Hearing a blood-curdling scream, I turned and raced back up the trail to where my then twelve-year-old adopted daughter Jilin stood, trembling in fright. Thinking she had been bitten by a snake or seen an evil spirit, I prayed for help and wisdom as I asked her what had happened. She pointed to a furry caterpillar.

“Did it bite you?” I asked.

“No, it just surprised me. I hate those things!”

For some reason, many Palawano are petrified of caterpillars, grubs or other creepy crawlies. As the following story illustrates, leeches are definitely one of the scary “worms.”

One day, our nine-year-old grandson, Liam, was invited to go and pick some wild fruits known locally as tengulun. After gaining permission from his mother, Jilin, he agreed to go, thinking it was close to home. But as he and his friends walked, Liam found they were going a long way, even crossing the Timras River. An hour later, they arrived at the tall and branchy tengulun tree, which an older boy named Wilo had started to climb. As Liam and his friend Sulo waited under the tree, he felt something bite him. Looking down, he saw a big black leech on his leg, which had already begun to enjoy his blood.

As Liam had never seen a leech before, he thought he would die. He started screaming and crying, wishing he were closer to home and his parents.

Then Liam remembered his mother’s story about Joshua and how God had said not to be afraid because He was with him. Liam started to pray to God for help in being brave. Gradually, he stopped crying while waiting for his older friends to help him remove the hungry leech from his skinny leg. Liam says, “God will not leave us even when we sometimes forget He is with us. I am learning I can always trust Him.”

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