Life story. I was never alone. The life story of Angolito Balboa. The image shows a photograph of Angolito Balboa.

Many circumstances in life can make us feel lonely. The loss of loved ones, unfamiliar surroundings, and physical isolation. I have experienced

all of these. Yet, looking back on my life, I now realized that I was never truly alone.

Allow me to tell you what has led me to that conclusion. My parents' example. Father and

mother were devout Catholics, but when they learned from the Bible that God's name is Jehovah,

they both became zealous Jehovah's Witnesses. Father stopped carving images of Jesus. Instead,

he used his carpentry skills to convert the ground floor of our home into the first kingdom hall in San Juan Del Monte, a suburb of Manila, the capital of the Philippines.

After I was born in 1952, my parents included me in the excellent spiritual education they had been providing to my

four older brothers and three older sisters. As I grew up, my father encouraged me to read a

chapter of the Bible every day, and he studied many different theocratic publications with me.

Occasionally, my parents invited traveling overseers and representatives

from their branch office to stay at our home. As a family, we drew great joy and encouragement from

the experiences these brothers shared with us, which motivated us all to make the ministry a priority

in our life. The picture caption reads,

With my parents and family members.

My parents left me a legacy of faith.

After my dear mother died from an illness,

father and I began pioneering together in 1971.

But then in 1973, when I was 20 years old, my father died.

Losing both my parents left me feeling empty and alone. But the sure and firm hope found in the

Bible helped me to stay anchored and kept me emotionally and spiritually stable. Not long after my father's death, I accepted a special pioneer assignment on the isolated

island of Koran in the province of Palawan.

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