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| Imelda and her partner Noeme receiving their OJT money. |
The Mystery of the Projector that Disappeared
as written by Jaime Aguila, an elder of Manila Center SDA Church
"November 8, 2013 marked the start
of the PAFCOE On the Job Training (OJT) for students of Evangelism. My wife
Imelda Aguila, was one of those students and she was assigned to the adult
class together with her partner, Noeme Antiga, who was assigned to the
children’s class, and together they served in Plaza Noli, Manila, Philippines.
To make their evangelism OJT more effective, they borrowed a brand new
projector from a church member, Josie Santos. The evangelism went on as planned
and was well attended. On the last day of their presentation, something
mysterious happened. The church van was fully packed with attendees, gifts for
successful attendees who completed the course, and with the usual gadgets like
computers, microphones and of course the projector.
Upon reaching the venue, it was
noticed that the van was not properly closed, and that the projector was
missing! This troubled me a lot, first because it meant the meetings will have
to end with no visuals, second, because it meant we are responsible to
compensate the owner for the lost projector. It was but natural for me to be
angry and suspicious as to what happened to the projector.
The first thing that went on in my
mind was that somebody got interested in the projector, and took it. I came to
this conclusion as the projector was of the latest model and quite expensive.
Moreover, it was the only item that was missing. I wondered why the nicely
wrapped gifts, or the old laptop did not get lost, but only that projector.
Immediately, I went to the area headquarters to inform them of the lost item and they told me portions of the street
leading to the venue had CCTV, but since the driver was not sure where the item
got lost and since the Church was more than a kilometer away from the venue, I
did not bother to check the CCTV.
After about a week after the event
occurred, I was still perplexed, and angry at what happened. I was still very
suspicious as to what really happened to the projector, even though the owner
was not charging us for the lost item. To calm my suspicions, I included in my
morning prayer that God show me if the projector got dropped off the vehicle or
if someone really took it, as I was beginning to imagine scenarios as to what
transpired. I asked the Lord to show me in a vision what really happened!
About lunchtime that same day, a
Sunday, I attended a children’s party with my family, at a restaurant in Quezon
City about 7 kilometers away from where the projector was supposedly lost. I was seated at a long table for guests, when
somebody, Mr. Chris Balbuena, started talking that they were able to pick up a
projector on the street.
I inquired about the details of the
found projector and discovered it was of the same brand, Samsung, and model of
the lost projector. I got suspicious it was the very projector we lost, so I
described to Mr. Balbuena the contents of the projector bag which included a
lapel and microphone. Mr. Balbuena confirmed such were really the contents, so
he believed my story that it was the projector we lost.
He related to me the details of how
they found the projector. He told me he owned a car wash shop, Hella Stance,
located about a couple hundred meters to where the evangelistic meetings were
being held. They saw a bag drop off a vehicle which they thought was trash.
Then, a couple of cars ran over the bag, but the bag bounced, probably because
something solid was inside. They got interested, so they picked up the bag and
opened it. They saw it was a projector! They tried to operate it and it still
worked despite it having a broken casing as it had been run over a couple of
times. In short, Chris believed my story, and told me he would give me back the
projector. Before the day was over, Mr. Balbuena was kind enough and sent me
the projector.
Looking back, I realized that the
odds that I would meet the very person who found the projector were quite
impossible. What were the chances that the two of us, the one looking for the
projector and the one who found the lost item, would sit at the same table, be
at the same restaurant several kilometers away from where it all happened, at the exact time and occasion. Considering
how many people are in Quezon City, how many restaurants are there in this
city, how many events were being celebrated that busy Sunday, the probability
we would meet is absolutely zero! No one can
orchestrate such event but God himself. I acknowledge God’s hand in all of
these, and am thankful that God heard my prayer and made a miracle. This is
proof that God is in control even in seemingly minor events as this, and that
he works miracles if we simply put our trust and faith in him!"
