15th January 2006 – March 2006 : First Quarter of my Formation in the Philippines

Greetings from the Philippines! Time really flies. I'm in my third month here. At the moment, I'm experiencing peace and appreciating the present. Here is what has been happening. Thank you for your prayers and blessings. My petition in this time is for my missionary Visa. I’ve sent in my application and I am praying that it will be approved by May. Please keep me in your prayers!

Commitment as a Community Member in formation - January 15th 2006


I arrived in Manila on the 12th Jan and on the 15th Jan 2006, I committed myself to a two year formation with the community of ICPE – Institute of World Evangelisation. It was a time of grace and blessing for me. I felt that it was a time of blessing and immense grace. The invitation to ‘look forward’ and not look back was clear for me and there was a sense of peace and excitement of all that is to come.

Manila and ICPE Philippines.
I think I have not really shared much about Manila and my formation thus far so I'd share a bit about it first. Those of you who have been here will know that Manila is really dusty and dirty. Our feet and clothes are black at the end of the day. Like the tropical country that it is, it is hot and humid most of the time but since we are living in the heart of Manila city itself, traffic and pollution is overwhelming. Crossing the road is a challenge and real test of courage. There are security guards everywhere, in the shopping malls, train stations etc. It'll take some getting used to at the start, then you realise that it's just a way of life.

Although the Philippinos are predominantly Catholic, there are many Sunday catholics and alot of people who do not have a personal encounter with the lord. There are still many devotions practiced , and my sense is that people don't really know God or experience him, but just depend on the devotions. The young people are greatly influenced by secularism. The trend is that many youths come from broken homes and many are victims of sexual abuse especially by their own parents... Many have already been invovled in pre-marital sex, abortions. Also, many young men are confused with their gender and cross dress. Just alot of brokeness. One of our ministry is to work with youth in the parish as well as a university town nearby.

There's just so much to learn about the people and local culture. For me it is also learning to accept the mindset of the philippino culture, their way of doing things; their 'rubber' time, local mannerisms/mindset. And as a Singaporean, I found it most hard to accept their inefficiencies (this is God teaching me to be humble.)

Community Member in Formation
There are altogether 15 full time missionaries in our community, from different countries, all of whom God has called. Out of these, there are 9 of who are community members in formation. This is a 2-year formation for new members of the Mission The 9 of us beginning formation are from Singapore, Malaysia, Korea, Poland and Indonesia. I'm really enjoying the international community and really getting to know each other better. see the updated icpe website on the Philippines community. . I'm sharing a room with a Polish girl and we share a mini kitchenette with a Korean and Malaysian.

Nine of Us in Formation

My Roommate


We started our formation with orientation of the ICPE Mission and a brief overview of its spirituality, which we will be learning more over the next two years. We also started learning the Philippino language so that we will be able to work and reach out to more people. At our mission centre, we start the day with 7am mass at the nearest church that is a 15 minute walk away. We only have Mass in-house once a week. After that it is personal prayer time, Lauds with the community and then in-house work, lectures, study project or ministry preparation.

In these three months our teachings were mainly focused on Growing in Holiness and transformation. To put aside our ‘old ways’ of doing things, thinking and to allow God to transform us. We had several priests (such Fr Thomas Green ;p) come to give us teaching on various topics following this theme. We also have a study project each week where we are to prepare and present a teaching or reflection. So far, we studied some parts of the CCC and a reflection on “Deus Caritas Est’ – Pope’s first encyclical.

Our Ministries in the Philippines

There are several ministries which the community here embarking one. One of them is reaching out to the poor in a rubbish dump site called Payattas. We are also helping to set up a local youth Community in the University Town of Baguio (5 hrs from Manila). We have a house there and there are 15 youth who are going to start a community under the Glory of God International Covenant community. We are also starting a Leadership formation for youth of a local parish.

As members in formation, our priority is to be transformed and grow rather than ‘reaching out’. That’s why our involvement in the ministries are minimal at the moment. Nonetheless, in the Month of March, I had the privileged to share my testimony with about 40 youth in a parish and visited the prison and also spent a weekend with the youth community in Baguio.

Youth Community in Baguio and Testimony to 50 youth in parish




We also had the opportunity to share about ICPE at the El Shaddai meeting here in the Philippines. There were 10,000 people at the gathering. It was a real blessing for me – to see so so many people hunger and desire for God. It was also a new experience for me to share and present in front of so many people.



Upcoming. Your prayers required for :

1. Our week of Formation for the youth community in April
2. Our Ministry to Mothers in Payattas – a very depressed and poor rubbish dumpsite.
3. Our mission outreach to Korea in July. There will be an ICPE outreach team going to Korea to organize the Pastoral Counselling School. We are also going there as part of ICPE’s involvement in the Holy Spirit Conference for World Youth In Korea. Youth from all over the world is expected.
4. My Missionary Visa. I have applied for a 2-year Missionary visa and I am praying that it will be approved before May 2006.

March Highlights

United in Faith


A group of sisters and brothers from the community of Kkotdongnae (pronunced as Ko-tong-ae) Brothers and Sisters of Jesus, from Korea came to visit the community in March. They have set up a community here in the Philippines as well. The main purpose of their visit to the Philippines is to promote the Holy Spirit Conference of World Youth in Korea. I was very blessed by their visit. The Congregation is a community of love and salvation. It's main work is Mercy Work in Korea. They have a large facility housing the homeless, abandoned , the dying and the poor in Korea. (much like MC sisters). It is a 'Big thing' in Korea. The community was founded by Fr Oh and had only 18 members. Now there are about 4000 abandoned people in their centres and they have over 350 religious brothers and sisters in Philippines, US and Korea.


The Superior of the community, Brother James was here and he shared with us (with the help of a translator) his vision of empowering Youth in Korea and in Asia. His hope is also to gather youth in Asia , to allow them to experience God's love, give them an opportunity to experience the poor and to be empowered by the Holy Spirit. This was the vision for the Holy Spirit Conference for Youth, which the cogregation is organising this year. What struck me was his passion and zeal in his Vision. He shared that he had this vision a few years ago and it is only now that it is being realised. I was very blessed. God will realise our visions for him, no matter how big and impossible it may seem at the start, just as long as we persevere and have faith. It was an invitation for me to dream 'big dreams' for God. During our time of intercession and prayer together as two different communities, I was also very touched by the unity of the spirit. Though we all prayed in different languages (The Koreans prayed in Korean), we all worshipped the same God and share the same passion and zeal to make him known. It was really moment of grace for me and I felt that God was also stirring great desires in my heart especially for Asia.. and that the world is much bigger than 'me'.

Anyway, I would like to invite you to check out the website for this conference and also to pass the word around, to invited youth you know to go. Or if you can go, also best - we can learn alot. Also, I think it will be a time of grace and experience. The conference will be held in Korea in July (21 -23). The conference is only three days but there is a pre-conference progr where youth can volunteer to work at the welfare facilities in Kkottongnae. The conference costs US50, with food and loggin provided for free. It would be super super exciting , also to be in Korea, meet Fr Oh - Founder of Kktongdnae ( I heard that he is a super anoited presider for mass.),
to experience the vitality and faithfulness of Koreans and to meet Korean youth and other youth. (and cheaper alternative to WYD). ICPE is a collaborater for this event. Our Founder Mario Cappello is the keynote speaker for the event together with two others. There will be an ICPE outreach team there. WEBSITE is : www.hcwy.org. See the videos on what is Kkottongane.

Visit by Mario


Mario, founder of the ICPE Mission also visited us in March. He shared his vision for ICPE and his ideals about community. I was very touched by his sharings and wisdom. One of the things I was most edified by was his simiplicity and humility despite being who he is and all that he has done for God. A humility which I’ve much to learn from. He also shared that his ideal of community is simply for us to gather around Jesus and to share his spirit. This was, for him, the most fundamental. Structures, time-tables, formation, ministry and work is secondary for community. After meeting him, I was affirmed of my being here with the community. I felt affirmation that I'm in the right place for now. So praise God!

March Reflection : Drinking from the dry Well

As some of you may know I went through a 'dry spell' during my 2nd month here. It was a time of immense dryness during prayer and there were hardly any consolations. Even though I was consistent in my daily prayer, I felt that God was distant. The things and thoughts that used to 'console' me no longer did and I had alot of doubts. Had to face alot of my unworthiness and weaknesses. Also, through this , I realised that learning to surrender is a life-time process and we have to keep doing it.

But God is good , I think there has been a breakthrough for me at the beginning of this week.

One of the things that consoled me was the knowing that through this dryness, God was actually teaching me to let go and to surrender. To learn to seek him and not the consolations. To put aside all my old ways of doing things, old way of praying , thinking etc. Allowing myself to be reconstructed , purified and refined, so that I only seek God. I felt that God was showing me that everything, including consolation is gift from him, not something that we can 'turn on' when we want to. This was hard for me, because, this meant that I had to take another new step to trust and be surprised by God, because now I cannot even see the things that used to 'console' me. Anyway, recently, I picked up Fr Tom Green's Drinking from the dry well , which I had not finish reading. Reflecting on the book gave me alot of encouragement and affirmed me that God was indeed taking me to a new level of surrender and prayer. To learn to seek the God of Consolations, not the Consolations of God. Thankfully also, even though there is alot of dryness during prayer, my general 'feeling' here is a sense of peace. So, for this I am grateful. :) It is still difficult for me but I am begginning to enjoy it - the challenge of contemplation and interior prayer/awarness. Fr Thomas Green, a reknowned Jesuit also came to give us a seminar last week. Meeting him was an encouraging moment for me.

One of the things that I have had to also learn over the past two months is surrendering and accepting my own weakness and inferiorities. It’s funny how in community, your weaknesses become much more apparent to you. I had to learn to accept my mixed motivations for doing things as part of me and that God can work through them. I also had to ‘put aside’ my old way of doing things, my previously known ‘accomplishments’ / ‘known and used giftings’ and to just ‘be’. I realized that the natural tendency for me, when I am faced with a ‘struggle’, is to run away and not face it. I used run away by either ‘doing something’ or ‘hide’ behind the company of friends, in my comfort zone. However, now is the time to allow God to take me deeper in prayer and discovery of who he is. To be ‘led’ by him and not to want ‘control.