Marikina 1- Euphoria Invasion
By eyek martinez and eunice josue
It all started one evening, a very ordinary evening, or so I thought. It was already one o’clock in the morning and as I was about to sleep, I received a not-so-usual call from no other than our Tito Roland! The conversation was about the upcoming outreach. Tito Roland, in his always sensible manner, uninterruptedly said: “Heinrich you’ve been chosen to be the teen lead fro this coming outreach weekend in Marikina.”
I was totally surprised and mixed-up, only a good “huwaaaat?’ uttered. “of all people, why does it have to be me?” I told myself. I immediately declined the offer through but Tito was insistent! I felt I was unprepared since I was at a state or soul searching. Yes, I started to be restless thinking of the countless responsibilities of being a teen lead!
The clock strikes at five, four hours of pondering and as if I have not gotten all the time in my world to compose my thoughts so I immediately gave Eunice a call. Much to my shock, she was still up trying to discern for she was also chosen to be my partner. After a short chitchat, I hung up startled and asked a big “WHY?” okay, enough of the sill intro.
You may wonder who our Over-all (OA), was oh, well! Since Eunice and I are very professional, we also need an equally very professional na OA. Ang daming gusting maging OA naming pero nakapagdecide na kami, we wanted and chose MONSTER MELDEN! Nyeaaahhh!!! We thought that in order to nalance things out, kasi nga pasaway kaming dalawa ni Eunice so kakailanganin namin ng isang masungit at strict na OA! Actually, at first tinnaggihan kami, ang sungit ng lola, ayaw sa amin, pero napapayag din naman!
As teen leads, we also need to figure out what will be the theme for our staff meetings. After a zoon-in and zoom-out of ideas, we settled for The Fruits and Gifts of the Holy Spirit because as a servant and as a Christian we need all the grace we can get from the Holy Spirit so that we can serve and share in the sufferings of Christ joyfully!
April 9, 2005 marked the 1st Corinthian Youth Movement (CYM) Weekend Seminar in Marikina that was held at the Provident Village Chapel. A wide-ranging group of boys and girls, 36 at that was spearheaded by (sino pa ba?) two of the heartthrobs tha CYM has to offer! (teka, si John at Mai ata ‘yun ah!). and was supervised by our super Adult Couple, Tito Roland and Tita Raquel Atienza, above all, baon ang grace from the Holy Spirit, CYM-Fairview catered to many excited, called and chosen children ni Lord doon sa community. Maraming napauwi dahil sa nagkulang sa foster homes but nevertheless, hindi pa rin bumaba ang eagerness ng mga ito to join sa susunod na seminar.
Corinthian members served as facilitators at the said weekend. Once again God proved that it is not in the numbers dahil kahit 18 lang kaming staggers, the weekend was fun and light because the candidates were so active, they participated in all the activites without hesitation regardless of the heat of summer season. Naka-electric fan lang kami, far from our air-conditioned hall, open air ang staff room, stage and nagsilbing silong naming, sobrang mainit but despite that, we were still really happy for God has provided everything for us and as I may put it , grace from the Holy Spirit!
To sum it all, another victorious weekend after His name and we know it will always be just because it is for Him alone. God never fails! It was indeed a beautiful and inspiring experience for all of us who were part of our beautiful Lord’s Weekend fro having been able to plant seeds of love and for having been nourished again.
Batch 59- For Him and In Him Alone
By aj atienza
Exhausted from the preparations. Going through several sleepless nights. Spiritually dried out. These are the most commonly known battles of each youth servant, weekend after weekend challenges that needed to near by the staffers last April 29,30 and May 1 as the 59th Corinthian Weekend Seminar fro Girls paved its way.
Spearheaded by Aj Atienza and Ren Guina as Teen Leaders with Ding Sadie as their Over-all, the event was truly a success. There were 43 candidates who joined the seminar and actively participated in various activities prepared by the team. Some were usually shy, a few danced their way throughout the bash but the greatest part was the reconciliation where some of them were emotional.
Finally, as graduation came, the girls could not help but just show it off, I mean their sentiments to their respective parents. Everyone in the hall was overwhelmed especially the team who triumphantly get through a technical and spiritual battle, a realization that faith in God is more than enough to move us and be a visible sign of His love.
Batch 60- Summer Finale
By reji guina
As the summer vacation comes to an end, the Corinthian Youth Movement (CYM) held their final Weekend for the summer last May 13-15. Teen Leads Marianne Alivio and Reji Guina led the team with Genesis Manalo as their Over-all (OA). The team was composed of more than 20 youngsters from Fairview and was joined by the first bach of Corinthians graduates of Marikina.
The Corinthians, having held two great Weekends before this batch, were faced with a concern of becoming too exhausted for the Weekend. But, as in all Weekends, God’s spirit worked its way to sustain everyone, fueled but the love of God and the passion to spread it to everyone, the team was able to prepare with only two weeks at hand prior to the said Weekend.
Friday night came and many young boys from in and around the parish showed up to attend the Weekend, some of them though were sent back home, for being still too young for the Weekend. The night ended with the assignment of the different Sleep Groups for the candidates and staffers as well, unfortunately due to lack of available foster homes, staffers from Marikina had to travel to and from Fairview for the rest of the Weekend.
It is really amazing how a Weekend takes Corinthians together for during the Cleansing Prayer; the team almost occupied the entire PREX Hall. Fro whatever reason, surely they have not forgotten their mission as Corinthians.
Marikina 2- Many Merry Mishaps
By Genesis Manalo
Hay! Sa wakas patapos na ang weekend season ng Corinthians!
Pero isang hirit pa, and last and fourth weekend ngayong summer ay sa Marikina at for girls last May 27-29, 2005. dahil dalawang linggo lang ang ginawang paghahanda, maraming problema ang hinaharap ng mga staffers dahil sa sunod-sunod na weekends pero that was not an enough reason para bumaba ang morale, instead raging fire of love and their desire to serve in the weekend keep them moving. Conflicting schedules of staff meeting beset the team for half of which will be from Marikina, personal problems, issues and concerns of staffers, to top it all, ang pag-back out ng isa sa mga teen leads a day before the weekend itself! (si TSARLI yun!). reasonable though. Unexpected naman kasi, eh. To the rescue naman si Ren na siyang naging partner ko.
Nevertheless, masasabi pa ring successful ito dahil namayani pa rin ang kapangyarihan at pagmamahal ng ating Panginoon kahit na maraming nag-akala na magiging mabigat ang weekend, still God keep His words: “I am your rock and your salvation, you will stand firm”.
Marami rin ang excited dahil ito ay reunion ng Fairview staff at ng dating candidates pa lang ng Marikina na ngayon ay kapwa staffers na.
During the weekend naging maayos naman ang lahat, may mga konting trials, which I believe na part ng pagse-serve ng bawat isa, at misunderstanding sa mga candidates pero everything was very well explained and settled. Naging training na rin ito for the Marikina team kasi sa susunod na weekend sila na lang ang magha-handle kaya lahat ay may understudy.
So, to Renalou and Genesis, (ako po ‘yun), Teen Leaders, Lui and Gino, understudy Teen Leaders and to Melden, Over-all, Bituin, understudy Over-all, congratulation! Sa ating mga Adult Couples na walang sawang sumusuporta na sina Tito Roland at Tita Raquel at Tito Deng at Tita Baby, maraming, maraming salamat po!
To all the Corinthians Batch 2 of Marikina. Welcome to the Corinthian community and may the seed planted in your hearts grow in loving and serving the Lord! Pass it on….