We thought that bringing the case to court would only delay our work so we ordered the men to stop working. Our enemies naturally were jubilant. From our people we had several reactions. The majority sympathized with me while others blamed me for acceding to the wishes of the owner. To transfer the effort to another place was unthinkable and would show defeat. Adventist people should never accept defeat. We are a church militant. While we were praying and asking God's counsel, a Moslem friend happened to listen to our deliberation. He said he had seen a signboard hanging on a vacant lot at a certain place. We sent a committee to investigate the location. They reported that the lot was available and the location was just as good as the one we had lost.
The owner of the lot had just arrived back in town from a vacation and knew nothing of what had been going on. We told her we would not sign the contract if there was any possibility of the priest making her change her mind later. She said that no one could dictate to her, not even the priest! She had let other denominations use her lot. So we went ahead, and as a result of the effort held there in Lamitan thirty-four persons were baptized. Included in this baptism were two Moslems. One of them is named Aida Antonio, who belongs to a royal family. I should mention here that when I baptized the first twenty-four souls the priest who had persecuted us followed us at a distance to the beach. He was seen by our brethren in a jeep as he watched us through his binoculars. We now have a very lively group of church members in Lamitan, Basilan City.
