It was raining almost daily that week, there was even a report of an encounter between NPA & the military wherein two (2) people died, but this did not dampened the high spirit of the Pasay City Alliance Church (PCAC) team headed by Ptr Romy Fernandez to go to Calintaan Occidental Mindoro for the outreach amongst the Mangyans & appreciation fellowship with the CAMACOP Mindoro ministry workers. This trip was part of the missions exposure of the PCAC Kairos course graduates batch 2021.
Amidst heavy rain that Friday evening and a little delay, the team of 16 composed of PCAC leaders (deacons, deaconesses, prayer core & pastor) hopped in the two SUVs. The convoy got into traffic along Alabang because of the rain. Some of the passengers of the other SUV experienced motion discomfort causing them to stop along the high way to relieve their churning stomachs.
We missed the 11:30 pm RORO by just a few minutes but since the other SUV got lost while exiting Star Toll in Batangas, thanks to Waze & human Waze, we were just early for the 1:30 am trip. Our group had a chance to eat Mami at the carinderia in the port while waiting for the other car to arrive. By the way, prices of chichiria were quite high that some of our companions had to let go of purchasing banana chips & just settled for Boy Bawang.
Our car was amongst those who got in the ferry first while the other car was already stopped at the waiting line. By GOD'S grace & the convincing power (angry mode) of a team member, the personnel at the waiting line allowed them while the ship's staff also was able to squeeze the car, the 2nd to the last to board the ship.
So everybody was happy specially the husbands of the ladies in the last car. Are you puzzled? The couples were not in the same car? Yes they were not but anyways, they were together on board the ship. Incidentally one of them was amongst those who vomitted while in Alabang, so the hubby really had to be by her side during the boat ride.
Praise GOD, the sea was good to us, not a wave could be felt nor the boat swayed by the winds, it was a pleasant sailing specially for our 1st timer on boat ride, Bro Rollie. So after 3 hours of smooth sailing, we safely landed at Abra de Ilog Port of Occidental Mindoro. But there will be another 2.5 hours drive going to our destination.
It was already Saturday morning, it was still dark when our cars left the port. Our church has an Upper room prayer session via zoom every Sat at 6:30 am. There was no signal on the road so Bro Rollie who heads the Prayer Core initiated the prayer session while we were travelling since most of those in our group were the regular attendees of that session. One brother later told us that he was awaken from his sleep by the prayer of Bro Rollie who was seated beside him, he thought he might already be in heaven as he heard the prayers.
This is one of my highlights during the trip, being able to join the morning prayer as I'm a not a morning person. Praying/lifting to GOD, speaking blessings to whatever we see on the road including the prison & penal farm, the province, the NPAs, the local government as well as our personal thanksgiving and the Sunday church plus all our activities in the area.
It was such an uplifting moment while our car was moving, the road was almost empty given that time of the day when people & animals are just awaking up , seeing the freshness of the surroundings, such greenery, the mountains are lush, the fields mostly are planted with Palay while others were just emptied of it's corn crops. The road was quite and the environment was peaceful, such a nice moment to commune with our Creator.
We search Iriron Alliance Church around 7am, actually it is called Zaripath, a facility for rehabilitation and recreation of CAMACOP pastors/workers. Through the generosity of DMS Herradura we were allowed to use the Zaripath for our lodging during our short Mission trip for the Mangyan outreach and as venue for the appreciation activity to the workers/church planters in Calintaan Occidental Mindoro.
The Zaripath has two rooms, bathroom, kitchen and a large common area for activities. A few meters at the back of the facility is a rice field, river and a beach.
We were treated with a healthy breakfast of vegetables ( ampalaya, talong, okra) & dried fish. But we were served first with egg sandwich & coffee which we thought was already our breakfast so feasted on two (2) sets of breakfast, really happy tummies.
While the food were still being digested, a short briefing about the church planting ministry in the province was given by our host Ptr Rommel Mendoza.
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| Welcoming the Men's group |
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| Ptr Rommel Mendoza (aka Kap Omel) introduced his team, seated facilitated the briefing. |
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| Ptr Omel & Ptr Romy, both wearing gray tshirts & shorts |
After the briefing , we started preparing for the activities of the Mangyan outreach in the afternoon.
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| Coffee, canned goods for food packs to be given to the Mangyans |
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| PCAC team & the local workers preparing the gift packs of candies & chocolates for the Mangyan children |
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| Repacking of 2 kilos of rice for distribution to the Mangyan families |
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Preparing the food packs
 | Palit sintas para may magamit sa rope illustration
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 | Aral muna bago salang sa activities sa mga Mangyan
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We would like to share with you the activities of this successful ministry trip.
Kindly click the links below.
