My 2011 Ministry Involvement

"Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. . . of Matthew 6:33", is always one of my New Year's resolutions, and I claim the promise of "all these things shall be added unto you." How great Thou art, oh God!

For 2011, I believe God gave me the following ministry involvement, and I'm accepting them without much ado.

1. As one of the Church elders of Sto. Tomas Church of Christ, with regular Sunday celebration at the CLSU Interfaith chapel, 8 AM.

2. As director of SUNBEAM ministry, a family-led ministry which include the production and distribution of SUNBEAM newsmagazine at least semi-annually.

3. As professor and BOT chair of the International Christian College of Manila (ICCM), the bible college of the Campbell-Stone Restoration Movement with campus in Antipolo City.

4. As officer (secretary) of the newly SEC-registered Church of Christ in Nueva Ecija, Inc. (CCNE) elected during the Dec. 2010 Cambitala Convention.

5. As Nueva Ecija coordinator of the 4th National Church Leaders' Convention (NCLC) in Baguio City on June 10-11, 2011, as appointed by the CACD with its president Bro. Ernie Sta. Ana.

6. As Nueva Ecija coordinator of Christian Men's sector (KKK-National), a national para-Church organization with CLEAN as provincial counterpart.

Here's requesting my concerned network members to join me in praying for the above-listed activities and involvement. Glory be to the Father. (JSF)

Back Home Sweet Home from Japan. . . Sayonara!

25 January 2011 - I and wife Rose are finally back home here in Sto. Tomas, San Jose City (Nueva Ecija) after a month-long sojourn to Japan. As you may expect, we are currently taking the much-needed rest, while restoring and cleaning the house. (This is always the price of taking a vacation, pagkatapos ng sarap, here comes hirap, right?).

My local contact details resume, i.e. mobilephone and my daily whereabouts. My work at PhilRice ends last Dec. 31, and I am not renewing it at the moment. I have other plans this year, but my commitment every Sunday in the Church at CLSU, and classes at ICCM (my Bible college) remains.

Finally, I am pleased to share herewith some of our final activities in Japan. Last Saturday, we joined the people of US Base in Atsugi explore the Mt. Fuji by visiting parks at the footsteps of this world-famous volcano (pls. see separate posting).

We spent our final Sunday here in the ecumenical Church inside the Base, where Roman Catholics and Protestant Christians share the religious facilities, e.g. same chapel with different time slots as to its use. Another unique experience for me, as this arrangement seems hardly possible among Filipino Christians. Sharing the Church facilities among different Protestant denominations is common (just like my very own local Church group is sharing with the Methodist group the University Inter-faith Chapel). But mixing Roman Catholics and Protestants . . . something new to me.

After worship, we watched Jonna's final rehearsal on Body Combat for their show on Tuesday, Jan. 25. (I'll try to post video clips soon). After which, we started preparing everything for our Monday flight. Time to go then. . . sayonara sweet, sweet Japan! (JSF Blogs)

Japan's Mt. Fuji as Viewed from 3 Prefectures We Visited

On this last Saturday (Jan. 22) of ours in Japan, children Dominic and Jonna enlisted us to the Tour organized by the US Base, where we visited the famous Mt Fuji of Japan.

According to our tour guide Miki-san, of the 43 prefectures in Japan, this highest volcano in the country can be viewed (at least its peak) from 23 prefectures.

Posted here are the various views of Mt. Fuji seen from the 3 prefectures we visited. Enjoy! (Josh & Rose Blog)

Snowy Friday @ Hakone Mountains Trek and Cable-Car Ride

Thanks God, it's Friday and it's snowing in the volcanic mountains of Hakone. Today, we (Jonna, mom and I; Dominic is on-duty) spent our day in Hakone, one of the tourists' destination, which is around two hours away by train from Ayase-shi. Thus, we woke-up early; off we go to Hakone.

Here's the gallery of photographs taken today before, during and after Hakone mountain tour. Hope you'll enjoy viewing. (JSF Blogs)