A Family Connection
About a month and a half ago, Elder Joel (Jim) Timbang and his wife Rizzalyn of the Tacoma Central SDA Church began a family worship group and invited family members and friends to join their group via Google Meets.
Among those they invited were Joel’s sister Joan and her husband Roger Timbang. Roger and Joan have a Catholic background and really took a serious interest in the nightly Bible Studies (they meet every night, except Thursdays).
Joel also invited Pastor Scott Tyman and Pastor Nemaia Faletogo to join the group as guests to share different topics from the Bible. Joel then directed the group to join in on “Food for Thought” hosted by Pastor Nemaia nightly on Facebook Live.
As a result of this teamwork under the Holy Spirit, Roger reached out to Joel about changing his ways, giving his heart to Christ and being baptized! Roger and Joan took in Joel when he was 13 and Joel lived with them until he was 17. Joel is very close to Roger who is more like a father to him.
Roger is 80 years old and Pastor Tyman and Pastor Nemaia conducted his baptism together on June 12 at the Tacoma Central SDA Church, the first baptism after reopening the church. Joan is also contemplating baptism, but desires further studies. Please keep this beautiful couple in prayer. Glory to God!
Full Circle for Jesus
Aysa Delos Santos grew up in the Big Island of Hawaii, in Keaukaha, Hilo. He later moved to the island of Oahu, where he became a bouncer for a night club and was using and dealing drugs.
After sometime, Aysa got into trouble and ended up in jail in Honolulu and was looking at a long prison sentence. However, Aysa believes that God intervened and gave him a second chance after charges were dropped and he was released.
Aysa then met Aleluia at Job Corp and they got married and had two beautiful daughters, Aliyandra and Aubriella. After a turbulent and rocky relationship, the couple divorced after only a year of marriage. Before their split, Aysa and Aleluia would visit the church that Pastor Nemaia Faletogo was pastoring in Honolulu at that time (2002-2004) and never forgot the experience.
Fast forward to March of 2020, Aleluia was seeking for a relationship with Jesus and happened to come across Pastor Nemaia’s Facebook page. She followed Pastor Nemaia’s posts and live sessions for a few weeks and finally sent Pastor Nemaia a message if her family could join the group Bible study.
After several weeks of studying together, Pastor Nemaia performed the wedding ceremony for Aysa and Aleluia and after the wedding ceremony, they, along with their two daughters were baptized in a pool (baptizoom) at Aleluia’s mother’s house on May 9! (A baptizoom is a baptism that happens remotely with the pastor and spiritual mentors joining by Zoom video call.) They were surrounded by family members during this special occasion.
The result of their transformation and baptism has resulted in the entire family (Aleluia’s mother, step-dad, siblings, cousins, nephews and nieces) requesting for Pastor Nemaia to give them Bible studies, which have been taking place for nearly a month now. We look forward to how the Holy Spirit will bless this entire family!