Pinoy Youth

Amazingly, there’s Wi-Fi access here at the Carwash service I chose along Quirino Avenue near San Jose del Monte Bulacan. The van needs cleaning! Ugh. Quite a number of bugs courageously beat against my windshield last night as we traversed the SCTEX from Victoria, Tarlac.

Technically, it was morning already when we passed through SCTEX. Together with Earlie and Aaron (national leaders of the Methodist Youth), I went to Victoria to deliver a talk on youth leadership. I talked to about 30-40 youth on what it means to be a leader. To make my talk interesting, I didn’t simply present principles of leadership. Instead, I drew upon the story of John Wesley’s life from his childhood, his life as founder and member of the Holy Club at Oxford University to his career as an itinerant preacher and founder of a movement. Alongside John Wesley, I also presented the life of Nelson Mandela and how he became instrumental in ending apartheid in South Africa.

My talk was done at about 9:15 in the evening. But I shared coffee time with the national leaders who are also my friends. We ended up leaving Tarlac at 12 midnight. Whew. I was sleepy while driving. Thankfully, Aaron and Earlie kept me company. I arrived home (at Tala, Caloocan City) by 3:30 AM. Exhausted and wanting to simply get some rest.

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I’ve been through a lot in the past three weeks. Went to Baguio City for a consultation on May 19, 2009; spearheaded the Student Methodists Active in Campus Kirk Forum on May 20-23, 2009. I had a day’s respite in Manila on June 23. After that, I had to fly to Davao for a consultation with my boss from Nashville. We had a great time in chatting with youth and young adult leaders in the Mindanao area. Fun and laughter mingled with all the serious (supposedly) talks on leadership and issues being faced by youth and young adults in the Mindanao area.

Working wasn’t exactly tedious. We did our consultations in the morning and then we toured around Davao in the afternoon. Thanks to the kindness of Kuya Larry (of Davao City Cathedral UMC), Ronald Soriano (the son of a bish… Bishop that is), and Oliver Inis of the National United Methodist Youth Fellowship in the Philippines. Special thanks, too, to Ms. Janet MaCarthy of the Southern Philippines Methodist College for the delicious catfish lunch and the great chat about Methodism and ministry in Kidapawan City.

I am now preparing the reports related to the SMACK Forum. Whew. Gotta activate my left brain so I could complete the reports. Ugh! Numerical figures make my head swim!! But I gotta finish it.

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I am now sharing an office with Rev. Homer Wesley Refuerzo at the Philippine Christian University Doctor of Missiology Program. Good thing is I don’t have to pay rent. heheh. At least, I am still in the midst of lots of students, who are of course, young people.

Been going through lots of transition lately. Sister went to Hong Kong to work; we moved to another house at Tala, Caloocan City, which is quite far from the world of Quezon City, which I love so much.  It’s about 15 minutes away from SM Fairview. And SM Fairview is like 45 minutes away from the Pantranco area. I’m still contemplating the right arrangements I will make. I might move back to the former apartment I stayed at (with friends) in Quezon Avenue. We’ll see how it goes.

Meanwhile, I’m going to continue working for young people’s ministries in the United Methodist Church.

By the way, I’m checking out the book Do Hard Things: A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations by Alex and Brett Harris. I’m liking it. As soon as I’m done reading it, I’ll share my thoughts with you.

Do check The Rebelution Blog. It talks about teens going beyond the low expectations of people from teenagers.

On May 20, 2009, the Student Methodists Active in Campus Ministry (SMACK) Forum will commence. It’s the first of its kind. And as the director of the event, you can imagine the butterflies in my stomach, nay–they are more like bouncing balls and colliding billiard balls inside. I’m getting anxious. Well, the speakers have all confirmed their attendance, the accommodations are set and the materials ready. But ugh! can’t help but feel anxious. I guess, I’m like that whenever something new comes. And this campus ministry conference is certainly something new. 

If worries can solve my event-related problems, then I’d be problem-free by now. But hey, there are still a lot of things I need to iron out. :-s Well… it’s comforting to know that God holds us in our hands. Once we’ve done all that we can. We can leave it up to God and say, “God, I’m done my best here now. Just take over, please?” 

That is exactly the prayer of my heart right now. God bless you.

Dang! Two of the websites I have setup are missing. They aren’t working properly. If you check out. http://youngpeople.umcphilippines.org, it says the website is not available. So is http://campusministry.umcphilippines.org. Dang! What is happening?!

These two sites are very important to my work. I am organizing the first ever Campus Ministry Conference of the United Methodist Church in the Philippines. I was telling people to visit the Campus Ministry website so that they will know about the activities, the speakers and other items in the conference. But now it is gone. :-s What am I gonna do? Sigh.

This means hours and hours of working on the site again. Sigh.

Have you noticed the weather? It’s supposed to be summer. Hot. Incredibly hot. But the drizzle and the rain stubbornly try to invade our summer. Global warming I suppose.

Oh well, I gotta work on that now. I’m thinking of a number of projects for youth and young adults moving forward. Stay tuned. There will be a number of intersting updates to the site pretty soon.