My Last Day of my First Trip to Kalipay

“We gave joy and found it in abundance”
By Gary Idulza

A Psalm of David keep ringing in my ear, it was a verse of chapter 86 of Psalms and it says “Bring joy to your servant, for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul”. We are that joy to our Higaonon Brethren and them to us, for if we only let God use us, we would indeed be a blessing. As we were on this trip, we were as of living through the words of Psalms 86. That gave me comfort and security through heavy rain, slippery paths, cold nights, muddy terrain, doubt, despair and the ever present danger of death.
Waking up in the stillness of the night, as everybody seems to be asleep. I praised God and gave thanks to Him, how wonderful it is to be a servant serving others that cannot give anything in return. They could only impart their shelter and their joy; they could only ask God on what might be our need. At the break of day, Brother Boy Sin-ingans’ house turned into a beehive of activity, the ladies were already busy in the kitchen fixing breakfast for us; all three dozen of us and by no means was an easy feat to do.
We gathered around for the early news coming from the project site and what good news it was. As early as 4 hours past midnight, as was the instruction to start the operation of the catchment’s basin, they are now using it as planned. As water flowed out of the pipeline from the catchment’s basin, they now used the water for drinking and for gardening purposes. When everybody heard about it, praises and thanks broke the stillness silence of the morning at Kalipay.
Breakfast came and gone and now we prepared for the early Sunday fellowship that will be held at Brother Boy Sin-ingan’s house. We as adventurous as ever decided to bathe at a nearby catchment’s basin, which was way down the steep and slippery slope of Kalipay Proper. As the start of the fellowship got nearer, more and more people are now coming to Brother Boy’s house. Some of our brethren came as far as from Bukbokon, a place on the mountains of Butuan City. A good two hours plus by bus from were we are now, but they didn’t even rode any vehicle; they just walk more than four hours of mountain path on a rugged and steep terrain. What commitment have these brethren of ours that they where on time for the 8 a.m. Sunday fellowship. I felt ashamed of myself that I often go late for fellowship, these brethren walk farther than my house to our fellowship center at Cagayan de Oro City. When the fellowship started, everybody was shoulder to shoulder singing praises and worship our God Almighty. We further strengthened each other by the quoting verses from the Bible and exhorting fellow brethren that the things we do are all for God’s glory and the furtherance of his Kingdom. There was also one surprise that was in store for us, the official public head of Kalipay donated a lot for the building of a Ministry church at the barangay’s proper. Praise God! Everybody was delighted by the news.
We then packed our things, blessed everyone and be blessed also by them, and then off we go back to Cagayan de Oro City our home. The Trip was for me a memory of a lifetime, it seems that I learned more of life and how I should be thankful of the blessing I have now, and be content of it. Serving others as Jesus Christ served us took a new perspective of life for me. Having tasted God’s presence amongst our Higaonon brethrens, I should impart the lessons learned in this trip to my self and others so that they may see that serving is the way to be.

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Recycled Christmas Decors 2008

Our wishlist; old cds again

with colorful crepe paper.

made of newspapers warpped in colorful

crepe papers with glitters.

Used cds adorned with colorful

crepe papers and lovely glitters.

Recycled 2006 Christmas Decors

Zelmarq

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My First Kalipay Trip (Day 2)

My First Kalipay Trip (Day 2)
“I’m weak and spent but the Lord sustains me, Therefore I move on, all for God’s Glory”
My personal reflection on the trip
By Gary Idulza

Up in the mountains, it never crossed my mind that the “cold mountain air of Gingoog City can sting”. It stung me, waking up an hour earlier before the struck of midnight. For a moment I thought I was sleeping inside a huge freezer, I frantically rubbed my hands on my feet and arms. Then I scrambled for my backpack and insulated myself with more thick clothes. By now the winds were chilling and howling, it was a good thing for us that we slept in a house with four walls. Not so with some of our colleagues from Iligan City and province of Iloilo. They slept in the traditional houses of the Higaonons, where there are no walls and only a roof and elevated flooring. Everybody had a good night 10+ hours of sleep, even me. The sleep we took refreshed our body and now was the time that we must refresh our spirit with the Word of God.

Due to the lack of light (there’s no electricity for miles from us) some proceeded to boiling the water for a hot refreshing coffee for our numb body. We groped a bit in the dark doing our chores and the flashlight from our cell phones were the only source of light besides the occasional lights made by the fireflies patrolling the area. At the break of dawn, I fetched water for cooking and washing dishes. As everybody gathered around and there was enough light to read the letters of our Bibles. Kuya Bernie, our Senior Pastor let me read a chapter in Psalms. As we heard and “digested” the Word of God, it reminded us that we are here to serve our brethren, and that all things belong to the One who created all things, we are just stewards, Ate Babes also added insights on what we heard. Then everybody prayed to God for fair weather the rest of the day. By now we were going to continue building the catchments’ basin, but first we have to eat our breakfast meal and of boiled eggs and home maid stew. We also gave some to our neighboring families there. But as it turned out they also cooked extra sweet potatoes for us and we were much delighted by the offer.

The sands that was carried days earlier were way to few; so we gathered sands in the vicinity of the nearest waterfalls from our site, which we traversed coming to the site. Kuya Bernie led some of us to gather more sands and we made several trips through occasionally muddy and wet trail to amass enough sands for our project. We often stop ones in every trip up to our site to catch our breath, for the wet sands were bearably heavy though one of us did carry a half full sack of sands (it’s not me!) every trip we took. There were two little kids that took turns on escorting us every trip carrying, sometimes carrying the spade used to pile up the sands near the waterfalls (talk about child labor). Almost often I only hear my heavy breathing but as I stop to catch my breath I would occasionally hear these kids singing. During the last trip of gathering the sands, as we stopped to catch our breath, we heard burst of gunfire not too far from the trail. It seemed that it was just only a mound above us, and we discussed what it was, who fired it and how near it was. One of us jokingly said that it was just a carpenter banging a piece galvanized iron sheet for roofing, but we were determined to finish our project and no amount of gunfire will hinder our resolve. When we entered the project site, it was already abuzz with what the gunfire might be. And our fellow Higaonon brethrens were already coming in with the rest of the hollowed blocks and cements that was not carried yesterday. By now the sun was nearing its zenith and so was our belly ready for lunch. Our meal was made out of fresh produce from the garden below, steaming hot rice and dried fish (yummy!!!).
We then continued on the project which was nearing completion due to the fair weather, excellent camaraderie and Providence. Sometimes we got distracted from our work by the occasional passing of people carrying big fruits from their own farms, some carried marang (a kind of fruit in between a jackfruit and durian). Wendy and Hazel (our cooks) took turns on taking pictures for the documentary ands eavesdropping ones in a while on our work if it is already finished. Everybody in the area surrounding the project was already anticipating the finish and is eagerly excited that there is now a catchments’ basin for their drinking water and watering their gardens. We finished our work at around four in the afternoon, and then pack our bags for our homeward journey.

Close to three dozen people were mobilized to help in the construction of the catchments’ basin, this project ones the water starts to flow would help Higaonon brethrens living and farming within the vicinity of the project. Everybody helped, even little kids collected stones for the project. The women cooked, washed dishes and clothes and even collected vegetables from their gardens for our meals, that is not to include that they did carry considerable materials for the project when we first went up to the mountain site. Everybody was elated when we announced that the project is already finished and joy was very evident in everybody’s faces. God’s mighty hand was upon us every step of the way; As Kuya Bernie always points out to us “God’s work done in God’s way will never lack anything”. Amen to that. Even the bursts of gunfire that we heard a while ago were just a thing of the pass. Sweat and mud did not hamper our spirits for in our hearts God’s faithfulness was aflame.

After the last instruction was given to Datu Basa, we then proceeded to go down from the site to Purok 6 of Barangay Kalipay. Along the way we were chased by a sudden downpour of rain. And it took us just a little over and hour to get back to Brother Boy Sin-ingan’s home, which was our first stop at Barangay Kalipay. Everyone was amazed that it only took us half the time to get down the mountain than to go up it. As night was fast approaching we cooked for thirty plus people with only three small cans of sardines, a handful of aubergines and the ever reliable dried fish. The meal we prepared was just the right amount, everybody’s tummy were full and even a little left over. What a miracle!!!

As everybody settled for the night we chatted on the events that transpired earlier we found out that those bursts of gunfire was a salute to militia that was laid to rest there at the top of the mountain where we were earlier in the day. Brother Boy Sin-ingan’s home was jam-packed with warm bodies as we crammed our selves to sleep. Brother Jun of Iloilo was beside me as I personally reflected on our journey. The Lord sustained me; every step of the way the Lord’s Hand was upon me pushing me to go further even though I was way past my limit. As I lay on the floor, I was now drowning to sleep content that one my weakest point, God carried me.

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Plastic raincoats......

Our group went to a remote area to make catchment basin for the tribe in the mountains. It was one of the great walks that I have ever expereinced in my life. I prayed for protection and strength to the Lord for I knew what was instore for us, 8 kilometers mountain walk which means up and down, slopes, and something that will require vigor and stamina. Im just a neophyte when it comes these kinds of activities but the Lord is my strength, as long as Im doing it for His glory, I know He will always be by my side.

It rained hard but we have to go to the area, so what we did was to make plastic cellophanes for our protection from the rain. And it really served its purpose, it protected our things and our bodies from the hard rain. Have you used this kind of rain coat?It was a walk to remember, I feel so close to God, as if the clouds are within reach, with His magnificent creation, the rain, the coldness of the breeze and the sound of the crickets whispering to my ears, welcoming me with gratitude. Felt the sweat trickling down my face with the hard rain pouring, every now and then I try to catch my breath after every elevated part and try to stay cool when I reach flat zones.

Im writing more but cant keep the thoughts from coming through and I'll have to end here, still waiting for the continuation of Gary's story, I have to admit that is a great story teller than me, I have always been the frustrated writer and a trying hard blogger.

Zelmarq

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My Kalipay Trip

My First Kalipay Trip
By Gary G Idulza

In the wee hours of the morning on November 14th 2008, a group of Christians traveled to the slopes of one of the mountains of Gingoog City, Misamis Oriental, Philippines to build a project; a catchments’ basin in one of the numerous springs that jot the mountain side. And I was one of them that journeyed to that awesome place.

Barangay Kalipay is one of the barangays of Gingoog City which translates as “joy” or “happiness” in English and what joy that did awaited us at that wonderful place, a home to a lot of our Higaonon brethren. We traveled for 5 hours from Cagayan de Oro City where I lived and to Kalipay, Gingoog City. But Poruk 6 of Kalipay was only our pit stop for our final trek to the place were we gonna build a catchments’ basin.

We stayed for a while at our brethren Boy Sin-ingans’ house; it was a simple wooden house that was full of warm people that greeted us.

It was a joy that we felt it was like just coming home from a long travel. It was decided that we have to go to the site even though there was already a heavy downpour, after we gathered the provisions for the final leg up to the mountains we huddled around to pray to our Lord that all will be well and successful. Of we go with instant raincoats just to fend most of the falling rain. I carried a sack full of plates and utensils while others carried gallons of mineral water, cement, hollow blocks, and to some sacks of sand, steel rods, PVC pipes, biscuits and even eggs for breakfast. The trek was hard but amazing; it tested my endurance and some of our brethren but as I found out later that our Higaonon brethren highly favored walking while there was rain. The path to the site was on an old logging trail, it was muddy, lot of loose stones, torrential rains carved out little streams of water in the trail, and at some points we crossed short waterfalls and cascades. A huge boulder along the trail greeted us and it was a sort of an entrance to the site. At last we arrived at the site after 2 hours of walking the “Extra Challenge” trail, the site was near the mountains’ summit, a majestic view of the lowlands and from our vantage point we where looking down from afar the island of Camiguin with it towering volcanoes.

As we settled in the site area we where greeted by the mountain air with a gentle breeze as if we were welcomed by the mountain itself. We thanked and praised God that all was safe despite the heavy downpour. We had afternoon snacks then we inspect the exact site for the catchments’ basin and of we go, we started that afternoon the foundations for the catchments’ basin we dug through the mud and found out that the mud was not too deep and the added bonus was that right below the mud were we will put the catchments’ basin was a compact soil good for establishing our project. God was indeed with us, He provided everything for the success of our project including the exact place on where we are going to put the projects’ foundations. We stopped our work for the moment so that the foundations of the project would harden. We then bathe in the spring and after a while we had early dinner. We were miles away from the nearest electricity pole. As we had early dinner we also slept early at around 6:30 in the evening we were already going to bed contented that everything was going as planned. We thanked and praised the Lord Almighty that though the trek was somewhat arduous and exhausting for a city folk as me, we were not a bit tired. First day of our journey ends.

To be continued.....

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Bitter sweet realizations....

I just came fresh from a three day youth discipleship conference and I feel the spiritual fullness and it feels so great, I feel so energized. I had bitter and sweet realizations.

The messages opened my eyes to these realizations in my life.

I cried while walking on my way home, alone in a remote provincial road from my children ministry.

I cried coz I realized vital things. One speaker talked of stewardship, and I took it so hard and realized that i was not a good steward with my life. There so many opportunites, time and relationships wasted and for me its bitter coz I know I could no longer do anything about it. But there's no use crying over spilled milk, know the Lord is not through with my life yet, and I praise God for His guidance and for using people to guide me. Its sweet because I still have time to do better and to do the best for the Lord.

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