Sunday, January 25, 2009

2008 - A Year of Stretching and Growing




(Caption: Pictures from YM's Thanksgiving Dinner held at Bayview Hotel last December 9, 2008 in which 130 pastors and leaders attended. The pastors and leaders came from 35 churches and organizations)

At the start of the year 2008, the Lord impressed in our hearts that the year 2008 will be a year of stretching and growing. It filled our hearts with excitement but one question remained in our hearts. How can we really stretch and grow if up to that point, we only have 1 partner church? We’ve been operating as a team since 2004, but we haven’t had more than 2 churches as our partner. Aside from that, we thought we did everything we could to partner with churches but nothing seems to work.

So we thought we did, but we forgot that God honors the work of His people, that our work in Him will never be in vain. Then finally, the breakthrough came.

Through the tireless effort of Pen-Pen, our partnership director, things begun to unfold for us. We never thought that through a simple effort of helping one church could open so many doors of opportunity for us.

It was in one of a community church in Caloocan where it all started. First there was the Overnight Modular Training for youth leaders, then the DVBS, then the connection to other churches and organizations, and as all of us would say, the rest is history.

We ended the year by hosting a thanksgiving dinner for all the churches and organizations we have connected with in the year 2008. 130 pastors and leaders attended coming from 35 churches and organizations. It was a night of giving glory, honor and thanksgiving to our God for His faithfulness to all of us.

As we look back at the year 2008, it never fails to amaze us how awesome our God is. Imagine working with 40 churches and organizations that resulted to the launching of 6 feeding ministries for the street children, 1 medical mission for poor families (more than 600 participated), 6 hygiene days which close to 1000 children benefitted and of course, the Christmas parties that blessed close to 3000 children and parents (including one in the Smokey Mountain dumpsite in Manila). All of the said activities have full participation of the youth leaders we trained and the church leadership and their members. Moreover, in 2008, we saw 180 youth leaders (from 35 churches) trained, exposed and encouraged to participate in our outreach ministries (dumpsite, children, and rugby boys ministries).

From 1 partner church, we now have formal partnership with 7 churches. If this is not stretching and growing, I don’t know what it is.

Christmas Parties 2008 Pictures (Smokey Mountain, Olongapo, Kanawan)







Saturday, January 24, 2009

More of YM's Christmas Parties 2008

(Caption: A DANCE NUMBER BEING PERFORMED BY THE MM KIDS DURING THE MERCY MINISTRY CHRISTMAS PARTY HELD AT JOLLIBEE, FESTIVAL MALL IN ALABANG.)

Aside from the three major Extreme Response (ER) Christmas parties, we also held 6 other parties - 1 for the Mercy Ministry and 5 for our partner churches. The 5 parties were held in General Trias, Cavite (Lord Jesus' Bible Church-Gen. Trias); Caloocan City (Light of Men Ministries Inc. [LMMI]) & Community Bible Church [CBC]); Makati City (Jesus, King of Kings Community Church [JKKCC]); Pampanga (Community Christian Fellowship [CCF]); Tiaong, Quezon (Lord Jesus' Bible Church - Tiaong).

Just like in the previous ones we held, it’s amazing to see God’s love being poured out to the kids and parents. Nothing can be compared to the joy we saw and the smile in their faces as they play, listen to the Christmas message and receive their gifts.

All in all, close to 3 thousand children and more than 1000 parents received gift bags and grocery items this Christmas.

To God be the glory indeed!

ER Chistmas Parties 2008 - A Different Kind of Parties (But the Gift Goes On)




It was clear from the very beginning that the Christmas parties for 2008 will be different from the ones we held ever since Extreme Response helped us hold parties in 2005. At the start of the year 2008, our team has decided to hold the parties in three different locations, partnering and networking with new churches and ministries. Even the team from Sunrise Community Church will be different according to their team leader, Dave Crosson. 6 of the 12 team members already came in 2007, but the rest will be new ones. Somehow, all these changes brought an additional excitement to all of us. It is like we are doing the Christmas parties for the first time. Indeed, we are doing a lot of “firsts”. It's our first time to hold a party with more than 1 church partnering with us. It's also our first time to hold a party five hours away from Manila. Moreover, it is our first time to bring the party to a tribe living on a mountain.

The first one was held in “Smokey Mountain”. Smokey Mountain used to be a large dumpsite in Manila and it was officially shut down in 1995. Although not being used as a landfill anymore, the ill effects from that landfill continue to this present day. Now low cost housing units are present in the area that is home to many poor families.

It's our first time to work with a ministry located in that area and we really don't know what to expect. Add to that was the bad weather that rendered our plan unusable as we have planned to hold the Christmas Carnival in an open area. It rained all day the previous day and it seemed that there won't be any change in the weather when we got there for the parties. It turned out to be that they prayed for rain so that the smell and dust from the old landfill won't be that bad.

Also, we prepared for 400 kids but at the last minute, we were told that 500 are coming. Having only a little space (only a hundred could fit in), we braced ourselves and proceeded with the carnival. The result was pandemonium. Crowd-control was a mess, we ran out of toys for the games, and to top it all, the people are getting restless and unruly because everyone wants to be the first one to get what they could get when they realized that the supply we brought is lesser compared to the number of people who came.

By the grace of God, at the end, we were able to give gift bags to all the kids who came. But the team felt so tired and some even felt that it didn't turn out the way we planned it to be. It's like we failed to accomplish what we have been planning for so many months to give hope and joy to the people of Smokey Mountain. But while waiting for our ride home, one kid handed down a note to one of our missionaries from Canada. A simple note, hand-written on a piece of paper most probably, from the looks of it, a page torn from a used notebook. The writer said a lot of things and even gave some good suggestions, but the thing that caught our attention is when he said, “Thank you for all the help, we really appreciate it. You have chosen such a noble work. You really helped a lot of people in our place.”

That simple note of appreciation changed the way we felt and the way we looked at the just concluded Christmas party. We suddenly felt energized and encouraged. That somehow, even with our mistakes and short-comings, the Lord is able to put things together so that the people will be blessed and we will be able to do what He has called us to do. We realized again that we just need to obey the Lord and do our part and leave the results to God. That night, although tired physically, we went home rejoicing and so eager to hold the other scheduled Christmas parties.

The next Christmas party was held, two days after. The venue is located at the center of Olongapo City, near the main gate of the former US Naval Base in Subic. 10 churches came together, all from Olongapo, and brought kids from their street children's ministry. Again, some of the churches brought more than what they have previously registered. But this time, we're ready. We never let anything dampen our spirits. Armed with smiles on our faces and hearts energized by the joy of the Lord, we opened the Christmas Carnival Party with loud greetings of Merry Christmas!

The Lord proved to be so faithful, in the end more than 600 children and 200 families received gift bags and grocery items. It was one successful Christmas party. Everything was in order and we were able to run all the programs smoothly, from the carnival games up to the gift giving and food distribution. The pastors and church leaders never stopped thanking us and the Lord for what they have witnessed. More than just the gifts, they are so blessed with the response of the people when we shared the Christmas message through a puppet show and a Gospel presentation. Children and parents alike surrendered their lives to the Lord. It was one amazing sight.

A few hours after, we went up to the mountain, just outside of Subic, home to an Aeta tribe called Kanawan. It is there where we held the last Christmas party two days after. The last but not the least, the Kanawan party proved to be a very special one. The whole community welcomed us and was very thankful to the Lord for bringing the Christmas party program to their tribe. When we arrived, a medium-sized crowd was already waiting at the foot of the mountain to help us carry all our stuff. The night before the Christmas party, they held a cultural dance for us as their way of saying thank you. The next day, from 9 am to 12 noon, we held a simple Christmas party program for the children.

About 200 came along with their families. Indeed, we saw the same results just like what we saw in Olongapo - God truly blessed the people. After lunch, we headed down the mountain; again with a throng of individuals, children and adults alike, accompanying us and helping us carry our bags and equipment. We had a hard time saying goodbye as we board our vehicles, some with tears in their eyes (both the Christmas party team and the Aetas), and some just wouldn't let go of the hugs and the good byes. Finally, after almost of an hour of saying our good byes, we were on our way back to Manila.

All in all, more than 1300children received gift bags and more than 500 parents received grocery items. It's truly amazing, and we are thankful to the Lord for that great opportunity to share His love and care to the needy and hopeless. We also thank Extreme Response and Sunrise Community Church for their unwavering support and tireless effort so that we can bring the Christmas message of love and hope to the people here in the Philippines. To God be all the glory and honor, indeed!