OVERALL THEME: HAVE FUN, LET GO AND BE BLESSED
First day, July 14. Theme: Getting to know you
The day started with the arrival of guests and friends who were invited to the 3 Day Retreat. Julie Compuesto was ready with room assignments and individual kits. There's laughter in the hallway and everybody was excited to see each other whom they have not seen for years. Rev. Bedona came even just for a day. The house blessing was scheduled after lunch and the program was planned by Maris, Julie and Pastor Joe. Agot provided beautiful plants and flowers. The program started with singing and praising God for what He has done. Manang Lisa and Leslie played the piano while Julie, Agot and Jaja led the songs.
It was followed by a ribbon cutting at the entrance of the Internet library with Papa cutting the ribbon assisted by Toto, Bing and me. All the rooms were visited and prayed for. The program continued in the evening with praise songs, sharing, and ice breaker led by Lala. The day was spent sharing, singing and eating. Remember, the theme was "Have fun, let go and be blessed".
Second Day, July 15. Theme: Be still and know....
The group decided to go to the beach (Flatrock) at 10 AM. No wake up call. Each one will have quiet time and meditation then breakfast. But everybody was up at 8 AM and ready to go. The beach was beautiful. Before lunch everybody was quiet, just watching the beach and some went for a dip and a little swimming but not for long. Lala and Maris were not able to come because of an emergency. After lunch we played a game led by Inday Emid. The name of the game was “No Name Game”. The group was divided into two. Each group had to give her what she wants and no duplicate answer or the other group will get the point. Some of the questions were: give the names of the churches in the Convention of Philippine Baptist Churches, the Pastors whose ages were 50 and above, alive or not and the names of the pastors. The one question I could not forget was when Inday Emid asked for, “ihatag ang ngalan sang tanan nga nagpangaluyag kay Neneng” (give all the names of Neneng's suitors). Thanks to Papa and Bing who gave the same answer (Papa gave the first name and Bing gave the last name of the same person and both were in the same group). Our group got the point. Everybody in the restaurant was looking at us because we were so noisy. Oh well, there goes the stillness. But we recognized that God was the Giver of all good things including the fun and for that we were thankful.
In the evening, we had testimony time and sharing. In the beginning of the session everybody was sleepy and tired from the fun in the beach. But we were blessed listening to the testimonies especially hearing Papa’s testimony. We had items for prayers and had a chance to pray for each other that night.
Third Day, July 16. Theme: Gathering of God's people
Sunday morning was worship service with Pastor Joe as speaker. The offering was deposited as seed money for the missionary care. After lunch the missionary program of THOTW was presented. We gathered feedback from the group. The program is on the planning stage but we believe that the retreat is the beginning of what God wants to happen. We don’t know what to do next but our God is full of surprises and He gives it in proper time. We just have to be sensitive to His leading and be obedient.
Final Night: We wanted to look our best having Jesus, the King of Kings, as our Special Guest. We started with picture taking then dinner and praise songs. Testimonies continued for those who did not had the opportunity the night before. But Toto Edgar just had an idea. This is a special night, everybody’s all dressed and should not just sit. So he thought of everybody presenting their talents to our Special Guest.
With Maris as master of ceremonies each one presented their talents. Some presented songs, Nanay Deling gave the “binalaybay” (poem) Julie sang while Sam danced and Toto called me to sing “The Impossible Dream” which he remembered that I sang when I was in elementary and won the competition (I didn’t remember this). I didn’t want to sing alone so I requested Papa to join with me and since it had been too long to remember the lyrics, the group sang with us. But I was not alone to do an impromptu talent.
We called Toto and Bing and Jaja and Ronron too. Jaja sang “Welcome to the Family” while Ronron played some kind of a background sound and Toto & Bing danced. It was hilarious. Auntie Meding and Manang Aling sang a duet and allowed us to remember the song that they taught us w
hen we were kids “Isa Kami Ka Panimalay” (We are a family) with actions. Oh and many more. The picture shows how much fun we had. We had video clips too. The group had also been blessed with the phone call of Nanette that night. She helped plan for this retreat even if she was not present and she sent her gifts and shared her blessings to pastors and missionaries too. Lastly there was giving of gifts to our Pastors and Missionaries who had been faithful in discipling our parents before, for sharing their lives to us as friends and just ministering to us in our time of need. For this we thank them and we give God all the Praises, Honor and Glory. We had prayer time by partners, anointing by pastors, dedication of God’s faithfulness signed by pastors and missionaries and friends as witnesses. We were all blessed as a family having friends as God’s gift and we are hoping to do this again as the Lord leads and provides.
In behalf of the Caldea family we would like to thank everybody: family, pastors, missionaries and friends for making the retreat an enjoyable and memorable one. We praise God for all of you.
To view more pictures: THOTW blog and pictures