Today was a beautiful day. Everyday is - but today especially. I started it off early. By 6am was off the church with Mama, Lola Riting and Auntie Melit. The mass was in Bicol, but I got the gospel and the homily. And it hit home. In a good way. Spending time with the Blessed Sacrament was amazing too. It's been a while. Much to pray for. Much to discern. I could have spent the whole day there really. But that would have been escaping.
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Everybody in the work knows that it is anything but easy. Anything that deals with people is hard. Everything that deals with change is difficult. But sometimes there are moments when it becomes so difficult that whatever pains you feel, makes you forget why you're doing it in the first place. Buti nalang these are just moments. Short-lived. But they come back. And you just have to fight them. And pray they go away.
The afternoon brought me back to reality quite quick. It made me remember - and not just remembering based on distant memories - but remembering because of fresh stories, because of new faces all experiencing the classic tale of love.
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Karl sent 12 French interns our way about two weeks ago. They are 20-21 years old, all highly intellectual, passionate and determined to make a difference in the communities that they will make their home. They were divided into teams - 4 interns in 3 different sites: Bibirao, Libmanan and Balatas. They were assigned to get to know the communities, the families, the people in their neighborhood. They were told to seek the opportunities present in their home villages. And propose a social enterprise that can make the community sustainable. They were to spent two weeks at the village, then spend another week enjoying the other sites, sharing their different experiences and just relaxing.
Relax was not part of their vocabulary. They wanted to work. They wanted to be useful. They wanted to help.
Mama and I were on our way home from GK Ocampo when we received a call from Angel. The four kids were there at the GK office. They wanted to talk to someone. They had some concerns. My Gad. I was thinking of only the worst things.
Their concern was their stay was too short. They wanted to extend their trip. They wanted to spend more time with their families, with their friends. They wanted to be able to work on their Pili Candy business, their English lessons with the community and motivate them to clean their village more. No CWC please, no shopping, no resting. There is work to be done, they say.
They stay at a village that has never had foreign guests. They stay at a village that has problem upon problem. They stay at a site that is not as beautiful as Libmanan, nor as strong as Taguig. They stay at an ordinary village - and they've fallen in love.
It is such strong affirmation that the work truly is so good. That our ordinary is really extra-ordinary. And so many people see it.
The rain was strong and the clouds dense. I asked God for a peek - that I may see it again too. I got a panoramic view.
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