Building a Team, Building a FAMMily

Scene 1:

Gaily colored blindfolds. My team got pink ones – my favorite. With hands on the shoulder of the person in front, they followed me. Hold on, three got left behind. I ran back to get them.

Nine other teams like us gingerly navigated the grounds of the Metrogate Silang club house like caterpillars. At each stop, we were timed for the activity:

Scrounge for objects to put under given letters. Stop that ant – it goes under letter A.

Fill a pail using water bottles peppered with holes. Get drenched in the process.

Crawl like snakes in the grass through a minefield – this while blindfolded and just listening for directions. (It’s bad enough that I’m like one of our former presidents who jokesters say had to wear a wristband to tell his left from his right. I also had to direct my team members in mirror image – right, ay your left pala.)

Step on only 4 soft drink crates – all 7 to 8 different-sized members at the same time – to get to the finish line. Whew, our team made it in one go with planning and coordination.

The last blindfolded activity in the afternoon elicited screams and laughter. We even broke out in song – “Abundance of Rain” – when we heard water splashing nearby (we are with the Music Ministry after all). The swaying bridge encouraged tighter grips and more noise. Being a team leader in the morning and groping blindfolded in the afternoon gave me a different perspective. A follower this time, my instinct was still to find a way to keep the group intact. “I felt a hand rail. Grab it!” I tipped my friends as the bridge began to swing. This, I realized, is what team heads really do – lead and also follow.

“Trust your leader,” we were told. That’s the essence of the whole activity. For as we removed our blindfolds, we found out it was our Feast Builder who led us safely over the bridge.

Scene 2:

FAMMily (Feast Alabang Media Ministry family) members made it to the meeting place on time. The threat that the last ones to arrive will foot the bill for lunch motivated everybody. Violet withdrew her 100-egg offering to St. Claire and so there was rain. Scrap the zip line in Picnic Grove. Mike I. didn’t feel like doing that while holding an umbrella. Instead, the umbrellas were used in Tierra de Maria for photos under the rain.

But we were still blessed. The rain stopped as we rummaged for “treasures” in the ukay-ukay. We got great photos in Sonya’s Garden (with shots of my dream house – thanks to Osy, Mike T. & Jeps) and Caleruega after our lunch in Mahogany Market.

Where to hold our meeting? We thought the dimly-lit dining area in Caleruega was a blessing but we were politely told this was for retreatants only. The real blessing was the roof top which we had almost to ourselves. There was a cabana with a table and chairs, a curtain of light blue flowers over the walkway, a refreshing breeze, outdoor lighting and a great view. And then there’s my personal blessing: a great ministry – team heads and members – who not only give their best but are so much fun to be with.

Anticipated mass was in the foggy courtyard of the Little Souls Convent. Hugs kept each other warm. Dinner was a prelude to a ministry caring group – shared dreams and shared joy for a member’s answered prayer.

These are scenes from dawn to dusk of my past two Saturdays: the first from the Feast Alabang Events Pillar team building, the second from the Media Ministry meeting in Tagaytay. Both were relationship bridges. Bonds tightened. Friendships nourished. A team and a family strengthened.

5:00 a.m. Blessings and an Answered Prayer

Five o'clock. My alarm blares the hour. Snooze. I snuggle under my warm comforter on this chilly morning. After 9 minutes, it clamors for attention again. Another snooze, another snuggle, another buzz. Repeat cycle.

Then I bolt up for mommy duty. Boil the rice. Swish the eggs. Drop the bacon and tomatoes in the pan. Omelet for breakfast done. I can hear my elder son coming down the stairs. Quick, fry the fish fillet. Wait, it needs oyster sauce. Dice bell pepper in a flash. Lunch for baon done just as he finished breakfast. Kiss and bless Son #1 good-bye.

Repeat fish fillet procedure for Son # 2's lunch. (I could have done this in one batch but Son # 1 will be delayed). While fish is frying, thaw hotdogs. Pop breakfast into my mouth as I grab ingredients for his sandwich. Snacks done. This should keep him till his late dinner.

I'm searching for a word a level higher than hectic to describe my mornings for the past week. I guess frenzied will have to do. But amidst all this, I was praising God for my blessings.

First, we are blessed with food to cook. Other people sleep to forget hunger.

Second, I have a sister-in-law whose daughter died in her teens. I know she would give the world to be in my apron preparing her daughter's baon. I am blessed with hungry sons to feed.

Third, all that food I prepared is for my sons who have both entered the work force. Yes, both of them because last week God completely answered Dream # 2 in my Novena to God's Love.

Dream # 2.a is for the whole family (my parents, the other son and me) to attend both of my sons' graduations. My Papa almost didn't make it last Saturday because he had a board meeting in our province. He chose to be present at my younger son's graduation. At my elder son's graduation last year, my parents had no tickets but got in anyway. We were all present on both occasions. And, of course, the big thing here is that both my sons are now college graduates.

Dream # 2.b is for my sons to find well-paying jobs after college. A few days before he marched to get his diploma, my younger son was hired to do free-lance work on a film bound for Cannes.

"Well-paying" is still on the way that's why the packed lunch and snacks and my frenzied mornings. But I'm claiming that answered prayer for my sons already.

As I send off Son #2 with a kiss and a blessing, I thank God for His graces that fired up my new day.

Team LOJ All-Stars Huddle

There I was poised atop a monobloc chair in front of the gigantic Feast Builders’ tarp. Osy twisted around – down on her knees, face almost on the floor – her brand new DSLR camera angled for a shot. Our mission: make me look like I’m part of the big picture and do it quickly before a group from another Feast comes to pose. At that instant I wished I had a camera to take her picture, too. We must’ve been a funny sight.

But our carefree mood was not out of place in this carnival. The horde of servant-leaders in identical blue and white LOJ All-Stars jersey echoed our jubilation. And all the people milling around us were engaged in the national pastime of “Kodak-an”. I guess we all wanted to keep a piece of this happy memory – the 2011 Light of Jesus (LOJ) Leaders Assembly.

The morning of January 29, 2011 was a collage of different scenes. LOJ members in sportswear. Balloons shaped into kooky headpieces. Praise and worship at the Philippine Air Force Gym. The anointing by our “coaches” – Bro Bo Sanchez and the Feast Builders – as we prepare to score more goals. And what would a team huddle be without team pictures and a pep talk.

The pep talk was given by Ardy Abello, a motivational speaker who said, “Everything in life is about team work.” He gave 4 insights about teams that are winners:

1. Goal-driven teams will not settle for the good. They go for the great.

Having just finished visioning with my FAMMily (aka Feast Alabang Media Ministry), I felt confident that my go-getting, close-knit team is on the right track to doing great things.

2. Overcoming teams value discipline. Discipline of the mind, body and soul leads to creativity.

Here I got an affirmation about two of my philosophies – a) “Me” time is essential to a sound mind and body; and b) a fit body is a foundation of success. This is an area of struggle for me because some people think this is an alien philosophy I concocted just so I can escape my responsibilities and hang out in the gym at least twice a week.

3. Leading your team with positive influence is key.

A great lesson for me to apply to my team and even my children is that the mind is strengthened if it receives something positive or true.

4. Determination produces long-term results.

We all go through “Everest” experiences or difficult challenges but if we don’t quit midway, there will be no mountain high enough that we can’t conquer. Persevere, persevere, persevere! Got to keep that mantra going when I go through I-can’t-take-any-more-of-this times.

Together with these thoughts on teamwork and the countless pictures to remind us that we belong to one team, we left the huddle ready to start winning more points for Team LOJ.

Team Feast Alabang All-Stars with our "coaches" Arun Gogna and Bo Sanchez.

My Little Big Artifact

Like ants in a sugar bowl, Proudly Filipina members swarmed around the registration table at the posh entrance of The Spa at the Fort. They each grabbed a token and tied it around their wrists. The less staid Ka-Pinays tied it around their ankles. Each component of the bracelet/anklet was a symbol of our race – a nacre sampaguita, pearls, coconut shell and carabao horn beads. All the lady guests wanted one including celebrity host Christine Bersola-Babao. I felt a pinch of pride. The trinket was something I spent several cross-eyed-from-lack-of-sleep nights crafting for our launch Spa-rty.

That was two years and many articles ago. I brought the bracelet to the writer’s workshop, “Write Now,” that I attended on Jan. 15, 2011, Rissa Singson-Kawpeng, our writing coach, asked us to bring an artifact. It was a tool we can use to introduce ourselves. Also a mental post-it to make the memory about the participants stick.

My artifact chronicles a short story. It tells how I like to make things with my hands – fashion accessories for one. It is also a memento of the first time I had the audacity to write for public consumption through the online magazine of Proudly Filipina.com. Inserted in its pages are the interesting and accomplished Filipinas I met, interviewed and wrote about.

This trinket also linked each chapter in my new profession. My two gifts that the bracelet represented – crafting and writing – were keys that opened the double-locked door to the world of writing for Insight Magazine and Didache. (I have blogged about how long I’ve wanted to write for Didache and how I met Rissa through my accessories.)

Because I wrote a reflection for Didache about an old blog, I was pushed (forced by embarrassment actually) to resurrect it before the reflection was due to come out. Didache readers might look for the blog and find articles as old and outmoded as last season’s fashion bling. I wanted them to read something new and sparkling.

From this blog, another link was created. An article I submitted to Bo Sanchez’s Facebook page was chosen Blog of the Week. It also caught the eye of Kerygma Magazine’s managing editor, Tess Atienza. At that time, she needed a testimony for their January issue. My story was exactly what she was looking for. A new chapter began when Tess asked me to be a contributing writer for Kerygma – another dream inscribed in my heart for many years.

These are the links so far in my story bracelet. Links that show big opportunities can come from little things. You never know where a blessing will start. It can begin from something as trivial as my trinket.

Creative House's Rissa Singson-Kawpeng, Arun & Lallaine Gogna (third to fifth from the left) with "Write Now" participants from Feast Alabang Osy Erica, Lella Santiago, Desi Tomas & Jo Ann Fauni

Thanks to Osy for this photo.

Chicharon & Japanese Mamon

A reward system is something I believe in. I used to implement this with my children when they were young. I also do this to myself to motivate me or to mark a special achievement.

Years ago, when I was struggling with my religious gifts business, money was really, really tight. Added to that was the fact that I was financially illiterate. There were times I had to borrow from my children’s savings to pay for their tuition. I was also borrowing from the following month’s budget to get by. When my partners agreed to give me a small salary because I was managing the store full time, the first thing I bought was a bag of chicharon. To others that was something they buy without thought. To me that’s extra expense I have to think twice before buying. So when I got my first salary, I celebrated with a bag of chicharon. It was a delight in simple pleasures that rich people do not have the privilege of enjoying.

In the mall where our store was then located was an upscale bakery, Bread Talk. They sold this Japanese mamon that cost around P300 at the time which my friend said was delicious. I vowed that I will only buy it when I have a steady income that is enough for me to afford this. When my mother learned about this, she told my father to buy it for me but I declined. I will buy it when I reach the right stage.

Fast forward to 2011 – I am now financially literate. I have learned through the years to budget and live within my means. In the beginning of my walk to financial literacy, I made a budget based on a historical record of past months. That put order in my finances but still did not leave enough for savings and tithes after I plugged in all my expenses. It was just a list of sources and uses of funds.

Then I made progress. After reading books and researching on the topic, I learned to prioritize tithes and savings before dividing the rest for my living expenses. Amazingly, I was able to balance my budget even with those two items at the top of the list. Of course, there were a lot of things I still had to do without. I still could not buy the Japanese mamon.

Yesterday, about 6 years from the time I made that vow, I was updating my financial record. I realized there was something new in my notebook. Aside from sources of funds, budget allocation and my daily expense record, I now have entries for my savings and investments. This new section I have added enables me to plan my investments. I have just given my friend/financial consultant a check for additional placement in their mutual fund. I have also just finished reading Bo Sanchez’s “My Maid Invests in the Stock Market” so I’m considering his suggestions too.

I guess it is now time for me to go to Bread Talk to see if they still make the Japanese mamon. And if it still costs P300 after all these years.

Minda’s Joie de Vivre

I will never forget the attire that won for her the Best Costume award at the 2009 Light of Jesus Servants’ Christmas party. She came as a Christmas tree. So did I and a couple of others, but hers was more outrageous. While I only had a small metal tree that I used as a head piece and Christmas ball earrings, she was decked out as the whole tree. She had poinsettias and glittery balls pinned on her shirt, a pointy hat with a big star on top, small wreaths for earrings and a scarf of fairy lights. Come judging time for the finalists, she had her lights plugged into the socket. She blew away the competition.

She was that game. She was lovably kooky. She had such a joy for life. It was fun to be with her during our Music Ministry practices, during our service for the Feast and in the Kerygma Conference. But she also had her serious side. There were times when she shared nuggets of wisdom with us as we waited for performances to start.

Minda Obatay will be dearly remembered as a helpful person. Her Caring Group mates shared that she always helped set up or clean up wherever their meetings were held like it was her own home. She was the same in our practices – making sure we all have something to eat during break times and raiding the kitchen when the food is short.

She helped even if she was not a member of the ministry tasked to do something. When we used to set-up the stage as part of our duties for the Creatives Ministry, she’d be setting up the backdrop even before the members arrived. She didn’t even belong to Creatives but helped out anyway just because she was there.

Last night, we said good-bye to this wonderful person at a community mass. All that time she was serving with us she had cancer. But you wouldn’t have noticed because of the energy she exerted in the things she did.

Cancer may have stricken her body but left her generous heart untouched. To the very end her thoughts were of giving. One of her last instructions to her husband was to find the tithes she had prepared before she was hospitalized and to give it to the community.

At the honoring, one of her sons said she was a good mother who never spanked them. At the back of the room, two of my community sisters and I wondered what our children would say about us. We can only hope they would have glowing praises as Minda’s son had for her.

Minda unabashedly praised the Lord. During worship her voice would ring out above the rest to honor and exalt Him. She must have delighted Jesus so much He wanted her in heaven already so she can sing Him praises before His throne.

Sadly, I only knew Minda for a short time, maybe two or three years. And I only served closely with her in the last year. But the little that I know of her has blessed me and infected me with joy. At a time when I am experiencing service fatigue, her life is a timely reminder for me to serve the Lord with gladness.

Happy Something New Year!

Last Sunday at the Feast Alabang, we greeted the New Year with a bang. Not with firecrackers that blow fingers and other body parts to smithereens. The whole Feast was a blast – from the Showtime-caliber dance presentation, to the rousing worship, to the enlightening talk on “Something New” by Bro Arun Gogna in his shimmery shirt that echoed the festive spirit.

Bro Arun said if you want 2011 to be an amazingly successful year, do something new.

And so I start my year with new things. The dance presentation for one. It was the Events Pillar’s entry for the supposed contest at the Feast Alabang Servants’ Christmas Party. We were asked to present it again to set the celebratory mood and greet the attendees a Happy New Year. Dance at the Feast. That’s new for me. I’ve done many things at the Feast – sing, emcee, write, decorate the stage among them. I got to do another thing I love doing –dancing.

This year ushers in another first for me. Late last year, I was asked to write for Kerygma Magazine. It was something I had been wishing for. The January 2011 issue features an article I wrote about my dreams coming true. And it has a huge picture of me – photo shopped I think, as I requested the photographer. I pray it’s the first of many articles I will write for this magazine. (I’ve submitted another one about the Commanding General of the Philippine Air Force.)

Another new thing I’m trying out is a different method to manage my time. I’ve been frustrated with my old way of micro-managing it. I read somewhere that to be successful, you have to treat each hour like an employee. Assign a task for that hour and gauge your efficiency on the things accomplished by each hour.

So I don’t miss doing something at its assigned time I have been maniacal about setting alarms to my sons’ irritation. Sometimes when they’re in deep slumber, they’d be disturbed by my alarm on snooze. Time to dress up, time to check emails, time to make the grocery list, etc., etc. I even had meals and bath times penciled in. I ended up irritated when people would ask me to do things I hadn’t included in my planner.

Well, that just didn’t work out well. So I’m trying something new. I’ll tell you about it next year if my something new is the success I’m hoping it will be.

Have a Blessed Year ahead and may you see miracles everyday!