Pastor Walton spoke with Ron and Catherine Sarmiento this week about growing up on Guam, coming to know Christ, and becoming His disciples.
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Transcript
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. And 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 every week, the first at 08:45AM, the second at 10:45AM Sunday. We have Japanese and Korean translation during that 10:45AM service.
We also livestream that service at hbcguam.org, hbcguam.org. This week, we’re beginning a four part series, First Things First, The Grace of Giving from First Corinthians sixteen, one through four. Let’s begin today’s Harvest Time by welcoming Pastor Gary Walton. Hi, Pastor.
Gary Walton: Hey, hafa adai, Chris. We’re coming into an interesting weekend. A little bit of storm preparation happening in our studio right now as we’re thinking about, you know, not exactly sure how close this one’s going to come. But we know, we believe that it won’t come till after Sunday morning for sure. And so we’re looking forward to worshiping together and it’s always great for our church family to be together every week.
And this is the week after Easter and there’s something special about gathering again. We’ve just celebrated what Jesus has done for us on Resurrection Day and it’s almost like the new church year begins on that following Sunday. And so we’re looking forward to that. We are going to start a new series and it’s teaching through a really specific text in I Corinthians 16. It’s interesting that the Bible, through the Gospel writer Paul, gives us some real clear instructions about just our stewardship of the things that God has given us.
In fact, it gives some instructions to the church about how we’re to handle giving and actually some accountability that’s in play. And there’s a number of very interesting truths that come out of four verses right at the beginning of I Corinthians 16, and we’re going to spend a couple of weeks just very carefully studying and finding out what’s the Bible say about giving and generosity and stewardship of our lives, but also what’s the Bible say to the church about the accountability of the giving of God’s people? So I hope that you’ll come and hear out just I hope will be clear teaching on this very important topic for us. And I’m really glad today to welcome to our studio Ron and Catherine Sarmiento. Thank you guys for joining us here today on Harvest Time.
Ron Sarmiento: Thank you for having us.
Catherine Sarmiento: Thank you too.
Gary Walton: I’ve been excited about being able to hear and share your story together with our radio audience. Ron and Catherine have been members at Harvest since ‘twenty four and part of the Harvest family for longer than that. We’re so thankful for God bringing you to Harvest and always encouraged by your joyfulness and your faithfulness and we’re thankful for that. I’d like to just kind of back up and hear the story. Growing up and then, you know, how God brought you to Himself, maybe we can start at the beginning.
You both grew up on Guam, right? Yes. What villages? Tell me about family. Ron, you want to start us?
Ron Sarmiento: Okay. I grew up in the village of Santa Rita. And of course I started going to school in a Catholic school. So going to school and going to church was a given, you know, it’s like just going through the motions, you know, and just following whatever instructions were given to us. So actually going to church every Sunday was a traditional thing.
I never really got to know the Lord as far as His Word and what He wants of us. But like I said, as far as even through high school, going to the Catholic church, I was just going through motions. And it was basically towards the end, like in high school times, it was a place for me to meet my friends. And that was the motivating factor for me to go to church. Yeah.
Gary Walton: That’s interesting. I want to ask you some more about that, Ron. What schools were you part of?
Ron Sarmiento: Cathedral Grade School. It’s no longer in existence. And I went to St. Anthony School.
Okay. And I also went to Father Duenas.
Gary Walton: Okay. And then I’m just tracking a little bit of your background. One piece I know, you’re pretty involved in the football community on Guam.
Ron Sarmiento: Yes, yes. Well, you know, I grew up playing for in the Pop Warner League, the Tamuning Eagles. Okay. And then I didn’t play much high school football here.
I played high school football in California. Okay. But then when I got back, the UOG football team was actually happening under the military league.
Oh, interesting. I got to play one year for them. Okay. And it was fun because, we became we were the champions.
Uh-huh. And, of course, the military the military generals or admirals didn’t like that. And we got to go to Hawaii and play a semi pro team over there.
Gary Walton: Interesting. Yeah. Yeah.
Ron Sarmiento: And we won most of our games.
Gary Walton: Okay. And then you ended up doing some coaching too, right?
Ron Sarmiento: Yes. I coached for House Angels and also for JFK.
Gary Walton: Okay.
Ron Sarmiento: Yes. Alright.
Gary Walton: Very interesting. Catherine, what about you? Where’d you grow up and
Catherine Sarmiento: I grew up in Dededo forever.
Gary Walton: Okay.
Catherine Sarmiento: And there’s this funny story when a friend of mine visited me, I guess 18, 19 and I was showing her how like I used to live there and now I live here. I go, when I left the nest, I moved there and she said, Catherine, you didn’t leave the nest. You fell out of the nest. I’m like, so true. I never thought of it like that.
I thought that maybe if I just lived in an extension, already left the nest, but I really I
Gary Walton: just fell out, think landed very
Catherine Sarmiento: some of my children are doing that too, falling out of the nest. But maybe it’s culture. You just make a lean to I remember meeting someone at a at a driving school and we’re talking about our kids and then that got brought up how we just put up a lean to and then they live there. And he goes, yeah, that’s just so Guam. But anyway, so I went, I attended Santa Barbara School, that’s in Dededo.
It’s still in existence. It’s kind of a big school now. But
then speaking of falling out of the nest, so all that, as Ron mentioned, church and things were, you know, we did all that. We also did it as part of class, as I’m sure even Harvest has chapel. So that was like our chapel, right, going to Mass. I mean, learned a lot of things in Santa Barbara. Learned, we had religion class.
So, you know, we learned about saints and the Trinity and holy days of obligation, I remember that, sacraments, things like that. But when I grew older, there was just something I like, you know, Jesus was a story, like and I don’t know. There was something in me that, like, there’s there’s more. There’s
there’s there’s gotta be more. So since I wasn’t living in the nest anymore, I figured I’m just not gonna go. I’m not going to do this anymore. I don’t have to. My parents aren’t going to make me go or, you know, it’s a family thing.
And I I just didn’t go anymore. No no more masses. But I work at a funeral home. It’s family business, and so that continues to bring me into church, you know, for, funerals.
Gary Walton: Yeah.
Catherine Sarmiento: And I it’s just a church down the road from here. How coincidental. And I heard, you’re gonna have to help me here, Pastor, goats and sheep, Matthew 25, I think.
Gary Walton: Yeah. Yeah.
Catherine Sarmiento: So it talked about you because I would, like, be outside and then I would go in to hear first and second readings and the gospel. So there was an interest, some desire. I didn’t really know what it was. And I so I heard that how, you know, you didn’t feed me, you didn’t give me water to drink, you didn’t visit me, you didn’t clothe me when I was naked. And when did I do this to you?
And it was like, whatever you do to your brother, do unto me. And I thought I mean, it wasn’t John three sixteen that that I heard that brought me you know, convicted me. It was it was that. And I, like, I don’t wanna do this anymore. I don’t wanna do this to Jesus.
So that just resonated with me. It stayed with me. And there was a person that was in need always in need of something and she was like a bother to me, like but I told myself the next time she calls me, I’m going to be really sweet and nice, you know, because I don’t wanna do that to
Gary Walton: Yeah.
Catherine Sarmiento: Jesus. And and then something changed and then UOG, there was I think this group was called the Crusaders. I don’t remember. I think that was stamped in their tracks, and they would pass out tracks. I would pick How that
Gary Walton: old were you at this time, Catherine?
Catherine Sarmiento: Early twenties. Early twenties. And so I would just, like, read tracks. I I would open a Bible that we had, but I didn’t understand it.
Gary Walton: Yeah. So a spiritual hunger, thirst is growing in you.
Catherine Sarmiento: Yes. Right?
Gary Walton: All
Catherine Sarmiento: in I don’t know where it happened.
Ron Sarmiento: Yeah.
Catherine Sarmiento: But I met him and his mom. They had been born again for some time. And that even I didn’t know born again meant. It was like strange. And his mother was advising us to, you know, be good with God and seek God and everything.
And we weren’t going to church, but we said that we will get good when we go to church. Mhmm. And she said, no. You get good now. Then you go.
Yeah. So that made plenty of sense. And so we we started going. And then at that church, that was at at at that church when there was not really an altar call, just like we do at Harvest. Sometimes there’s that message at the end, you know, if you haven’t received the Lord, you know, maybe you wanna consider it.
So I did it then. I don’t, you know, really remember the day Yeah. The year. It was, I believe, I wanna say 1999
Ron Sarmiento: Yeah.
Catherine Sarmiento: Latter part of the year. But there was a difference just like they say. Yeah. You say it. You mean it.
You believe in his death resurrection, you know, you repent, and if you believe it, you are going to feel a change. And he’s still working on me. Yeah. You know, I’m I still consider myself, maybe I’m not a baby, baby Christian, but haven’t graduated yet, mean, I’m maybe in
Gary Walton: You’re growing.
Catherine Sarmiento: You know, fifth grade. Smarter than a fifth grader?
Ron Sarmiento: Yeah, we’re always growing in the Lord, you never end. What was good about what Catherine was saying when we got married and we got into the Word was the beginning
Of what where we’re at now. You know, so it’s a graduation, you know, we’re constantly learning, you know, and that’s her story as how she got into the Word and going with the Lord. I have a longer story.
Gary Walton: Yeah, tell us, tell us.
Ron Sarmiento: Okay, It all started, I mean, you know, going through the motions in the Catholic environment, you know, it was just a place for me in the end, a place to meet my friends and think of where we’re going to party, you know, what we’re going to do today, who’s going to bring the beer, who’s going to bring the food, stuff like that. But fast forward to the day when I actually started to learn and know the Lord, it took a traumatic experience. Okay? My mom’s been a she left the Catholic church in the mid seventies and she became she went started attending Bible teaching churches. And she got ridiculed and talked about by her in laws, my dad’s siblings and even some of her siblings, you know, growing up.
During that time she was always, you know, pestering us, her kids, to get with the Lord. But at that time I was a teenager. I mean I wouldn’t have any of it, you know, because I was having fun. I was having fun doing this, doing that. It came to the point, fast forward again, as I got older, I was in my 20s, and what happened was my dad had a massive heart attack.
Gary Walton: Oh wow.
Ron Sarmiento: Okay. So the thing about that and it, you know, it brings tears to my eyes.
Gary Walton: Yeah.
Ron Sarmiento: Because he was my best friend.
Gary Walton: Mhmm.
Ron Sarmiento: He was he was my hero. Mhmm. And I wasn’t ready to let him go. And he was coded six times within a twenty four hour period and he was always revived. So that got me thinking, hey, you know, I can’t give up on him.
I I don’t wanna leave. I don’t want him to leave me. Not just yet. Not ready. You know, I I like I said, I looked up to him.
I wanted him to share his wisdom, his experiences with me. I mean, he was he was a a very intelligent person. Yeah. His peers, the politicians, and every they they they respected him highly. Whenever he entered the room, he commanded attention.
Mhmm. So that was the type of person he was. So I wanted to learn things from him, so I wasn’t ready to let him go. But the doctors were saying, you know, he’s not gonna make it. He’s not gonna make it.
He he died seven times in twenty four hours, you know, and we were lucky to revive him. Wow. But I wasn’t giving up. I said there’s, you know, the only thing that I know is that there may be a miracle that can happen. And the only way that miracle can happen is through the Lord.
I knew enough that the Lord performs miracles, you know, in the Catholic system. So then what happened was that my mom was there, of course, and I said to her, I said, You know, I want to start going to church and I want a copy of one of the Bibles that you have. So she gave me a Bible and I started to immerse myself in the Word. I started to go to church, you know, and the Word started to come alive.
Gary Walton: Wow.
Ron Sarmiento: It started to come alive, and and I had so much zeal to learn more. And I started to talk to to God, to Jesus. I started to speak with him. And I and I was so immersed, like I said earlier, I prayed for certain things and I really felt in the spirit that answers were coming back to me.
So for for my father, long story short, as far as my father’s lifespan, he was supposed to die within days. He lived three years more. But during those three years, as I was getting to know the Lord and and establishing a relationship with him, He was answering prayers for me, and I believe so. He, you know, I said, Lord, Lord, He’s going down. He’s going down.
He might die tonight. You know? And I said, Please keep him alive. And I really believe that the Lord did keep him alive three years longer than what they were saying. Yeah.
You know, so that was the start of me really getting to know the Lord. And I felt, like I said, you know, the Word became alive to me. And that was something that I never experienced being a Catholic, you know? And the more I read and the more I got I communicated with God, the more I understood his word. This is like thirty, forty years later, I’m still learning.
Yeah. You know, maybe I don’t have the zeal for for him like I did before, and that’s my fault. That’s on me because we’re not perfect. You know, we backslide. Mhmm.
Some people backslide. I backslidden a lot. Sure. And and going back, that was during my first marriage. It’s when I got to know him.
Sure. Know the Lord. Yeah. Well, fast forward, my dad died three years later. I backslid.
I got a divorce with my wife, my first wife, my ex wife, and I got into the world again. I went and did bad things, you know. I got involved in the wrong crowd. I even did some time. But the only way I saw as an out for me, I got to know Catherine during that time.
Gary Walton: Wow.
Ron Sarmiento: And the only way that I could save my relationship with Catherine, because we had a child at that time, that I had to go back to God, you know. And I would call her up and she would hang up on me. She goes, I told you already how many times did you say that you promised you were gonna do this and do that? I said, No, I I this time I really mean it.
She goes, How many times did you say that? So she’d hang up on me. For a whole month, I would call and call, and then she finally one day, I called and she was listening. She didn’t hang up on me, you know? And then I said, I really do promise I give you my word, you know, and we’re going to start over, we’re going to start going to church and stuff like that, seeking God because that’s the only way.
He’s the only answer. And that’s what we started to do. And here we are today. And we never wavered since that time.
Gary Walton: Wow.
Ron Sarmiento: Yeah. And we’re still learning and we’re still loving God and and and he has a lot of work to do on in me, Yes. In us.
Gary Walton: It’s a beautiful story, you guys, and you can see that. You can see that in your lives. I love, Catherine, what you said. You know, if this whole life story, don’t know, I don’t wanna oversimplify, but the idea that Jesus was just a story to now these years later, there’s a a relationship with Christ that transforms your life. I mean, that’s the distinction between a you talked about a sheep and a goat, a true believer, and someone that religion is just, you know, sort of an external piece.
Ron Sarmiento: Right.
Gary Walton: It goes from the story of Jesus to a relationship with Jesus. Right. And you can see that expressed in your life.
Catherine Sarmiento: Yeah, you know, that’s the unfortunate thing about funerals is they’re there and the words are spoken, God’s words are spoken. And one that’s repeated almost every funeral is John 14:6.
Gary Walton: I am the way.
Catherine Sarmiento: Did I get it?
Gary Walton: Yeah, you got it. John 14:6.
Catherine Sarmiento: But the address was right? Okay. So, and so that would be set every funeral.
Gary Walton: I am the way, the truth, the life. No man comes to the father but by me. Right.
Catherine Sarmiento: And then the mansions and there’s room and, you know, I’m going before you. And I’m like, okay. Are you all hearing this? Are you all hearing this? You know?
This has to move you, you know, bring you
Gary Walton: Yeah.
Catherine Sarmiento: Out of this. It’s say it again the next time. So and I and I’m not bold. I’m I still have trouble with that. But every now and then, I guess it depends on the crowd or or or the type of funeral, but or when the Holy Spirit nudges me, I’m I’m able to say at the thank you note at the cemetery that you heard you heard it this morning, you know, the words of of of the Lord.
And if you would just take that home with you and take it in your heart and and leave with it. But I don’t say it every time. It just kind of depends on if they’ll receive me or what. But that’s that’s, like, still a bothersome part about funerals.
Ron Sarmiento: You know what to me, you know what’s more bothersome is that for every funeral I hear either family members or friends say that he’s up there in heaven. What bothers me about that is that I’m not sure if that person was saved. So for them to say they’re up there with the Lord, you know, I’m not I’m not trying to doubt that. Sure. But the reality is is are you sure he was saved?
Right. Because what I know, that I don’t think he was saved. Yeah. So that that’s the thing that kind of bothers me. And and sometimes I like take them to the side, but then I don’t wanna rain on their parade, you know?
Well,
Gary Walton: I think, I think, Catherine, you said the right words, which is the Holy Spirit prompts us, right? And in those moments is the opportunities to to speak for Jesus or, you know, create opportunities for a later conversation.
Ron Sarmiento: Right. Right.
Gary Walton: Actually, I mean, really, I mean, time goes so fast, but your testimony even here with this is part of God’s work in our island when people hear that, you know, I went from knowing stories about Jesus to a relationship with Jesus. Right, right. That changed my life and gives me confidence, a true confidence based on what the Scripture teaches of my eternal security with God in heaven. Those are powerful messages that we want to keep broadcasting in every way possible across our island.
As I I think Guam is just in such a unique open door. I mean, I talk with people literally every week. I think people are searching. They’re open. They are disillusioned
Ron Sarmiento: Right.
Gary Walton: With life of stories and longing for genuine relationship with God and praying that God is as God grows us together Right. In our faith, we’ll have a greater greater influence.
Ron Sarmiento: Yes.
Gary Walton: And I’m thankful for your testimony. Thank you guys for being willing to share it here today.
Ron Sarmiento: Sure. Anytime. Thank you. Yeah.
Gary Walton: Praise god for your for the work that he’s done in your life.
Ron Sarmiento: Oh, yes. Praise him.
Chris Harper: Well and thank you for listening today to Harvest Time. Of course, at this point in the program, we always wanna personally invite you again to services at Harvest Baptist Church. There are two every Sunday, 08:45AM, 10:45AM, Japanese and Korean translation during the 10:45AM service. We also broadcast that service live here on 88.1 FM and khmg.org. We hope to see you this Sunday.
Thanks again for listening to Harvest Time.