We Shall Continue

Our FIRST family picture in many World Youth Congresses that we’ve been to. Its our 7th congress altogether, and yet this is our FIRST. But you know what they say – never say never. 🙂

“Shall I delete or not?”

This question has been in my mind since last week. I have been asking myself if I should continue blogging or not. So for me to be able to answer my question for myself, I asked myself another question – “In the first place, why did you start blogging?” I know I am not a good writer myself. But I like writing, virtually at least. My right hand hurts right away if I’m writing too long. My fiance Rochele knows about it very well. But what I really like writing about are my realizations, mostly blessings, in life. I know that I am one blessed person and there are so many things that I cannot contain to myself and that the world needs to hear, or read. At least to those who read my blog. In as much as I want to vocally share all these beautiful and amazing things happening to me, there just too little time and right venue to do that. And so blogging came up!

With this in mind, I resolve to continue blogging. Despite of so many things because of work, I shall make time writing. And I know you’ve read this a million times now in my page. But isn’t life like this – we rise, we fall, we learn; we rise, we fall. And this time around, my resolution is write as much as I can. It doesn’t have to be that long. As long as I write, as long as I share God’s greatness, I know I shall continue.

Books first before birthday

I just have to take a break and take a picture of one of my classmates. So many books in the library! 🙂

I’ve been staying in Don Bosco for quite a time now. I’ve been here from Tuesday, until today, Friday. And for me, that’s quite a long time now. This is the longest I’ve ever stayed in a school. And it’s really not bad at all.

Together with my co-missionaries, and classmates at the same time, we stayed here for us to be able to focus on writing our final paper for our Master studies. It wasn’t easy as I thought it would be. I thought focus is the only that I’ll be needing, but yeah, I needed a lot more. Needed endurance for the times where I cannot find any good source for citation. Needed energy for the times I feel so sleepy (especially when you’re working in the silence and comfort of the library). Needed determination for the times when I have to jumble studies, work, assignments, and wedding (to date, we only have 6 months to work on it! Pressure is really getting on us!). And I needed more faith for the times when I question myself, “why am I doing this again?”

It has been 4 good days. I know I needed this just a week before my 27th birthday. Nice! What a way to re-learn things. And I think that’s how God would like to teach me: re-learning things.

May we all learn from the things that are happening in us and around us. 🙂

This is my year.

I unintentionally opened my WordPress (if not only because of a school work) and saw my personal blog. And I was a bit surprised that it is still up and running despite of me not updating it. Amazing.

No post from 2013. That’s my blog’s status form last year. And I am not surprised by it because 2013 is such a roller coaster ride. So many things happened, personally, family, financial, relationships, friendships, academe, and a LOT MORE. And this year is I think a time to share them all. And I hope you can relate with some of my stories.

Till the next post. God bless us all.

* January 1 is Daddy and Mommy’s wedding anniversary as well. Family comes first. And last. Family is life.

Uncertain.

2013 comes with uncertainties. A lot of it. And we can only find rock solid ground in God. With that in mind, and in heart, then there’s definitely nothing to fear. 🙂

St. Therese of Liseux, pray for us. 🙂

Just say “Yes.”

January 1 will always be a triple celebration for me and my family. Now and forever.

First, it is obviously the start of the year. A mark of new beginning. Mark of letting go of the past, learning from everything that happened and looking forward to what God has prepared for us. And also a great time to renew our relationship to the people around us; family, friends, officemates, classmates, everybody. And of course our relationship with God. Time to become the better version of ourselves. Time to say yes for greater thing and better life.

Second, its the solemnity of Mary as the Mother of God. She will always play an important role to the salvation history of mankind. One of our professors in Don Bosco, Fr. Jun Lingad, gave us this very simple analogy that Mary played has a very important role on why we are all enjoying our lives right now. (1) Without Mary, there’s no Jesus. (2) Without Jesus, there’s no salvation. (3) Therefore, without Mary, there’s no salvation. I love you Mama Mary. Thank you for saying yes!

And third, its the wedding anniversary of my parents, Jerry and Mercy Cruz. Because of their yes to love one another, three amazing human beings (and I am on of them) brought happiness not only to them but to the world. I will be forever grateful to God because I have the most wonderful parents. I love you Daddy and Mommy.

A million thanks to you, good Lord, for the million reasons to celebrate not only the 1st of January, but my life in general. 🙂

2012 that was; 4th quarter.

Last quarter. Snap! So close to 2013.

October. WYD organizers released their first list of international volunteers. And I saw my name on it. Boom! Again! And the best part of October, went back to Hong Kong for a mission trip. Oh how I love going back to Hong Kong. They are family. We did a lot of fun activities and was able to see Carlotta and Edmund, former Taize permanents, like me. Such a good night catching up with them.

November. High Time Barkada. Yehey! Dream of being a DJ came true. And of course, SEVENTH. YEAR. ANNIVERSARY. Amazing grace from God. Oh how I love You Lord. And I love you, Rochele Ann Zara.

December. First ever Kidsfest! D! Day. And a lot of Christmas parties, reunions, fun times, and eating. Thank You Lord for this season. Its all because of You! 🙂

2012 that was; 3rd quarter

While browsing my Facebook, I realized that a lot of things happened in the month of June. As in A LOT! Ha ha ha. In between big events, there are small events like MV Summit, get together, despedida, and the preparations for LP Conference. So to start the 3rd quarter;

July. First ever Live Pure Conference. Oh boy, we did a lot of new things for this conference. Contacted singers like RJ Jimenez and Guji Lorenzana and got to interview Chris Tiu. I think I am being called to show business as well, like them. You know, to become an artista. Ha ha ha. And school again! We’re back in #dbcsthursdays.

 

August. First time to go to Mindanao or the annual MYMC (Mindanao Young Ministries Congress). Let’s go, Mindanao team! Went to General Santos, PacMan’s haven. And Habagat struck Manila. Saddening to see country men experiencing disaster. Went to Valenzuela for relief operation.

 

September. Real Love Revolution. International Chastity speaker Chris Stefanick and Leah Darrow came to Manila to share that good news. Tito Sammy Zara, Rochele’s father, had a short vacation from work. Dinner with Joy and Ina. Yes, its that important. Ha ha ha. Lastly, I went to Cebu to present Live Pure in Don Bosco. And thank God it pushed through. Amen!

2012 that was; 2nd quarter

More blessings! With the help of Facebook. Oh thank God for their timeline thingy. While everybody hates it, I like it.

April. I was invited by my former alma mater to be their guest speaker. First time! Never thought that I would be speaking to a graduating class. Hope they learned something from the things I shared. WYC too! Became the “International Care” who looked after some bunch of crazy kids from Hong Kong and Thailand. Totally enjoyed it.

May. WKC! First Kids Conference since I transferred to KFL. Program team again after a very looooong time. Retreat with former Taize permanents and pilgrims. Saw Bro. Andreas and Bro. Ghislain again! Yay. And the big news: I got an email from the WYD organizers that I am an international volunteer for WYD Rio. BOOM!

 

June. Back to school. I am back in Don Bosco. And we are on our second year. CFC FFL’s 31st anniversary celebration. And a lot more! 🙂

 

2012 that was; 1st quarter

Its the 31st of December of 2012. In a few hours, we’ll be writing down the history of 2013. Amazing! Wow. I never saw this coming this fast. Ultra-fast!

This morning, while having my prayer time, I just felt super-mega-blessed because of everything that I experienced; mission trips, events, changes, assignments, everything! That moved me to write some of those that made my 2012 something great. Let’s start with the first quarter. Everything are raw, straight from the strings of memory and from the beats of the heart.

January was unbelievable. I celebrated New Year in Berlin and was still in Berlin the whole day. I think I was in two countries on the first of January because we started travelling back in France on the same day. Wow! This was also the month were I cut my hair really short! Something very personal as I let go of the many things of the past. It wasn’t really as bad as I thought it would be. I was surprised that I liked it more than everybody else’s did. Last month in Taize, had my silence week, and made amazing memories with a lot of amazing and awesome people! Will never forget them. And of course, SNOW again. Yey!

 

February: home sweet home! I went back home and continued my work. It was also the time to adjust to a lot of things: way of prayer, environment, time zone, etc. And at the same time, it was the time to apply all of the things that I learned. As I remember, it was a tough time for me, but still learned a lot.

March, 25th birthday. Quarter life crisis? I don’t know. I don’t know how do I define that or what is the criteria for that thing. But instead of focusing on the “crisis”, I just focused on the blessings; to a lot of God’s blessings! And that’s how I treated that quarter life thing. I celebrated my birthday facilitating a kids assembly in one of our Work with the Poor sites. Something new! WSC too! First big event since I came back. And Rochele was a workshop facilitator. Lavet! Hehe.

The Season

I just can’t just let this very special day come to an end without even writing and shouting out to all of you: MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Oh boy, there are just a lot of things to share that happened this very great season of our Lord. I know this season is clouded with parties, gift giving, 13th month pay, aguinaldo’s and all the like. But to be honest to all of you, when you reach quarter of your life, all you want is to have a “meaningful one.” Ha ha ha. This is the time to reflect of what had happened for the past year. Its kinda weird but its automatic for those people who’s on my age. Its not about parties and drinks and sleeping late and doing nothing at all anymore, but its about reflecting on life; both on how has it been and on what will happen next. Ok, not for all, but majority. Ha ha ha. But I had a good time to reflect! Try it, its a good thing.

Another one is about the giving part. Its more fulfilling and fun to give and share, more than just waiting for something to fall on our hands. Its not like I don’t like gifts from people. What I’m trying to say is that since we are earning now, its time give back to the younger ones. We want them to be happy in as much as we experienced happiness when we receive gifts from the older ones. The golden rule is true; “Its better to give, than to receive.”

In the sermon of our priest in the mass today, he said that it’s automatic for us humans to give and share anything that we can, especially during this season, because we are the ones who first experienced receiving a gift; and that gift is Jesus Christ. May we not forget the very main reason why we are enjoying this season, and that is because of the Son of God.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Jesus. Thank You for Your love for all of us. May we love you back by the way we live our lives. I love You, Jesus.

From The Cruz’s, we wish all of you a blessed Christmas. 🙂