Vineyard of His Grace Ministries, Inc.

22/12/2015

TRINITY GRAMMAR SCHOOL KEW 2015 PHILIPPINES VISIT:
"Presents of Joy and Hope"

Marcus is a Year 9 student of Trinity Grammar School Kew from Australia who joined the 2015 Philippine Trip with his 12 other schoolmates headed by Rev’d Matt Campbell, Rev’d Tom Stokes, and Thomas Purcell. He is Noah’s friend. Together with the group, he witnessed the warm welcome of students from Southville National High School, experienced two weeks of immersion in the houses of Filipino families and taught about Australian. Here’s a simple reflection that he had during the first half of their visit:

Q1: Tell something about what you usually do in Australia.

“Life in Australia for me is largely revolved around sport and school. During the weekend I like to spend time with my friends and playing sport.”

Q2: What made you decide to join the trip?

“This trip gave me the opportunity to see another country that is vastly different to Australia. Rev (Hartly) Stokes raved about the trip. But also and most importantly this trip would give me the chance to witness and help families, schools and children that aren't as fortunate as I am. Being able to make a children smile is so moving. "If you’re not making someone else's life better then you’re wasting your time".

Q3: What are the things that you won't forget about the visit?

“The screams of the children at Southville High School and the welcome they gave us. The smiles my brothers (foster family) had when I gave them my presents. The tears and beautiful smile that my amazing NaNay gave when I gave out the presents, when she dropped me off at school for the last time, when she was reading the letter I wrote her and that final good bye hug and kiss that myself and her shared before I got on the bus to Manila.

Q4: What is your most memorable moment with your foster family?

For me every single second with that family was memorable purely because of how beautiful and kind they were too me.

Happiest: On the last night after I had given all of my presents my Na Nay and my brothers all got changed into new clothes and she got all of her relatives, neighbours and friends to come over to take photos with me. After that we quite literally just talked and laughed till 11 o'clock at night. To see so many beautiful smiles around the room from youth to elder just made me feel immortal.

Saddest: The saddest thing for me was saying goodbye to my Na Nay. Just before I got on the bus we both burst into tears and there was so many things I wanted to say but I had such little time. It was the saddest thing that has ever happened to me in my life. I had grown such a strong relationship with her and her family it was just heartbreaking.

Q5: Is there any significance for what you're doing today with the other boys? What in particular?

There is a huge significance. Just being at that school gave the students a huge sense of joy and happiness. The fact that we came to see them from Australia was huge for them. But all the tangible items we gave like computers, medical equipment and sport equipment were not the most important thing for that community it was the experience and relationships that were made.

28/10/2015

Vineyard Team with INA's Chief Executive Officer, Pri Fernando.

Top Quotes from INA CEO:

#1. "One way of keeping staff is challenging them to learn and grow".

#2. "Equally, the people that we meant to serve had God-given talents."

#3. "Whatever your problem is, my problem also."

26/10/2015

The Office for Social Concern and Involvement (OSCI) of Ateneo De Manila University aims to increase students' social awareness and involvement by being more responsive to the struggle of the marginalized sectors of the society. In doing so, OSCI shall develop future leaders who have the critical consciousness and the "heart" for the marginalized and live a life of faith that does justice.

As VOHGMI's potential local partner, it brought 19 Chemist students in Balubad area for a 3-days stay- in community immersion last October 23- 25, 2015 led by Mrs. Tina Pasion, a development practitioner working in OSCI. Prior to the endorsement of 19 students to 14 families, Mrs. Pasion challenged the foster parents, "in this immersion you can contribute to the lives of these students, once they become our leaders, business men, or any successful person they can be we believe that they won't forget the experience of living the kind of life you have and we hope that it can make them a better person towards others."

VOHGMI and OSCI shall continue uphold children and youth as the nation's hope. Shaping them today is making them better for tomorrow.

19/10/2015

Vineyard of His Grace Ministries, Inc. update about sponsored families of Gapan, Nueva Ecija.

Our families in Nueva Ecija experienced knee- high level of flood starting last night. Other sponsored families were still impossible to reach due to higher level of flood. Only available communication is via SMS in a limited manner in order to lengthen battery life of mobile phones, electricity is still down.

(On the photo: Cabanatuan is a 30 kilometer town from Gapan, photo credits to Rappler.com)

Rescue volunteers focus efforts on 5 villages in Cabanatuan

19/10/2015

Vineyard families are kept monitored specially those who were residing on low-lying areas like Marikina and Laguna. Towerville area experienced strong winds and heavy rains but no major damages being reported. There was no evacuation being called by the local leaders.

Please continue to pray for the northern areas where electricity begun to shut down yesterday.

08/09/2015

Vineyard staff with the donors/sponsors from Australia! Thank you for your generous hearts! God bless you all! :)

08/09/2015

Blessed to see all of them. Thank God for their lives. God bless you all even more! :)

15/07/2015

Day 1: Training on Disaster Preparedness & Contingency Planning

Resource Speaker: Mr. Francisco O. Vargas, E.M.T/ Volunteer Firefighter

"With the joint effort of International Studies, the occurrence of the past events may happen again years from now, tomorrow, or today so we have to be prepared."

15/07/2015

Happening now:

Training on Disaster Preparedness & Contingency Planning sponsored by One Community Church in partnership with International Needs Australia and International Needs Canada.

09/07/2015

Please take note of these flood-prone areas in Metro Manila with their corresponding flood hazard maps. To check if your area is vulnerable to flooding, please view the flood hazard maps of your area at http://beta.noah.dost.gov.ph.