paper craft!

i have always been interested with paper - cutting, folding, gluing, et cetera, et cetera. even as a child, i would buy construction paper, cut out shapes (any and all shapes), glue them together and turn it into greeting cards or tags. my friends used to get regular birthday cards in different sizes and shapes from me. unfortunately, none of the cards looked pretty enough or clean enough. but you get the idea.

it was only very recently that i decided to actually give time to paper crafting as a productive leisure activity. i originally wanted to buy a how-to book, but didn't have the money for it. luckily, the internet has everything on it. here's one site to get me started: 

http://extremecards.blogspot.com/

my first project would be a pop-up card that hopefully will look somewhat like this one 

here's to hoping my paper projects would bring a bit of sunshine into other people's lives. :)

the boys in my class

teaching the kindergarten class at Vacation Bible School was a most fulfilling and fun experience. one week of living away from home, crafting visual aids, pumping out energy for the action songs, and occasionally running after one or another of the 45 kids in my class was really, truly, completely exhilarating.

that is perhaps why the following week had been a little too quiet and uneventful (except for Sabbath and the tract distribution activity).

to make up for the i-miss-the-action mood, i am sharing photos of the boys who really, truly, completely made my VBS experience very much action-filled.

manoy! (trivia: he fell off a pick up truck once, off a tree another time, had us on a chase at least thrice, and threw a rock at a teacher once. we all miss him.)

seriously, who wouldn't miss this bright star?

Don't get me wrong. i miss the girls and the rest of the class, too.

but they didn't contribute as much to my temporary loss of voice. i miss VBS! :)

This is Why I Worship

this was written several months ago. it's actually supposed to be a song, but i admittedly (and quite frustratingly) can only but barely carry a tune. God and i are still working on my musical capabilities. so until we work something out, this'll have to remain a non-song (at least beyond the walls of my heart).

In You alone I find the strength to stand

Amidst the brokenness

In time I know I'll understand

You'll bring together the pieces

Lord, I am broken and I praise You

Savior, I'm in pain but it's okay

I'm coming back to life through You

Jesus, I see the wisdom of Your way

It hurt You to see how I brought this on me

Still You're standing close

When I tried to move farther away

I hurt with the wrongs I chose

Lord, I am broken and I praise You

Savior, I'm in pain but it's okay

I'm coming back to life through You

Jesus, I see the wisdom of Your way

Going away and coming home

Twice I walk the path so rough

This time the pain will lead me back

I'm not alone and that's enough

Working with God... and Ayn

For the longest time, I've been feeling that something's quite lacking in this blog. And yesterday, I finally realized what it is: ACTION!

So from this point on, I'll be putting up posts about the things that I do at work in the Royal Valley Free SDA Church. Allow me to start with the tract distribution activity that we conducted just this morning.

Our Publishing Ministry currently produces two kinds of tracts in two languages. One is about the seventh-day Sabbath and the other is about the eight principles of health. This morning, we set out to distribute them house to house in a subdivision near our church.

Now other people would think it boring and even embarrassing to go out under the sun and up to strangers to hand out "boring" flyers - but not us! The people at my church actually enjoy activities like this and some are so excited they're at the assembly area waaaay before the appointed time. And little kids came along, too.

One of the youngest to come out and join was four-year old Ayn who walked the streets hand in hand with me (very very lucky me!). I thought her little legs would tire easily so we just watched the other kids  gleefully hand out the flyers or put them into mailboxes while we took a much slower pace. Ayn had been my student at Vacation Bible School last week so I sang the songs we learned. Happy with Jesus  and I Will Wear A Crown in My Father's House . She giggles so cute.

When she learned from the older kids what we were supposed to be doing, she made it her duty to point the gates and mailboxes to me. Later on, she volunteered to put the flyers into the mailboxes herself. And each time I asked her if she was tired, she never said yes. Such a little trouper!

I didn't get to give away as many flyers as I used to in the other distribution activities because Ayn's little legs could only walk so fast. But she made it so much fun, I actually didn't mind.

It's obvious the other guys had fun, too. And all while doing the work of the Lord!

basta ako, i believe in a [soon] end... and in a new beginning. thank You, Lord!

 :)

may 21

every day is a blessing. instead of mocking those who believed that the world would end three hours ago, we should all just be thankful that the Lord has preserved us up to this time, May 21 bogus or not. :)

what the bible really says about when the world will end

Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and [by] our gathering together unto him,

That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.

Let no man deceive you by any means: for [that day shall not come], except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;

Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

---2 Thessalonians 2:1-4

Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.

---Matthew 25:13

For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.  

For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.  

But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.  

Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.  

Therefore let us not sleep, as [do] others; but let us watch and be sober.

---1 Thessalonians 5:2-6

beginning in the middle

time does fly... and fast! a few weeks more and it's the middle of the year. i haven't been very diligent with my blogging this year, and that has got to change... along with a lot of other things.

just a few minutes ago, i read a blog about a day in the life of a music therapist. she wakes up at 4:40 am and works non-stop until 10 pm and happily too. it reminds me of a passage from the Spirit of Prophecy:

Many, very many, for the sake of worldly advantage, for the sake of acquiring scientific knowledge, will venture into pestilential regions, and endure hardship and privation. Where are those who are willing to do this for the sake of telling others of the Saviour? 9T, 33

i'm not saying that music therapist does what she does for worldly advantage. she is, after all, a therapist and it's quite obvious she cares for her students. but still, where are those who would exercise the same dedication and diligence for the work of the gospel?

it breaks my heart to think of the still many things i could do for the ministry if only i could get myself to work harder and focus more. but it's not too late yet, is it? it may be the middle of the year very soon, but we can always begin here. we can always start fresh and new right where we stand.

so i lay down my plans before the Lord. so He could mold them into His plans. things to be busy with, projects, productive leisure activities, brand new health habits, reading plans, attitude renovations, schedules, room for learning new things and acquiring new skills.

sounds like a new year's resolution, ayt? right smack in the middle of the year. so what? if middle's where i am, then middle's where i begin.

what are your mid-year resolutions?