December 30, 2007 was when I first came to Dubai. During my first few months there, I went to church at The Evangelical Church of Dubai (TECD). I was just a church-goer. I wanted to get involved but there wasn’t any opportunity or I just simply didn’t ask.

August 2008, it was probably the second or third Sunday, I can’t really remember. I was invited by Ate Veron at All Nations Full Gospel Ministry Dubai (ANFGM). We’re from the same town. She knows my family and my family knows her. Somehow, my parents got in touch with her so she called me up and asked me to come to the church where she attended.

After the service, she pulled me aside and told me that we were going to a birthday celebration and it’d also be the worship team practice. She asked me if I’d like to join the team. I promptly said yes.

At the practice, I was hiding at the back because I was scared to be called up. But yeah, I got called. I was asked what I could do. Before I went to Dubai, the most recent instrument I played during assembly was the bass guitar. So I said I could play the bass guitar, guitar and keyboard but not really well. I told them that I could also sing and dance. “Basically, whatever is asked for me to do, I’ll do it,” I added.

That day, I sang with the singers but Ate Veron was in the dance ministry so that was where I ended up. So I’d been a part of the ANFGM Dubai Worship Team since that time until I left Dubai on January 22, 2011.

So where’s Noel all those time? You might be asking. My first few months in ANFGM Dubai and a part of the worship team? I really don’t know. I can’t remember if he was there in the birthday celebration. I didn’t really notice him at all.

But soon, I finally learned the names of the worship team members. It was a huge group, mind you. Give or take 40-60 members. Yep 40-60 members in the worship team alone. And yes, Noel is in the worship team as well. He plays the bass guitar mostly, but he can also play drums and guitar.

Generally speaking, I’m a friendly person. Not long after I first attended at ANFGM Dubai, I was already in laughing terms with almost all the worship team members. I said “almost” because Noel wasn’t one of them. I didn’t smile at him whenever I met him on the corridors or when our eyes met. I would just look on the floor. Not because I secretly admired him. It was actually the opposite. I was a little bit annoyed at him because he was a show off. Oh what a show off he was! He would strut in the room head held all high in his baggy pants and loose shirts very sure of himself.

But I’ve taught myself to ignore such people. So, I ignored him. It was hard I tell you because he was always noisy. Well not really ignore as in going to greater lengths as if he didn’t exist. Not that way. More like tolerated. Yeah, that’s the right term. I just let him be. I’ve added on Facebook all the people I knew in ANFGM, except him. Looking back now, it was funny how I was doing that. I would click “Add” until all was left was his. I never took his number. I mean, I wasn’t close to the guy and I didn’t really have anything to do with him. If he existed or not, it wouldn’t affect me either way—that sort of thing.

It went that way until May 2010. I got a call from my worship leader, Tita Emma, asking me if I’d have dinner with her. I said of course! It wasn’t at all unusual for her to call out of the blue and invite me to dinner because we’re friends. It was actually a normal thing for both of us. She said she was inviting the six people who were closest to her heart. I wasn’t surprised. I would be more surprised if I wasn’t close to her heart.

She picked me up from my flat and we drove to Jumeirah Beach. When we arrived there, one of the people she invited shocked me. There were seven of us—Tita Emma, me, Kuya Oscar, Sai, Turks, Bugoy and Noel. I was like, what, Noel’s close to Tita Emma’s heart? This guy?

Well anyway, so she called us because we were close to her, the leader of the 60-member worship team, and yet we were considered as the naughty ones. Well, I for one asked her numerous times already to permit me to quit the worship team. I was having personal issues and I felt that I didn’t have the right to be in the worship team. But she would just not let me go. So, what I did was to not just attend the practices. It was the same thing with Sai, Turks and Bugoy. They have their own personal issues. So people were talking already because we were still in the worship team. Kuya Oscar and Noel didn’t have issues. We were all called because Tita Emma wanted us to be accountable with each other. I took that to heart.

I was already close with Sai, Turks and Bugoy. Turks, Bugoy and I lived in the same house before so we already have that connection. Sai is Turks’ close friend and sometimes we took long walks talking just about anything. Kuya Oscar, I’m in laughing terms with him. Noel. Well, I look up to Tita Emma and I respect her judgment. So, I decided that maybe, there’s more to this guy than meets the eye. And, I added him on Facebook.

So I faced my personal issues, gave them to God and faithfully attended practices not because of Tita Emma but because I really wanted to make God smile. There was no change in my heart towards Noel. I still thought he was a show off but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to try and befriend him.

Looking back now, I think he tried to befriend me also. Because I remember, he’d just come up to me and ask if I knew this or that song. And there was also one time when he had me listened to one of the songs he knew and we even tried to bluetooth it to my cp unit but it just wouldn’t work.

Some weeks after Tita Emma talked with us, I began attending again the church’s Singles Obedient to the Word Evangelizing for Redemption or, simply, SOWER group Bible Study every Saturday. And then one of the SOWERs celebrated her birthday in our BS and they invited Noel to come. He was usually with the JAM (I forgot the whole term), the church’s teen group, so I thought he was very much younger than I was that I never imagined I would fall for him. It never crossed my mind. If at this point, some prophet would tell me that I’d decide to marry Noel, I’d tell the man right away that he was a false prophet and that he should kneel before God and beg for his forgiveness before he would send some fire down from heaven to consume him for saying such outlandish thing. But I was happy that he attended the BS. It reminded me that I should be inviting Sai and Turks as well. Kuya Oscar and Bugoy are married already.

A couple of weeks after that, one of the SOWER core leaders asked me to exhort on our SOWER BS. I invited Noel, Sai and Turks. I told them it was for moral support but I just wanted them to attend our BS as part of my responsibility of being accountable to them. Sai and Turks were attending before but they stopped. Personal issues. Noel said yes. Sai and Turks said they’d try.

My exhortation day came. I got a phone call from Tita Emma inviting me to dinner with Ptr. Roman that night. I said I couldn’t join them because I was assigned for exhortation. I knew she’d invite the other guys as well, so I wasn’t counting on Noel, Sai and Turks to come to the BS. I mean, it was Ptr. Roman they would have dinner with. Even I, if I could have thought of some excuse, would choose dinner with Ptr. Roman over my exhortation!

But, Noel came to the BS. I used him and two other guys for my illustration and in the middle of my exhortation, he got a phone call. He took the call. I knew it was Tita Emma. I thought he’d definitely go after the phone call. But he didn’t. He stayed.

Before the BS ended, we picked verses for the next round of exhortation. I was treating Noel like I’d treat a baby Christian because I didn’t want him to stop attending the SOWER BS. So I told the others to excuse Noel, but they all refused and just laughed at me. Well, so I guess I was the only one who didn’t know Noel’s capabilities.

After some weeks of being nice to Noel, I felt that he was backing away. I don’t really know how I felt it but, I felt it. It was a feeling of being awkward and, I don’t really know how to describe it. But it was this uncomfortable feeling, as if the person doesn’t want you near him. That kind of feeling. I thought that maybe he wasn’t comfortable with me being friendly with him. So I figured that it was best not to be too nice to him because I didn’t really want him to think of my being nice to him as more than just being nice. Simply putting it, I didn’t want him to think that I liked him, because at that time, I really didn’t. I just didn’t see him in that kind of light.

Then, he suggested that we should offer up a song one Friday in the church. He let us hear the song and I thought I heard it already. The core leaders decided that Monzour and I would have solos and everybody else would sing with us in the chorus. So, since I felt like he wanted to run away from me when I came near him, I asked Chris to ask him for the mp3 of the song. Then he said that it was the song he had me listened to.

And so days went by. Noel eased up towards me. Again, I don’t know how I felt it, I just felt it. Not eased in a way that he became extra nice to me to the point that I’d think that he liked me. No not that. I mean, it began to feel normal—like casual friends. Yes. That. Casual friends. Not close. One of them people I was in laughing terms with. And laugh I did. He was a funny guy—the clown, you might say. He can make everyone laugh. Up until this point, it would still be impossible for me to fall for this guy. I just simply didn’t think about it. It never really crossed my mind. I never even wondered the what ifs. The thought just simply didn’t come to me.

Tita Emma and I habitually exchanged emails and she frequently called. So one day, she called up and said that she was invited to speak in ANFGM Ras Al Khaima (RAK). And because I was close to her, I said without even thinking, “Tita, me and Chris will go with you.” She said ok.

So it was decided, come Friday, we’d go with her to Ras Al Khaima. I slept at Chris’ place the night before so Tita Emma went there to pick us up. And who else would be there. Yep. Noel was with Tita Emma. We offered a song, impromptu. We sang “Agila”. And after that, he began calling me Agila.

Well, so time passed, October came and I thought it would be better if I quit the worship team and just join the team who taught kids during church service. I was missing Daiks terribly at that time and apart from the time zone difference, my schedule between work and church activities simply didn’t give me a chance to chat with him. So I thought if I just taught kids during church service, I’d have some free time to talk with Daiks.

So I told Tita Emma about this and once again, asked for her permission to let me go. She told me to attend the worship team meeting the following Friday and inform the whole team about my decision.

Friday came. Tita Emma informed the team about my decision and then she moved on to the points of the meeting—mainly schedules. I wasn’t really listening because I thought I was officially off the team.

And then, she mentioned that the team was asked by ANFGM RAK for help in their anniversary. They asked for one song leader, 2 backup singers, keyboardist, guitarist and bass guitarist. She also said that they specifically asked for Judith, one of our song leaders, and me as backup singers. I looked at her and she said, “If you don’t believe me, I’ll show you their e-mail.” That was just incredible for ANFGM RAK to actually name me in their request. I mean really, I was ANFGM Dubai’s dancer! I didn’t even know they know I exist! We voted for the song leader and Kuya Alvin got the most number of votes. As for the instrumentalists—Jeus in the keyboard, Bugoy in the guitar and Noel in the bass guitar. The instrumentalists didn’t really come as a surprise because Tita Emma always choose these players.

The meeting didn’t end there. Tita Emma also asked for suggestions on December activities. There were a lot of suggestions. I was just sitting silently listening to all the suggestions and trying to combine all their suggestions. Then I spoke up and said that we could do a musical for our fund raising for the stranded OFWs. Me and my big mouth! I should really never speak up in meetings. The responsibility of writing a script fell on none other but me.

Needless to say, I became involved in even more activities. The script was written with the help of Tita Emma and three other SOWERs, the characters were decided and responsibilities were disseminated. I made sure that the responsibilities were properly distributed and that things would work out even without me because, known to no one else in the church but me and Chris, I was thinking of taking a vacation leave that December for Ate Lea’s wedding. I was just waiting for my bosses to approve it.

One of the scenes was the human video “Tomorrow”. And yes, Noel was appointed as the suitor. I didn’t decide on this. This was unanimous decision. But as it happened, I would teach this human vid.

My boss didn’t allow my leave. I was devastated. I didn’t know how to tell Ate Lea. It was good that I had a lot of practicing to do that I didn’t have time to mope around and be all depressed that I wasn’t allowed to come back here in the Philippines that December.

As Christians, we always say that everything happens for a reason. I don’t really want to read a lot into it, but the only reason I can think of why my leave was rejected was so I could get to know Noel more.

And so, we had practice almost every night, plus the practice in RAK. I didn’t have any choice but to get Noel’s number because people seemed to look to me to organize when and where people would be picked up for the RAK practice. Little did I know that my initial impression on Noel was also changing. It didn’t happen overnight. It was a gradual process. By this time, I was already toying the idea that it would be nice if we could be close friends—him, Chris and I.

I told Chris about this and she said, “Noel likes you.” I laughed at her. I was like, what, of course not. It’s impossible. Never. But she would just not stop telling me that Noel indeed liked me. The more I thought about it though, the more I knew for certain that Chris was being ridiculous.

Well, firstly, I thought that Noel was courting one of the other SOWERs. I even had the feeling that Noel just started attending SOWER BS because of her. Ok, so given that he stopped courting her. Even then, I never thought it would be possible for a guy who liked a kind of girl like her to like a kind of girl like me. I mean, she was beautiful, very lady-like, prim and proper, you know, everything a guy could wish for. And me, the total opposite. So yeah, I couldn’t stress it more, it was really, really, I mean, really impossible.

Secondly, I thought that I was way older than him. So yeah, even if Chris was right, I could never accept a life-partner who could almost be my son. Sure he was true to his words and he was funny, but no, not the guy for me, or so I thought. There were nights when his face would pop up in my mind and I’d shake my head vigorously and would keep saying, “No, Lord. Please po. Not him.” But I still wanted him as a close friend. I didn’t have to make an effort towards that though because all the circumstances seem to be pointing that way.

We texted, mostly would start about the musical and then would go to personal questions. We would also chat at night. And Chris, in the midst of all this, well, I think she became a little jealous that I was spending a little more time with Noel. This was a little strange to me because I knew for a fact that Chris and Noel are friends. So I told Noel that I had to like refrain a little from our budding friendship because Chris was being ridiculous again. He cried! Definitely strange. Anyway, because I was all chirpy happy at that time, I didn’t want my friends to have bad feelings towards each other. I assured both of them that things would be ok.

Chris didn’t stop badgering me that Noel liked me. I still thought it was impossible. So, I gathered all the courage I could muster and asked him, stone-faced, if by some sort of bizarre miracle, indeed, he, of all people, liked me as in liked leaning towards a different kind of relationship other than friendship because I wanted to shut Chris up once and for all.

He said, yes.

I was dumbfounded, flabbergasted, stupefied, confused—I felt my jaw dropped. I couldn’t be more shocked if he told me that he could fly.

And then, it hit me. Maybe he was just kidding so I started laughing. By this time, I was very used to his jokes. He joked about how I perspired. I would strike back because he perspired more. He joked about how fat I was. And I would think up of something witty to say back because he’s not exactly thin either. He joked about my pants. And in this, I didn’t have anything to say, I would just laugh. But I would joke about how he used vinegar to everything he ate so I would offer vinegar to him even if we were eating cake. It was all joke, joke, joke. We would even fill up other friends’ facebook wall teasing each other.

So I asked him if it was a joke because it was very funny for me. He said, he wouldn’t joke about something like that. I stopped laughing.

As it turned out, he’s a year younger than me.

So why Noel?

He asked for my worship leader’s permission to court me. He asked for my parents’ permission to court me. He didn’t win over my parents, but my mother told him that it wasn’t them who’d decide. I don’t know if my mom can remember that she said that though. And apparently, he only did this to me.

Why Noel?

He loves the Lord.

He loves and cares for Daiks as much as he can despite the circumstance; seen in tangible ways. He talks to Daiks. He even paid for Daiks’ tuition fee even if I didn’t ask him to. And when I pulled Daiks out of the school, he didn’t scold me about the tuition fee.

Many people say that they like kids but not all of them are liked by the kids. But Noel, kids love him! He never told me so, I know so. Not just by the kids in the church, but even by his own nieces and nephews.

Personal issues can’t keep him from coming to church or fulfilling his responsibility.

He’s always on time, early even. If he’s late, there’s always a valid reason and never his fault.

I’ve said this earlier, but Noel is true to his words. Even if it meant that he’d miss the dinner with Ptr. Roman, he still came when it was my turn to exhort because he already said yes to me. If he said yes to you, he’d definitely be there.

He’s funny. I said this already and I’ll say it again, he can make everyone laugh.

He won’t be able to sleep if the people who are important to him are angry with him. He’d talk to them until they’re ok with him. I’ve seen him do this with Tita Emma.

He cares for his pastor, so the pastor’s wife likes him that she even cooks for him, not once but countless times already.

He can cook.

He prefers to wash his clothes manually rather than drop them inside the washing machine.

He doesn’t enjoy horror films.

He loves his mother.

He loves his siblings. He helps them out as much as he can.

He likes mirrors, which is very funny for me.

If I’m perspiring, I don’t need to be embarrassed because he’s sure to be perspiring more.

He’s a musician.

He can dance.

Can he sing? Of course! The instrumentalist is always out of tune though when it is his turn to sing.

Simple things make him smile.

His laugh is contagious.

He’s not afraid to show that he’s crying.

Normally, Filipino OFWs working in Dubai look down on their officemates of other nationalities. So, they don’t really get along well with each other. But with Noel, they call him brother.

If you leave Noel in one place where he’s never been before, when you return, you’re sure to see him laughing with some people.

I have a pet peeve with pens. The tail of the pen’s cap must be aligned to the pen’s printed name on its side. I thought I was unique on this. I was wrong. He’s the same way.

He’s not really very particular with colors, which means I can paint the whole house orange and he won’t mind. Haha!

But before I even get to observe all these things, I already asked myself if I can see myself taking care of him and loving him even if he turns vegetable. Ok so you might think I’m weird, which I definitely am, or maybe you’d think it is morbid for me to even think of such possibilities. But I am aware that he’s not perfect. Sooner or later, I’m sure that I’m bound to see some traits of him that would make me want to pull out my hair. I know that things can get really rough. I know that things won’t be always ok. So, I thought of the worst possible thing that could happen which would remind me that I already have determined and decided that I would love this person no matter what. And that was what came to my mind.

For taking care of him, I had to test if I could carry him. I mean, if he was a vegetable, I had to carry him to the bathroom to bathe him, right? And if he had to go to the toilet, I also had to carry him there and then wash his bottom.

So yeah, before I said yes to him, I asked him if he would let me carry him on my back. He laughed and asked why. I told him I wanted to make sure that I could carry him if he suddenly fell. Yep. I could carry him. And then he said, “We’d never reach the hospital in time this way. I should teach you how to drive.”

And I thought I was being thoughtful and sweet!

I had another major heartbreak a few months before I get to know Noel. My soul was so crushed. I said, “Lord, I can’t go through this again. If ever it is your will for me to have a life-partner, I want the next guy to be the last man I am going to love.” I took Matthew 19:12 to heart. Noel came into my life when I was so content with the Lord that I was ok if I didn’t get married at all.

I didn’t hear a voice from heaven saying, “Thus saith the Lord…”

The night before I finally said yes to Noel, my heart was troubled. I couldn’t understand what was happening to me. Even now, I don’t know why I cried then. I cried and cried until I couldn’t cry anymore.

Then I saw him again in the church the following day. It was the day of the musical. Things went superbly. I was very proud of all of the actors and actresses. Even in putting up the props in between scenes, from our youngest kid to the adult, everyone was helping out. I’ve never seen the team more united that day.

Night came. Noel and I agreed to meet. While we were walking, I had this tugging in my heart that he was the one. Before that day ended, he said that he loved me and I replied in the affirmative. The moment I said those three words, peace flooded my soul and silently I uttered, “Thank you, Lord.”

Ecclesiastes 3:11 says that God has made everything beautiful in his time. Noel came at a time when I have learned how to give my all, never expect anything in return, and yet still keep on giving. I now believe that God made me go through where I had been so I would learn how to truly love.

Now I know why my answer with the question, “Why Noel?” is “I just know”. Because to expound is to give an eight-page worth of speech.

Update:

My parents love Noel and they are sure that this is the will of God.