I asked Pastor Jimmy Ramirez how many brothers and sisters he had. He said there were nine of them but three died as young children.
“My father was an alcoholic and my mother didn’t have an education. We had no money for medical care or for transportation. when my little brothers and sisters became sick there we just had to watch them die. It nearly drove my mother crazy. But all that changed when I was twelve.”
“What happened when you were twelve?”
“The Adventist message came to our village. There was no nearby Adventist church but somehow church leaders decided to start Adventist work in our area. A lot of people, including my family, were baptized. We started learning new ways of living that helped our families and our health.”
“Before that time all the boys would start gambling and drinking at about age thirteen. They would then pick up smoking and drop out of school. But when the Adventist message came to our village all that changed for those of us who accepted it.”
“That was twenty two years ago. There are now at least thirty of us for our village that have graduated from Adventist University of the Philippines (AUP). Two of us are pastors, three are school teachers and two are even professors at AUP where they graduated.”
“I am so thankful someone came to our village with the Adventist message.”
Today Jimmy Ramirez pastors the Lucena, Laguna Seventh-day Adventist district with 1,100 members in seven churches and four companies, including one in the Lucena Prison with more than 100 members. (Click here to read “12 Inmates Baptized in Lucena Prison”)
Categories:
