Deehan's Pensieve

The Official Logo of the INC Unity Games

I'm watching this tick nearer and I am thrilled beyond words. After endlessly sitting bolt upright for my lessons, I see this event as a VERY timely escape. Oh! I have to sound a note of caution here. I'm not saying I'll play . I'm saying I'll be just watching . I'm sure I'll have a whole lot of fun and more!



The main goal of this sporting event is to to foster camaraderie among members of the Church of Christ.The Regional INC Unity Games in my area will be by Friday ( and it's already Wednesday now..and I can't stop thinking about it) and it will be a reunion of the members from Davao Oriental,Davao Norte,Davao del Sur and our district as the host district - Davao West will surely be very busy! This is the third year that the church has been doing this with 19 regional venues and 94 participating districts all around Philippines.This also done in districts outside the Philippines.However, I think this will be first time we will have it in the Regional level. I heard some of the games will be badminton, basketball, bowling, chess, table tennis, tennis, track and field, volleyball and swimming . Why on earth did I not qualify to any of these games? I think I've been biologically predisposed to become a mere audience to sporting events. Well, I frankly got used to it and try to live with that. Ha ha ha! I've been trying to make "logical' explanations to that just to minimize my biggest gripe of not becoming a sports super star! There is a great relevance between neuroscience and sports . If the Broca's area is the one responsible for the person's ability to speak, then the lobe responsible for me to be sports-inclined must be still under construction. Anyway, I hope the lobe responsible for my clumsiness and occasional downright stupidity will cease to develop (facepalm).




I've been fancying winning in a chess match. I think it will feel sooooooo great when I'll play there in the Philippine Arena in celebration of the Church’s Centennial Anniversary next year. If I will win there,I will surely feel like the world's number 1 player. I feel silly and giggly thinking about these things as I am not really a chess player - I'm just a debonair. Ha ha ha!

I'm actually very busy right now but I will surely be present during the Unity Games ( I moved my dayoff to Friday, I think my manager has been VERY VERY VERY kind to me these days). I was also able to have my first defense for my graduate school thesis last Monday ( my manager allowed me to be absent during that time with ease). I am currently doing a research about cooperatives' economic and financial resilience. My work ? I love it to the core! I never had that " Monday Blues". I love the job itself . I've been doing devotional prayers and working a lot. I know something really very good will come. I feel very very blessed everyday.  It makes me feel warm inside whenever I realize that God has been using sooooo many people to help me out from my predicaments. If only I was born male,nag BEM na sana ako! I  will continuously sing for You, Ama!

---- UPDATE---
Here's the link to the photos taken during the INC Unity Games for Davao Region.

http://deehan1914.blogspot.com/2013/05/2013-davao-area-unity-games-at-full.html

The throes of unremitting suffering I've seen and experienced did not hinder me to wear the smile that a chosen one must have.Yes, I have been sad but it's me being human .I am now wearing a genuine smile and this is something idiosyncratic!

This smile is rather beguiling. It's as if I didn't experience the improbable typhoon in a Valley I call home. The experience was harrowing yet inspiring. I think that's the crux of every travail- realizing God is true in His promises. I grew up being told that typhoons don't come in our place. How very wrong it was. I felt the typhoon.I watched it breathing fiercely in a total functioning madness.If my faith in God was rickety, it could have been blown away along with the weak roofs.Of course,I've been stronger than Pablo! Thank God!

I wanted to write my "guiding principles" and not my "new year's resolution" earlier this year. I find it of paramount importance to change the title.Haha!I remember I wrote the maaaaaany things I wanted to do but  somewhere in between those busy months of juggling church,work and school I got lost! Of course, that's not new to me and to the 92% of people all around the world who swore they'll keep up with their new year's resolution but failed (Hey!! I am not making that up! Here's the link Forbes:Just 8% of People Achieve Their New Year's Resolutions. , See?? :b I googled that so that it's not so heartbreaking that I didn't achieve all the new year's resolutions I listed last year hahaha )

So here's my 2013 guiding principles.

1. To continuously uplift my spiritual life .It's always on top. I will always strive to become the woman God wants me to be.I've been listening to more and more INC Christian songs here. (I love musicians ..you know!) Nagbunga ako last year. Sana this year din! I gave several copies of the God's message magazine to my classmates and my professor this week. I will continuously do this! This is all for You ,Ama!

2. To not mind about having a boyfriend. Seriously, this not something easy but I am so sure that God is still preparing the right man for me. I don't want to bounce from one relationship to another simply because of my immaturity (or his immaturity or both haha). I will never understand why my friends will say that it's a "bitter life" if you don't have a boyfriend and still like your University crush even if he is miles away. What's wrong with that,huh? It's more fun not to be such tangle when you know you are STILL preparing yourself to be worthy of the man who will seek your hand from God.I need to finish my masters degree and become a University Professor first!See,I am not just waiting for that man,I am preparing myself to be worthy of him!I am not not sure who will be that man is but right at this moment I am still savoring the beauty of this season in my life-the season of being joyfully single!

3.To show more love to my family,friends,dogs and strangers. "We must not only give what we have but also what we are."I find that striking to the core!I will show kindness and show more love everyday. It makes me feel soooo high whenever kids smile at me after giving them some chocolates or after I helped them with their homework.I've been greatly inspired by the INC-Giving Show here .During the typhoon, I've been helping some neighbors and helped the distribution of some relief goods. I swear it's a totally different shade of happiness and sense of fulfillment when you know you helped other people. It's something so vehement inside and you thirst of doing it more and more! It's so addictive!  More so if you tried extending help to non-members of your species-like animals. I am an ultimate dog lover ! I love dogs very much (do I need to say it again?hahaa). I enjoy doing simple acts of kindness everyday! About my family, I've been giving flowers to Mom during her birthday and during mother's day. This year, I will buy gifts and not just buy them food. It has been rather customary that we just eat.I think it will be great if I'll give gifts.Oh well..I must save!Ring...ring...thesis!!! I will smile more and be more kind. I am not so sure how can I be kind to strangers but yes,it all starts with smiling! :D

I've been living the dream of having a healthy life already. I tried stress management so I've been kind to my self. I eat healthy foods and do some exercise so I think I'm pretty good ( this is purely based on my standards..hahaha)!

So my list will be only that short!I'm tired of writing sooooooooo many things and fall in between the cracks in the end!

Let's show acts of kindness everyday! \(*0*)/

I feel the pain but I am feeling deeply loved the more.

It has been several days after the storm and I lost track of the date. Sundays and Thursdays are the days that I keep on waiting and the days which remind me of the days that passed. I don't mind the date. I perform my duties in the church every Sunday and Thursday. I feel blessed being a member of the Church of Christ's choir. When I sing to my God, all the pain goes away.I rarely cry in front of other people. I cry my heart out during my devotional prayers and every time I sing during worship services. The best antidote for this pain is only God.I have seen,heard and felt so much sadness recently but God made stronger now. It was terrible when my best friend cried because she didn't know where were her parents after the storm totally shattered their house into ugly debris. She couldn't contact them. My best friend has been staying downtown while her parents remained staying in their old house. It was near a river and with so many trees. It was a very good refuge during summer days. Yes,it was. There was nothing in those cool shades of trees that warned us that one day,it could be the source of great remorse. Those trees fell in their house and the strong wind has blown away their roofs. Havoc filled the air .The water in the river became unfriendly. It felt like I won a million bucks when the next day,my best friend told me her parents were alive . I never felt that kind of happiness recently. It was a frenzy!

If you ask anyone in our house now, no one can exactly say what is the date today right away. We have been very busy after the typhoon. I have been busy making my heart strong.

I fully trust in the will of my God. I thank Him that my family and dogs are all safe. Our family business is gone,temporarily.I know we will recover.I have been experiencing His great love everyday of my life. God has been proving me what I needed the most. I will forever guard my heart so that I will not fall prey to evil's  ideologies now masquerading as "practicality" and worst, "common sense". Even if it's bitter,they'll say it's sweet.I have been warned that this day will really come.

I will continue working on my thesis and I will realize my dreams. After graduation, I will visit Iglesia Ni Cristo temple at Quezon City together with my family. It will be a dream come true. I have always wanted to be able to afford sending my whole family to a vacation and attend worship service together at INC temple. It has been my plan to become a university professor and I am very close to that now. I can feel it.It makes me feel happy knowing that the plans I've written and declared that I will work hard to get  are the plans that will make me closer to God.I will never forsake my duties in the church. I won't exchange this divine duty to a plate of rice. I have been praying for wisdom everyday. I pray for wisdom so that I won't be lured by a wolf wearing a sheep's benign face.

I will pass this life trial. Typhoon Pablo was able to blow away our family's business and our roofs but not my determined heart and lofty dreams. I shall emerge victorious!

That metal frame used to be part of our garage.

Our beds were so wet. We spent the whole day washing our clothes and cleaning our house.

The garage of my neighbor.

Some houses near our place.

Near Crossing Gabi,Poblacion,Compostela,Compostela Valley.

Some fallen utility poles.

Along national highway near crossing Gabi.

No more restaurant near Legacy College of Compostela.

Some destroyed houses in Poblacion ,Compostela.

A common scene in Poblacion,Compostela,Compostela Valley.Taken near Petron Gasoline Station at Crossing Gabi.

Legacy College of Compostela. Classes will resume this January.

Fallen Mango tree.

Most trees within the realm of the Municipal Hall looked like this.

National Food Authority Building.

Some old trees remained standing.

Wrong place for a roof.

The mud.

One of Mom's plants.

Some kids started drying their notebooks.

The Sari-Sari Store who surpassed the storm..

Our market area. The flood was up to the waist,neck or even higher. Many businessmen lost so much inventories.

An old house.

Phoenix Gasoline Station in Compostela,Compostela Valley.

Our neighbor's. It reached near our door.

The wet beds.

Standing still.

An acquaintance who lost his house.100% gone!

The sunset. Time to rest the tired hands .

The view from our attic. The nearby banana plants started to fall.Taken around 6:30 am.

My neighbor's house as seen from our attic.

The wind was so strong! After the storm,all bananas in our town fell.100% down!

My neighbor. he went to their roof to fix it.Few seconds after he went down,the wind was at it's strongest. He was lucky to go down seconds before that blow.I took this from our attic. I was really worried about him.

The roofs shouldn't be there!

Our backyard.No more poultry house.No more vegetable garden.Our Durian tree fell as well as our mango tree.

Outside our house. Our washing machine looked like that. Some of our roofs were on the ground too.

I couldn't find a good angle to show the roofless part.There was flood so this was the best angle I could have.

Our storm-torn garden. The 210 kph typhoon Pablo was this strong.

The saved belongings of our neighbors.

The four-day-old baby on top of our dining table.

The view from my window.

That red roof is our roof.

No more bananas.

Some of the kids who stayed with us.

Can you see that metal frame? That used to be part of our garage.

On the next day, I heard a cracked voice of our Rooster shrieking "Tok To Ka Okk ". The Rooster sounded off. I bet he was having some lung problem. I was impressed. The Roosted did his duty of signaling everyone of a brand new day even with his poor voice. I imagined we did the same. We helped each other,we did our duties to our family and neighbors even if we got so much damage. That night(dec.04), I slept using curtains as a blanket because I gave my dry blankets to the other people who stayed in our house.Our beds were all wet so I slept on a piece of wood.I slept next to my parents. There were 7-10 families inside our house.There was even a 4-day-old baby. We were  almost 30. Our roofs were blown away but my father tried to place temporary roofs so that we can sleep well at night. He was so brave. He made it to our roof even if he is old and fat. I tried stopping him but he was in his elements. He was calm,thoughtful and clever.He's amazing.

The houses of neighbors were wiped out and I saw it. It was heartbreaking.

I thank God that even we lost our family business,He spared our lives. We could have been dead!

[Pictures taken December 04,2012 ,when typhoon Pablo visited Compostela,Compostela Valley,Philippines.]