I grew up in a Christian home. My father is a pastor while my mother is a Christian school teacher. As a pastor’s kid, I saw how people respected my father and it brought a big pressure on me. Because of that, I thought I always needed to be good. It seemed like going to church was my obligation. I tried to follow every instruction they told me to do and attending Sunday school was one of them.

Later on, I started liking Sunday school class because it was fun. After the Bible lesson, our teacher would always share about salvation. Without carefully listening to her message, I just followed our teacher’s prayer without fully understanding how to really get saved. Almost every Sunday, I did the same thing without doing it wholeheartedly because I thought highly of myself. I thought that attending church every Sunday, following whenever my teacher would ask me during her sharing hours and being a pastor’s kid would all be enough for me to go to heaven.

On March 4, 2007, I went to church one Sunday morning and did my exact same routine. On Sunday evening, after we ate, we had a family devotion led by my father. Before we started, my father led our devotion with a word of prayer. In his prayer, he thanked God for everything he had. After he prayed, he told our family that he did not deserve everything he had. That simple statement coming from my father made me think and wonder why he said that. Then he asked us one by one if we were sure that we would go to heaven once we die. I said yes but at the back of my mind, I was not really sure of it. My father started to ask how to get saved. I told him the ways I knew for me to go to heaven. Then my father opened his Bible to a very familiar verse, John 3:16. I knew that verse and have memorized it but never understood the real message of it until my father explained it to me. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life”. Then my father asked me one question that I wasn’t able to answer. “Do you know that we don’t deserve to go to Heaven?” he said. I was speechless. My father said he didn’t deserve salvation and the promise of eternal life. That statement boggled my mind. He explained that sinners deserve to go to hell but God loves the world that He let His Son Jesus Christ to die on the cross of Calvary to pay for all our sins that we can never pay. I knew that God loves me but I never thought that He loves me that much.

That day, I realized that I am not worthy of anything. I realized that I could not save myself. No human, things, or deeds can save me from hell except Jesus Christ alone. Then my father led me to prayer. I asked God’s forgiveness and accepted Jesus as my personal Savior. That day, I realized how blessed I am. It is not because I deserved it but because of the grace of God. To God be all the glory!

In April 2014, we had a Vacation Bible School in one of the remote villages in Alaminos City, Pangasinan. When I saw the children’s situation, I realized that they really need Christ. At a very young age, I knew about Christ and accepted Him as my personal Savior while those children did not have any idea who He is. Since that day, I wanted to reach them with the Word of God and teach them that the only way to Heaven is through our Lord Jesus Christ. I surrendered my life to full time ministry that year. This journey is not easy but I know God will always be with me to guide and help me in doing His will.

I am thankful to God for my parents because they never gave up on instructing and helping me to understand the privilege of serving in the ministry. In June 2014, I enrolled at the Fundamental Baptist College for Asians in Tarlac, Philippines to learn more about God’s Word. In September of the same year, God gave me an opportunity to study in Marietta Bible College in Marietta, Ohio under the leadership of Dr. Myron K. Guiler, pastor of Marietta Bible Center Church. I am currently on my 4th year of Bachelor in Religious Education and will be graduating in May 2018.