On this episode, Pastor Walton spoke with Jun and Norma Macapinlac about their long history at Harvest Baptist Church and their ministry as a family on Guam.
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Chris Harper: Welcome to Harvest Time. My name is Chris Harper, and our host on this program is Pastor Gary Walton, the lead pastor of Harvest Baptist Church. Every week, we spend these twenty five minutes together telling you the stories of our church by interviewing our members and other friends of the ministry. We have two services at Harvest Baptist Church every week, The first at 08:45AM, the second at 10:45AM Sunday. We have Japanese and Korean translation during the 10:45AM service, and that’s also when we livestream at hbcguam.org. hbcguam.org.
Our summit meetings are beginning next Sunday with Pastor Pat Nemmers. We hope you can join us this week, but also next week for those meetings. Let’s begin today’s Harvest Time by welcoming Pastor Gary Walton. Hi, pastor.
Gary Walton: Hey, hafa adai, Chris. This will be a great Sunday together, and, and we do wanna invite you to come. Chris already mentioned the time frames. We’re gonna gather together with the church family, be in God’s word, and I know that you’ll enjoy and sense God’s presence as you gather with us. So if you are not a part of a church family here on Guam, we’d really love to invite you to come.
I think you’ll find a very warm welcome. And then, as Chris mentioned, we’re looking forward to our Summit meetings, which are taking place beginning next Sunday night, next Sunday morning and Sunday night, and then Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday night. Pastor Pat Nemmers has been used of God to grow his church stateside, and he has a fantastic testimony of God’s work in his life. He became a believer a little bit later on in his early adult years, and then God’s blessed his ministry in some remarkable ways, and I know that you’ll be blessed by hearing his testimony his passion for God and for his word, so we’d like to invite you for that coming up the next Sunday as well. I’m really glad to have some special people to us here at Harvest.
Long term church family, Jun and Norma Macapinlac. So glad that you’re here. I want to welcome you to Harvest Time. It’s your first time on Harvest Time, I believe.
Jun Macapinlac: First time. Yes.
Gary Walton: Yeah. Welcome to both of you. Glad that you’re with us. You actually began we were just talking about it before we began recording. You started coming to Harvest back in the early ’80s when your son was did you say your son Jonas, who’s also part of our church family, he was in K-5, Norma?
Is that what you said?
Norma Macapinlac: He he started in K-4.
Gary Walton: K-4?
Norma Macapinlac: Yes. There was a girl who count was counting one to 400. I was managing a store, a jewelry store in Agana. And I asked her, what school does she go to? And then she said that she was going to Harvest.
And so, wow, my son is already four years old. He does not know anything because he was staying home with the grandma and just teaching her whatever he he can.
Gary Walton: Yeah.
Norma Macapinlac: And so I I tried putting him in the school, and I was really surprised because at in six months, he he he entered the school halfway of the school year. And in six months, less than six months, he started reading. And I was surprised he even made it to the to the advanced K-5 which is very good for me. Uh-huh. It was really something that I couldn’t believe.
Gary Walton: Mhmm.
Norma Macapinlac: So that’s what it started. That’s where I started. I started liking it, and I started going to church whenever I can. And so it starts there.
Gary Walton: Okay. I want to ask you some more, both of you, about that, which would have been, I’m just doing the math in my head, we won’t give away Jonas’s age, but that would have been over forty years ago in the early ’80s that your relationship with Harvest at the Academy first, bringing Jonas and
Jun Macapinlac: And Marion.
Gary Walton: And Marion to school, and then over the years God brought you to the church. We’ll talk about that in a minute. Jun, you had a career in banking here in Guam, is that right?
Jun Macapinlac: Later on, but early on, I was 18 and I was employed at another bank in The Philippines.
Gary Walton: Okay.
Jun Macapinlac: Being enrolled in a business school, what we do then, the students will just go around and try to get hired by some businesses. So, we just go around and try to get employed. And finally, around that time, bank has an opening, and I was 18 years old and I hired. Because this business school teaches you how to type and do steno, like that. Normally, the business school will just produce a lot of typist, stereotypist type.
So, when you do an application, you usually have know, the school is known to have good employees around that area, skilled and like that.
Gary Walton: I think you told me that you came to Guam in 1972. How old were you at that time?
Jun Macapinlac: I was, I think, 21.
Gary Walton: Okay. So had graduated at 18 from the business school and finding the job and ended up coming here to Guam, right?
Jun Macapinlac: Yes. Actually, I graduated. I tried to take low courses, but because I was courting Norma at the time, I said it’s not conducive to courting somebody and
Gary Walton: Taking classes at the same time.
Jun Macapinlac: Those cool tests. So I figured I’ll just concentrate on Norma.
Gary Walton: That was a good yeah. That was a pretty good life plan. Good decision. Norma, what about you? When did you come to Guam?
Norma Macapinlac: ’73.
Gary Walton: ’73. Okay. Then you you both met here?
Norma Macapinlac: No. No. We we met in The Philippines. In bank.
Gary Walton: Okay. Okay.
Norma Macapinlac: That’s where I met him.
Gary Walton: Okay. You came here first, and then, Norma, you followed Yeah. After that.
Jun Macapinlac: We are a bank.
Norma Macapinlac: I told him when he left, I told him he has to come back in one year to marry me.
Gary Walton: Yes. And he did.
Jun Macapinlac: Because I have the incentive to say, you can marry me if you come back within a year. Otherwise, I’ll accept new suitors, just in case.
Gary Walton: Gonna lose your chance.
Jun Macapinlac: Yes. Yeah.
Gary Walton: So both of you came in the early seventies, and then, you said about ten years later, Jonas began school here, and, you began tell me a little bit about that. Norma, you had said you started interest in church.
Norma Macapinlac: I started coming to Harvest after Jonas went to school here, and I was really surprised because it’s kind of different, you know? Mhmm. I grew up as a Catholic. Mhmm. And all the while, what I know is I could be saved if I’ll be a good girl
Gary Walton: Yes. Yeah.
Norma Macapinlac: Forever. And so as I go along,
I figure out, wow, it’s so easy. But then it’s different. It’s different until the time that I got saved. That was after going to church for a long time, for maybe six months. Mhmm.
Yeah. And so I think it’s quite different from what I have learned before. You know, I I always tried my best to be in good spirit all the time. My mom and my and my dad won’t have anything to say about me. Yeah.
I’m really I’m really I tried my best to be the best daughter.
Gary Walton: Good girl, good daughter.
Norma Macapinlac: Yes. I am the eldest one. So so when I when I think about that, then I got saved one Sunday after church. Mhmm. I felt different.
And it’s really something, but I after church, I did not go home. I went to a place in Barrigada Heights. They have a place there where you can overlook the ocean and everything. And I just cried. I don’t know why I’m crying, but it’s really something.
And that’s when I I figured out that was the date, but I don’t know exactly the date.
Gary Walton: Sure.
Norma Macapinlac: But that was the date that I was saved.
Gary Walton: Remember very clearly.
Norma Macapinlac: Yeah. I couldn’t I couldn’t believe it, but it’s something like it makes me happy
Gary Walton: Yeah.
Norma Macapinlac: But it makes me sorry also for all my sins.
Gary Walton: Yeah. Well, that’s a good description of salvation. We come to realize that my sins have separated me from God. And even though I tried to be good and try to do good things, it wasn’t enough. I really needed the forgiveness of God through his son Jesus, and that’s a great description of that.
Norma Macapinlac: And that was start. And then Pastor Lewis
Gary Walton: Yeah.
Norma Macapinlac: Asked me if I could have a bible study in our house. Mhmm. And so I said, what will we do? And then he just said, you just invite people. We only started with six.
Jun Macapinlac: Uh-huh.
Norma Macapinlac: Six pairs. Yeah. And then it grew to about 50 until the time that we we separated.
Gary Walton: I want to talk to you some more about that. Jun, what about you? Tell me about your spiritual story. How did that intertwine with this?
Jun Macapinlac: Well, like normal, we grew up in a Catholic family, and of course, what you learn is what you hear in church, and what your elders will teach you, and do as they do, so to speak. My salvation history is when Pastor Louis invited us to open a Bible class, it was actually Anita Bento who was kind of pushing us, because she is always a friendly person together with Jim, and always go to the house, have fellowship. And finally, I think she was telling Pastor Lewis that we can be a good candidate for as a host of a Bible class. And we have up to maybe 50, because there are some standing room only.
Gary Walton: Right.
Jun Macapinlac: And at that time, Pastor Lewis told us that there’s a big space in the basement of the new church, it’s a new church already. And I said, You can use that as meeting place for the Philipino group. Well,
Gary Walton: I’ve heard a lot of neat stories about that Bible study, along with others, but I know that one grew in your home, just to be pretty large for that time. What it was during a weeknight did you meet? What night did you meet?
Jun Macapinlac: I remember we were doing it twice a week. Oh, okay. Don’t know how we can do that.
Gary Walton: Full time job and yeah.
Jun Macapinlac: Yeah. Because once a week is not easy anymore. Twice a week. But I can see that the nucleus, the initial people that attended, they’re kind of, they wanted to know more and fellowship more, I guess. Maybe eat more a little bit.
Gary Walton: No, it’s good.
I mean, when we read in Acts chapter two, that early church talked about meeting every day.
Jun Macapinlac: Every day, yeah.
Gary Walton: From house to house, I mean, it’s such a clear description of that taking place, you know, life, in your ministry. And I’ve heard it before, that that was standing room only. Your house was packed out with people that came and God bless that. That was very early in the history of the Church. We’re celebrating fifty years, so church started in 1975.
You would have been in the, you know, mid eighties, I’m assuming, mid to late eighties, and then in the nineties. And, I know that God used your family in a powerful way in the growth of Harvest back in those days. And, of course, your kids then all came through the academy, graduated from the academy, and just a long term faithful family that’s been a part of the ministry. Anything else that you look back on and you think about in those early days of of Harvest that would be memories of what it was like or things that you remember from those days?
Norma Macapinlac: Yeah. I remember Pastor Lewi used to pick up Jonas to attend the Bibles because we were not members yet to attend Sunday school. That’s one thing. And then we had different bible study features. First was Mr. Holmes.
Oh, oh, first is the Mr.
Jun Macapinlac: First principal of Harvest, Mr. Moody. Oh. Yeah. Yes. I always say Dwight, but actually, Dwight is the one from Chicago.
Norma Macapinlac: Uh-huh. Mr. Moody, Mr. Holmes, and then
Jun Macapinlac: Pastor Wood. Pastor Wood. Sure.
Gary Walton: Yeah. Yeah. So you had ministry together, watched the church grow, and then there was an interim as you served in some other churches, and then recently God’s brought you back here, which is such a joy to us. What are some things that you look back and you see, you know, sort of God’s work in Harvest over the years from those early years till now? What are some of the highlights of what you’ve seen God do?
Jun Macapinlac: I guess we we tried because what happened is when he started inviting people and you try to showcase yourself as somebody they can rely on, only in church activities, but in spiritual situation as well. That’s why the Bible study really builds you up, and try to learn as much as you can, because it gives you opportunity to read more, especially when you have all kinds of subjects that, you know, it can be a build up from your Bible teachers. And that helps us a lot.
Gary Walton: Well, as a couple that has seen God’s faithfulness through many seasons of your life and through God’s church working in your lives, what encouragement would you give to younger families and members of Harvest today?
Norma Macapinlac: I think that they have to to stay close together.
Gary Walton: Mhmm.
Norma Macapinlac: I think that’s one thing that I have learned in because no matter what happens to both of you, it’s only between you and the husband. Don’t show any weakness in your relationship because, you know, the the kids are smart. The kids now are smart. You don’t even have to tell them anything. They just hear and they can make their own decisions.
Gary Walton: Right.
Norma Macapinlac: So what I do is we just we just converse and we at night, we we think about what we’re supposed to do, especially when the children around. That’s one thing. And then another thing is to let the children make their own decisions. Although you have to guide them every step of the way, but still don’t hamper them in making their own decisions. So, you know, we we think that we did, I would say, we did a passing grade.
Gary Walton: Oh, I think you did. Yeah, for sure. You have great kids and I know that they’re a blessing to you. Anything you’d add, Jun, to that?
Jun Macapinlac: Yeah. Because we fellowship with a lot of Harvest people also during our stay here before. And we kind of compare how they raise their kids. But, you know, we were busy.
I was working the bank. She has a store to run, and we’re always going home very late and everything. So, we don’t have time to teach them their schoolwork or something. It’s like you are on your own, you know. But we don’t have that.
Guess they’re able to, since they’re on their own, they took it upon themselves to learn as much as they can. Sure. Yeah. And I think they did okay. Yeah.
Jonas was saying he was in advanced K-5 after
Norma Macapinlac: Six months.
Jun Macapinlac: Six months. And he was a salutatorian from Harvest. We have also an Marian. They are all Marian. Do what they have to do, and they
Norma Macapinlac: Marion was there used to be a newspaper in the school Okay. Run by students. Yeah. Marion was like A
Jun Macapinlac: new senator or something.
Norma Macapinlac: Editor or something. Yeah. And I think that is a good training, pastor.
Gary Walton: It is.
Norma Macapinlac: That is something that maybe you can think about it.
Gary Walton: Yeah. Yeah. Any type of leadership like that and and responsibility to deadlines, all of that is super helpful. Really good.
Norma Macapinlac: We saw that in Marion, she developed into a good worker, you know, until now talking about David, He is our second son and came six years after Marion. He’s kind of early on. I was looking at his our paperwork with him, and he started early in business. Way back in the elementary days, he was already doing some business. And then later on, I saw how he evolved himself into business.
He started first he started MacTech with just maybe two by three square foot. And then later on, he was able to put up a little store in a Ghana shopping center. He worked so hard that I cannot help but
Jun Macapinlac: He branched out into advertising.
Norma Macapinlac: But mention it. And at the same time, he branched out to advertising agency. He now have MacTech and Thrive, which is the advertising agency.
Jun Macapinlac: I say they have the talent. I said they always get it from their mother.
Gary Walton: Uh-huh. That’s right. We know we know how that works.
Jun Macapinlac: I just take care of the the looks. I get the looks, but you get the talent. I’m just kidding, of course.
Gary Walton: No. No. I understand. Well, Jun and Norma, we are so thankful for your ongoing testimony of faithfulness in the life of our Church. It’s so wonderful to have your influence in the early years, now to be able to look back on those, and actually just testimony of the priorities that you showed, with your family, the commitment of seeing the church as a central part of what God was doing.
And I I I would just confident it’s a big part of God’s blessing in the lives of your children. And so we’re so thankful, for your ongoing influence here at Harvest, and more importantly, just for your testimony for the Lord. So thank you for joining us today and sharing a little bit of those early years and God’s work in your life.
Norma Macapinlac: Thank you so much.
Jun Macapinlac: Thank you for having us.
Chris Harper: And thank you for listening to Harvest Ttime. Of course, at this point in the program, we always want to invite you again to services at Harvest Baptist Church. Two services on Sunday, 08:45AM, 10:45AM. We offer Japanese and Korean translation during the 10:45AM service, and that’s also the service you can hear live here on 88.1 FM and khmg.org. Also remember next week, our summit meetings with Pastor Pat Nemmers.
We hope you could join us for those as well. Thanks again for listening to Harvest Time.