Testimony of Antonio and Marisol's missionary trip in the Philippines

Antonio Marisol, Verbum Dei missionary couple

Spiritual Exercises in the Philippines

The Lord always surprises us! And this time has not been an exception. Go around the world! And it has taken us to the Philippines. He wanted us to meet our brothers and sisters in that beautiful country; to those who are sharing the charism with us, and those who are also making their journey in our married couples branch. We participated by preaching in the annual spiritual exercises for missionary couples in formation and with temporary bonds along with Poncho (missionary married couple) and James.

To arrive in the Philippines and to meet our brothers and sisters was a source of thanksgiving. We felt like the Holy Spirit had everything ready for us. We found people with open hearts to welcome us, even without knowing each other. We felt like a family, from the very first moment that El El and Ann embraced and welcomed us. And that feeling remained throughout our entire stay there. We had several meetings with couples in the two days before the beginning of the exercises and we can only thank God for the gift of each one of them.

The theme of the Exercises was "Rooted and grounded in Christ, steadfast in the faith" from Colossians 2:7. The experience to which we were invited was the contemplation of Jesus - to be able to build all our life in him, because our being a missionary married couple has to be rooted in Christ. And so the week went by, and it was a delight the feeling that Jesus lends us his life to make ours a reflection of the kingdom for us and those who he entrust us. With that joy the exercises ended in an environment of fraternal love, because whoever is rooted in his life cannot feel anything other than his love for each couple, and every vocation in Christ.
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Our certainty is that the Lord has given us the knowledge, without doubt, that we are part of a Universal Church, in a universal fraternity and that the married couples branch is called to keep the dream of God alive within this charism that he gave us through Jaime. We all need each other to grow and become strong. Regardless of the place of residence, we are all one, because the one who unites us is not limited by borders or languages ​​because his love is universal.

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Marisol and Antonio, Verbum Dei missionary married couple sharing their experience after helping give one week of Spiritual exercises to married couples of the branch from April 23-29, 2018 in Cebu, Philippines.

With thanks to the WordNews team