Testimony by Stanley Mananghaya

I would like to take this opportunity to let the world know how the good Lord has changed my life thru Apo Conching, to start with, I grew up longing for a dad because my father had to go work abroad. Even if I was longing for his love, my grandmother(Rosita Canasa David) filled up all the love I needed from my father. She was the one who pampered me. I grew up a little bit spoiled. But all of us would come to an end and everyone has to bid their final vow sooner or later, my grandmother passed away, i was no longer just longing for a father's love, but I was longing for my grandmother's love as well.

From that point of the story I became the dumbest of the dump and the stupidiest of the stupids. I was given the oppurtunity to study in college, but i did not finish, i was given and blessed with everything i needed for school, but i wasted everything. Everyday, I would fix myself and make my mother believe that I do go to school, but the truth is I often skip school, I go to bars, billiard houses, visit friends, go to drinking frenzies,and waste the money and the time given to me. My auntie that time was already given the gift to heal all kinds of sickness not just physical and mental sickness,but also spiritual. I thought and believed that she has gone crazy. I did not believe that God exists.

I continued my bad habits until my parents found out that I have been skipping school. My mom was so angry, she would hurt her self. Maybe to ease the burden in her heart, or to show me how stupid and how selfish I was. But that did not affect me. I continued heading the wrong way. The thing was that I even felt happy of what is happening,and I found few more bad company and made the worst out of me. I don't go home most of the time,I sleep on streets after a drinking frenzy with bad peers. But my mom did not waste a single minute she had to educate me and let me realize the truth that my grandmother is gone and already in heaven and that if ever she was still alive, she will not be happy of my ways. My mother also proved to me that they are willing to sacrifice everything for me,they are willing to do anything, and willing to give everything for my welfare. Still I did not listen, I continued my wrong doings.

One morning, I realized and said to my self "'why not try going back to where I started, going back to being one of the the class' best, be a loving son and a loving older brother?" I went to the chapel (where people coming from different places)to seek for physical, mental and spiritual healness. It was just a tap at my back that made me turn my life back to His way "The Lord's way, the Divine Mercy's way.
APO CONCHING tapped my back and whispered "lahat ay magbabago alam ko na may pusong mapagmahal at may tuwid na pagiisip ka para namiwala, ikaw ang panganay ikaw ang dapat na halimbawa, maawa ka sa iyong mga magulang na nagbabata para sa iyong ikabubuti" (EVERYTHING WILL CHANGE I KNOW THAT YOU HAVE THE HEART AND THE MIND TO BELIEVE, YOU ARE THE ELDEST YOU SHOULD BE THE ROLE MODEL OF YOUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS, YOU SHOULD PITY YOUR PARENTS THEY ARE DOING EVERYTHING FOR YOUR BETTERMENT) tears just fell from my eyes and I was not able to say a word, i went home with teary eyes. I did not speak a word. I packed my things and I stowed away,someone sent from heaven loaned me some money to go somewhere, when i got off the bus, I saw children sleeping at the steps of the train station, everything seemed to stop,as if there were no vehicles around me;as if no other human being existed except me and the children. And as if an angel whispered, look at them, how lucky you are for you are blessed with great parents ,you are provided with food to eat, you are given everything you wanted not just things you need but luxury that your human life disires, go back tell them you are so sorry or else you will regret."

That night I went home, knocked at the door of my mother's room in the middle of the night, she asked why and I just said i am so sorry and that I love her very much, she hugged me and she sarted to cry.

Everything was changed, I was able to finish a vocational course, and and I am now working for HSBC, a bank. If God did not help me thru apo conching, I may have not been in my current possition and I may not be the man I am now. I may have not met the lady that I love.

I hope and pray that if you have children who are like me, brace your self and BELIVE in HIM, that one day they will come home, kiss you and tell you how much they are sorry and how much they do love you, God bless to all!