FEW Batch # 48: The New Babies in the Family
Written by Joey Che Jimenez.
The essence of having the Family Encounter Weekend Seminar is to reach out 100 percent and to make every member of the family realize and accept the “specialness” and uniqueness of each one in the family. For as described in the Bible, Corinthians 12:12, A family is like the single body of Christ, which has many parts but still one body, even though it is made up of different parts.
Last June 1-3, 2012 at Claret Retreat House, Quezon a new batch of babies were welcomed by the Family Life Apostolate headed by Shepherd Mon Noemi Giron for the Family Weekend Seminar. They are the Aquino Family, Nacpil Family and the Pascual Family. We all know that many were invited to join the seminar but only these three families made it to the seminar. Certainly, God has called them and God shall reward them with graces! Our hearts bleed with theirs as we listened to their family’s life experiences. We realized that we are interconnected as a family. During rough and tough times, the family is the source of strength and they are the very reason why we keep going on, and the holding on becomes stronger with our faith in God and we anchor on our Lord , whom we call JESUS.
The irrefutable expertise of the team, headed by the endearing Fr. Domie Guzman, as he shared values, insights and shed light and whose words of wisdom, inspired the new members of FEW, as they traverse (with their family) in this world called Life .
The very enthusiastic presenting team families, who served as the armed forces of the seminar, whose humbling life experience was opened to the public not to protect but to connect . They are Mon Noemi Giron and Family as presenting Team A and Armand Linda Perez and Family as Team B; and for the first partial talk, the debutant family, Joey Che Jimenez with their children, Onginev, Leryhc Andrei and Chloey Joy.
We laud the Sponsoring Class , headed by Ferdie Dhin Pozas, co-coordinator Jess Merlyn Versoza for their unwavering support and tireless efforts to make the seminar worth experiencing. Sis. Inday Mabasa, who was always ready to lend a helping hand when the need arises. Of course, the Music Ministry headed by Jun Gina Ceniza, without them, the joyful songs won’t be as joyful as it should be. Lest we forget, the talents shown by the sons and daughters of our Family Life Apostolate for their hilarious and wacky presentation.
Our “Let’s Celebrate” portion became a big party, when one by one, our elders arrived. President Couple Ding Susan Mayor who came everyday and stayed till late night, the BOT’s, Head Couples of different ministries, Our adviser, Shepherd Cristy Sumera and the camped – packed dozen of SADErs, mimicking hilarious acts that made everyone fall on the floor laughing out loud.
And in calming down, the true celebration occurred. The celebration of the Holy Eucharist was presided by Fr. Domie Guzman with a “Dear God” letter reading from the participating families.
