#crossencounter

“Buy groceries ah?” said my mom as I was stepping out the house to head to the airport in the morning of the WYC.

Groceries. 

One of the sure things that I could bring back to Hong Kong after the long-awaited 3-day event. 

Looking back at the previous WYC photos, I didn’t really know what to expect from this year’s conference. Nevertheless, I’ve heard stories from last year’s delegates of how empowering of an experience it was and how they wished everyone else could have gone with them. After the afternoon worship in the CFCFFL echo conference, weeks before the WYC, I felt so pumped up, wanting to sing and dance even more. Akis, who has been to multiple WYCs already, said to me, “Dude, this is going to happen much more often and it’s going to be much more dynamic.”

That was when it finally dawned on me that what I am about to go through is going to be so immense. The bar was set high and as crazy as it seems, it just kept going up from there.

Once we arrived in Malolos Sports and Convention Center, everything had already exceeded my expectations. The lights, the thousands of seats slowly being filled up, the JBand sneaking in their final practices…it was all so surreal.

© Jomar Tagabi

Surviving on a few hours of sleep each day left me with no energy at all, but it was awesome how the Lord always filled me up for the day of sessions and activities every time we worshipped Him. Each day, He took me into an emotional journey. Tears would stream down my face at one point, then I’d be jumping for joy in another. I clearly remember having goose bumps already just when they started teaching songs.

Coming into the WYC with lots of unanswered questions, encountering Christ through the sessions has definitely given me a new perspective on things and with that new point of view, things started to become much clearer because I was able to see things through the light He has shined on us. After this powerful encounter, I have decided to let others encounter Him as well through my words and actions.

Furthermore, what’s great about this encounter is that it doesn’t stop there, it doesn’t matter how far we may have gone away from Him, there’s always a way to encounter Him each and every day of our lives; through prayer, the community and our family and friends. Being able to see 2,400 youths who share the same passion in serving the Lord, I was reaffirmed that Christ really does work in everyone.

My first WYC has allowed me to accomplish several things in my bucket list. I’ve never been to a concert, never participated in a rave and never met a celebrity, but after experiencing several exhilarating praise and worships, letting loose on EDM night, and taking selfies with talented and inspirational YFLs (and Jollibee), I have received so much more than what I asked for.

I may have not been able to buy the things on my grocery list, but I was able to have an experience of a lifetime.

Seeing how much the delegates of last year's WYC enjoyed so much, I told myself that there was no way I'm missing out in 2015. Especially as the team leader this year, all the excitement was just uncontainable. All of a sudden, things started to feel differently when I was called to be a worship leader for the conference. Excitement turned into pressure which added to everything else that was going on in my life at the moment. 

On the 10th of April, I woke up and decided to put everything aside just for the weekend. All my questions and worries, just so I could experience the whole conference to the fullest. 

However, our God is so surprising that He allows us to encounter Him in the moments and people that we least expect. All the talks, sharings and especially the worships really got to me and made me realize how much our God loves us. Words can't even describe such an amazing feeling. No matter how hard I try to run away from my thoughts and worries, I just couldn't and I felt like the Lord kept telling me to face them, but in a different perspective - with Him. I can vividly remember during the worship on the second night and how it hit me hard. I really couldn't contain myself anymore. All my emotions burst out and tears started to fall. I felt as if God was embracing me in His loving arms and forgiving me just like that. I know that I am undeserving of such love, but He still gives it and that's what so great about our God. 

© Chinna Roque

As for my worship, at first, everything inside me was just nervousness and anxiety, but it slowly changed into excitement and happiness. Because of what I experienced, I became so excited to share with everyone else about how God loves us so much. When I got up on stage, I was all smiles and full of joy; dancing and singing like I do when I'm alone. One thought came into my head, "Is this what heaven is like?" It was such an overwhelming experience, one that I could never forget.  

© Jamerica Domingo

Back to reality. I'm not saying that everything is good like how you wake up from a nightmare. Everything is still here, but I'm looking at things in a different light; staying more hopeful that things will get better and believing that God has a great plan for us. After all this, I question myself, "why did I even doubt?"

God loves you, that's real talk.

It’s been a week since the World Youth Congress 2015, and as usual, after our community events, I am experiencing a hangover from the event – the most immense one at that.

Being a relatively shy individual (outside our abode), all these ‘what ifs’ invaded my thoughts months before the WYC. I was so afraid I wouldn’t be able to keep conversations going with the youths I would meet and that being there wouldn’t be such a fruitful experience because of all the anxiety I was having.  

True enough, He moves in mysterious ways, all the ‘what ifs’ were enveloped by His reaffirming love in the simplest moments. One of them being our practices for our iSIKAT performance, I felt as if I was part of the dance ministry (dream come true hahaha) and the second one happened on the night preceding our flight. I was listening to the praise and worship songs that were going to be used during the Congress and in an instant, the anxieties were swept away by the melodies.

It was beyond my expectations; a weekend filled with realizations, pure bliss and new encounters with my brothers and sisters around the globe. I never thought that I would be talking to the people who were speaking and singing on stage, or that I would be friends with other youths who randomly asked us for a selfie.

From the opening performance to the sessions to everything else that happened that weekend, I would withdraw myself for a bit and imagine how it would be like if it was with my fellow YFLs back here in Hong Kong.

© JM Dequiña

Although the WYC itself was already pre-eminent, there was one moment that really struck me – the praisefest. I remember the 20 of us (YFL HK) standing in a circle, as if we were a human chain. We were told to pray over one another and so, our chapter servant, Ate Jem, (who was standing on my left) leaned over to tell me she was going to pray over me. Three seconds into her prayer, tears started streaming down my face; parang nahiya pa nga yung tears ko kasi pa-unti unti ako lumuha e (it was like my tears were shy because they fell little by little).

Right at that moment, I felt beyond blessed. I was and am so grateful to the Lord for bringing me there and for giving me the opportunity to love and serve Him through the community. As the praisefest continued, we slowly dispersed and I allowed my eyes to take a glimpse of the people around me. Although I barely knew a hundred of the thousands there, I felt a strong sense of family.

The very sight of 2,400+ youths with different stories and backgrounds coming together to encounter Him once again has inspired me to reach out to those who haven’t encountered Christ yet.

My first WYC experience was truly one for the books and I cannot contain my excitement for the rest of YFL HK and our upcoming echo conference where we can have a close encounter with Him again. 

© JM Dequiña