"Let's Hang Out!"

The 14 students of the Institute of Formation, Fondacio Asia (IFF Asia) who come from Malaysia, Myanmar, Laos, China, and the Philippines facilitated a club to 19 teenagers and 20 children of Santuario de San Vicente de Paul in Tandang Sora, Quezon City last August 14, 2010 from 9 am to 12 noon with the theme: “Let’s Hang Out!” A club is a Fondacio youth activity with different components including fun, food, learning and prayer. It was a fun-filled day for both the students of IFF Asia and the children and youth of Santuario. The club will be a monthly activity at Santuario and the next one will be held on September 18, 2010. The students are hopeful to have more youth attending this activity as it will help the youth to meet new friends, have fun, learn more about things that interest them and pray with others.

Bel Castillo
IFFAsia staff

Word of the Month (August 2010)

Luke 14: 1, 7-14


On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the sabbath, they were watching him closely.

When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable. "When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host; and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, 'Give this person your place,' and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, 'Friend, move up higher'; then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted."

He said also to the one who had invited him, "When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invited your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."

China Summer Camp: Random Reflections

Participants to the recently held youth camp in China last July 20 - 31 share their thoughts and reflections on significant moments during the event.

Building Up the Chinese Youth

"This summer camp’s organizational scale and its effects would definitely benefit our country. I have always had this desire “to go on a pilgrimage” and through this camp, it is realized today.

Last July 20, filled with happiness, I boarded the bus for the venue and arriving there, I admired the place and felt so much at home. All the members of the service team, brimming with brilliant smiles, were welcoming the arrival of each participant. Their warmth, patience and attentive serving us took away our initial unfamiliarity. In this extremely friendly environment, I also blended with this group which exuded with Christ’s life and love.

This camp certainly helped so many young people’s faith and love to be nurtured further. Hopefully one day, it will lead the Chinese youth to the Lord allowing them to spread out in every corner and share the Lord’s love and fragrance with others."

Washing Each Other’s Feet

"This afternoon, the group dynamics on the “washing of the feet” touched me deeply. I didn’t have much predominant feelings within as I wash other people’s feet, but when it was the turn for the other person to wash my feet, I really didn’t relish it. In my daily life, the impression of not having the pardon of the Lord and that of my fellow brothers and sisters surface within me. Have I the virtue or the capability to allow others to wash my feet? As I watch my fellow brothers and sisters washing the feet of the others, I think of the future - of how I can use my heart to love and transform each brother, and also at the same time have much hope for my community to be like a devoted and loving big family.

Today, I surrender myself to wash the feet of the other, but tomorrow when I return home, can I wash the feet of my parents? Even though I think of allowing my love to be expressed, the gap between my parents and myself does not allow me to express it!

In this community I let go of myself, becoming a devoted and a loving family member, and tomorrow I take this kind of love to the big group, to my own family and to the whole society. For the moment, I hope that each one of us brothers and sisters, upon returning home, can seriously at least once wash the feet of our own parents."

Related story: Fondacio Asia Conducts Summer Camp in China

Everyday-Life Cooking

I still remember the first time I cooked in the restaurant that I was working in. I was very worried because I didn’t have the experience. I prepared the salad, mixed everything and made it presentable, and then I tasted it. Oh, wow, it tasted good! That was the first time I discovered that I can cook. I had been working in the restaurant since my first year in the University to help finance my studies. I started as a waiter and then after only one month, I was given the chance to be a cook when the assigned cook got sick, and I volunteered to be pan assistant cook because no one else wanted to. Thus, I started my journey into cooking.

Today, I am a student at IFFAsia, and I have a big responsibility to my classmates. My task is to prepare the menu and estimate how much we need to cook. I am very happy every time I cook and see the smile on their faces when they eat my food. Every time I cook, I remember my family, because I give joy to them. In my family, everybody cooks together and helps each other to prepare the food. After, all of us join to eat together. My mother motivates me to cook for each other. She said, “Learn how to cook and have more patience because wherever you go, people will LOVE you if you know how to cook and you know how to be a servant for food.” Yes, it is true that my skill in cooking helps so that others can build their trust in me.

Cooking is part of my life. Whether I feel happy or sad, I just cook. I want to make others happy through cooking; it defines my service to people. Since I am a flexible person, I act depending on my environment. My life is just like the food I cook. It will taste depending on how I want it to be; but it doesn’t always taste good. In life, I sometimes struggle and it doesn’t go my way; but I try to find ways to make it better.

In relation to God, cooking is an act of giving love. Every time someone cooks, his goal is to make another person happy. This is also one of the characteristics of God. He makes our life happy. Cooking is a way of sharing one’s talents with others; similarly, God shares himself with everyone through his son.

We can see God in our everyday life, no matter how ordinary it may be to others. So, if you want to eat, I can share my time with you and cook for you. 

Sonesacksith Solaphong (Baow)
(Baow, 25 years old, comes from Laos. He is a civil engineering graduate. Before coming to IFFAsia, he was serving actively in the youth ministry of his diocese.)

Encountering the Forgotten God of the Trinity

“Since I was a child, I had always been happy whenever I received gifts; there’s always a joy in my heart which brings a genuine and vibrant smile of thanksgiving for those who gave me the gifts. However, when I grew up, I began to think that maybe it’s time that I be the one to give gifts rather than receive or ask for them. But, I deeply realized that even when I was still in my mother’s womb I already received a very precious gift from my Father, a gift that was waiting to be accepted and unwrapped - the gift of life and love.”

Last July 17-18, 2010, a Life in the Spirit Session was conducted for the students, interns and staff of Institute of Formation, Fondacio Asia (IFFAsia). It was animated by members of Fondacio Philippines. The session was an empowering and assuring weekend; it was an encounter with the forgotten God of the Trinity – the Holy Spirit. It helped me to reveal this beautiful gift of life and love from Christ Jesus and allowed me to experience the unconditional love of God through the Holy Spirit. During the session when we had our solitude, we reflected on three parables in the Gospel of Luke, which talks about how much God loves us. Pondering most especially on the parable of the prodigal son, I received this message, “I will always carry you in my heart. I love you as you are and I will never stop showing and letting you feel how much I love you.” It really assures me in my personal journey today.

I believe it is true when Manny San Luis, of Fondacio Philippines, said, “Real transformation can only happen in our lives when we allow the Holy Spirit to lead us.” That is, when we don’t fill our emptiness with worldly things that surround us, and instead allow ourselves to be open to the stirrings of the Holy Spirit that is in us and let Him be the one to fill our emptiness and brokenness. He added that in every person there are two wolves, the black and the white, that always fight within us, and then he asked, “Which of those two wolves do you think will win?”, which he also answered, “the one you are feeding is the one who’s going to win.”

He describes the Holy Spirit, the God in us, by using imagery of Milo, a chocolate drink. When we prepare a cup of Milo and just put hot water without properly stirring it, the tendency is that it just settles at the bottom of the cup. Similarly, when we receive the Holy Spirit, but don’t allow Him to lead us or become part of our lives, He gets stuck in the very core of our lives, waiting to be stirred and consulted.

Through the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and the process of allowing the Spirit to pray in my behalf, using my body in praising God, it touches the very core of my being which makes me say that I am truly a child of God.

Rod Babiera
(Rod, 21 year-old Filipino, belonged to Batch 2009-2010 of Basic Formation at IFFAsia. He is currently undergoing a 2-year internship program at the Institute.)