Color of the Day

Last Tuesday night I and Netty went out to dinner. I got out off class quite early so I got time to get a haircut. And when it was time to pick her up at the clinic, we were wearing the same color of shirt. Now, blue, black or something dark would be fine. It was not the first time we find ourselves wearing the same color of clothes on a date, we find ourselves wearing yellow one time. This time I was wearing baby pink and she was wearing brighter shade of pink! I know some people would perceive this as something cute. And I know a couple who took it as a 'sign' that they were meant for each other. It was funny and awkward at the same time when we got to the mall 'cause you would feel everyone's looking at you. I could imagine people thinking, "Of all the colors they would agree on wearing, pink pa." But nevertheless, after a while the consciousness wears off and we had a great time. We had Thai dinner and a regular stop at DQ. It was all good.

There are days when most people that you would meet and come across with are wearing the same color of shirt. It was like that yesterday. I took the train to Recto and there were a handful of people wearing the same color as mine--yellow!

Last Saturday's UDM Event

Last Saturday we finally conducted the Spiritual Formation Seminar with the students of the College of Nursing in Universidad de Manila. Truly the Lord moved all throughout the program and even before it was very clear that He was at work as we prepared and interceded for this first major event of Firebrands UDM. Everything just fell into place. It was supposed to be held a week before with "everything in place." We've already invited a resource speaker and an American mission team will be doing an evangelistic presentation afterwards. But the Lord had other plans. So He delayed it for another week and with that delay we lost both guest speaker and team. That time I was quite curious what He's up His sleeves. I know it's always better because He's already seen it. So I just trusted and waited as time unfolded. Finally the go signal from the school arrives. We have seven days to prepare. Everyone's up in their feet, excited and expectant.

It's very true that when God is going to do something good. The enemy will try all his best to destroy the faith of His people. It was the seven days where we felt the hand of the enemy trying to discourage us and put us down. First day of the week one of our core leaders called to inform me that she got sore-eyes. Another had high-fever that she didn't go to work all week. Middle of the week the one with sore-eyes called to tell me that her two sisters also caught sore-eyes. These leaders have a major movement in UDM Carecells. And because of the weather, some of us also suffered from cough and flu. It was like a symphony of germs just decided to spring up together on us. Coincidence? I don't think so. During that time God led me to claim Luke 10:19--"I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy. Nothing will harm you"--and trusted by His promises and believed that when the time comes everything will be ready. Meeting one day before event, the weather was not on our side, and a fight breaks loose in the team. We realized what the enemy is trying to do. So we put our tasks aside and worshiped him and prayed as a team. After that the tension faded and we made declarations that charged up the whole team. (I learned doing declarations when I was in Jakarta where one person declares his vision in faith and everyone agrees with an all-out "amen!") Each one made their declarations that really came to pass the day after!



The next morning my brother and I were already at school 7:30AM. We had just had a few hours of sleep from last night. One by one the team arrives. Everyone present--all sickness healed. By 9AM the hall was packed with 250 nursing students from all year levels. Their classes for the whole day were preempted for this seminar. After a quick team prayer our emcees graced the event with an icebreaker. Chi-Alpha Team Recto led by Ptr. Sur, Ate Merla and Joan started the first seminar on "Maximizing Your Learning Power". By 12NN, Firebrands led the second seminar on "Discovering Your Purpose in Life." The students were very responsive and upbeat. By 2PM, we prepare to close with a one-hour evangelistic presentation, but suddenly the admin arrives to inform us that electricity needed to be shut down. It was a scheduled shut down uninformed to us. We pleaded that we be given more time because it was the "main event" of the event. But they only allowed us to wrap it up in 30 minutes. As I informed the team it brought much pressure and stress to us that some attitudes began to show and flare up. I know that God will not allow His Word to be hindered by that. So we just proceeded with an redrafted program praying that we will not be shut down just yet.



We had songs, skits and a testimony. By the end of the last human video "Tomorrow" most students were already ripe, some already in tears. I deliver the gospel challenge and finally when I asked if they would commit their life to Christ, one by one hands were raised in surrender. The place was holy ground. I stood in awe of how God moved in the hearts of the students. We prayed a prayer of acceptance and after that I challenged them to pursue knowing God through follow-up where they will be cared for and grow. We also gave out Book of Hope to each student. Among the 300 books that were prepared, only one was without a recipient.

The next day as we sort the evaluation form, more that 80% students have responded to our challenge to commit their lives to Christ (one of our declarations). Around 50% committed to Carecells. Some will be connected to existing Carecells and we will be birthing 6 new Carecells this week. We still have 49 students who committed on a Saturday Carecell, but we're already thinking of connecting them to a fellowship because each leader has their hands already full. Praise God for this harvest! Also during the event, we were visited by the university's vice president and the department head of the College of Physical Therapy who invited us to conduct the same event in their college ASAP! Praise God for all that He has done!

This week I meditated on Luke 10 where Jesus sends the 72. Jesus said, "The harvest is plenty but the laborers are few. Therefore pray to the Lord of the harvest will send out laborers to the harvest field..." Often times we think that our only obligation is just to pray that others will be called by God to the mission field. But few people continue on reading Jesus' next words, "Go! I AM sending YOU..." He is not asking you to pray for laborers to go, he's commanding you to go yourself. I remember a pastor said, "You are either a missionary or a mission field; a harvester or a harvest field." I rejoice that most of the Firebrands team has owned the vision of reaching young people for Christ and I marvel at how God rewards hearts that cry for his lost children with a bountiful harvest. So I challenge you to go ... now! Another faith milestone that testifies to God's faithfulness. Truly NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE with God.

Links

• Photos
• Firebrands Youth
  

Prayer requests

• Please pray for the successful birth of the 6 new Carecells this week.
• Please pray for my strength spiritually, physically, emotionally and mentally.
• Please pray for our leaders that they will continue to be passionate for young people and that God will strengthen each one to fulfill His work for each of us.
• Please pray for possibilities of starting our Youth Service.
  

Cruising the Fast Lane

Rainy days has finally started. I like it because I can cuddle into bed and put on a blanket and be covered all over because its chilly. Few people know that I'm "scared" of cold, just like a cat. Nowadays the warm and cold weathers are like tugging each other so people are getting sick. I myself am experiencing a little throat irritation...

Anyway, things have been fast-paced lately. School and ministry. School is great. I'm really enjoying this semester. Yesterday had a class with Dr. T, which finally I was able to come to his class after two consecutive absences--first was because of my Indonesia trip and second because of the flat tire! I am really blessed in his class. The way he teaches narrative is very engaging. He always tell us that he teaches differently that's why some people get weirdoed with him. But actually I really get his method. Did I tell you that Dr. T became a devoted student of George E. Ladd during his Fuller Seminary days? So I was telling a friend that we are grand-students of Ladd. Hehe. In my Hebrew 3 class, it's very cool to read Genesis in Hebrew. But learning new insights about the texts that we're reading pays off the most.

Finally I got to settle today at home. Wednesday is my new day-off. I just go for bible study in our Valenzuela church in the evening.

After much prayer and hope, our youth ministry finally got a major breakthrough in our Universidad de Manila outreach (whose name was reverted again to City College of Manila). On Saturday, we are going to conduct a Spiritual Formation seminar from 9-3PM. We'll be doing Maximizing Your Learning Power, Discovering Your Purpose in Life Seminar and an Inspirational Challenge (Extra challenge) at the end of the seminars. The dean of the nursing college who goes to ICS, Netty's church, have been supporting us since day one buy allowing us to conduct bible study in the campus so that we have much presence now in the campus. Netty herself have been a blessing to me when we minister to students there. We're currently doing three campus Carecells in UDM (Weds, 6PM; Fri, 3PM and Sat, 3PM) and praying that in these cellgroups leaders will be born and more Carecells will be formed.

Please pray with us that hearts will be turned and surrendered to our Lord during this event. Even now the enemy is trying to hinder our work by weighing some of our volunteers down with sicknesses and evil visitations. But as I pray and meditated on His Word, he reminds me of Luke 10:19, "I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you." Praise God for His mighty promises!

Life in a Nutshell

Here are some random thoughts thats been going on with me in the past few weeks:

Yesterday while I was driving along North Harbor on the way to my 2-5 class. I caught a flat tire. It was the first time that it happened to me on the road, so I was quite scared. Good thing my dad taught me one time how to change a flat tire. Changing the front-left tire along North Harbor would be suicide because of the 18-wheelers. So I went inside a pier to find a suitable place to change it. Somehow I managed to lift the car with a jack, but couldn't unscrew the tire, so halfway through the process the porters in the pier came to give a hand. It was like midday so it was very hot and I was sweating. After they got the tire replaced. I drove to a vulcanizing shop to have the tire vulcanized and replaced again and had the car washed since it was impossible to catch up to class. This is my second consecutive time to be absent in Dr. T's class.

My subjects are starting to get demanding. Especially my Hebrew Book Study class. Our professor is intimidating. We are expected to read, translate and parse a chapter of Genesis in Hebrew every meeting. I'm enjoying it actually, but the pressure plus the intimidation sometimes are nerve-wracking. Originally this was my Thursday PM class but it was moved to Monday PM. I kinda lost my rest day which is Monday because of this and I'm slowly feeling exhaustion weighing down on my body in the morning.

Finally I was able to watch Transformers with Netty last Friday. A total guy movie. The visuals are too cool to handle. It became dragging when the Autobots came with their colorful bodies especially when you put Optimus Prime and Bumblebee together like a children's party. Human supporting characters--too comical and stereotyped (The black hip-hop nerd did it.) Forget my rants. The movie is still awesome. Perhaps movie of the year. Can't wait for the proposed sequels.

More Lands to Cover

My Lakbayan grade is C!

How much of the Philippines have you visited? Find out at Lakbayan!

A Tribe Finds Jesus

During the conference, there were a lot of testimonies of miracles and conversions that were happening in Indonesia. One story was from one of our speakers Jim Yost. Jim and his wife were American missionaries to Papua formerly Irian Jaya. I really like this guy, animated when he speaks but very humble, he stays in our hotel also (too bad we weren't able to meet him personally).

Anyway, he tells how they spent three years with the Papuan tribe they were trying to reach without any sign of interest and conversion. One day while he was in their house, he heard a loud scream from the jungle. So he ran through the forest towards that loud wailing. After 30 minutes of running he finally arrives in the riverbank and behold, there were many tribespeople already gathered. A family gathered crossed the river to the other side of the forest to gather food. When they returned, the family left their youngest member of one-year old in the canoe to carry their provisions to their house. But when they had returned the child was gone--he fell on the dark, algae-covered water. That's when the mother began crying out for help.

As Jim scans the area he sees the men wading through shallow but dark water trying to find the child. And the women now were calling on their gods, cutting themselves, dancing in ecstacy, to call the god's attention in vain. Finally they spot a body, it's stomach swelling because it drank to much water. They bring it up the bank to perform more rituals to revive the child. Finally Jim's wife steps up and gives the boy mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. 5 minutes ... 10 minutes ... 30 minutes she tried. It was too late. The boy is dead.

Jim was desperate. Three years of reaching out to this hard-hearted tribes people ... In a sudden surge of supernatural faith--which he tells us he hasn't done before--he prays to God, "God, these people may not believe in You, but I know You love this tribe very very dearly. Please let them see that You are real and alive, bring this child back to life." And immediately the child's color turned warm. He coughs. And finally he spews out all the water that he ingested. The boy is alive!

The mother runs to the child and weeps, her child alive. The tribes people were amazed. They began making clicking sounds at the back of their throats--Jim say that's what they do when they see something amazing. They needed explanation. This is the moment. After three years of what seemed to be a pursuit in vain, God opens a door of opportunity. He begins to speak, "This child did not rise from the dead because of me. Jesus Christ, the God I am serving, who sent us to you, whom I am telling you about these years, He wants you to know Him because He loves you very, very much."

Thus one by one, families began to believe in Jesus. In the first week, six families gave their hearts to Christ. The next week, more. Until finally, by God's abounding grace and steadfast love through time, an entire tribe is won. Now, Jim and his family has spent 35 years with these tribes, continually teaching them and discipling them, and even sent missionaries from these tribe to other nations including the Philippines.

"Praise the Lord, His mercy endures forever!"

Terima Kasih Jakarta!

I'm back from Jakarta. The APYAC conference was a blast! I was really blessed with what God is doing in Indonesia and the nations. All in all there were 8 nations who participated in the conference (Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Brunei, Taiwan, Australia and USA).

Here are some memorable things and stories about my Jakarta trip:

• The Indonesians did a really good job in handling the event. The conference was great, the lecturers were awesome and testimonies were inspiring. Joining this conference gave me a sense of belonging in what God is doing on a regional level. It allowed me to see the big picture, not just focusing on my church, but flowing with the move of the Spirit. It reinforced my call to the youth and the gift the Holy Spirit gave me. Youth minister for life!
  
• I and some friends were even pulled into participating in the ceremonies. I carried the Philippine flag during the opening and closing ceremonies. We were even pulled into singing for the "international" choir.

(Back L-R: Yulie, Melani, Syane, VJ. Middle L-R: Joko, Marchel, Angel, Patrick, Vicky, Haydee. Front L-R, Yunie, Aaron, Nina, Welfert)

• Friendships and relationships were the cherry of top of an already tasty ice cream. I really cherished the new friends I've made in Jakarta. Originally there were only 2 Indonesians who escorted us throughout the conference (Aaron & Marchel), but after the conference we've got to know and spend time with their friends and cell mates. My Indonesian friends made us feel welcome beyond what we could have expected, they really took the second mile with us. Just wanna acknowledge some of them: Aaron, Melani, Shane, Angel, Marchel, Melda, Yulie, Lady, Nina, Joko, VJ, Vicky and also Prakash (our Malaysian roommate). At our last night together, the Philippine delegates cooked chicken adobo as a gesture of thanks (terima kasih - thank you in Bahasa) to all their assistance and friendship.
  
• There were a few adjustments staying in a foreign country. Jakarta had a mix of similarities and differences from Manila. The food is always spicy. The road lanes are switched. The driver seat is on the right. My first attempt to cross a street was a challenging one because I am used to looking at the right side of the road before crossing (it was so funny being confused). But Jakarta is so much like Manila, with its fly-overs and roads. Even our facial features look the same we are mistaken as locals until we tell them we do not understand.
• Most familiar words that had stuck into my mind were ayam, goreng and nasi which meant "chicken", "fried" and "rice", all of which are edible. I've also learned to say terima-kasi or thanks. Tagalog and Bahasa also had common words: kambing (goat), takot (fear), chuka (suka/vinegar), pintu (pinto/door) and more...

Pictures:

• My Flickr
  
• Angel's camera
• Nina's camera
  

Life in a Nutshell

It's been a while since I last blogged. It's second week at school and it's great. I'm quite motivated by my subjects this semester, hugely because the professors are very gifted and effective. Even my 8AM class in during Thursday kept me from being late for two weeks now. Let me share a bit about my subjects this sem. My favorite subject for this sem is old testament theology. Now, I was traumatized by my first theology (new testament) class last sem that I got a grade of 75 (my first! Grr ... Primarily because I was too unmotivated with my professor in this 8AM class. The teaching style and industry of a professor is always a big factor for me in dictating how well I will excel in his class). This theology class is different. Primarily because finally I get to sit in Dr. Daniel Tappeiner's class. Dr. T is like the highest spiritual and academic authority in school (well for me). It's weird that it took two years before I enrolled in one of his class and I hear my batchmates tell me how good he was. For the last few sems he's undergoing chemotherapy because of leukemia. I'm so amazed with this guy because even at a very old age (I heard he's like 70? I'm not sure) and with regular visit to chemo which sometimes he comes to class a bit weak, he's still passionate and energetic about imparting his knowledge and experience to students like me. This morning our school introduced the new staff and Dr. T is now our spiritual director, after serving as academic dean for 6 years. And even with this kind of credential he remains as he is, without even a wisp of arrogance.

We didn't have class this evening but instead we were made to attend this counseling seminar which was surprisingly beneficial for me as a minister. After the seminar, I met Dr. T's wife Dr. Zonia Tappeiner, I call her Ma'am Zonia in the elevator and she told me how Dr. T told her about me. Medyo kina-career at may pagka-"valedictorian" kasi ako sa class niya. Ako naman palakpak tenga hehe. I remember Ma'am Zonia pray for me and Netty when we attended our school chapel last semester. It was really very nice of her.

The other two subjects I have is communications and public speaking, and Hebrew book study both taught by very gifted professors. I've noticed that this sem I became more confident in speaking and interacting in class which is good. Unlike before when I was too shy speaking my mind in class (I'm still shy even now at campus I'd pass for Mr. Suplado) and not too afraid that my answer would be wrong. Just like the proverb that said a person who asks question is not ignorant for long, but one who does not ask will be ignorant forever. The class has become a space for molding and sharing.

I've been also busy coordinating our sectional youth ministries network. We have events coming up 2nd half of the year plus a camp on December. This week and last week we've made ocular visits to Tagaytay, Cavite, Antipolo and Batangas to find the elusive campsite. Finally we found one at Nasugbu.

Local youth ministries at Binondo and Valenzuela are doing well because of responsible and passionate youth leaders serving and ministering on both places.

I'm also leaving this Wednesday for Jakarta. I'm attending this year's Asia Pacific Youth Alive Conference there so I've been quite busy arranging finance, flights and passport. I believe this will again be a major breakthrough in my personal ministry and experience.

On a side note, I've become an avid listener of Good Times with Mo in Magic 89.9 when I'm driving in the morning. So funny ...

God is good. All the time!

Please do pray for me:

• My Jakarta trip on June 20-26.
• Ministry breakthrough and balance ...
• Financial support
• Please pray for my family, without them I woudn't be where I am.
• Personal health and guidance
  

Passenger Seat

It has been a busy but fruitful week last week. Yesterday we had a district student ministry rally in ICS. Spoke on one session about starting a campus cellgroup. I thought it went well. There was so much pressure and tension that day I was drained to the last drop. That's when again I praised God for having Netty by my side. I was so glad that she was with me ever supportive throughout the day. After finally we were able to spend time by ourselves, we dined on a simple noodle house in Makati Avenue. Driving her home I was so blessed by her presence. Even though my body was exhausted, my heart is rejoicing. Her thoughtfulness and concern for me is something a person like me doesn't really deserve. But still I thank God, ever in wonder by His loving kindness, for bringing her into my life. Life since has been more gracious—going through life's adventures with someone to share and experience it with—better than without someone to love you and to love in return. Something that not all God's creatures truly ever find.

Asaph Remix (Psalm 73)

Who dares to speak?
Who dares to look?
Through the eyes of the insignificant
By the mouths of the poor

Birds clamour when the pool is full
Who ever stays with an empty dish?
We are all chess pieces, perishable
Silenced by the hand of flattery

Lord, may give ear to these words!
As I utter tearless cry
May Your justice prevail
When the wicked seemed unshaken

May the Lord bless those who came to Your servant's aid
May they find favor in Your sight
But those who smoke arrogance
May You put to shame

Whom have I in heaven by You?
And besides You, I desire nothing on earth
My flesh and my heart may fail
But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever

But as for me, the nearness of God is my good
I have made the Lord my refuge
That I may tell of all Your works