The Red Sea Miracle

      A newly converted hippie was very interestedly reading the Bible while waiting for transportation and every now and then would exclaim, "Alleluia, Praise the Lord, Amen" and on and on as he read on. A skeptic heard him and came and asked what he was reading. He answered" I am reading how God parted the red sea and let the Israelites go through--that is a miracle!" The skeptic explained "Do not believe everything the Bible tells you. The truth of the matter is that that body of water was only really 6 inches deep-- so it was not miracle." The hippie nodded in disappointment but kept on reading as the skeptic was walking away feeling proud that he had set the hippie straight. All of a sudden the skeptic heard the hippie let out a big "Alleluia, Praise The Lord". At this the skeptic came back to him and asked, "What is it this time?" The hippie said excitedly in one breath, "This one is a real miracle, God drowned the whole Egyptian army in 6 inches of water!!!"

Boracay Memories with Youth Leaders

Banana Ride

  
    Many times I've been to boracay, but I guess this one is the most special and exciting one. There are a lot of things that I've overcome eespecially my fears. I feared heights, speed and underwater. Not only that, I also realized something I am happy about. Well, I guess this one is the best experience that I had.

    First of all, it was special because I was with my girlfriend that time. It's so good to feel that everytime I wake up I could see her face early in the morning and it keeps my love stronger than ever before for her. We also ate together with our youth leaders and walk around the island of boracay.

    Let's talk about my fears, I really feared heights, speed and underwater. I just don't know why I feared them. We decided to ride in a banana boat together with the youth leaders and I'm not really that excited because I already tried it before but this one is special because I'm with my co ministers in our church. While we are about to write down our names in the registration area, I decided not to ride with them, instead I asked permission if I could ride in the SPEED BOAT to capture some video and pics, luckily it was okay with them. I took Necco with me because he don't want to ride in the banana boat, (I don't know what's his reason ). The fun started and I could see the excitement in the faces of our youth leaders, and it really overjoyed my heart everytime I hear them shout and their laughs. Something I realized then, that I am also happy to see them enjoying the ride, though I was not with them.

     We had a meeting at night and we decided if what we are going to do on the next day. We are choosing between ISLAND HOPPING and EAT ALL YOU CAN. We chose Island hopping because, It is their remembrance to have island hopping rather than eat all you can which we can also do it here in Iloilo. In the next morning, Greatel, Glory, Rigel, Mac2, and Me tried HELMET DIVING at around 10:30 in the morning. We took Ptr Don together with us to watch for us and he had a FREE SNORKLING that time LOL!!!


     We waited for a long time because there are still people who are not yet finished and I got dizzy because the wave was strong. We decided to have snorkling first and It was really cool because we saw some fishes under the water. Then finally, it's our turn to have helmet diving we were oriented first on how to equaize the air pressure and what are the basic hand signs to use for our communication underwater. While I am going down, I was about to give up becauase of the pain I felt in my ears because of the pressure and the instructor reminds us to equalize the pressure and thank God I overcome that situation. We took pictures, feed the fishes and have fun. God is really awesome! His works are really beautiful and I just can't explain how beautiful are His works....

    After we had our helmet diving, we rest for a while and have Island hopping together with our leaders. It was fun because they had a chance to have snorkling and have fun together at the sea. We also passed by in the beautiful resort of our boxing champion Manny Pacqiuao. Unfortunately, we didn't complete the island hopping because of the wave. Instead, we went back and have a rest.

     We went for dinner and we take time to walk around the island of boracay and we had our food trip and of course the most exciting part of our adventure the BASKETBALL craze at D'MALL. LOL! Our boys took some shots and the girls are our cheer leaders. It was really fun because some of us got only 1pt and 2pts... We went to station 1 and we are really tired and we decided to go back and ride in a tricycle. Well, I already went to sleep early and some of our leaders really used their time to talk to each other and they slept at around 5:00am...

    How I wish we had enough money to extend our celebration at boracay and some of our fellow youth leaders could also join us (Some of them wasn't able to join because of financial problem). But, I believe that we enjoyed our 2 days boracay trip as our compliment to our youth leaders who take time to attend our leadership training to improve theirselves in caring of a small group. It also to let them realize that when serving the Lord is not boring... After this event, our youth leaders will be designated in different outreaches to reach out more young people for Christ. To God be the glory!!!!!

Don't waste it!

     I just came from the ALS Spiritual Retreat and it was really a blessing for me because I realized something from their experiences. ALS students are those students who didn't finish high school and wants to continue their education and proceed to college level. It is a free education by the Department of Education (DEP ED). It's a blessing that our church JRFF is one of the facilitator of this program. If the student will pass the exam, they will receive a certificate to continue their college education.

    Just a while ago, they have their spiritual retreat, to prepare theirselves for their exams tomorrow (Oct. 3, 2010). We divided them into 8 groups so that, they will be facilitated better. I was one of the small group leader and one of our activities was we asked to draw our hands and each finger has a specific question. On the small finger, the question was, what is your "MAJOR MAJOR" mistake in life? In my surprise, most of them answered "THEY STOP SCHOOLING" some of them because of addictions to computer games, barkadas, financial problem and etc. 

    Their answers really came into my realization that education is really important. I was really blessed because I have my parents who are working and they spend so much for my tuitions. I really thank them a lot. They even send me in a private school here in iloilo and one of the best private school (ILOILO CENTRAL COMMERCIAL HIGH SCHOOL). God is really good into my life.

    I was pity to those who are having a struggles about their studies. Some of them needs to work just to earn money to spend for their education. It also came to my mind those young people who are financially stable and still they just take for granted their education.

    Young people, my advise to you is that you must make good in your studies.. That is the only thing that our parents can heir (MANA) for us. That is also for our future.. It is hard to find a descent job without an educational background. Young people, don't wait for the time that you'll have to regret everything an it is too late. Don't let your mistakes experienced by the next generation...

Mending broken hearts...

     Hi, just would like to share this with you. If you feel like you are in pain right now (emotionally), I suggest for you to read this one. This is what I am going to share on ALS Retreat tomorrow (Oct. 2, 2010) at Iloilo Training Mission Center, Bolilao Mandurriao, Iloilo City.

     Before we are going to start, check first your heart status....is your heart...

1. HEALTHY - when we say healthy, it means that you are full of love, joy and etc.
2. BROKEN - you are currently hurt and in pain.
3. RECOVERY STAGE - you are in the process of healing the pain.

     Whatever the status of your heart right now, I urge you to read this article. We can see that in every heartaches there is pain. Pain is something that everyone don't want to experience and as musch as possible we avoid it. But we cannot deny the fact that being heart broken there is pain. We tried everything to avoid pain but we don't succeed. The word of the Lord says that:

"He heals the broken hearted and binds up their wounds"
Psalms 147:3

     It is very clear that God can heal those who are broken hearted and can heal those wounds that we had in our life. Now, let us see what is the cause of our heartaches? There are a lot of causes but let me just share to you the common causes of heartaches..

B - etrayal - when someone betrays you, it really cause so much pain in us.
A - bandoned - when your loved ones abandoned you.
L - oss -loosing of your loved ones is very painful.
A - bused -When you are Physically, verbally and sexually abused is traumatic for someone.

    Now we know the common causes of our heartaches, we now go to on how to restore our broken hearts....

1. Talk to God
     It is ok to talk to someone like your friends, family and pastors about your pain, but above all them there is one person who can actually help you on how to restore your broken heart and that is GOD. Before you come to Him, God knows what are your needs, He knows what you want to pray for Him, He knows everything that you nedd because He's the one who created you and He's the only one who knows how to fix you.
 “ Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

          (Matthew 11:28-29 NIV)

     Jesus is inviting us to come into His yoke because He is gentle and humble in heart. Like in a doctor, we come to doctor to have operations. As much as possible, doctors will inject anesthesia in our body to get rid of pain. Same thing with our Savior, He is just like a doctor, when we come to Him, He is gentle and don't want us to be in pain.

2. Take care of ourselves

    Everytime we are heart broken, most of the young people experienced deprssion and low self-esteem. Most of us will just drink alcoholic beverages, smoke and take illegal drugs to get rid of pain. The question is, after that, what's next? does your problem disappeared? Of course, you will just forget your problem in just a moment, but after that  your problem still exist. The most worst that a person can do to get rid of pain is to end his life by commiting suicide.

    According to research, Male has the highest number listed who has a successful suicide attempt than female. When Judas Iscariot realized his mistake in betraying Jesus, He was very troubled and committed suicide. Where do you think Judas went after his death? of course Judas went to hell. Where in Hell, there is FOREVER TORMENT AND PAIN.

    When I was in a relationship with my ex-girlfriend, and that time our relationship is not really working well and we are planning to end our relationship, I was really afraid of what people may say about us, because they used to see us together for 6 years. I am afraid that I cannot accept it and I don't know what to do. But God said to me that...

"I will never leave you, nor forsake you." Hebrews 13:5

    To make the story short, when we broke up, I was not that affected because I know that my God will not leave me and has a someone much better prepared for me. Praise God! I am happy with my relationship right now and very blessed... If you are planning to do these things, forget about it.. don't be depressed! always remember that everything that happened in your life has a purpose and everything is planned and God is always there for you. So better take care of your body and don't abuse it.

3. Forgive them

     Sometimes it is very hard to forgive someone who hurts you a lot. Let's look upon the life of Joseph "The Dreamer", his brothers betrayed him and tried to kill him. They sold Joseph to the egyptians and while on the egypt, Joseph was betrayed by Potiphar's wife and was put into prison. Later, God used Joseph to be save the nation of egypt, and His brothers were there and afraid that Joseph might take revenge on them. but Joseph's response was the power of forgiveness..

You intended to harm me, but God intended  it for good to accomplish what is now

being done, the saving of many lives. Genesis 50:20

    Joseph see all bad things that happened to him as planned by God to use Him to save the nation of egypt. Everything has a plan and purpose. it may be good or bad. So forgive whoever hurts you because eveyrthing was planned and has a purpose. Don't let the unforgiveness chain your future.

4. Forget about revenge
     Like in a movie, The main character is hurt in the first scene and in the later part, He will take revenge for payback time! Well, life is not like that, we should forget about revenge. If there is someone who hurts us, we really think to revenge and sometimes we are happy if they are in trouble. But God is telling us that...

Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to

avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord.” Romans 12:19

    Let everything put n the hands of the Lord. If we really want to restore our broken hearts, and heal the wound, let God do it. I hope that you learned in this article and you will apply it in your life. God Bless

-Algen Lloyd D. Amacio

Krispy Kremes...

     August 24, 2010 Friday, I want to continue the celebration of our 2nd year anniversary. I was actually thinking of what would I give to her? I remember that she really wants to taste the KRISPY KREMES donut. She knew about krispy kremes because that was the product that they presented in their school. She was curioused about it and I want to buy her one, but unfortunately, it is not available here in iloilo.

    I remember when, me and my sis talked about krispy kremes and I asked her if it is available here in Iloilo, she told me that, there was no franchise here, but she knew that there was one store who are selling krispy kremes but she is not quite sure about it. She pointed out BOOK LATTE (Near Robinson's Place). I tried my luck in that store and there was really krispy kremes available.

    I didn't have any second thought about it. Though, it was quite expensive, I bought her 3 donuts (u know what it means). When we met at SM city, I was so excited to tell her my surprise. I brought her in the parking area, because it ws there inside my car.

     When, she saw that it was krispy kremes, She was really surprised and I really saw her reactions when she opened the donut. Money can't really buy the real happiness and joy that you found in the face of a certain person. God is really good to have her in my life.... God Bless!

Gentel's Day!!!

     Another year has passed and a new days are coming ahead the both of us. I know that we faced a lot of problems and trials in our relationship, but I really thank God for keeping us together in the bond of His love. This time, I just want to cherish the moments that I have with my girl...

     It was sunday afternoon when we had our YRS (Youth Reigenrs Service) and during our praise and worship, she sang, HOSSANA, ONE WAY and FREE... I was really star strucked with her.. from that day on, I really felt something for her and we just started in a simple text mate and till the time came that i really courted her.

    The hardest part during that time, I need to come to their house and talk to her mom and asked permission to court her. wheewww.. I was really nervous that time. but, because of love, I need to do it. hahaha... Days goes by, my feelings for her was getting deeper and deeper and till the day when her birthday came (September 20, 2008) and when she told me that she loves me too, I really can't believe it...  Well, I guess my prayer was heard by God because eveyrday I keep on asking God that I want her to be my partner... (na kulitan na gru c Lord sakon) hahahaha!!!!

    We are now in our 2nd year anniversary and I am really thankful that God gave her to me, there's no more thoughtful, loving, caring and understanable girl here in the world than Greatel. She's the most ideal girl that everyguy wants... She's really beautiful INSIDE and OUT!!!! Love you so much hon!!!!

Youth Reigners Small Group

Group 3 (Empty Tomb) with their SG leader Sarah Juelar (Second on right side)

     We had just opened our new YRC program and it was very fun!! We started the program with opening prayer and discussions of the small groups. It was exciting because everytime the doors opened and a young people will come in, all the small group leaders were inviting them to be a member of their groups. Sometimes that strategy confused our young people and can't decide where group should they join. To make it clear for everyone and to avoid some conflicts in the future, we decided that everytime a new yougn people will come in, our youth pastor and his wife or our youth president will approach that young people and explain why they need to join in a small group and let them decide where she wants to join.

Group 2 (Jarheads) with their SG leader Dariel Jane Sumibkay on the left

     We had our praise & worship and we just can't stop the fire burnig in the heart of our young people in worshiping our Savior Jesus Christ. We also had games called "PINOY HENYO" & "PINAKA" where we all enjoyed and earned their pints everytime they win. The most interesting part of our program is, of course the hearing the word of God delivered by our youth pastor, Ptr. Don Baroro where he tackle about why we need a small group and what are their advantages.

Group 1 (Chosen Warriors) with small group leader Greatel Joy Sumibkay on the left.

     Lastly, we ended the program full joy, laughter, smiles and blessed. Next sunday we will be gathered together with our church (JESUS REIGNS FOREVER FELLOWSHIP) for our thanksgiving celebration at Riverside beach resort, Oton, Iloilo. at 9:00am to 4:00pm. On the following sunday we will have our composo and cheers and yells by each group. God is indeed really good in the lives of our young people. God Bless.

Group 4 (SALT) with their SG leader Novelyn Bito-onon
 (second from left)

Certificate of Appreciation

     Saying goodbye to someone that is very close with you is a heartbraking event of your life. Wave 37B of T-Mobile company has just ended their product training. It is hard to accept the fact that soon we will be separated and we can see each other seldom. It may be sad but, our life must go on. Our wave has been the most pecuilar batch of teletech because of our closeness to each other and with our trainors.

    We experienced a lot during our training. starting from iconnect to the product. We have a lot of games that really entertain us and gave us the energy to continue with our lessons like, "PINOY HENYO", "CHERRADE" In our group, we always practice honesty and teamwork. When we take our assessments and streamline hunt, we always help each other for us to have a passing rate and even a perfect score. There are times that if we don't know the answer, some of us sacrificed so that we could get the correct answer and give the whole class a perfect score.

     If we had all the good times, and of course we all have our bad moments. Together we shared our feelings, tears and experiences to become the best of who we are. Personally I am blessed with this wave and with our trainors namely:
1. Ms. Mary Melody Austria
2. Ms. Cresty Ann Endriga
3. Mr. Glomer Peter Bendita
4. Macky (I forgot the full name)
 
     Thank You so much for everything!!! God Bless you all!!!

Step Skills.... (What a bad day!)

     It was really a bad day for me! We had a step skills at teletech. It means that we are going to take calls but it was not recorded and evaluated, it was a practice actually for our preparation for TCC. Around 6:45pm we already went to pre-production area, to prepare ourselves and the things that we need to use during the calls. At 7:00pm we started and our nerves are really trembling while waiting for our first call. One hour has passed, yet we havn't recieved any call until past 8:00pm all calls are starting to come in.

     Finally! my PC rang and my heart really beats faster and faster and I said... "Thank you for calling T-mobile, this is algen how can I assist you?"  The customer says that he cannot hear me and hanged the phone. Whew! I don't know what will be my reaction if I'm going to be happy or not, happy because I wasn't able to get the call and it relieves my nervous a little bit and at the same time I was dissappointed because I missed the opportunity.

    After a few minutes my PC rang again and while I am in the middle of my welcome statement the customer hang up the phone without any reason. "not again?" I said. well, I have nothing to do but to wait for the next call.
For the third time my PC rang again and I answered it and it was really a real call....

     The customer's voice wasn't really clear at first and he was already IRATE.  I actually had a hard time understanding Him. After a few words I understand his situation and the problem. I get his "mobile number" and when I press the RETRIEVE button, It appears that there was 3 lines in his account with different names. I panicked because, I havn't encountered that stuation during our training. What I did is I asked the customer's first and last name and I found the correct user.

    Unfortunately, I mentioned to the customer that he has 3 lines in his account. He was shocked because he actually had one line. I found out that the 2 other line was already cancelled and he is insisting where did I get that information. I did apologized to the customer that it was a missed information (THE 2 LINES WAS ACTUALLY CANCELLED). We go through to the verification of his account and it was varified successfully.

    Now, the customer explained to me about his concern that he paid to the automated system for his bill, but the bill was not yet posted and he's asking where did his payment go? I asked him probing questions like "how much did he pay?, where did he pay and when did he pay?"  He told me the information and when I asked him more questions, he don;t want to answer anymore and he just want to know where did his payment go? I told him that inorder for me to provide you with the correct information, let me first asked you this questions.. (It just sounds like that, but that's not the exact word that I told him). He don't want to listen to me anymore and he want to talk to somebody else. I tried to escalate but for the 2nd time he told me that he want to talk with somebody else.

    I have no choice but to give the call to the one of my supervisor and I found out that, HE JUST WANT TO HAVE A PAYMENT THROUGH CSR BECAUSE THE AUTOMATED MACHINE IS DOWN!!!"
I was really dissappointed because I tried to paraphrase his question and he was just answering me YES! which I thought that he was really looking for his missing payment...

    I feel so bad because I had a "SUP CALL" during my first call, while my other co-csr did not while others got a great call and solved it.

    What good in this experience was, I learned from my mistakes... I maybe need to be active in listening to my customer. But it was a very nice experience.

Volunteer or Called by God?

  Are you a volunteer or being called by God?

1. Volunteers see their involvement at church as community service, but people called of God see it as ministry.

2. Volunteers whine about what it's going on to cost to serve,  but people who are called are committed to serving people.

3. Volunteers shrink back from resolving relational conflict, but people called of God seek to resolve relational conflict for the sake of unity in the church.

4. Volunteers look upon rehearsal as another commitment they're obligated to fulfill, but people called of God look forward to rehearsal as another opportunity to be used by God.

5. Volunteers do no outside practicing or preparation, but people who are called of God come to rehearsals and a performance as prepared as possible.

6. Volunteers are not open to constructive criticism; they get defensive aout it. But people called of God are grateful for feedback because they want to be the best they can be.

7. Volunteers feel threatened by the talent of others, but people called of God praised Him for distributing gifts and talents as He chooses.

8. Volunteers want to quit at the first sign of adversity or discouragement, but people called of God dig in and preserve.

9. Volunteers find their main source of fulfillment in their talents and abilities, but people called of God now that being used of God is the most fulfillinf thing you can do with your life.

10.Volunteers can't handle being put in situations in which they're going to be stretched, but people called of God respond to God's call with humble dependence on Him.

Balanced Spiritual Life

How to Have a Balanced Spiritual Life

     In our life, we have 5 purpose why we were created by God. It is important for us to balance those 5 purpose inorder for us to live a fulfilled life. What are those 5?

1. Worship - we were created to worship God alone.

2. Fellowship - We were created to have fellowship with other believers.

3. Discipleship - We were created to share what we know to others, for us to grow spiritually.

4. Ministry - We were created to use our skills and abilities for the glory of God.

5. Evangelism - we were created to share the gospel around the world.

     Now, let me share with you on how to balance these 5. It is not right if we will only concentrate in one purpose because we are enjoying it.  It's should be balanced, we should not take for granted one of them.

REMEMBER: "PART, Pa CHECK ang NOTEBOOK kag e PASS"

1. Find a PARTner or join a smallgroup.

> Having a partner or joining a small group could encourage you everytime you are spiritually down. These could help us to balance our spiritual life.

2. CHECK your spirtual life always

> like in our physical body, we are having a regular check up with the doctor to stay fit. In our spiritual life, we should also check it always if we are okay.

3. Have a NOTEBOOK to write down your progress

> Having a notebook is an advatage to see if we are having improvement spiritually. We can take down our problems and how we overcome it, so that the next time we are encounter the same problem, we know what to do next.

4. Pass on what you know to others.

>It is important for us to pass on what we know to others, for them to grow matured Christians.

This is how can we balance our spiritual life. God Bless