Visiting Parishes

i think i have to share about what i'm doing here in Manila.

yes i'm the one of the others seven volunteers of Taize Community that will help the preparation of the Pilgrimage of Trust in Manila that will be held on February 3th - 7th, 2010. there are one boy and one girl from Hong Kong, one boy from Japan, one boy from Germany, one girl from Korea, one girl from Vietnam, and me.

overall, our job is to visiting every parishes in Metro Manila to share about Taize Community and Pilgrimage of Trust, and invite them to join our pilgrimage. beside of that, we are also invite every parishes to welcome pilgrims that will come from outside Manila and the other countries into each host families in every parishes, and every parish that want to welcome pilgrims, we call them a Welcome Center.

because of there are so many parishes in Metro Manila, each one of us are assigned to around 4 - 5 vicariate, which is every vicariate have around 5 - 9 parishes. for me, i got 5 vicariate and i am the contact person of 34 parishes. yeah, not so much. ahahahahaha.

the interesting part is, we are equipped by one City Map of Metro Manila to help us to find every parishes. so i have to use this map to find every parishes that i've assigned to. and i'm very happy for this because it's like i've born to do this kind of job, getting lost in a city i never knew before to find some places only with map. cool!

so what should we do in every parishes? first of all, we can't text or phone them before we visit them. of course it's quite strange if someone stranger that u never meet before, suddenly text or phone you to arrange a meeting. so we have to visit the parish to meet either the youth coordinator or the parish priest at a chance. sometimes if i'm lucky, i can meet one of them and tell that i'm a volunteer of Taize Community and will held a international Pilgrimage of Trust and invite them to become a participant or to become a Welcome Center. if i'm half lucky, i can get their contact number from the parish office and text them to fix a personal meeting. if i'm not lucky at all, i can't meet them and the parish office is closed.

well, sometimes there's people that don't know about Taize at all so i have to explain them what is Taize Community in briefly.

after the youth coordinator or the parish priest already know me, Taize Community, and Pilgrimage of Trust, i have to ask the possibilities if i can join the youth members meeting or gathering to share again about Taize Community and Pilgrimage of Trust with the youth members. and this is the right time to show the 16 minutes Preparation of Manila Meeting videoto the youth members.

after i'm sure that most of the youth in one parish already know about Taize Community and Pilgrimage of Trust, and if they are interested to become a Welcome Center, then i have to invite them to make a concrete preparation team to organize the accommodation (looking for foster/host families), prepare the morning activity and the morning prayer (these will be held in every parishes where the pilgrims stay then around 10am they have to depart to the venue, Don Bosco Makati, to have their lunch, midday prayer, afternoon program, dinner, and evening prayer).

and my job didn't stop after they form a preparation team. i have to follow their progress and to help them in their preparation until the D-Day is come.

more or less, those are what i have to do in two months ahead. and by now, in my third weeks here, i didn't visit yet all my parishes. and i didn't have yet a single preparation team. but i already have around 5 - 6 parishes that willing to become a Welcome Center. so i still have a long way to go. ahahahaha.

ah, beside to share and follow the preparation of the Pilgrimage of Trust, if it's possible we also have to attend their Taize prayer, either if it's monthly or occasionally. if they don't have a Taize prayer in their parishes, we can invite them to arrange a prayer together and we will provide the flow. and hopefully the prayer will last until 2 - 3 years later.

in the prayer part, i think i'm quite used to because of my experiences in my parish in Jakarta. but the different thing is, i have to arrange a prayer in many parishes! ahahahaha cool!

i embedded the 16 minutes video if you want to watch.

Taizé - Prep Manila 2009 from Taizé Community on Vimeo.

click here for the original link.

related article:
On Line from the Preparation Team

Learning by Doing

so now is my third day in Manila.

until this time, i feel again what i felt over one year ago in Taize. it's about learning by doing.

yes, while i stayed in Taize, for the first day until my departure, the 'learning by doing' this thing is always happens.

and i feel it again in here, in Manila.

first of all because i come to a new place that has a different culture and habits. and also the community habits. it's like for the first time i really don't know what to do, where to go, how to do, with whom, and so on. but as time goes by, i learn how to do it by doing it self.

such as my first supper in Manila two days ago on the day when i arrived. i have to learn where the brothers take their supper, how to set the tables, and once aga in how to take the meals because i impressed that even we are in Asia, the meals also have an appetizer (salad), main course, and a desert. haha!

and the other thing is, every two of the volunteers have to prepare the morning, midday, and evening prayer. because i just arrived, i didn't get my schedule yet but i volunteered my self to help anyone on any schedule. so at the first time i really didn't know what to do and how to do. there are song papers, psalm papers, reading papers, prayer books, and so on. i really didn't know which papers is use for the morning, midday, or the evening prayer. so i just keep asked the other what to do.

overall, this three days it seems like i'm a junior one here. ahahaha. but it's okay. it's interesting to see that in our life, actually we will always experience the 'learning by doing' thing. the one of important thing is don't be afraid to do that and keep initiative to learn and do it. and also i always keep in mind that the others will not mind to help us, because if i was on their place, i will do the same for the 'junior' one.

so wish me luck for my learning by doing thing. i still have one more important thing that i have to learn it by doing; washing my clothes! and there is no laundry machine here so i have to wash it by hands. so wish me luck! ;p

Mabuhay Manila!

so here i am! in Manila!
now it's my second day in Manila, but the interesting part is the day before, when i came to Manila.

so my flight is landing on Clark - Pampanga City, there is one small airport which is unfortunately quite far from Manila itself, it's around 2 hours by bus. actually in Manila itself also have an airport which bigger, but i don't know maybe it's because my cheap ticket so Air Asia flown me to Clark. haha!

i arrived in Clark on 11am, then Sam who last year spent his 3 months in Taize picked me up and accompanying my to Manila by bus. around 2pm we arrive and we were waiting in Caloocan City to meet Br. Andre who will fetch me up because Sam will back again to Pampanga. afterward Br. Andre came with Florian! wohooo it's been last year since my last meeting with Florian! so they take me to the secretariat by LRT. and around 3pm i arrived in the Taize Pilgrimage of Trust on Earth Secretariat, in Makati City.

well on that time i'm totally exhausted and total sleepy because of the KL Traveling Day and only 5 hours sleeping in the airport's benches. but the problem is, i can't go to the house where the boys volunteers stayed because i don't have the key yet and the other 3 boys are leaving for work. so i just wait in the secretariat, try to get online with my cellphone and fall asleep many times.

until 6pm, Br. Andreas woke me up and ask me to join the evening prayer. ah, the prayer here is soooo simple. there is no musical instrument, only singing. and after the prayer we take lunch together with the brothers. and also in silence with classical music.

and after the supper, Br. John-Noel asked me to take a sleep on his bed. okay then i sleep but on 9pm Br. Ghislain woke me up and told me that Michio from Japan is already arrived.

so finally i come to the house. it's took around 10 minutes walking from the secretariat. the house actually some kind of a dormitory in the house. there is one room with 4 beds, already enough for 4 boys volunteer. and with one bathroom inside our room.

the funny thing is, the welcoming! on the top of my pillow, there isone paper that wroted "Mabuhay Kuya!". and when i opened my closet, i also found one paper that wroted "Welcome Timo!". ahahaha i almost forgot that "welcoming" is one of the most important thing in Taize-life style ;p

so that's my first day in Philippines and in Manila.
the story about it, just follow my stories afterward.

*HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my lovely sister who spend her time for a Master study in Tokyo, Japan - Elfani