BECOMING WILLHOITE'S RIGHT HAND

From the prayer meeting Bro. Willhoite took us to his house. The ride took so long because we stopped in two places. I saw tall buildings when we passed by Ayala Avenue in Makati and we went inside the South Super Market in Magallanes. This place was heaven as compared to Lugait which was hell. People had pushcarts with wheels while picking up anything from what seemed to me an endless lines of meat and canned goods. I got introduced to a toilet paper for the first time when I helped Bro. Willhoite picked up what he wanted to buy. It was also my first time to know about hamburger and mayonaise. Back where I was from we only cooked fish, boiled chicken, and "ginamos". When we were done inside the super market we loaded everything into the Land Rover. We kept saying between the four of us, "Haskang gwapoha diay ang ilang mercado dinhi," which meant: "Such a beautiful market they got it here." We could not contain ourselves wondering the moderness of the place we were in.

The Land Rover was stopped by two guards in a checkpoint. The sign said "Marcelo Green Village." The guards saluted Bro. Willhoite and we rolled on. I understood from Bro. Willhoite that where he lived was in a village in Paranaque and the guards had to check everyone who came in. We pulled into the driveway while a woman in uniform swung it open. "Good evening sir!" the woman greeted Bro. Willhoite. He said, "Good evening!"

We unloaded ourselves leaving our things behind as instructed. Tonight we would spend the night here at Bro. Willhoite's house. The two children of the Willhoites, John Mark and Darla, came out to greet us. Mark had freckled face and Darla was skinny with long face. Then Sis. Willhoite greeted us. She was a heavy set woman with hair on top of her head that resembled like layered pancakes. She knew who I was by the tape recorded voice that Bro. Willhoite had them to listen to. "Juanito," Sis. Willhoite talked, with a voice that sounded scared, "you have a very wonderful voice." I smiled. We were shown our beds, which was also my first time to see a cushion bed, and then we were fed with hamburgers. That night I disliked the fact that there was no rice. I felt like I was hungry all night long.

The next morning Bro. Willhoite herded us into the jeep to bring us to the Bible School. When we got to the apartment building, I saw Venus in the kitchen cooking. I saw there was rice in the big container. I wondered why our cook was such a beautiful woman. It turned out that Venus was just assigned to cook that day; she was in reality a full time student. There were students seated scattered in the arranged folding chairs, and Bro. Willhoite called the rest of the students from the dormitory upstairs. All seated up, Willhoite introduced us to them. They shook our hands and, for the very first time, Tagalog language replaced the Visayan. I had no time to notice any one of them because I tuned my ears to the invitation to come to eat in the dining room. "Kain na, kain na," Venus called. Acting up as timid I went to the kitchen, occupied a chair and looked to the mountain of rice filed up on a huge plate. Was I glad? Yes, indeed. After saying grace Idug in my spoon like I had not eaten for a year. After a while all my food in my plate was gone. The others were still half-way on their food; I was done, and full.

It did not take long for me to master the tagalog language which was now the language that I had to be used to in Manila and I became the favorite student preacher because I knew how to crack jokes in between my sermons. I became a friend to all and learned to play the accordion. I sang, I played the guitar, I made people laugh when I spoke, and now I also played the accordion. Venus was always close by me and I taught her how to play the accordion and the guitar. But her singing voice was hopeless, I should say. But she was the most beautiful female student in the whole class and all the boys liked her.

The following days and weeks were pretty much exciting for a boy who was born from an uncivilized place called Sicpao. After the school we would go out to knock on doors and to witness to people. We were sent two by two and we looked like office workers on a white shirt and a tie. We also went to many house services. And I got to sing my songs and play my guitar or showed my talent in the accordion.

When Bro. Willhoite had purchased a toyota minibus we were all exuberant; we had been informed about the plan of going out to the provinces on our own bus. The color of the bus was white and absolutely brandnew. Along with the bus was a complete set of musical instruments and sound system. I became the bass player. Joey Guevarra, who used to play in nightclubs, now our classmate, became the combo leader and he taught me how to play the bass. We practiced the songs "The King And I," and, "I Thank God." It was my first time to hold a bass guitar as well as the electric guitar. Back when I went around to sing with Estela in our duet we only had a microphone and we sang a capella. There was no night in our crusade anywhere that I did not get to sing a special number. With the minibus our crusades took us to Pangasinan, to Calamba, Laguna, and even to the Sierra Madre Mountains to preach to the Dumagat tribes. Venus was Bro. Willhoite's interpreter, then later I became the interpreter. We put up many churches as a result of our crusades and in time we started a radio program in Cebu, in Cagayan de Oro, and in Iligan City. In less than six months that I had been away from Lugait, now, every morning, my mother and father, and my brothers and sisters, including those that had been my friends and enemies when I ran the streets of Lugait, heard my voice on the radio. My mother turned up the volume of her radio every morning so that the neighbors could hear the sound of my voice. And in time, because of the letters that we received from people who listened to our broadcast, we came down to Mindanao, particularly in the Cagayan and Iligan area. For the very first time, still seventeen years old, I flew in an airplane. Life drastically changed for me that Venus and I decided to get married in September of 1971, which suited Bro. Willhoite's wishes, and at age 18, I became the pastor of the central church of the Apostolic Ministers Fellowship in Manila. I was now officially the right hand man of Bro. John Willhoite. In less than a year, the prophecy about myself that I told my father before I left Mindanao happened. But surprise of all surprises, no one was surprised about it. They all seemed to know that it was going to happen to me.