Cateel Adventists Break Ground for New Church Building for Believers and Kids on a Children’s Convention
While most people in the neighborhood roam around the graves for their holiday one weekend, Southeastern Philippine Union Mission (SePUM) President Elder Danielo Palomares and Northern Davao Mission (NDM) President Elder Seth Suan visited Cateel, Davao Oriental, on November 1-2, to dig the ground not for a grave but for a ceremonial groundbreaking of a provisional church building.
Their spouses, Mrs. Jill Palomares of SePUM and Mrs. Mary Chyl Suan of NDM, both Ministerial Spouses Association (MSA) and Children’s Ministries Directors, gleefully inspired the kids, along with their teachers, parents, and the pious believers for the district-wide Children’s Convention.
Children and adult brethren flocked to the huge municipal food court for various social and religious activities. They came from 13 churches: Maylaya, Hebron, Mantunao, Bulao, Paglusngan, Yapsay, Pangi, Malibago, Maglahus, Tumayog, Aliwagwag, Cateel, and San Vicente. Many of its believers belong to the Mandaya tribe, who, before conversion, believed in spirits and their gods, whom they called Tagallang, Magbabaya, or Mansilatan.
Cateel is the first municipality in Mindanao. It was where Spaniards first docked on this island, reflecting how most of its primary inhabitants converted to Catholicism.
Cateel is also the home of the Aliwagwag Falls, located at barangay Aliwagwag within the Aliwagwag Protected Landscape. It is a towering stream of waterfalls considered by hydraulic engineers to be the highest in the country and regarded as one of the most beautiful falls in the Philippines. The 84-foot-high falls appear like a stairway to heaven, with various heights among the steps.
The groundbreaking ceremony and the children’s convention highlighted the growth of a progressive perspective and significant endeavors for the gospel’s advancement of Adventism in Cateel.
Pastor Alexander Lim, their district pastor, along with the district’s mothers, teachers, and officers, orchestrated a colorful and vibrant congregation that observed Sabbath at the Children’s Convention. Each church gave individual or group performances for the Lord, inspiring every believer present. The children served as deacons and deaconesses and sang in the children’s mass choir during the worship hour. The theme song “Adto Ta Sa Langit” and other elements of the worship magnified the message of Ma’am Palomares, who highlighted the theme: “Children Preparing for a Mission: I Will Go.”
Let us contemplate upon Mark 10:14 as we endeavor for the welfare of our children, categorized as beginners, kindergarten, primary, junior, and early teens: “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.”
As a reflection concerning the building or improvement of churches, here is a thought to ponder: “We should seek in every place to raise a company of believers who will unite with us in uplifting the standard of truth and working for rich and poor. Then as churches are established, there will be an increase of helpers to labor for the destitute and the outcast.” Ellen G. White, Manuscript 3, 1899 (Gospel Workers, 436).