I grew up in a devout Catholic family in a village in the island of Samar where tribal killings and witchcraft are still practiced today.

My story begins when I was ten years old when my father taught me how to carry a gun and sword. Around that time, my father went to prison after he killed a man in self defense. He got sentenced for 14 years of imprisonment. Seeing people dead in our area was just normal for me. Because of the hardships in life, my mother decided to move to Manila to find a job in order for my siblings and I to continue our studies. But then my mother ran away with another man and we didn’t see her for many years. At that time, we stayed with multiple relatives in Manila. Living with different people, my siblings and I experienced very poor conditions. Sometimes, I cried in the night when my brother and sister were already sleeping. My question was why were we experiencing this? Why do people live but after many years die anyway? What is their purpose? At a young age, being the eldest child, I started working to support our needs to have food. At 14 years old, I joined a gang. I went to school drunk and worked in the night, and then got drunk again after.

I was really mad at my mother for leaving us. She showed up when I was 16 years old and wanted to take my brother and sister but I didn’t give them away. Instead, I asked her new husband to show up for a death match, but he didn’t show up. After that, I searched for my mother and her husband to kill the man. I prepared a knife and searched for him every weekend for more than 2 years.

My cousin kept inviting me to come to their church and my answer was always to just pray for me. But my cousin was determined to invite me to church. That time, I was hopeless, I didn’t know which way to turn. Where can I find help with this heavy burden? The only thing I knew was that if I kill that man then my anger will be satisfied. I wanted to give up but the world kept inviting me to do crime. But at the same time, my cousin also kept inviting me to church. One day, for the first time, I decided to go with him. I sat near the door of the church so I could easily go out to search for that man after service. But when the missionary pastor preached the Gospel, it was like he knew me and all my sins. In my head, I started planning to kill the pastor. My plan was to kill him after he preached. But when he finished preaching, my tears were running down my face. I realized that only Jesus can give me peace, and He is the only one can set me free from the bondage of sin and is the only one that will give me the hope of heaven. The pastor invited me to Christ that day to be saved. That day, I accepted Jesus Christ in my heart as my Savior.

If you are reading this without Jesus and you don’t know where to go, where to turn, and want to give up in this life, I invite you to turn to Jesus and He will change your life. He will save you and will give you hope of heaven.

After I got saved, I continued to grow in faith and I wanted to follow God. I worked 2 jobs but decided to leave to enter Bible college. My foster family was mad at me because of my decision. They persecuted me and told me they will not support me, but I still went to Bible college with only $5 to support myself every week. I learned how to be full and how to be empty– empty in my limited resources but full of God’s provision. There were times that I only ate for a day to survive for the whole week, but I kept on going winning souls. Without having any choice, I even ate what we call “pagpag”. This kind of food is well known in Payatas landfill area. “Pagpag” means “dusted off or recycled” in English; it is a term for leftover food or meat picked from garbage and dumps which were then washed, cooked, and sold to poor communities. This is the daily staple food in those areas. These communities like Payatas are very poor and fail to afford a single meal sometimes. This is how I survived. But one thing I learned was that with any food, God is able to use it in order to preserve life and through it, experience His mercy and protection.

He continually showed me His power. God brought me to a house of an ex-convict and a drug addict to share the Word of God. There was fear but when I realized that they were headed to hell, that fear inside of me became boldness to share to them the Gospel. Today, they are now serving God. In every hardship in the ministry, it is to God be all the glory. This is the purpose of our life, it’s to glorify God.

When I was young, no one told me about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was not until I reached the age of 19 years old that I heard about Him. After I got saved, I served God in full-time service. One of my heart’s desire is to reach and teach lost kids and young people about the Bible to let them know that God has a purpose and plan for their lives. I am thankful to God because my pastor and church sent me and my wife to the place of Payatas near landfill area to minister there.

As a pastor, I had the privilege to minister to the people there by having house-to-house Bible study and soul winning. We helped them with their needs, not only physical needs but most of all, their spiritual needs.

I thank the Lord for giving me the opportunity to be involved with the many ministries of our home church. We have a feeding ministry every Saturday in ten different areas that has an average of 60-100 kids. Payatas has a lot of children. Every year at summer, we conduct Vacation Bible school that reaches out to 5000-10,000 people. Our home church also has an orphanage where my wife and I work as house parents of the orphaned children. It is a blessing that we are able to teach them with the Word of God and see them grow with the love of God.

I am blessed and thankful that God allowed me to be part of many ministries. To extend the love of God through this opportunities. As servants of God, we want to continue for the glory of God and praise our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

God continually proves that He will use His children in any work in any given opportunity, regardless of where they are, for His will. I am thankful for the opportunity to study at Marietta Bible College. While studying, God has also given me the privilege to serve Him. Through the Marietta Bible College choir, we students minister to churches through singing. Language and culture does not hinder me from serving Him. I am also involved in the church bus ministry of Marietta Bible Center Church and also its nursing home ministry, witnessing, and distributing Bible and Gospel tracts to people.

Also, even though we are experiencing a pandemic, the work of the Lord continues. My wife is currently in the Philippines involved in the orphanage and taking care of the children there. Through online means, I am able to connect and disciple to people in the Philippines. God showed me that He is still in control. God is continually adding people to His ministry and some have decided to surrender their life in full time ministry. All things we’ve done and accomplished is because of God’s mercy and grace.