As a second year trainee, who recently completed three terms in the Full-Time Training in Taipei, I thank the Lord for giving me a blessed opportunity to attend the Full-Time Training in Malabon and be blended with the trainees here for three weeks. The training was everything I thought it would be and even more.

Ever since college, I have heard of so many exciting stories and heart-touching testimonies of training graduates. It was so good to be able to experience the same rich and glorious living they had experienced. One of the things I really enjoyed was the fact that I was surrounded by so many crazy lovers of Jesus! I realized that these brothers and sisters are the top enjoyers of Christ who came from all over the Philippines, as well as from other neighboring countries. They did not come to the training to waste their time. They were serious to exercise their spirit and gain more of God in every class and in every activity. Because of this, the spiritual atmosphere of every meeting was so high that it would be impossible for me not to touch the prevailing presence of the Lord.

I enjoyed living together with the trainees. I had the opportunity to know them more, not just outwardly in the meetings, but also their true condition and personal history. Although they are good in exercising their spirit and love the Lord in a crazy way, yet they were not superhuman beings. They are real people who also experience problems and go through deep dealings with the Lord. My heart would just skip a beat when they shared their testimonies of how the Lord brought them to the training. Some of them really paid a great price to come here. I also found out that so many of them have the heart to serve the Lord full-time for life. I was really exposed when I asked the trainees what they would do after the training. Most of them would tell me, “Why, I would go back to my locality and serve the Lord full-time.” They would say it so easily without even having any second thoughts. This showed me how simple these trainees have become in contrast with most Christians who become so complicated when the matter of serving the Lord is brought up.

Finally, I would like to answer some questions most people would ask: What is the difference between the training in the Philippines and in Taiwan? Praise the Lord that after experiencing the training in two different places, I now have the position and the boldness to say that there is no difference between any of the training centers around the world. Of course, I would also not say that they are entirely the same, but the degree of enjoyment and perfecting we receive and experience is the same. The things I experienced here in Malabon was just about the same as what I experienced there in Taipei. Only, in Taipei we enjoy the Lord corporately in Chinese, and here in Malabon we enjoy Him in English. Before, I had this silly concept that the training in Taipei was better because of the strict rules and regulations, or that the training in Anaheim had richer enjoyment because most of the blending brothers are there. Praise the Lord that He showed me this concept is wrong! Because there is only one unique ministry and all the training centers are under the leading of this ministry; they are all the same! Furthermore, although the training centers may have some differences outwardly, inwardly it is the same grace of God training us (Titus 2:11-12). As long as we are open to His grace, we will reap out all the benefits of the training that the Lord has designed for us.

Lemuel Cantos
Church in Cebu City

---

Taking the Way to Christ

Cliques, playing around, soulish music, hectic schedule, academic achievements, career promises were just some of the things the world offered to me few months before coming to the Full-Time Training in Malabon (FTTM). No wonder why the enemy could easily distract me from enjoying the Lord. It came to a point where these worldly pleasures, or should I say “worldly traps” controlled me and stagnated my growth in life. Being a church kid is never a guarantee that I am safe from being involved into these kinds of things. I could testify that I fell in this deceiving strategy of the enemy, drowning me into the sea of the world. There I was, standing tall on the corruptible pedestal, crowned with vain glory of dead knowledge and the so-called human accomplishments, and so built up with my invincible “self.” It seemed hopeless, as it dawned on me that I was entrapped within the bars of struggles, pressure, self-centeredness, ambition, and of course, pride. In the end, I am NOTHING.

I never really thought about this because I was immune and numb. Not until I entered the Full-time Training that the Lord has greatly exposed my fallen condition. To be trained is God’s sovereign arrangement. Having been used to the dim eyesight, all of a sudden I was brought into the light. Truly, God remains to be the mightiest in taking back what is His no matter what it takes. As our heavenly Father, by means of the training, He disciplined me through deep and humbling experiences—painful, breaking and even shameful ones. Gradually, the indomitable “self” is being crucified. A thought once crossed my mind, “Oh, this training… It’s killing me.” But the grasp of the Lord’s hand on me was so tight that my attempt to escape was just futile. I have to stay and remain under His judgment, trust in His leading, and submit to His Headship through His deputy authorities in the training center. In joining the training, I realized I am not doing a favor to Him, rather He bestowed His unconditional love, abounding grace, and rich mercy upon me. The Lord used the full-time training as a ground for me to learn and be transformed in various stages of spiritual and even practical matters. The gaining of spiritual knowledge and heavenly wisdom is being balanced with the application of practical experiences and realization, from the simplest steps of obeying rules and regulations, changing my former Egyptian diet to a satisfying spiritual nourishment, into the setting aside of my own preference, opinion and disposition for the sake of mingling with the saints, even up to the crucial matters of getting involved with the service. From the service, I learned proper coordination, having intimate concern, keeping the oneness in the Body, as well as being faithful and diligent in pursuing Christ by holding fast what has been revealed to me in the Scriptures. Though the real battle is in the church life, I realized that the rigid preparation is in the training. Here, I am being brought into the reality of the truth within me so that it becomes life, which grows and matures.

Now, this is the undying hope I am holding on to—regardless of the past, the Lord will always recover the ones whom He predestinated and chosen from the start. I do not have to linger on the things, which are already behind. I could just look forward to the goal of gaining more and more Christ. Thank the Lord, we have such a training where He dispenses and builds Himself into me in a very direct and honest way. The Lord is enlightening Himself from within me, revealing His person through various experiences. I just need not to be foolish in playing the role of a “blind.” As I have seen Christ, I will never take the same way but always take another way (Matt. 2:12, footnote 2)—not in the way of the world. I know I will never be the same again.

Sarah Kristina Tapel (FT2)
Church in Bacoor