The Christmas Party that was

I have forgotten this draft that was supposed to be published a few days after the 1st Hawthorne Park Fil-Can Families Christmas Party. Then again the poses and the smiling faces are just too much to waste. So here it is, a few pictures from that party.

The President, Sam Gonzales, and me welcoming right at the door of the rented multipurpose room somewhere by 148th street.

A table of smiling and christmassy faces.......

....and Hey we are afterall a big happy family...but next year's celebration will even be bigger.

Watch out for the Garage Sale Event on Saturday, June 27, 2009

Valentines Day @ Praise International

So you think you can't dance
Yes we can, after three Wednesdays of ball room tutorials from the multi talented Alex Anayas (artist, musician/singer/composer, comedian, dance instructor). The dance floor was a myriad of fleeting objects whether calling it dancing or something else was not that important compared to the joy of holding your spouse as you both twirl around bumping to different couples doing the same thing oblivious to the music that was playing in the background.

A first at the Praise International Church's Surrey Campus, this years Valentine's Day celebrations will certainly be included to the already growing traditions of this young multicultural Christian Church.

I am just happy to take out the suit and tie that were tucked deep in my closet. It gave me the assurance that I have maintained my size for the last 8 years after all. And it is nice to see yourself in somewhat high powered clothes as it does rekindle the dreams that I had and is still trying to reach. It will come soon I know.

With friends, dreams will always be a common goal to be shared and nurtured for we take our strength and guidance from the people who shared our causes and beliefs.

The Fil-Can Core Group of Hawthorne Park

Hawthorne Park is home to more than 50 Filipino Families. Of the 133 units in this community,53 are owned by Filipinos. Thus it became a must that an organization of the Filipino community should be formed.

Sam Gonzales, an energetic insurance agent, started talking to the Filipino community within Hawthorne Park, about the need to unite the Filipino residents to address the common interests of the Kababayans. He also was voted, the first President of Fil-Can of Hawthorne Park.

The picture above is the Core group of this organization: Standing L-R, Sid Amancio (Vice-President), Sam Gonzales (President), Danny Datur (Business Manager and Strata Council member), Gilbert Gupit (PRO), Jun Paa, Dennis Nasol (Entertainment Coordinator), Front

L-R, JR Lachica (Special Event Coordinator), Agnes Gonzales, Ally Tapales (Secretary),

Officers not in the picture: Menardo Dioquino (Auditor), Jerry Bonggao (PRO)

A series of meetings were conducted which culminated with Danny Datur becoming a member of the Strata Council of Hawthorne Park through a coodinated effort of the Core Group who collected the voting proxies during the strata council election for 2009. The first major event for this community was the Christmas Party which will be on my next post.

Poetry: A war between Good and Evil

I was watching Darlene Zschech on You Tube singing "All Things are Possible" as this will be one of the praise songs The Levites will be singing on Sunday.

Scrolling down to the comments I came across two poets going at each other in a definitely unsual way.

Lola:
Yes Jesus all things are possible,even it does seem impossible to us.
I give you praise in good times and in bad times for then you will know
it my heart belongs to you.Thanks for the answered prayer i have today.
Praise the Lord for he is good.

Robert:
A circle of shade, I'm blessed by Satan.
Prince of the darkened horde.
A circle of flame, I'm touched by Lucifer.
The eyes of demons blazing with fire.
A circle of power, I'm seen by Belial.
An emperor of the thousand abysses.
A circle of sin, I'm embraced by Leviathan.
Guardian of gates beyond this dimension.
The four rituals cast within depths of hell.
While Lucifer rapes christian souls.
His laughter mixes with their howls of terror.
Laughing as he rapes the sheep once again.

You are physically animated, yet mentally dead.
I see you awake but you are not really there.
You walk around in a hollow shell.
Living a life of mental stagnation.
Seeking the comfort of reassuring lies.
Your shallow mind, in a church of fools.
Living a life of willing ignorance.
Never thinking, forever dim.
Nothing's more pathetic than a brainless drone.
Vicious cycles of lies to cover lies.
Just another robot in factory of falsehoods.
A hollow puppet controlled by strings.

Lola:
God's word is true, He says what He means,
And those who believe Him are wise;
Reject God's word and it's plainly seen,
He'll let you believe Satan's lies!
Now if you believe God's word and obey,
Your life will surely be blessed;
He'll save you and keep you from going astray,
Your soul will find peace and rest.

So many churches and cults today
Are teaching the devil's lies,
Leading millions of folk astray,
For Satan has blinded their eyes.
The world is full of Satan's lies,
Confusion on every hand;
God's word is twisted and denied,
Just as Satan has planned.
Truth, it seems, is cast in the street,
For men by the devil are led;
Tramp'ing God's truth under their feet,
They prefer to teach error instead

Robert:
A dark army marching in the twilight.
A sorcerer leading his horde.
It's the night when cowardly faith will die.
Minions of the Devil soon to be dancing.
And urinating on the body of christ.
Tears of rage falling from god's eyes.
Which are drowned out by laughter from the night.
Where demons are now celebrating.
White souls to the slaughter in the dark land.
Where Lucifer has left his trail.
We rise in the shadows of his kingdom.
This night of Satan will never come to an end.

Lola:
The Bride Of Christ
The religious world looks down upon
Our Lord's churches, so small;
But they the victory have won,
For He loves them one and all.
For them, He suffered, so forlorn,
For them, His life has given;
And soon will take them home to join
His first - born church in heaven.
His church, complete, will be ready then,
To become His loving Bride;
For true and faithful she has been,
And His word has not denied.

Robert:
The soldier of darkness that I am.
Drinking blood to quench our beast.
The ignorant sheep are my slaves.
It was a long time ago...
When I sold my soul to the devil.
He shall kill their god and become their new god.
Those who refuse, shall be eaten alive.
Dragged into the shadows of Hell.
Empty Abyss, void of nothingness.
Deep inside, devoid of all holy light.
I shall serve Satan forever in darkness.
As a faithful Demon by his throne.
Surrounded by the filth of departed angels

Lola:
She bought the truth and sold it not;
She labored to expel all leaven,
And will appear without blemish or spot,
To take her place in heaven.
The marriage of the Lamb shall come,
And there will be His bride,
Dressed in spotless righteousness,
Standing by His side.
No more shall she be martyred,
No more shall she be scorned;
But she shall be rewarded
For all that she has borne.

Oh, it shall be her destiny,
To rule and reign with Him,
Then live with Him eternally,
In the New Jerusalem!

There was no room for Him in the inn,
That's why He was laid in a manger;
And to this world of lost, sinful men,
Unto this day He remains a stranger.
Now once a year they become quite merry,
And celebrate His birthday - or so they claim;
But the rest of the year they seem in a hurry,
To dishonor Him and blaspheme His name.
Oh, they like to think of Him as a babe,
But they have no love for Him on the cross;

That He would come to die and to save
Seems quite foolish to those who are lost.
Yes, the gospel is hid to those who perish,
For Satan has surely blinded their eyes;
This world of sin they love and cherish,
And their lost condition do not realize.
But scattered among them are His dear sheep, '
Twas for them He was born, for them He died;
He kept the law which they could not keep,
And to their sins was His blood applied.


So thankful am I that my Saviour came
To this wicked, sin - cursed earth;
Oh, praise His precious, holy name,
I'm thankful for His virgin birth!
But 'tis not my Saviour's desire or plan,
That with His birthday I be concerned;
'Tis, instead, His solemn command,
That I watch and wait for His return.

Robert:
Darkened powers are now caressing my mind.
In my unveiling, a body of shade.
My heart, his infernal tongue.
Blasphemous rituals are the way to Lucifer.
We all adore the work of the devil.
The path to his evil incarnation.
He is below and above you.
His life is ecstasy in yours.
We are under the inverted cross of the lord.
Pray to your weak god of infinity.
Your shattered prayers are soon forgotten.
You are a stranger to our champion.
I will lead you to the throne of Old Nick.

The weak infant is burning in his crib.
I am watching his tender flesh burning away.
The flames are blackening the body of fragility.
Clouds of smoke have filled the manger.
The child's screaming has finally stopped.
The incinerated skin crumbling faintly to the ground.
I stare at the corpse and now remove the skull.
It is time to return to the depths of doom.
As demons praise my return.
I enter my crypt and place the trophy above my shrine.
Behold!The son of god is now dead!

Jun:
May the ever Awesome Redeemer
Snatch you from the clutches of evil
For His is the power mightier than everything else
Not even your satan can withstand
to gaze just His image.

For Like a thousand sun His radiance shown
for all eternity.

But my God is a righteous God
and He will forgive those who repent
so Brother Robert.....

The gates of Heaven are waiting for you
You only have to raise your hand to the one who
created you,
He will take you back gladly, like a lost sheep
you are as important to Him as each one of
His creations.

Another Sunny Tuesday

The receding snow and melting ice are finally uncovering the green grass beneath the chilly white blanket that has been the landscape since the downpour of this white stuff that shattered records of decades ago. Once again, the sun is showing its presence though seemingly shy bathing Hawthorne Park with a soft glow as if afraid to let go of its awesome power which could overwhelm the fragile greenery just popping up from under the cold.

The sky is showing some promise of a bright day as the clouds seems to dissipate into a pale hue of gray. Yet again who knows what will come down from the unpredictable skies of Surrey where hydro meteorologist could never get their predictions right. Yes its a sunny Tuesday morning much a mirror of the Tuesday last week although a centimeter of snow did come down by the weekend yet again taunting the weatherman to get their noses shined as again the sky proved him wrong, short by four centimeters.

Me, I am thankful that the weatherman was wrong coz I have not been comfortable with my back yet with the shovelling I have done from the past few weeks just so my car can get out of the parking lot.

The perimeter road around Hawthorne Park is fairly clean and two cars can actually pass by each other saying Hi and Goodbye as the drivers nod to the familiar faces of the neighbourhood.

More block watch Report:

I just received a report of a prowler going into someone's patio area. The owner was sleeping and the prowler woke her up at 1:55 am this morning (Tuesday, Feb 3) by opening the patio gate. The owner looked outside and the prowler was scared off.

The incident occurred at the front of the complex on 104th Avenue.

No description was obtained

A Crank Call?

Here is another Block watch development.
(I know I am hitting at the blockwatch thing recently
'coz there is not much to write about Hawthorne Park in this bleak
weather)


"One of the residents, who is a woman, received a crank call early Saturday morning from "Terasen Gas". The caller said that they were checking up on the home because there was a gas leak in the area and they wanted the resident to go outside and check their gas pressure.

The call was around 12:15 am Saturday morning and the caller was insistent that the owner go outside to check the meter. The caller knew the location of the gas meter outside the residence. The caller told the resident they had called other people in the complex and that she should go outside and that she would see other people checking their meters.

When the owner said that she would wake her husband and get him to check things out the caller seemed to become flustered with her and lost his composure. As the conversation progressed the owner heard people starting to laugh in the background. The caller then started to become abusive and used inappropriate language.

The owner hung up on the caller and never did go outside.

Has anyone else received any calls like this?

If this happens to you:

1) 1st and most importantly before you call the police, call anyone else or receive any in coming calls:

2) Dial *57 on the phone. This will flag the phone call and allow the police to contact the phone company to request a trace. The police will only request a trace if the phone call is: threatening physical harm, occurring on a frequent basis or is happening to a group of people.

3) Call 911 immediately and report the incident.

4) Send me an email and let me know what has happened.

If you are receiving crank calls and you have done the above then make sure that you tell the caller the next time they call that you have reported the previous calls to the police and that the call is currently being traced. This will only be true if you remember to dial *57 after the call is terminated.

The resident has now informed me that they have checked with Terasen Gas and there was no gas leak in the area or any phone calls made on behalf of the company"

Just be careful when you guys are reporting to the police coz like the block watch captain said, this was a "crank call", your best friend may have just made a "crank"
on you and you are sending him to jail. Achooooooo..... ahhh this cold weather!