Sending our Christmas greetings from our family to yours with our first official “Pingoy Christmas Letter!” This year we’re writing from the Philippines, spending Christmas and New Year’s with both Ray’s and my families respectively and having family reunions in Iloilo (my side) and Ozamiz (Ray’s side). So far we’re having a great time, eating a lot, making many trips to the malls, experiencing Las Misas de Aguinaldos and Simbang Gabi and cherishing every moment with relatives and family! We have a lot to be thankful for as this year soon comes to an end. 2010 began with us making way for the newest edition to Ray’s and my life…our first born baby boy, Gabriel who was born on November 27, 2009, the day after Thanksgiving last year…also the feast of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal. It’s been an amazing ride having this little one with us this past year. God has taught us more through him than we ever could have dreamed. Being first-time parents, we’ve discovered the beautiful way Gabriel teaches us about how immense and unconditional God the Father’s love could be towards us, his own precious children. Everyday we are literally learning something new, and it’s amazing to think it’s all from this little baby!

Another big answered prayer for this year was a great affirmation of God’s providence and calling for us. This past June, Ray got a new job in the Archdiocese of Chicago as the Coordinator of Youth Outreach for the Respect Life Office. For all of Chicago and its neighboring cities he represents the Church on the Pro-life mission in regards to young people. Anyone who knows us knows that 1) Ray and I LOVE working with young people, and 2) Ray and I have felt a special calling to share with the world what God placed in our hearts at a young age, in essence our love story, which is really God’s love story with us. Considering that Ray’s job now appoints him to work under the most Reverend Cardinal George (President of the USCCB) through the Respect Life Office, and that the Chastity Education Initiative in Chicago is the leading one of the whole nation, words could not express just how humbled and honored we are for this privilege and undertaking. God intimately knows the deepest longings of our hearts, and we still cannot understand how specific He has been in answering our prayers. It brings us to tears to think about how God never ceases to give us beyond our wants and dreams, He truly fulfills every need and more as long as we always give it all back to Him!

As for me, it is also a really exciting time, as I am blessed to continue doing missionary work for CFC-FFL, my focus has now shifted from Hispanic Missions (as I once was based in Latin America) to being the LivePURE Coordinator for the US. LivePURE is the Pro-life movement for the young ministries: youth, singles, and young married couples. And in God’s great design, this is a way for Ray and I still to work hand in hand as a “missionary couple” that we always dreamt of being together, as we support each other in work for the Church, side by side spreading message of Chastity and God’s love. God has revealed to us that living a life of purity actually is possible and achievable, and that this Truth needs to be shared to all the world. A world that is suffering with lies of what true freedom really is. True joy and freedom comes from a life living in the fullness of God’s greater purpose for you. If the youth just discover that, there is no end to the greatness to be revealed to them! God has a great plan for each of us, it is up to us to just realize it and allow Him to show us! Jeremiah 29:11

This Christmas as we celebrate the birth of baby Jesus, I can’t help but imagine Mother Mary during her pregnant months, when the tiny baby was developing every day in her womb. How precious the child, who no one could see…so innocent and pure. How safe and full of love was that womb where he rested. Who knew the beauty that would come forth from that little one? Love manifested into flesh. LOVE! Love itself! Love – that thing that cannot be seen or touched…was made VISIBLE, was made tangible, was made present for all to see and feel and experience. All through that tiny baby. Through that little boy…who is our Lord and Savior. If we all only realized the immensity of God’s love in that regard. If we all just believed and valued every human being in that regard. If only we believed that each person is deserving of that love, and even more importantly, that each person is capable of manifesting that very love themselves. This Christmas and New Year’s would be all the more brighter and meaningful. May all our lives be moved to cherish the Child Jesus resting in our own hearts. He wants to be manifested in a tangible way again and again through us… for all the world to see. We pray for a very Spirit-filled Christmas and New Year’s to all of you, our loved ones. God bless you — Ray, Mary Grace and Gabriel Pingoy