Royal Botanic Gardens vs Vigil (WYD08)

Typically, a sleep out vigil happens at World Youth Days. Since some of us already suffered colds, it was in our best interest not to subject ourselves to a cold night out under the stars. Instead we visited the Royal Botanic Gardens.

The garden was vast and when we arrived that evening at 5.30pm, families with strollers, joggers, couples were taking walks. And we simply enjoyed the slow walk, marveling at the century old trees, the bent-over ‘Dragon Blood’ tree.


Just then a ranger car drove past with a loud hailer announcement: “The park will be closing in 5 minutes, please make your way to the nearest exit.” It was 6pm.

*Gulp* Where IS the nearest exit? The more we walked the darker it got. Then I noticed there are not a single lamp post in sight. If we don’t get out, we’ll be in a pitch dark garden, with no sleeping bag, no warm clothing. We’d be forced to ‘camp out’. Wouldn’t this be a real irony that we ‘escaped’ the vigil to be ‘stuck’ in an involuntary camp out?

Soon enough we found the exit, following out instincts.

Days later, I read it in a magazine that
“The Royal Botanic Gardens reluctantly hosts 11,000 grey-headed flying foxes, numbers have tripled in the past decade and they’re overwhelming and killing off historic Palm Grove, a world-renowned tree collection dating to 1828. Gardens authorities are determined to uproot them, so marvel at Sydney’s largest concentration of wild native mammals while you still can. www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au”

Too bad we couldn’t stay to ‘marvel’ at 11,000 flying foxes. Thanks but no thanks 

A masterpiece in an orange

I ate my 2nd orange today… in my entire life. Peeling an orange is a new experience for me. Looking at the insides, the ‘anatomy’ of the simple orange is intriguing. It actually isn’t so ‘simple’. Beneath the peel of just a few milimetres lies sacs neatly packed side by side, within this sacs lay even more mini-sacs. I wanted to count how many pulps there were within each neat portion and gave up after a while, its impossible to count as you orange lovers can imagine. The juice is so... well juicy, and yet it was well protected by the peel and the even thinner membrane of the pulp.

This is a masterpiece! Well designed, environmentally friendly, its ‘packaging’ will not strangle any seals/dolphins. It even leaves a refreshing fragrance on your hands after you’ve savoured it. Like a little ‘Thank you’, a great ‘after-sales service’.

Thank You God for your Ingenuity. Thank You for providing Vitamin C is such a neat little package.

The Uniforms

We were exceptionally impressed by the New South Wales police force. During the "receive the power live' concert, many inflatable balls were thrown around, and many a time it landed on the 'zone'. Strips of paths meant for emergencies, ambulance, Pope motorcade etc. But the police personnel were always obliging and picked up every single time without complaints. So accomodating!

They exhibited a great deal of tolerance, courtesy and handled the event very professionally, and kept all of us safe. Speaking to these two, I learnt that they worked 10 hour days, 10 days in a row without an off day! Thanks so much!

Cold hail and Warm feelings

While we were in Bendigo,Victoria, Australia, it suddenly rained hail! The first thing in my mind and 'head for shelter'! and pointed out a bookshop that was about 50metres away.

We were dripping wet and there were about 10 of us in that small shop. I know that i cannot pretend I want to buy something, so I apologised to the shop assistant. Instead of chasing us out (as i would imagine in some other countries), she smiled very warmly and welcomed us. I explained that we were a group of missionaries and what we did. The shop, as we learnt later is a resource for learning. And shortly after, these ladies gladly gave me a pack of 'Feeling Cards' as a resource for our children ministry! These can be used internationally since they didnt have any words! And what a gift this is!

After returning back to the group and showing them the gift, they all were very amazed and surprised, this was exactly what we have been looking for, for a long long time. And this may not be something we can afford at that moment.

So thanks Nola and Christina for your kindness, your warm hearts melted the hailstones on our backs. God bless you!

World Youth Day 2008

We're in Sydney! World Youth Day(WYD) is an event held every 3 years in a different country. The last WYD was held in Cologne, Germany in 2005.

This time WYD is held in Sydney. Our little group left Manila for Melbourne first for the 'Days in Diocese'. Many events were held in various venues, various parishes.

The ICPE Mission (which i belong to) held our inaugural Youth Fest there. It was 2 full days of teachings, sharings, networking, fun and games. check out the website: www.firebrandz.net there's also a whole lot of photos in the gallery. check it out.

Returning to Melbourne after 10 years was an interesting experience. I remember the winters well, and was very hesitant about facing it. But i willingly packed my thermals, hot water bag, warm sleeping bag and got ready.

But the first thing that hit me is not the cold. But the warmth of the people who welcomed us, made sure we had a host family (thanks Charlie Gatt), made sure we are fed (thanks to the kitchen team), made sure we had a lift home (thanks Dan Perera!), made sure we had a warm home to go back to (thanks Cluny Sisters! love ya!), made sure we had food to eat for our 10 hour bus ride to Sydney (Thanks Alex and Joe Yap). Thank you Castellon family (Kuya Jun, Ate Paulina, Gretchen and Lorraine) who made us feel so much a part of your family. Maraming Salamat po. Pagpalain ka ng Diyos. And many countless volunteers who laid out snacks, set up chairs, vacuumed carpets when everyone went home, did all the behind-the-scenes work, stayed up late waiting for pilgrims to arrive, worked overtime without pay, and those who have kept us in prayer. Thank you thank you thank you!

For more information on WYD, check out the official website: www.wyd2008.org

Back to School Mass

Unlike some other countries, the new school semester here in the Philippines start in June, end of 'summer'. We thought it might a cool idea to have a special mass for the children. They were also very excited to be actively involved in this special Eucharistic celebration. Normally, children are not so involved, but in this one, they were involved in reading the Word of God at the pulpit, the offertory procession and even signed 'the Lord's Prayer' in sign language in front of the altar! For weeks before this, the children were prepared spiritually with a clearly understanding of this special celebration.








At the end, we gave out blessed pencils, specially hand painted by our team members as a souvenir of the event.