March 3, 2025 – Life is but a Dream Sweetheart

    On Sunday morning, I woke up around 7:00am. I got ready for the day and Jayson picked me up around the usual time from the Starbucks at Grace Mall. He drove me to his house church, called Armor of God Christian International Ministry. Jayson's wife and son were already at church (Nellia and Caleb). Then, Jayson left to go and fetch Johanna down the road, somewhere in Taguig. The house church is located in a street marketplace of Taguig. These street markets are all over the city of Taguig. There are many, many different kinds of shops and stores selling all different kinds of things, from sari-sari convenient stores and bakeries, to fish markers and meat markets. The buildings that house these stores are all DIY, made with mismatched metal, wood, plastics, and other materials. The church was located in one of these DIY buildings. You have to walk down a dimly lit, narrow hallway, walk up two flights of stairs, and the narrow stairway opens up into a 40 foot x 40 foot sanctuary room in the top floor of the building.

    Jayson and Johanna joined us on the top floor in the sanctuary room about 20 minutes later, before the service started. I sat down beside Jayson's son, Caleb. He was watching cooking shows on social media (cooking videos). It was an Asian cooking channel. They were cooking unique Asian-inspired and Filipino dishes. Caleb is a quiet, well-behaved, and intelligent boy. Perhaps he is learning how to cook by watching the cooking shows, or perhaps, like me, he is watching the cooking videos because he like to imagine eating the delectable dishes on the screen.

    Nellia introduced me to quite a few of the different members of the church. Johanna and I then sat down at the front row, right side of the sanctuary, and church soon began thereafter. The praise and worship was awesome. The church has a rocking-good band, and they brought the word through music and song. After the worship time, Nellia brought the message, and she gave a strong and powerful word on circumcision of the heart. Circumcision of the heart includes humility, faith, hope, charity, and dedication. We must have a regeneration of the heart to have such qualities...these qualities come from dying to the old self and becoming a new creation in Christ Jesus. Nellia is an anointed, powerful speaker of God. She was yelling the message with authority and passion. It will be a message not soon forgotten.

    After the message, we all had fellowship with one another, and we took group pictures at the front of the sanctuary. I got to meet a young man named Enoch at this time. A name I won't soon forget. After pictures and fellowship, Johanna and I left. We shot photos in the outside street market. At one of the fish markets, there was an erratic woman showing off her breasts (she had them barely covered up with a scarf). I got pictures of the fish and tried to avoid shooting her bare naked ladies. After shooting photos and buying some bananas and bread from a bakery, we searched for a jeepney to ride to the MRT (Manila Rail Transit). We found one just down the road, boarded it, and drove a short ways to the MRT station. We took the MRT to the LRT at the Edsa Station. From the Edsa Station, we took the LRT to the United Nations Station. We got off the train and walked a little ways until we made it into the city (original city of Manila) of Intramuros.

    Intramuros is old town Manila to the east of the Pasig River. All the building are ancient, ornate buildings of old times. As we were talking through the old town, we were accosted by trike driver after trike driver. They were trying to get fares and hustling to make money. We were avoiding the crowds, but we were still approached by beggars. All the while, I was taking photos of Johanna and the scenery of Intramuros. A young boy, who appeared to be homeless, approached me. He asked me for some money. I hesitated to give him any money, but the better side of me won out and I haded him a 100 pesos bill. Immediately after he left, another young boy approached. I gave him a 100 pesos bill. Then, a woman with a newborn baby approached. I hesitated to give her any money, but I took pity and gave her a 100 pesos bill. Two more boys approached and I finally ran out of 100 pesos bills. A final boy approached, but I told him I didn't have any more bills to give. He said, “Thank you, sir, “ and he politely walked away. No other homeless boy or otherwise approached me for the rest of the time Johanna and I were in Intramuros.

    Johanna and I made our way down to Fort Santiago. We toured the fort, kept going with our photoshoot and we got a melon smoothie and a mango smoothies from a cafe inside the fort. We then went up and sat on the rooftop of part of the fort to listen to our daily song for Johanna and open the daily gift. This was the day 19 song: 'The Beauty and the Beast.' The gift was a purple pair of princess slippers. She loved both the song and the slippers. She gave me a big ole hug and a kiss on the cheek. Our butts were warm as the concrete of the fort was hot from the heat of the day. We watched the sun set fro the fort's rooftop, and then we were going to exit Fort Santiago to go on a horse and buggy ride. As we made arrangements to procure a horse and buggy, I made preparations to make a proposition of love (marriage proposal) to Johanna. So, I played Johanna the day 20 song on this day as well: 'A Proposition of Love.' I did this because I miscounted the days by one. As the spoken poetry song was underway, our chariot arrived. Johanna got sidetracked listening to the song and said that we should communicate with the driver. I told her to have patience and to continue listening to the song, but she persisted that we should talk with the driver. I told her to have faith and listen to me, but she wouldn't listen to me or the song. I finally told her that this was going to be my way of proposing to her, because tat the end of the song, I say, “Johanna, would you marry me today?” She finally started listening again, but was lost as to the place in the lyrics where we were at. As the song approached the final statement, I dropped down to one knee, pulled out the pure white gold, diamond ring (engagement ring) and asked Johanna to marry me. She said, “Yes, of course I will marry youn.” I went to put the size nine ring on her ring finger, and unfortunately, the ring was way too big. She probably needs a size 6 ring instead of a size 9. We were both excited and in a stupor at the same time. It was so surreal and magical. After ten years of talking, we were finally engaged to be married. Johanna is not my fiance. Our chariot driver Gener along with his trusty steed, Rambo, helped us board the buggy. We rode around on the horse and buggy for about an hour before disembarking. During this time we talked about resizing the ring and we listened to the day 20 song again: 'A Proposition of Love.' After the horse and buggy ride through the rustic city streets of Intramuros, Gener took our photo on the buggy and beside Rambo. Johanna and I were in a Cinderella , Beauty and the Beast, fairytale. We still couldn't believe this was actually happening. Life is but a dream, sweetheart.

    After the chariot ride, Johanna and I walked the esplanade by the Pasig River. We shot photos again, and I bought a cucumber fruit drink. I also bought Johanna an interesting/romantic rose encapsulated by a lighted-sphere. We caught a jeepney and rode to the nearest McDonald's. Then, we booked a Grab which took us back to Johanna's home in Taguig. Back in Johanna's home, we told the news of the proposal and engagement to Johanna's family. Mrs. Cora then served us dinner of Filipino ramen soup (pancit soup—I will et the name of the soup from Johanna). The, Mr. joe prayed a blessing over Johanna and I and the family we shall start in the near future. We were all gathered together, in a sportsmanlike huddle. We all said, amen, and then Jayson gave me a ride back to the Grace mall where my condo is at. I said my fare the well to Jayson, and off he drifted into the bustling manila night streets. I bought a coca-cola and retired back to my condo room. I packed up all my belongings and got ready to disembark. For in the morning I would be headed to the airport to fly back home to Pensacola, FL.