What is a mentor? A MENTOR is someone who teaches or gives help and advice to a less experienced and often younger person. It can also be defined as a wise and trusted counselor. MENTORship then is a process in which this “someone” offers their help and advice to another. Going beyond this, MENTORing should then be more than just answering occasional questions or providing ad hoc help. It is about an ongoing relationship of learning, dialogue, and challenge.
I am where I am thanks to a mentor by the name of Shayne Funcion. Ate Shayne is a full-time worker who was first assigned to Cebu but has recently been transferred to the heart of the Philippines Mission- Manila. She is balancing three service roles at the moment; YCOM Phils. Head, Pastoral Formation (PFO), and a Sector Youth Head. To call her a powerhouse would not give her any justice. We met in person on Sunday, March 4, 2012 and that was when my journey back to Christ and into mission life began.
We’ve both talked about first impressions and have shared more than a few laughs. I was a much different person back then- trust me, eighteen months is more than enough for a person to turn their life around. She was extremely patient and loving despite who and how I was. She was persistent with my attendance at CFC-Youth events and really invested a lot of time in our blossoming friendship. She never failed to affirm me and support me. She believed in me more than I believed in myself. She trusted me enough to expose me to service life despite being inactive for three years! She made me share at a monthly worship assembly, give a talk at a Provincial Youth Conference with 2000 participants, participate at their Area Core SHOUT and speak at a Covenant Orientation for a mission area hours away from Cebu. She really did put me to work! God wasn’t just a teaching, God was the experience.
Because of her I gave CFC-Youth a second chance. Because of her I took off the temporary bandaids for my emotional and spiritual hurts. Because of her I realized my true worth as a daughter and woman of God.
Now, as I serve as a Sector Head for GTA West I realize that at the end of the day my greatest task and responsibility is to love- to love without borders, to love without expectation, to love creatively, to love unceasingly, to love willingly. If our mission as CFC-Youth is to be and bring Christ wherever we are, then we are to be love and bring love to every place and person we meet. That’s all Ate Shayne did. She simply loved me. Loved me despite my past and told me to focus on the present. She looked beyond the character I was pretending to be and simply waited for me to unveil who I was. Her love brought about acceptance and trust. She told me that nothing about my past would make her feel any differently about me. She only asked for one thing in return, and that was to simply be open to God. That’s it. The only expectation she had from our friendship.
Wow.
It only takes one person to change someone’s life. One person to make somebody realize that they were made for more. One person to make somebody understand that there is a God whose mercy and grace is beyond any of their failures, faults and shortcomings. It was because of one person that I began to seriously consider and discern for full-time pastoral work. It is also because of one (other) person that I never forgot that same love, acceptance and trust even after moving back to this side of the world- my MV mentor and friend, Ellen Maigue-Talagca.
A blessing is not a blessing until it’s shared. So I am sharing the gift of new life by sharing with them the love that was given to me. Love is a decision, not a feeling therefore I am choosing every day for the rest of my life to love the people the Lord has entrusted to me. I will love my household. I will love my members. I will love my leaders. I will love my Couple Coordinators. I will love myself.
To all the Ate Shaynes and Ellens in this world and to the Ate Shayne/Ellen of your lives, Thank You. Thank you for seeing the God in me and the God in us. Thank you for showing this world what accountability is. Thank you for showing us true mentorship. Thank you for being a manifestation of God’s mercy and grace. Thank you for all your prayers.
Love breeds forgiveness. Love breeds acceptance. Love breeds healing. Love breeds life.
