What's Cooking in the Household?

One of the joys in being a member of Couples for Christ is belonging to a household.  In My First Household Meeting, I went into details on what a household is.  It is in the household that one draws support, strength, love, spiritual nourishment so it is not surprising that lasting friendships are forged among the members.

Since the household meetings are held weekly with the members taking turns in being hosts, it has become an avenue to showcase the cooking prowess of the hostess.  If there is no cooking prowess to speak of (joke only) or the hosts weren't able to prepare, restaurants nearby make a killing from their orders.

It is in the household that you can eat bopis, dinuguan, pinakbet, callos, laing, Bicol express, caldereta, papaitan and other Filipino specialties that you can taste during fiestas and gatherings.  Of course, cooking laureat-style is not the norm for Couples for Christ.  Couples for Christ encourages its members to be simple, so it has to be one solid and one liquid.  But the hosts can not be faulted if they prepared something more than what is expected.  This is borne out of love for their co-members, generosity, plain Filipino hospitality and a celebration for a recent blessing.

Food galore at the Figueras' residence

Christmas Party of the Lopez' household, 2009.

When it is our turn to host the household meeting, I usually cater to what our co-members love to eat like spicy Bicol express, laing or ginataang santol.  There are times that I serve new additions to my menu, new learned recipes from friends, cookbooks or the internet, that I am confident enough to have them try.  It flatters my heart no end when I see them enjoying what I have served and having a good time just being together.

Good Friday Menu

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For Catholics worldwide, Lent marks the time for repentance of sin, renewal of faith and preparation to celebrate Easter.  Fr. William Saunders of the Catholic Education Resource Center further said fasting and abstinence have been a big part of Lent since the earliest time of the Church.  Though fasting and abstinence were pretty tough during the early Christians, the observance has slowly evolved through time.  Nowadays only two days, Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, are left for strict observance of fasting and abstinence.  But what is fasting?  Abstinence? 

Fasting is having one full meal a day with small snacks to keep one's strength, the full meal eaten preferably at 3 o'clock or evening.  Abstinence on the other hand is refraining from eating meat on those two days.  One can go the extra mile by "giving up" something as a sacrifice.  It could be smoking, drunkenness or any other addiction or obsession that is/are hard to give up.

For the budget-conscious housewife, here are suggestions for your Good Friday meal:  fried daing na bangus, brown rice, sauteed mung beans with smoked fish or ginisang monggo sa tinapa, for you.  The young ones will enjoy the sour and garlicky taste of marinated bangus and the healthy twist to ginisang monggo.  Down it with a lot of water every now and then to block off occasional cravings for food.

Ginisang Monggo

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Daing na Bangus

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The Ideal Chacoco

From an older article, Serving the Youth, I narrated my husband and I's experiences when we were the Youth for Christ (YFC) Couple Coordinators of our chapter or Chacoco, a term coined by the YFCs themselves.  It was different from the previous ministries that we served.  Different in the sense that the objects of evangelization are the teenagers.  If on the older article I talked about being a Chacoco from our point of view, for this article I am fortunate to sharing the floor to a former YFC leader, Bro. Ezra Paguntalan.  I couldn't bring myself to addressing him as Bro (he already crossed over to Singles for Christ) as I got used to dealing with the teenaged Ezra in the past.  Below is Ezra's account of his ideal chacoco (with minor revisions due to space considerations):

My ideal chacoco are those who answered the call to service and at the same time embraced the youth  as one of their own. They share not just their time and limited resources but more importantly, their love and desire for the youth to be better persons. They are able to make a difference in the lives of the youth and these youth changed for the better because of them.

My ideal chacoco believe in the innate and intrinsic goodness of the youth.  They are not judgmental.  They understand that the youth make mistakes but will never judge them because they believe in the youth's intrinsic goodness. For my ideal chacoco, nobody is a hopeless case: lots of doses of understanding, guidance and love are all that are needed.  They must be firm but loving. Being young themselves once upon a time, a lot of lessons can be imparted from their experiences.

One of the most memorable experiences that I have with my chacoco was the advice that they gave me about opening up to my parents and that I should take the first step.  That our parents also want to get to know us more and it’s possible that they just don’t know how or where to start. They told me that I have nothing to lose in trying.  I never regretted initiating it.  Now I am happy to say that I have a wonderful relationship not just with my parents but also with my brother and sisters as well. I am who I am now also because of our chacoco.  I am truly grateful and indebted to all the chacoco that I have met as a YFC.

What else can I say?   I just hope that Jun and I were able to make a mark in the life of even one YFC when we were their chacoco.

The Chapter

Non-CFC members might be confused by now by the different terminologies that I have been using from older posts.  I am correcting that by writing about the servant leaders of a chapter.  I chose the chapter because it is the basic pastoral subdivision within Couples for Christ, according to CFCpedia.  It is independent and autonomous, a microcosm of Couples for Christ.  Though it has its own leadership, evangelization program and formation, it is subject to the direction of the overall leadership.

A chapter is headed by a Chapter Head. It is composed of four to seven units.  When the chapter grows by the addition of more units, it is split to form another chapter.  The units in turn are made up of four to five households, the basic cell grouping.  The Unit Head is the head of the unit.  The household is where new graduates from the Christian Life Program are grouped together under the Household Head.  

Aside from these groupings, a chapter has also chapter coordinators for the Youth for Christ and Kids for Christ family ministries.

"Most Liked Household/Barkada Group Picture Photo Contest"

I didn't realize that six months have already passed since I created this blog and I averaged one article a week.  I could have done more but have to attend to a million things at the same time.  To mark this occasion, help me celebrate, dear readers, by joining this contest entitled "Most Liked Household/Barkada Group Picture Photo Contest".  I will be giving away a brand new Epson Inkjet Printer. This contest is open to members and non-members alike of Couples for Christ and its ministries.  Hereunder are the mechanics on how to join:

1.  Go to the My Life as a CFC  Facebook Fan Page.  Click "Like" if you are not yet a fan.  Upload your household or barkada group picture to the page.

2.  Ask your friends to vote for your photo entry by "liking" it.  The first entry with the most number of likes by Sept. 30, 2011 11:59 PM will win the Epson printer.

3.  Only one entry is allowed per person.  Only one vote is allowed per fan.  

4.  Contest runs from April 13 to September 30, 2011 and is open to Philippine residents only.  

5.  Winner will be announced in the My Life as a CFC Facebook Fan Page on October 1, 2011.  I will be sending the printer to the winner through courier service starting October 1 up to 15, 2011. 

So what else are you waiting for?  Go over your old photos or pose with your friends for a group picture.  Send your entry now.  The earlier the better, you have more time to ask your friends to vote for your entry.

Tip:  To get more friends liking your entry, share this article to the walls of your Facebook friends and Twitter followers.

Good luck and God bless.

Going on Mission

Two years ago, my husband and I were given the privilege to serve on two mission trips to Kalibo, Aklan and Calbayog City, Western Samar. We volunteered to be in these trips as we experience a certain high in meeting new people while spreading God's Word either as a speaker or sharer. Usually it is the wife who shares her or her family's experiences on the topic that her husband just delivered. That was my role when we went to Kalibo and Calbayog City. On mission, my fear of speaking in front of many strangers is nonexistent. It is a well-known fact that I don't stand up to share in MPAs. For my thirteen years as a member of Couples for Christ, I have only shared once and I did that after ten years.

Preparation for the trip started with booking for the flight. The team head couple for the mission trip on the other hand coordinates with his counterpart in the mission area. The kind of talks to be given, accommodation, venue of the conference and logistics are ironed out over exchanges of emails, text messages and voice malls. Technology has made preparations far easier and cheaper compared to those done years ago.

For our first mission trip, we went to Calbayog City. Our flight was delayed for at least thirty minutes due to bad weather enroute to Calbayog City. Although the typhoon has already left the Samar provinces, there were intermittent rains. While inflight, we went through a series of turbulence that made us clutched our rosaries. At times like this, the only thing that matters is your faith in the Supreme Being. We landed successfully after that nerve-wracking episode. All our nervousness vanished at the concern and hospitality accorded us by our brothers and sisters from Calbayog City.

Our Kalibo trip was not so uneventful compared to the first one. Though there was a raging storm in Metro Manila, in Kalibo, it was sunny when we landed. We felt more like going on a vacation than a mission trip. It helped that Kalibo is just more than an hour drive to the world-famous Boracay. There was no welcoming CFC-Kalibo as we proceeded to Boracay for two days of rest and recreation. At the crack of dawn two days later, the mission group was up and about onboard a motorized banca and a rented van enroute to Kalibo. When in Kalibo, we were met by one of the service team members. We then proceeded to the house of the Provincial Head, Bro. Chem and Sis. Hope Aldecoa for a very hearty breakfast. That famed Filipino hospitality is working to the max again.

For both instances, after the initial getting to know you occasions, we then went on with the task at hand: delivering the talks that our brothers and sisters requested to hear. Yes, it was tiring but hearing their compliments and seeing the smiles in their faces more than compensated the days spent away from loved ones.

After the conferences had ended, we were all treated to more food and singing and a tour of the places. Who would ever forget the Sampaguita Village at New Washington, Cardinal Sin's hometown and an afternoon at Malahug Beach in Calbayog? And what about the pasalubongs that the locals gave to each one of us?

Up to now we are in constant communication with our new found friends...brethren. Mission work really brought out the best in everyone. Just wondering when the next mission trip would be.