By Delia Hynson-Jagonia

My life is about serving the people. I worked with non-governmental organizations (NGOs), with the Church through a social action center, with the Columbans in Columban Lay Missionaries - Philippines (CLM-P) and Subanen Crafts.  I was trained by the Columban Sisters in Immaculate Conception College (ICC), now La Salle University, Ozamiz City, where I studied. I had a good job, worked abroad and in Manila and visited different countries but later chose to go back to Ozamiz to be with my mother. The impact of the Columbans in my life started in the 1980s with Fr Peter Leonard who conducted a live-in five-week training program on lay leadership.

Fr Vinnie Busch invited me to be part of the staff of CLM-P in Ozamiz. He was the full-time coordinator there but worked part-time in Subanen Crafts as part of the Mission and Art Ministry. I did not see myself as being called to be a Columban Lay Missionary, as I had come home to care for my mother. But I opted to be a CLM-P staff member in 1999. I was to receive the teams assigned to Mindanao and to help prepare lay missionaries for assignment abroad. I accompanied them for exposure in areas in Mindanao. Being with CLM-P, I was to journey with the lay missionaries, to be there at times when they needed a friend, to be a staff memberready to accommodate their concerns.

When I started working with Father Vinnie I became interested in his creation spirituality, the blending of his artistic works in drawing and creating mandalas. I didn’t have an opportunity to express my artistic talents but was in awe when I met Father Vinnie. While I was happy working with CLM-P, half of my body and soul was with Subanen Crafts. So I was inspired to dedicate myself to art and in 2006 resigned from CLM-P to work full-time with Subanen Crafts.