Kerygma Conference 2009, Day 1

Kerygma Conference 2009 was a two day event at the Araneta Coliseum. It was the biggest Catholic Learning Event in the country. The conference at the Araneta Coliseum was simulcast at the Cebu Convention Center. Around 10,000 participants were at the Araneta while those in Cebu were 2,000.

The theme for this year's conference was "Dream Big, Win Big!"

I was at the venue at 7:40 am because I wanted to secure a good seat for myself since my ticket was for free seating arrangement. I was late in buying the tickets, the patron and the lower box section were already sold out two weeks before the affair. I was at the upper box b section of the coliseum at the aisle. I immediately open my seminar kit inside a recycable blue bag handed near the gates to check its content. Inside the kit were: the souvenir program which also contained the notes for the conference, ball pen, a novena booklet, kerygma magazine and a pack of Hershey's n'more chocolate crispies. I was surprise to see what's inside because I only paid P200.00 for the two day event, yet inside the kit were items that would have cost more than P100.00.

Keryma magazine is my favorite Catholic magazine and who wouldn't love Hershey's chocolates? right.

Since I was attending the conference alone, my prayer that morning was that I would be seated with someone who's nice. And it was an answered prayer because I met and was seated to a friendly girl who happens to have the same name as mine. We immediately chatted and bonded while waiting for the seminar to start. What a cool way to start my day!

First in the program was the worship session. Everyone was on their feet dancing and singing their hearts out for the Lord and it was followed by the celebration of the Holy Eucharist presided by Rev. Fr. Mario Sobrejuanite.

The inspirational talks were given by Bro. Bo Sanchez, Arun Gogna, Alvin Barcelona and Obet Cabrillas; their talks were very entertaining, powerful and encouraging. They inspire me to dream, believe in the power of my dreams and to make my dreams become a reality. I'll be sharing the thing I've learned from the event in my other post.

There were special performance between the talks but I was touched by the performance of Fatima Soriano. She has a very beautiful voice and she really sings with a lot of passion. She was born blind, was on peritoneal dialysis for ten months when she was ten years old because she had an end stage renal disease,and had a kidney transplant after. Yet despite all her struggles at a young age, she radiates an aura of peace.

When she was asked what she thinks was her core gift in my life, I was thinking she's going to answer singing. But she said her core gift in life was to give hope and encouragement to those who despair. Her answer touched my heart. Who am I to complain about the trials I'm going through when its nothing compared to what she's been through at a young age? She has a big heart because she was not focused on her suffering. She used her difficulties to encourage other.

The conference ended before seven in the evening. It was a long day but I hardly noticed the time passing by. I went home on the first day very inspired!