In silence and trust
In stillness and hope
I will wait for you Lord
I will await the dawn
You who carry me on eagle’s wings
Are mighty and strong
You are my strength
You are my helper
I will not follow my follies
Nor entertain the rebellion in my heart
Take it Lord and make me whole
Be glorified, be magnified
Be delighted for I am coming home
I choose you Lord, the lover of my soul
I put my faith in you.
The rain is so heavy and it woke me up early today.
For those of you who know me well, Tulog mantika ako (I’m a heavy sleeper, and a heavy rain or even an earthquake in the past won’t really wake me up easily), but I am amazed how even with a tired body and little sleep, I feel so superb and rejuvenated that I’m ready for the new day! I want to praise the Lord today!
(I know you’re all waiting for the “love story” I have been talking about, but first, I would like to blog something related to that and is the bottomline of all the things happening to my life including my love story :p)
This week, blessing after blessing have poured out on me, and I know that I never deserved any of it. Never. If you’d ask me a list of the things that would make God think twice in answering my prayers, I would come up with an endless list of all my shortcomings and failings, but see, that is me “being God” and it is not even close to how He thinks. God’s graciousness and love to me doesn’t depend on me being deserving; not because I have done something that would allow Him to pour out His blessings.
My God is gracious and good, and when He loves, He loves because that is His character.
So many times, the idea of “being deserving” has stopped me to believe that God can actually give me more than I deserve. It has stopped me from praying with faith in the God that can do the impossible. It was my lack of faith in God that has stopped me from believing that He is enough.
I always pulled out my “I am unworthy-I will not ask from God-because He won’t answer anyway” card when I would pray sometimes, that I would only pray for what I think is something “He can probably do.” What a shame.
These past few weeks, I have been learning from the God who is enough for me.
The moment I wholly surrendered everything to Him, I found release.
Most of the time I have carried a reliance on my own abilities and my own plans that I have never fully trusted God. This year, He has started something new in me. The Lord is bringing me to new heights and showing me How He is faithful, and I should indeed trust Him. I do not mean to say that I do not know this yet or that He has not been faithful in the past, but I confess that I have seen it and have known it in my head and yet get deceived by the enemy when times get really really tough.
There is this kind of surrender-that after you have battled so long using all your strength and your everything, you finally reach the end of it, and all you can do is just say I cannot do this anymore Lord.
I was at that point. I remember crying out to Him in despair and saying that I have been such a failure but I don’t know what to do anymore. I am so scared of what is before me, and I don’t even know How to do things anymore. I cried for deliverance, even from my own unbelief. I was at my wits end.
Then He came to my rescue.
My problem was I have always put God in a box. I have contained Him in this box and have mapped out the answers to my prayers. I asked for God to do this… and this… and this… and have imagined the answers that my mind can comprehend.
This month, God brought me out of this box,
and have shown me that there is so much more He can do if I would let Him.
See, I have seen this happen over and over again, but I was stubborn and was not learning my lesson.
I would like to thank all who prayed for my financial situation and my seminary fees. A woman who have followed me on Facebook have talked to me about sharing some of her blessings. Never would I have thought of this person helping me. She wasn’t a close friend, wasn’t someone I see everyday; but God brings people to us to bless us. I know God brings us both to a relationship too, one that is to glorify God.
God answers our prayers in weird ways we have not even thought of.
This is the same thing with a friend of mine who have forwarded my newsletter to her pastor-friend from another country, and then, the pastor shared to me how the Lord has touched his heart to help me and have committed to be a channel of blessing to me.
I am still wondering how all of this was possible, and my little head will never really comprehend how in all things God works for the good of those who love Him.
Now I am sharing this to you as a testimony that God is at work; we may not see it, but He surely is. We may not be able to explain all the things that are happening. We may have to wait, we may be denied of what we ask for, but all because God is working in ways our mind cannot comprehend.
That is why HE IS GOD. In the end, we will know He knows what He is doing, for He makes all things beautiful in His time.
I also have my own share of despair. It would be wrong to think that once you have placed your faith in God, your life will be free of problems. We live in a world that is corrupt in every sense, but to place our faith in God is to see beyond. It is a recognition that God sees what is going on, and God is not asleep or apathetic about it.
Believe it or not, He feels our pain, He sees every cry, and He knows what we are going through.
He is a God who is at work since the beginning of time. He seeks to restore us from this fallen state.
He seeks to restore our relationship with Him from where it has fallen, from the time we have first doubted Him.
He seeks to restore this relationship that is about TRUST in Him; FOR HE IS FAITHFUL.
He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it. This relationship is about Him helping us become all that He wants us to be. It is His grace that enables us to do it.
This is not just about asking what we want, and making God a vendo machine. There is so much more to this. He seeks to have a relationship with us, one that was not possible before, but He gave His only Son to die on the cross so that we could have life in Him.
See, He is serious about this and He is offering life to you and me.
This life in Him is a recognition that He is all we need and He is enough. In the midst of the troubles we are in, it is a loving relationship that seeks to uphold us. It is based on trust. We have to be wholly surrendered to Him and know that He is enough.
It is a loving relationship- one proven by Him giving His life for us so that we can have life and enjoy it to the full. Enjoy it not later, but here and now.
It is a love that can be experienced when you would let Him. It is a love that fills the need for love and acceptance in our hearts. He loves us however undeserving we are, and seeks to transform us into His image- an image of love.
Would you like to get out of your box today?
I dare you, you can ask Him.
His hand is reaching out to you.
Would you let Him take you out of the box you’re in?
Ephesians 3:14-21 (NIV)
14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
It’s 4am and I am still wide awake. It could be because of the coffee I consumed at 10pm, or the thought of my impacted wisdom tooth that needs to be extracted. It could also be the random thoughts in my head.
I just finished watching the movie Julie and Julia (since I can’t sleep), and it stirred up so many things inside me. I really want to blog someday about cooking, I might never be as cool as The Pioneer Woman, but hey it’s gonna be my journey on the art of cooking and eating haha. Anderson and I have been talking about creating a blog about our hobbies, and stuff we will be doing together. He will take photographs, and I would write small fun or inspirational thoughts about it.
I’m very excited to meet him face to face. I actually made a countdown and have posted pictures each day of things that remind me of him. Can you imagine I have 43 days left? So fast!
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You can follow the countdown on my tumblr.
I guess I do love blogging. I like the idea of having something worth reminiscing someday.
Some would say blogging has to do with the narcissistic urge in a person, and maybe to some extent it’s true. But for me blogging is like having a friend that would listen to you at 4am in the morning when you could not sleep, or not have a real person to talk to. It’s like having people that can go with you as you live your life.
I can write about random things on my blog, which sadly, I have not been doing as frequently as I used to. Every time I try to write something on my blog these days, I feel guilty, same as when I think of other fun things. Thoughts like “I shouldn’t be wasting my time on this” come to my mind, and honestly, I don’t like that feeling. I am back to the point where I want to be free once again, free to express myself in different ways and enjoy life.
Worries can trap us.
I do believe in a powerful God who knows exactly what I am going through, and who cares so much for me; however, I confess I doubt him at times and I ask for forgiveness. I do want to be in control most of the time. During the sharing time at the prayer meeting last night, I confessed that I was tempted to quit the Seminary. It is just so hard not to have an income, and there are times I still ask if this is really what God wants me to do. I am on my last year (hopefully) at the Seminary, and since I resigned at the church where I pastored for four years, it is a real test of trust on God’s faithfulness and provisions. But hey, I have never been hungry since January, and God has faithfully provided for my needs in different ways, although there is always a test on trust.
Now, what could be wrong?
I think every person has an “ideal” situation running in their head. I still tend to grumble, but I try my best to look at the blessings I should be grateful for each day. I still remind myself that God has a plan for me, and I should never give up. I always remind myself of His promises; that He will never leave me nor forsake me, but I do admit, it’s not easy to “not” know what’s next, or even deal with past failures and regrets that weigh us down.
I came across Isaiah 43 once again and have found comfort in it:
18 “Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
19 See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland.
I desire for a new start. I pray for new beginnings.
I pray for a deeper trust in God who is everything to me.
If there is something that fills my heart with joy these days, I praise God for the work he is doing in our NYI leaders in the Philippines. The workshops for Intentional Discipleship is still on-going and that reminds me I still owe you my update for the recent Nazarene Youth Congress, and other exciting things God is doing in the lives of the youth. I am proud that this generation is becoming more serious in making Christlike disciples in the Nations, and that really makes me so excited. The ministry never stopped when I resigned the church, instead, doors are being opened and people are responding to the call to be equipped for the harvest.
It’s now 4:47am, and I still want to talk or write about a lot of things, but maybe I’ll end this for now with some prayer requests:
1. Please pray for my spiritual life. I desire to draw nearer to the Lord and be able to know Him more and love Him with my all.
2. Please pray for me as I follow God’s desire to bring hope and grace to hurting people. I have been talking with a number of young people who have opened up their hearts and struggles to me and I want to be a reflection of God’s love to them and to more people who need the Good news of grace and salvation.
3. Please pray for me as I conduct “Intentional Discipleship” workshops; and for all the partnerships made with our NYI leaders to be fruitful as we train more leaders. Pray for my disciples, that they may grow in Christlikeness.
4. Please pray for my Seminary education, that God would provide sponsors for this year, and for strength and diligence.
Thanks for your prayers. In all that is happening in my life right now, I believe God is working on something great for me.
Here’s my prayer with AW Tozer from the “Universal Presence” chapter
in the book The Pursuit of God:
O God and Father, I repent of my sinful preoccupation with visible things.
The world has been too much with me.
Thou hast been here and I knew it not.
I have been blind to Thy Presence.
Open my eyes that I may behold Thee in and around me.
For Christ’s sake. Amen.
Have a great Thursday everyone!
Hello Everyone! I’m back on the blog scene. 
In two days, it is MAY already and that would mean 4 months of update from me. But before that, I would like to share with you how amazed I am at this “International Love” my own eyes have seen.
Well, no, I am not talking about Pitbull’s or Chris Brown’s song.
Last Tuesday night, I was very exhausted after 3 hours of taking care of 2 babies, 2 toddlers, and 5 kids aged 3 to 4 years old from the orphanage where I volunteered. The staff in charge had a meeting and I was left all by myself to take care of all of them. I’m glad my sister came so she helped me, but still!! (This deserves another blog). So when I came back to APNTS, I had no plans of going online but just to slouch and wait for dinner, but I felt this tug in my heart. So I went online.
To my surprise, I received an email from Anderson, my Colombian bf, saying that he was assaulted while on the way to Ecuador. I got very anxious!
Anderson started his journey last April 15 from Argentina to Bolivia, then to Chiclayo, Peru, and then the Peruvian jungle. He was about to cross the border at that time to go to Ecuador. He tried to assure me he was safe, but he said he lost everything he had: his possessions, bags, money, and important documents. He didn’t know what to do next. When he told me he only has a few more minutes to talk to me, I panicked. I asked for the exact address of his location, and he also gave me the number of the police station in Tumbes, Peru where he was.
I wanted to cry when he said he needs to go offline already. He asked me for help and I didn’t know what to do next. I am glad I have his passwords and so I tried to calm down and went online in his Skype account, then his Gmail. Apparently, he was able to send email to many people in his region. The people from different places started replying. Of course they wrote in Spanish, so there I was feeling more lost.
It was dawn in South America during that time, so I was hesitant to contact anyone. I tried to talk to the first person that went online in Skype and she responded to me; she is staying in Colombia. The next person was Anderson’s best friend who is also in Colombia, so I made the call, which surely surprised him. I gave him the Peruvian number Anderson gave me and was very encouraging.
The mails kept coming in, but there was no way for Anderson to read it yet. I recognized the name of our missionary friend from Paraguay in one of the emails so I replied to her and told her all the information I have. She tried to contact her family in Peru so that they could get some help.
Then I looked at my Facebook friends. Some of Anderson’s friends added me on Facebook last year. It was a real blessing at a time like this. I posted on the wall of one girl from Peru, and asked her if she can contact the people in the seminary in Quito, Ecuador so that we can ask for some help. She replied immediately and I was amazed! She then called a friend who lives near the border where Anderson was.
I went back to Anderson’s email and saw mails from people from Argentina and the region, who were wanting to send him assistance to help him cross the border. The problem was, Anderson doesn’t have documents to show for the money transfer. So when the missionary friend from Paraguay called me again, we talked about how to send money to Anderson.
I tried to call the number or the Police station and when I am thinking about it again, it was really funny. I really need to study my Spanish more. An officer answered my call and my Spanish left my head all of a sudden. I think even my English left me. I just kept saying: May I speak to Anderson Godoy? And he responded with so many words I could not understand. I kept repeating Anderson’s name, and I am glad the officer did not hang up on me, instead, he also screamed Anderson’s name. Then I recognized Anderson’s voice from the background. It was a comfort to hear him. Anderson told me he already received a call saying someone was going to pick him up and help him cross the border.
It was a traumatic experience for me to be miles and miles away, but it was a comfort to know that the body of Christ, and the brothers and sisters from the Church of the Nazarene were ready and prompt in extending help. I am amazed at the technology and the cyber world. I am here in the Philippines and was still able to talk to people from Colombia, Peru, Paraguay, Ecuador, Argentina, and even the States; people whom I haven’t met yet. Though there were language differences, it did not stop us to be there for one another, and to show love in difficult times, as one family in Christ.
After a few hours, Anderson wrote to me and said the authorities didn’t want him to cross the border because he doesn’t have enough documents; but God was showing him miracles by touching these people’s hearts.
Anderson was able to reach Quito today, but his plans have changed. He was intending to stay at the seminary in Ecuador for two weeks to teach and raise funds for his Graduate studies at APNTS in the Philippines. Since he doesn’t have any documents now, he would have to go asap to Colombia and get new documents. Please continue to pray for him as he travels back to his country tomorrow, that there won’t be more problems when he would cross the border, without any documents.
I talked to him this morning and he is very grateful for the love and support he received from the brothers and sisters in his region and from friends around the world. . He has a swollen foot, and though he lost material things, the Lord still spared his life and the brothers and sisters in Quito provided for his needs like clothes and stuff. Thank you for your prayers and I know that the Lord will take care of you!
There are many people not listed here that kept in contact with me and kept assuring us of prayers and hands ready to extend help. You are all a blessing!
I believe that the Lord allows bad things to happen for a reason.
And in the good times and bad,
I praise God for showing His love and grace
through people like you.
We are very grateful.
I know that you are going through a pretty tough time right now, and you are asking if this is what God wants for you. Maybe you’re asking if this “desire” is exactly what you want, and you feel suddenly inadequate.If I were a writer, then I would have been suffering now from writer’s block, but I am a student, so maybe my case is student’s block. According to Urban Dictionary, Student’s Block is:
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- The lack of motivation to study. - When you have been studying so long you can’t process what you’re studying anymore. - Your brain goes blank when you look at your notes and text. - When called upon in class to discuss last night’s assignment, you forget everything you read or studied. - When you can’t stop procrastinating, especially right before your finals. - You can’t remember what you studied when you look at the questions on your exam! - When you simply stop caring about your studies. |
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I need your prayers. You just don’t know how traumatic this is. It is like feeling lost and feeling all alone. It is unlike all my other moments when I just had to cram because I don’t have the time to work on my papers. Those experiences were filled with so much adrenaline. But this time, I don’t have the appetite for studying, and I think this is all part of the adjustment I am going through. This is an emotional crisis ladies and gentlemen, and yes even Christians go through it.
There’s too much pressure around me
I am already becoming paralyzed by the mere thought of it.
I wish for better days.
I am tired, and I need grace.
How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in?
And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?
And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?
And how can anyone preach unless they are sent?
As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”
Romans 10:14-15
I have already shared with you my goal for 2011: More Parties in Heaven! The challenge to share Jesus to this lost world remains the same since I received Him as Lord and Savior of my life. However, the Lord always makes all things new, and I believe He keeps opening doors to share the gospel. I always seek for new ways to share Jesus to this dying world and would want to take advantage of the opportunities given to me.
Last week, our chapel services had the topic of cybermissions, and this is something that I embrace with all of my heart. Some of you may agree that I have an online presence and I always look at it as an opportunity to share Jesus and His love. The call keeps ringing in my heart, and I think the Lord is opening doors for me. I am overwhelmed, but as the song Commission my Soul stays in my head for two weeks now, there’s this fire uncontrollable consuming my heart. I won’t stop now.
I would like to ask you to pray for me and my friend whom I will hide in the name Yana who is from a country I also cannot say. We are set to talk to her friends online, and are making ways to find similar schedules for video chat. We would like to start intentional conversations and create relationships and eventually share Jesus love. It is a combination of being scared, and being excited. She made me aware of the things I cannot do or else there’s a chance that they would track us and listen to what we are talking about, but there’s no stopping now, the Lord has also stirred up her heart that this is the time to share Jesus to her friends. Now to make disciples in the nations goes to another level, as we use the technology God has given us, we will make Jesus known by all means possible.
Please pray for us, that the Lord will use us effectively!
How beautiful are our feet, as we tread cyberspace.
P.S. Our school will conduct a free training on e-missions.
If you are interested to join, just send me a message or click here
Treading on tiptoes
Wary or I’ll make foes
I want to draw the line
There’s this difference I can’t find
Then there’s love and there’s hate
And I remind myself of the bottom line
Is it about self, or some faith
But its the same old junk with that mate
Slap my face
And the pain would be easier to bear
Than hide your face
And carry the misery of my own fate
Then there’s love and there’s hate
And the thin line that separates
Read between the lines and see
There’s more to be known that way
Then there’s love and there’s hate
And the questions that remain:
Will you still be my lifeline?
Will I still see you at the end of the line?
I have experienced more exciting things!
I praise the Lord for blessing me with wonderful friends and family!
I praise Him for your lives that made this year a special one.
I am always reminded that I live because of God’s grace,
and a part of that is seen through people like you!
I thank the Lord for another year that He has given me!
I WAS 25 WHEN:
1. I met Anderson and finally had a love life that has a promise of forever.
2. I resigned at the church where I have served as pastor for 4 years.
3. I have finally shared the Discipleship Strategy to all the NYI District Presidents in the Philippines. All of us have accepted the challenge and have dreamed big for our youth ministries.
4. I found out I can be soprano too (and have tried singing the high notes ) and not just the usual alto.
5. I blogged less and have used Skype a lot.
6. I got seriously involved and in love with our school’s puppetry ministry.
7. I have started leadership trainings with Bethany Church of the Nazarene’s youth and have also travelled to Samar to train the youth leaders of Eastern Visayas District.
8. I have learned, loved, and started doing photography.
9. I have appreciated and have fallen deeper in love with Jesus as I understood better the benefits of the atonement and the wonders of His grace. This intimacy never stops growing indeed, and I am so amazed how His grace still sweeps me off my feet.
10. I have danced on the stage again with the UP Streetdance Club Alumni. Yep, Street Fusion X: Decade. Vision. Dance.
11. I have had integrity as my issue and struggle for the whole year, but I praise the Lord for His grace that has kept me sane.
12. I have seen my close friends getting married already.
13. I have tried surfing!
14. I have found my lovely Chinese twin sister, and my lovely-spiritual-Timothy
Thank you Lord for this wonderful year of Love, Grace, and Dreams.
I know that this new year has more for me,
and my earnest desire is to be able to win more souls for the Lord
and Make Christlike Disciples in the Nations.
The goal for 2011: MORE PARTIES IN HEAVEN!
(Luke 15:7)
P.S.
I miss blogging.
I pray that I would find more time for that this year
Four months have passed and the Lord has never failed in His provisions and grace!
I am always thankful for His love that fills my heart.
In this whirl, I have peace, for He has been the strength of my heart.
I am actually excited to write this because this blog is now 4 years old this month.
I am excited to write my first November post.
I’ll try my best to put all of the updates in short paragraphs. I’ll try.
July
1. Let’s Start with Yang’s 26th Bday Haha. It was a great time with the Sphinx. We ate breakfast the next day at Pan de Americana and grabbed coffee at SB. I love my highschool barkada.
2. Anderson’s birthday was also in July so I sent him a birthday card
3. It was also Shine’s bday so I had a blast with Jaddesa, my awesome college barkada!
4. This was also the start of a new semester, so I have a New Koinonia Group which is under Ate Natz Petallar, with the Holistic Child Development Students. I begged that they adopt me in their group because I want to be with the Children’s Advocates 
.
I also have a new SWAP (the work scholarship) which is at the Media Lab, so basically I am not in the Library shelving books anymore but my work has to do with media: taking pictures, videos, recording audio, and doing some technical stuff during chapel services.
This semester, I only took two subjects: the Doctrine of Holiness Class, and Contemporary Preaching Class. I wasn’t a full time student, so I needed to move out of the seminary dorm.
5. I am very thankful for the Sohal Family for adopting me once again in their house. Since I moved out of the dorm, I stayed at their place and was able to hang out with Bryce a lot and sleep beside him. I thank the Lord for generous people like them.
6. One of the missionaries that served the Philippines for more than 10 years had to say goodbye, so we had prepared a farewell dinner for the couple. I will never forget two of my talks with Rev. David Phillips when God really spoke to my heart about the church, and my personal walk with the Lord. God bless you in your next endeavor Sir.
7. I went to watch the movie Inception with some friends, which, so far wins the best movie for me this year. It lingered in my mind the whole month for some reason. It was so good on so many levels. I still have my blog draft here, so maybe I’ll write my review of this movie later.
8. I fell in love with Kefta and also kept on craving for frozen yogurt with almonds and chocolate chips that I had fits of anger when they forbade me to eat it. I also lost my phone so I got my cute phone I called cherry, but cherry is now failing me with its battery always running empty :-S Who wants to give me a new phone?
August
1. It was my first time to donate blood, and it felt good especially that it was for my mom’s surgery. I was fine after that and would now keep on donating my blood . After donating my blood, I went straight to Bulacan Faith Fellowship to speak at their youth event BUFFJAM for their 5th anniversary. I spoke about “Our Heart’s Cry” and talked about Circumcision of the Heart. It was fun + headache (probably the effect of losing some blood) but it was still AWESOME. Thanks guys, ’til next time
2. I went to visit my family for the first time in Tabuyoc, Pangasinan where they are now serving after 3 years in Baguio. For the nth time, “there’s no place like home,” being with your family even if it is away from real home. I got so tempted to stay and never come back. It was also this month that I had eaten with the parents every week whenever they went to St. Luke’s for mom’s frequent check up before the surgery.
3. I am so delighted that I got the chance to conduct a leadership training for the Philippine NYI District Presidents and to hang out with them. This had been my dream since I started the cell group leadership trainings with Gencon’s Frontliners, and now I praise the Lord that these youth leaders caught the vision, and they want to conduct trainings at their districts to empower their local leaders. My first training in another district would be in Tacloban District this coming December. I am so excited. Please keep praying for this.
4. I went to pick up some of the NCM people at the airport for their conference and Anderson surprised me by sending a gift through the kindness of one of the delegates, Ruben Fernandez. I got a promise ring and a really sweet love letter! I got my long-desired Brazil shirt, and a leaf from my favorite tree in Argentina
5. Jhit and I celebrated her birthday by going to Eastwood to enjoy some frozen yogurt and Fazolis. She is one of my loved disciples and I know God has a wonderful plan for her life.
6. I met my tutee Da-young and have started wonderful tutorial sessions with her.
7. The Media Ministry team we put up for APNTS started a photography workshop with Kuya Ervz.
8. I was given a chance to preach at Teresa Church of the Nazarene for their morning service. We also had our feeding ministry in Sitio Itaas and three moms received Jesus as their Lord and Savior.
9. The Sphinx had the birthday celebration/despidida for Ate Marge before she went to Singapore.
10. APNTS had its family day at Richdale and it was tons of fun. Click the photo for more of the event.
September
1. I spent the week with the different translators that gathered again for the translation of the Nazarene Manual to Filipino language. Please pray for us, the Tagalog group, as we find people to help us finish the translations.
2. I was given the opportunity to preach at my alma mater, Faith Bible College, for their chapel service.
3. My mom’s operation pushed through and we are so thankful for the many people that prayed for her surgery, and provision. We love you all. I spent two days watching her in the hospital. I now admire the people that have cared for the sick and have attended to their needs. It wasn’t easy, but I am thankful for my mom’s life and will always be. I have also stayed with them at our house in San Mateo for several days and the feeling is was still so different after Ondoy. :-S
4. I was given the opportunity to preach at Gencon’s college students Full Charge about being “Empowered”.
5. The puppetry team at APNTS was invited to do presentations at a Christian school, and we also did a puppetry workshop.
6. I was given the opportunity to preach at Faith Fellowship Rizal’s youth and I spoke about “The Relationship that Transforms.”
7. I was given the chance to sit at Dr. Gustavo Crocker’s class because I recorded the classes in video. I know the Lord has done something in my heart while I listened at the class.
8. I attended the wedding of my college buddy Glaiza. It was nice to see my friends get married.
9. I started my Christmas Countdown. Click the photo to see the whole album
10. Bethany Church of the Nazarene’s youth leaders had asked me to start cell group trainings with them and it was such a delight to see them excited about being equipped for their youth ministry.
11. I thank the Lord for the Gagelonias for letting me stay in their house and for their generosity
October
1. Anderson and I have reached our 7th month and I am still in awe at how the Lord is making this relationship possible despite the distance. I looked once again at the globe to see how far we are and we are really worlds apart, yet we feel so near in our hearts. I am forever thankful.
2. Yang and I are coordinating her cousin’s debut and I had the opportunity to do a pre-debut pictorial for her and it was an interesting experience.
3. I am very happy to witness Kuya Sam and Faith’s wedding and be a part of their entourage. It was the most “fun” wedding I have been to especially during the reception. I confess, for the first time, I got inspired to imagine my own too haha. It was also my second time to do a wedding invitation and Kuya Sam was very encouraging. He said some of the people he knows liked it that they want me to create their invitations too
3. Yla and Ate Pinky celebrated their costume-party-Flintstones-themed birthday and I was asked to take some pictures of the event. I had fun.
4. I have started another tutorial class with a Korean student, Zi Eun.
5. Leslie and Mitch celebrated their birthdays and the SPHINX was happy to have Ryan join us over. We had a skype session with ate Marge as well. I had the best laugh for the year so far, after the talk we had about our high school days. I love High School!
6. The puppetry team was able to perform “The Good Samaritan” and some songs at Hankuk Academy for both of their chapel services. Aside from the performances that we had to do, I was blessed by the praise and worship time and the Lord was surely speaking to me about trusting Him and His provisions. “Beautiful one I love, Beautiful One I adore, Beautiful One my soul must sing”
7. The last day of October came, and I read the saddest letter for our church. I met with our church board and I read my resignation letter. I still can’t believe it has been four years of serving Miracle Church as pastor, but the Lord is now leading me to study full-time at the seminary. Please pray for our church as we look for a new pastor. I love my church.
8. The semester just finished and I have enjoyed both of my classes and have known the Lord more. I think I have shared a lot of my new discoveries to the church during our Sunday School classes, and I am always amazed with the new things that the Lord is showing me. I pray that the Lord will help me study for next semester. I am excited to come back and study full time.
Wow. That was four months. All in all, I am thankful for your prayers, your support, and for reading this update. You are loved.
Prayer Requests:
1. Since I have resigned, I will be facing a real challenge regarding my daily provisions. Please pray with me as I look for sponsors as I continue my studies. I am thankful for Uncle A. for his support for the last semesters and some of my friends who have been so generous to share their resources. May the Lord bless you continually.
2. Please pray for my mom as she tries to recover from the surgery. She is still in pain so please remember her always. But she is trying to have some physical therapy so she can walk again.
3. Please pray for my family as they face each day under the Lord’s guidance. They are waiting for the papers still so they can go to the States and be able to serve the Lord in the church there.
I am not sure if you reached the end of this update.
If you have, thanks again! Now how can I pray for you?
May you experience the Lord’s love today!
