Hi CSI!
It's Monday, I came in late in the office (about 1 hr late), I only had 5 hours of sleep (compared to my usual 8), but I retired & woke up with a big smile on my lips/heart. Wanna share you lang my story on the trip before I totally forget about it. Matagal pa naman yung next hh natin. =)
We left Manila Friday night. Supposedly, we're about to take the 8PM trip to Lucena. Rain poured like crazy around 6PM but we're praying hard to make it to the bus station on time. Unfortunately, the bus couldn't accommodate the 16-man team so we had to take the next trip at 8:30PM.
We were all so anxious to get to Lucena port and hop in the RORO row your boat to get to Marinduque, not knowing how long it'll take us to our destination. Most of us tried to catch some sleep, but Ahyen & I failed to do so. For some strange reason, excited kami. We docked to the port at 4AM, super hyper at full of energy pa rin! We waited for the shuttle to take us to this wonderful resort (til now di ko alam ang pangalan) na pagmamay-ari daw ng congresswoman na super hush hush lang.
The girls, Martha, MK, Corinne, Princess, Jao, Tetet, Rachelle, Tin Kareem, Ahyen & I shared one room. While the boys, Chief Erick, Irvin, BenJohn, Paolo, JR shared the other. Super "extra challenge" samin ang pagligo that morning because we're 10 to take turns in using the bathroom na sobrang liit and kakaiba ang setup nung bathroom so mejo weird sya sa paningin ko.
Call time ng 10:30 AM (so no decent sleep for us), some generous soul (I think this was Erick's college friend who's running for public office) prepared sumptuous brunch for the group. Take note, the Marinduquenos prepare a different kind of kare-kare made out of grilled pork and pork blood. Kakatuwa si Corinne coz she was all grossed out by the idea that it's made of pork blood, but too late for her coz she already ate some. And the way she pronounced Imelda Papin (the former wife ba of one of the local govt officials) was "Poppins," just like "Mary Poppins." This gave Ahyen & I a hearty laugh while riding the trike (tama ba spelling?).
Anyway, the topics were all so heavy and very appropriate for the crowd. It's about intimacy, and when we broke into groups, I was stunned by how these young girls experience things they do. Akala ko sa mga liberated na Manilenas lang nangyayari, pero sa province din pala prevalent ang mga ganung cases.
I honor, however, the sharers, the brave ones (walang sinabi si Jodie Foster sa movie nya), for owning up to their bittersweet stories. I have new-found respect for these people. What's good about this experience though is that it liberated us from the scars that have deterred us from moving on or even relate to others effectively for a long time. Sobrang bow ako sa service team natin (and syempre in awe din ang Marinduque SFCs for that). What's good about that though is that everyone was ballsy enough to say "enough is enough" and that we're all hopeful that God will lead us the way in fulfilling our personal mission -- that is to live up the way He designed us to be. Everyone surely learned from one another. Love and tears were overflowing in that 2-day session. Syempre nagsama ang "cryola" ladies (kulang lang si Ms. Conde, whom we missed terribly) who just hugged and cried all Saturday.
Any SFC Makati endeavor will never be complete sans the presence of Tatay Rico. Praise God for that! Praise and worship made me cry all over again (shucks, lagi ako pinapaiyak ni Rico. haha!).
God spoke to me through nature the entire time. The venue was facing the beautiful sea, I was thrown and yet again mesmerized at how wonderful God's creations are. When we're doing our opening worship, I was just facing the sea and I swear I even saw dolphins! Just how great was that?
Kahit lahat groggy from lack of sleep (and lack of food), we really didn't care. Basta alam namin we're all enjoying the experience and that we were called there to do a mission and that's all we cared about. Was telling Ahyen that I have never smiled that sincerely for quite a long time. Sobrang nakakataba pa ng puso yung ginawa nilang "putong" ceremony. They gave us flowers, put "putong" on our heads, showered us with coins & candies, & even danced with us. We were all Kings & Queens for that day. Everyone was just so happy and full of love. Ang sarap ng feeling na they appreciated our presence & contribution in their community.
Dare I say, MISSION: ACCOMPLISHED!
Sana makasama kayo next time. Ibang klase!
Will post pics in FB next time. Dami namin photographers, er, papa-paparazzi pala nung mission trip. =)
Big hug to everyone!
Until we meet again, Marinduque!
