thought that he had someone with him when he swam. Afterwards they waited for him to come to the surface, but he never surfaced. There was something that floated up – a hat. A hat floated to the surface and inside the hat was a match.

              From that time on until today, the man has not been seen. Today, our grandmother has already died. No one has looked for him [the man]. Before our grandmother died, when I was still a kid, she said, “It is ok now. We have given him to the lady. If he is happy there, it is better than if he is here and unhappy.” But she was always crying whenever the birds came to the house.

              So, until today, people want to go into the cave to see if he is there or not. I have an uncle that went into the cave once, I think, but he did not see any spirits or people there. And he also did not see the man my grandmother adopted. It is dark inside the cave.

[end of interview]

 

I asked my language helper about what people think – was that lady an evil spirit, or a good spirit? He said that most people think of spirit-ladies like that as good spirits. So I asked him, if she is a good spirit, why didn’t the man’s family ever see him again? We talked about deception, and about what kind of spirits are in the Bible. The Bible only mentions evil spirits and angels. If there are any good spirits, they are only the angels, and they only serve to glorify God, not to take people away and marry them. This story illustrates the principles of  truth and deception, the goodness of a loving God vs. the wickedness of deceiving spirits. No matter how unbelievable this story may sound, the point is that these people were deceived into believing a lie.

Spiritism is strong here, but the national culture is also significantly influenced by a science-based Western education, which tends to moderate the influence of spiritism, especially here in Manila. Soon we will be moving into a tribal situation, where the influence of the national culture is far removed, and education is non-existent. Can you imagine what the state of mind is of tribal people, who live with this view of interacting with the spirits day-in and day-out? We ask for your prayers for us as we prepare for this big move. Especially that we will learn the language quickly, be protected from sicknesses, and be able to soon preach the Gospel to these people who up until now have never heard that there is a God in heaven who sent His Son to take their sins away and bring them into His family.