PNUCCC 2009 Tshirt design

by Mel Micah Catalon PUP Volunteer Intern Staff

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