Teachers in Action: PNUCCC

In Time by Joan Jimenez

You are so Lovely

In Time

Broken LIVE!

Pass the Message: Aaron Abel Banayo’s Testimony

I was born in a Christian family & grew up knowing Jesus, but not completely, the only thing I knew then was that he died on the cross because of our sins and that we will go to heaven. I began to love bible stories at a young age. My family used to go to church together. And after our Sunday service I used to race w/ my brothers back home. My mom suffered from brain tumor and it was incurable while my dad deals w/ prohibited drugs and indulged himself from drinking liquor and smoking cigarettes, they used to argue, my siblings and I are always covered w/ fears w/ our knees shaking when they argue. Mom’s illness became serious that leads to her blindness and the only thing she could do is to lie on her bed every day. One time when I came home from school she invited me to join her in prayer but I refused. One morning I woke up and found everyone crying only to realize that God took her life, suddenly my world stop. I was 10 yrs. old at that time. We are forced to stay in Laguna because no one else would take care of us than our aunt & grandparents. From that time I learned to do house chores. When I entered high school I came to know Jesus more. One summer night while I was at home alone w/ my grandmother my uncle came & he was drunk at that time he told me to sit next to him after that he asked me some grossed questions later on he commanded me to remove my shorts but I refused to obey next he scared me he told me to do it or else I’ll see him mad at me I got nervous, I have no one to turn to ask for help. I was covered w/ fear & didn’t know what to do. Suddenly he touched me in the wrong places if you know what I mean, then he kissed me it was the 1st kissed that I have ever tasted in my life & it taste gross, it last for half a minute. I was too scared to say anything to my family. And it doesn’t end there…he kept on coming back and found me alone sometimes I would run to our restroom I’ll lock the door and hide there or sometimes I would run to the rooftop and stay there until he leaves. I was always filled w/ anger whenever that I would remember those unfortunate events. There are times that I wanted to kill him I would think that I’ll have him drink muriatic acid or I’ll stab him w/ a sharp knife. I stop attending church & I did that for more than 4 years. When I entered college I promised to myself to focus on academics. One afternoon as I was about to go home I saw Koreans wearing their traditional costume & they’re keep on telling students to go to main bldg. & watch their show entitled “Arts for Eternity’s Sake”. Because of my interest in knowing their culture more I decided to jump in. I enjoyed their show especially their taekwondo later on in the middle of the show they’re telling the story of Jesus and it amazed me. At the end of the show I let Jesus come into my heart once again and mean it. After a day or two I received a txt msg. and the sender invited me to drop by in CCC office in our campus w/c so I did, I came to know Jesus more as before but the bitterness was still in my heart. Every night I cried & my pillow is soaked in tears I kept on wondering why did God let my mother died? Why did my uncle do such thing in me? Isn’t he powerful enough to protect me? Isn’t he powerful enough you cure my mom? He is unfair or maybe he is a selfish God because he wants to grow my faith by letting mom died. As days had passed, God revealed the answers to my question. I realized that God is in control of my life, he is the potter while I’m the clay, he will mold me into his desire & I don’t have the right to tell the potter on how he would fashioned me into what kind of shape that I wanted to become. I realized how faithless I am. I have not kept his word in my heart. I remembered that he promised he would raise my mom back to life when the last day comes just as what Martha confessed to Jesus and it comforts me whenever I’ll read that story. Through CCC i learned to love God and spend time w/ him. I began to see Jesus in their lives. My desire in knowing him becomes bigger and bigger & because of that I learned how to forgive my uncle. As these changes began in my life I felt that God is pulling me out of my comfort zone it’s like that God wants me to do something, something that I’ve never tried before… and that’s to share the gospel! I was afraid of doing it and somewhat shy of approaching people. Our leader encouraged me to join LTI but I refused and told him that my heart is not on making disciples, one night during our program in CCC mission center entitled “what’s on the box?” I learned that I should love others just as he loves us one way of doing this is by sharing the gift he gave us. As I kept on searching for God’s kingdom I realized that sharing his word is like playing the game called “pass the message” I could still remember what our speaker did during our devotion…he held two cups and raised it one filled w/ water while the other one is empty, next he transfer the water to the empty cup & it was filled and that’s the same w/ sharing his word. We must be filled w/ the Holy Spirit in doing it. And I learned that I won’t be able to pass the message to others if I myself have not received the message. As of now everything seems to be different… I came to realized that all of those heart breaking moments that came to my life are for the glory of God .And I am ready to use my talent in sharing the gospel. Just like the boy w/ 5 loaves and 2 fishes I’ll just have to surrender everything that I have for Jesus, perhaps, who can tell, he is planning to do something great & wonderful .He knows what he would do if I let him, if I would place my best, my dearest treasure in his hands. And when the day of reckoning comes, how happy I will be to hear Jesus say “well done, good & faithful servant!” w/ a smile and a handshake will be reward enough for anything any of us ever did for him… now I can’t wait for the school to start.. Personal Life Testimony: Aaron Abel Banayo, 2nd yr PNU Student

Campus Gig! ‘09

PNU: 2008 Praise Report

Turning Point

Venjie Oclaret’s Life Story: A testimony

No one has ever known these things about me except God.

Well, I don’t remember much about my childhood except for that one traumatic experience that had bedeviled my life for quite a longer time. I was just five years old then, squeaky clean and innocent and unmindful of the happenings around me, when my uncle sexually abused me (forgive me for choosing not to be explicit about what transpired). He’s my mom’s cousin and a close friend to my dad that I really don’t understand what had gotten into him to treat me as though I were his rag doll. Although we have never seen him since then, the nightmarish experience eventually had its adverse ends upon me as I grew up. At the age of nine or ten, I had titillated thoughts toward my chums, girl or boy; and sadly, I even ended up provoking my female cousins to try making out with me. In those years, my body was stinking with sexual desires which I do not understood yet, and in my head larked about dirty thoughts that stimulated me to do and think more evil. This sordid corruption of both my mind and flesh has subsisted very strongly till the end of my elementary years.

Life is but a riveret; it just can’t stop coursing its way outpouring unless it meets the sea. Like that, I entered secondary school with no clear expectations at all; even so, it was then that I came to know more about the sort of life I had and the things which I had been doing for quite a time. To tell you, I would have not realized much about such, had it not been for Ms. Paz Samelo, the Values Education teacher I had during my first year. She may not know it but she played a very valuable role for me to see life differently. I have learned to become more reflective, to value my life and be thankful in every circumstance; more importantly, she has taught me to have a vision and to let go of a past however broken and painful that is.

Meantime, I was also able to meet wonderful friends that I never really had in elementary. Long before, I used to keep myself in solitude and keep things upon me; I had no confidence and too insecure to get along with my classmates for fear that they would only withdraw or consider me weird or nerd; thus, I was so used to mistrust and criticize, tacitly. But then, things became totally different when I met my friends. They had no reservations for me, and sincerely received me for who I am. This is then the moment that I started to build up myself with the help of their encouragements and friendly advices; consequently, I became more assertive and positive towards people, my studies, and the circumstances I encounter each day. Since then, I became recognized as one of the achievers in our school, and there was never an instance that I missed a slot in the honor list and other major awards. For all that, however, I became boastful and too proud inasmuch as I finally failed to listen to what my friends are saying about my overweening attitude. Still, I got to redeem myself after that as I learned my lesson the hard way.

In my third year, I became a student leader, a journalist, and a volunteer all at the same time. Now this in fact led a way for me to be handpicked in many seminars, trainings, and workshops. I have travelled to a many awe-inspiring places, and I somehow learned a lot of ideas and philosophies that came to be meaningful and useful to me for quite a time. Meanwhile, I was given the invitation to attend a 5-day retreat in Antipolo organized by the Catholic clergy; then, for a year, I became part of the organization till I got to that extent of considering the seminary life. Then suddenly things seemed not right anymore; joining prayer vigils and other things had become so familiar and routine to me and made no more sense.

It was then during that time that I received another invitation to a 21-day leadership training arranged by those who identified themselves as Moonies (I don’t know it at first). The sort of training they gave us amazed me so much; the lecturers were all good speakers and carried across the message in the most practical way possible. But then suddenly, the lecture came to be more Biblical and what struck me most was on how they interpret the sin of Adam and Eve and many other incidents recorded in the Bible. Every lecture made so much impact on me that my mind has gone twisted and was turned upside down, metaphorically.

Soon, those who attended the training were given the opportunity to stay at different student centers around the metro; I was then chosen to stay at the headquarters with the other students who, accordingly, have been chosen for their potentials to become leaders of this country. Within a few months of staying in HQ under the leaders, they then lectured to us that Mr. Sun Myung Moon is the second coming of Christ which I most easily agreed to be true. Now, I never thought that it was plainly a deception, and admittedly I was too deceived; I made full bows and long hours of prayer in front of his picture and his wife (the True Parents as we are taught to call them). But even so, I still idolized Mr. Moon for everything that he went through, for his advocacies and for being a trailblazer in the call for world peace.

Subsequently, we did fundraising on foot and aboard a van; we were so much eager to do it because in our hearts we thought it would go for what is greater good. But then the funds we raised were not fully used for its intended purpose; the one who accounts it used it for paying a lot of things or for something else not known to us.

One day, I just had to stop from schooling because I started to see my grades failing which I do not much want to see in the transcript. It’s already the middle of the second semester and I had failed to focus on my studies as I had given much time fundraising or hanging out in the center sleeping. During this time, my soul was as downcast and uneasy as I saw my relationship with mom and dad grew colder because of my decision to stop. It was really my fault because I had not consulted them beforehand; I had kept secret from them the things we do at the center, as well. My mom was in despair when I got home one day; she works so hard for our education and for her to hear the news I carried was too much for an already disheartened mom to bear; dad lost his job, and now I’m out of school, out of my scholarships, too. At that, I determined myself to start a new beginning; everything has to be built up again, mom’s trust and my relationship with dad and my sisters who had their eyes on me not because I’m the eldest but because they never thought that I would be just like that. So I worked in a fast-food chain and then became a tutor to earn money. And though rebuilding my relationship with mom did not become easy, it eventually went well.

Then another year came and I was too exuberant and expectant of coming back to school. Everything gone so smooth, and as though restoration came upon me and the family, I got qualified for a PLDT scholarship and another scholarship grant from the learning center where I work as a volunteer; my mom got a new job in IBM-Daksh and dad also got a light construction work. At the school, my new classmates received me warmly and adored me for my being gentle, intelligent, and for being true and friendly to them. To hear them say these things really warms my heart; however, reality is, there are most times that I feigned and faked my self. I talked of phony things about myself which were never really true, and deceived them also by sharing Moonie ideas. Although I can say that this time of the year seemed just fine and all right, I felt the emptiness and longing inside me of knowing who the One True God really is. I have lots of questions about who Jesus Christ is so I asked God in prayer to reveal to me what the truth is.

Then unexpectedly, the day I anticipated came. This was the time that I met David Kim, who became my discipler. At first it was not easy for me not only because he’s Korean, but that teachable heart as we have our Bible studies because of the ideas poured upon me by the Moonies.

But Kuya David was so persevering and persistent in praying for me as I learned later from Ate Sol who’s also a Korean. I was deeply touched by this knowledge that has come upon me; every night, he seriously reviewed follow-up materials that he’s got to share with me; he studied intensive English course on his own only that he could speak and respond to my questions. These have softened my heart to the uttermost. I am also forever thankful for my discipler for he has refreshed my heart to long and seek for Jesus Christ. With the help of Kuya David, I come to experience the incomprehensible love of Christ everyday as I dwell upon His Words and feel His presence surrounding me. He also introduced me to Campus Crusade for Christ family, where I met those people whose lives were once broken and shattered like mine but was mended and healed to the maximum by the grace of Jesus Christ.

I joined the Leadership Training Institute 2008 last October 21-24 and it’s here that I received Christ as my true Lord and Savior; I will always cherish that awesome encounter with Him as I lay on the grass bed with wide open wonder at those falling stars that seemed to welcome me in His family. Every moment now becomes a moment with God. I began to depend on Him and entrust upon His hands every concerns and cares that I have. Every day, I have this tremendous longing and thirst to see Him and know Him more and more intimately. He told me that He loves me and that nothing can take me away from His love. He is my God and whatever wounds and pains or however deep or however tender they are, He heals me from those. Indeed, He assured me that I shall no longer live in the dark for He has brought light upon me; He taught me to confess my every sin and walk in His light; I’m forgiven, and so I forgive my uncle, too. I shall not be afraid anymore to reveal my sins for Christ has washed all of them by His mighty blood. I am so thankful to God because He allowed me to share His love by the power of the Holy Spirit to the students of Philippine Normal University (my campus) and to my disciples. At the moment I have four disciples (Cliffy, Chris, Gerald, and Julius) who bring so much joy in my heart; I praise God for their lives and may He continue to use me to share the love that is in Christ alone.

This is my life. To God be all the glory!

My Mission My Generation 2: Venjie

Kim Ho Sueng (David) - Venjie's Korean discipler