// thoughts

Just wondering who reads my little entries!? I sometimes feel like I'm talking to myself but I don't feel crazy, so that's a good thing (I think).

Can whoever reads this post a simple comment with your name, just so I know if people actually read my posts. Thanks! Please comment on this post! Let's see how many friends I have! MmuUuuHhhAhAHHAhA~!

+ mon

Ok I think I have hit the 200+lb mark!? I just finished eating rice, hotdogs and cup o noodles! And it's almost 4 in the morning - I was working on the website for work when I got "hungry." I think I'm over 200lbs right now, I can totally feel it and see it in my stomach! It's the biggest it's ever been, sheesh.

I am now officially a fatso! Official weigh in will be tomorrow, I'll post my results. I know you're all dying to find out if I have crossed over into the world of obesity, well you will all just have to wait!

+ mon

I'm speaking at Ultreya tomorrow and the topic given to me was The coming of Christ - I had thought that they meant the 2nd coming, end of the world type thing. I had a lot to say about that, but...

I find out today that they mean the coming of Christ in Christmas! Totally different topic from what I first thought it was...

*sigh*

Now time to do some research tonight. Wish me luck!

+ mon

Does anyone watch this show? I've been watching it since it first started and I love it!

If you're not familiar with it, the basic storyline is that there's a girl who lives in Arcadia, her name is Joan. God talks to her through these people who she encounters, people she knows or complete strangers, it doesn't matter who - but God uses that person as an instrument to talk to her.

So God will propose her to do a task, of course she is never obligated and it's her free will to do whatever she wants. The description of the task given to her is pretty vague most of the time - something like "help Grace with her bar mitzvah." But she doesn't know exactly what to do or how to do it. In the process she'll just do something and things will work out. After she's done what God has asked her to do, you can see the effect things had on other things, and how the "ripples in the pond" have effected everything else around it.

It's really interesting to watch and it's a great show. I can relate this to my life since I see how God uses people as instruments all the time, not necessariliy Him talking through them, but them intervening when it's needed. I can see how things tie in together now. One action will lead to another, the simplest of gestures can help those in the worst possible situation, even if you don't know it's helping them or know the person - ripples in the pond.

Watch this show it's a really inspiring and I'm sure that mostly everyone can relate to it. If you want the video file to watch on your computer, just let me know, I have season one and am currently working on downloading season two.

+ mon

Dang, bowled only 2 and a half games on Saturday and my arm is still hecka sore! Need to bowl more often, next time we go I'm gonna break 200!

+ mon

After reading all those xanga's about the retreat, I'll post links here to the xanga's that I was able to find - if you have more that you know of that's not here, comment me!

New Graduates
Eve
Nikki
Jason
Rachelle
Wilson
Kasandra
Ricardo
Kim
Jake
Edge
Krystle
Kate
Michael
Lisa
Agnes
Marifelle
Angelica
Camille
Julius
Lawrence

Servers
Emil
Dudoy
Diday
Jessica
Anne
JC
Jerry
Lourdes
Ted
Eser
Richard
Patrick

Still have more to add as I see them

^bumped so that people can link up

+ mon

From watching the episode of Joan of Arcadia on Friday, a question came up - Why did you make so many religions...wouldn't it be easier if everyone had the same one?

God's answer in the show was There are so many different people, they all need different way of relating to Me, and that's what religions are different ways to share the same truth.

+ mon

Good gosh man! We were trying to get a little get together setup, so we decided to go bowling! I sent out a txt, call some people, IM some people if they wanna go - this of course was a non bnp event but just friends hanging out and having a good time

OMG! Everyone! EVERYONE wanted to go! But of course the problem was rides again...rides rides rides we need drivers and cars - so many people so little drivers.

We started out with just the old core group and thanks to the kindness and the love for God that G has, he brought the NJ heads all the way to Long Island - Bellerose Lanes. Good stuff G-rard!

I was bowling awesome that second game, but left two frames open in the 7th and the 8th...was on my way to a 200+ game but my score dropped b/c of that! Dang it!

Ok enough with the chatter, here are some pics and videos from last night
movie one ( 6.22MB )
movie two ( 4.87MB )
movie three ( 10.22MB )

+ mon

bowling one	bowling two
bowling three	bowling four
bowling five	bowling six
bowling seven	bowling eight
bowling nine	bowling nine
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bowling thirteen	bowling fourteen
bowling fifteen	bowling sixteen
bowling seventeen	bowling eighteen
bowling nineteen	bowling twenty
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bowling twenty three	bowling twenty four
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bowling twenty nine	bowling thirty
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bowling thirty five	bowling thirty six
bowling thirty seven	bowling thiry eight
bowling thirty nine	bowling fourty
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bowling fifty three	bowling fifty four
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bowling fifty seven	bowling fifty eight
bowling fifty nine	bowling sixty
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bowling sixty three	bowling sixty four
bowling sity five	bowling sixty six
bowling sixty seven	bowling sixty eight
bowling sixty nine	bowling seventy
bowling seventy one	bowling seventy two
bowling seventy three	bowling seventy four
bowling seventy five	bowling seventy six
bowling seventy seven	bowling seventy eight
bowling seventy nine	bowling eighty
bowling eighty one	bowling eighty two
bowling eighty three	bowling eighty four
bowling eighty five	bowling eighty six
bowling eighty seven	bowling eighty eight
bowling eighty nine	bowling ninety
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bowling ninety three	bowling ninety four
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bowling hundred eleven	bowling hundred twelve
bowling hundred thirteen

Thanksgiving weekend + Youth Vigil = no rides!!!

Man what a Friday! LoL usually we have a lot of rides, the adults help us out a lot. There were a lot of new grads from class fourty three that wanted to go to Vigil, but couldn't go because the ride situation was just non existant! A few of the grads wanted to go but their parents said they couldn't because it was too late already. Some of the others were on vacation or with their families for the weekend or had family over.

But it's all graaaavy! Maybe next time we'll be able to bring all those who want to go - man we even prepared a lot of food for you guys! I've noticed that the food at Vigil when it's youth sponsored has gone from a little to so freakin' much food!

Well there were about 7 or 8 new grads there that showed up with a few non grads too, along with the "old" youth. It was a good turnout considering all the things I said above.

Some people had to leave early so they didn't get to join the Saltine Challenge! What is the Saltine Challenge you ask!? It's the challenge of eating 6 saltine crackers in 60 seconds. Think you can do it?! Bring it on foo! This is how you NOT do it! ( 42.6MB )

The Vigil went well, after everyone had to go home there were about 10 of us that were left. We just talked about things and whatever was on our mind for a few hours and talked about some problems we had. We also made a list of things we wanted to do as a group, bowling, skiing, Marian Retreat, Panawagan Retreat - we'll let you guys know when this stuff is gonna go down

There was some good sharings and good bonding at Vigil again this past Friday hopefully next time all the youth that want to go can come through.

Here are some pics that I took at Vigil (yes my dad's new cam has become one of my obsessions!) Woops forgot to resize some of the pics! Some of the pics are blurry since I was trying to get used to the cam - sorry, enjoy

+ mon

vigil one	vigil two
vigil three	vigil four
vigil five	vigil six
vigil seven	vigil eight
vigil nine	vigil ten
vigil eleven	vigil twelve
vigil thirteen	vigil fourteen
vigil fifteen	vigil sixteen
vigil seventeen	vigil eighteen
vigil nineteen	vigil twenty
vigil twenty one	vigil twenty two
vigil twenty three	vigil twenty four
vigil twenty five	vigil twenty six
vigil twenty seven	vigil twenty eight

We will be having Vigil at St. Rose in Rockaway beach tonight. It starts off with a Mass at 9:00pm and the closing will be at 5:00am in the morning. Those who cannot stay until 5:00am can leave earlier, some people leave as early as 11:00pm and so on.

If you're wondering what Vigil is, I'll give a little explanation about it.

Every 2nd and 4th Friday of the month we go to St. Rose of Lima who has the Blessed Sacrament exposed 24/7. We usually start things off with a Mass at around 9:00pm and then we take 30 minute shifts to pray in the chapel with the Blessed Sacrament. This is the time where you can talk to God one on one and just talk to Him.

Each person will select their time slot and they have to stay in Vigil until the next person comes in to relieve them. We can't leave the chapel empty.

While people are doing their Vigils, we have activities - sharings and other things that are planned.

Basically Vigil is a time where you can grow in your relationship with God on a personal level, and also get to know your BASIC (brothers and sisters in Christ).

This Friday (tonight) is youth sponsored, that means we are in charge of the food, drinks, etc. If anyone would like to volunteer to bring anything that would be great! Any questions or anything you need, just call me up (619) 253 6989. If you need a ride or need someone to talk to you parents about Vigil, just call me and we'll set something up.

Don't be scared to call me I don't bite - I'm really nice! Ask the other youth Hope to see you guys at Vigil tonight!

edit : attire is pretty much the same thing at the graduation for the retreat (white button down shirt with collar for guys / girls white blouse with white long skirt)

+ mon

break time one || break time two
break time three || break time four
break time five || break time six
break time seven || bro christian (hadjee)
after hours || ultreya one
ultreya two || ultreya three
ultreya four || ultreya five
ultreya six || ultreya seven
ultreya eight || ultreya nine
ultreya ten || ultreya eleven
ultreya twelve || ultreya thirteen
ultreya fourteen || ultreya fifteen
ultreya sixteen || ultreya seventeen
ultreya eighteen || ultreya nineteen
ultreya twenty || ultreya twenty one
ultreya twenty two || ultreya twenty three
ultreya twenty four || ultreya twenty five
ultreya twenty six

Here's a little slideshow that your brother Arvin prepared! If you don't know who Arvin is, it's the "free DJ" during the retreat

http://www.dragongstar.com/Class43.mov
(right click and save target as)

If you got pics post em up! We wanna see!

+ mon

Ok this might be a little stretch for some people but for me, this was divine intervention.

My credit/debit card is broken from overusage, so I can't get any money out from my account until my new card comes in the mail. I used the last few dollars I had left to buy some plates and utensils yesterday for Ultreya.

I can't eat breakfast for 68+1 days because that was one of my sacrifices for each of the candidates of the retreat.

So I leave my house this morning and take $1.50 in quarters to work just so I can get some brownie or something. It gets to around 1:00pm and I'm hungry, like pass out hungry! And I need something a bit filling and not just junky to eat to keep my going until I get home.

I'm walking to the cafeteria, and I just mention to God how awesome it would be if I opened my wallet and found some money in there so I can get real food, I was just going to get a cookie or something.

Then something (or someone) tells me to open my wallet, so I did. Inside my wallet I look and there's no money, but then I flip through some papers and there's a folded dollar bill there! I was so happy because now I could buy a slice of pizza!

Man God is good...I was seriously starving and He hooked it up with another dollar so I can get something that would be filling!

I have learned from the years in the BNP, that when you serve Him with all your heart, He will look out for you and hook you up whenever you need it - be it tests, term papers, money to eat, or whatever, He will be there.

God is good - all the time

+ mon

This was the song that we played during the skit that portrayed evil all around us. Man I just saw the lyrics and didn't know they meant so much and was the perfect song for that skit

I spent a day by the river
It was quiet and the wind stood still
I spent some time with nature
To remind me of all that's real
It's funny how silence speaks sometimes when you're alone
And remember that you feel
It's funny how silence speaks sometimes when you're alone
And remember that you feel
Again I stand, Lord I stand, against the Faceless Man
Again I stand, Lord I stand, against the Faceless Man
Now I saw a face on the water
It looked humble but willing to fight
I saw the will of a warrior
His yoke is easy and His burden is light
He looked me right in the eyes
Direct and concise to remind me
To always do what's right
He looked me right in the eyes
Direct and concise to remind me
To always do what's right
Again I stand, Lord I stand, against the Faceless Man
Again I stand, Lord God I stand, against the Faceless Man
'Cause if the face inside can't see the light
I know I'll have to walk alone
And if I walk alone to the other side
I know I might not make it home
Again I stand, Lord I stand, against the Faceless Man
Again I stand, Lord I stand, against the Faceless Man
Next time I see this face
I'll say I choose to live for always
So won't you come inside And never go away
Next time I see this face
I'll say I choose to live for always
So won't you come inside And never go away
Again I stand, Lord I stand, against the Faceless Man
Again I stand, Lord I stand, against the Faceless Man
Again I stand, Lord I stand, against the Faceless Man.

+ mon

Just found out Alicia Keys worked here at my law firm Her mom worked here for about 14 years.

WoW so now I can be a singer! I have some glimmer of hope knowing she worked right here! Freakin' awesome...

+ mon

They always would tell us that the meaning of Ultreya was a spirtual banquet, but majority of the time I would never feel that it was. Tonight was a different story!

During the whole day today at work, I was just sitting there reading people's Xanga's and crying because I didn't realize that the retreat had such an impact on people. Then I was about to leave and my boss asks me if I want Knicks tickets for tonights game - I said no. Then he said to me that they are courtside tickets! Man!? Taning working or what!? Courtside tickets to the Knicks game on the night that the new grads are supposed to go to Ultreya! Well I chose "my kids." I guess I'm calling them my kids since I was chosen to be rector of their retreat, and I feel it's my responsibility to keep them here and on the right track.

But yeah it was definately a distraction, those Knicks tickets seemed mighty tempting! I went to Ultreya expecting maybe 10-20 new grads there and I was going to be happy. Ummm, yeah - we ended up with 50+ youth. No I didn't stutter! I said it - 50+ youth! There were 80+ people in total, but the youth was just crazy!

The entire Ultreya felt like a continuation of the graduation, it was freakin insane! Never before had I seen a bigger turnout than what I saw today. See it's not just about the number of people there, but what they shared!!! Good gosh man, I'm full of grace and I just keep getting more?! Where does it all go!? But the new grads sharings were really really touching and motivating. Makes me want to do so much more for them and the other youth!

One part of the Ultreya was the question and answer - Kuya Willie from Kali would answer he questions that were asked. Then someone asked about apostalating - and Kuya Willie opened the floor up to anyone who would like to share how they do it. You'll never guess who answered the question...a new grad! Yes a new grad did, not just one, but two! Two of them said how they apostalated! Man it was just so much grace!

I know we're on a "high" right now, but this aint going nowhere anytime soon. We're going to nurish this and make that seed grow.

So many things that Kuya Willie said were just awesome. Some I remember, some I took down, some I hope I'll remember later. But his words, his messages, his stories were just so inspiring and they were just so much great things to get from it! I remember I loved how Kuya Willie spoke back in the day and I always will. Here are some of the things he said tonight that I was able to remember:

-What is a BNP Graduate? A BNP Graduate is someone who is commited to God and serving His people.

-What is grace? Grace is the constant state of being in love.

-Saints are sinners that are willing to keep trying.

There are more that I will be adding as they come to me, now off to sleepland now - still haven't caught up on my sleep from the weekend

+ mon

Two days after the retreat, I just want to go back to the campsite and linger in all the retreat memories. I was talking to Diday and Dudoy last night and we were saying how we just want to go back there, even if the retreat is over and just stay there with the youth!

But it's back to the real world now - school, work.

It sucks, but now we have some more tools added to fight the temptations and the trials that we will be going through each day. We know we have our BASIC and God right there whenever we need them.

Maybe this time the grace can be kept just a little longer and we can keep it going for a longer time! Plans, plans, plans - we need to get things together for this weekend so we can all share!

+ mon

Two 300 word posts back to back?! Exactly 300 words, how crazy is that shiz! Ok I'm still on my retreat high and am buggin out

+ mon

Onward and upward! To infinity and beyond! Time to get activities started, even during the little break since it's the Holidays and New Years is coming up! This is usually where everyone just chills out and things die down. This time we're going to do something about it.

That fire will keep it's light, that fire will burn. We will not back down, we will not slow down, we will not let this get away from us this time.

They say that it's the rectors responsibility to carry the class - but I think the responsibility comes long after the retreat is over. We need to focus and work on the new grads, they are fresh, and as Kuya Willie said, they are fragile, they are still under construction. So we have to nurture that seed that God planted in them. We have to let all the fear go and trust in Him.

We will not let these kids go this time, anything and everything is what we will be doing to get things on point!

I've read a lot of their xanga's and one of the main things that I've seen is "I hope we have this feeling for a while and it doesn't wear off!" - those words alone are enough to just make you want to work super hard for these kids! They needed this weekend, we needed this weekend. Now that the weekend is over and done with, we need each other.

The NyC/NJ youth is blowing up and there's no time to slack anymore, full speed from here on out and we will pick up anyone who falls in the process. God is in all of us and we have to show it to the world - live each day as if it were a retreat.

+ mon

Onward and upward! To infinity and beyond! Time to get activities started, even during the little break since it's the Holidays and New Years is coming up! This is usually where everyone just chills out and things die down. This time we're going to do something about it.

That fire will keep it's light, that fire will burn. We will not back down, we will not slow down, we will not let this get away from us this time.

They say that it's the rectors responsibility to carry the class - but I think the responsibility comes long after the retreat is over. We need to focus and work on the new grads, they are fresh, and as Kuya Willie said, they are fragile, they are still under construction. So we have to nurture that seed that God planted in them. We have to let all the fear go and trust in Him.

We will not let these kids go this time, anything and everything is what we will be doing to get things on point!

I've read a lot of their xanga's and one of the main things that I've seen is "I hope we have this feeling for a while and it doesn't wear off!" - those words alone are enough to just make you want to work super hard for these kids! They needed this weekend, we needed this weekend. Now that the weekend is over and done with, we need each other.

The NyC/NJ youth is blowing up and there's no time to slack anymore, full speed from here on out and we will pick up anyone who falls in the process. God is in all of us and we have to show it to the world - live each day as if it were a retreat.

+ mon

Thank you to all the servers who were able to serve this retreat and also to those who were not able to make it but joined us in the preparation and in prayer

All the sacrifices and everything you've done for this retreat helped out a lot. You guys worked hard and pushed for this soooo much.

I can truly say that this is the first NyC retreat that I have seen the love of God just flowing through you guys with no reservation! We all had our moments of being distracted, but in the end we all came out focused and on top of our service.

Seeing everyone there from the new servers, to the old OG servers was just sooo freakin' inspiring! There have been times where I have questioned, why we still do this, if we can't even keep the old ones - and I saw it in this retreat. No matter how far you are, or how long you haven't been to BNP, the love and grace you felt that weekend from God that weekend of your retreat will never be forgotten.

It was evident when I saw a lot of old grads in the back during graduation! Adrian, Heidi, Jedap (spelling!?), Ronnie, Jiggy, Carlo, Agnes and so many more! It was a great surprise seeing everyone there and just pumped to share their love!

Thank you Youth Worldwide for making this retreat as special as it is. Thanks for igniting that fire that was dormant in a lot of us for so long!

You guys inspire me, you guys motivate me and are true examples of soldiers and servers of God. I am happy to be walking side by side with all of you to His kindgom.

We are marching in the light of God.

+ mon

Where to begin?! Well I woke up this morning after the weekends of weekends after 3 hours late for work - I had left a message for my supervisor earlier at 4am to let him know that I just got back from the retreat and that I'm going to be a little late.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!FLASHBACK!!!!!!!!!!!!
-------------------
FRIDAY NIGHT
-------------------

Ready, go go go
I got home early from work and try to take care of things, clean up, get ready for the retreat, pick up the van from Tita Jane, pack, cut my hair, all that good stuff.

I picked up the van and took it to the carwash to get it cleaned just a little bit. Funny thing was that it only had one row of seats, which worked out b/c there were a lot of "things" that the candidates brought.

So I get home, and start getting ready, cut my hair, pack, iron my clothes and get dressed. I was nervous like a mofo! Scared, nervous, anxious, everything and anything possible, I was feeling it.

Get done cutting the hair and was talking to Dudoy and Diday before we were going to leave. They both seemed a bit bummed out because their candidates backed out - all of Dudoys and Diday only had one left out of so many. I saw the sadness in their face because their friends started making up excuses and things came up so they wouldn't go anymore.

I was supposed to leave at 7 to pick up Ted's candidates at his job around 7:30ish. We went downstairs around 7 to 7:30 and I was waiting for Em because there were 8 candidates we had to pick up and we needed another van to fit them in! So I waited around for another hour and a half before I left to go since Em went to confession and was still getting the van.

Waited around outside with the kids, Kuya Noli and them were loading some things so I helped a bit. Kuya Willie was also there so we chit chatted for a while too . A few of Diday's friends come in front of the house and just hang out, these were some of the ones who backed out already. So after a little while of talking, they go and get their stuff from their house and I saw Diday and Dudoy's faces when their friends decided to go again! They were so happy and had that little sparkle in their eye.

Some of the NyC Youth came back with the Kali Youth from confession and we were just waiting around for a while until Em got the van. Ted was calling me like crazy asking me what time I was going to come by and pick them up.

So I finally left around 8pm from Ridgewood to go pick them up, and I took some of the servers things with me since there was a lot of room for their bags. I went to gas up on the way there, got back in the van and man I swear the other side was trying hard to throw me off course, I'd later figure out why the other side was working so hard to mess this retreat up.

Bring it on!
After gasing up and driving about a block from the gas station and I'm sitting on my jacket, so it's hard to steer. I try pulling out the jacket from under my leg and I didn't pull that hard but then I heard a pop on the right side of my body - I couldn't feel my arm and my right side went numb! Then I had this horrible pain shoot down my arm and all through the right side of my body. I pulled over to just relax and let the pain go away. Sat there for about five minutes in one of the most painful things I've ever experienced! I thought it was just going to go away, but after 5 minutes it didn't, I started to panic just a little bit. All the times when I talked to G bout heart-attacks, he said that you'd get numb in your arms, and I thought I was having a heart attack or a stroke! Seriously, I thought I was going to die before I even made it close to the retreat. I laid there for a bit, then I call my brother to come get me, but he's already on the bridge, then I call Mark up to help me out, when I called him he sounded really worried when I told him what happened, and said the same thing that I was thinking - "man tanings working hard man." After a minute on the phone with mark, the pain subsided, but I couldn't move my arm much - still a bit numb and really really weak.

I drive over to Ted's place and wait for Em. I told Em that I can't drive and that Ashely (from Kali) would need to drive the van. It was a pretty scary thing to happen before the retreat, thinking you're about to die with no one around.

So I get to the place and I meet all of Ted's candidates and we just wait around for a bit - Ted's "kids" seemed pretty well behaved so that was a plus

We have arrived
Em, Carla and Ashley get there and Ash drives the van, so we're off to the actual retreat place. We got in at about 10 to 10:30pm.

OMG - we walked into the main hall and saw all these people! There were just soooooo many people there! Candidates, servers, whomever, it was just packed. Almost brought a tear to my eye when I looked over and I saw all the bags on the floor because I knew they were candidates' bags! Back on Tuesday, the last count was 57 confirmed - then by Friday afternoon, I find out that about 20 people had backed out, so that leaves around 37 confirmed now. Was a bit worried, and had some concerns but hope and faith still prevailed.

The servers were doing their jobs, we were getting things ready for the candidates, Ricardo was freaking out about being 1VR, and shing was too about being 2VR, especially since there was a lot more candidates than we would have ever expected! The count of candidates there at the retreat that night was 65 with more to come.

We waited up a bit and talked, got things ready, planning some things, and 4 more candidates showed up, making the total count of candidates 68+1! Yes that's right we have that many candidates! It was freakin' insane - the biggest youth retreat in NyC!

SATURDAY

Opening
The Rectors were scared about what they were going to say, what to do and everything else the Rectors were supposed to do. The other youth did their duties and we saw all the candidates on Saturday morning and, well like any other retreat, they just seemed to just wanna go home and forget the whole thing. We did our best to welcome them - when they were being introduced, we screamed and yelled each one of their names as if we've known them for years and years. A lot of us lose our voice that morning hAhAha. Our opening presentation was Siya Hamba and we sang it well but the way we did it just wasn't working since we tried something new and didn't practice .

Intimacy!
Saturday went on as planned, everything was "alright," with the candidates being bored out of their mind. Yikes, during the breaks it was hard to keep the "kids" under control because there was such a huge age gap in the candidates, 13 - 27. There were a few couples there and they were pretty much all up on each other, some of them actually making out and kissing! Yes folks, as soon as they walked out the front door for break, LIP-LOCK! SMOOCHES! MUAH!

Operation Third Wheel
Servers were still intimidated, even though we were older, we were still a bit "scared." Eventually we had come to a solution that if we see the candidates coupling up, we would take action and put into action operation third wheel (OTW). This is where one of the servers would go in between the couple and just start talking to them and make them feel as uncomfortable as ever so the "intimacy" level is dropped way beyond comprehension! At first no one was doing it, still scared.

Good ol' Stephanie
I saw this couple holding hands, and I turned the other way to see if there were any servers around, I turn back quick to the candidates, and I see Stephanie - yes, little, quiet, Stephanie - going up to them and talking to them! The couple tries to walk away to a more secluded area where there was a bridge - I was still trippin' on the fact that Stephanie of all people put OTW into effect! She followed the couple down to the bridge! Was standing right next to them and just talking, and talking, and talking - making things as unromantic as possible! She did a great job putting OTW into play!

Piety
The rolios continued, then came the Piety - O o O o O o o o yes here we go! Ate Janice from Bay Area did Piety. The servers were there listening outside of the rolio room and we shed a few tears when it got serious. The candidates, you could hear the sniffles, and the cries - they were starting to open up and let God into their lives, bit by bit.

The servers were pretty much composed, but then...Ate Janice says "...and the Staff and the servers! You've made so many promises..." and we just start balling like no tomorrow! I can't even remember what came after "promises" because it got really loud. The power with which she spoke, the love that flowed with her words, hit the candidates, hit the servers, and anyone that could hear her speak. It was so powerful, having the Holy Spirit in you can help you accomplish anything. Everyone started to open up here, people were talking more, emotionally they were able to let out whatever was in their hearts, whatever they were keeping, they were able to let some of it go - ask God for forgiveness, talk to Him, see Him, be with Him.

Mass and Confession, and Practice
After the Piety, we continued with the rolios and then had Mass and Confession. OMG I almost forgot one of the things that we had to do...PALANKAS!!! The Rectors had to do 69, each! Oh man, and all this was due at 3pm. There was no way I was going to be able to do that, Ricardo and Shing were able to do theirs, but I was writing personal messages to everyone and was only able to do about 29 of them. Man did my hand hurt...

The candidates then went to their rooms after the M & C. The servers stayed down to practice for Mananita and get ready for Social Hour. While we were practicing, we started noticing a change in one of our servers. Don is his name...at around 8:00pm he will undergo this transformation! He starts buggin' out! Yelling, being sooo energetic and so loud! LoL hAHHAhAhhahahAha while we were practicing for Social Hour, Don was there and they were asking if we should do one more practice. Don started yelling to practice "one more time, one more time!"

The skit that we were going to do was something that the Kali people helped us a lot with. It was to help portray the evil in the world and how it's all around us. But with God by our side we have the power to lay down the evil in this world. Jan from Bay Area was the regular guy, Eser from Maryland played Jesus, and the rest of the youth played all the evils.

At first I didn't think the skit was going to be effective, I thought it was kinda lame and weird - the other side was getting to me. I fought it off and saw the deeper meaning in the skit, I saw the portrayal of the different aspects of life and saw the power that comes with and from God.

Every freakin' retreat!
We headed back to the cabins to get some rest after the practices. We learned that some of the guys snuck out and were caught by the girls cabin! loL! hAhHAa great story on how this happened, that we can laugh at now since the retreat finished . Three guys went down to the girls cabin, there they knocked on the window to get some girls to come out, but they knocked on the wrong window! So the girl next to the window screamed, LOUD! And started yelling that there was a ghost in the window! Tita Naty told her to sleep and that there's nothing there, but she insisted that there was something there! So they went to check and the three guys were caught, Kuya Ed (assigned to security) was flashing the flash light on them as if they were criminals!

Focus
After we learned about that, we talked to the servers to focus on the retreat again, and stop playing around since the candidates aren't all there yet, they haven't all opened up. We did a little sharing that night, I fell asleep after a few minutes, but everyone else was sharing good stuff, and people were actually lisenting! I knocked out with Archie talking to be the last thing I remember.

SUNDAY

Good Morning!
Sunday started off early with Mananita and this wasn't the best Mananita that we've done, we were so capable of doing more. It seemed that everyone wasn't singing or really awake enough to do it, but nontheless God was there. One of the candidates didn't want to wake up, so GB pushed his head into the cross to make him "kiss" it - hAhaha.

We can DANCE and SING!
We headed on downstairs after everyone got ready and got breakfast set. Singing cooks and waiters was on the menu! OMG some of these costumes were just too freakin' funny! hAhAhHahaa one of the best ones was Teds! hhahahahhahA - oh man I'll post these pictures as soon as I get them from arvin lol it was just too funny!

Go Jason it's your Birthday! Shake what Yo Mama Gave yA!
It was one of the candidates birthdays and I forgot about it, so we weren't able to get him a cake! We made this little "cake" just to sing a little happy birthday to him for breakfast - nicely toasted pan-de-sal surrounded by drizzled sweetened tomato paste, accented with slices of sausages from vienna, topped with chocolate covered in a colored crunchy shell amongst the sweetened tomato paste, with a candle and four elegantly decorated accessories added to the pan-de-sal. Lol AhhahAhahaa

Do a "Stephanie" on them couples!
After breakfast, they had a little break and OTW was taking effect, the couples couldn't get couply anymore since there was always another person there, and the servers weren't scared as much.

Boys vs Girls
Then we got ready for Social Hour and got the candidates ready. Once we told them about it, they started practicing their dance moves, singing, breaking and all that good stuff. You could see the excitement and the energy level raise from the opening on Satuday to the Social Hour, some of the candidates were into it a little more now. We sorta did "guys vs girls" and they were singing, dancing, some of them even showed a couple of line dances. Don gave some flowers and shimmy'd a few of the guys that were singing! hahAha, freakin Don!

Bring it back a bit...
Then we slowed down a bit when we did the skit, it was really really powerful! The song by Creed, Faceless Man went perfectly with it. Evil is all around us, it doesn't have a face and it can be anything or anyone around, evil can take any form, and this skit really helped portray that.

You could slowly see the candidates start to open themselves up to God and just let Him do His work, little by little. It didn't have to be a full acceptance, but just as long as they knew He was there, just as long as they knew that He existed in their lives and will never leave them alone no matter how bad things get.

It's done...err...it has JUST begun
Then it all came out when I saw the candidates, errr, graduates come out at the Graduation! OMG just like Shing said later to me, it felt like a fiesta! Everyone was just so into it, the floor was shaking, it was loud, it was so powerful to hear them all, new grads and servers alike!

Words of Sis. Grace De Jesus: I'm not done yet...

+ mon

Ummm yeah. Just found out who the "top three" are and this is who they are from the 2nd vice up:

Ricardo Tingson
Anne Ramos
Simon Raymundo

OMG...after all the jokes to other people about them being rector, and even that emil joke last night - I'm the freaking rector. WoW, so surprised - God works in mysterious ways.

Right now I'm happy and nervous. No matter how many times you get up in front of people to talk, it never gets any easier! hAhA I can see my hands shaking while I type this.

SOoooOo yeah, I'll post some more after the weekend is done. Man this is going to be one heck of a ride.

GoooOooOoO Class Fourty Three!

+ mon

For sometime now I have seen the NyC youth go from strong to almost nonexistant. I seriously had doubts about this retreat coming up next weekend...wasn't sure if it was going to go through or not. And I really didn't care that much since I had my own problems to deal with.

The novenas we've been having have just been awesome! 12+ people are always there. It's a great thing seeing the youth like this, striving, growing and just being together again.

We had vigil on Friday, it was the mandatory vigil for servers. We sent out texts and called people to come to the vigil. The youth also found out a bit late that it was youth sponsored! But we got our things together and were able bring food/drinks and all that good stuff for the vigil.

But WoW! I would have never expected vigil to be that awesome! What I expected was just a regular vigil, opening, briefing and maybe a little chit chat here and there. Boy was I in for a surprise.

The night started out running a bit late since it was raining and I was picking people up. We got to vigil at about 9:30 instead of 9 as scheduled. But there wasn't any mass b/c Father Peter wasn't feeling well. So we opened the vigil and well there was an awesome turnout from the youth! We had 23 youth there! It was freakin off the hook! The numbers weren't the only thing that was great about vigil - everyone was actually into the preparation for the retreat! We were getting our opening song ready, people were singing, people were looking up the lyrics online and it was just great to see the youth participating! That's something that I have never seen before. G, Jen and Jessica weren't able to make it b/c of some last minute problems that came up. After we practiced for the song and did our novena, Kristelle and Mark wanted to do some sort of sharing, they have been for the past few weeks but we were just not able to b/c there was other things going on at the time. We all went to the other room and practiced our songs for another hour or two and did a few kewl things to them siya hamba!

It was so much fun practicing the songs and singing it together, people were actually into the whole thing. Then I told Mark to set off the sharing and get things started. So he asks everyone how they felt about the retreat, why they are serving and all that. We were waiting for someone to just start talking, but no one did, sooooo they volunteered me. It was just great talking to the youth and bringing up some issues that we know people were having. The youth really opened up to each other there! Even if not everyone spoke, we still know that they were listening, new servers, non actives were attentive. People talked about their problems, people gave them solutions, we were really interacting with each other! I remember when I shared about the experience at my retreat, the two new grads and first time servers, this is the first time we've seen them ever since the retreat, they were sooo attentive and their eyes lit up and I talked about Mahal Na Ingkong! I was on the verge of tears for the most part of that vigil.

It was just an amazing and inspiring thing that happened at this vigil. I see it as a revival of the NyC Youth. This time I will not be letting go of that rope that we're all hanging onto now...

+ mon

I remember talking to Shing and telling her that whether we have this retreat or not, I think that something great has been accomplished here. The youth of NyC was once sleeping, dead if you will - but the preps for this retreat have brought everyone back together, working, striving, prayer, loving together. Regardless of if this retreat goes through or not, I believe that something awesome has happened here.

The NyC Youth have been revived, the life of the Lord has been put back into our hearts. The love that we so longed for is everywhere! The grace that we didn't have, is not just overflowing from our souls!

Bottomline, this retreat is...was an awakening for the NyC Youth. You can call us the sleeping giant, and we have now been awakened! The purpose has been served, and should this push through, the blessings will be ten fold for all those involved.

Ahhh I can't wait for this weekend coming up

+ mon

I think we really started preparing for this retreat when we started Novena last Tuesday. Ever since then, it's been preparation, preparation, and more prep for the retreat. It's really great doing the preparations and just getting everything together, getting the youth together.

After that vigil, I thought nothing would be able to top that off - but I was wrong. Satruday after the vigil, we planned for a seven church visitation in the city and confession too. Not many people said they would be going when we asked them at vigil. So come Saturday afternoon, I left for the city and went to Hunter College, where we were all meeting up - this was something that just popped into my head when someone asked where to meet up. Everyone was running on Filipino time. I was there for a while by myself and waited for Mark, JC, Em, Arvin, Ricard, and Shing.

I sat in my old spots of the comfy Hunter couches...there was this filipina chick sitting two away from me and I wanted to ask her to the retreat but was still my scared, timid self. So Mark and JC come, and I see Mark staring at this girl as he's walking towards me. I thought he was just checking out the girl, but apparently it's Kristelle's friend. Mark says hi, and JC sees another friend and says what's up to him. It was such a "coincidence" that all these people they knew were here at Hunter and we just happened to meet here - devine intervention, I think

So Kristelle's friend tells us that there's a flip club meeting downstairs. This was the perfect opportunity to get more candidates! We went down there but they told us to come back after the meeting was done. It was getting late, and we waited for the other guys to show up, Shing finally got there at 6:30pm (hour and a half late!). So we start doing our church visitation and it's freeeezing! All the churches we went to were closed, so we just prayed outside. Another "coincidence" was that there were only seven of us, and we had seven churches to visit - coincidence? I think not.

We did our prayers outside, where people would pass by us - I thought everyone would be "shy" or quiet in their prayers so they don't get embarassed. But it was totally the opposite! We were loud, some of us kneeled on the sidewalks! Everyone volunteered to lead when we got to a church, we never had to ask anyone!

The night was just awesome, how we bonded and how we all stepped up and weren't scared of anything that night!

Tonight, the seven church visitation in NJ...I was getting lazy and didn't want to go, but I went anyways and most of us from yesterday went with the exception of a few. We met up in NJ and this was also a great experience to be with everyone from NJ and see people we haven't seen in a while - Don, Marvin, Michael and Jessica. It was just amazing how things fall into place when you let God take the wheel and let Him drive.

We ended up going to Jessica's house to do the Rosary, since she couldn't join us for the church visitation b/c she had to study. We all went to the final church together and she led the prayer which was really nice.

The preparations for the retreat are just amazing this time around, I have never seen the youth in NyC this strong and so much full of fire ever! If this retreat isn't going to happen, we're not going down without a fight - we'll pray our little hearts out.

+ mon

Ahhh felt good last night to see all the youth there doing novena we did this little underground thing.

For a while the youth here in NyC haven't been on the same page and have had different priorities - be it clubbing, drinking, card games, boyfriends/girlfriends, work, school or anything else that would detract them from BNP functions.

I've been sitting back and letting things happen, I want people to step up a little bit and take some more incentive and some more responsibility. At first it didn't seem that way, seemed like maybe one or two would step up - Em and Carla, they would always volunteer to cook food is good mmMmmM. But as time went by and the retreat drew closer I noticed that other people stepped up, and I could see the fire in some people again. I could see that they really wanted this retreat, not just needed it.

Gerard is doing his thing on his limited schedule. Mark is doing his thing now which is something that we've been waiting on for years now . I can see Arvin's "fire" as he wants the youth to bond with each other before this retreat. The younger youth, Diday, Dudoy and Emil are the ones who have the most candidates for this retreat, who knows maybe all three of them will be the rectors!

Last night was a last minute organization of doing novena together. A few of the youth have talked to me and told me they aren't feeling the grace and don't want to serve because of some factors, namely some things certain adults did or said.

I wanted to just sit back and relax and let everyone else do the work for this retreat. I wanted everyone to be able to stand on their own two feet and make this retreat happen without me pushing or without me planning something. I wanted Mark to plan something, I wanted G to plan something, I wanted anyone to plan something to get things going.

I guess it's pressure time and I saw a need for a little activity such as last night. The adults had setup the buddy system to do Novena, where you are paired with one of the adults and they will call you each night of Novena to remind you to do the Novena. That's all fine and dandy but I think we need much more than that for this retreat to push through.

So last night we planned to have the youth just meet up and hang out at Mark's house. It wasn't an official BNP activity, just hang out and eat, talk, and perhaps do the Novena together .

Of course the plan from the getgo was to do Novena together and just solidify everyone as one. I wasn't expecting a lot of people to go but surprisingly 14 youth showed up . Jerry, Lourdes, Em, Emilie, Richard, Diday, Dudoy, Emil, Mark, Kristelle, Arvin, Shing, JC, and me.

But it felt great having everyone show up and we decided as a group that the buddy system is not for us and we need to do this on a nightly basis, Novena together as a group. So hopefully this is a giant step forward to getting things together for this retreat. I know it's last minute and it's a week and a half away from the retreat, but it's better late than never.

I had doubts about the reteat just last Friday, but from the turnout last night, I feel a surge from the NyC Youth coming on.

At this point in my life and my situation, this is something that will keep me hanging on. I almost let go of everything and everyone, including Him because of everything. But last night was an inspiration and a motivating factor to keep me striving and going.

I think that this retreat will push through, if not, well at least the youth has gotten back together because of it. There's a reason for everything, and I know that the reason for this retreat, go or no go, is to bring the NyC Youth back on track.

+ mon