Leaving life (after Saudi) to faith

MANILA, Philippines -  One worked for 18 years in Saudi Arabia as a supervisor; the other worked 17 years as Nursing Director. Both resigned and left their and their kids’ lives to faith—and to coffee.

“I simply informed my wife via long-distance call that I will not go back to Saudi Arabia anymore. Her curt reply was ‘pinagpalit mo ang propesyon mo para magtinda ng kape? Bumalik ka at ayusin mo ang pagre-resign (you gave up your profession so you could sell coffee? Go back here and resign properly), ’” explains Renato “Rene” Macalintal, a Mechanical Engineer who worked for a big heavy equipment dealer in Saudi Arabia owned by a prince, and also as manager of a beach resort.

His wife, Cecilia “Cecile” Macalintal, a registered nurse and who worked her way up to Nursing Director of a prestigious privately-owned hospital also in Saudi Arabia, also resigned two years after that fateful overseas phone call.

During a vacation in 1999, Rene met someone from Gano Excel who discussed with him the company’s marketing plan and health benefits. Immediately, Rene liked what he heard and decided to leave the life of an Overseas Filipino Worker, and convinced his wife to do the same thing, which she eventually did. “I thanked the Lord for all the blessings, the position of Nursing Director, which is hard to achieve especially for a foreigner. But then, faith in my husband and in Jesus told me to leave my job too, even if our kids were still young,” explains Cecile.

The couple stayed in Quezon City with their children while working for Gano, and also served the Lord in many ways. The decision was a life-changing experience for them, unable to save much because, as Rene said, “what we earn abroad is what we spend when we come home for our annual vacation. Aside from that, we can’t handle the emotional and physical difficulties of being away from our kids that it even affected our health.”

But then, being with Gano Excel (now Gano iTouch Phils., Inc.) helped them survive the difficulties. They even used the company’s name, Gano, as the acronym for their spiritual battlecry, “God Always Number One.”

“We’ve always looked up to God for the gift of wisdom, understanding and knowledge as we worked for Gano, that His will be done, not ours. We remained steadfast and we thank our family in Gano like our founder, Professor Leow Soon Seng and also Mr. Leo Estevez, for their prayers and support, which had a great impact on our family,” adds Cecile.

They said that with Gano and its officials’ support and God’s undying love, they were able to live their life with serenity, joy and peace and experienced victory despite life’s trials. “In fact, we were even able to help the people whom we serve with their medical problems with the help of Gano’s medical team. Working for Gano helped us live simple and humble lives and even helped spread God’s Word in the process,” the couple explained.

Their hard work eventually netted them the position of Crown Diamond Director, with Rene speaking on the topic of motivation during seminars, and despite them having no previous experience in sales or in the networking business at all.

Rene and Cecile never regretted leaving lucrative positions in the Middle East to be involved in the networking business. “We believe it was God’s plan for us to join Gano iTouch Phils., to make us physically, financially, emotionally and most of all, spiritually stable, which we did not achieve despite our long years working abroad,” Rene said.

Mirroring their parents’ determination, even their children—Narcissus Archimedes, Paulo Venicio and Homer—are now achievers on their own right, with Narcissus working as a nurse in Saudi Arabia, Paulo as assistant marketing manager for a local knitting company, and Homer a 3rd Year Bachelor of Science in Information Technology student at the Far Eastern University.

He gives this advice to new Gano iTouch Phils. stockists: “Just focus and devote time to attain enough knowledge and information through trainings and seminars. Also, believe in the company, which is a stable one being present in more than 65 countries, its effective, high-quality and affordable, world-class products and the marketing plan, which makes Gano iTouch Phils. as one of the best companies in the country,” explains Cecile.

There is nothing to lose, really, explains Rene. “If you are experiencing the same problems we had before when we started with Gano, come and join the company. There’s really nothing to lose except for the minimal registration fee, which you will recover later a thousand fold, if you’re determined. Don’t waste your time watching telenovelas or sitting around and doing nothing; don’t waste what God gave us, which is intelligence. It’s a precious gift we can use for our sake, and our families,” the two related emphatically.