Tapioca

by Bienvenido E. Capule (Pastor)

‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord, ‘plan for well-being and not for trouble, to give you a future and a hope.’ Jeremiah 29:11, NLV.

When I was 14 years old, I was staying with my older sister

who was a nurse and her husband, M. G. Jereos, who was the

treasurer of Southern Luzon Mission (SLM) in Bicol.

One day before she left for duty, my sister informed me that the Union

auditor, Mr. Werber Johnson, would be in the house for lunch.

She instructed me to prepare a meal and a tapioca pudding dessert. This

was something I had never tasted and prepared before. What I did was to

follow the printed instructions from the box.

My sister arrived home earlier to check the table and the food that I

prepared. My brother-in-law and the auditor finally arrived.

During lunch, Mr. Johnson made a very particular appreciation for the

dessert and asked what it was and who prepared it. My sister told him that

it was me. Mr. Johnson lavishly expressed his delight for the tasty tapioca

dessert.

At suppertime, my brother-in-law told us how Mr. Johnson enjoyed

the dessert. He commented that if a “young boy” could prepare such

sumptuous lunch and a tasty dessert by following the instruction, it would

make him a good mission treasurer. He suggested that I get some training

at the treasurer’s office immediately. He further instructed to send me to

East Visayan Academy (EVA) in Cebu where I could be assigned at the

business office as a student worker.

After my graduation, Mr. Johnson paved the way for me to take up

Commerce and be a student worker at the Business Office of PUC. I

graduated five years later.

I vividly remember that my first ambition was to be an English teacher

since grade school. However, that delightful tapioca dessert preparation

led me to where I had never imagined. God used tapioca to change the

profession where He deemed I could be used better. May God be praised

for using Mr. Johnson as an instrument to carry out His plan in my life.

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