Session 1: Visioning Through Appreciative Inquiry (AI) by Genelie Marie Nemenzo

My Peak Experiences as a Pastoral Minister/Lay Faithful

geneliemarienemenzo — 2020-08-29 03:48:48 UTC

1. became a Youth Coordinator in the Youth Ministry in the parish

I became a Youth Coordinator by chance and not by choice. But even though it was not my choice at first, I learned to love my responsibility and discovered that I can love even without anything to receive and that is through service. It was not easy at first but through the help of the people around me, I was able to grow and serve the young with the best of my abilities. I was able to journey with the youth, learn their stories and love them even more. I discovered something good to myself that I never thought I would be and could be. The great part of who I am today was this peak experience in my life. I believe that what I become today started with a simple "YES" to God through the Youth Ministry.

I know this memorable experience of mine gave birth to a new me who is now more concerned to other people and happier in serving them. I also witnessed how the young truly unleash their potentials and became independent and mature. I must say that all my hard work in the ministry bore fruit through the young. Even though I am not active now as before in the ministry, I continue to reach out to them, support them in any means I can and keep my communication open for them.

How do I envision myself as a pastoral minister?
I can see myself still as a CLE teacher but dedicating my talents and knowledge to my parish. I always dream of giving seminars and formations to my beloved parishioners in our parish. I also dream of being in the Youth Ministry again by guiding them as their "Ate" and supporting them with their needs with the best I can.

I always dream of providing the youth with the faith formation they need especially to the young who really need support and enlightenment to their faith. That is why I am planning to continue the Youth Encounter, a formation for the youth that helps them in learning and discovering their potential and talents as a youth in the ministry and in their community. I would like to bring back the happy, alive and meaningful ministry we had before with the youth who are purpose driven and inspired by the love of God. These dreams may far from my reality but I know with the help and love of God that keeps the fire in my heart burning, I can do it!

My Peak experience and Personal Vision as a Pastoral Minister/Lay Faithful

amorgervacio — 2020-08-29 04:52:35 UTC

In my peak experience as a Lay Faithful/ Pastoral Minister, I had given the chance to get to know myself better and my real purpose of living - that is by means of depending on God alone. I came to realize the meaning of life, that without the intervention of God I am nothing…I can do nothing.
I remember when I was studying as a scholar at Don Bosco College, life really is not easy during that time but it is such a blessing that through my service as a Volunteer Catechist in the Youth Center I was given a chance to deepen my understanding of self, life and God through studying as a Religious Educator. It is an incredibly challenging in my part who got little support from my family, every day I wake up in the morning, telling God “Ikaw na ang bahala sa araw na ito Lord.” That is how we survived then – with my co scholars. Total dependent on God. Thanks to our sponsors, especially those people – the Salesians who have exerted the effort of assisting us all through out. Until now God granted me the opportunity to pursue my dreams as Pastoral Minister - a scholar again. God is, indeed, amazing!
I was very grateful that God introduced Himself to me in a bitter and painful way but full of grace because it made me long for Him every day – I can say that the relationship I had established with Him is like a Father-daughter relationship. I can come to him just telling him how I was feeling then, even until now. And Mama Mary completed the family I had been longing for (I came from a broken family). Before, I feel so devastated, feeling like a loser and indifferent. But when I came to realize that I have a Father and a Mother to lean on, I started to stand and start the new chapter of my life – not alone but with God as my Father [with Jesus as my brother] and Mary as my mother.
Now, that I already knew the very purpose of life and that God alone is the true source of wisdom and strength, I can now manage the challenges that may come along the way. I have made a better version of myself, not through my achievements but by achievements of others through me. I know that when we put God as our priority, we must forget ourselves and put others on top – self – giving. It maybe difficult to understand God’s plan for us, but if we will just put our inner desire to grasp the intimate meaning of our relationship to Him this will lead us to recognize the covenant of God.

Envisioning the Near Future as a Pastoral Minister

I dreamed of building a ministry that will assist and inspire less fortunate students not just financially but psychologically and emotionally. This is the reason why, I am eager to finish this Masteral, for me to better equip myself in the said apostolate. Someday, I can make young people realize their potential, develop it, and become agents of a life-giving mission as well. In God’s perfect timing

My peak experience as a Pastoral Minister/ Lay Faithful:

erjonmiranda — 2020-08-29 10:16:42 UTC

1. Became part of the Pastoral team in Don Bosco Mandaluyong.
2. Giving/Handling retreats and recollections, sacraments we offer to the Bosconians and spiritual formation.
3. and NOW became a CL teacher in time of pandemic.

I am a graduate of Religious Education and Pastoral Communication in Don Bosco Canlubang. It’s a great privilege, challenge, and compliment to become part of the first and last batch of REPC students. I know it’s a call from God, to serve Him and his people. After I graduated, God let me show my gratitude to the school/setting that helps me to pursue my study, Don Bosco – Mandaluyong. At first, I serve as the Pastoral Assistant, the one who assists the Spiritual Moderator/ Chancellor in giving retreats and spiritual formation to the students. I enjoy the work especially when I hear a different story of young people that is far from their image inside the four corners of the classroom. God is really good because after 3 years of service as a Pastoral Assistant I got promoted as the Pastoral Activities Coordinator. I know that having a high position comes with great responsibility but because of the grace and mercy of God, I accomplished all the tasks and duties put upon my shoulder. And now, for this school year, I will be teaching Christian Living for Grade 8 and 9 students. It’s very challenging on my end, aside from the new setup of learning, it’s a been a long time since I last taught. I admit the fact that I forgot already on how to do some of the deliverables like Student Learning Guide and even some of the terms we used in teaching. I just keep holding on the reality that God leading the way and guiding me along my journey as I continue to be His instrument in spreading the Word through the footsteps of St. John Bosco.

How do I envision myself as a Pastoral Minister?

I see myself as continuously following the will of God as Pastoral worker. Leading the boys/youth to through the good example of St. John Bosco. Shaping and molding them through all the experiences and learning I gained in life and/or my journey.

If given a chance and opportunity, I want also to become a missionary. Living and dedicating my life to those people in need or the least members in our society. Encourage and inspire them to become the best version of themselves, to leave their comfort and hear the voice of God to become the sharer of the Gospel not only through words but also in deeds. <3

My peak experiences as a Pastoral Minister / Lay Faithful

louigiesantos — 2020-08-29 11:25:23 UTC

1. Full-time Lay missionary for 3 years in the community of Asin at Ilaw.
2. Being a Volunteer Catechist every summer for the children in the streets under the mission of Asin at Ilaw Community.
3. Lay Missionary doing a house-to-house evangelization: Gospel and Apologetics topics.

A Lay Missionary doing house-to-house evangelization: Gospel and Apologetics Topics

I chose this as one of my peak experiences. It happened when I graduated in one of the formations of AIC: the Lay Missionary in the Parish (LAMP). In the third stage, where in the participants will immerse themselves to people by going house to house. This was a very challenging mission to me as a pastoral minister since those who mostly do this kind of mission are the other sects like Jehova's Witnesses, Born Again and others. Knocking on every door, we will try to convince them, and will encourage them to listen to the Gospel of Jesus or to some of the Catholic teachings that are mostly attacked by other religions for atleast 30 minutes every session.

Doing this mission, I have experienced both satisfaction and disappoinment. Satisfaction because of the joyful welcome of some families who are willing to entertain us and listen to the topics we are giving. But like any other disciples of Jesus, we are not always welcome, some families rejects us presenting many alibis like they are busy or something.

Some of my experiences:

One of the houses that we have entered was a family where almost all of the members were sick. The Lola has hypertension, diabetis and skin diseases, the mother with goiter and a 10 year old boy named Reggie who has leukemia. We delivered the topic well and we prayed for them. This experince made me cry and alot of realization happened in that moment.

Second, a family who was willing to entertain us. This time, the mother was the only one there to hear our topic. I remember in our third attempt going there with the apologetics topic, she cried and thanked us because she did not even know a liitle about the doctrine of the Catholic Church. I was moved by this experience.

Third was the family of the new attendee in our community. I used to be there in their house to evangelize them by the Gospel. But one time, the father of the family tried to reprimand me and told alot of bad things about what we are doing. I was shocked at that moment and I became speechless. But I patiently tried to explain to them what we are doing. That was really an experience to remember as a pastoral minister.

I used to deal with different rejections on this mission but I need to continue doing this first because I am enjoying doing this and because I believe it is a mission God wants me to do. I really feel how to be a pastoral minister in this kind of mission being immersed with different kind of people. This help me realize the reality of being a disciple and a servant of God.

My Dream as a Pastoral Minister.

How do I imagine myself as a Pastoral Minister?

I imagine myself continuously leading a group of young people to the Church. Forming them to be like Christ and to be kuya to other young people. I envision myself leading many young people as they serve other young people.

And as we celebrate the 500 years of Catholicism in our country, it is so nice to see many young people joyfully celebrating with the Church and being a pastoral minister, I am dreaming that I am one of the leaders of those young people joining this big event of the Church.

My peak experiences as a Pastoral Minister / Lay Faithful

johnmathewualat — 2020-08-29 12:05:39 UTC

1. Being a Fulltime Lay Missionary in the community of Asin at Ilaw Lay Missionaries..

2. Being a Volunteer Catechist for the street children every summer.

3. Doing a House to House to evangelization.

My Peak Experience: Expanded Story

I chose “Doing House to House Evangelization” because it was a memorable experience to me. As a Lay Missionary in the community of Asin at Ilaw, our primary mission is to proclaim the Word of God, we do Street Evangelization, House to House Evangelization, Jail Evangelization, Catechesis in Schools, Summer Catechism and giving Christian Faith Formation especially to the youth.

Before I became an official member of the Asin at Ilaw Lay Missionaries, I underwent one of their formations called Lay Missionary in the Parish (LAMP). This program is a comprehensive study of the Catholic Faith, its objective is to mold the youth to become living witnesses and sharers of Christ to the youth like myself that will bear a life rooted in Christ, skills to preach in the new evangelization, a heart for missionary life and a faith with the Catholic and Sacramental Life. This formation ran for three months and is divided into three stages. 1. Encountering Jesus, 2. The Fullness of Being a Catholic and 3. Lay Mission. We are trained to become a Lay Missionary. Before I completed this program, our final requirement was to immerse ourselves in the House to House Evangelization. All of us are required to go in the streets, find a house that is far from our Parish Church, knock on their doors and offer them to listen to the Word of God or in the teachings of our Holy Mother Church for 30-45 minutes. That was the beginning of my journey as a Lay Missionary.

We were sent by two’s when we did the House to House Evangelization. I remember my first time doing it, I was alone because I have no one to partner with. I have no other choice but to go just by myself. They let me do it because they believe that I can do it even without a partner. At first I was afraid because it was my first time and I am not confident enough, I was just 18 years old at that time but as the mission went by, I was filled with the Holy Spirit, I could not believe that I preached in a family. I enjoyed it and it was a memorable experience to me. The following missions, I became comfortable and I was eager to go into houses and share the Word of God. Mostly we share some of the basic Catholic Teaching that is being questioned by other sects. I am happy because most of the families that I encountered were very grateful for what we are doing, and sometimes they are the ones who approach us to come back and share more. It was fulfilling for me because I am serving God through this mission. I thank God for calling me in this mission.

My Dream as a pastoral minister

As a pastoral minister, I envision myself reaching out to more families by preaching the Word of God and by giving them enlightenment to the teachings of the Catholic Church. I want to be in many places, helping our brothers and sisters in strengthening their relationship to God and deepening their knowledge on our faith. I am looking forward to inspire many youths and make them Lay Missionaries like myself through the Grace of God and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

“How beautiful it is to see that young people are ‘street preachers,’ joyfully bringing Jesus to every street, every town square and every corner of the earth!”

— Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium p.85

geneliemarienemenzo — 2020-09-02 05:50:26 UTC

After reading their peak experiences through padlet and collaborating with them through zoom meetings, I must say that they really have a heart of a Pastoral Minister. They all have the passion to serve God with their own different ways. One similar thing we all have from all our shared peak experiences is that, we all started from scratch. We experienced hardships such as rejection and hopelessness but another similarity we have, God intervened from all our doubts, hesitations, fears and unworthiness through the instruments he used who are our families, friends, and even strangers.

We all have unique peak experiences but we have one destination and that is God. God used the situation, our disposition, and the people around us to see His will for us and that is to be a Pastoral Minister. We are all inspired with our humble experiences that made us appreciate the vocation we have right now and the will of God for us at the moment. We have different dreams as Pastoral Ministers but these dreams have only one goal and that is to bring the people closer to Jesus.

Personal Synthesis - Group's postings

amorgervacio — 2020-09-03 04:57:14 UTC

What is common in all our sharing was the sending out to preach the Word of God founded on courage and perseverance in each one of us in the name of the mission! Everyone faces the battle by bringing with us the gift and grace of God - our innate talents and capabilities. This is a genuine acceptance and surrender to God of ourselves. We are all moulded by the challenges along this journey but by the grace of God was able to manage it with firmness and vigour. The toughness of this journey becomes a steppingstone that leads us to enjoy and put more love on what we are doing - the things that only matter at the end.
Every story ventures on deeper appreciation of my own mission - that seems vague before. Our affirmation and encouragement are certainly Grace's in which we can draw out more motivation and strength in serving God to the best of our knowledge and ability. It may be a different story, but it is bound on one goal- responding to the call of God by the virtue of our Baptism -to spread the Good News. This activity is helpful in a way that it made me realize that for us [evangelizers of faith] to better understand our mission, we should listen and learn from other's [evangelizers'] story; nobody sympathizes (more) with our yearnings but the one who does the same.

My Personal Synthesis on the Postings of my Groupmates

johnmathewualat — 2020-09-04 04:51:39 UTC

I am grateful reading the story of my group mates, they inspire me to have more courage and perseverance to continue fulfilling my mission for God’s kingdom. Upon reading their peak experiences as pastoral ministers I can say that we have something in common in our sharing and it leads us to our primary vocation, living in Holiness.

First, when it comes to God, all of us had the courage to respond to God's call, to the mission as a pastoral minister even if we do not yet completely realize His plan for us. Second, even though there are lots of challenges, struggles and unwanted experiences we still continue our service to God as pastoral ministers, the perseverance is there to fulfill God's mission for us. Third, we have a heart for the young people. We like to journey with the youth and help them succeed in their life. We have the passion in serving God through the young people by making them feel loved and bringing them closer to God.

louigiesantos — 2020-09-05 06:02:56 UTC

It is really inspiring to read and to hear different stories and sharings of my groupmates about their peak experiences in the mission as pastoral ministers. Through their postings, comments and sharing via zoom app, we have shared our own "one of a kind" experience in the field of mission. We have shared how were we faced struggles in the beginning, the difficulties along the way, how we conquered and won over different problems and how we still wanted to continue to pursue our mission. In our group, though we are in different ministries, we have many things in common. One of these is serving the young people. Each of us has the heart to young people in guiding, molding and leading them to God and to the church and all of us wanted to be Kuyas and Ates for them. Concluding our sharing, each one of us wanted to continue bring light to the people we are catering with perseverance and humility through the grace and mercy of God.

Our ultimate goal in our mission as pastoral ministers is to serve God. Through the ministries that we are with, through the people that we are catering, we are giving glory to our God. These unique experiences that we have as pastoral ministers made us more inspired to continue immersing ourselves to mission and to do more for Jesus.

My Personal Synthesis on the Postings of my Groupmates

erjonmiranda — 2020-09-05 07:36:26 UTC

“As each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God’s varied grace. Whoever preaches, let it be with the words of God; whoever serves, let it be with the strength that God supplies, so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” 1 Peter 4:7

Upon reading the reflections and comments of my classmates I realized that every missionary or Pastoral member is a gift from their community/ministry. On how they offer themselves to bring Christ to their community that they may able to know and encounter the goodness of the Lord for being his instrument. Despite of challenges that we encounter we still chose to continue our vocation to serve the Lord and be a living example.

Hindrance is part of being a spiritual worker, a pastoral worker. Not everyone will receive or accept the Good News of our salvation but we/I need to be still and open the door to accept the individual differences and patiently wait for them to open their hearts and eyes in the beautiful reality of our faith. As a Pastoral worker, I know that God will not leave me despite will hold me tight and lift me to his arm in moments of trials and every time I feel weak.

May I be like John who never forgot even time of encounter with the Lord that I may continue to be a follower of Christ and bring the word not only to those well-heeled members of our society but most especially to those who needed the most, the poor and weak. Let the faith keep burning!

louigiesantos — 2020-09-05 10:13:36 UTC

My heart is filled with joy and hope after reading different stories and experiences of my classmates being pastoral ministers in their assigned missions. What inspires me most is that these stories and experiences of service and mission are leading into one main goal that is to glorify God. Most of us experiences struggles along our way that may possibly hinder us to begin and continue the mission God given us but then with faith and courage, we chose to serve, to live and to be with God.

I am happy realizing different positive values from their sharing: First is the faith. Many have shared doubts, struggles and problems that had been encountered in the mission, this is what surely the thing that is common to all of us. But despite these barriers, all of us hold on to our faith and pursue the mission God has called us for and through this faith, all of us experiences success in the mission. Our faith is also the reason why we are still giving away ourselves for others, making a lot of sacrifices and continue denying ourselves to give glory to the Father. Second is the willingness or the openness. When God calls our name for a specific mission, we dare ourselves to say "Lord, challenge accepted". We also envision ourselves to pursue God's call for us or what ever mission He may give. It is through the openness of our hearts that we respond YES to him. Third is a loving heart to God. Everyone, as pastoral ministers, have shown love to our mission, to the people we are catering and to the ministries we are with. These are the manifestions of our love to God. Loving the people and the mission, is loving Jesus.

I believe that our desire to serve is known by God, that is why He continue to send us the Holy Spirit to guide and to work with us so that we may become joyful and fruitful servants.

My Personal Synthesis on the Postings of the Class

amorgervacio — 2020-09-08 14:03:18 UTC

In the discovery phase activity, I have found out that one of our greatest need in doing Pastoral ministry is to engage. Engagement is necessary because this allows us to share what we have as well as know and understand the experience of other ministers like us. Looking at the sharing of my groupmates as well as that of the other group enhances my outlook in life particularly in the fulfillment of my own mission. As the others shared their strength, it provides me techniques on how to better serve my recipients too – the people of God; I was able to relate my story in fulfilling my own mission appointed by God and how to totally embrace this mission amidst my shortcoming and incapability. This activity is a collaborative effort for us to better understand God’s plan for us and develop ourselves through the experience of others. We may have diverse career path but knowing that we have one goal and that is to become better servants of God we can easily achieve it in God’s grace using our unique skills.

Through the affirmation of our groupmates, we acquire a comprehensive and effective approach in the ministry work and improve our own. We are now into creating the best pastoral minister out of ourselves through the help of our classmates. And realize our full potential in doing ministry work that no matter how small or simple our task is, there are people who adore and admire our efforts. All of us end up motivating each other to continue our special role. It is quite heart-warming to hear the encouragement of other people despite of our diverse state or journey. But what is more instigating in this part is that we all have common goal – our total surrender and dependence to God on whatever path we take that we are doing for the greater glory of God.