It all still echoes in my ear – the scream, the laughter, the cheers, the fun; another day to commemorate and to cherish, the day when we thanked God for giving us a faithful minister who has given his life to lead our souls to salvation.

April 7, 2007, Bro. Eli celebrated the 43rd year of his acceptance of the holy baptism of God. For us members in the Church of God International, this day is truly a blessing of God for having Bro. Eli still with us up to this day.

Brethren all over the world gathered in spirit to be a part of this momentous celebration. The time differences and distance among the countries didn't serve as a hindrance for us to witness the joy as the celebration goes in Apalit, Pampanga.

We are one of them. In fact, Middle East and South East Asia Divisions have also offered their own share of Thanksgiving on this day. The members from district of United Arab Emirates, which is composed of seven locales, gathered as one in Metropolitan Palace Dubai to monitor live on this event and at the same time be a part of the offering of Thanksgiving to God.

Our joy manifests as we started singing lively songs to glorify God for all His goodness to us. The sound of happiness that we feel echoes in four corners of our venue, especially the moment that we started the what we call as 'bisyo', when we use to sing and dance continuously for a long period of time.

Young or old, married or single, no one was able to refuse to dance and sing to the tune and steps led by the choir and teatro members. As it is written from the verses of the Bible in Psalms 133:1 – "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!"

Applauds even grew louder as if you can hear the whole world clapping when Bro. Eli Soriano started singing his favorite songs so sweetly before our very ears. Not only that, as a gift for us, he prepared a very special topic to discuss before the whole congregation that made us marvel more the wisdom given to him by God. On this day, he revealed unto us the hidden mystery behind the greeting of a holy kiss.

Should we ask for more? This day has it all. Although I may fail to see it, I am pretty sure that most of the brethren are still high in spirit up to now for all the excitement that we have witnessed on Bro. Eli's birthday in spirit. Life has become marvelous for all the teachings that we hear, for all the mysteries that are being revealed to us, for the happiness that we feel inside the house of God. For all of these and for all His goodness that we don't know, we will forever glorify Him unto everlasting.

Once again, we, the Members of the Church of God International had proven to the world our unconquerable victory against all the persecutions, defamations, and fabricated lies being thrown to our congregation. With our charming smiles, echoing laughs, and merry cheers, who would say that we are under the suffocating persecutions of our enemies?

September 1, 2006, another highlighting event was witnessed here in United Arab Emirates as our chapter in Deira, Dubai offers their sacrifice of Thanksgiving before God. As it was expected, brethren from other parts of UAE such as Abu Dhabi, Al Ain, Ras Al Khaima, Fujaira, Satwa, and Sharjah arrived to be a part of this memorable occasion.

The venue was filled with people yelling in unity, "To God be the glory!" Upon entering the Thanksgiving's rendezvous, warm smiles of brethren welcomed everybody with a heartfelt message indescribable by word. The exchanging of "How are you's" was in every corner that brought sound relief to every soul knowing that each of us is in good condition.

Songs of praises sang harmoniously accompanied by snappy choreographies danced merrily would surely mend a wrenched soul. In the deepest core of our hearts may be found an engraved pain and sorrow for the unlawful retorts that we reap in our battle against wrong doctrines; fact still remains that no one could ever hinder us from offering this shout of Thanksgiving for the enumerable goodness that we receive from God.

For this, we will continuously offer Him the sacrifice of Thanksgivings as long as He lends us breath. We are faithful while waiting for that appointed time when He would announce our final victory for this spiritual battle. No amount of persecution would be equal to stop us from being grateful.