There are new trainees in the International Formation Household in Ann Arbor. Do you want to know more about them? Here you go…
I was inspired by this staff worker, and I wanted to know what this guy was eating.
Franco de Guzman grew up in Manila, second of three children. His parents met in Ligaya ng Panginoon, the local Sword of the Spirit community and decided to raise their children inside the community, while living in Laguna, a greener place 60 kilometers south of Manila, but still going to gatherings every Sunday. Living in a greener place might also be the reason why Franco became such an avid birdwatcher.
He went through all the youth programs of the community, but at some point he decided to make his parents’ decision his own. When he first went to university he wanted to have nothing to do with community, but the experience of the world left him dissatisfied. He came to value what his family had. So when one staff worker from Christian Youth in Action (CYA), the community’s student mission, reached out to him, he was ready to take steps toward a more committed relationship with the Lord. “I was inspired by this staff worker, and I wanted to know what this guy was eating.”, he says. He desired to live for a higher purpose like the men he was meeting, so he made a decision to follow the Lord and join the Servants of the Word for two summer households, and soon after became an affiliate in 2019.
Once graduated from the University of the Philippines as a materials engineer, he began to serve in CYA himself as a staff worker. In the height of the pandemic he also moved into Valhalla, one of our brotherhood houses.
He was invited to move to Lebanon for his first year of formation. It was an adventure that his parents were a bit nervous about, but he enjoyed serving the community and high school youth there. He returned to Manila for his second year of formation, before coming to the US last August.
“I have always desired to be close to the Lord and pour out my life for him like the woman with the alabaster jar in the Gospel; so I look forward for these years of formation and the greater space we have here to pray and study. I also hope to examine my life more closely and prepare for my commitment.”
When asked what we can pray for, he mentions three things: the Sword of the Spirit and its mission, that it keep pioneering and growing, especially in Asia which has so much potential; for the youths in Manila who are increasingly influenced by the secularization; and finally for his service in an after-school program in Flint, Michigan.
Galo Cobos comes from Guayaquil,a coastal city in Ecuador. Other than the other two brothers, he is not a community kid. His father is an electrical engineer (another one ☺), and he has a younger sister. He went to 12 years of Catholic schools, but would not have considered a fervent Christian at that point. His conversion came when he overheard his father listening to a Lutheran pastor on TV: at some point he became intrigued and prayed “Lord, I don’t know you, but I want to know you”. That was when his journey of faith began. He also prayed for Christian friends, and months later some people from Baluarte, the local Sword of the Spirit, invited him to a Life in the Spirit seminar where he got baptized in the Holy Spirit.
After studying economics at university, he got an industrial engineering job and expected to stay in Guayaquil, get married and be part of the local community. But he met various brothers who came to visit, and even spent one week in a summer household in Quito. But it took a while for his decision to mature, in part because of his family responsibilities back home.
After studying economics at university, he got an industrial engineering job and expected to stay in Guayaquil, get married and be part of the local community. But he met various brothers who came to visit, and even spent one week in a summer household in Quito. But it took a while for his decision to mature, in part because of his family responsibilities back home.
Lord, I don’t know you, but I want to know you.
Daniel Aganon is the youngest of 5 siblings and grew up in Manila, Philippines. He was born in 1998: his father is a retired civil engineer, his mother was in catering (including helping to feed the local Sword of the Spirit community during celebrations). They met when they graduated from university and joined Ligaya ng Panginoon, one of our communities in the Philippines. So Daniel grew up in community and thus was involved in all the kids and youth programs which the community was organizing. But that did not keep him from having serious questions about the faith, including why it should be important in a young man’s life.
At university he was studying sports and management and so had to try out many sports, including what has since become his passion, the national sport of basketball. But he says he is still afraid of swimming, especially in the ocean. Through the encouragement of his older brother and sister, he joined CYA, the community’s university outreach. There he saw students serving and laying down their lives. So during his senior year he was at a crossroads in his life, wondering what the purpose of his life was. During a retreat, he experienced God’s love in a powerful way and knew right then that he wanted to live for God.
Upon graduating he started serving in CYA and through that got into closer contact with Servants of the Word brothers and began spending formal and informal times with them, most notably a so-called “Summer Household”, where students are invited to live for a period in a brotherhood house. He was impressed by the purposeful life of the brothers, directing all activities toward the aim of being disciples. One of his older brothers had been an affiliate, so it was not totally surprising when in December 2019 he followed in his footsteps. Two years later he moved in with the brothers and in 2022 began training. After two years locally, he moved to Ann Arbor last September, where he serves in internal brotherhood administration.
His expectations for the time in the US is for one to have more space for prayer and study, but also to live brotherhood life outside his comfort zone, here in Michigan where it all started.
