CORE MANILA OUTREACH 2008

PASSION...PURPOSE...PRAYER...

Starting Friday last week until Sunday was the best SPIRIT FILLED days of my new life chapter in Manila! I was given the opportunity to fellowship and serve along with the college CORE outreach team from my home church (Calvary Chapel Dumaguete)!

I just want to share what the team did the whole week starting with DAY 1 first. I was hoping to join them for the whole week but God thought best for me to join them on their 4th DAY instead. =D

Just a quick back ground, the college CORE fellowship is led by our Youth Pastor, Jerry Camacho along with other college servants under his leadership. I was part of the CORE during my college days and it blesses me very much to see some of the guys whom I was serving before serve with Kuya Jerry today! Every year, come October, during the college semestral break, Kuya Jerry invites his CORE members and other college students who are interested to go on an outreach. I have been part of 2 CORE outreaches, one in Cebu (2006) and one in Manila (2007). Kuya Jerry prepares the TEAM 2 months in advance, mainly teaching the team how to share their faith to strangers, how to make personal devotions, and more importantly to be able to share ones testimony whether for 3mins, 5mins, or 10 mins! Our testimonies are our primary weapon. =D

On top of those, we prepare for children ministry and youth ministry as well. We were always taught that the best way to minister is to just love them like Jesus, to reach out in love even if it means to get down in the mud and play with the kids. The most important thing we need to learn is FLEXIBILITY. That’s why Kuya Jerry never tells anyone what itinerary is! We just need to be ready with our testimonies, devotions, and more importantly to serve in love in any kind of situation anytime. The key to accomplishing this is simple to empty ourselves with us and be filled with JESUS. It’s mandated from us to sleep early and wake up early for morning team devotions and worship. It's bittersweet because we want to stay up late and goof around and we want to wake up late to get the extra sleep!haha Kuya Jerry & Ate Marisa are very strict when it comes to this rule! They admit they are kill joy but the reason being is that they don't want to see us tired and sleepy when it's time for ministry. =) Yet more often than not, we sleep late and look tired in the morning...then we already know what to expect from KJ and Ate Marisa. =D Discipline!haha Like I said, it's bittersweet but I personally learn a lot from it! Thank you KJ and Ate Marisa! For always setting the standard! =)

Alright! I’ll stop here and let you enjoy the CORE OUTREACH team’s multiply account. I’m also uploading my account with outreach stuff. Expect videos, music, blogs, and more pictures from me. For now, please check them out here -->http://coreoutreach08.multiply.com/.

God bless! <><