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 FormationMy 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.
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