My 18th Birthday 11.08.08

I’m about to blog on an event that happened almost two months ago… how awful cool is that? :-P

So, there. After five or six weeks of groundwork, I finally woke up one day with everyone saying either happy birthday or dalaga na siya!. Yesss… November 8 na (but I consider myself to be yet a ’dalagita’, hindi pa dalaga. haha)

Everyone at home, including my relatives who came from different places, started dressing up at around 4 PM--- except mom and I. While she was busy with last-minute preparations, I had to shoot for my pre-debut AVP. Showbiz!

Some photos..

The four of us left home at around 6:40 PM


I was told that there were heavy raindrops before we arrived, but all glory be to God for not allowing the bad weather to push through (if it did, the event must’ve been a huge disaster!).

So at around 7, with the garden all-dried up and with everyone at hand already, the program launched with the entourage of those that are included in my list of 18 Symbolic Gifts, 18 Wishes, 18 Candles, and 18 Roses. They then formed a queue along with the path I would be taking.

MJ, my little bro, escorted me from the vehicle to the hall, in company with mom and dad.
It was such a humbling experience to be the core of a minute! Everyone was clapping and cheering as I walked down the alley of the garden and the aisle of the hall. After which, we sang the classic hymn Great is Thy Faithfulness. Wow, thank You, Lord, for eighteen wonderful years.. You are more than faithful to me!


After my parents gave their welcome remarks, my 18 Wishes spoke their hopes and prayers out. Afterwhich, some of my high school buddies from MCMC sang along with partner Micah as she sang Mata and Umbrella.


Grand Cotillion Dance. My surprise dance partner was daaaaad! :-D
Hence, it was also the Debutante-and-Father Dance.


Tito Bishop Ed gave the inspirational message. My request daw was irresistible, kaya he had no choice but to travel for four long hours to speak on my debut party. Hehe.
Weeks before the event: (a telephone conversation)
Jez: Hello Tito Ed! 18 na po ako. Mag-ddebut na po ako :)
Bsp: Ah, oo nga. Happy birthday, happy birthday!
Jez: Gusto ko po sana kayo ang mag-speak sa debut ko…
-----at ‘yun na nga----

Dinner after.

18 Candles’ Presentation --My deepest secrets were veiled off! Salamat ha, sana hindi ko nalang kayo sinama sa program. haha. JK. It was the funniest part of the event, sobra. Aliw.


18 Roses’ Presentation (Dance) --My hairstyle and make-up were tattered. Haha. Thank you, guys, for not stepping on my gown :-D


18 Symbolic Gifts’ Presentation. Each gift was unique and was obviously filled with deep thoughts and significance. The list were of couples who are being used by the Lord to fulfill His ideals in my life. Anyway, since isa lang ang ninang ko when I was dedicated to the Lord, sila na ang mga bago kong ninang at ninong :-D
And oh, I just had to blog about this-- Ptr.Phillip sent his message through a recorded video snippet all the way from the KSA! Vanj played it on Ate Cecille ( Ptr.Phil’s wife)’s cue.


Singing of the Traditional Birthday Song.

A Word from the Debutante.
I remember that my first line was like, “Salamat naman po at pinagsalita niyo ako. Kanina pa iba-iba yung nagsasalita, e birthday ko naman ‘to. haha”. Moreover, I also remember saying stuff like, “Ganito po ako ngayon, ginagawa ko ang mga bagay na ito, not because I am a pastor’s kid, or dahil I am not normal.. I do all these because I truly have encountered the Lord, at dahil I have really fallen in-love with Him…”.
My speech was pretty long (I guess) as I've wanted to make the most of such opportunity to thank every significant person in my life, and to give glory to the Lord, above all. I may not have mentioned the names of all the persons that have contributed or have continually been contributing greatness and advancement in my life, but you know who you are --- I praise God for you! I can never boast on my own. Ako po ay bunga ng napakaraming tao na dumaan at dumaraan sa buhay ko. My life is an outgrowth of my Creator, my kin, and my JRC family.

Cheers for the 18 years of His goodness in me :-)

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Related Posts: 1 2

Debut preparations

I know! This is loooong overdue, but I still wish to blog about it.

I was clueless about it ‘til Vanj told me of their “secret” plans a few weeks before the special day. I was informed that mom, along with Ate Joy and her, had to plan for something because I totally seemed to have totally no idea on how to totally celebrate my totally 18th birthday, totally! :-P
It was, I believe, just right that they confessed of such plans seeing that going through A LOT (note that I just typed that in bold and in all caps!) of preparations became more efficient with me, the celebrant, around. Mom was, of course, the busiest bee of all, so I shall give her the highest credits for the event’s groundwork.

Some preparationssssss…
●got a coordinator (though I can say that mom was still the “chief” coordinator and overall planner)
●talked to Dr. & Mrs. Sanchez for the venue, The Travieza Garden; checked on the place

●got souvenirs from a nearby shop; made the souvenir tags
●made-up a list for my 18 candles, roses, treasures, and symbolic gifts (This is one of the hardest parts since I wanted every significant person to be included)
●got a Cotillion dance instructor; had a series of practices (waltz! waltz!)

●made the superb invites with Vanj, Nay Paz, Che, Dang, and JenRose (hmm.. a new business is brewing!)
●got someone to distribute the invites, although I did some of the circulations

●Foods (and basically everything related to it)
●contacted Dacanay Studio to cover for the event
●decoration
●gown by Imelda Lansang (Pampanga)
●shopped for jewelry, shoes, and other needed accessories (they shopped more than I did!)

●hair & make-up (c/o Tam Geronimo)
●sound system
●lights


And dami pa, actually, pero tinatamad na rin akong mag-isip :-P

K. Follow-up blog will be up in hours (or, days).

Sunog Mindanao2 (Davao, Sept1-3)

Hello to you!
I know my blog has been outdated for more than a month now, but I have good reasons, anyway. My personal diary is even more outdated!
..but I’m trying to catch-up :-)

You know how colorful, activity-filled, and fun my life and my days are, and with that, I bet I won’t be able to give you even a digest of what has been up lately. Nevertheless, I’m more than willing to share with you these two trips that I’ve had (the second would be a separate blog post)

You what to do with the photos, k? Right click->open in a new tab or window, or directly click on them to view the original (large) size.

Davao, 09.01-03.08
I’ve been to Davao last September 1-3 along with Vanj and my parents. It was our first plane trip together! (my first plane trip was just with Vange). It was my first early morning plane trip so I was so much giddied up to see the sun rise! If only I had a better cam, I would’ve taken hundreds of photos from the plane’s pane. Sooo… guess what was playing on my iPod during the whole trip--- Indescribable!
Anyway, the trip was really anticipated for another G12 Conference called the Sunog Mindanao 2. The speakers were Pastors Rich Witmer, Johnny Touzet, Ptr.Ricardo Santiago -- one of Ptr.Cesar Castellanos (pioneer of the G12 Vision)'s first 12 , AND some Filipino pastors.
My expectation of a high-intensity air was overtaken. It was super! Ptr. Johnny Touzet’s first message about intimacy with the Lord was just what I needed. I didn’t hear him preach that way during the previous G12 Con.
Also, I heard Ptr.Carlo Panlilio (of Destiny Ministries) preach. I’ll never forget his utak-pulgas lesson :-D We also enjoyed hearing from Ptr. Oriel Ballano. He’s such a comic! The way he preached there was very different from his serious delivery of the same topic back in Baguio. What’s with you, people of Davao? :-P
Anyway, I also enjoyed the opening night where Joel Montes, Ptr. Herly Montes’ son (hence a PK. *ehem*), and their church’s worship team lead us. It was a different worship experience for me. I must say Joel has caught what the Lord really wanted him to do. He’s having the times of his life by being at the right place at the right time, doing what the Lord wants him to. I was really blessed! (obvious baaa)
Ptr. Rich preached about the same topic (If I Change…) thus aside from gaining new inputs regarding the same matter, things came to me afresh. Ptr. Frank also talked about why he believes on the G12 Vision. After his message, dad came to him and he (Ps.Frank) was like “Oh! Nandito ka rin, Pastor!”.
We never really got a chance to see the scenic spots of the city. All we had were early morning walks around the urban area and evening searches for good restaurants and shopping malls :-)

We shall come back!

Last chance to register for the YEW!

JRC will have a
Youth Encounter Weekend
this week (Friday & Saturday).
Registration has started a few weeks ago, but if you haven't registered yet, you may do so by going at the church office on Wednesday, 6PM.

Registration is P500per delegate.
The church believes sooo much that this 2-day Encounter is will be very significant to the lives of young people, so it will be shouldering more than half of the expenses kaya naman P200 nalang per person ang registration fee!

We really want you to join and not miss what the Lord will do in your life, kaya mag-register na, pleaselang. We will be providing excuse letters for those who have classes ng Oct.24&25(kasi nga we really believe that you will benefit from this for a LIFETIME).

Comment on this entry or send me an SMS if you want to have what you should have through this Encounter :)

Univ, SPSS, Ptr.Rich, 18th

Long time no update..
Anyway, final exams are over but I still am very much occupied with university requirements' deadlines (research, mini-thesis, and the like).
Literature235, Guidance and Counseling, FilPsych, Social Psych, Psychometrics, Methods of [Social] Research

I'm actually busy doing my requirements for MetRes, but yeah, I wanted a break (and I wanted to update my blog!).


Random things I'd want to share:

1. SPSS gives heaps of help for researchers! Love, love, love it! I need to know more abt it, though.
It's far better than MS Excel, though I still can't figure out how auto save works on it (in case of power interruption). Imagine not solving for statistical reliability, correlation, and the like. Okayyy.. I should stop (you must be going like "whatever" already. haha)



2. One of my studies is about the levels of relationships among members of youth ministry groups and their (levels of r'ships') influence on young people’s involvement, so I've been bugging my Evangelical/ Protestant friends to take part of my study through answering my 2 pretests and the final survey form I've come up with. Also, to increase my number of respondents, I've been emailing whoever to ask them if they could participate on my study. So yeah, I've been sending out online messages that go like this:

...I'm currently doing a study about the involvement of young people in youth ministry groups of Born-again/ Protestant churches. In line with this, I'm looking for interested young people who can be my respondents. Kindly reply to this message and give your your email address or directly email me at ******@*com if you wish to contribute. Also, you may refer some young people from your church to take the survey as well.
Your response will be highly appreciated.
Thank you very much. God bless!

Thanks to the cyber people from KKB, Multiply, and TeenTalk, that I was able to have an acceptable number of online respondents (my paper-and-pen respondents composes most of my study's respondent frequency, though).


3. I love watching live video streams from Generations Church's site. GC, btw, is a church in Arizona (USA) which Ptr. Rich Witmer, G12 coordinator for the Philippines, pastors at. I love the way he gives messages -- a mixture of funny, witty, straight/ frank, sarcastic, serious, heavy, and very much anointed. I also love how in their church, they do altar call at the end of every Sunday/ Saturday service for those who'd want to accept Jesus as Savior.
Souls saved, lives recommitted! WOW!

4. We still got 3 weeks until my 18th birthday, but I still am clueless of how to celebrate it! haha. I've always told my mom that I don't want my 18th birthday to appeal like a wedding reception, but I also do not want it to be as simple as an after-exam party :-P
Anyhow, if I would want to switch to a wed reception-like party, time wouldn't permit us to. So yeah, my elder sister's coming over this weekend, and we're thinking of planning for it when she comes. Gah. I have no idea what I would want my party to be (boo!).
I actually once planned of just having an out-of-the-country family vacation, but err.. November's not a good month for that since 2nd semester would be kicking in.
How about a formal but fun thanksgiving party?..
Hmm...

EWAN. :-P

Kk, that'd be it for now. Back to mini-thesis.

Candy Blog Awards' awarding

The Candy Fair was awesome!

Well, that’s what I can figure out through the tons of photos that Candy girls have been posting on their blogs and multiply accounts since Saturday on the web. Haha.

I received an email from Ms.Macy, Candy’s Web & Mobile Producer, last Friday (October 3) saying that the awarding rites for the 2008 Candy Teen Blog Awards, where this blog won for the Best Special Interest Category, will be at the Candy Fair (scheduled October 4) which will be (or, was) held at the A.Venue Hall in Makati Ave , Makati City.

Obviously, I wasn’t able to come because I knew about it just the day before the Candy Fair/ awarding. Also, I got other inflexible plans for that Saturday.

Sayang talaga. Nevertheless, I still am very thankful for the win!

AA1

Hello, hello!
My little fingers are twinkly and thrilled so I've decided to make a blog post about this 'excitement'.
Well, mom and dad bought something for meeeee! I now have a cute netbook -- the just-released Acer Aspire One!

Its specs (as copied from AspireOneGuide):

1. Linux distro “Linplus” OS
   
2. 1.6 Ghz Intel Atom CPU
3. 8.9″ Screen at 1026×600 with LED backlight
4. 8 GB SSD
   
5. One SD card reader and one Multi-format reader that supports SD, XD, MMC and more
   
6. Networking: Built-in ethernet and 802.11 B/G wireless. 3G or WiMax available before the end of the year.
   
7. Colors available: Blue, Coffee, White, Gold and Pink (only blue and white will be available initially)
   
8. 3 Cell, 2200mAh battery
   
9. 80% sized keyboard
10. 300k Webcam
11. Three USB ports

That's basically it. The specs aren't really mind-blowing, but absolutely a-okay for those who already have high-end desktops at home, or laptops with edge-cutting specifications. So essentially, it's okay for me :D
I like the idea of being able to bring it at univ or just about anywhere without the hassle of carrying more than 3kgs of baggage all the time (AA1's only .8kg, If I'm not mistaken).
It's OS, which uses Linux's Linplus, is fine 'cause I can make use of Writer (the MS Word's counterpart), presentations (akin to MS PPT), and Spreadsheets (similar to MS Excel) and later transfer files to my PC without compatibility issues. Its small memory which is in SSD is just right as I wouldn't be needing a large one 'cause the photos, videos, and other gig-eating stuff will prolly prompt me to use my still-awesome desktop pc.
Okay so what are the things I'm loving about it? Aside from its WiFi-ready system, I love its keyboard (the keys are just the right size), touchpad (really smooth scrolling here), its bass-okay tiny speakers, the webcam (which I am most probably not going to use much), the color that my parents got me, and many other little stuff which I am too lazy to mention :-P
Love, love, love it. Btw, Vanj was bought an AA1, too, but in a blue-colored case.

Some photos (courtesy of Acer, Inc.):

What do you think about it? ;-)

Thank you, Lord, for an early holiday gift! So there's another thumbs-up there, huh? :-)
Thank you, too, mom and dad. This may be a very simple present, but I totally appreciate and enjoy having it.

G12 1728 Pinoy Encounter (Baguio City)

G12 Pinoy 1728 Pinoy Encounter
August 26-28, 2008
Baguio Convention Center

Hello, hello, hello!
I’ve obviously been so busy these previous weeks.
I realized that I actually I haven’t even blogged about the G12 Pinoy 1728 Encounter at Baguio City and the G12 Conferences at Davao and Cebu (as well as the side trips on those voyages).

Note: this isn’t a long blog entry. It only has a lot of pictures, so ignore your lazy eyes and read on :-P

Okaaaay. So yeah, I’ve been to the islands of the Philippines in three weeks as we’ve (my family and I) gone through all the major G12 conferences for this year (Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao networks). Btw, G12 (Government of 12 or the "principle of twelve") is a church vision and strategy that was first implemented by Pastors César and Claudia Castellanos at International Charismatic Mission in Bogotá, Colombia. We’ve actually implemented the G12 Vision at our church back in 2002 through the mentoring of Ptr.Frank, but has stopped employing it for some time now. Well, not until Ptr. Frank Santos of TFBC (Tarlac) called my dad up and told him that he choose him to be one of his National G12, or the National 144.
What in the world is this 144? You might be wondering..
Ptr. Castellanos appointed a G12 Coordinator for the Philippines (Ptr. Rich Witmer). This coordinator then also chose the Philippines’ G12 National Leaders/ Pastors (one of which is Ptr. Frank). These 12 also will choose their 12 from all over the country or the 144 (one of which is dad, who belongs to Ptr. Frank’s network). These 12 will, again, choose 12 who will come from their respective churches (which will complete the 1728).
1x12= 12
12x12= 144
144x12= 1728
1728x12= 20736 and so on…
The network isn’t meant for “positions” but for proper coordination purposes. The vision is not to have a lot of people come to church. Rather, it pursues a goal to win souls for Jesus and to bring multitudes in salvation and in discipleship that they, themselves, may also win souls for His Kingdom!

*all photos were shrunk to speedup site loading. Just click on them to see their larger versions.

FIRST DAY

36 people from our church went to the G12 1728 Encounter held at the Baguio City Convention Center from August 26 to 28 of this year.
The collage below are pictures of us at the registration/ lobby area of the convention hall (aww.. nostalgic! This is where ‘Judgment Morning’ plays where held when we were still staying at Baguio).
You’ll see Ps. Frank placing G12 pins on my parents’ collars. You’ll also see me writing down 36 names for the registration (it was freezing cold, so I had hard time writing!).
The event started off with a great praise and worship (okay, worship is not just singing, but it’s the term that I am used to :D) lead by a group which I think is from one of the churches in Baguio. It was great to experience worshiping the Lord through melodies and songs together with more or less two thousand strong and faithful leaders around the Philippines, specifically the Luzon area. Iba, e. 80% of the delegates were pastors – such anointed and sanctified ones, so the worship was beautifully spontaneous. Most were on their 30s, 40s, and 50s, but nevertheless the air was full of energy and a passionate spirit in worshiping God in spirit and in truth. It was a different worship experience for me.
No much jumping, shouting, and perspiring (which is typical in youth gatherings), but the Lord was truly magnified.

Ptr. Rich Witmer and Ptr. Johnny Touzet, the main speakers, were introduced and were given a short time to talk a bit about their messages for the next days.
HO-HO. We managed to take a picture with them before they left the convention center!
Anyway, here’s the house we’ve rented for three days (thanks, ate Jackie, for finding us a place to stay). It was spacey so we really got a chance to relax. For the first time (after a long time), I’ve fallen asleep before 11 PM (credits to my iPod and the Passion Podcast).
Breakthrough it was -- I woke up before 5AM the next morning!

SECOND DAY

Today marks the end of having myself included in photos! Argh!

The same worship team lead us, but with new worship leaders.

Ptr. Rich introduced his whole family who flew all the way from Arizona with him. It was really cool to figure out that his 8-year old son (second youngest) leads a cell group already! They must’ve really been caught by the vision! Ptr. Rich preached the message “If I Change, Everything Changes” where he discussed the power of change, mentioning 7 people in the Bible who changed in the presence of God and were greatly used by the Lord. I will blog about that wonderful message some time.Ptr. Johnny talked about Righteousness and Sin through II Corinthians 5:21

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Aha. *light bulb over head* So this is where the first line of Chris Tomlin’s Jesus Messiah was taken from. Just a thought! :D



After the morning session, Ptr. Frank called my dad and invited us for a lunch fellowship with his other G12 --- I was included out of the blue.haha. Korean food for lunch (aaahh.. Vanj and I suddenly remembered Malaysia!).

LAST DAY

The session today started with everyone taking group photos at the front! Ahaha.


Anyway, I was soooo happy 'cause we were able to take the second row seats during the last day. No more zooming of lenses! ;-)

L-R: Mom welcoming the Witmers// other people asked me to take pictures of them with Ptrs. Rich & Johnny // Ptr.Bobby & Ptr.Rodel with Ptr.Rich // Sis.Star called Melissa (Ptr.Rich’s wife) and introduced her to my mom.haha.Big time si mommy Star! // group picture with Ps.Melissa // (some) JRC delegates
Nasan ako? Wala. HAHA. Kamusta naman ‘yun :-P

More photos...

Grabe, so much inputs! I made use of 7 back-to-back pages of my devo notebook! Digest..digest..digest!
I was spiritually refreshed and had a deeper desire to really change and consecrate myself as the Lord equips me for discipling a multitude.

As Ptr.Frank ended the convention, I would also end this blog entry with "Mabuhay ang G12 family! Mabuhay ang Pilipinas!"

septemBER 1

It’s this time of the year where I get thrilled most as I look [fast] forward to the holidays.
We haven’t brought out our Christmas tree, lights, and lanterns, but I totally can feel the cold breeze of the –ber nights (so that basically brings out the holiday emo in me. hehe).

I quote from my September 1, 2007 blog entry:

Cheers for September 1st :)
Let’s welcome the –Ber months.

Happy Holidays ♣
Merry Christmas to you! I hope I was able to be the first to greet.

Flashback & Photo digging:

September 2nd of year 2005
(My family and I were in Baguio City)

September 3rd & 16th of 2006
(Youth Net)

♥September 1st of 2007♥
(home)

September 1, 2008
from NAIA 3 (right) --> Davao Int'l Airport (left)

We're home, bai!

Sorry for [almost] abandoning my blog. My family and I have been through the islands of the Philippines (which is very, very cool), that's why. :D

Updates are coming sooooon.

G12 Pinoy

Hello, friends!
Just came home from the G12 National Conference / Pinoy 1728 Encounter which was held at the Baguio Convention Center. I must say I was truly caught by the vision.
I'm just so thrilled on what will be happening in the next few months and years to come.
Greater things are yet to come.

As Ptr. Frank would always end our sessions, I shout: Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! Mabuhay ang G12 Family!


Pictures and blogs are coming up.