Dance of Faith

Now ongoing until July 13, 2014 at the Health Hub of SM Center Pasig (beside Tiendesitas in Pasig City, Metro Manila, Philippines), "Dance of Faith" is an art exhibit celebrating women, art and spirituality. It is participated by 6 women artists from different age groups, the youngest 9 years old. I was one of the artists and my artworks, which are oil paintings, were inspired by the Underground River of Palawan except the portrait of my special child Lyca who was my inspiration to join the exhibit.  Featured here are my paintings in the exhibit where I "walked my faith", my "dance of faith".

"The Challenge"
Size:  15" x 20"
Medium:  Oil Paint

Instead of heeding to my request to paint this piece from my shots of the Underground River of Palawan, my professional artist brother Gabriego challenged me to do it.  This year, 2014, I accepted the challenge when I had the opportunity because I believed that challenges are what life is all about.  We face some amount of challenges, some big, some small, but all of them to make us grow into better persons each day of our lives.

"The Prayer"
Size:  18" x 12"
Medium:  Oil Paint

The most truthful title for this piece is “The Prayer”.  This was a copy of an artwork of God found at the Underground River of Palawan.  Every attempt to copy a detail of His artwork from a photo I shot was coupled with praises and adoration for His creation. Every attempt to highlight a detail was coupled with a prayer for a miracle.

"Mama's Angel"
Size:  12" x 14"
Medium:  Oil Paint

Who else can dream for this blind and multi-handicapped angel than the person she first called “Mama”? That person is Bel Venida (my artist name),  her adoptive mother. It was this child, Lyca, who brought me back to painting. 

"A New Beginning"
Size:  16" x 20"
Medium:  Oil Paint

The Underground River of Palawan is only one of the evidences of God’s existence,  and a reminder to people that He can make miracles happen any time, they just need to have faith and believe that He exists even in the darkest places, whether in a person’s thoughts or in the darkest spot of a cave. The journey in the dark always ends and leads to a new beginning.

Aside from my special child Lyca, I have never expected that the artworks I found at The Underground River of Palawan will tremendously inspire me to give my best to paint on canvas some of God's artworks on the walls of this river. It was very awesome to realize that they were all done through stone formations, and that God conversed with me and said "I love you" to mankind through small mineral stones on June 12, 2001. 

I AM A PEACEFUL SOUL !

I am a soul. My original qualities are peaceful, loving, blissful, pure and always positive.

From my past lives I acquired some talents, memories some of them sad, beliefs and habits, and some vices. I am now aware of my original qualities. They could have been covered by bad habits, negative memories and sad experiences, but I should always try my best to let my original qualities surface by using my intellect which is part of my soul. I should use my intellect to discern situations positively, and judge and decide with love and peace.

I acquired this present body in the Philippines, and hold that citizenship, but my place of origin is the world of silent light beyond. With this body, I perform the role of a mother and wife, as well as a systems designer of computer applications. I'm glad that with this body, I am also able to share the talents I've acquired from all my past lives up to the present, to the whole world.

My husband, my two daughters and son are souls too, and as souls, they are my brothers and sisters. They have the same original qualities as mine, so I will respect their ideas and discuss matters or issues with respect. Like me, their original qualities at times will be covered by negative experiences even from past lives that they subconsciously recalled, but they can always let their original qualities surface and I should always respect them as souls that are loving, peaceful, blissful, pure and positive.

I was being tested through the loss of my job and financial losses, but I recognize my strengths and face each challenge with courage.

If my body gets sick, I can remain unaffected by the miserable feelings sickness can create, by being detached and loving. But I will use my intellect to take care of my body to the best of my ability.

When a loved one dies, I should understand that soul has another part to play in another body. I played my part as a relative or a friend to the best of my ability. I should allow myself to be detached with love. I will surely meet that soul again in another life.

When my body becomes old and won't recover from illness, I will need to withdraw from it, and leave it with love and peace. I'll make sure my affairs are in order. I will go to the light.

In the meantime, I will fulfill my mission on earth which I know are many. There are several souls around me supporting me in my missions, and I suspect that the soul occupying the body of Lyca, my special child, is here to support me all the way, and to support other souls too. With the help of those souls surrounding me, one of my missions could be to support other souls too. That soul can be you.

My Conversation with God on June 12, 2001

Exactly 10 years ago, a boring task of cleaning the stones of a mineral water pot led me to reminisce my disappointments in life and at the same time ask God why such should happen. Awesome answers came from my own thoughts which made me suspect that I was already conversing with God. The final outcome of our conversation was the main reason why I created this blog because I felt obliged to share God's message to mankind, but waited for His time to do it, and that was when I learned about blogging in 2008.

Since I had to emphasize the main message of God, I haven't shared the other topics of our conversation and that is what I'd like to share now.

Since there were germanium stones that I was cleaning then, I told God that He is so kind because he created cures for cancer, but what about AIDS? He said He provided everything to mankind including all the cures to illnesses but mankind doesn't want to recognize them. I asked in my thoughts, where are these cures? I was outside at that time so I looked at the ground at a distance. The sun was shining brightly and there were a few plants. I thought perhaps God meant the plants that contain all cures.

I'm glad I didn't tell that part of our conversation the first time I wrote about it because now I think I was partly wrong. Now I realize that God meant practically everything abundant that can cure illnesses like sunlight and the magnetic field of an unpolluted ground. And they are free!

To verify if I was really talking with God, I asked what message He'd like to tell mankind through the total number of stones that I was cleaning. After cleaning, when I counted 143 stones, I immediately knew that His message was "I love you", but I was surprised so I verified by counting again and that was really the total number of the stones.

While thinking about my disappointments, I also told God I wish there was a child who could help me forget about those disappointments like my children did, when they were still babies and toddlers.

God proved His love by giving me what I wished for: a child who was born right inside our house, a year after. She was a very special child because she was born blind and had cerebral palsy. Through this child, God shook off my tendency to expect too much from people. That tendency was the real cause of my disappointments. For almost nine years now, this special child taught me to be happy with the smallest things people would show me.

God's message of love was for the whole of mankind. If He hasn't proven His Love for you yet, don't be impatient because He will prove that to you in His time. While waiting for that time, He promised to shake what can be shaken and removed from you, like impatience or even ungodliness.

"You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised". (Hebrews 10:36)

"Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails". (Proverbs 19:21)

A Family Choir

After we sang the communion songs at this Sunday's morning mass at the Loyola Grand Villas chapel, there was an announcement that a plaque will be given, and we were surprised that the plaque was for us, the Venida Family Choir, “for their selfless sharing of their valuable time and marvelous talent, as they sing in our regular Sunday morning masses”.

After the mass, we tried to count how many years have passed since we started singing at the LGV Chapel as a family choir. The youngest member of the choir who was my husband's nephew and lives at the subdivision where the chapel is, was not yet a member of the choir because he was an acolyte assisting the priest, when we started. He was still in the primary grade level during that time, until he became old for an acolyte and could already join the choir. He has graduated in Pre-med school and now in his second year in Medicine Proper. In short, we've been singing in this chapel as a family choir for more than ten years already. My daughter is the director and an alto, my son a bass, my husband the guitarist and I am a soprano. There are times though when my daughter and I would exchange voices or would shift to just one voice, alto or soprano, depending on the need. Other members of the choir like the doctor-to-be, are the first cousins of my children, and then one member is a boyfriend of a family member, another one a girlfriend of my son.

Some members of the choir are also members of other choirs like my daughter and son and his girlfriend who are members of Novo Concertante Manila, while the doctor-to-be and her sister are members of Bukas Palad. That is the reason why the Venida Family Choir can sing well even without practicing.

In my case, I try to be always present during the performances of my children's choir so I can emulate their voices. And I'm very thankful that I am a member of a family choir because it really helped improve my voice. Every time we sing during the mass, I silently express how grateful I am. Of course the songs that we sing helped too.I liked songs that can express one's feelings but I realized that the best songs that can do that are the ones that praise God or are really prayers, not just songs.

Desire to inspire!

Today is May 6 and just a while ago, I was looking for scratch papers that are A4 in size. Among the scratch papers I saw was a letter, dated May 6, 2006, written exactly four years ago. It was a copy of my letter to the University of Asia & The Pacific, and I suddenly thought I'd like to share this letter. Of course I have some mistakes when I wrote the letter, like I wish I could have said "Greetings of love and peace!" at the start, instead of "Good day!" What is more important though, are the emotions and experiences I've expressed and would like to share to people who'll chance to read this.

May 6, 2006


Dear Sirs:

Good day! I am the mother of one of the Bases of the UA&P Chorale and also the outgoing President of Makati Toastmasters Club. My daughter and I had the opportunity to go to Greece with the chorale and watch them compete with the European choirs, at Preveza. I was saddened by the news about the termination of Arwin Tan's contract as the choirmaster of UA&P Chorale and I feel that the best way I can explain why this sadness, is to share my own experiences, before, during, and after my trip to Greece with the chorale.

I was scheduled to be installed as the President of Makati Toastmasters Club in July of last year. I've requested for the postponement of the said event because of the rare opportunity to watch the UA&P Chorale compete in a foreign land. The trip was also an opportunity for me to contemplate about the big responsibility I have to undertake for Makati Toastmasters Club in relation to the club's chosen theme of the year. The theme chosen was "Desire to inspire!", because to desire to inspire can be difficult and a person needs to be inspired to desire to inspire.

For my inaugural speech, I needed to say something about the theme of the year and before we arrived in Greece, I didn't have a single idea how to go about my speech. I couldn't believe that everything that happened in Greece was all about the "desire to inspire"! Thus my inaugural speech turned out to be a full account of what happened in Preveza. Below were some portions of my speech:

"We arrived in Greece on July 5. From the Athens airport, we rode a bus to go to Preveza. It was an eight-hour trip but a worthwhile one because we had the chance to see the countryside of Greece. The scenery was breathtaking, all of us couldn't help singing "the hills are alive, with the sound of music.. ". There were also beautiful scenery of the seas and the shores, but the most beautiful spot that I've seen was that of a group of clouds emitting rays of the sun to the ground. It made me feel that "graces will be showered from heaven". I told Arwin Tan, the choirmaster of the chorale, "Wow! That might be a sign that the UA&P Chorale will win!"

"During our first morning in Preveza, my daughter and I watched the UA&P Chorale rehearse. A parade of all the countries joining the choral competitions was scheduled in the afternoon. Arwin Tan gave his final instructions to the choir, using the vernacular since members of the host choir, the Armonia Choir of Preveza, were also watching the rehearsal. So he said in Tagalog, "bago mag-umpisa ang parada, makipagkaibigan kayo sa ibang bansa. Para pag natalo sila, hindi sumama ang loob nila at pag natalo naman tayo, hindi rin sasama ang loob natin". As instructed, members of the UA&P Chorale started a fellowship with choirs from other countries, mostly European countries, before the parade started. By the time all the choirs were gathered at a plaza after the parade, the UA&P Chorale, more known as the Philippines, was already popular. The instruction of Arwin Tan is my first example of a desire to inspire that yielded a very positive result."

"They practiced again the next day and I remembered there was one goal I haven't started yet, which was to compose my inaugural speech. I told myself, maybe I can start doing that while listening to the rehearsal. So I brought my John Maxwell book where I plan to extract my speech material. It was supposed to be about "victory". As I was reading Maxwell's book and listening to the choir at the same time, I noticed that there was a big improvement in the performance of the choir compared to the past day's rehearsal. In fact, I was touched by one of their sacred songs that tears in my eyes almost fell. I felt that everything that Maxwell has written about victory was very appropriate to the choir. I felt that the members were infected with their choirmaster's desire to inspire. The desire became contagious because I felt a strong desire to share to the members of the choir the words of wisdom of Maxwell. I wrote a very short letter to the choir followed by Maxwell's determinants of victory and the next morning, gave it to Arwin, with a short note on a post-it paper, saying: "Dear Arwin, this might be better than nothing to offer to you and the choir." Knowing that Arwin can easily inspire the choir, I requested him to read the letter to the members."

"That same day, in the afternoon, the UA&P Chorale joined the first contest which was the Mixed Youth Choir category. During their second sacred song, there seem to be a Divine intervention because one second before the Alleluia part, the bells in a nearby church rang and stopped only before the Alleluia finale. It was very beautiful. All their songs were beautiful, I was sure they will win in that category. After UA&P Chorale's turn, one of the choir members thanked me, saying he was inspired by my letter. The others also thanked me for my inspiring letter. It was really the magic of John Maxwell and Arwin Tan. All I did was to write on paper because I was inspired by Arwin and the choir members."

"The choir joined two more contests the following days, for the Chamber Choir and the Mixed Choir categories. The night of the last day of the contest was the awarding ceremonies held at the Odeon of Nikopolis. In this city of victory, the UA&P Chorale members received their victory. They were awarded all gold medals and the first prizes for the 3 categories that they joined."

"On our way to the airport after touring Athens for three days, I again saw the welcome sign of Greece that says "Greece welcomes a new myth: Yours". The first time I saw that sign, I wondered what can be "my myth". When I left Greece, I knew the answer: it was the desire to inspire and it is no longer a myth."

I will never forget that experience in Greece. Whenever I think about it, the whole experience looked like a play with a very beautiful script authored by God, no wonder it flowed smoothly. In that experience, I saw several miracles - the rays of the sun emitted by the clouds, the church bells ringing while the choir was singing "Alleluia", and 3 coincidences that struck me because they felt like one in the end: The article of Maxwell about "victory" that I brought, not for the choir but for my speech, the choir's victory, and the awarding at the Victory City or Nikopolis. The whole experience inspired me to have more faith and trust in God, and the people that surrounded me during that experience serve as reminders.

To desire to inspire in indeed difficult but I realized that it can be easy if people will only inspire one another. One good deed from one person can start it all. Or maybe a letter, a poem, a song, the list goes on.

I admire Arwin Tan not only for his professionalism but also as a person. I saw how very professional he was while dealing with the European conductors. All those conductors were very happy when the UA&P Chorale won. Arwin is one person who can easily think of a good deed that can start it all. The landlady of the hotel where we stayed was always irritable. A bunch of flowers from Arwin made her meek as a sheep. The owner of the restaurant commissioned by the hotel to serve regular dinner to the chorale could understand German more than English so Arwin became his "order taker" and interpreter. Both the landlady and the restaurant owner cried when the chorale said goodbye and they both kissed Arwin.

I don't know how to end this. I guess I'll just leave everything to God again. I remember just the other day I was in a dilemma on how to divide my time for the rest of the year and decided to leave everything to God. Not more than a day has passed without lifting a finger, but my dilemma was over when a friend sent me a message through the cellphone that can solve my problem, without him knowing the existence of such problem.

I just wish the UA&P Chorale members, the UA&P management and everybody supporting the chorale peace and happiness.

"Until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of His Hand".

Very truly yours,

Maria Luisa Taa-Venida

Child adoption is a process

Today I wish to share a lesson I learned from a seminar on child adoption. This blog will not be complete without this and I should have shared this a long time ago, but since my own adoption case was still pending, I didn't think I was credible enough to share it.

You guessed it right, the favorable decision for our special child's adoption by our family was finally released! What is left for us to do now is the registration of her new name to the Civil Registrar. Our special child's new name will be Lyca Louisa Taa Venida.

Child adoption is a process that is ideally accomplished within 9 months, depending on the case. The adoptive parents are evaluated based on home studies conducted by a Social Worker. In our case, we had no intention to adopt a child at first, since we are a complete family with a daughter and a son. The special child was born inside our house so the best support we could give was to be a foster family for the child who cannot be supported by her mother who was our house helper. The child was already 3 years old when my husband and I decided to be registered as foster parents of the child, at "Kaisahang Buhay Foundation". In this organization, we learned that fostering a specific child should last only for a year. After that period, we should decide if we'd like to adopt the child, or foster another child. That was how we decided to adopt Lyca, to give her the identity of a family because we learned to love her dearly.

The subject child of the adoption process is the adopted child, so when the process is completed the child becomes your child. So from now on, I will no longer say that Lyca is my adopted child because the adoption process is over. She is now my child, my special child.

The process of adoption should be explained to the adopted child when he is around 6 to 8 years old, the age when he or she will be old enough to understand. It should be emphasized to the child that adoption is just a process just like a mother having a baby, and when the process is over, he or she becomes your child.

I must admit that when I was younger I never appreciated adopting a child. When God gave us Lyca, I could not differentiate my love for her and my own children. I realized how the love of a mother can be so great. An unconditional love will not discriminate, and it can be offered to any child who is not from your own flesh and blood.

A proof of God's love

It is now July 24 here in the Philippines. Today is the sixth birthday of Lyca, my adopted special needs child. During the last two years, her birthday fell on the dates of her scheduled physical therapy so they were celebrated at the hospital with her therapists, though it was also celebrated at home, and also at my brother-in-law’s home after the mass at Loyola Grand Villas chapel where my family sing as part of the Venida Clan Choir, every second and fourth Sunday of the month. The three celebrations became a tradition so even if her birthday did not fall on her scheduled PT, we will also celebrate it at the hospital this coming Friday.

It is also my sixth year now as Lyca’s mother. At this point in time, I know I can sacrifice anything for her. My two biological children are grown ups now, and I was blessed to have one more child. The fire within me as a mother kept burning for 27 years now. Nothing has changed. It is still that same fire and love that I felt since I gave birth to my eldest child.

A comment in my post on God’s Message from Tomas Karkalas said that I am the luckiest of all man because I was able to talk to God through the stones I was cleaning and God answered. What I can say about that is maybe not. There are so many people as lucky as I am because they also conversed with God and received a response through various ways, but there are also luckier people because they had followed the ways of God even without hearing any response from Him, and are always able to discern what direction God wants them to take. I don’t think I am as lucky as they are. Thinking more deeply about the sequence of events, I remember I was constantly thinking of a child who can help me take away my sorrows, and then His message to mankind through the stones happened, which obviously meant “I love you” (143 stones). After a year, Lyca was born.

The best reason I can think of, why I was “lucky” to receive God’s message is because He wanted to prepare me for this biggest challenge in my life to take care of a child with special needs, even while experiencing financial distress.

What do you think?

SocialSpark is Great for Mommy Bloggers!

Mommy bloggers like me sure have a lot of topics to blog about, but of course, we blog about the things we always see. It can be about our children, our husbands, our pets, our houses or gardens. You can just imagine the endless topics we can think of, focusing only on these subjects.

I can say that blogging is the most convenient way for mothers to journalize the daily tasks of parenting and housekeeping, or big family events. But these journals cannot be left in the archives unread. Blogs need readers, and a medium where blogs and readers can meet, like SocialSpark.

Mothers who join SocialSpark will find endless opportunities to monetize their blogs. Aside from that, their blogs will be spiced up with a variety of topics that are relevant to a mother’s blog, and bring out a mother’s creativity to the max. High quality posts are encouraged by SocialSpark through countless ways, including bonuses from some advertisers. SocialSpark will not only bring about a wiser mother, it will also increase her reputation as a person and make her family proud of her.

If you are a mother, you can now enjoy blogging more, by joining SocialSpark. A support group of fellow bloggers and most importantly, fellow mothers, await you. In SocialSpark, it won’t take long till you discover how contagious the feeling of satisfaction is, among bloggers and mothers who have signed up.

Mommy bloggers can also sign up for the mailing list in order to join, as soon as it is public. This is another calling for you, not only as a mother to your children, but also a mother to fellow bloggers. Since you will be earning from your blogs, you can be a mother to yourself too, and buy the more important things you've always wanted for yourself.

The Special Child's Rights

At first I thought I shouldn’t participate in blogging about Human Rights because there are a lot of bloggers who can beautifully discuss that issue. Until I realized that “human” includes every person, including my special child. What if no blogger will remember to talk about the rights of a “special child”? I will never forgive myself!

From the time a child is conceived, it has the right to be well taken cared of to be able to live! Any attempt to neglect the child through the food a mother eats or takes in, the fetus will immediately feel “rejection”. That fact is probably unknown to many. The child will remember that feeling until he or she is born. The mother can make up for it of course, but she has to have a thorough understanding of what transpired while the child was still inside her so she can patiently accomplish what needs to be done.

What about a special or disabled child? If his or her disability is congenital and not hereditary, the rejection he or she felt while inside the uterus is unimaginable! In that case the parents of this child will need all the help to be able to make up for the feelings of rejection this child remembers. But the reverse happens to a lot of families with a disabled child. This child is taken for granted, considered a shame to the family and so on and so forth.

Why did we adopt a special child who is blind and has cerebral palsy? Primarily because she has the right to live! Not to be taken for granted but to be loved as part of our family, just like our very own children.

Several times this special child fought to live! She was just one pound when she was born so nobody thought she was going to live. She was brought to the hospital together with the placenta, her umbilical cord uncut. After one day, she was traveled by car to be transferred to another hospital that had available incubators. There was an accident after her blood transfusion that she turned almost gray. She was discharged much earlier than expected because her neighboring babies died because of an epidemic. By the time this photo was shot, this special child was just taken home because of the epidemic at the hospital. Notice her very tiny head at one month and 20 days old, emphasized by the presence of the adults around her.

If you were counting, this child met five risks until she was taken out of the hospital. She met and surpassed five risks, at the time it was not even time for her to be born! All of us concerned about this child can’t help but ask “what is the mission of this child that she has to surpass all those risks and still live?”

Our special child's name is Lyca, and she will turn 6 this July. Through this post alone, I know a part of her mission is accomplished. Her story is a reminder that children like her have the right to live normally and be educated, and most importantly, the right to be loved!

Mom's Greatest Legacy

Whenever I read my previous post about my Mom, it seems unfinished. How could I forget her most important legacy to us her children?

Mom sings to the flowers, no wonder some were even taller than her as shown on the picture in my previous post. If ever there was a value our Mom had consistently exposed us to, it is compassion to all living things. People loved her because they were always welcome in her home. She treated her domestic helpers like her own relatives. That was why one of them would always come to our house every Christmas season to visit her in case she’s spending her Christmas in the Philippines. Her name is Emily and is living comfortably with her own family but she would jokingly say “I should have asked “Mommy” to adopt me!”.

I have committed to contribute a post about human rights on May 15 and it touches on adoption. Thanks to my Mom’s legacy, adoption was easily accepted to our family. With this addendum about her greatest legacy, people will now understand why without any second thought, I adopted a special child.

I love you Mom!

Amazing Grace in Greece

I was in Greece with my son and daughter in July 2005, when my employer’s Top Management announced the need to close down our department by the end of 2005, which will result to us, the staff, to be retired involuntarily. If that was announced earlier, I wouldn’t have gone to Greece, since the transportation alone was expensive. However, whenever I’d think about that and the events that happened in Greece, I’d always end up very grateful that the announcement was made later because I consider the trip to Greece an amazing grace from God.

The trip to Greece was an opportunity for my daughter and me to watch the University of Asia and the Pacific Chorale where my son was a member, compete during the international choir contest at Preveza, a small town in Greece. From the Athens airport, we rode a bus and on our way to Preveza , I’ve seen a very beautiful spot that can be seen in any part of the world, but the site of the clouds emitting rays of the sun at that time looked very special to me. It appeared like a sign that God’s graces will be showered to the UA&P Chorale so I told Arwin Tan, the choir master, “It looks like you’re going to win!”, while we were all looking at the clouds.

I watched the UA&P Chorale rehearse, and during their breaks, I would read the John Maxwell book that I brought. A chapter of that book was about John Maxwell's determinants of victory, and I was astonished because the choir sounded like the winner whom John Maxwell would like to address his “determinants of victory”, so I copied it and was read by Arwin Tan to the choir.

During the contest proper, while listening to the UA&P Chorale, I knew I was right. I knew they will emerge as the winner. Not only did they sing like winners, there was even a Divine Intervention during one of their first songs titled "O Magnum Misterium" ("Oh Great Mystery"). The climax of the song was a series of "Alleluia" and about two seconds before that, the nearby church's bells rang and blended with their song then stopped right before the final alleluia! It was very beautiful!

Not Finding A Job But Finding More Friends

The reason why I enrolled in Interior Design after I learned I will be retired by end of 2005 was to be able to still work when I reach the compulsory retirement age of 65, and be able to continously support the special child whom we intended to adopt. While studying, I also had to help my husband run the coffee kiosk. There was also a time in 2006 we tried the call center business with my brother, but realized we will need a big sum of money for the monthly operations cost if we seriously want to pursue that business, and that scared us.

Every time I got involved with a new business, I stopped attending my Interior Design classes. It was a good thing that each term of the course was only 3 months so stopping temporarily was easy. In 2007 though, we were obliged to pay in cash a total amount of more than 800 thousand pesos for the balance of the lot we purchased in 2004, or our down payment will be forfeited. I needed to find a regular job so I stopped schooling again. This time I can’t tell if I can still go back to school since we no longer have the extra funds for it.

In the Philippines, looking for a job at my age is hard. I’m still hoping however, to be employed in the networking company that will soon open a branch here in the Philippines. I’ve chosen this company with the vision that I can help transfer its technology to my country, because I had the chance to assess this company's application systems in Singapore and found them very impressive. In the process of learning more about this company, I had the opportunity to travel to Singapore and Malaysia, and meet friends also from other Asia-Pacific countries like Taiwan, Hongkong, Thailand, Korea and Indonesia (photo was shot by Hendri Jap of Indonesia).

I can’t help but relate all these events to that mission of spreading God’s message, because there are now more people who can help me with that mission, regardless of religion.