General Santos City Part 1

A southern part of the Country in the province of South Cotabato. It has a rich soil, good rainfall and typhoon-free climate, the area is the largest producer of corn, coconuts, copra, pineapples, asparagus and rice. The area also produces other high value crops such as exotic fruits, potatoes, vegetables, cut flowers and okra.

It accounts for the largest total daily fish landings in the country and is the leading producer of sashimi grade tuna. Residents boast that fish and seafood do not come fresher than in their city.

Most of all its the place where disciples with great, dynamic,stupendous,passionate hearts, settle. Its the place where we were going.

Several months ago a group of brothers with the leadership of the Davao minister planned to go and visit General Santos City. I was fortunate enough to be included in the planning with the brothers. The main concern during that time, was the goal of the travel. Was it for "la-ag, la-ag", was it just a visit, an outreach, etc...What was the purpose? There were several occasions where we often times discuss about it. We may have several things in mind but at least we should be united in our goals and objectives ...What came out? ....It was, indeed, doing it for Gods' Glory and to encourage the local church in Gen San.
Off we go...with the heart and mind to reach out and encourage our fellow disciples in Gensan.

3 fired-up families went with 6 kids plus myself included. Fitting 14 (7 adults, 1 teen, 6 kids)individuals itslef was an industrious accomplishment..Gi kamada gyud ug tarong para masakto..Whooaa.Fully packed, inside a toyota van, indeed it was an impressive feat (shout out to the driver/minister/leader/kamada king).
The Travel took 3 hours from Davao City to Gen Santos City with one or two stops in between (lunch and just going to the Rest room). Traveling to a long and winding road, seeing some stunning sceneries, having great organic food ( I guess, kasi native chicken eh) ..... only shows how a great and wonderful creator our God is.

Upon arriving at the area of destination we were met by the minister of Gensan. We were set in a nice, cozy and comfy place. Night time was the beginning of the fellowship ... I have witnessed a servants heart and loving heart of the church as they prepare the food for us the visitors.
A feast of local delicacies was just for starters. It was followed by short but meaningful talk by a brother. It was about building a house, a spiritual house, a house with a blue print of were Christ is the foundation; walled by love, commitment, forgiveness and communication; and a roof of Gods grace. We heard the sharing of 3 disciples and their response on how the short message affected their hearts. We ended the activity and head back to the inn, with hearts burned with God's word, filled and encouraged.

However, the night did not end with that, we just had the kids go to sleep and off we went...visit some sights and places and have some food. Actually, its not the sights and places but rather it was the food. Why? kasi yong food na hinahanap namin wala sa mga lugar na pinuntahan namin. Thats why we went to 2 or 3 differente places para maka kain lang ng "PANCIT" hehe..as if walang pancit sa Davao. Nonetheless, it was a fun bonding time...
Part 2...tatapusin...

"don't make me upset. You wouldn't like me when I'm upset"

did some circuit training on this gym. for almost seven months never have i heared any complaint. I did help train some people here, we grapple, we box, lift weights or even kick pads. Before we even use the ring we asked for permission from the instructors if we can hit some mitts or not, and most of the time its a yes, never did I ever experienced any problem. This time, for the very first time my attention was called indirectly by the manager/owner or watchama call him. He indirectly informed me not to use the boxing ring or boxing area since it is the schedule for boxing. This guy did not even looked at the area and see if there are clients boxing or hitting some mitts. Schedule for boxing? Indeed it was but, There was only one client in the ring and he was not even hitting the mitts. The other thing is I did not even climb up the ring and used it. Nonetheless, from what I heared somebody complained. HMMM..the client complained? Maybe the boxing instructor? NOOOOOOOOO...I did ask them, they were even kind enough to allow us to kick some pads inside the ring. Whats messed up about this, is that the manager/owner whoever that is, only talked to one of my trainees and asked him to inform me. If this person has a beef with me, then he could have approached me. As a manager/owner he should have the decency to talk to me. The fact is most of the people who trained with me are paying clients of the gym and I am also a client. The gym did not pay me to train those clients but rather I paid the gym for the usage of the facilities. This people approached me to train with them. Most of all, I did not ask for any payment. Dili ni pamugas..intawon...(doctor tawon ko....I dont want even to go to that level).It was done out of love for the sport. So, whats wrong with this picture? An effort was even done to set an appointment with this guy but he refused because he is busy. Hmmm customer or client should always be heared..but not to this part of the earth..kaya siguro hindi tayo umaasenso. Who complained? Why did they not talk to me directly? I really cannot understand how this happened and why this happened. Two sides of the coin does not apply in this side of the planet.
Clearly this an unproffessional way of handling clients/customers.
I am just really upset and I want to vent this out to get the steam out of my system. the ironic things is that I train for mma..and I cannot even use it at this moment. Hit the bags at the gym...NOOOO its boxing time even if there is nobody using it. Discipline and self control, even in the midst of being disrespected.... deep breathing and count 1 to ........
Mahirap dito sa Pinas dapat magpakita ka ng power and influence para respetohin ...
Well its a challenge always to be a disciple, its a test for self control and a test how, as a christian, should we approach this situations in life. For now sulat lang sa..before going to sleep will pray for it..when I wake up in the morning I will have to do something in a christian way to tell the truth and do what is right in a christly manner.

Muay Thai

It was fun to hold muay thai pads to a new friend of mine, Erich Krauss (pronounced as Arish). Met him when one of my friends whom I trained in MMA told me that an mma author was at the gym kicking the hell out of the bags. I went to look at the guy and to my astonishment it was the author of the mma books which I have. I had my book brought to the gym and have Erich signed it..it was such a great experience. Never in my dreams that this would happen but indeed it did. He signed the book entitled BJ Penn the Book of Knowledge..yeah. He is a nice guy, he hanged out with the guys once during the Vera Couture fight and would probably go to Butuan to observe the very first MMA competition there. That would be fun.

an amazing experience

As I was looking at the post at my FB a friend of mine recently uploaded a picture of me holding muay thai pads for an american author of MMA books. In such a distant place such as Davao City, I really find it amazing how we come to meet this people.

In fact, I got a copy of his work, "BJ PENN's Book of Knowledge" and Antonio Nogueira's "THE GUARD." I have them already signed. Check out his website at www.victorybelt.com

MMA has taken my interest, it became the center of my physical activities. Before, I would rather play basketball or table tennis. However, after I met this brother of mine from Chicago Church, it totally changed my interest, from making hoops and doing those spin drives to learning to set-up a simple armbar, to studying transitions of different submission moves.
Its funny how my toughts run from FB pic to the history of MMA interest. Nonetheless, off I go the gym now and start doing those teep, tae etc....full guard, half guard, peruvian necktie or whatever....till next time
before I forget...Butuan on November 29, another mma competetion..will be there...

Preparing for Gen San

This Saturday to Sunday November 21 to 22, MDCC will have its outreach. A group of disciple volunteers will be going to General Santos City to meet up with the local church and encourage one another. My role would be sharing communion message. I do have something in mind to share however I got a text message from our minister. He texted me to share my previous communion message which I gave here in Davao, the title of which was the unleavened bread. Anyways, at least I already got the powerpoint presentation already prepared for that. Gen San here we come, to God be the glory!!