Marcos Sagoc went ocean fishing. He fished all night long but was unable to catch a single fish. Upon returning to shore, he found a harvest in his fishing net. It wasn’t fish, but a book entitled Bible Readings for the Home (newly titled Timeless Truths, containing the 28 Fundamental Beliefs of the Seventh-day Adventist Church). He took it home and hung the book from the ceiling to dry.
Marco’s son, Rolando, a teacher, found and scanned the book once it was dry. He discovered and began keeping the Sabbath. Other people he knew also got to know the Sabbath through the same book found at sea, and they formed a small group.
When workers of Del Mar Adventist Elementary School and North Central Mindanao Conference in Cagayan de Oro City, South Philippines, heard of a small group of people who were keeping the Sabbath, they sent a lay literature evangelist to conduct group Bible studies.
By God’s grace, the small Sabbath-keeping group accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and were baptized into the Seventh-day Adventist Church. What started as people studying the Bible in a nipa hut with bamboo benches, by God’s grace, became a small group of believers that now worships in a new and bigger building. To God be the glory for the miraculous harvest of the book found in a fishing net.
Rey Cabañero is Publishing Ministries director of the Southern Asia-Pacific Division.