Riza Fortuna

If there is one thing I can confidently say I am wealthy of, it is having QUALITY and TIME-TESTED FRIENDS. I have several deep and meaningful friendships. But here I would like to focus on the ones I celebrate 30, 15, and 10 years of blessed friendships this year.

While the means and time to know these friends differ, they all have one thing in common - they have stood the test of distance and time. Liezel, my best friend for 30 years (since Kindergarten) is the longest friend I ever have and she has always been based in Cebu while I have been in Metro Manila for the past 13 years. Raoul, my best male friend for 15 years (since 1992) is now based in New Zealand with his family but we continue to communicate. Minette, my first friend in Lingkod ng Panginoon community whom I met in 1997 is the nearest in location being based in Sta.Rosa, Laguna but due to my traveling job, we seldom meet, but manage to keep in touch. Bros, my closest brother in Lingkod ng Panginoon who was my neighbor in Cebu, schoolmate in college, and former officemate, started our deep friendship in 1997 when he invited me to join Lingkod. Now he is undergoing his Jesuit priestly formation and we seldom meet but manage to update each other whenever there is a chance.

Liezel and I have been classmates almost all of our years from Kindergarten to High School. When we were in Kindergarten, we started as "enemies". Opposites as we are, we were always fighting and quarrelling, sometimes even with physical bouts. However, we have evolved to become friends who share a lot with each other. So much so that we have become inseparable in school and went through childhood and adolescence through thick and thin. We were together the whole day in school, but were burning the phone lines when we were home after school. We were competitors in academics and extra-curricular activities, but we were the best of friends amidst such competition. In grade school I ended up the batch Valedictorian, while she was the Student Council President. In high school we went to the same school but joined separate activities. Nevertheless, we continued to be each other’s best company as well as critique when needed. We went on separate ways in college as she pursued Political Science (then Law), while I took up Chemical Engineering. However, while we developed new good friends in the University, we continued to update each other and be there in our significant moments. We are such opposite personalities - from family birth order to work preferences to attitudes. However, we complement and are both good listeners to each other. We also value family and relationships highly and are both dependent on God despite having different ways to express it. We have developed a deep care and love for each other and wanted the best for each. I believe these factors made the relationship last this long. I feel so blessed to be celebrating 30 years of friendship with Liezel and able to spend time recently to travel together to Hong Kong.

I had my first personal encounter with Raoul when we were partners in a dyad activity in the Engineering Council team building in 1992. Since then we had the chance to work closely together in the council as I was the Chairman and he was the fellow officer I was grooming to succeed me. The relationship went beyond work, we have become the best of friends. Although I knew he was looking up to me as a mentor and older sister (as evidenced by his confiding to me his major decisions including personal ones), I learn so much from him as well and confided in similar manner. We inspired each other to become our best and true enough, he did not only succeed me as Engineering Council Chairman but also as Most Outstanding Graduate of USC, our school in Cebu. The friendship grew throughout the years until he got married and I was a secondary sponsor, and now godmother of his firstborn. He is one friend I can talk about God, family, dreams, and all sorts of topics about life with much confidence that he understands and we support each other no matter where we are in our lives. I have utmost respect for this man, and I look forward to grow grey hair and yet continue to meet him over coffee and talk about life whenever there is a chance. I believe the things we have in common that made our friendship last are our values of integrity, respect, and prioritizing the essential things in life. This is truly a great blessing to celebrate 15 years of friendship with Raoul this year!

The deepest and best friendships I have developed since I have moved outside Cebu are in my community, Lingkod ng Panginoon. There are several of them especially my sister-leaders who are key contributors to who I am now. However, I would like to focus this sharing to two of them whom I mark 10 years of strong godly friendships - Minette and Bros.

I first met Minette in the Advent recollection of Lingkod Alabang in 1997. It was the first time for both of us to attend a Lingkod Alabang activity and meet each other but we bonded instantaneously and talked as if we have been friends for a long time. Minette is one person I freely share my personal life with. She had known my innermost feelings including joy, fears, and insecurities as I experienced the ups and downs of a single person finding her way in relating with men. We both live busy lives but are there for our most significant moments. Just like Raoul, when Minette got married, I was a secondary sponsor in her wedding and a godmother to her firstborn. Minette with her husband Mike (whom Minette brought to Lingkod) also made it a point to be there in my significant milestones especially when we started and celebrated the existence of Lingkod Cavite, the mission branch of Lingkod Alabang, where I served and helped build. We seldom meet now but continue to keep in touch and care for each other. I am filled with awe as I look back to 10 years of friendship with Minette, and look forward to continue this relationship with her.

Bros has been a manifestation of God’s faithfulness and perfect plan for my life. I recruited Bros to work in 1995 when he just graduated from college. Little did I know that he would recruit me to Lingkod a couple of years later which marked my entry into community. Joining Lingkod made me make the biggest and best decision in my life - to be in a personal relationship with God; to have Jesus Christ as Lord of my life. Bros has become my closest brother in community. It is very easy for me to confide to him even things that are ideally confided to another sister. He is blessed with excellent listening heart and is such an accepting and understanding soul. He also never ceases to inspire and encourage me personally. Bros also stretched me in my service by dreaming for me and articulating that during our casual conversations. I have also been teasing him to become a Jesuit and am just happy he made it into reality even as he is still not done with the journey. I believe we bring out the best in each other as child of God. I have known Bros since we were kids in our neighborhood but am particularly grateful to God for the past 10 years of being brother and sister in Christ and very close at that. I look forward to continue to have him as a brother confidante, and probably my confessor in the future.

Truly I am very wealthy - with deep and lasting friendships. I praise and thank the Lord for allowing me to have several "best" friends in this lifetime, each I met in a different circumstance, but all are able to stand the test of time like these four I mentioned here. I look forward to growing grey hair yet continuing to live a full life in Jesus Christ with the love and support of these angels on earth, God-sent friends. These four only represent the wealth of friends God blessed me with. I pray that God bless all of them, and that we continue to inspire and support each other even as walking canes and wheel chairs come into play. For all this wealth, to God be the honor and glory!