Blessings in Disguise (Bora Blog Part 4)

I’m back in Manila and I would like to share with you the amazing work that God did in my life/career when I was there on that island. As all of you have read in the blogs prior to this, that Bora trip was one dreadful trip to take. I had my heart set on having business and pleasure but then like all good plans, they were bound to be challenged and the only thing graceful to do is to accept that there’s going to be some good thing behind it… and true enough I found a silver lining to my cloud in Boracay.

First of all, let me tell you that this project (Roche National Conference) was the biggest bid I had ever made last year. We lost the 2008 Nat Con bid by a millimeter. I conceptualized an event (with team building activities) around the idea of Heroes while the other events company simply proposed the Bossa Nova concept. I could not understand how in the world we lost to that. That gave me the impression that this company wasn’t as creative and imaginative as some other companies I have proposed projects for. Anyway, my boss at ThemeWorks (Mike Miñana) was not one to give up so easily. So when it was time to bid for the Roche 2009 NatCon last August, I was given the task again to create a formidable concept presentation that would just blow them away.

I got the brief for the event and read that their slogan is “Moving On... Power to Conquer in 2009!” They wanted to do it in Cebu in January 2009. It took me a couple of days before giving birth to the concept that would fit perfectly with their slogan. Thank God for Discovery Channel. One afternoon while waiting for the perfect concept to pop in my head I was watching a documentary on Alexander the Great. And then it hit me… Inspired by the leadership of Alexander; him being a great conqueror and since they wanted the event to happen in Cebu – famous for the ancient battle of Lapu-Lapu and Magellan – I thought why not play around the theme of “The Greatest Battles in the Ancient World”… Alexander’s conquests… The Great Battle in Mactan… Leonidas and his 300…

The more I ran the idea in my head that day, the more it made sense… exciting… perfect. This theme would be perfect in designing our team building activities. It would be exciting in terms of décor, costumes, and over-all look of the event. The idea definitely made sense with their slogan “Moving On... Power to Conquer”

So I started to work on the presentation. It wasn’t your normal PowerPoint presentation, mind you. I made a movie. I even up the ante by using a voice talent as narrator, who sounded like Leonidas. Anyway, I was doing well in my preparation when the worst possible thing that could happen actually HAPPENED! My PC crashed! And my presentation was due the following day. I could not believe my eyes!

Of course I panicked. I called Joseph for an SOS. But my dear hubby was at work and could not get out of the office to save his damsel in distress. All my work was lost. Again, I realized that I was in the midst of another Faith stretching exercise. At first I resisted to be tested by God. I told Him, “Pwedeng huwag muna ngayon Lord, this will destroy my career!!!” But of course, who am I to even suggest when would be the best time for my trials. They aren’t called challenges for nothing.

So after wrestling with God on why He had to do this to me… after feeling so helpless and fearful of the fact that I might lose this account and worse lose my boss’s trust in delivering the job, I finally heeded His call to let Him do the work. I finally admitted that I was working solely on my abilities and not offering this work to God. I was humbled to surrender the fate of this project to Him after He spoke to me through these verses:

“And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.” – DEUTORONOMY 8:2-3

The Lord once again rebuked my lack of Faith. It was direly impossible that I could come up with the same video presentation within less than 24 hours BUT God wanted me to believe that He could do it. Before I knew it, I found myself being led by the Lord to my good friend Paul’s house, just a street away from where I live. I was able to work on his PC, and basically started from scratch. It was a blessing that God made my mind a notch more creative and sharp that day. Paul also found another voice talent for me – a friend of his and also an old acquaintance of mine – who was free that night to record the narration for me.

And soon, things were opening up. I found an available studio to do the recording, and the presentation was beginning to take shape. Of course, I was under tremendous pressure because I was supposed to have sent the material to Sir Mike that day already. He needed to view and point out his revisions before we could present it the following day. Unfortunately, I had nothing to show my boss that day because I was still working on it. And I knew my boss very well that this situation would not sit well with him. So I just prayed to God and told Him to manage Sir Mike’s temper. And you know what it was so unlikely of him not to bother me that day. He didn’t call at all. I knew God had something to do with it.

Finally, it was the next day. Our appointment with Roche was after lunch. I was still finishing up my presentation in the morning still at Paul’s house. Of course, this whole starting from scratch thing was not as easy as you would expect. We encountered a lot of technical problems! Some I could not even comprehend. Basically, I knew the enemy was really doing its very best to mess me up to make me throw the towel. But I held on. I knew God was on my side. At that point, I had nothing to myself except my Faith. My career was on the line and it was the last thing I would want to happen because I had just gotten off my regular TV show so if I messed my credibility with this events company I am freelancing for, there goes my livelihood!

The presentation was done just in time. I had an hour to fly to my appointment. EDSA was its usual self. Time was running out. And miraculously, I made it just in time. While the presentation was playing, I was deep in my prayers. I also asked my prayer partners to intercede for me. At that time all I wanted was for my boss (Sir Mike) to like my work, since it was him paying me anyway. I knew that even if Roche didn’t award us the project again, Sir Mike wouldn’t blame it on me because as far as he’s concerned he liked the concept. I was in heaven when Sir Mike had nothing but praises for my work. So for me 90% of the battle has been won. Now it’s time to present to Roche. And guess what – THEY LOVED IT!

So that was how we got this project. But guess what again… I knew God was using this project because all throughout the 4 months that we spent preparing for it, they were never without glitches. Every time I had to do another presentation on it; any revisions; or any important work for that matter, it was always stricken with stress: there would be a bad storm cutting off the electricity… I would get sick… there would be problems with the PC (we bought a new one by the way after the crash)… etc…etc… then Roche even asked us to tweak the theme because they’re now doing it Boracay. So there goes more work again. Then the worst development was it even got to a point when the project almost folded up because Roche unfortunately suffered a massive lay-off in December which turned the whole company into a somber mood. Nobody wanted to do the festive theme we had planned for them anymore. Good thing they still pushed through with it. But this time, despite the hard work we already invested in mounting the grandiose theme, we were told to simplify everything and just make it a straightforward team building seminar.

At first, it was easy to say what a waste! But then again, God proved to me that it was His doing. When we got to Boracay and started working on the conference itself, I realized that God was good enough to change the theme because it would have been more tiring to mount our ambitious concept on that island. God in fact did us a favor. As usual, we were never without technical difficulties. The Closing Program AVPs I have prepared conked out the night before my trip. So armed with my new laptop, I produced a batch of new ones during my idle times at the airport and in between breaks during the 1st 2 days. God’s blessing in the situation – my brand new laptop. It was another perfect example that when God asks us to jump, He made sure we had our life vest on. This laptop saved my life.

So I could definitely say, I worked up some blood, sweat and tears in this project. From Day One up to the very end, it was really the most stressful project I have ever tackled in 2008. Good thing I always had Deutoronomy 8:2-3 to go back to every time I was in the eye of the hurricane. Indeed God allows us to suffer difficulties and hardships for a purpose. Testing reveals what is in our hearts and it definitely produces robust faith. God continuously allowed me to be challenged because He wanted me to not cease in my calls for Him.

But of course, God just doesn’t test us for the sake of testing. Like any good test… like any good challenge… like any good conquest… there’s VICTORY in the end. Each time I survived all those little and big problems that plagued this project, I praised God for his AMAZING POWER to make EVERYTHING POSSIBLE. But nothing was sweeter when God surprised me, us (the team) with the biggest compliment and recognition that I have ever experienced in my entire events production career.

On the night of the Closing Program, we were floored when the General Manager of Roche called us to stand up from where we were. He personally thanked the team for a fantastic job and the whole congregation even gave us a thundering standing ovation! Wow! That was the first time I have ever experienced something like that. Most companies have more complaints during events even if we have practically given the stars and the moon already. That was the first time that a client formally applauded their vendor in front of a crowd. This was certainly so unusual. I don’t think it has happened to any other events team before. Later that evening, I got to meet the GM and he personally commended me for the scripts and the concepts that we have made from Day One. The client was more than pleased. We have now been booked for more events. Hallelujah!

I knew right then and there that that was God’s way of rewarding me. It was a long journey… the 4 grueling months of pre-production were like how He had led the Israelites to wander through the wilderness for forty years to humble and test them. At the end of it all there was a Promised Land to be claimed, if we stick with God’s plan. Just trust Him in the journey. He will take us to our destination. And this recognition by the GM was truly my own version of the Promised Land.

Posing with the GM (center) after the Closing Program