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Showing posts from April, 2006

For the Love of Kalanguya

This entry is an excerpt from the article called KALANGUYA DREAMS in the first issue of the CFM QUARTERLY "KALA NGOY YA?" I decided to put it up here since many Kalanguya College students are now in the lowlands, and integrating into the mainstream Philippine society... My brothers and sisters, please help me dream for our people and for our language!!! KALANGUYA DREAMS by: Ajig Gem The ongoing mission of CFM is specified in the article ‘What is CFM?’ I therefore want to expand that into a vision that reaches new heights and extends to wider horizons. We at CFM believe that the Kalanguya people as well as the Kalanguya language can and should be an active voice in the Philippine society. Let us do away with waiting for our government to do things for us, rather than taking up our armors and marching to the sound of battle. We, among ourselves should envision ourselves to achieve for our country let alone our community. God has blessed us with wisdom and knowledge to be able t

2Samuel 18 and Sarit Hadad's Song

This past week, I have been peer-checking my sister's draft of 2Samuel. Last Friday, I was reading Chapter 18. I easily get distracted so I took a headphone and listen to music while checking. (There were five of us in our small office and so it can get really distracting at times. :) You would remember that Chapter 18 is about the death of Absalom. Before going into battle, King David commanded his soldiers to spare Absalom's life even if he rebelled against his father and even wanted to oust his father, the king. We all know the sad story... how the king, the father, wept bitterly for his son who was murdered by his own general. While reading this, I was listening to the Hebrew Song "SHEMA ISRAEL" sung by Sarit Hadad, a multi-awarded Israeli singer. Suddenly I begun to cry like I was there. I cannot help myself but feel for David and the pain of losing a child whom he hasn't spoken to for the last few years. I know it is terrible to lose a child but probably muc

“MINE IS THE GLORY”

T otal darkness, formless void, to splendor when HE said: “Let there be light!” H ands, never a need, for by HIS words The earth came forth. E ndless heavens, wonderful sights All in six days, by my awesome GOD. P ointless futility, this life would be Without the eye of HIM who sees E ve heeded the illusory lie, and Eden ceased Yet in HIS heart, love remained. "N ay, never shall you win!" was the word to the serpent But to the man, a promise… T enderly, HE fashioned history As a seamless blueprint… of liberty. A braham, oh how he held on! Never a question, but submission T hough blunders were up, plethora of gaffes Yet HIS plans, no faux pas can thwart. E volution, where is thy sting? Chimp won’t thank you, though you say we’re brothers. U ndoubtedly, SOMEONE’S been busy This breath mirrors it … so obviously. “C all unto ME and I will answer thee!” Said the CREATOR-- “Turn from your ways, yours is MY pardon.” H ear, MY adam! I have set you free! “Yours is the cho

“MINE IS THE GLORY”

T otal darkness, formless void, to splendor when HE said: “Let there be light!” H ands, never a need, for by HIS words The earth came forth. E ndless heavens, wonderful sights All in six days, by my awesome GOD. P ointless futility, this life would be Without the eye of HIM who sees E ve heeded the illusory lie, and Eden ceased Yet in HIS heart, love remained. "N ay, never shall you win!" was the word to the serpent But to the man, a promise… T enderly, HE fashioned history As a seamless blueprint… of liberty. A braham, oh how he held on! Never a question, but submission T hough blunders were up, plethora of gaffes Yet HIS plans, no faux pas can thwart. E volution, where is thy sting? Chimp won’t thank you, though you say we’re brothers. U ndoubtedly, SOMEONE’S been busy This breath mirrors it … so obviously. “C all unto ME and I will answer thee!” Said the CREATOR-- “Turn from your ways, yours is MY pardon.” H ear, MY adam! I have set you free! “Yours is the c

TRANSLATION CHECKING

We are still checking 2 Samuel with our consultant today. Hopefully, we will be able to finish checking all the books that has been drafted so that we can have them published as a trial version. The books are Daniel, Nehemiah, Haggai, Malachi, Esther, 1 &2 Samuel, and Joshua in addition to Jonah, Proverbs and Ruth that are already in the hands of the Kalanguya people. There is nothing to do but glorify God for all the great things that he has been doing in the Kalanguya Bible Translation ministry. Today, we celebrate the first day of the new addition in our team-- Norman Malcat-- a dear brother who resigned from his government job because of his commitment to the Lord. Please pray that our team will grow spiritually together as we endeavor towards finishing the work that the Lord has priveleged us with. It is indeed a great honor to be working with the KING. Please pray with us (Bong & Margie) also for our trip to Mindanao on May 16, 2006. We hope to kickstart a translat

What??? NO!!! WHO???

What in heaven is lovely, The cotton-soft whites of a cloudy day? What in heaven is bright, The sun that shines so brilliantly? What in heaven is a wonder, The scraps of metal that fly away? God in Heaven is lovely He makes all beauty that’s there to see God in Heaven is bright He lights the darkest soul, to free God in Heaven is a wonder His love is free for you and me. What on earth is fatal and deadly, African rainforests’ viruses? What on earth will make you happy, The world and all its riches? What on earth will last eternally, The human soul that reincarnates? Sin on earth is fatal and deadly, No science can remedy Nothing on earth will make you happy Oh! Not even the world’s money Even the earth won’t last eternally Everything will fade away. God’s wrath is fatal and deadly But His love so pure and free Jesus’ life has made us see There is hope for you and me Jesus’ death has set us free To live with Him everlastingly.

What??? NO!!! WHO???

What in heaven is lovely, The cotton-soft whites of a cloudy day? What in heaven is bright, The sun that shines so brilliantly? What in heaven is a wonder, The scraps of metal that fly away? God in Heaven is lovely He makes all beauty that’s there to see God in Heaven is bright He lights the darkest soul, to free God in Heaven is a wonder His love is free for you and me. What on earth is fatal and deadly, African rainforests’ viruses? What on earth will make you happy, The world and all its riches? What on earth will last eternally, The human soul that reincarnates? Sin on earth is fatal and deadly, No science can remedy Nothing on earth will make you happy Oh! Not even the world’s money Even the earth won’t last eternally Everything will fade away. God’s wrath is fatal and deadly But His love so pure and free Jesus’ life has made us see There is hope for you and me Jesus’ death has set us free To live with Him everlastingly.

Naming Names

Hello Everybody, I apologize to those of you whom I have mentioned here without permission. In my ignorance I did not realized that I might have put your lives and works at risk. If it is any consolation, this is a private blog and is available only to those whom I have given the web address, unless hacked or whatever they do. But of course we cannot take any chances. For all we know, anything can happen. I prayefully hope that I have not put anyone else's life and work in jeopardy by this mistake. Again, I am very sorry. (Please know that in my culture, naming names is honoring that person named and that has been my intention. :) I'm very sorry, it won't happen again. Please forgive Ironheart4ever

HALLELUJAH with Margie and Bong for the great things that God is doing in their lives...

The year 2005-2006 has been quite a year for me personally. These are the highlights: May 01, 2005 - Bong and I reached our First year wedding anniversary with minimal damage to each other's sanity... hehehe ... seriously, the Lord blessed me with a very loving, understanding and selfless husband... iloveyoubest June, 2005 - The Kalanguya Translation Team saw the first fruit of their labor when OT books Proverbs, Ruth and Jonah were published after a month of Consultant Checking. October 2005 - I was invited to write a a paper and present it in England on January 2006. I accepted and wrote the paper. (I didn't go though due to visa problems but my paper was presented.) February 2006 - There were talks and invitations of me going on to doctorate education. March 2006 - I let myself be bullied into saying yes to coordinate a translation workshop. March 17 - I am on my last lap of being a twenty---ager. March 27-April 7 - I did my best (but I guessed my best wasn't good

MY GRADUATION

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I really enjoyed the graduation. I went there with the purpose of getting a feel of a closure for the MA thing that I finished last year and not to stumble on the stage when my co-graduate sitting next to me nudged me to go up to get my Academic Excellence Award plaque. I was very surprised. I mean I didn't know that they would count me to belong to that batch. Well, to GOD BE ALL THE GLORY. I'm just overwhelmed when I look back at how God has worked in my life and in the life of NPMTTA. Nothing to do but be thankful and be faithful to the call that the BOSS called us to do. The thing is, nothing of this would have been possible if you people (you all know who you are, if you don't, God and I know) did not allow yourself to be used by the Lord as an instrument to encourage and push us to the direction that we have taken. Thank you for being a positive spiritual, intellectual and academic influence in my life. When I ponder all these, I always make an attempt to coin a word

My Personal Feelings About the Agta/Ayta Workshop

I had no intention of saying yes to the 'pressure' I mean invitation of coordinating a workshop. I do not believe I would know what to do in leading people to work together and train other MTTs. I could blab away with all my inadequacies and feelings of uncertainty but that would defeat my purpose of writing this blog entry, and that is to glorify my God for doing His work in spite of a defective instrument such as myself. The first two days started not so smoothly but rather of unpreparedness on my part. A week before, I emailed all the topics that are to be covered during the workshop to all the staff as well as the SIL mentors who will play a very significant role in the workshop. So after that, I sat back and forced my mind back to the consultant checking at hand in my own language project. During the first day of the preparation week (which was only two days--my mistake again), we had to look over the topics again and make sure that everybody is happy with the modules they