Page 2 - eLamdag July 2020

EDITORIAL
When the ship’s crew started praying “Hail Mary” over and over again, I knew we were in trouble. I had gotten on a RO/RO vessel from Pulawan Wharf between Dumaguete and Dapitan, on my way back to Cebu via Dumaguete. When we left, there was a drizzle. Nothing to worry about, I thought.
Halfway through, the drizzle had
turned into torrential rain. The
waves grew as big as hills. They
came from behind us, lifted the
boat, left it hanging in the air,
then slammed it hard down into the water. By the 10th time this happened, passengers were puking, crying, praying. And like I said, even the crew started praying.
I tried to look ahead into the dark but all I could see were outlines of giant waves. Not a single point of light anywhere. So I prayed too. I asked God to let me survive this, as I thought about my family at home.
Somehow my mind switched to a practical survival mode. I thought about what I should take in case we capsized, and what I will have to leave behind. I saved data from my laptop into thumb drives. I placed these, with my driver’s license and ATM card, in a plastic bag which I then tied around my waist. I even changed into shorts. Goodbye laptop, I thought, and goodbye Bianca (that’s my trusty Honda Jazz, lashed in the ship’s hold).
And then I heard shouts of relief and joy from the crew. I looked through the porthole, and saw it: the lights of Dumaguete twinkling in the distance. Tiny lights, like fireflies from a far mountain. But enough to give hope.
This is the effect of a light in the dark. It gives us something to hold on to. Light gives us peace of mind, even in a furious storm. Light gives direction. When we see the light, we say “Lamdagna”.
BCBP Mandaue had a newsletter before, named Lamdag. It was written by a group of volunteers, many of whom are still around - Mr Sim Lanaria, Mr Jun Tagalog, Mrs Vicky Armilla and Mrs. Aida Diez.
When the pandemic struck, we thought about how we could bring God’s light to our members. How could we keep our passion alive for God and for our community? One of the ideas was to revive eLamdag. Thus the first issue, which came out in June. And now with the help of more members, we are happy to offer the July
2020 issue of e-Lamdag.
God’s light shines through each one of us. Share your light! Read and contribute to future issues of our e-newsletter. We can share each other’s light so that all of us will be more enlightened.
Ma-lamdagan ta.
Page 2 of 22
".UOY HTIW MA I ROF ,toN raeF"
,srepsihw eH ,sevaw dna sdniw ,smrots eht nI"
OPANAS ALLEIHSOTEM .SRM ,EFIW SIH HTIW ,RETIRW LAIROTIDE EHT ,OPANAS ENER .RM