The incident that drew Eli to reading the Bible was when Perez read from it the words, “Church of God,” the name of the Church where his parents were affiliated with.

Quickly upon getting home after the Church service, Eli entered and closed the door of his room. He looked for his Bible and when he found it, he started reading. From 4 o’clock in the afternoon to 4 o’clock in the morning he never stopped until he found where the name of the Church was mentioned. When he finally found “Church of God” mentioned not just once but several times in the Bible, it was eureka to him. His Bible became his companion, replacing his old books in school and his notebooks in class.

Soon, in the Church of God where his parents were affiliated, young Eli decided to be baptized. He approached Nicolas Perez and requested for baptism. Perez refused him at first, asking him who he was and telling him that he needs to hear the doctrines first. When Perez heard the young man answer that when he hears the doctrines, he will believe, and that if he dies that same day without being baptized, Perez will be answerable to God, the old man was frightened and told Eli to go seek the baptizer. Three days after his 17th birthday, Eli was baptized in Seneguelasan, Bacoor Cavite, becoming then an official member of the Church of God in Christ Jesus on April 7, 1964.

Eli’s school became the weekly worship services in the Church of God since then. He did not march in his graduation and ignored the honor he would have received. Although he never finished the term to complete the requirements for graduation, he was still the candidate for the batch’s valedictorian, as his teachers summed up his entire previous academic grades and he had appeared qualified for the position.

Eli proved to himself and before God that he values the doctrines he received from the Scriptures above anything else. Less than a year after his baptism, he underwent the rigorous and demanding training to be a ministerial worker and became one, leading prayers and preaching in certain locales. Thus began a new chapter in his life.