Yesterday, I spent the whole day with Graciel, my sister, who used to live in LA but moved to San Diego because she now works for Provide Commerce. It’s an e-commerce company that owns a number sites that generally provides cool on-line gifts like proflowers.com. I was really looking forward to spend time with her because its been two years since I last saw her. We started the day by goin’ to mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Angels in downtown. I wanted to hear mass there because it is also where Alex and Regina’s wedding, the one I’ll be shooting, will take place this coming Friday. I wanted to survey and see how the place is and I can describe it in one word, WOW! The church is huge to say the least and the modern design is very impressive.
The Gospel and the priest’s homily struck a chord in me. The story of the Gospel (Luke 17:11-19) was about Jesus healing 10 leapers but only one came back to thank Jesus. The priest reminded us that we also have been healed of our sins and the best way to show our belief and love for Christ is to always show gratitude. I am reminded by God that many times I focus too much on the things that go wrong in my life. Instead, I need to start counting more of the grace and blessings that God has given to me. One of the most important things I am thankful for is family and staying in my Tita Ruby and Uncle Tato’s house and spending time with my sister in L.A. means a lot to me. Also, being able to do what I really love and become a professional wedding photographer and serve Christ at the same time through Single’s for Christ are one of the biggest things I am truly grateful to God.
Another surprise, I saw Mike and Ivy at church. Their wedding was shot by my mentor, John Ong, right at this church. I helped shoot their engagement when they visited Manila, I shot them when I was just an apprentice. Ivy’s mom (the one I’m beside with) eventually got me to shoot her cousins’ wedding, that was way back when I was just a junior photographer in Imagine Nation. Brings back a lot of nostalgia, so it was really nice to see all of them. I felt God was reminding me that he will always be there beside me and give me wonderful surprises.
Meet Graciel, my sister (but her friends call her Grache). She’s also a blogger, check out G-ogrpahy. I finally get to shoot this California girl around town.
This whole trip is such a blessing from God and I know this would not have been possible without his will…Till the next post 🙂
