“He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.” — Micah 6:8
The first time I entered the Silliman Church sanctuary on a Saturday morning, I noticed an old man sweeping the wooden floor. When he saw me admiring the stained glass window infront, he told me it’s Jesus‘ Resurrection. Then he called my attention to the windows at the choir loft, and with a smile, told me that these beautiful works feature the parables of the Good Samaritan and of the Prodigal Son.
I was happy with the information he shared, but I was more amazed that the significant information actually came from a man who was working with a broom and a scrub.
I stayed longer to listen to this old man who that time, had been serving Silliman Church since 1946. Lorenzo “Manong Ensong” Pa-a knew much because he was not just maintaining the cleanliness of this center of campus life, he was actually worshipping in the most meaningful way.
He loved all aspects of his ministry including the early morning final touches every Sunday which would include his own art of flower arrangement; there were no flower shops in Dumaguete that time. He was a master in the formal and mass principles of the art of selecting and organizing flowers and foliage.
The flowers and foliage were harvested from the well-maintained Silliman Church landscape, and he was also the faithful gardener in this campus centerpiece. Gardening and flower arrangement were skills he learned from the Home Economics mentors Frances Rodgers, Evangelina Bokingo, and Silliman First Ladies Remedios Gaudiel and Francisca Ruiz.
As you can now imagine, that was a totally different timezone when Silliman leaders and a majority of the faculty/staff were all serving in the Sunday worship; so unlike today when you don’t even see many of the faculty/staff as working members and worshippers at Silliman Church.
Going to Silliman Church that time was coming home to your Silliman family every Sunday, and there was always the welcoming heart of Manong Ensong’s in this early morning ministry. His was a gift of love for kindness expressed in so many ways.
Mr. Pa-a’s retirement from this humble service to the Church came in 1985; I was in my senior year in college. It was a pleasure working with him all my college years, as I was a youth volunteer in the campus ministry.
In the 1980s, Rev. Lydia Niguidula was our pastor for Christian Education, and worship for her was a total harvest of the varied God-given talents. This harvest every Sunday would include the modest yet elegant flower arrangements of Manong Ensong.
After Silliman, Manong Ensong was still serving as a humble “minister” at Sibulan UCCP where his family, led by his eldest daughter Annabelle, were the prime movers in the music ministry.
Annabelle, like his father Lorenzo, also served Silliman University. I fondly called her “Ate Anne” and later, “Ma’am Belle” when she became the University Registrar.
The scope of Annabelle’s servanthood was much wider than that of her father, and this gave much pride and joy to the old man. She told me that she had to be a work student in college as it was the only way to finish a degree in college.
Her father and her market vendor mother Manang Sesing just didn’t have enough, considering that six more children were following Annabelle, and all of them were in school. Even with her growing responsibility in school, Saturdays and Sundays were spent helping the pastor at Sibulan UCCP, particularly in the music and children ministries.
Like her father, Anne was set to serve Silliman all her life, as after her graduation, she was absorbed as office assistant at the Dean’s Office of the College of Business Administration starting in 1977. Then she became the college secretary for three years.
Students loved Ate Anne for her excellent service as was like a “big sister” for all Business students, and she made sure that work students would be properly guided.
She was recruited for higher challenges, and was asked to serve as Administrative secretary to the Executive Vice President, and later as secretary to the University Registrar. This was the beginning of her exposure in external affairs, particularly in the recruitment program. Travelling with the University Registrar in student recruitment within the island of Negros brought a lot of sweet memories for Anne. She shared so many of these stories with me when we had to travel together to Palawan and to Mindanao for student recruitment.
Annabelle was always with her distinctive big-sister care wherever she was assigned, particularly with work students. When she became Section chief of the Admissions Office, the enrolment system of Silliman improved, as she was always open to suggestions, and her welcoming heart was the perfect front-line feature. Parents and international students loved her way of introducing them to Silliman culture.
Her long years of hardwork at the Registrar’s Office was finally rewarded with her being appointed as University Registrar & Admissions officer in 2003.
My close relations with Ate Anne actually stemmed from the care of one very loving Silliman mentor, Mrs. Ruth Serate. I called her Auntie Ruth, a motherly adviser to me when I was elected president of the Dormitory Youth Dynamic Council, created during her leadership of the Student Housing Division.
The same Auntie Ruth was the Pastor’s wife of UCCP Sibulan and the “mother hen” of all the church youth. Whenever I was invited to a Serate family event, there was always Ate Anne, who was already considered by Auntie Ruth as her daughter-in-law.
You see, Auntie Ruth wanted her son Elijah to marry Annabelle. Auntie Ruth loved Ate Anne’s faith journey. Auntie Ruth also had much admiration for Ate Anne’s shower of love and loyalty to UCCP Sibulan’s favorite loveteam: Manang Sesing-Manong Ensong, or the Sing-Song team.
Anne’s care for her parents, brothers and sisters, and their children was truly admirable; she was an overflowing fountain of love.
The Elijah-Annabelle wedding day was Auntie Ruth’s dream event, and we always had fun talking about the details of this big day — which never materialized for some reasons.
But all these years and even when Auntie Ruth had gone ahead, Elijah remained the bachelor escort of Anne in all of her daily events. I already volunteered to be the wedding coordinator, and I had already requested Rev. Callum Tabada, who was pastor of UCCP Sibulan when Ate Anne became a vital force in the Church Council, to take the lead, but again, for some reason, things didn’t turn out the way we planned it.
Ate Anne and I continued to have fun time talking about Auntie Ruth’s dream wedding, even at the time when Anne was diagnosed with the Big C. We would always end up laughing at the imagery of the beautiful day — which never came.
From the works of the father Manong Ensong, and his wonderful daughter Annabelle, we celebrate the legacy of pure joy as their dedicated service to the Lord were expressions of their desires “to walk humbly with your God”.
________________________________
Author’s email: karlmike@yahoo.com
