Say Yes to Him

    Saying yes to God is the best decision we can ever have in our life. The moment we allow ourselves to be used by Him, He will be making things and circumstances so that we can be helping hands to others. He will be touching a lot of people so that it would be possible for us to become an initiator, or an enabler or a guide. It is Him who will turn us facilitators, advocates, and mediators. He will make us teachers, social workers, missionaries, doctors, writers, friends, and families. Anything and everything will always be possible through Him and with Him. 

     

     God’s love is a kind of love that will show and lead us to share and then to love others. This is something I experience again with the birth of this simple Kwaderno project done with and made possible with people whom also God has touched so that they will be saying ‘yes’ as well. 

The children and their notebooks, with me, Ms. Anne and the barangay captain 

The Notebooks
Kwaderno means notebook 

      Every start of the school year, a child in a public school in the Philippines would need eight notebooks. In depressed and poor areas in the country, this need is already hard to meet as food and survival would be the priority of parents and guardians. Last May 2, 2014, we were able to provide a set of notebooks to some pupils of Barangay Sanke, Hinobaan, Negros Occidental, with the help of generous sponsors. We will be back to the area this 25th of May again, and after God has touched so many people, we will be bringing enough notebooks for 600 children!

      When my frailties as a human would make me think that reaching out to many children would be an ambitious and unrealistic project, there God was and here now, making it clearer and clearer to me and to us each day, that what we our thinking of is something within reach. There God was and here now, embracing me and all of us, together with these children, so that through this simple act which began with our dreams, we will truly experience Him. And so henceforth, I am welcoming even bigger dreams, and my yes to God will be even louder... 

To You

Come and face the sun

Don't fear your own shadow.

The universe owes to you nothing

But to it you owe a lot.

The glory of the lights and clouds

Show the Lord's amazing power...

The power beyond description

The power that makes us stay alive

The power that lead the sky to meet the ocean
And the trees to kiss the ground...

The power I strongly feel inside.

And I come and face You now

And I raise my hands

My rebirth, my hope

My peace, my love

To You, I offer my journey

To You, I entrust my all...

Bantug Lake Ranch 

Reaching out to Calagnaan Island

With the Philippine National Police-Region VI team loading the galvanized iron sheets

Reaching Calagnaan Island

the young, dedicated teachers of Barangcalan Elementary School

Much thanks to the Filipino community in Malta for sending us the funds

      Who would have thought that in this beautiful Calagnaan Island in Carles, Iloilo, students are still studying under the scorching heat of the sun? Who would have thought that this inviting island is an island filled with survival stories from the people--- for when and after Yolanda came, they were left to eat fallen coconuts and bananas; they had wet clothes; they were left with damaged boats and nets, destroyed houses, roofless school buildings and of course, traumas?

Children having their classes

Fr Ron leading the prayer and the activities for the children

   

    When we arrived after long and challenging boat rides, we were welcomed by the smiles of the people, the children and the teachers. We were welcomed by much insights and deep impression. I am really so proud of the students because despite financial difficulties and the limitations of their classrooms, they were still so eager to learn, and I must say that their stories will be inspiring many students and parents. I am so proud of the teachers because of their dedication to teach and for the noble sacrifices that they would have to bear just to be with their students. I am proud of the entire community, for helping one another so that they can move on in life with optimism and unwavering faith. I am proud of all those people who made this outreach possible, to those who sent the funds, to those who made the links and the transfer of the materials possible, to those who taught songs and dances, to the hands that got wounded, to the skins that were burned, to the bodies that got tired, to the spirits that were filled with joy and love… We did these all together, and we are touched to do more. This is how we are welcoming summer 2014...

Giving some school supplies for the children

With Misyon Staff Bessie and Assistant Editor Anne

Welcoming Summer 2014

Run and before you know it

       Just as the start of this week, I made another commitment to myself. I said I will be embracing my first ever sports when I was still in grade school: running. And guess what, later will be my fourth day of doing it straight!

       There is something in running that makes it so special. It is not only exceedingly beneficial to our body and to our mind but also in our spirit. Just when I started running again, new circle of friends, as well as newer knowledge and perspectives, newer way of combating stress, newer way of balancing time and newer dreams and visions came in.                  

       

With running buddy Charmaine and coach Narz

Day 2 Training at Bacolod City, New Government Center

       But if there’s another way that I would describe running, then, it would be something about really doing the actual run for you to be able to say that you really experience it. You cannot run by simply watching. You cannot run unless you move and lift your foot next to the other. It is on the process of listening to the beat of your heart and getting your back and your face wet of your own perspiration, that you encountered that feeling of becoming more energized and more focused. You came across the need for discipline. You realized that you should stay motivated. You found the value of dedication and endurance in the process, and before you know it, there you are, enjoying all the wonderful things life has to offer for you because you live longer, healthier and happier. 

with Cris, Joven and Lea

Fun Run at Mall of Asia, Pasay

Back to my Soul

    As I took another eight-hour trip back home from Cebu, I realized that I had momentarily lost my sense of time. I was so engaged with what I was I doing: reflecting. It was something I have to do to finish my thesis about the journey of the former beneficiaries of Holy Family Home-Bacolod, though reflecting has become a part of my life. It is something that sounds so simple yet had been giving me difficult and painful moments.In some parts of the process, I found myself praying, sleeping, thinking, crying and then laughing. It was emotions felt on the extreme poles.I thought it was an escape but a deeper thought of it made me realize that I am not escaping, but rather embracing the here and the now. The journey has taken me to a different world: a world which has made me become more aware of my reality and the realities of the people I have met along the way.

    I tried to look for a calendar, but I failed to find one. My phone’s battery was empty. I looked all around me but all I see was tall trees in a zigzag road. I was hungry and it seemed that all I have was only me. It was dark outside but I felt a sense of security because the bus was continuously moving. That was so me: someone who is so afraid to remain stagnant, someone who always want to keep going and someone who is always so enthusiastic to throw myself in somewhere different or new. It was the kind of me that made me feel tired at times, but it was the same kind of me that made me know many people and places beyond faces, beyond names, beyond one period of time.

     That was a journey of going back to my soul. Subsequently, the journey of going through myself has taught me an important realization about who I am. I am not all like what I had taught to be I was. Removing another mask, there is also another me who can find consolation and freedom from being in solitary and still moments. Taking away what I have and who I think I am, I am still a child of God. God’s power is behind my growth and anything and everything in me and about me. There is a part of me who just continuously bloom though I remain in the same space. There is a part of me who can brave visiting the past in order to appreciate the present and then discover the so many possibilities of the future.

     This phenomenological process has a transformative effect to me. It is not all the time that we can hear such true stories of moving forward despite all the heartaches and brokenness. The narratives I had gathered and reflected upon are immortal. These narratives are source of inspiration and learning. These are our testimonies of courage, faith, hope and love. Our journey is a journey of blessing and empowering one another.It is a journey worth taking and worth telling in words and even in dreams. Our journey is a journey of risks and responsibilities, resonating common themes yet uniquely woven by the hands of our Maker Himself. These are journeys worth reflecting for.

Photo by: Rose Victoria

     We may lose the exact name of time or seasons in our journey, just like what happened to me now; or chose to leave behind some aspects of it but we will never totally forget the memories and the learning. Our set of individual, collective and intertwining journeys are meant to make us more human. They are meant to change us for the better and so we are all resolved to continue journeying knowing that there are always something new to learn, unlearn or relearn and mask, unmask or re-mask each time. We will continue to audaciously grow from our sorrows and joy. We will move, run, sit, crawl, and kneel if we have too. We will love. We will live. We will not give up.

Growing in Faith

    It is in the actual encounters of living that we discover the many realities and thousand possibilities there are. In life, we are being taught by others, by our experiences and then by our own self how to journey with whatever we have and whoever we are--- our resources, our skills, the significant people in our lives, and then most of all, our faith so that we can keep on going no matter what.

    Plants have beautiful stories of growing.Their needs must be sufficiently met but even though we left them behind at times, they just have natural way of growing. The sunlight, the wind and the rain are God’s ways of taking care of them. When we look around us, we see their beauty and then a grand showcase of how God would support so many lives.

Cebu City, Philippines

    Whether the plants don’t get enough or they get too much, they still continue to give in something to the earth even though they consume so little space-in a piece of land or in a clay pot or in a tin can, they just keep on growing.

    It is in a more exciting and amazing way that we, human beings grow too. We are faced with many changes and challenges. Some are nurtured well by our parents, our caretakers, our friends,our mentors and other significant people around us. Some experienced neglect,abandonment and betrayal and it would take real experiences of love for healing to take place. Love has special way of making people care and give. It has a special way of making people understand things, even if it seems to be confusing or hard to digest. It has a special way of making people share some sunlight, or some water or some space. It has a special way of nurturing our faith.

    Our story of growing is also a story of our relationship with God. There may be many distractions or frustrations that we have to bear in life, but if we never turn our path away from God we will successfully overcome anything and everything. Our faith grows when we recognize the fact that we have never been through any battle alone. God is always there for us, in every step of our growth. It is because of Him that we find joy in serving our purpose. It is through Him and with Him that we learn how to care, co-exist, and then love one another. It is through Him that we can blossom like plants.

Misgivings

Here's another beautifully crafted poem written by Anonymous Ken. 

In your silence I speak my mind

What you've lost I can find

Shut me out and you can hear me

Close your eyes, it is I you see.

In your thoughts hear me shout

What your life is all about

Of real hearts, all can lie

Painful sobs, your lullaby.

In your mind you betray

Your loyal self, your dismay

Have you gone off the edge

Broken self, broken pledge.

Hear me laugh in the night

As you close your eyes tight

In the dark, you're not spared

For your sins are all bared.

With yourself, you argue

Why great things they've left you

Barren, fertile hearts can go

Deserts even may soon snow.

Misgivings!

Damned misgivings!

Misgivings hurt the soul

The body takes the toll.

When will slaves be freed

From their hearts of greed?

Court yourself bring it to justice

Change your deeds, what you practise

Leave the pack and find your head

For with them you are dead.

Misgivings!

Burnt misgivings!

Take a break from your hell

Even you, you can tell

How you hide from the truth

Mask yourself with your youth!

Misgivings!

Sly misgivings!

Die tonight in your mask

To yourself you shall ask:

Have I led a decent life

Was sin ever my sole wife?

Did I leave a friend to hang

Did I push him to a tang?

Did I fail to shine my light

With a friend who was my might?

Misgivings!

Shrewd misgivings!