News in Cebu: Verbum Dei Missionary Family Cebu - 25 years in God's Grace (November 20, 2016)

The Verbum Dei Missionary Family in Cebu recently celebrated their 25th anniversary last November 20, 2016 in the apostolate center in Good Shepherd Road, Banawa.

The event started at 3pm with a ribbon cutting by representatives from the fraternity and family to open the exhibit area (conference room). Later at 4pm, a thanksgiving mass was celebrated by Fr. Vincent "Bong" Guinoo even in the midst of the power outage. After the mass, just as power was restored, everyone had a shared a simple salu-salo. 

The lighting of the anniversary cake signaled the start of the fun-filled and memorable program. Our hosts, Lucio Pulmones, a lay married couple member, and Aida Carpela, part of the lay consecrated missionaries, introduced and entertained everyone through the different moments of the program. These included music played by the Music committee, some testimonies by the first missionaries who started the community, some trivia games and other things. There were even videos showing a message from Sr. Maribel and Fr. June, who were part of building up the family here in Cebu. 

At the end of the program, the family buried a time capsule containing the names of the persons who were present. The capsule was buried in front of the grotto of Mother Mary and will be re-opened hopefully after the next 25 years. 

​See some photos of the event below:

For more photos, visit the Verbum Dei Missionary Family - Cebu's Facebook page.