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O, WHAT A FEAST!

It was such a wonderful FEAST, with all the five chapters of TawagAwit represented.

The food was just enough (thanks to all for the delicious dishes) for everyone, with Tita Claudia’s lechon as the

main dish attraction. Sis Ching Mandawe led us in the prayer over the gifts.

Fr Craig Dunford, parish priest of St Mary’s, welcomed the participants to the parish where TawagAwit was founded.

Newly ordained Filipino priest Fr Larry Rustia, assistant parish priest, thanked the Filipino community, including

TawagAwit members, for making his ordination a week earlier truly memorable.

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Bro Cyril Bas formally welcomed the participants, while Bro Peter Gayaman led in the acapella singing of the TawagAwit

Gathering Song. Bro Mel B Libre delivered a brief message and sang the theme song of the event, “Feast for the Lord,”

with guitarists from the different chapters accompanying him, as the congregation joined in chanting the chorus. The

popular trio, KIS, entertained the audience with a medley of Britney Spears hits complete with choreography.

One of the highlights of the event was the Voice Technique Workshop of music professional/vocal coach Ann de

Guzman. Ann de Guzman's workshop was not just informative but also fun as we were called to demonstrate our group

singing. And the harmony exercises with Bro Peter, Bro Bert Adviento and Sis Cecil Muhal sure demonstrated the

potential for us all to develop singing in harmony during our masses. One of the most important learning exercises was

the need to be conscious about the use of the microphone, it is our friend and thus we have to come near to it when

singing.

Each of the chapters rendered numbers with Bro Junnes representing St Thomas More, singing the Dove Gospel Music award

winning song, “So Beautiful”. He was followed by St Mary’s rendering Bukas Palad compositions, while Our Lady of Lourdes

chapter led in the singing of “Morning Has Broken” and “Anima Christi”. TaYo: TawagAwit Youth of West Auckland rendered

Francesca Battistelli’s “Beautiful, Beautiful” and another rock number. The Good Shepherd Balmoral (East Auckland) chapter

rendered rousing performances of Mel Libre’s “Feast of Feasts”, Chris Tomlin’s “Our God is Greater” and “Blessed be the Lord”. (It

was enough that our Taupo chapter delegates, the Guinto family, were present. We look forward to their performance next year). Jam

Parado gave a taste of Mash O’ Rhythm to the delight of the ladies in the house.

TawagAwit makes special mention of Bro Jerome/Sis Fara for their professional handling of the program as hosts and Bro Ferdie for

the voice over during the first part. Let us thank Dexter Ycong for allowing us to use his sound equipment and of course Bro Cyril

and the rest of the St Mary's chapter for hosting.

Oh, what a FEAST for the Lord!

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Message of Bro Mel B Libre

(Delivered during the FEAST 2011)

Greetings in Christ,

Today, we are here to celebrate the 4th anniversary of

the founding of TawagAwit. I will never get tired of

remembering the first meeting I had with potential

members of TawagAwit: Sis Debbie and I went to the

house of this lady who asked a few of her friends to

listen to my vision of a ministry that would sing in St

Mary’s Northcote and would later expand to other

parishes. They said they liked the idea, so I told them to

attend a 2nd meeting, and other than Debbie and myself,

those original recruits never came, but a different set of

friends and acquaintances came, and thus was born “TawagAwit”, on May 16, 2007 when we signed the vision, mission

and core values statements.

There had been many obstacles along the way, but the blessings were more, much more – new friends, stronger faith, jobs

and permanent residencies, growing membership, original songs, meaningful gatherings, and as of today, 5 chapters, all

represented here.

I won’t bother you with a long enumeration of what we have achieved, for there are many – rather I’d like to thank you for

your continuous support to the vision of TawagAwit of attaining harmony in the world, through our mission of spreading

God’s Word through music and other acts of love. Your attendance during practices, your singing in the masses, your

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participation in church activities, your contributions to our events such as OG: Open Gathering and this; your help and your prayers

to those in need - members and non-members.

I must say thank you to all the servant leaders who make sacrifices in pursuit of our mission; and yes, to all the priests who believe in

what we do.

With your support and through God’s grace, I see for TawagAwit in 2012 at least five new chapters and the publication of a

songbook of the songs that we love to sing in the masses.

One of the reasons for our togetherness is to help one another, especially those seeking healing,

looking for jobs, obtaining permanent residency. I ask those wanting God’s miracle to happen in their

lives to bow their heads as the rest of us raise our hands and allow the Holy Spirit to work through

us for our needy brethren.

Repeat after me – LORD OUR GOD, WE BELIEVE IN YOUR AWESOME POWER; SEND YOUR

HOLY SPIRIT TO CURE THOSE WHO ARE SICK; PROVIDE OPPORTUNITIES FOR THOSE

SEEKING EMPLOYMENT; ENLIGHTEN CASE OFFICERS SO THEY MAY GRANT PERMANENT

RESIDENCIES TO THOSE WHOSE APPLICATIONS ARE PENDING. LORD OUR GOD, HEAR

OUR PRAYERS AND PLEAS. WE PRAISE YOUR HOLY NAME, AMEN.

In conclusion: The world is for us to conquer with our strong faith and with God’s grace. There can

be as many TawagAwit chapters as there are parishes in the world. All we need to do is believe and

allow Him to lead us. There is much work to do, but the burden will be light.

As you entered this hall, I counted my blessings. Each one of you is a blessing for TawagAwit, each of

us is a blessing of God.

For all the blessings, we offer Lord our songs of praise.

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Open Letter from Bel Almenar Guinto

On behalf of the Taupo St. Patrick's Tawag-Awit Chapter, we would like to extend our heartfelt thanks for inviting us to the Feast and for encouraging/helping us to set-up the singing group in Taupo. It provided an avenue to unify the Taupo Filipino Catholic community. We enjoyed the event and gained a lot of knowledge on vocal techniques in the workshop with Anna. It would be good if we can re-echo this to the Taupo Chapter. Can we request for a copy of the video? Apologies if we weren't able to stay on for the whole duration.

It is still a long way back to Taupo. Nevertheless, it would be good to see the performances in the video as well.

We will make sure a big delegation from Taupo will join next year.

Again, thank you and warm greetings from cold Taupo! We would love to have you around here again!

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TawagAwit would like to thank all the chapters –

*St Mary’s Northcote chapter *St Thomas More Glenfield chapter *Our Lady of Lourdes Glen Eden chapter *Good Shepherd Balmoral (East Auckland) chapter *St Patrick’s Taupo Chapter Our gratitude to: St Mary’s Northcote Parish Fr Craig Dunford Fr Larry Rustia Ann de Guzman Dexter Ycong Junnes Danganan KIS Jam Parado