LISFJ: For Your Information

Do I Really Need a Sponsor?

noreply@blogger.com (Your humble servant) — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 01:39:00 +0000

A prospective candidate asked me recently "Why do I need a sponsor? What does a sponsor do?" Good questions!

Christianity is unique among the world's religions because it is the only one that isn't based on what the worshippers do for God, but on what God did for His worshippers. He doesn't want our perfection; he wants our affection. It's all about the relationship!

Jesus came to build His church one person at a time. He spent three years in close relationship with a small group of friends, training them to spread His message. And they did--by going and forming relationships with others. God has chosen people (not angels) to spread the good news throughout the world. In Tres Dias we call this process "See a Friend, Be a Friend, Share Christ your Friend." In other words you bring your friends who don't know Christ to Him by sharing with them your friendship with Him. This is the essence of witnessing: we tell our friends, and they tell their friends, and so on...

It's the same in Tres Dias. We rely on pescadores to reach out to those in their Environments who want a closer walk with Christ and invite them to attend a Tres Dias Weekend. As an act of love, the pescador helps the candidate through the three phases of the Weekend: PreWeekend, Weekend, and Post Weekend.

PreWeekend: See a Friend.
The first phase begins with prayerful observation of your Environment. Who among your family and friends would be a good candidate for a Tres Dias? Are they seeking a closer relationship with Christ? Are they able to emotionally, spiritually and physically handle the weekend? Remember, the Weekend can be pretty intense, and we don't want to overload them!

Once you have approached someone with an application in hand, make sure you answer all questions honestly. Tres Dias' policy is full disclosure. THERE ARE NO SECRETS! Tell them all about the Essentials: the talks, breaks, chapel times, all the food, the music, times of prayer. Tell them that it is a very structured, cloistered weekend. Don't even hint that there are surprises to be unwrapped. Do warn them about being asked to put away watches & cellphones. Tell them to leave iPods and other such devices at home. You might want to warn them about the silence on Thursday night. The point is you should know your candidate well enough to know how best to prepare them for the Weekend.

Help them overcome obstacles if you can. For example: you might want to share the expense of the Weekend, or watch their kids, or prepare special foods if needed. Obtain palanca letters for your candidate too, even from family members who may not have made a Weekend.

Weekend: Be a Friend
The second phase is the Weekend phase. Your candidate needs a sponsor whom s/he can count on to be there on the outside of the Weekend to pray for him/her. Take care of your candidate's earthly needs...does the dog need walking? The kids need a drive to ballet or soccer practice? What about covering their Sunday School class? Showing up to the Mananita or serving a meal is important for the sponsor to do, too (You can't do these things if you are already at Montfort as part of the team, by the way. When you are not asked to serve on Team, then you are in the perfect position to Sponsor!). Oh and don't forget to come to Closing and bring your new pescador home.

Post Weekend: Share Christ Your Friend
This is probably the most important phase of Sponsorship--living the 4th day together. If your candidate is not already part of your Reunion Group, invite him to join you for at least a few meetings. Encourage him in his Piety, Study and Action. Bring him to the next few Secuelas, to the next Mananita, show him how to serve behind the scenes at the next Weekend (and for a man, his first opportunity will come quickly--the Women's Weekend is usually not more than two weeks away). Help him write short palanca notes and show him where to deliver them. (here's a handy reference guide to our Sponsoring Guidelines)

If you sponsor from your relationships then it won't be hard to remain in relationship after the Weekend. Remember, the Weekend is a tool. The Life in Grace, supported by the tripod of Piety, Study and Action, shared with others in a Reunion Group, is the main focus. Sponsoring our friends on a Tres Dias Weekend is just one Action we can take to share the love of Jesus with our world. Let's change our Environment, one heart at a time! (need an application? click here.)

Please tell us your sponsoring experience, or ask questions about sponsoring, in the comment section below. As always, anonymous comments are welcome.

Boot Camp April 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Your humble servant) — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 21:43:00 +0000

We had such a great time at Boot Camp in April. Although it was a beautiful day outside, quite a few of us gathered in the fellowship hall of Babylon Baptist church to discover more about Tres Dias and what makes it work. Let me start with a brief recap:

We started with worship, artfully led by Debbie DeCillis. There was a good balance of women and men musicians, a nice variety of instruments. We have such talent in our community! God has truly blessed us with an abundance of worship leaders.

Our President Lisa and 1st VP Lori presented the Statement of Belief, Essentials, and Dynamics of Tres Dias, along with some of the specific traditions that make Long Island Tres Dias unique. Questions were entertained (and entertaining!) and hopefully answered. After a bit of time was spent discussing Sponsorship and its responsibilities, we took time for dinner. Yum!

After dinner we were treated to the Essentials Edition of the Hollywood Squares. Nine of our well experienced Community members were willing to sit in the squares, and two brave souls were contestants. Thank you to our very capable MC, Jackie O'Connor (Post Weekend Chairperson). We learned some very interesting things about what is Essential to the Tres Dias method...(for the record, the term "bed palanca" refers to the letters and gifts that are addressed directly to a particular candidate and delivered to his/her bedroom and left on his/her bed/sleeping bag. In our case, we leave the pile of goodies on the desk in the room, since we don't usually know which bed is whose. That's why we don't use the term "bed palanca".) Personally, I can't wait for the next Boot Camp to see what else we'll learn!

The Boot Camp ended with several 'break-out' sessions, small workshops that pescadores could choose to attend. There were sessions for Table Leaders, Rollistas, Musicians, Potential Rector/Rectrix, Auxiliaries, and Potential Spiritual Advisors. Lots of learning went on that day, that's for sure!

The Secuela that followed was another wonderful evening filled with worship, friendship, and fellowship, as is usual in our Community. Thanks to our Fourth Day speaker, Chris Russo. Nicely done, Chris!

We would love it if you left a comment about what you learned at the Boot Camp, or if you have a suggestion for improvement (go ahead, you won't hurt our feelings). If you didn't attend, we'd love a comment from you as to what we can do to entice you to attend the next one. Door prizes? We'd love it if everyone who is a part of Tres Dias attends a Boot Camp at least once a year. Whether you were on Team for Weekend #1, or are a brand new pescador from Weekend #73, there is something for you at Boot Camp.

Why Can't We All Just Get Along?

noreply@blogger.com (Your humble servant) — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 02:49:00 +0000

Celebrating those things we have in common, and Respecting those that are different.

Once upon a time, there was Cursillo. It started as a Roman Catholic movement, and that was good. As more protestants attended the Cursillo, and the differences between the Catholics and the Protestants started to become an issue, it became clear that a Protestant version of the Cursillo needed to be created. And so Tres Dias was born. We are not rivals! We are sisters.

One of the great things about Tres Dias is that it is InterDenominational. That means that all Christian Denominations are welcomed to participate. It also means that non-Denominational and independent churches are welcomed. One big happy Christ-filled family, right? Well...

As siblings in real life have their different opinions and perspectives, so do the different sibling churches in Christ's family. Whether we are talking about Holy Communion or Holy Living we will have differences that can get our blood boiling. So how do we all get along?

Jesus said, "All will know you are my disciples by the love you show to one another" (yeah, I paraphrased it.) Our attitude towards each other is the key. We need to Celebrate those things we have in common, and Respect those which are different.

When you attend a Tres Dias event, you are asked to have three attitudes:
Idealism: an attitude that great things are possible.
Dedication: A spirit of openness to God and what He is asking of us, and a willingness to participate in the happenings of the Weekend.
Charity: A willingness to accept each other as we are, to have concern for each other, to listen and try to understand each other even though our opinions, attitudes and beliefs may be different. (Anybody remember this from the Thursday night Rector talk?)

This attitude of love (charity) is the key to getting along in Tres Dias. It is how we can celebrate what we have in common, and show respect those things which are different.

What's in common? How about the creed we proclaim at the Closing of each weekend? That's the starting point. (I believe it's the Apostles' Creed, but the Nicene Creed works just as well.)

How do we respect the differences? Hm...that's harder, especially since we are each convinced that we are RIGHT. But as Dr. Phil says, "You can either be right, or you can be happy." I vote for happy!

Stop the trash talk
Whether you are "just kidding" or totally serious in your criticism, you risk offending a precious brother or sister when you don't show respect for other perspectives. Please feel free to share your opinion, but try to do so in a way that doesn't force it onto anyone. And try not to make fun of or belittle someone else's opinion. If you are on the receiving end of such insensitive behavior please don't get offended. Just understand that they need to grow up too.

So let's stop all the Lutheran jokes, the Baptist riddles, the Catholic bashing, and the Pentecostal mocking. Be sensitive to others, but thick-skinned when it comes to hearing comments about your own group. Have a sense of humor!

Let Your Love Show
If you are not from a liturgical church, follow the written liturgy anyway without griping. If you prefer wine and wafers for Communion, eat the pita and juice without complaining. If you don't believe in (whatever, fill in the blank with your favorite pet peeve), and you hear someone say they do, why not just ignore it? If you have to respond, please choose a reaction of love, not of righteousness. After all, you are not here to correct them, you are here to love them. Their church can take care of correcting error in its ranks. Just show love and tolerance, and pray for them. The Holy Spirit is at work in their lives, and yours too. Let Him do His work. (Who made you Holy Spirit Jr.?)

Remember the Rainbow
From the Rector/Rectrix's book on Thursday night: "De Colores indicates the variety of colors and shades of belief which exist within our ecumenical Tres Dias movement. We celebrate what we have in common, and we respect those things which are different. God's total plan embraces many shades of beliefs. We are united by our common bond: that Jesus Christ is Lord." So remember the rainbow. One color does not a rainbow make. What if the red decided not to participate because the orange clashed with it? Or the purple was offended because it was called violet? Or the indigo felt slighted because it is ofttimes left out? How absurd! The Apostle Paul likened the Church to Christ's Body. The Body is one, but made up of many parts. The eye and the ear can't go to war, and the hand can't compete with the foot. That's equally absurd!

So we too need to embrace our Catholic sibs, our Baptist sibs, Lutheran, Reformed, Presbyterian, Methodist, Quaker...you don't really expect me to name them all, do you? Embrace those who are active in Cursillo, Walk to Emmaus, Chrysalis, Vida Nueva, or whatever. They are our brothers and sisters, co-laborers in Christ's kingdom, not our competition. Tres Dias should be the place where all of Christ's Body can come together and play nice. Let's do our part to make it so.

Whew! Was that can of worms squiggly enough for ya? All comments are welcome...just be respectful, please.

Where the Money Doesn't Go...

noreply@blogger.com (Your humble servant) — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 21:50:00 +0000

Now that you've seen where the money goes, we think it's important to mention where the money doesn't go.

No salaries. Secretariat members, committee members, and all support staff are volunteers. There are no expense accounts, and all reimbursements are supported by receipts and approved by the voting members of Secretariat.

No decorations. Except for a few balloons and streamers for the Agape Feast, all decorations are considered extras and must be donated as palanca. This includes those for the window and tables in the dining room, the break room, the door tags, the name tags, and the Weekend sign.

No frills. Candy for the Rollo Room, flowers for the dining room, hats/costumes for the Auxiliaries, photographer for the Weekend, placemats, table coverings, Scripture/trinkets on the table at meals, real flowers for the Mananita, etc...are all given as palanca each time.

No specialty foods. Sponsors are expected to make sure their Candidates bring any specialty food they need for their Weekend (ie allergen free, kosher or halal, low sodium or low carbohydrate, etc.). These items should be clearly labeled for the Candidate only.

No food Thursday night, or Break food, or snacks at Secuelas. All the food provided on Thursday night is optional, and is needed to be brought by Sponsors with their Candidates. The Team usually chips in and provides a large hero and beverages in order to make sure there is enough food for those attending the Weekend, but realize that this is palanca on their part. In addition, the Team is asked to bring two bottles of soda/juice with them to the Weekend as palanca. If beverages run out, the Chief Kitchen is given funds to meet that need. Break food is also palanca, but Secretariat does allow the Chief Kitchen to send out for some things to provide for a needed balance (prunes, for example!), and if there are no suitable items for the Mananita participants the Chief may send out for donuts or such. The special cake for Saturday night dessert is palanca too. Secuela snacks are 100% palanca, brought by those in attendance.

As you can see, without palanca we would have a very different Tres Dias experience! It is important to see that we all have a part to play in the support of each Weekend, from our physical presence (living Palanca) to our financial support, and our material support as well. Maybe you can't give your time or a scholarship, but maybe you can buy a bag of candy for the Rollo Room, or provide a basket of fresh fruit for the Break Room. What about a casserole for Saturday lunch? The possibilities are endless!!

Any questions? Did I miss something? Please leave a comment. Thanks!

Where Does The Money Go?

noreply@blogger.com (Your humble servant) — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 20:14:00 +0000

This post contains corrections and additions to the original text published in the Long Island Sound for Jesus, Jan 2009 edition.

What does the money we collect at Tres Dias get spent on?
Good question! Tres Dias could not exist without the support of pescadores like you who give so generously. You deserve to know where your money goes! Here is a breakdown of our annual expenses:

First, we pay for the Weekends. Recently we were asked, "What are our expenses for a Weekend, yearly?"

The cost of each set of Weekends (Men and Women make one set) goes beyond what the team and candidates pay directly to Montfort (currently $235/person, or $7,050 per team of 30, plus candidates' donations). The additional expenses of our Weekends are as follows:

Chiefs Money: Chief Aux and Chief Kitchen are given a total of $600 ($50 Aux, $100 Kitchen, per Weekend) to provide for items such as Communion needs, Thursday night and Sunday lunch tableware, beverages, break room needs, printing of address lists & 4th day packet items, Agape supplies. All purchases must be supported by receipts, and the leftover money goes back to the general treasury.

Bibles for the candidates $5-$6 ea.
Tres Dias Crosses for candidates $4.50 ea
Pilgrim's Guide $.80 ea
Closet Supplies $400- $500 per year (candles, tissues, matches, Rollo Room supplies: pencils, markers, poster paper, table covers, notebooks/paper/folders, tape, glue, chalk, helium, some balloons, ribbons, blank name tags, flashlights, batteries, etc.)

Spiritual Advisers (Montfort no longer waives their fee for Spiritual Advisers, however LITD continues to cover our own precious Spiritual Advisers): $1,880 per year
Candidate SCHOLARSHIPS for the Weekends $1,880 per year (2 men and 2 women per weekend)

GENERAL FUND: We also have other expenses, such as the yearly mailing of our newsletters and post cards $1000,00 per year
Secuela expenses:

DONATION TO HOST CHURCH ($50 per Secuela, if they accept it)

Secuela general supplies: coffee, tea, sweeteners, milk, paper goods

Printing of the newsletter $ 800 per year
International dues and support $ 240 per year

International Representative travel & lodging expenses to International Secretariat meetings held around the USA (varies, paid by reimbursement with receipt).
CCLI license $150 per year

As you can see the cost of a weekend can be up to $8-9,000 a year, depending on the number of candidates. That is why your palanca is so very important.

REMEMBER YOUR WEEKEND AND HOW YOU WERE IMPACTED.
WHAT A PRIVILEGE TO MAKE IT HAPPEN FOR SOMEONE ELSE.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR GENEROUS SUPPORT AND MAKING TRES DIAS POSSIBLE!

We want to encourage you to palanca part or all of the above items. You can send your donations marked PALANCA to the current Financial Secretary (please see the Secretariat list at http://www.litd.org/ for the current information). Please make all checks payable to Long Island Tres Dias.

Long Island Tres Dias is a non-profit organization, recognized as a 501(c)3 charity by the IRS.

Why Do We Need a Secretariat?

noreply@blogger.com (Your humble servant) — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 19:52:00 +0000

Secretariat is the word for the governing body of our organization. Long Island Tres Dias (LITD) Secretariat was created by our founding pescadores through our By-Laws. They tried to provide a balanced representation of our community in both experience and ability. They also tried to spread the workload around as much as possible while still maintaining simplicity of organization. We have made changes over the years as LITD has grown, but we have always tried to keep to the original intent.

The Secretariat consists of:

President
1st and 2nd Vice President
Secretary
Treasurer
Financial Secretary (added in 1999)
International Representative
Committees: PreWeekend, Weekend, PostWeekend, Rector/Rectrix

There are numerous subcommittees:
Advisory Board of Clergy
Newsletter
Palanca Coordinator
Prayer Chain
Reunion Group Coordinator
WebSite Manager

In our next FYI, we'll try to answer the question: What do all these people do, anyway?

What Does Secretariat DO, Anyway?

noreply@blogger.com (Your humble servant) — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 19:42:00 +0000

Wow this was a looong FYI, but I guess Secretariat really does a lot for our Community! Who knew? Please feel free to comment or ask questions in the comment section below. We are here to serve you.

Tres Dias Secretariat mission is to: COMMUNICATE! EDUCATE! MOTIVATE! To help encourage our community, we are giving you a report on what your Secretariat has been doing during the past year. We will also be posting the minutes from our meetings on the Web page (litd.org) so you can keep up with any changes to policies or procedures. Of course the Essentials will remain the same.

As you can see, everyone on Secretariat has been working very hard to help this community thrive. Please encourage us and pray for us. The task before us is a large one, but with God "nothing is impossible." What a privilege to serve in this capacity!

Long Island Tres Dias Secretariat Report
February 9 - December 2008
• Formed a Nominations Committee in August for the February 2009 elections to fill the following positions:
1ST VICE PRESIDENT, SECRETARY, FINIANCIAL SECRETARY, WEEKEND, POST WEEKEND, INTERNATIONAL, FINANCIAL SECRETARY
Incumbents are: IST VICE PRESIDENT (Lori Claudio), SECRETARY (John Walsh), POST WEEKEND (Jackie O’Connor), INTERNATIONAL (Steve DeCillis)
Positions open in February to vote: WEEKEND, FINANCIAL SECRETARY
• Job descriptions were restated for each Secretariat position to make clear responsibilities.
• The Secretariat has been asked to help expedite meetings by submitting their reports for review at least one week before each Secretariat meeting
• Have devotions together as a Secretariat, which is akin to a Reunion Group.
• Put archive records in bookbinders and re-organized all the materials in both the Statement of Belief/Team Qualifications effective 3/1/08

SECRETARY-John Walsh (voting position)
• Has recorded and disseminated the minutes from each Secretariat meeting.
• Keeps a copy for archives
• Will be posting the minutes on the web
• Sends monthly reminders to Secretariat.
FINANCIAL SECRETARY-Charlie Kalhorn (voting position)
• Posts monthly reports and deposits.
• Helps to have Long Island Tres Dias be in compliance with IRS tax-exempt guidelines.
• Has opened opened up a new LITD bank account at Roslyn Savings bank.
• Helps to find short term investments to help the money collected receive the most interest.
TREASUER-Joe Gricco (voting position)
• Has written all checks for the community.
• Secretariat voted on 6/14/08 that a voucher system would be used to allow the Chief Kitchen and Chief Aux to receive monies before the weekends to cover approved expenses and would require them to submit receipts or unused monies of equal amount of the voucher.
• Requested the Chief Aux & Chief Kitchen seek Palanca’s to offset expenses.
PRE-WEEKEND-Tina Leahy (voting position)
• Kitchen Book: Updated the Chief Kitchen Book..
• Music Book: Updated the Chief Music book, implemented musician training, provided Music and power point presentation on CD’s, as well as informing musicians of free music and educated musicians on used of CCLI license.
• AUX Book: Updated the Aux book, boxes and Master Team Schedule.
• In progress:
Working on synchronizing the Aux Book and Rector/Rectrix Book for smoother flow on the weekends.
Added Chief Aux, Chief Kitchen and Chief Music books to Web page. In this way the new chiefs can have access to them as soon as they are asked to serve.
• Boot Camp: Held a Tres Dias Boot camp aka Tres Dias School on July 19, 2008.
The Tres Dias Community and Weekend Teams were invited to attendees.
The Workshops were successful.
Next Tres Dias Boot Camp is to be held on April 18, 2009.
ADVISORY BOARD OF CLERGY-Hiram Claudio (sub-committee)
• Ken Saliba was appointed as a lay Spirtual Advisor. Notes: Every Pastor that has gone on a Tres Dias weekend has been asked by Hiram Claudio to become a Spiritual Advisor. Please pray about encouraging and sponsoring your pastor
APPLICATION COMMITTEE- Ken and Robin Saliba (sub-committee)
• Sends out Sponsor information,
• Contacts the candidates.
• Follows-up get applications in early to prevent weekends from being re-scheduled.
WEEKEND-Vicki Goodwin (voting position)
• Re-organized the closet at Montfort.
• Bought and distributed supplies for weekends.
INTERNATIONAL PALANCA COORDINATOR-Lori Claudio (sub-committee)
Collects and distributes Palanca from and to other communities for the weekends.
POST WEEKEND-Jackie O’Connor (voting position)
• Has corrected the mailing database and sent out 4 informational post cards as well as 4 newsletters. (over 600 in each mailing)
• Started organizing church liaisons to stir up and communicate with the Tres Dias community. Needs more volunteers. Is working on getting more churches involved in hosting Secuelas.
• Secuela dates have been scheduled through 2009 so people can save the dates. Disseminated this information by flyers, post cards, newsletters, prayer chains, email, and word of mouth.
• Organized several special events: 2 Nights of Prayer, Palanca Writing Party, Annual Picnic, and future plans for an Agape Bread making Party
• Cindy Coletti has designed a logo for our community and set up a store to sell shirts, hats, etc. to bring money into our community.
COMMUNICATIONS/NEWSLETTER- Debbie DeCillis (sub-committee)
•Redesigned our newsletter, the Long Island Sound For Jesus (LISFJ). Added FYI page as well as other periodic columns (missing persons, 2 cents)
• Sends out regular prayer chains to keep the community up to date on prayer concerns.
LITD BLOG-Lori Claudio (sub-committee)
• Started a Tres Dias blog page. Posting the FYI page from the newsletter and opening a place for the community to dialog. http://www.lisfjfyi.blogspot.com presently moderated by Lori Claudio. CHECK IT OUT!
WEB MASTER-Fred Pesce (sub-committee)
• Sets up and up-dates our web page. He adds links. Up-date prayer concerns.
REUNION GROUP-Paula Pesce (sub-committee)
• Informs the community of open reunion groups.
• Contacts everyone who has recently made a Tres Dias weekend.
RECTOR/RECTRIX- Doug Magnifico (voting position)
• Re-vamped and up-dated the purple Rector/Rectrix book.
•Rector/Rectrix committee:
Decided by vote, that a 5 person quorum is required to select the next Rector/Rectrix. Items requiring a vote will be postponed if a quorum is not met.
Decided by vote, that the guideline limiting team members from the same church to six DOES NOT include the Rector/Rectrix, their assistant or spiritual Advisors.
Chairperson must approve all exceptions.
•10 people were trained at the training meeting of Rector/Rectrix qualifiers. (The first was at Tres Dias Bootcamp aka Tres Dias School in July).
•Found and distributed to Rector/Rectrix Committee, a list of qualified candidates, Rector/Rectrix selection guidelines, voting procedures.
•Works with Tom Russo and Joe Ambrose to up-date the experience charts.
INTERNATIONAL REPRESENTATIVE-Steve DeCillis (voting position)
• Attended the International Assembly on 7/11-13/08, along with Lisa Russo and Lori Claudio.
• Continues to inform our community of what is happening in the Tres Dias community via the newsletter.
• Added the International Newsletter to the Long Island Tres Dias web page. (www.litd.org)
• Participated in Tres Dias Tennessee weekend along with Pastor Wayne Griffiths. Encourages others from our community to get involved in attending weekends in other communities.

As you can see much has been accomplished and much more needs to still happen (this was only one year of work!) We encourage your participation with us in the many minitries of LI Tres Dias. Our goals include sending the Gospel message of Jesus Christ to all of Long Island. Please give your prayful consideration of how you want God to use you in this exciting ministry. To God be the Glory!
In His Service, Your Secretariat

Palanca Etiquette

noreply@blogger.com (Your humble servant) — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 02:07:00 +0000

One very important part of the Tres Dias experience is Palanca. As we learned on our Weekend, it is the acts of spiritual and physical service that lift us up to God, like a lever helps to lift burdens too heavy to bear by oneself. Palanca lifts us up!

Palanca can come in many forms. The written letters represent the prayers of the community and family given for you during your Weekend. The small tokens are reminders of those prayers and love as well. A prayer vigil poster shows us how many people are praying for us during the three days of the Tres Dias. And palanca can be represented by people who come to the Weekend and participate in the acts of physical service.

This column deals with the Etiquette of Living Palanca.

Living Palanca is YOU when you come down to Montfort to participate but you are not on the Team of the Weekend. Here are some general guidelines:
1. Stay only in designated areas. Do not go into the bedroom area or the Rollo Room AT ALL.
2. Follow directions. Do not think you know what the Rector/Rectrix and the Chief have decided.
3. Maintain an attitude of acceptance and charity, humility and love.
4. Remember, the weekend is for the candidates, the team serves the candidates and you serve by assisting the team. Follow the flow.
5. Please sign in on the chart in the dining room. This helps us to know who gets involved so we can see the support we have from the community.

There are many things you can do as living palanca. The most obvious is: serve a meal. When you come to serve a meal:

1. Show up about 15 minutes before the meal time. That gives you a chance to be in position and have the dining room prepared for the arrival of the Team and Candidates. If the Chief Kitchen is not in the dining room, wait for him/her to arrive, or see if he/she has appointed someone to be in charge.
2. Sing "De Colores" with gusto!
3. Serve the cold and hot drinks. Serve the food. See if the kitchen team is being served.
4. Keep the conversation down to a minimum. You are there to wait on the candidates, not socialize (yes, you may talk to each other, but remember why you are there). A candidate should never be allowed to get up and serve him/herself a beverage. So watch the candidates for signs that they need something.
5. DO NOT ASK how the weekend is going. It is going great, keep praying for them.

After the meal:
If you can, stay to clean up and/or set up for the next meal.
Once the tables are cleaned off and wiped down, set up for the next meal. FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS provided for by the Chief Kitchen. DON'T ASSUME that you know what goes next. Each Weekend varies a little from what has gone before. There should be written directions, possibly a diagram to follow. Do what is there. If you don't understand, ask the Chief.

IMPORTANT: Do not take it upon yourself to rearrange, fix, neaten, or otherwise mess with the arrangements as you find them. If you think you see something wrong, say something to the Chief. Just because it is different from what it was on the last 70 weekends doesn't mean it is wrong.

Other acts of service provided by Living Palanca:

Set up for the Agape Celebration, Breakdown and clean up
There are written instructions on how to set this up, so find the person in charge and ask what needs to be done. If you get there and things are done differently than what you have seen or done before, please resist the urge to correct them. Ask questions, and you may find that things are as they are desired to be. Remember to keep a loving and accepting spirit about you. The Chief Auxiliary is the final authority.

When the Agape is over, please keep hidden until everyone has gone into the Chapel for Candlelight. Then work quickly, keeping the noise down, and please be sure that all items are back in the aux room (this includes washing and drying the glasses used for the juice) when you are done. Please leave quietly.
If someone is taking the tablecloths to wash, please bring them back before closing the next day if at all possible.

Set up for Candlelight Chapel, light the candles
The setup for the Candlelight Chapel may vary from Weekend to Weekend, so find out what the pattern is before you decide how things are going to go. There should be someone in charge of setup, or a diagram to follow. DO NOT MESS WITH THE PATTERN THAT IS SET UP, EVEN IF IT LOOKS OBVIOUSLY WRONG. The Chief Aux will inspect the Chapel before the evening comes, so just leave it alone.

If you come to help light the candles, please bring a lighter if you can. Once you have lit the candles, leave the chapel as quickly and as quietly as possible.

Send Off, Mananita and Closing

All of our Community is invited to the Thursday night send off. If you have a candidate you already know to bring a casserole. But if you are not on Team, and do not have a candidate, you still are welcome to attend the Send Off. Bring food to share and your name tag. Don't forget your smile. Be aware that Thursday night is sometimes scary for the candidates, and the abrazo we like to give each other may be intimidating to them. Keep the hugging light, please. And let the candidates and sponsors go first on the food line at dinnertime.

Mananita participants can be heard very easily upstairs. Please keep the noise level down as much as possible. Only enter the chapel when told to do so. Please respect the auxiliaries, they know what they are doing. Take a name to pray for, and write that person a palanca letter. When you walk in to the chapel, you should hum and smile, but please don't touch the candidates or team.

Closing is very important to the candidates. All Weekend long they have heard about the wonderful Community awaiting them, this is our chance to show them our corporate love. Please come a little before 4:00 on Sunday. Wear your colors, your funny hats, and your name tags and crosses. Smile! Please DO NOT shout "NAME" and "TABLE" at the candidates when they get up to share. They can't really hear you, and they are nervous enough as it is.

If you can, when all is said and done, and the abrazo has been had by everyone, please stay to help clean up. Ask what you can do to help.

All FYI columns are available for your comments at http://lisfjfyi.blogspot.com/
We welcome your feedback to this and all FYI columns.

Your humble servants,
the Secretariat of LITD

Why Power Point?

noreply@blogger.com (Your humble servant) — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 01:54:00 +0000

(Originally appeared in the LISFJ, May 2008 issue)

This page’s function will be to inform the community of little-known facts, to address concerns, and to answer questions. That way, we can all understand why we do things the way that we do. This quarter I’d like to discuss our new PowerPoint projector, and the reasons why we got it. To start, let’s go over the history of music here at Long Island Tres Dias.

When LITD started in the 1970s, Tres Dias International wanted to have a cohesive collection of songs that all the Tres Dias communities would use. This collection was known as the Green Book. With the exception of special music, only Green Book music could be played at Long Island Tres Dias functions. Later, in the 1990s, our community paid for a CCLI license so that we could use copyrighted music. This was primarily used for theme songs and for special music.

By 2001, when we inquired, we discovered that other Tres Dias communities no longer shared our restriction of non-Green-book music. They were using a variety of music that respected their inter-denominational background. That year our own community lifted the prohibition of non-Green-book music; we collected a group of more contemporary songs, and the Blue Book was born. Other music was allowed to be used at the musicians’ discretion, but LITD only provided those two books. It was around this time that musicians began to use Overhead Projectors on weekends. Overhead transparencies were a step forward, but sometimes the words weren’t easy to read. In addition, the box of Overheads and the projector were large and cumbersome.

By 2007, our Green books were in sad shape. (We had almost 450 copies, most of them without covers.) When we decided to purchase new copies, however, we were told that they were out of print: the copyrights had expired, the other Tres Dias communities were no longer using them, and they would not be reprinted.

Our solution: we purchased a portable laptop projector to display song lyrics onto a screen. This setup has several advantages: we are able to project clear, large, easy-to-read words; it only needs to be set up once in a weekend; it eliminates the need to purchase books; it is less for the musicians to carry; and it can incorporate Green Book songs, Blue Book songs, traditional hymns, and additional music. If it can be typed, it can be used—this setup allows the musicians greater variety of song usage. Furthermore, many songs were already typed from the old Tres Dias books.

Change is necessary, but change can also cause stress, and take time to adjust to. This is a new system for our musicians to learn. It take more preparation to set up a songfest, as a PowerPoint presentation needs pre-planning. Our musicians will need to be flexible enough to adjust to different music styles. Our musicians will also need help in learning to work out all the technological glitches: there is a learning curve.

What I’m asking from our community is gentleness and patience for our musicians. We need to encourage them as they go through this time of learning, and as they find balance. The spirit I would like to see is one of LOVE. We are a LOVE community. If hymns aren’t your thing, sing with gusto anyway--for the Lord and for your brothers and sisters who do love hymns. If choruses aren’t your thing, sing with gusto anyway--for the Lord and for your brothers and sister who do love choruses. Make an effort to be open. We all have favorites, but remember, "It’s not about us. It’s about Him." What matters is, "are the words God-glorifying?"

One final thought. The traditional hymns that we love are old now, but they were new once. They were written using the style of the popular music at the time: of songs sung in taverns and pubs. When they were first introduced into the churches, there was an uproar. People thought that they were too personal. They wanted to sing what they were familiar with… The Psalms are the hymn book of the Bible, but only the words were passed down, not the music sheets. Each generation could make its own music for these God-glorifying words.

In our community we have many generations represented. We have many different styles, traditions, preferences, aesthetics, and ways of being. That is part of the beauty of Tres Dias. Our symbol is the rainbow: many hues, many colors, all contributing to the glorification of God. Our beauty is in diversity. Our Tres Dias community needs to respect the differences between our members, and to represent that diversity to today’s generations.

Some thoughts for your consideration,
Secretariat