cya action update - september 2011

8/4/2019 CYA Action Update - September 2011

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Action Updatewww.christsyouthinaction.com


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Forewordy Raoul Roncal

John 4:42

and they said to the woman, We no longer believe because of your word; for we have heardfor ourselves, and we know that this is truly the saviour of the world.

Remember the first time you were approached by someone inviting you to take part in one ofCYAs activities as a participant or as a benefactor. What convinced you to accept the invitation?Was it your friends demeanor (he was so enthusiastic and sincere)? Did the activity havesomething you were interested in (good music, opportunity to hang out, meet new people fromother schools, investing in young people, fostering leadership in the youth)? Did you want to getto know better the person inviting you? Or was it the change in your friend that compelled youto ask him why he seemed more at peace, joyfulhappy? Whatever the reason or the occasion,it was enough to convince you to check it out for yourself.

The verse above is taken from the story of the Samaritan Woman and her encounter with Jesusat the well. We are a lot like the Samaritan womans neighbors in John 4:42, who went to seeJesus and after meeting Him for themselves, they believed. The people encountered the story,just heard the story. They went. They saw. Their conclusion -- they dont need the story anymorebecause they personally encountered Jesus. This encounter was so real that they concluded thatwhat she experienced, they also experienced.

In this simple verse we may learn three things. First, regarding the call of the Lord for us to tellothers about Him -- there is a need to not only tell the story (of how we encountered Christ) butfor us to share our experience of Christ to others. The Samaritan woman remarked that, Jesushad told her everything she had ever done. Just like her, we tell our story. We are never sure thatpeople will respond, but our hope is that in telling our story, they will experience what we haveexperienced: a personal relationship with Christ.

Second, if people are willing to listen and to open their heartsthen its possible for them to make the same conclusion thatwas made by the Samaritans: they dont need our story anymorebecause they have come to believe.

Third, when we evangelize, it is not really about us and whatwe could do. We are just storytellers. The story that we tell is themeans the Lord would like us to use to bring people to know

Him. By the power of Christ and the Holy Spirit, through Hiswork in us, in this way, men and women will not only hear thestory but meet Christ Himself.

The Samaritan woman encountered Christ and, because of it, was moved to share it with others.She invited people to meet Jesus Christ themselves. Those she invited went. They believed.

So, go ahead, tell your story!

When I started college, I certainly did not plan on having a stronger relationship with mGod. My goals for college were simple: study for four years, get my degree, maybe join organization or two, gain friends, and have lots of fun before swiftly moving on to the nstage of my life. Lucky for me, God wanted to make my college life more meaningful thhad originally planned. He placed me among people who have active, growing relationwith Him. I realized that they had a certain joy and peace that was not shaken even whtheir grades or friendships fall apart. I began to understand His love for me as if for the time.

I attended the 30th anniversary of Christs Youth in Action andrealized that 30 years earlier, God had begun a work whichwould bring all these past and present CYAers together. MikeJoseph, founding director of CYA spoke about how Godspromise of bringing tens of thousands to the Lord seemedincredulous back then, even to him! Yet here I was riveted tomy seat listening to him that day, a product of the seed that heplanted and the faith that he sowed three decades earlier. Hecould not have possibly planned for my own personal spiritualgrowth in CYA 30 years ago but God did.

I realized that you never know how far the ripples of youractions will reach. What if there are a million Christians to bewon out there and all you have to do to bring each of them toJesus is to talk to one friend? I wondered what I could do toshare the gift of Christ to others in my own small way. I have seen a hunger for God fromthe people in my school, like my blockmates. I felt that if only there is CYA in Ateneo, th

hunger could easily be met.

Soon after the anniversary, I began to share these thougand my hope that my friends could experience growingrelationships with the Lord with Kuya Jim Orbe. From thwe started to meet with brothers and sisters. After half asemester, weve grown from a small handful to a biggerhandful, but a blessed handful nonetheless.

God has brought me a long way from being a nominalCatholic and I know I still have a long way to go. Just likeMike Joseph, I dont know how the Lord will move in myschool and what the future holds for CYA. But I have faithat one day He will complete his work in me and in thoaround me.

Being Worked into Completiby John Valdes, (Ateneo de Manila Un

There is a need toshare our experienceof Christ to others

My goals for colwere simple: hlots of fun be

swiftly moving to the next stagmy life. Lucky me, God wantedmake my collegemore meaninthan I had origin

planned.

What if there are amillion Christians tobe won out there andall you have to do tobring each of themto Jesus is to talk to

one friend?


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Who am I to Say No to God?by Tone Villareal, Mapua Institute of Technology

narrated to James de Castro

A smoker and a tambay in the wrong crowd made a 180 turn towardsthe Lord during one unexpected moment and said yes.

A CYAer named Lean approached Tone Villareal during one of hiscigarette breaks and invited him to CYA events. Makulit si God!Thats the line Tone told us when he was telling us his story of journeytowards finding God. Lean became persistent to the point that Tonefinally said Yes! to a Crossroads Retreat invitation and because itwas just an on-the-spot answer.

When Tone was thinking of changing his ways and was ready to bea part of CYA, this is where fear and anxiety came in and tried todeceive him. He started asking himself, Wheres the change? Godanswered Tones question through a presentation with the themeWatch out fear, here comes Faith! And from then on, Tone startedto transform. He stopped smoking, he was no longer a tambay outsideof his house, and he became a person who was ready to put on hisnew self and to share what he had experienced.

With God, anything is possible, we simplyhave to respond.

At first, Tone was afraid to share about Christ to his classmates sohe turned to God and asked for help. God told him that he shouldfollow Him, and that was enough for Tone to gather enough courageto join some CYAers in presenting in front of his class. Out of the 86who graduated from the Christian Life Series, 28 of them came fromTones Biology class.

Who wouldve expected a tambay to eventually end up using his timeto serve God? Who knew that an irresponsible person would becomea dependable kuya to many young people? Who knew that a personwho seemed to be going the wrong way would be turning around tohave a close relationship with God? Tones testimony indeed provesthat with God, anything is possible, we simply have to respond. Andfor Tone, his response to Gods call would always be, Who am I tosay no to God?


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Lea Sabilla

Out of Loveby James de Castro

Christian Sanchez

Different Strokesfor Different

Folksby Mae Teotico and Mitzi Ramos

A few days before Lea Sabillas birthday, she sent a message to someof her high school friends from Philippine Science Bicol, to go visitCYA UP Dilimans Semester starter event. She invited a small groupat first, but the group soon became a group of nearly 20 people. Leasaw this as an opportunity to invite them to CYA. She wanted herfriends to experience what she had experienced the year before.

Since then, she has invitedaround forty brothers andsisters from her high school toCYA-UPD, and a lot of themalso invited their friends. Shealso asked help from her batchmates and even invited peoplefrom the dormitories. Whatdrives her to keep inviting? Shebelieves that bringing peopleto Christ out of love, changesyou to become excellent,patient and passionate.

Lea does worry, such as how herfriends would respond to herinvitations. Yet, she has learnedto trust the Lord. She knowsthat the Lord is using her as aninstrument to plant the seed intheir hearts and everything elsedepends on Him. With trustand realization, she tries not toentertain such thoughts. Withhope in her heart she muses,if they do not choose to bepart of CYA, I am still confidentthat the Lord has other plansfor them and that they will stillgrow whichever path the Lordleads them to.

There are several ways to reach a persons heart. For some, food is theway to a mans heart. For Christian Sanchez, the way to his heart wasthrough video games. The CYA recruitment booth had a Wii installedas part of catching students attention. Christian, a videogame lover,was one of those. He stayed and played, and only filled up the signup

sheet out of courtesy, Nakakahiya kasi pinalaro nila ako ng matagal.He really had no plans of joining any religious organization becausehe had his hands full with Engineering activities already.

With his name on the list, Christiandecided to join various CYA activities(still out of courtesy). The feedingprogram with the Missionaries ofCharity was his turning point. Theexperience made him decide to joinCYA and respond to Gods call.

In responding to Gods call, Christiandecided to join and finish the annual

Christian Life in the Spirit Seminar (CLS). What kept him attending?He simply said that the talks were in sync with everything he expectedto hear and learn about. The talks made him want to turn his lifearound, and direct it in the way God wants. Through the CLS he hasfound a new relationship with the Lord.

Christian is one of the fruitsamong the numerous efforts ofDLSU to reach out to students.

The CYAers from DLSU aredetermined to share God tomore young people, usingwhat they know best, such asgames. They also hold forumsfor students on titles on Love,Sex, Desire and Can Man LiveWithout God? Different strokes,for different folks all meansemployed to bring youngpeople to God.

Bringing people toChrist out of love,changes you to becomeexcellent, patient and

passionate.

He really had noplans of joining

any religiousorganization

He has found a newrelationship

with the Lord.


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Sent Out Into the Forefrontby Mae Teotico, De La Salle University

Being part of CYA was the backbone of my freshman life. Enteringa school that was entirely different from the one I felt at home inwas difficult. In a university filled with individuals having differentvalues, it was challenging to do what was right. Ive had my ownexperience of being tempted to join the bandwagon of cheatingbecause I myself was not able to study for a test. While the test wasgoing on, all my blockmates were looking at each others paper. I wasfaced with a choice: to cheat and possibly get a high grade or not tocheat and most likely fail. In the end, I stood my ground and decided

not to cheat.

All throughout my freshman year, CYA constantly kept me rooted andgrounded in the Lord. It helped me stick to what I believed in, standup for what I thought was right and mostly, it helped me practice thefaith I preached to have.

I had many opportunities to share Christ to my schoolmates. Wecame up with a feeding program in Missionaries of Charity, a minisports fest inside the school and 2 talks (LSD, Can Man Live WithoutGod) which garnered a lot of participants, some of whom were veryinterested in joining CYA. We were also able to invite a few of ournewly recruited members to join the yearly Christian Life Series.

Evangelizing is also a challenge because of fear of rejection andembarrassment. The disappointments we had to face did try to bringus down, but what kept us going was the faith and belief that Godspromise to us would be fulfilled.

What kept us going was the faith and beliefthat Gods promise to us would be fullled

Re-establishing CYA was also a venue for me to further deepen my

own relationship with the Lord. Being surrounded with brothers andsisters who have the same desire to commit their lives to Him, hasinspired me to become even more passionate in serving the Lord.There will still be temptations, difficulties and obstacles along theway but, I am confident that by Gods grace, all these will merely justpush me to be more ardent in my desire to know Him and make Himknown.


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Whats the craziest, most creativeor bravest thing you did to shareGod to others?People do crazy things for love. Lets see how some CYAers expressed their love for the Lord by theirefforts to bring more people to Him.

spent the night before the Crossroads retreat inside the school, after curfew, to teach my friend one

whole dance routine just to make sure wed go to the retreat, together, the following day.

also promised my friend I would let him cut my right arm off if he didnt enjoy the Crossroads retreat.

still have my right arm intact.

Rochele PilonesCYA UP Manila

have three experiences:

First, my strategy was I invi ted a classmate to a Crossroads retreat and made him as my partner in CYAafter. At first he expressed that he would not be active in CYA. But I dragged him over to differentschools for TRAINING and SEMINARS of CYA and made sure he knew at least 5 different people. Heeventually became the chairperson for CYA PLM.

Second, I prayed that I would be led to a person that needs God for the day. Then, I approached agroup of schoolmates that I do not know. With much courage and sincerity, I invited them to a CYAevent. One of PLMs current leaders was the fruit of that experience.

Finally, A brother and I asked for some CYA skits and we performed in classrooms. We did it by askingProfessors to allow us. Our main goal was just to PROCLAIM GODs LOVE and anyone that expressedfurther interest was just a bonus. A good number of Crossroads Retreat participants from our schoolcame from these efforts.

Jhunne Bennet Almeda

CYA PLM/LP

CYA rejoices in Gods

victory in you!

Congratulations to Engr. Teofilo De Guzman, Jr. (CYA UST alumnus)

who placed top 3 in November 2010s Civil Engineering Board Examand to Michelle Montelibano (CYA UMC alumna) who was in the top10 nominees for Metro Manila of the Ten Outstanding Students of thePhilippines.

You serve as inspirations to many y oung people.

Games are my thing. Thus, I frequently met with a particular barkada in their favorite tambayanI challenged them to play different kinds of board games like Balderdash, Mafia, Monopoly Deaalso challenged them in computer games and bought them fruit shakes every time we met. TheI slowly invited them to CYA events and eventually they stood up for the Lord.

Kenneth CarandangCYA UP Diliman


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Editorial Board

Editorial ConsultantsMiracel JuantaMitzi Ramos-SaguisagLorna Campos

Editor-in-chiefGiki Oliveros

StaffMae TeoticoJames De DiosDan CruzJohn ValdesNova Olosan

Layout ArtistJules Jurado

Our Reach

Metro Manila:University of the Philipines, DilimanAteneo de Manila UniversityUniversity of Sto. TomasDe La Salle University

Far Eastern UniversityMapua Institute of TechnologyPamantasan ng Lungsod ng MaynilaUniversity of the Philippines ManilaCollege of St. Benilde

LuzonSt. Louis University (Baguio)Holy Angel University (Angeles)Lyceum of BatangasAteneo de NagaAngeles University FoundationUniversity of Assumption

(Pampanga)

University of the Philippines, LosBanos

VisayasUniversity of St. La Salle

(Bacolod City)University of IloiloSt. Paul University

(Dumagete)West Visayas University

(Iloilo City)Colegio de la Immaculada

Conception Baybay-FCICRiverside College (Bacolod)

MindanaoMindanao State University-IITSan Lorenzo Ruiz ParishCorpus Cristi Parish (Iligan City)Xavier UniversityMindanao Polytechnic State CollegeLiceo de CagayanCapitol College (Cagayan de

Oro City)

University of Immaculate ConceptionAteneo de Davao University

San Isidro College (Malaybalay)Bukidnon State University

(Malaybalay City)Central Mindanao University

(Musuan)Notre Dame University (General

Santos City)St. Vincent Parish (Iligan)

San Jose Obrero Parish (Iligan City)Sta. Maria Parish (Zamboanga)Basilan State CollegeClaret College of IsabelaCamiguin Polytechnic State CollegeInstitute of Agriculture (Catarman)Holy Trinity College (General Santos)GADTMC (Tangub City)Zamboanga Western Mindanao State

UniversityUniversity of Mindanao San AgustinInstitute of Technologies (Valencia)Agusan College (Butuan)

cya action update - september 2011

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