Trailblazer

The youth leaders surprised me during our Christmas party last December 20-- I was given the Trailblazer Award.

For me, this is the most valuable tangible plaque  I've received so far (well it wasn't really a plaque-- it's made of Styrofoam!). Though I don't work and serve for appreciation and reward, receiving it sure made me feel good :-) ..well, probably because it serves as an affirmation of my passion of leading young people to constantly-accelerating faith.

One of the most valuable leadership lessons I've received from the Lord through my dad/pastor is this:
A leader is a forerunner... a trailblazer... a pioneer.

This is one of the costs of leadership -- stepping into unknown territories and un-taken roads. (I'd really want to share more about this, but I'd sound like I'm preaching already so I'd reserve my thoughts for now..)

I thanked God and gave Him the glory back after I've received that award, but I also asked if I'm really worth it. I have been reminded that I also have my personal weaknesses, but that it is not I but He who works in and through me.

You guys may not have received an actual award as such, but what a wonderful thought that spirit of The Pioneer IS IN YOU so you, too, have the innate characteristics of a trailblazer!

Thy Word is a Lamp

Psalm 119:105 (KJV)
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

         Though born as a pastor's kid, I personally received Christ back in 2002 during our church's first Encounter God Retreat or EGR (now simply called Encounter). After that life-changing weekend, I began trying out to read my Bible and fill the pages of my small devotional notebook. Honestly, it wasn't easy for me. I kept on being inconsistent with my devotions (my former cell leader could attest to this!).

         Conversely, though, as I continued my Christian walk, I eventually saw the significance of God's word-- it has become my faith's foundation and the center of my being. I began to become genuinely hungry and thirsty for God's Word, and I think that was when God started to really move in my life. Now I take God's word not just as vitamins that are supplementary, but as food and water that I basically NEED -- that, my friends, has sustained me and helped me go deeper into my relationship with God. Also, God's rhema word has helped me go through both major and minute decisions I has to make.

         A lot are amazed of what God has been doing in the youth ministry for the past one to two years. I couldn't take any credit for that. My part was only to allow God's word light my path, our paths [in the youth network]... for how could we ever have walked without God's light?

         God's Word has truly been my feet's lamp -- what I've become attests to this. I know it's still a long, exciting journey ahead.. gotta keep the lamp with me!

      

          God's word -- what is it to you?

----------------
Photo details:
My ClearlyU Bible and the night lamp my cell group gave me as their bday present on my desk
f/5, ISO 100, no flash

Birthday

Prelude: Hindi ito mahaba-- just has a lot of photos in it, which you have to click to have larger views.


Nov 7
Vanj was insisting that I bring my *new* SLR. “Wala naman akong pipicture-an sa meeting”, I rebuffed. Went to church at 9AM for a youth leaders’ meeting/ Dclass.
The moment I stepped inside the building, Vanj left me, running towards the office (which they locked for me to just stay outside). I noticed that the sound system, DLP, & laptop were all setup-- there was also a countdown video being played. I kept on knocking at the office, but all I got were giggles!
03, 02, 01--- Happy birthday, Jez! It was a slideshow for me :) the first part contained photos (which I bet most they took from my Multiply), while the second was sweet enough to have made me cry: messages from the youth leaders! Those sweet words of affirmation and love— oh, supreme! Take note, the bg music was Thank you by Ray Boltz :D

As the video ended, one by one they came, each handing me flowers :)
Thanked them, talked about how they planned it, and then we finally went on with the meeting.

For lunch, we’ve decided to go on with our fellowship at our place. We had our first ‘picnic’ at our garden garage using my cell group’s official banig :-D

[Multiply photo album link]



Nov 8

After P&W at church, the emcee called me up onstage. The people sang the most famous song in world for me—the birthday song! After I gave a short message of thanks and testimony about God’s greatness in my life, my girls rushed towards the stage handing me a bouquet of red roses, a gift, and a cute cake. Funny thing was that the cake candle hasn’t been lit kasi nag-mamadali sila dahil mbilis daw akong mag-salita :-D So then I told the people, “ibblow ko nalang po ito by faith!”. Haha.

I so, so, so love them! Their genuine hearts of love and thoughtfulness encourages me to serve the more.
On the afternoon, I treated SOL 1 & 2 students for a simple meryenda.
My birthday celebration ended with lots and lots of jump-shots :-D

I thank the Lord for 16 wonderful years (Nyeee. Nag-sinungaling pa). Seriously now... The past 18 year have been very, very fruitful, but I’m seeing that this new phase God has granted me is bound for greater things that will outweigh what He’s done through and in me for the past.

Cheers Jumps to getting older (but feeling younger!)
[Multiply photo album link]

SLR

05 November 2009. Went to Marquee, a newly-opened mall at Angeles City, with the family.

Mom and dad’s [advanced] present for me:

Yay! My first SLR :-)

At this age, I think I've taken hundreds of thousands of digital photos, but I'm a rookie SLR digital camera user. Throughout my picture-taking life, I've been using just convenient regular digital cameras, so being an amateur SLR user, I'm more than thrilled to learn and to improve my photog skills. Conversely, though, I guess I've already somewhat mastered point-and-shoot photography, so it's just time I shift to this thing :)


---
PS. I just changed my header! :-D
Photos on the header were taken by my good ol' Sony Cybershot handy cam :)

wowoweekend

HAHAH! I know.. the blog title is equally lame and cheesy :-D
But this weekend has seriously been a WOW for me, so yeah..

[click photos to enlarge]

FRIDAY
-Was able to submit another draft for my thesis!
-Was late for the first time in a long time for the youth service as I had to get over my headache -- natulog muna, but was awakened by mom & dad at around 7PM. I arrived just in time for the group review for Matthew 4,5 & 6. Got so giddied up kasi nnalo kami.. 1st :)

SATURDAY
1. Cell
Cell group in the afternoon at my buddy’s place.

For the first hour (4PM to around 5 PM), we used our newly-ordained official cell banig (may ganon!) to have a sort of an outdoor picnic while sharing about random things. Habang nagsasalita ang isa, the rest were munching on junk foods, potato chips, toasted peanuts, & soft drinks. We wouldn’t forget how a cow almost rushed us forward, and how cows around (there were 3 or 4) mooed as if saying ‘amen’ to my girls’ words. That was so much fun! Gave us a countryside feel.

So anyway, we transferred to my buddy’s room and went on. I talked about shining our little lights :-) Very moving and passion-stirring discussions.. eager ears.. open spirits determined to win, win, win!
Had [super daming] pancit malabon + gulaman drinks after. Went home sabay-sabay – you wouldn’t believe it pero we all fitted in a tricycle! Haha.. talk about flexibility and siksikability :-D

2. Practice
After ng practice for the Sunday worship, we got to watch our 20-min worship presentation last May..

Mga comments nila/ namin: Hindi pa air-conditioned ang church, ang pangit daw ng mga suot namin (dahil nga mainit pa ang church), ang pangit daw ni Jett sabi niya (mga 300 times niyang tinawanan ang sarili niya), ang likot ni Giovan kumanta-- Action Man!, ...at maraming-maraming pagtawa sa mga sarili namin :))

Our way home was also so much fun— I sat on Vanj’s lap, buddy on Jessa’s (her younger sis), while Jett sat on Jio and Gio’s laps. Kandungan daw ang magkakapatid e :-D
Takutan at tawanan mode!

SUNDAY(San Jose in the morning, Pampanga in the evening)
Wonderful time of worship + great message about having an uncommon faith!

I missed Vanj & mom though, as they were in Pampanga cause mom was invited to speak at our sister church there..

Nonetheless, dad and I drove to Pampanga after the service to join the family fellowship that was to take place in the evening. My ate (older sister) who’s living in Cavite with her family also came by. FUNNN!
I feel so blessed to belong to a Christian and God-serving family :-)

(my ate, Vanj, Lola Ma, & I)

This weekend was totally wow – how I wish I were able to make a better blog about it!

Here Am I

[photo]

Isaiah 6:8

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying,

"Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?"

And I said, "Here am I. Send me!

I'm on it, Lord. I'm sooo into it.

(Have you responded to His call, too?)

-Ber time again (what have I become?)

Here goes the -Ber-month blog! It's tradition already :-D
What's good about this 'tradition' is that I get to see and analyze changes --physical, spiritual, etc-- in me through the years.
So anyway, what do I love about -Ber months? Technically, it gives the appeal of the pasko (Christmas) season.

Here's what I'm looking forward to having for the rest of the -ber months:
finishing my thesis' first part, sem break, trip to anAsian country (my hopes are up!), celebrating my last teenage birthday (sigh.bigat sa loob ng part na ito), my younger sister's 18th, my parents' silver wedd anniv, practices for our church's Christmas Cantata and the event itself, youth Christmas party, Christmas eve with, Dec25th at Pampanga, pre-new-year shopping, being able to bring out my jackets/coats again, and.. chapped lips :-D

Photo-digging time (a.k.a. the highlight of this blog)

And here is my picture for 2009 :)
I couldn't just present myself without them. As dad told me a few months ago, one cannot define a mother without her child/ren.
I've been ministering to these girls for years already (been a leader-leaderan back in 3rd year HS.hehe), but it has just been a year since I really became a father mother to them; spiritual mama, that is.
God has done a lot in year.. siguro para na rin to compensate for the lost time [that we didn't gave much attention to cells and the strategies of G12]. Pastor Noel Alkuino's right when he said that when there is fire and Spirit in the ministry, there's fast growth among believers. I, myself, have experienced and witnessed such skyrocket growth in my [and these girls'] Christian life[ves] for the past year. Wow. God's works are really unpredictable and amazing!

I'm excited to check out what I'll be able to write for next year's -Ber blog!
..but then, I also enjoy living and witnessing God (and The life) a day at a time :)

[on a lighter note, I look so cute back in 2005! haha.Nyee]

Related blog posts:
-BER na! (Sept'07)
SeptemBER 1 (Sept'08)

Fruits and Advancement

It has been almost two weeks since Ptr.Phillip, our youth pastor for more almost 3 years (and I’d like to believe is still my youth pastor), came from KSA. Missed him so much!

Every time he’s in the country, the Lord would always give me a venue to deeply evaluate our works for the youth ministry. Last Thursday, we (youth net leaders) had a meeting/ fellowship with Ptr.P.. we shared updates about the ministry, cell groups.. Talked about a lot of things, but there were two that really awed me: (1) seeing how far we’ve gone in our Christian walk (I know there’s still a long exciting journey ahead, though). As we reminisced, I commented, “dati hindi uso yung nagbabasa ng Bible at consistent sa prayer life, pero ngayon, pag wala ka nun..”, “hindi ka IN”, said some, finishing my sentence. How the youth leaders have supernaturally matured in faith is,

I smell something TWEET-y

Check out my first ever tweet (post made on twitter.com)

more than a year, I only had like 20+ updates on twitter. Lately, however, I've been enjoying this tweet stuff. I even added twitter applications my blog (check that on the left side), Facebook, multiply, and Friendster accounts! This means even if I rarely update my other online profiles (as i've decided to stick on to my blog nalang), I could still actually update them (labo ba?) :-D

What added to my fascination on tweeting was a site/project called ISIP.PH. I love, love, love it because it allows registered Filipino tweeters (users of Twitter) to actually send tweets thru their mobile phones via SMS--kahit hindi iPhone or BlackBerry-- for free (or for a peso, pag hindi naka-unli--yata, ha. I still have to check that out).

Well, even if others say that Plurk is the site to go for microblogging, I'd still go for the so-last-month classic Twitter :-)

Best worship experience, anyone?

Do you have what you consider your 'best worship experience'?
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After Hillsong United’s worship concert [and I Heart CD promotion] here in the PH last year, the blogosphere was filled with posts that went like “it was my best worship experience” or “never praised like that before”. My heart rejoiced. HSU have been catalysts for breakthrough!
Anyway, while I agreed that it was indeed an unforgettable night, I do remember that in a casual talk with Ps.Phillip a few days after the concert, I mentioned that unlike most recent blogs on the WWW, I simply couldn’t say that it was the first time I worshiped God that way, nor it was the ultimate and best worship experience for me. Instantaneously, Ps.Phillip responded that he could say the same. “Mas matindi pa sa youth service”, he replied (not the exact words, though.hehe).
Having that outlook, I just praise God because (now in exact words I’ve put it last year—recorded sa diary ko ito, that’s why) “hindi na kailangan pang i-lead ako ng HSU para makapag-worship ng totoo at superb kay Lord”.
After all, worship is the abundance of a life, heart, spirit that connects to God, and not the abundance merely of a magnificent musical experience.

Up to this day, I delight in the Lord when I look back at that moment when I was able to realize that I have caught the heart of worship even at an early age. Yes, I do also have little times of obscurities that parallel to moments of back-face from worship and pleasing God, but He is faithful enough to always have His arms wide open. Thus, I live to this day still being thankful that worshipping God doesn’t necessarily require a dome, a great band or choir, but a heart and spirit that meets His heart whether I'm at school taking a quiz, at home sipping a cup of hot choco, at church leading worship, or in my room praying :)

*Last photo credit

Remojo Family's visit

[May 30,31, and June 1]

It was long anticipated… and when it had come to place, it seemed so swift!

Vanj and I have enjoyed our overnight conversations with two of our our kababata back on our Baguio days, Zion and Kim, while mom and dad also got to spend time with Bro.Barry and Sis.Tess. Sulit :D
Zion also got to share a message of encouragement to the youth leaders-- and whoa, they (we) were definitely blessed! You sure should do that again soon, Zion :D
Bro/Ptr.Barry also got to preach during our youth service. AYOS! Sure I’ve heard him preach when we were still in Baguio City, pero since ang bata ko pang sobra noon, I’ve never really listened to him (siguro).

2009 G12 Int'l Conference (Singapore)

I'm blogging about the G12 Int’l Conference. However, since I do not want to pour out much time just to blog about it (the same way that I do not wish to get much of your time reading), I’d just post short notes and photos re highlights of each day we’ve spent in SG.
Mahaba ba? Compressed na 'to, pramisss.


DAY 1
Day one is a libot day!
Sentosa (where we tried out the fun SkyRide!), Esplanade, Merlion park (which sadly was under construction), a few shopping malls, and Raffles’ street.

DAY 2
Raffles Place mall, bargain shopping at Little India, opening of the conference in the evening.
Ptr. Lawrence Khong, G12 coordinator for Asia, commenced the conference with a message about the challenges of applying the Vision.
“Is it difficult? Yes. Is it possible? Absolutely.” - Ps. LKhong

Ps. Cesar Castellanos (also called CCD) also introduced her daughters that were with him and his wife - Lorena, Sara, and Manuela. They taught the delegates the song Revolution, which I apparently have memorized during last December’s G12 nat’l conference in Manila.
He also talked about the DNA of Christ that now runs in us because the sin and curses we’ve inherited from the first Adam have already been canceled by the last Adam who suffered on the Cross - Jesus Christ. We just now have to join Jesus on the cross so we could celebrate the redemption brought by the Cross.



DAY 3
FCBC (the host church)’s worship team sang Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus. Awesome!
Ps. Khong had a practical teaching about the paradigm shift to the G12 cell church. CCD preached about the unfailing blood of Jesus, which he also got to preach last December in Manila.

During the lunch break, while everyone was busy leaving the hall, I whispered something to my mom in a trying-to-be-moderate tone… “mom, ‘yan ang Deliriousss!” Pero composed pa rin naman ako. :D They were setting up their instruments and stuff on the stage.
Anyway, my mom’s so cool to have responded “sige, picture-an kita sa kanila”. Whoa. Well then, we got up the stage as if no guards were there when Jon Thatcher, Delirious?’ bass guitarist, said something like, “it’s okay. I will just come to you.” So there. Dad took a few pictures of mom and I with JonT! Yay!
I got to talk to him for a while. While talking to him, I thought of how favored I am for having opportunity to meet him.. I mean, they’re set to have a concert in Manila the following week, but I’m sure not everyone from the Philippines will have the chance to hang out with the band like I did with Jon! Whoaaaa. Wala lang. haha.

Anyway, I also got to hang out with my PK (pastors' kids) friends from the PK Republic. Had lunch with them. It was really fun to have had spent time with them. Sosyal daw ang mga PKs-- sa Singapore pa nagmeeting! Haha.

In the afternoon, Sara C, the youngest preacher I’ve listened to, preached about life in the spirit. She talked of how the spirit gives us a means to live out our life’s purpose, how it gives us strength and a chance to learn to rest in God amidst all the random things that go around us. The session was extra special because it was Sara’s 17th birthday :)

Delirious? lead the worship before we had our first session in the evening. Along with them, we sang Rain Down, So Great, and more.

CCD introduced his wife, Ps.Claudia. She shared a message entitled ‘Follow your star, and you’ll shine’. It was all about getting to know our call, our purpose, and being able to match it with commitment.

Sulit!



Day 4

Lorena and her sisters, Manuela and Sara, lead us in singing [and dancing to] Filled with Joy and Revolution.

The day was extra special because Ps.Cesar honored FCBC’s senior pastors, Pastors Lawrence and Nina Khong. He prayed for them and their 144s (288), and even asked Ps.Nina to commit into sharing a word to their church every Sunday. Ps.Cesar even challenged Ps.Nina to enter politics! Now that’s something to watch out for ;)

Pastor CCD shared about three weapons to help us overcome: The Blood, declaration/ word of our testimony, and a life of brokenness.

In the evening, Delirious? had a one-hour worship concert! Yay! I was in the [super] front! Awesome. :D We took pictures with the Castellanos ladies after the concert.

Day 5

We attended FCBC’s Sunday Celebration in the morning. The hall was fully-packed! The church staff was professionally accommodating :) I couldn’t count how many ushers greeted me with “Hello, good morning! Welcome to TFBC. God bless you!”
Ps.CCD preached on that service. he talked about living in God’s purpose.

It was a wonderful experience to have had attended one of their Sunday celebrations.

Had our last shopping at Robinson’s mall… tapos, uwian naaaa….


Yay! Thank you, Lord, for having brought me to that conference!

Announcement: Youth Factor (Youth Camp '09)

It’s the time of the year again where we all get giddied up for a mind-blowing event..

…although this is already sort of a late announcement (haven’t had enough time to blog), I’m really thrilled to announce of this year’s youth camp!

Last year’ camp was AWESOME, but we believe that every year, camps just get better and better! You can click and browse over here for my archives re last year’s superb camp.

Here’s this year’s promo video (which we shot and edited within 8 rushed hours!)..
Try watching it in in high definition/quality through clicking HQ.

In case the image loads really slow, here are the details:

Youth Factor (Youth Camp ’09)
April 30, May 1 & 2
Caraballo Springs Resort, Pangasinan
Camp Registration Fee: P 450 [inclusive of accommodation, camp venue, meals, and camp materials]

Sama ka na! :-D

Related blog post:
Announcement: Youth Camp '08

So why have I not been updating?

Thanks for asking [myself].

Well, there have been a lot of things, which are more than just 'stuff', which I've been very dedicated to, that obviously kept me from bringing on a so-called active cyberlife..

• The Youth Network's a big factor. Been busy with G12 -- discipleship classes, groups, programs, camp, etc. But yes, I love the realization that I'm totally into all of it!
  

• University has also taken from me a significant amount of attention as I needed to complete all my requirements before I can finally have my practicum this summer, which brings us to another thing..

• My course department failed to organize well with my OJT matters (okay, I'm half guilty, too! hehe) , and so I needed to exert effort looking and applying for/to companies that could accommodate psychotic interns. I will probably be starting working for a nearby hospital's HR Department next week. Sana lang talaga.
  
  
• Next, I have literally THOUSANDS of photos and more or less a hundred videos to deal with. Grabe, these folders need serious effort! Thank goodness for gigabytes!
  

..And that was just a slice of why I'm TOO preoccupied.
Hope to update very soon about the Singapore conference :)

Anyway,

Yeehee! Enjoy the summer vacation :-D

---------------------------------------
I will be updating my Q&A site, too!

I'll be at the G12 Int'l Conference 2009!

I will be attending the G12 International Conference 2009!

Plenary Sessions & Celebration: 12-15 March 2009, Singapore Expo, The MAX Pavilion
Encounter Sessions: 15-17 March 2009, TOUCH Centre & TOUCH Community Theatre

We actually booked our flight last January 22, and registered through Doulos (thank you, ate Dahlia!) the next day --weird no? nauna yung booking ng flight. hehe

We’ll be leaving on March 10 (Tuesday) and will be back on the 16th. We won’t be attending the Encounter Sessions, btw.
Soooo.. I have to get done with all my research and/or paper works in 2 weeks so I could leave school without [much] worries.

The speakers will be G12 Movement Founder Pastor Cesar Castellanos and wife Claudia, and Apostle Lawrence Khong & Rev (Dr) Nina Khong, senior pastors of Faith Community Baptist Church. To know more about the speakers, click here.

We will also be catching the Delirious? band in action as they lead us in worship at the conference and the Sunday celebration. As some of you may be aware, they will be disbanding at the end of 2009, and will also be having a concert here in the Philippines on March 17 (Hmm.. mauuna na akong makipag-Delirous sa inyo, ha? hehe). On the final night of the conference, they will lead the conference delegates in an outreach concert. And, as posted on the website, We trust God that many hearts will be touched through their anointed music, songs and the preaching of God’s Word.

I’m believing and expecting for whatever God has prepared for the conference delegates.
I’m bringing a huge, huge container of faith and a pure and thirsty spirit (plus a camera, my handy-dandy Bible, and my devotional notebook!) :-D

We’re conquering multitudes -- what can be more exciting than that? :-)

Re-launching of the G12 Vision at JRC

The Lord’s way of letting us begin with the new year was through re-launching the G12 Vision (Government of 12) in our church. We’ve adapted the vision at JRC since 2004, but as lapses were inevitable, we’ve decided to have things afresh. :)
The event was a total wow! Friends and old associates from different parts of the country came over to celebrate with us as we begin another milestone of doing the ministry through the vision (and to celebrate with dad’s 53rd birthday as well). Both of my grandparents from Pampanga came, too!

My favorite parts:
Old Testament anointing
Lola Ma’s prayer for daddy
My little bro’s song number, “Pastor ang Tatay Ko”
Ptr. Pablo (from JRC Tarlac)’s preaching
the Davidic & Messianic dance number from the JRC Dance Ministry *super proud of them*
formal installation of the primary 12
giving our pastor the special cake from the Youth Network



I’m more than thrilled to start working with the Vision on a different level.
Vamos, disipulos :-D

My 2008 List

*I modified the post's date; Blog post actually published online on Feb17'09*

After the new year kicked-in, I wrote something on my personal diary, which I identified as My 2008 List (quite similar to My 2006 List).
There, I listed the highlights (be that positive or negative circumstances) of every month of the previous year. With that, I’d like to share some with you through this blog post. I might place a lot of external links, so make just make use of your web browser's "right click--> open link in new tab/window" feature :-D


J A N U A R Y

• [Jan13] Dad celebrated his 52nd birthday together with the people of JRC.
• [Jan17] Lola Ma celebrated her 80th birthday!

F E B R U A R Y

• SJA have been given recognition (good for 50yrs) by the DepEd.
• [Feb17] Youth Service launching (Sundays @ 4)! I lead the P&W after a long time since the YoUthNITED event

• [Feb23] SJA had its very first JS Prom night. I co-emceed with T.Jacky.
• [Feb24] Juancho's death :(

M A R C H

• [March7] We changed our youth services' schedule from Sunday afternoons to Fridays at 5:30PM
• [Mar8] Eunice Gabrielle “Gabby” Ramos' 1st Birthday Celeb and Dedication; I insisted to be her ninang. hehe
• [Mar16] 2nd worship leading experience for a Sunday service
• [Mar19] Got red Thalia eyeglasses from EO
• [Mar22-23] Baguio trip. Presidential suite at Summerplace hotel :D
• [Mar28] Biscuit-white Mitsubishi Outlander

A P R I L

• [April1] SJA's 1st High School Graduation (Vanj's grad as well!)
• Youth Camp '08, “YOUth Hold the Torch: Shine Your Light!” preps:
• --meetings/planning sessions for the event
• --shootings for our promotional advertisements: [Apr10] at my buddy's place, and [Apr12] at Tayabo river (Team Kapamilya tayo, yeah, yeah, yeah!)
• --I edited the promotional videos! Whew. Movie Maker lang, ha.
• Youth Camp na! [Apr28-30] Pangasinan. Grabe 'to! The Time has Come! Ahoo!
• Giovan's spiritual growth exemplified

Related Blogs:
Youth Update/ Youth Camp '08 Preps
One Team, One Summer, One Camp
Announcement: Youth Camp ’08
Ready for Camp!
Youth Camp '08 (i)
Before the camp

M A Y

• [May9] My blog became a semi-finalist for the Candy Teen Blog Awards
• [May16-17] Women's Retreat at Baguio City. Got stranded on the way home because of typhoon Cosme
• [May26] Hillsong United Live in Manila! Araneta Coliseum (Blog: Part 1, part 2)
  
• Trained new young dancers

J U N E

• [June6] Candy Blog awards' Finalist
• Ptr. Phillip left for KSA :( :)

J U L Y

• [July6] Mom preached re “Connected to the Vine”
• [July9] My blog won at Candy Blog Awards' Best Special Interest Blog category

A U G U S T

• [Aug1] Passion Manila event. Philsports Arena (formerly ULTRA); with Ps.Louie Giglio, Chris Tomlin & band, Kristian Stanfill & band, and thousands of fruitcakes from the Philippines!
• [Aug15] We applied what I proposed as “welcome groups” for our youth service
• [Aug18] Mom got me an iPod Nano-3rd gen at SM Baguio :-)
• [Aug26-28] G12 1728 Encounter, Baguio Convention Center

S E P T E M B E R

• [Sept1-3] G12 Conference at Davao! Sunog Mindanao II.
• [Sept28-30] G12 Conference Cebu; MJ's first plane flight

O C T O B E R

• [Oct24&25] Youth Encounter Weekend

N O V E M B E R

• [Nov8] I had a Thanksgiving Debut-Dinner Celebration for my 18th Birthday
• [Nov28-29] PAPJA Convention at DLSU-M. CLSU team, which includes me, made it to the top 10 universities to compete for the PAPJA Quiz Challenge!
• [Nov29] Zion, a kababata of mine, and I met again after 12 looong years!

D E C E M B E R

• Rehearsals for the Cantata '08
• Super kaduper dance practices kasi rush. O Jah-Shouts of Joy-Sing for Joy-Roni Roni
• [Dec10-12] Es Tu Turno! 2nd Philippine G12 National Conference, Cuneta Astrodome. Finally saw the father of the vision, Ps. Cesar D. Castellanos!
• [Dec21] Youth Christmas (costume) party. Sobrang okay 'to! I was an iPod. Ps. Phillip preached for us again!
• [Dec23] JRC's 11th Anniv Celebration and Christmas Cantata '08. iWorship. A Christmas Offering. Ako operator. Mega tension!