Laughter in the midst of pain.

I found this saved in my drafts. It was composed 23 days ago… I’m glad I read it. I haven’t been feeling okay lately and this reminded me of how grateful I am that I am physically pain-free today.

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I am in pain these past few days. literally. I can barely step my left-foot because whenever I do, I feel a sharp pain somewhere near my ankle. In order to walk, I need to angle my foot a little bit and support it immediately with my right foot. But that’s not what this post is about. I want to highlight all the blessings that came with this “crippling” dilemma of mine.

Let’s start with the title 🙂 Yes, the laughter was literal too :)) You should’ve seen me yesterday when I was walking alone from the hospital back to the apartment. haha I was all giddy and giggling every time I take a painful step. I had to control myself from laughing because I already walk funny, I don’t need to be seen laughing on my own too. What I found hilarious was the irony that I am a brisk-walker who gets irritated with slow-paced people and that day I was slower than they were. I could feel them queue up behind me when I stopped too often because of the occasional sharp pains. I saw them overtake me, which I did far too often in the past even to those who weren’t even that slow :)) haha I praise God for giving me this type of humor, I wasn’t expecting it. I don’t even know why I found it funny, but It sure made the ordeal a lot less excruciating and shameful.

I had chores up my sleeve in the apartment, but praise God for the lives of the people He sent….

• The night before the pain got worse, Myles and Michelle already volunteered to be the marketer for the week! I was so relieved during the next day when it occurred to me that I didn’t have to go to the market.
• The morning I could barely get out of bed, I  was supposed to be the cook, Jessa volunteered as guest cook for that same morning.
• Walking to and from the office/shuttle terminal was made a whole lot shorter because I asked help from Kuya Otep and Enan who both agreed to let me ride with them for a week. whew!
• Darwin, my officemate, happily volunteered to take me to and from the clinic during my check-ups 🙂 He didn’t have a car and I needed to ride with him on his motorcycle, which I enjoyed (I like bikes and riding a motorcycle felt like riding a faster bike).
• Borj taught me how to massage my feet and kindly demonstrated how I should do it. It was so kind of him to insist. I was hesitant at first because I thought it will be awkward for him to massage my foot but we ended up laughing (It’s funny how I laughed more when I was in pain) because I my foot instinctively fights his attempts to move it :)) After that, we ended up talking a bit about the life I had before I came to know Christ as my Lord. Though it was brief, we had a nice chat 🙂 I am always thankful when I get to have deep one-on-one conversations with my brothers and sisters in Christ, especially those whom I don’t have frequent personal encounters with.
• Also, for the whole week, I had officemates and strangers smile at me with an awkwardly-concerned-yet-comforting-look on their faces showing me that they noticed I was in pain. It felt like they were trying to make me feel better with their smile. 🙂

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*Update: I was totally healed after a week. 🙂 Praise God, indeed! 😀

Yesterday was a busy, happy day :)

Yesterday, we held the first ever Encounter God Retreat (EGR) for the Sta. Cruz ministry area and as one of the 12 workers, we each had our responsibilities for that day. That was the BUSY part… as for the HAPPY part, let’s take a walk through my day shall we? 🙂

“First ever L.A. Sta.Cruz EGR
All glory and praises to God!
Joh 8:36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” Photo by Jerome V.

I woke up at 5am. Which was just 10 minutes away from our assembly call time. I did a quick assessment of whether or not I should bathe first, then decided that I should, which made me arrive at the meeting place 5minutes late. Next time, I need to actually get up after my first alarm which was set at 4:30. Thankfully, they haven’t started yet since the participants were still getting ready. I enjoyed watching them with their I’ve-just-woken-up groggy faces slowly walking in small groups down to the first floor with some of them sporting the I-forgot-to-bring-slippers-so-I’m-walking-barefoot look. hehe 😉

Bevz, Grace, Ninay, and I spent our quiet time together at the 2nd floor azotea where we meditated on 2 Corinthians 5. I was delighted to hear them share what they’ve learned from the scripture and get a glimpse of a part of their lives, like how they perceive things, and see the Lord speak to them personally. I was grateful to start the day with them in prayer and lift up the day to Him. Thank you Lord for the lives of the Elim ladies who woke up earlier than the rest of us to prepare everyone’s breakfast.

For the rest of the morning as the EGR progressed, I spent the day sitting at the back of the hall listening to all the Speakers’ messages until lunch. It was a blessing to hear the EGR messages again, presented through my brothers whom the Lord have used according to each of their unique personalities and gifts.

Then came the part where we needed to cook the Pancit for merienda. We started at around 1am. Yna was the first person at the kitchen to help me prepare, then came Jessa who just happened to see us working in the kitchen but then decided to help us with slicing the carrots. A little later, ish came fresh from her bath to help us some more. Thank you Lord for all the Help 😀 It was so challenging to cook food for 50 people but I was grateful for the lives of the people I get to do it with. Kuya Popz and Inno also happened to randomly drop by in the kitchen and provided the muscle power we badly needed when it comes to stirring the 3kg pancit noodles and in carrying the giant pans from one burner to the other. Not only that, but they also helped foster the joyful environment while we were cooking as they throw in random playful comments during our entire cook-off. Thank you Lord, for sending them 🙂 We are all aware of what that pancit went through as we struggled to adjust the flavor. At the end of the day, to all the people who said they liked it, praise the Lord! Nababad po yang pancit na yan sa prayers, yun ang secret ingredient. Seriously!

Also, special thanks again to the ever generous Jessa who provided the refreshments of that afternoon 😀

After we tidied up the kitchen, I asked ish to have a quick trip to the fruit stand to buy some calamansi and borrow a bike from someone since we were running out of time. Kuya Mark allowed her to borrow his bike. I saw them as they pushed the bike out of where it was kept and noticed that it was the type of quality bike that you invest in (Translation: Mahal sya! haha). Right then, Ish jokingly commented on riding such an expensive bike just for the sake of the calamansi. Kuya Mark joking replied something something along the lines of “Ok lang masaktan yung bike wag lang ikaw.”. I wanted to share that because It’s amazing how kind comments like that can take loads of pressure off your chest. *whew*

Michelle and Myles prepared the table while we were adding the finishing touches to the pancit. I praise God for their lives because they were so attentive and eager to help us, which was comforting since tasks can get a little stressful at times. They had the food all served and ready as scheduled. As for all the idle time we got as we wait for the participants, it was our moment to relax and just bask in the peace and stillness of the second floor hallway. We didn’t keep the food  after the merienda yet since we figured that some of the participants might want to eat again later that afternoon before they travel back to sta. cruz, and it turns out that they did. As the EGR ended, while the participants were leaving and each of the workers were busy addressing their different responsibilities, a thought occured to me: No one was assigned as the dishwa for that evening. Turns out that ate Che thought of that too and offered her help. A little later, Mariel came having the dilemma that neither of us had our apartment keys with us and no one was home. She also offered to help ate Che and I. She was the pahabol help the Lord sent that day 🙂

Lord, ang dami dami mo pong help na pinadala. I saw beautiful hearts emanating from you children the whole day. Thank you po!!!

After the EGR, we had our Bible Study(BS) with ate Je from 8-11pm. She served brewed coffee which assisted me in staying awake through most of our BS time. hehe She also took out her portable massage chair which each of us took turns in using during our Sharing time. Ate Arl continued massaging my back after my turn was up. Coffee and a Massage?! What a way to relax while listening to the testimonies of my friends as they share how the Lord has been faithful and present in their lives 🙂

Again, thank you Lord for this day. May you continue to bless the lives of these people who have been a blessing to me, and to many others.

*this post will be revised and edited for more kwentos when I have more time 🙂