Halbrook Philippine Report August 7-10, 2014
August 10, 2014th Year of Our Lord
Dear family, brethren, and friends,
Greetings to one and all from the Philippines where the cause of Christ is growing and expanding daily! Filipino brethren
often say much of this growth is made possible because of the prayers and
support of brethren in the U.S. Our financial resources as well as our visits
make it possible for them to travel and open doors for gospel preaching. They simply
cannot reach many of these places without our help. For all of this help they
are eternally grateful. May God use them and us to His glory!
On Thursday, August 7, I flew from Manila to Cebu City on the island of Cebu. Finally I was able to
see both the sun and the moon! Thank you for all the good messages you were
bouncing to me from the moon-now I am catching up on all of them. On Wednesday Jonathan
Carino and Jack Jaco preached in Bogo City to about 90 souls
and 7 were baptized. I regret not being with them as scheduled because of my
visit with Dr. Teresa Toreja, but they took other preachers with them and the
brethren got to hear several faithful men. Meanwhile I arrived safely in Cebu
City.
Friday we drove 2 ½ hours from Cebu City to Libja, a community counted
as part of Bogo City, where Gil Suico preaches. Our attendance
was 130 and 12 obeyed the gospel of Christ by submitting to him in baptism. I
preached on “The Patience of God” (summarized by Jonathan in their
dialect), “Marriage: God’s Gift to Man and Woman” (summarized by Roy
Matta), and “When Saints Assemble Christ Is With Us.” The Libja work
really began to grow within the last two years. With the generous help of U.S.
brethren, these saints now have built a church building which they are keeping
full.
We boarded a ship Saturday for an
all-night trip from Cebu City to Ormoc City, Leyte. Arriving at 4:00
A.M. we checked in at the Don Philipi Hotel, took a short rest, ate breakfast,
and traveled by van at 7:00 A.M. to reach Maac, Sogod, Southern Leyte by
9:30. A new congregation was planted there after the terrible typhoon Yolanda
last November and has grown to 50-60 through the efforts of Willem Dizon,
a converted denominational “pastor,” and Juanito Escuadra, a
seasoned gospel preacher. Today 170 souls were gathered under and around an
arbor covered by plastic sheets and someone was already preaching to them when
we arrived.
My first lesson was entitled “The Gospel
Makes Us Right with God” (Rom. 1:16-17). Because it is a rural area, Jonathan
summarized the lesson in the local Cebuano dialect. As it turned out, most of
the people could understand my English because I speak slowly and distinctly to
such groups, so the next two lessons were not summarized. My topics were
“The Prison of Sin” and “Marriage: God’s Gift to Man and
Woman.” I had the passages read from a Bible in their own dialect. It
turned out the man who volunteered to be my reader was a denominational
“pastor” who was dissatisfied and searching. During the invitation
song at the end of the day, two precious souls came forward – one was my
reader. This was a long, hard, wonderful day!
I was the first American to preach here.
After we dismissed, I ate a fruit-and-nut bar and drank juice from a fresh
coconut by using a straw (a better treatment for dehydration than Gatorade).
Amused people gathered to watch me eat, bringing young children close to see a
real white man! I was told someone was puzzled how I could breath with my
narrow nose and relatively small nostrils – Filipinos have broad noses with
large nostrils.
The moon is full, bright, and clear tonight.
I can feel a thousand good messages coming from loved ones from all around the
globe. (With special thanks to you, Timothy and Seth in Australia, and to you,
Joel in Arkansas, and to you, Payton, Cole, Paige, and Abbie in Kentucky!)
Sunday was devoted to an all-day meeting at Candadam, Baybay, Southern
Leyte. The local preacher is Juanito Escuadra. About 75 souls
gathered in and around the small church building to hear lessons on “The
Purpose of Our Lives,” “When Good People Suffer Bad Things,” and
“The Prison of Sin.” Two young men responded to the gospel call.
This was a typical Philippine summer day:
hot, hot, hot with high humidity. By the time the first sermon was finished, I
was drenched in sweat as if standing in a shower. Filipinos are accustomed to
such conditions, and having grown up I south Florida, I too an adjust to it.
Sometimes they bring an electric fan and aim it at me for relief, but I have to
request it be turned away from me because the direct air dries out my throat,
thus straining my voice and giving me a sore throat. After the services we
drank more fresh coconut juice and scooped out the tender meat of the coconut
with a spoon. In the U.S. we typically eat the mature sweat meat of the
coconut, but Filipinos prefer the meat of the young coconut which is quite soft
but not sweet.
The Candada church has grown so much since
Yolanda that about 15 members who were traveling some distance to reach the
building have planted a new congregation in their own community. After our
services were finished, we drove to the small house of Danilo Rodriguez at
Villa Trinidad in Baybay City. With all of us crammed and cramped
into the little house, I preached to them on the topic “The Grace of God
Brings Salvation.” The brethren greatly appreciated our visit. This is a
community of people who are indeed very poor. Danilo’s spartan house was
damaged by Yolanda and his wife is sickly, but this little band of saints is
happy and thankful in their new work.
The signs of horrific devastation resulting
from Yolanda can still be seen, but progress is being made little by little. We
traversed roads and bridges heavily damaged and saw crews working with sledge
hammers, shovels, and other hand tools – heavy equipment is sparse. It will
indeed be years before the people of Leyte and other Visayan Islands fully
recover from the effects of Yolanda.
By God’s grace and mercy, my ear has made
steady progress in overcoming the fungal and bacterial infections which caused
me so much trouble. Thank you for your prayers.
May God bless the work each of you are doing
in your various places of labor, as well as the Philippine
work.
In Christian love, Ron Halbrook
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