WHAT LOVE HAS TO SAY

For many years, I've said some words about love, and what I have to say.

Today, I relax and smile as I savor the sweet message of what love has to say.

I was caught off guard. This heart I have tried to protect and preserve, suddenly found love and all it does is listen now - to what love has to say.

There were no conditions, nor any reasons why.

There was no "if only" and "what if"

As I used to always feel

There was only that confidence, that as I gaze into your eyes,

All I wanted was to listen - to what love has to say

There were no fears or any doubt in everything you do or say,

Because as I listen to your voice, all I hear is - what love has to say

I only know I want to be better - better than I've always been

And I will always just be here, in your journey to become better too.

Well, I guess that's what  it is - what love has to say

When all I want is to have you near, and a look in your eyes makes me feel like I'm looking through your soul.

Today we may be far apart, but I hear the message loud and clear - what love has to say.

To be so confident in the love we feel, and be so inspired for the journey ahead of us

I guess this is what I first hear, of what love has to say

And through the years, every single day

I will look in your eyes and just listen - to what love has to say

I'm pretty sure there will be more

Messages that are loud and clear - of what love has to say.

For the love I found in the most unexpected place, at an unexpected time.
What love has to say?
It can be surprising :)

ANABAPTISM IN THE PHILIPPINES

Around the same time that the Anabaptist movement was beginning in Europe, the Philippine islands once had a civilization of its own. It was later discovered by Spain, which explored the earth to expand its territory. Since then, Christianity came to the Philippines, with the cross being used as a symbol of power and authority. Protestantism later came to the Philippines when America acquired the country from Spain in the 1898 Treaty of Paris. The Philippine history has then been about foreign conquests, battles fought and won, and an ongoing struggle for independence and self identity.

Anabaptism, which originated in Europe, only came to the Philippine shores in recent years. After the World War II, the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) sent volunteers to assist war victims in the northern islands of the country. It was the first recorded entrance of Anabaptists in the Philippines. A hospital was founded by MCC in 1948, and is still existing up to this day, owned by Protestant doctors.

In the 1950s, several Filipino pastors were convicted to serve people not only spiritually, but also to provide for their physical needs. They used their own resources to provide livelihood assistance to the communities they serve. This was then organized as Missions Now, Inc. In the 1970s, one of the Filipino pastors went to the United States to share the ministry that he was doing in the Philippines. He met some Mennonites and was attracted to their conviction of peace and holistic ministry. Later, the Eastern Mennonite Missions (EMM) formerly the Eastern Mennonite Board of Missions and Charities (EMBC) sent missionaries to the Philippines to plant churches and provide educational and livelihood assistance, especially to the poorest among Filipino society.

In the 1990s, the church suffered some conflict and division after the death of the pastor who started Missions Now, Inc. His son continued the leadership of the organization, but did not embrace the Mennonite doctrine. Thus, the Integrated Mennonite Church (IMC) was born in 1991 out of the rest of the members who still embraced the Anabaptist Mennonite conviction.

Today, the Integrated Mennonite Church of the Philippines still strive to be faithful in its calling. There are 21 small congregations affiliated to the IMC, majority located in the Northern Provinces of Luzon, in the far-flung areas of the mountains. There are also existing Church of God in Christ Churches around the country, and also conservative plain fellowships of Mennonites but there is no existing communication lines between the IMC and the other Anabaptist-embracing churches present in the country.

LESSONS IN LOVE AND RELATIONSHIPS (2013 overview)

God brings people along our way to teach us life lessons we need to learn, and to prepare us for the next stages of our journey. At age 23, the year 2013 has taught me so much about love, life, relationship, humility, courage, and joy. It has not been an easy year, yet it was full of essential lessons I need to learn before I face another chapter of my life.

Years of spending time with people from different walks of life, different ages, cultures, and worldview, has made me share love with people easily. I remember that I used to easily get attached to people I work with, that it becomes hard for me to say goodbye once I have to leave and move on to my next destination. Through time, I have learned how to completely share love with people, without being too emotionally attached to the point of crying every time I had to say goodbye. This year, I have learned to express love and care without the emotional attachment and painful goodbyes. I learned it the hard way.

Building relationships with people also taught me very important lessons on love and relationship. It is easy to build relationships with people who have similar mind set as ours, but it is challenging and very difficult to build relationships, much more maintain one, with people who have totally different perspectives! Genuine love is tested when you have relationships with people who may at times have conflicting ideas and personalities, and that is the beauty of love that God has taught me this year.

Genuine relationships are built on genuine love. Genuine love brings genuine relationships. These two are inseparable. If a relationship is built on other motives outside of genuine love for the person, it usually does not work, or may not last very long. Genuine love is manifested in genuine care, protection, respect, understanding, humility, honesty, and transparency with one another. The mutuality of these manifestations create a beautiful illustration of genuine love and relationship. There are times, however, that genuine love and its manifestations are not mutually shared. That is the lesson God allowed me to learn from the previous year.

In the past, I have been loved by someone whose love I cannot reciprocate. This love did not last, leading the other person to look for a love that will reciprocate his. This experience hurt my pride more than anything else. This experience, I thought, would be the greatest lesson in love that I will learn, and yet there are still so many things I have not known until 2013. One day I woke up to a painful realization that there are people I've learned to love but does not share that same love with me. It is a challenge God has led my way to understand the essence of love.

Loving someone who shares the same love with you is a perfect illustration of love. God  has created humanity to share His love with us, in the first place.  It hurts, however, if we love someone who totally doesn't care and rejects the love we offer. I can't imagine how much hurt God could be when His own creation chooses to set apart from Him. It is the lesson I am learning. The art of love, risking love, and getting hurt when this love is not reciprocated.

Love is the foundation of genuine relationships. You should never expect to be loved mutually, but the beauty of it is that "you can never go wrong with love." Love, when shared mutually, is a very beautiful thing. But loving freely and unconditionally - even people who are hard to love, is the greatest gift we could offer to humanity, and an even greater gift we allow ourselves to receive.

Give love, share love, receive love. :)

Happy and Lovely 2014!

THE JOURNEY OF A GODDESS

In college, I had a roommate named Venus. Her name meaning "Goddess of beauty," she literally is a beautiful person inside and out. She is a year younger than me, and we met at Room 310 in UPLB New Dormitory, year 2007. We had fun times together, sharing and learning in class, in school, and in life.

A year after, we moved to a new apartment, together with our dear friend Monic, and there we still managed to live happily together. Being younger than me, I was surprised how this lady taught me many lessons I needed to learn back in college. At that point, I was beginning to grow in my Christian faith as a young leader at church, and there were times we talked about spirituality.

She struggled several times and asked so many questions about the Christian faith and I've seen how she sought to find answers to her questions. In my capacity at that time, I tried to also find answers to her questions and prayed for her spiritual journey. I sincerely prayed that she will find the answers to her questions, and that God will reveal himself to her.

I finished college a year earlier than she did. We only kept in touch very seldom through social media. She eventually got her degree, passed her board exam, and came to know Christ. I was surprised and excited to learn her story, six years after we first met.


***

When she was reviewing for her board exams, she prayed to God in an empty appeal, that if God allows her to pass her board exams, she will begin to seek and know Him. It was a half-meant, self-centered prayer of a person who wanted to pass a board exam and fulfill her career aspirations in Manila.

She passed her board exams, but she forgot about her prayer and was busy looking for a job in Manila. Unfortunately she cannot find a job that will support her and her family financially. Job opportunities in Manila for her field - Nutrition - does not promise good wage vis a vis her expenses. She decided to go back to her province where she could find a job that will support her family and will require only minimal expenses for her.

She worked at a hospital with another co-worker who was also a Christian. She stayed at an apartment and all her roommates happened to be also Christians. She remembered her prayer from before she took her board exams, and realized that God made a way for her to come to know Him more. She was surrounded by people who follow the Lord. So she started attending church services from time to time, until she finally wanted to seek the Lord and know Him better.

Since then, God has revealed Himself to her and never failed to amaze her. She never thought she would work in that  place, and that in exchange for her aspirations to work in Manila, God has prepared for her something far more wonderful and meaningful. She has come to know the Lord in a different way.

Right now, she is still on a journey towards pursuing career and family aspirations, but everything never felt the same again after she has come to know the Lord deeply. She trusts God in all her decisions, and she dreams of marrying a godly man and building a godly family of her own, someday. :)

Venus is one of the many people who have inspired my journey, and her journey towards knowing Christ has touched my heart so deeply. By the time she shared me her story, I knew it is worth including in the radical journeyist's page:)

This photo was from year 2008. We visited the UPLB Botanical Garden for the first time together. Looking back at our old photos refresh the great memories we shared back in college :)

Venus and I. Some years ago :)

The ROOMMATES from UPLB NEW DORM. Room 310. L-R Monic, Me, Venus, Corine, Nikki (Missing ate Yaos here)

WHAT IS A PEACE CHURCH?

Since I was born, I have been in a church. Being born and raised by a pastor and a family that is devoted to Christ and active in the church has been both exciting and challenging. I had my own share of frustrations, confusions, and heartaches because of the fact that being raised in a Christian family is not that easy. Don't misunderstand this, but being raised in a Christian family is really not easy. It is not what most people would assume it would be if your whole family is a Christian.

But my point of writing this is getting myself clear about the "church." Church, for me, has always meant family. Church has been a place where my whole family is, and everyone else who is part of the church is also part of my family. It is a place where everyone can share their lives - celebrations, grief, and conflict. Yes, conflict. It is part of every organic being getting together. Yet, the church has been a place where conflict is seen as a point of learning, growing, and transforming the life of the individuals involved in it.

I grew up in a traditional church setting where we meet every Sunday for worship service, we meet for mid-week service or prayer meetings on Wednesdays, support group or Bible study on Saturdays, and a whole lot of activities especially meant for men, women, youth, and children. This church experience has spiced up my life in that I've been prepared for the kind of work I am doing right now. Church activities are like programs, church leaders like bosses, youth members are like my co-workers, and the whole organizational dynamics that are always challenging. Church and work have been very similar for me.

So, if church and work seemed similar for me, what then, is the distinction of a church? And what does it mean to become a peace church?

For more than a year now, I am part of a budding community we call Peace Church. We meet every Wednesday nights to study the scripture, share and reflect, and eat together. We meet some Saturdays to get together with each other's families, eat, play, reflect, and dream! We are a church. Not the traditional church setting people would expect us to be, but we are a church. We are a peace church because we all follow Jesus Christ and embrace his teachings of peace and nonviolence, and we strive to live in obedience to this teaching. Would it be sufficient description of a church? If not, then what are we?

The word church as we now know it has been originally written in the Bible as ecclesia, which meant "a body of Christians CALLED OUT of the Roman and Judean system to come together into a separate civil community." The early Christians have been an ecclesia in that they proclaimed no other king but Jesus. They were called out and were turning the world system upside down. They dethroned kings and rulers in the  minds of the people, and those whose hearts responded became citizens of God's kingdom and joined the community of believers called ecclesia.

Now, let's look at the other way around. Suppose there is a community of people following Jesus and seeking to actively and obediently respond to his nonviolent radical teachings. Suppose they work together to read the scripture and actively pursue peace in their everyday life - career, business, family, hobbies, manners. Isn't that already an ecclesia? Isn't that a church? A church is not defined by the building where they meet or the regularity of worship services and the order of worship. A church, for me, has been and always will be a family. It is a community of shared lives seeking to actively follow the teachings of Jesus Christ in every aspect of our daily living.

What else do you see a peace church to be? You can share me your experiences and opinions.

CREATIVITY AMIDST CONFUSION (STORIES FROM THE GROUND 2)

Meet Pastor Paul Villamor. Upon arriving in Ormoc City, we were at lost as to how we will go about the team's mission in finding evangelical pastors in the area. We had this person's contact number, and tried to reach him. On our second day there, he visited us at our team base, the City Tennis Court where we pitched our tents. He invited us to attend the Ormoc City Evangelical Ministerial Association (OCEMA), which happened to be set on that same morning.

We introduced the team to the pastors and each one of them recounted their stories of the typhoon experience. Pastor Paul was one of those who had the most emotional story.

The typhoon damaged his whole house and even his church. His family is now living under the rubbles. All their properties were destroyed. By the time we saw him, he said that he had only received 2 kilograms of rice and 2 cans of sardines. That was the only thing he received.

He emotionally shared to us how he saw that many of his church members and even his neighbors have far worse condition than he has. He was so hurt and devastated seeing them that way, and then he himself could not afford to help. He did not even have his own food to offer. He did not have a house to open to anybody. Being in that kind of situation breaks his heart. He said that he has survived the Cold War in Saudi Arabia a couple of years ago, but this disaster has made him feel more miserable than that.

In the succeeding days that we were there, Pastor Paul has shown to us so much creativity and helped the team in a lot of ways. He embraced the vision of justice and fairness in relief distribution during disaster response, and has since passionately lived this out while he deals with many different organizations in the province (aside from being a pastor, he is also the Provincial Coordinator of Values Formation in Leyte).

He has spent time with the team and basically became part of the family. He showed and taught us useful techniques such as opening canned goods with a spoon, and opening soda bottles with another bottle. His presence causes delight and joy to the team as he also shares his humor.

Pastor Paul is also so much dedicated to disaster response, that whenever we ask him to help us look for anything, he would right aways exhaust his resources and connections to be able to come up with results. Nobody forces him to do it, but he has an inner compassion for others that drives us all the more passionate to serve their community.

Pastor Paul is an active carrier of the gospel. He lives it out from day to day, and it has become evident for us during the short time we have interacted with him. I am pretty sure there are more people like him who, in their little ways, create a great impact to the larger community. God bless his heart!

Pastor Paul, wearing red shirt with a white vest - was taking notes of the disaster response plan during a meeting with the pastors of OCEMA

He passionately prays for God's comfort for him and his family, as well as all the other pastors in Ormoc that are also being led to comfort others.

GENEROSITY THAT SURPASSES THE STORMS (STORIES ON THE GROUND 1)

Meet Pastor Erly Garces. He is the pastor of New Harvest Turning Point. He is a member of the Ormoc Evangelical Disaster Response Network (OEDRN). The first time we met him at the meeting of the Ormoc City Evangelical Ministerial Association (OCEMA), his hand was wrapped with a handkerchief because it got injured during the typhoon.

In this photo, Pastor Erly was introducing himself to Bishop Tendero on the phone.

During that first meeting, he humorously recounts to us his own experience. Before the typhoon, he just finished building his dream house. He has saved up for it for many many years before he was able to build a nice house on top of the hill, overlooking the city. Beside his house is the church building, which is just also on its way to final construction - a nice concrete church building. Upon hearing typhoon warnings, he felt a little confident that their place on top of the hill, will be spared from extreme devastation and flooding, which he expected would be the worst effect of the typhoon.

That morning, however, when the strong typhoon landed, they were surprised to realize that the typhoon is actually in their place! The strong winds saying hello to their roof and to the walls of the church building. He and some of his church members gathered inside their church building, as they felt it was a safe spot. He joined them as the strong winds lifted the roof, slowly damaged the walls, leaving the whole church bare. He looked around and realized, "I have no more house!" He couldn't believe they were not spared by the typhoon. It wasn't flood that hit them, but the strong winds that totally devastated the church building and his own dream house. He got injured on his right hand due to debris falling on them.

The Sunday after we met him, he picked up the whole team to attend their worship service. The team felt really welcome and overwhelmed by the joyful spirit of the church as they sang praise and worship songs to the Lord, in their own language. Our team leader, kuya Dann, gave a short inspiring message to the church and everyone felt hope, felt God's presence, and a sense of peace within.

Pastor Erly and his family, standing in front of their dream house that was devastated by the typhoon in a span of a few hours (on the leftmost side of the photo is the location of the church building).

The church building where some members gathered together to seek safety because it was made of concrete. It was not spared by the strong winds, however.

Standing from where the church building is located, the whole City of Ormoc can be seen. On the morning of the typhoon, they witnessed how the whole city turned from an organized city into a devastated place.

Pastor Erly while introducing PBCI team to his church family

He could still barely move his right hand due to an injury he acquired during the onslaught of the typhoon.

That noon right after the church service, we rushed to the port to catch our noon ferry ride to Cebu City. He brought the team there and bid us a safe trip. While we were sitting on the ship waiting for it to leave, we realized we haven't eaten lunch so one of our teammates went out to buy lunch. Just right outside the ship, they saw Pastor Erly walking towards the ship ready to hand us bags of rice, chicken, and oranges. He knew we hadn't eaten lunch and he said he couldn't help but think of us so he bought lunch and went back to hand us our lunch. There we were, stunned at this pastor's thoughtfulness and generosity. None of us ever thought of buying our own lunch, but this pastor, whom we sought to comfort during this time of disaster, showed us a great deal of generosity and compassion. His genuine act of concern and care for the team moved us greatly.

A couple of days later, we were expecting thousands of relief packs from Manila and Cebu. At our new base, the roof was damaged so we had to look for tarps that we can use to cover the goods and protect them from rain. We tried to contact all the pastors from OEDRN to see if they could lead to someone who can lend us some. 

To our amazement, Pastor Erly once again offered a great deal of help. He lent us tarps that we can use to protect the goods. He was planning to give away those plastic tarps to his church members, to be used as temporary shelters. He did not hesitate to lend it to us for a couple of days because he knew it would be very useful.

Those were simple acts of generosity and genuine care, yet this pastor demonstrated to us that those values do not stop flowing even in the midst of disaster. Especially after  a disaster. His faith in God, love for his neighbors, hospitality, and generosity, are effective witness of how one can respond to a disaster. This one life has impacted many others, including mine. I am sure there are many more around us that can give life-changing witnesses. Open our eyes to them. :)