By Caesar Vallejos, EBC Correspondent
(Excerpts from incmedia.org)
Reconnection happens in various spheres of life – physical, emotional, psychological, technological and spiritual. Thus, the INC Reconnect project, the Worldwide Intensive Propagation missionary work of the Iglesia Ni Cristo (INC), resonates very well to both INC members and non-members alike.
Here are some of the stories of connecting people and how they reconnected with God from the #INCReconnect event at the Philippine Arena:
- High school classmates Augusto and Perfecta reconnect via Facebook, ends up at INCReconnect event
Augusto Paraiso and Perfecta Pasajol were high school classmates at the Sablayan National High School in Occidental Mindoro.
After graduation, they lost communication.
After 25 years, they reconnected via Facebook. Perfecta works in Tesda-like jobs in the Middle East where she moved from Bahrain, Dubai and Jeddah. Augusto is based in Highway Hills, Metro Manila East.
Upon learning of her condition, which is the same plight of Filipinos in the Middle East where they fall into loneliness due to movement restrictions and other stringent rules by their employers, Augusto asked Perfecta to watch Iglesia Ni Cristo programs in streaming sites including YouTube at times when she feels sad.
Now in the Philippines for a vacation, Perfecta was given a copy of the pamphlet by Augusto, two days upon her arrival in the Philippines.
Born a Catholic, Perfecta was impressed with the orderliness of the Church including how brethren follow dress codes during worship services. She was wearing a Sunday dress for the INCReconnect event.
She also admires the INC members’ eagerness to worship and their obedience. “Akala namin, nauna na kami (at the Philippine Arena), yun pala may mas nauna pa!,” Augusto said echoing Perfecta’s impressions.
While Perfecta has heard two doctrinal lessons already, she was excited to be at the Philippine Arena because, “first time ko na mapakinggan si Bro. Eduardo V. Manalo,” she enthused.
- Kyla May Infante’s INC classmates changed their profile photos to #INCReconnect, she got curious and found herself at the Philippine Arena
Kyla May Infante, 17 years old hails from Marilao, Bulacan.
She noticed that her classmates at the New Era University changed their profile photos to the Reconnect logo. (Read: INC netizens change Facebook profiles, raise awareness for the world to ‘reconnect’)
“Nagpapalit po sila ng DP eh,” Kyla said.
Being a father to two millennials who sometimes give me cryptic responses like “DK Dad” (short for “don’t know Dad”) I had to sheepishly ask Kyla, “Ano ang DP iha?”
“Profile pic po, display photo o DP din po ang tawag doon,” she educated me.
While she is not new to the INC’s evangelical missions, the Reconnect event intrigued her curiosity.
Dahil nag-aaral po ako sa New Era, nakikita ko po ang pagiging disiplinado nila (of INC members). Nakakatuwa po kasi nakikita ko na kapag may utos, gustong-gusto nilang sumunod.” Kyla said.
But it was her aunt Remedios Aguilar from the Locale of Harmony Hills in Bulacan who invited her along with five other non-INC members.
She didn’t give them pamphlets.
So “paano niyo sila inimbitahan?” I curiously asked.
“Text text lang!” she said. “Pero gabi-gabi, mula Lunes hanggang Sabado,” Aguilar added.
- “If you will not attend, you will miss the best show in the Philippine Arena today!” – Linda Ponciano, 75
At the grandiose lobby of the Philippine Arena, she caught my attention with her flamboyant hat reminding me of a Catalonian matron enjoying their retirement in Barcelona, Spain.
“I am Linda Ponciano, and I’m 75 years old, from Binan, Laguna!” she flaired in Pia Wurtzbach fashion. “I am a normal diakonesa, active in our service and I like it!” Ponciano gallantly proclaimed.
She was able to invite five people who are her tenants in her house to the INCReconnect event.
“I said you must look at the best arena in the Philippines.” she said after giving her invitees the pamphlets and copies of the Pasugo (God’s Message) magazine. “If you will not come, you will miss the best show in the Philippine Arena today,” she recalled telling her invitees.
One of her guests is Binan, Laguna teacher Regine Catayoc.
“Nanay (Linda) told me that this is the INC’s most prestigious event here at the Philippine Arena,” Catayoc added.
A Roman Catholic, Catayoc said, “napakaengrande ng Philippine Arena, sobra. Yung preparation ay well-organized. Smooth ang process. Very high ang security. Yung mga seat assignment at positions sa areas ay maayos kaya walang gulo, at walang kaguluhan.”
As her expectation on INCReconnect, she said that “as a teacher, I want to keep on learning.” Reconnection, to Catayoc, is acquiring new knowledge.
- Roberto Robielos: Awed by the Philippine Arena but lost and found in it.
As I was scouring for subjects to photograph for my live tweets for eaglenews.ph and incmedia.org, a man, also wearing a hat, tapped my shoulder.
“Meron ba kayong lugar dito na mag-a-anounce ng nawawala?” he timidly asked.
“Naku, wala po kasi magsisimula pa lang ang pagsamba, baka po pagkatapos,” I said.
“Sino po ba ang nawawala?” I asked.
“Ako,” Roberto Robielos, 58, from San Pablo, Malolos, Bulacan replied, to my amazement.
I told myself, this is easy. Members of the Church of Christ don’t easily get lost anywhere around the world. All they have to look for are their brothers and sisters in Christ or the chapel nearest to their location and lo and behold, they will find their rightful places.
“Anong lokal po ba kayo?” I asked.
He was clueless with the term ‘locale’. Robielos is a Catholic and was invited by a person named Maricel (he doesn’t even know her surname) to attend the INCReconnect event. He accepted the invite because he was curious to see the Philippine Arena. They were all together at the entrance of this gigantic place but he went back to the parking lot for something he forgot.
“Pagbalik ko, wala na sila, nagpasukan na.” he said.
The massive 55,000-seater Philippine Arena has 99,000 square meters of floor area that has almost identical entrance gates. Getting lost is a big deal specially if you don’t have your mobile phone you with and the only number you know is yours.
Your guess is as good as mine – Robielos’s mobile is with his son and the only mobile number he knows is his.
I dialed, it rang, talked with his child, asked them to meet us at Entrance Number 13 and here is their reconnected pic:
Enabled by leading edge technology, #INCReconnect connected 2,818 sites around the world. “The Church Administration has always been very quick to make use of available technology to make it easier for more people to learn of God’s words,” Bro. Edwil Zabala, INC Spokesperson said.
“And because they learn, they reconnect with the Lord God,” Bro. Zabala added. “The Church Administration is always at the forefront when it comes to using cutting-edge technology to make it easier for the words of God to spread around the world,” he said.
Citing biblical verses with the homily devoid of his personal opinions, INC Executive Minister, Bro. Eduardo V. Manalo said, “Makakakita ang inyong mga mata, makakapakinig ang inyong mga tenga, makakaunawa ang inyong puso.”
“Idilat ninyo ang mata ng inyong mga puso para maunawaan ang katotohanan,” Bro. Eduardo said. That, I think is the key to reconnect to Him.
