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Story of a Well-Spent Saturday

Saturdays are fast becoming what my Fridays used to be... and what is that? My favorite day of the week!

Last Saturday, I went home with sore muscles and a little headache from the heat, but with a happy smile on my face -- happy-tired.

Gym Gym din pag may time
For the second half of the year, I wanted to try out new things, as well as go back to what I like doing. So last Saturday, I went back to the gym after 3 years!!! WhoohoooO! Parang bulkan lang na pinatulog nang pagkatagal at sumabog ulit. So buhay pa pala yan nh?!? haha!




In line with the goal to be healthier this year, I knew I needed to reacquaint myself with sweat and loads amount of it if I were serious. It's not really about losing weight, but I just really want to get exercise back into my routine because it's good for our bodies. Biology 101. Bow.

So even though I had a hard time keeping up with the Step Class and the threadmill was creaking embarassingly with every step, I cannot help but beam at my small accomplishment for the year. :)

Getting started is sometimes the hardest part, and I debated against it last Saturday morning when the idea of just getting more rest started calling me back to bed... But I paid for this gym voucher, and I needed to get started... and I cannot rely on the next few weeks being less busy, because there will always be activities here and there.

My schedule is kinda crazy this July and there are days that I look at my "plate" and see things piling up one by one and I look at the stretch of the "plates" before me for the year, and they're all looking pretty stuffed too. Have you seen your plate lately? How does it look like? Para bang galing sa buffet sa dami?! Hehe! Same here, but there will always be things to do. So those things that we keep putting off to some other day that leaves more breather than the rest? Well, sometimes there is no better day than today to do it because the 24 hours today, is the same number of hours you will be given tomorrow.

So get on the horse, you fool, I seemed to tell myself last Saturday as I resurrected old gym outfits from the closet and stuffed my bag with towels and water flask. Yezzzz. feel na feel ang gym haha! :P Pagbigyan, ngayon lang ulit eh. hehe!

After more than 2 hours at the gym, I hit the shower and was so refreshed! Yaaay! :) Next week ulit!

Artista!
After that, I went to church to attend the Kids Ministry's storytelling/acting workshop. The workshop was led by Icko Gonzales, the dude from Batang Superbook and it was such a great experience.


First, I missed out the part of the invite wherein it says that it is an Acting workshop (at first I thought it was just for storytelling). So when we got inside, I was a little surprised when he started asking us to act like jellos and make ourselves like lamppost one second then a jello cake the next. Haha!

Sooooo... it WAS an acting workshop pala. One that was not only thoroughly enjoyed by the participants, but one that really hit our heads and our hearts as we go back to the core of what it means to be a Kids Church volunteer.

Self-esteem vs God-esteem
Icko said that sometimes we go to church and we bring our issues and our baggage when we face the kids. And it's true. Like if you're a shy person and you saw a kid that is also shy, it's much too tempting to keep being shy and to stay in our comfort zones. But we shouldn't act like how we see ourselves, but how God values and sees us. If we see ourselves like little kittens purring at the corner of the room, and God sees us like lions-- leaders of a pack that are courageous and bold -- we should go as that and remind that with God, we can be more than what we used to be and extend this acceptance and love from God to the kids.

Be generous!
In theater, walang hiya hiya. Be generous. As ice breaker, Icko instructed us to form one big circle and ask for volunteers. One by one, he would give tasks like "pretend you're an aerobics teacher", "you won the best actor award and you're winning scene is when your wife fell from a cliff and you tried to catch her", etc. And the volunteers had to give it their all, give all they've got for their best performance yet and and hold nothing back. Because what you give to the kids, that is also how they will react to you.

At church, we already did several skits, storytelling activities, puppet shows, even a short musical as Christmas special last year! So it brought me back to how we used to do the Bible Story with the kids. And that skit that had Abraham and Sarah in it... that I just read straight from the script and moved half heartedly, was not giving it my all.

Note to self: Be generous, be self-giving.

Don't drop the ball
Another activity in the workshop was "Don't drop the ball". For this, Icko laid out several index cards with different emotions written on it like: Bored, Nahihilo, May singaw, mad, in-love, worried, etc.

And he would give you a line like, "I love you, pramis" and this is the line that you have to say all throughout as you walk from one index card to another, showing of course the emotion matching the index card.

As part of the audience, it was funny and admirable watching them step up and do the activity. The idea is to keep moving and to switch emotions fluidly so as to keep the audience transfixed from start to finish.

And this is particularly important to kids, because they have an attention span much like Dory in Finding Nemo. Laugh and they break off from the reverie just about when you are to say David's line to Goliath. You were thisclose to getting to the truth, but you broke it off.

We have proven this as we watch each participant do the activity, with our gazes upon them waiting how they will switch emotion with the next index card. That's the idea, as teachers who act from time to time, don't drop the ball. Get through the scene without giggling, laughing or signaling to one of your co-teachers.

Don't drop it like it's hot because it's not...!!!! :)

Quick wit
Have you guys seen the show, Kids say the darnest thing! ? Boy! Is that show funny and true! After years of volunteering at Kids Church, my sisters and I have attested that you just never know what the kids are going to say next. So you have to know how to entertain them without losing the truth of what you are about to tell them.

So you've got to learn to improvise and think on your feet. At this point of the workshop, I wanted to volunteer but was still much of a chicken to raise my hands. So I was a little unnerved-but-excited when I was "volunteered" by Icko to present the next "invention". So that's the idea of the second to the last activity, he hands you some random thing and you have to act like an inventor and tell the audience what the invention is for, how you discovered it, and answer the audience's questions.

It was fun and I just kept on and on and it felt natural. At that time, I wasn't really thinking of myself or how others see me, but just went with the flow and roll with the audience.


We enjoyed it and I felt like it was a well-spent Saturday because we are doing something that will hopefully have an impact on the kids.

This is turning out to be such a lengthy post, but I just wanted to share that these past few weeks, I felt a little selfish, just putting in my goals first without any impact to the others around me. I mean sure, there is no harm in drafting what you want to do and enjoy life, but sometimes I ask myself maybe there is a better way to spend one's time?

To not just enjoy, but enjoy and help.

Have fun and spread the truth.

Live life and try to make a difference.

It was a good Saturday and I look forward to spending more Saturdays like this. :)


Saktong blurred filter :D

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