mission: accomplished

This was the email I sent to my household after I came from Marinduque.

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!

i'm officially missing...

it's been almost 2 weeks since we parted.

huhuhu

a series of unfortunate events

yesterday was a really looooong day for me.

i started the day off by meeting jen in quiapo to shop for beads for our "budding" accessories business.

i decided to dress "dugyot" that morning because quiapo is known to be one of manila's snatcher's lairs. i donned a basic green shirt, an unwashed pair of jeans and my ever reliable crocs ballerinas. i skipped my pearl earrings and just put on my green watch. i decided not to bring my bulky samsung blackjack and even told jen to just text me in my sun number (a lowly sony ericsson phone). i didn't even bring my wallet and i just put all my money in my jeans pocket. i even had a nice time riding the jeepney that morning!

on my way to quiapo, probably around the padre faura area, i was able to witness a snatcher pulling a pair of earrings from a lady inside another jeep. although i didn't see the expression in the woman's face, i know she was shocked because she held on to her ears after that and she was looking around, probably wondering who stole her earrings. that was in itself traumatic for me. i was thankful the scumbag didn't see me texting earlier, otherwise i might've lost it too!

when i reached the church, i was able to see jen right away. i looked like her yaya after seeing her wearing her lacoste shirt and a new pair of running shoes. haha! we were both so excited to ransack the stores. being the first-time buyers that we are, we failed to shop around for better and cheaper deals. we practically blew our budget in one store and we felt robbed after paying for our purchases at the counter. the items we took appeared cheap at first, but since we were putting everything we saw appealing in our basket, we ended up paying for more than what we expected. i realized a few minutes after handing my moolah to the cashier that i still haven't bought all the things i needed for my projects. ayayay! lesson learned!

after that frustrating feat, we parted ways for i had to rush to valle verde to teach the dance min the steps to our dance for the clp reunion. jen had a salon appointment in the afternoon too.

i met with ahyen and another jen in glorietta so we can all ride to vv together. we were all laughing our hearts out because of ahyen's funny stories. when we reached the covered court of vv, the mavs game was already starting. i didn't mind the game coz we had to practice the dance. ayan tuloy, natalo ang maverick! *sigh*

when the game ended, we decided to drive to rockwell and have dinner before the dance practices start. before leaving the mall, we decided to make a quick stop to the wash room. when we're about to meet the rest of the gang, i hurriedly reached my bag pockets for my phones but they're both gone. i didn't panic. i was my usual graceful, composed self. i asked ahyen to call both my mobile thinking i just placed them somewhere else. had they been in the bag, i might've already felt them vibrate, but i didn't. we recalled all the places we've been to, the resto, the drugstore, the wash room. what i remember though was than an old lady was beside me when i was washing my hands and combing my hair. my bag was at the sink and i saw it "move" as if someone bumped into it. little did i know that it was my phone she was after. she might've seen me place my phone (this was after the last call to the boyfie) in the pockets and followed me to the wash room to get 'em. ahyen was so nice for lending me her phone to have my number blocked temporarily.

no amount of dancing made me forget my phones.

i've been meaning to replace the blackjack but i didn't see this coming. thus, i knew i wasn't ready to part with it.

lord, help me let go.

japan!

is it just my insatiable urge to travel that led me to dream about flying off to japan? or was i just oversleeping for the past couple of days?

i remember the details, the characters and sequence of events in my most vivid dream lately.

characters: me, my mom on the phone, my officemates gathered round the table enjoying lunch

dream sequence: mom rang my mobile

me: ma? bakit?

mom: mie! umuwi ka ng maaga, mag-pack ka! pupunta tayo sa japan tomorrow night!

me (to mom): huwwwaaaaatttt??? what time??? naku anong ipa-pack ko? (covered the mouthpiece)

me (to officemates): guys, would you know kung anong weather ngayon sa japan? alam nyo ba kung saan nakakabili ng winter boots?

me (to mom again): ma, i'm so excited!! magre-research ako sa internet kung anong weather sa japan para bibili ako ng winter clothes! at last makikita ko na ang cherry blossoms!

I hang up.

when i woke up, i suddenly got confused.

hindi naman sa winter nagbo-bloom ang cherry blossom ah (assuming we get there on a winter due to my anxiety to get hold of winter stuff).

tsk tsk.

it was a fun dream.

have to renew my passport, as in N-O-W!

who knows, my guardian angel may just suddenly get me a plane ticket to japan! ;-)

God of miracles

Early morning today, I was asked by boyfie if we could have dinner at Binondo. Come lunch time, he cancelled.

I was supposed to meet a client at around 1pm, but had a change of heart. I asked if we can move it at a later time so i can go straight home after the meeting. Client declined.

Come 5:30PM, I struggled not to go straight home yet. My mind was arguing whether to attend a reunion or have my watch strap replaced. I didn't do both. Heck, I'm the only gimik-less girl on a payday Friday.

So fine, I went home.

Traffic was terrible, I told myself, half-asleep.

When I finally reached home, I smelled something like that of incense. I can't stand it when they burn incense during the holy mass. Great, my folks burned some at home!

They told me they had someone visit dad to pray him over and and to "ward off" some negativity in our house. We already got a go signal that we can have him treated again. Long story.

Point is, things won't go perfectly well had i pushed through with any of my plans. So thankful they were aborted altogether! God has a master plan.

Had I pigged out in Binondo, or gone home earlier than usual or met up with old friends, I wouldn't have spoken to Dad.

I've never spoken to my Dad with such depth until today. This time, with emotions, with openness, all heart.

Both were unguarded. Emotions were raw.

All of these happened for us to be closer, for us to be strong for one another and to be more prayerful and to strengthen our faith even more.

The uphills we had to climb -- tough but very well worth it.

Thank you so so much, dear friends, for all your prayers.

God is my ultimate healer.

Today's reflection

Last night's talk at the unit assembly was another affirmation that God indeed is in all of us. It is very imperative, however, to nurture Him in our hearts. How so? Through prayer. It is a two-way relationship between a person and God. When we pray, we shouldn't do the talking all the time. We ought to stop and listen to what He wants to tell us at that exact moment. I guess it takes a lot of courage, patience and focus for me to hear Him out. Admittedly, I have to listen to Him more.

Father Jay stressed the importance of the scriptures in our prayer time. Although I've been using In His Steps on a daily basis, I never really knew how to fully utilize it. I never reflected on it on a deeper level. I would usually browse through it and just go on with the day's work. I would wonder what the reflections are for, when I hardly reflect on the verses myself.

So I would like to start from scratch and do my scripture reading and reflection the right way.

Just like today, the line from Matthew 13:54 that says "...Where did this man get such wisdom and mighty deeds?.." struck me the most.

It was a conscious effort for me to seek, find and make God rule in my life again. I've done numerous mistakes and decisions in my life in the past, but God has always taught me to dust it off and rise above it. It is because of God that I am in this world, staring it in the eye. No matter what and how much life throws at me, I know I come out of wiser, more beautiful and more loving.

pretty dress

pretty in peach by timetraveler featuring Elizabeth and James cardigans

photo courtesy of www.polyvore.com


just lazing around one monday afternoon. . .

i'm totally addicted to polyvore. thanks to *tickled pink* for introducing this to me.

if you can't wear them, create them.