what the world will never take

last Saturday, I organized and hosted the 18th birthday of my disciple, Hanna. The birthday celebration was held at the church and hanna without any clue as to whether what will take place. it was meant to be a surprise. might i say, the preparations were quite reminiscent of those we did during meriam's debut celebration. we decorated and prepared the venue for the program that evening. we rummaged through our church's collection of draperies and curtains to serve as our decorations and accents on the floor. i even experimented with coke bottles, filled with water and flowers, to serve as candle holders to light the aisles. voila, the venue was transformed.

compared to the grand and expensive parties given to other 18 year old girls on their birthday, our celebration was simple and well, way less expensive. Hanna was wearing a simple dress and everybody was wearing jeans and shirts. we were all laughing because some of the guys who danced with her for her 18 roses were wearing shorts and flip-flops. we also had the ladies say wishes and give advices to her.

i was one of those who was running all over the place before, during and after the program. and yet i was still part of the program: i hosted and sang for a bit. I was even part of the wishes segment. I was giggling while ate richie and ate sheryl said their piece. they were saying, "nakakaiyak pala to?" i didn't quite understand what they meant until i was the one holding the mic and it was my turn to speak. it was an overwhelming feeling. even if i had only recently committed to take care of hanna and be her spiritual mentor, i really felt like she was my daughter and that she was growing up before my eyes. i couldn't help but cry.

i was so proud of her for heeding God's challenge and His call to disciple people. and I believe that many others will know Jesus as their LORD AND SAVIOR because of her. Hanna, as we always say: you are precious and you are loved. i've seen her transform into a lady who is eager to do everything to follow GOD, to do what is best for her family and to learn more and serve more. i hope many will be inspired by her transformation.

we ate heartily and shared laughs and stories till almost 11o'clock in the evening. looking back, it makes me smile to see everyone working together and very excited to share in and help with the preparations. jezza and amor (hanna's daughters) were the main planners for the event. rannie(my other disciple) and his 'sons' were one of the most utilized before and after the celebration.

Ate Bel and Kuya Mel were endlessly thanking me for my efforts. I thanked them in return for trusting me with their daughter and said i was just happy that we made it through. all the work and perspiration meant nothing for we are one big family. standing firm in one spirit, nga di ba?



and these are the moments in my life that i'm inspired to be a better person - to share and give the most that i can offer, to be able to connect to the people around me and reach out to those who are still without salvation...to be able to say with my life that GOD LOVES THEM. this is my passion. and the world can never take it away.

it's a happy day

* a dose of daryl, karen and au at the MMH Emergency Room/OPD


It was raining earlier this morning. I had to come in much later that i would have wanted because i had no umbrella. still i arrived fairly early at our assembly place. I was still very sleepy and still feeling tired from the shenanigans i did yesterday. I tidied up kuya glenn's and ate niqz' kitchen after eating dinner and decided to go home since it was already late (for my mother, that is)I wasn't able to bid my mentors goodbye before leaving - they were very much asleep.^-^

although the weather did not ontribute anything to my efforts of trying to wake myself up, i still had to go. It was already 9AM and we still had nothing. NO case at all. so we decided to go to the canteen (Au, Karen and I). It was a much better use of our time rather than sitting in the ER and waiting for a miracle case to fall from the sky to our laps. Between waitinga dn eating - eating wins by a knock out.

for the last 4 days that we have been together, i had formed friendships and bonds with Au and Karen and felt like I've known them for a very long time. We share stories and experiences: from family, nursing, lovelife, music and many others. the quiet Emergency room would burst with chuckles and snickers when we are around. I feel very close with the two. I hope after our last day of completion tomorrow, they would still remember me. It has been fun.^-^

I don't know what pulled the three of us together. I didn't even imagine that we would be this similar since we had very different personalities. Yet in spite of this, we were still able to connect. maybe because at my very first day of duty i really made it a point that i would make friends with at least one of my groupmates. I believe that's the start of it. If you set in your mind to not judge every person you meet and to make it a point to get to know them first, have a genuine desire to reach out - then maybe this world would be filled with much love and less wars.

it isn't about different gender, ethnicity, the color of your skin, religion and beliefs. These should not be our stumbling block. instead of making it a cause of division and separitism, let it be celebrated and respected. Instead of starting wars and fights, it will spread peace and good will. if we decide to live in love for our neighbors, then i believe we have made most of every breath that the Almighty has blessed us with.

as the hippies say, "give peace a chance."

let it be love

i'm at glenn's and niqz' (my mentors) place right now, making the most use of their laptop and free internet connection while i'm here. why pay in some oher internet shop when i can use theirs for free? hehe.


this day has been tiring. even if i'm not on my completion duty, i had to wake up early to meet my 9Am appointment for interview at the job i applied for online. i got lost: lost in traffic, on the train and if it were not for the help of my friend, timmy, i would not have made it to the place. but even with the delays, i made it alive at ACTS. and i wasn't even late because the office haven't opened yet. yahoo!


as we waited for a few minutes, we just chatted for while, making jokes and laughing. even timmy who hasn't had any sleep yet coming from work was having a hearty laugh. he went home just as i went to the office.


we had to fill out forms and take an exam for the subjects that we were to teach. i was applying for the grade school tutoring position for subjects such as english and science. but to my surprise the test even included some elementary math. i thought it would be a breeze but it was perplexing that though the questions were so simple and easy, i couldn't remember how to solve most of the questions. hehe. maybe i blocked them out of my brain. hey, that's why i took up nursing, no math.


then i went here, where i am right now. i'm just hanging out, as champ played, Ate Niqz cooking in the kitchen, Kuya Glenn typing away his statement of faith and the youth members of the church just passing by, hanging out, playing music and having fun.


i listened to the song "Testify to Love" by Avalon. I heard it once when i attended the Soulcafe, the worship service for the youth. i pondered on the meaning and the depth of the words the song. here it is.


All the colors of the rainbow,
All the voices of the wind;
Every dream that reaches out,
That reaches out to find where love begins;
Every word of every story,
Every star in every sky,
Every corner of creation lives to testify

Chorus:
For as long as I shall live,
I will testify to love.
I'll be a witness in the silences
When words are not enough.
With every breath I take,
I will give thanks to God above.
For as long as I shall live,
I will testify to love.

From the mountains to the valleys,
From the rivers to the sea (rivers to the seas);
Every hand that reaches out,
Every hand that reaches out to offer peace (give peace);
Every simple act of mercy,
Every step to kingdom come (kingdom come);
All the hope in every heart will speak what love has done.

Chorus

Bridge

Colors of the rainbow
Voices of the wind
Dream that reaches out where love begins
Word of every story
Star in every sky
Corner of creation testify
Mountains to the valleys
Rivers to the sea
Hand that reaches out to offer peace
Simple act of mercy
Step to kingdom come
Every heart will speak
Of what love has done
Colors of the rainbow
Voices of the wind
Dream that reaches out where love begins
Word of every story
Star in every sky
Corner of creation testify

Chorus 2x

Testify your love
testify your truth
testify your life
Your love and mercy x2


i hope you get to read this and reflect on it too. what the song says is true, i believe. what are we living for if love isn't our main purpose? our talents, achievements, abilities, skills, accomplishments - everything we have worked for or all the things that we value are regarded as rubbish if we do not have in our lives. if our lives don't express love at all, i think we, then, live miserably.




"for as long as i shall live.. i will testify to love..."

the cure minus the pain

just got home from my completion duty for my IV therapy. It's in martinez memorial hospital. this will be my home until friday, well just from 7am to 3 pm. today might not have been the most productive 8 hours of my day but i managed to get things done and add cases to my much needed to be completed list (finally!).

i arrived extra early today so as to avoid losing slots to give IV shots in the wards upstairs. i was at the assembly place by 6:30am. lounging there with nothing to do, i took out my mp5 player and took shots of the hospital just for kicks. i didn't wait long for my groupmates as they came one after the other. Ms. Imie, our preceptor led us to the wards andd we collected the medications due for the nest hour. then we went down to the pharmacy. i was not so used to their protocol of having to prepare medications at the pharmacy, far away from the wards where the patients would be waiting to receive their drugs. it was kind of funny, but i think i got good exercise today running up and down the stairs and flying from one ward to the other.

the pharmacy was our bestfriend today. we spent most of our time maneuvering syringes, vials and ampules to prepare concoctions of medication to be injected to our sick patients. i lost count how many drugs i have prepared. then we went to see the patients. MMH was just a small hospital yet it was filled with sick peole of all ages, sex and sizes. even if my interaction with the patients consist only of a curt "good morning" and "it's time for your meds", i tried to do my task with care. being shot directly to your veins is very painful especially with very striong and highly concentrated drugs. so taking utmost care is really called for. it reminded me of the reason on why i became a nurse. not because i love seeing people sick but because i believe that this is my calling - to minister to people and care for them when they are physically, emotionally, mentally and even spiritually broken.

but not all "ill" people are found in hospitals or in any health institutions. They're spiritually bankrupt. and this "illness" is worst than being physically defeated by any disease. many of them walk around the earth not recognizing that they are sick in some level of their human existence. Many people try to search for the thing that will complete their life- that object that would make them whole, but fail. for the primary reason that they don't know what they are looking for and where to look for it in the first place.

i had been one of those people. i was proud. i tried to fill the void in my life with academics, accomplishment, friends, relationships - things i could boast about and hope to make me feel better abnout myself yet in my head and heart there was still something missing. Until i found what i was looking for in Jesus. i was a christian when i was born, but it had been only in the recent years that i have really known what it meant to have HIM be Lord over my life. Now i feel i am never in want of anything because now i know that it is only in my savior that i am fully satisfied.

if our hearts our broken, if our bodies are weak...God is our only cure, His presence is our resting place. it wouldn't hurt any of us to try HIM for once in our lives because left to our own efforts we might end up wandering all over the universe yet find our existence devoid of any meaning, our efforts a waste, and our momentary happiness fleeting. and this cure, unlike being given an IV push, will never be painful. He is in the business of making people new and this is a guarantee.

try HIM and see for yourself. my life will boast of my SAVIOR's "therapeutic claims".

'tis the day

well today i've just formally entered a more impressive form of writing in the cyberworld - having my own blog page. i could've started writing yesterday, if it were not for the complicated riff-raffs of the internet. it was too much to comprehend by a novice like me. my head hurt when i got home.

so i have found another venue on which to expose the deepest, darkest ingklings i have on anything i can put my 5-minute attention span on. i may not be the wisest person on the internet..my thoughts might be just whirs of nonsense to fill space maybe for some but these are my thoughts - my ideas.

i wish to be heard. if all the time i spend thinking and typing would benefit just even one soul, my efforts would not have been in vain. i don't make sense all the time. i just want to voice out what i'm thinking, what Providence has done, is doing and will do in the future.

i seek to be understood. though it is a very unachievable task, i wish to make myself more open to people - even if it means being vulnerable to nasty criticisms at some point.

i may not write well all the time. my english fails me sometimes. yet i'll do my best to not make my blogs appear as ancient undecipherable hieroglyphics. my words may be crude at times - it may just be my simple nature seeping through.

i write to express and not impress. if anyone would find anything on my blog helpful, that would be great but i would live still if that doesn't happen.

so here goes. it's like starting a journey. i feel like a baby - just beginning to take my first steps. i hope you join me as i travel and be patient with me at times for i am not and will never be perfect. i hope you don't mind. and...enjoy!

p.s. my previous blog is on friendster:http://babyxyza-08.blog.friendster.com/ check it out.^-^