Children’s Gifts

A letter from Mary Nebelsick in the U.S., on Interpretation Assignment from the Philippines

June 2015

Dear Friends,

It is with a warm heart that I write to you from Louisville, Kentucky.

This spring Paul and I traveled to Missouri and Arkansas and were very happy to see how God is working through local churches to build up a peaceable kingdom.

In Arkansas we visited Pulaski Heights Presbyterian Church, pastored by one of my oldest and dearest friends, Rev. Ruskin Falls. This beautiful church has recorded its history in large folio-sized scrapbooks. There in the library, while randomly browsing through the scrapbooks, I discovered an entry made by the women’s circle in 1930.  During the school of missions that year the children learned about the Philippines. They were so moved by the talk that they sent the children in the Philippines a treasure box full of school supplies and other goodies. The local newspaper was so impressed by their action that it published an article about the children’s generosity, complete with a photo of the treasure box. The Arkansas Democrat reported:

“A message of good cheer in the form of a friendship treasure chest has been sent to the children of the Philippine Islands by the children who attended the school of missions held recently at the Pulaski Heights Presbyterian Church. The project is fostered by the Committee on World Friendship Among School Children. The box was packed by the children under the direction of Mrs. Dwight A. Sharpe and is filled with inexpensive articles, including puzzles, crayons, tiny dolls, handkerchiefs, jack-stones, tops, balls and a selected book. The chest is metal, 10½ x 6½ inches in size with handles of brass, and has a lock and key. It is lithographed in 11 colors. On its sides are maps of North America, Asia and islands of the Pacific Ocean and pictures of George Washington, Dr. Jose Rizal, a Filipino who gave his life to win freedom for his people, Christopher Columbus, Boreas and Father Neptune. The commission selected a metal chest because it is impervious to white ants, it was said. The project undertaken by the local Presbyterian children is the culmination of a study of the Filipinos in the school of mission.  This is the first year that the local church has taken part in the goodwill project fostered by the Committee on World Friendship. Several hundred thousand children in Arkansas and in the United States are helping to fill similar chests for the Filipinos. The project will be consummated in the Philippines on December 30, a national holiday commemorating the death of Dr. Rizal. It is expected that the Filipino school children will reciprocate with a gift.”

The Committee on World Friendship Among Children was formed under the inspiration of Dr. Sydney Lewis Gulick (1860-1945), a longtime missionary to Japan, and it was sponsored by the Commission on International Justice and Goodwill of the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America. The purpose of this Committee was to promote friendship among the children of different nations so that the horrors of World War I would never be repeated. The children of the United States and Japan had received and reciprocated with beautiful dolls. Cloth bags full of school supplies were sent to the children of Mexico and treasure boxes like the one from Pulaski Heights Presbyterian Church were the gifts that the children in the United States sent to the children of the Philippines.

Gift giving in the Philippines is a wonderful tradition. It warms the heart. It is like a smile that begins in the corner of the mouth and lights up the entire face. It says, “Hi, I want you to remember me whenever you look at this little gift.” Even the smallest item and the littlest package are treasured. Dolls are not taken out of their packages because then they might get broken or torn and then could not continue to witness to the friendship that they represent. Handkerchiefs are used with care, delicately hand-washed and ironed with precision. Books are treasured for generations. I was moved to find that the children of Anabu UCCP were learning about Christianity from the same books that I had read in my own Sunday School classes.

Children in our local Church Molino UCCP in the Philippines still receive boxes filled with treasures from the U.S. Then, as now, they open the boxes with exquisite care and thrill at the surprises they find in them. Although we did not bring a “treasure box” to the Pulaski Heights Presbyterian Church, we were happy to bring them greetings from all of God’s children in the Philippines. When I told the Director of Christian Education at Molino UCCP, Mrs. Julie Anne Valle-Quiros, about these gifts from Arkansas children 85 years ago she was touched and inspired to return the gift of friendship. She promised that the children of Molino UCCP would get together and send a treasure box to Pulaski Heights Presbyterian Church to share their love and faith with them.  For someone who loves missions, history and churches like I do, this little discovery filled me with great joy. A school of missions inspired these children to participate in world mission. It was as if the love of the children in 1930 reached out to us almost 90 years later. The romantic in me saw our coming to Pulaski Heights as an answer to a desire of the children of the church, planted long ago, to forge a connection with the Philippines. Given the long and dynamic history of mission, this might, in the best of all possible worlds, be true.

It is to you, now, dear friends, that we turn and thank you for the gifts that you continually bless us with and ask that you continue to walk beside us and the children of the Philippines with your prayers, monetary gifts and support. Please pray for all young Christians in the Philippines and around the world that they might have strength to continue to walk in God’s light and to proclaim the love of Jesus throughout their lives.

In Christ,
Mary and Paul

The 2015 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 249