MY LIFE

When I think back to my life, I am just amazed at how I arrived to be a preacher here in the heart of Hatfield & McCoy country. I was born in the other side of the world, a country called the Philippines. My parents decided to move to the United States to have a better life. Recently, I found out that my life would have been really different if things went a different way. When my mother first applied to get her work Visa here in the USA, she was going to do so with the thought of being a nurse in an Indian Village in South Dakota. However, the Visa process took a long time, and by the time she received her Visa, the opening in South Dakota was no longer there. My mom though had friends in New York City. So she decided to move to New York City with some of our friends to start a new life. She got a job and immediately started to save up so the rest of the family can join her in a few months. She was able to get us a nice apartment and when I came to the USA with my brother John and my father Ernesto, we had a place to stay and a new life in New York City.
I wonder how my life would have been like if we did move to South Dakota instead of New York City. I wonder if I would still be a Minister here in Hatfield/McCoy country. Would I have met my lovely wife Barbara, or would I have met someone else and married her? It just boggles my mind to where I am at today. But I know one thing. God is in control and I know God had a big hand in where I am today. My wife and I are raising 4 beautiful children who are very talented and are fairly disciplined. I can't imagine myself as anything else but a Minister of God's Church. Yeah, sometimes I wish I had more money, but I also know that God has always provided us with whatever we need.
I wonder what the next few years will take us to. My son Joshua will be in College in a year. My daughter Rachel, who is 14, wants to go to Johnson Bible College, where I went and met Barbara, and she wants to be a Missionary. My son Aaron is 12 loves to play baseball and loves to have friends and don't really know what he wants to do. Meanwhile, I have a 2 year old that will turn 3 on May 11th. He keeps me young and makes me proud to be a dad. He is quite a active boy and I am blessed to have him, as well as my other children. As I see a little more gray hair in my head, I wonder what thrills my God will have for me and my family as the days go by....I wonder...