Halbrook Philippine Report July 29-August 6, 2014
August 6, 2014th Year of Our Lord
Dear family, brethren, and friends,
I left home on Tuesday, July 29, and by God’s grace the flights from
Louisville to Manila went well. The effects of a distant typhoon created some
bumpy stretches during the last four hours from Japan into Manila but not
severe. The typhoon which had already passed the Philippines continued dumping
rain on Manila the first few days here, with the promise of another one on the
way. This is typhoon season and an average of 20 typhoons hit the Philippines
annually.
There is never a dull moment in this work. After the computer at the Delta counter in
the Louisville airport checked in the boxes I was bringing to the Philippines
with Bibles and study materials, it would not accept my suitcase. After we
spent 30 minutes trying to solve the issue, I had to leave it behind and board
the plane. This means I arrived in Manila with the clothes on my back, my
computer, my projector, and the boxes. Elias Cruz met me at the hotel on
Thursday to help me separate the materials labeled for different
destinations, re-pack them, and ship them on ahead.
Meanwhile, Donna found a way to ship my suitcase, but it will arrive at the hotel in
Manila after I leave for two days preaching on the island of Masbate.
Fortunately, I will pass through Manila Wednesday on the way to the island of
Cebu and I will pick it up, God willing.
Also, I ask your prayers to help me fight an ear infection. The medications I took
before leaving home helped and Dr. Teresa Toreja prescribed some
additional medicine today.
Atoy Franco is a faithful brother who drives me to many preaching appointments in the
Manila area. Today (Friday) he took me to the Sampaloc church on
Samar St. where TonyBoy Hornedo preaches. These saints are deaf
mutes. I presented two lessons on the home: “Selecting a Mate: The Lord
Builds the House” and “Marriage: God’s Gift to Man and Woman.”
These saints were very attentive and animated as they read the PowerPoint
charts with my additional comments on the blackboard, and as a brother repeated
the material in sign language. This makes the teaching process move very slowly
because the audience is constantly signing to each other to clarify each point.
Someone might even go the board and write a question for clarification, and
then we resume.
They meet in a cramped room without windows located a little below street level reached
by a narrow passage way. The constant rain dumped water onto the floor which
had been partly mopped up, but the humidity was like a rain forest! It was so
heavy that moisture covered us and everything we were carrying. It was 15
minutes before the PowerPoint charts could be seen because the projector bulb
and lense were coated in moisture. Even though we were sweating, the air was
relatively cool which was a rare blessing for this time of year.
Because of the need to constantly clarify, the first lesson took over two hours and the
second one 1 ½ hours. Then there was a question and answer session. Finally, I
distributed Bibles, books, workbooks, and tracts which were received as
precious treasure!
Saturday Eli Ebuenga gathered an audience of 30 for a gospel meeting
at the National Road church of Christ in San Pedro, Leguna. He has been working in
cooperation with other preachers to establish a church which includes the
poorest of the poor living at the dump site. Typically, in the Philippines
scavengers settle in and around dump sites (garbage dumps) to eke out a living
by selling articles which are left for burning. Since these people are not well
educated, my lessons on “The Patience of God” and “The
Resurrection of Christ” were translated by Elijah and by Ely respectively.
Our audience was very attentive.
Three precious souls obeyed the gospel of Christ. We took them to a swimming pool to
baptize them. One was a visitor from Manila who works in the financial district
of Makati and who remembered hearing Jack Jaco speak at a Rotary Club meeting
on Negros in 2014 and the seed remained in his heart! We are amazed at God’s
power and grace when we see the poorest of the poor baptized along side the
well educated who work in the Makati district!
On Sunday, August 3, Atoy and I went to the Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa
to meet with Willie Pastor and the church in the Receiving and
Diagnostics Center (RDC). There was an audience of 52 men, most of whom had
already been baptized into Christ. The lesson was intended to edify the saints
as we studied “When Saints Assemble Christ Is With Us” (Matt. 18:20).
Willie translated for me, which slows the pace of teaching, so I divided the
study into two parts.
Having been a model inmate for four years, Willie is eligible for early release, but
there have been problems processing the necessary paper work. No one can
predict when he might be released. His spirits are good and he is trying to
make wise plans regarding his future life and service to God including the
possibility of returning to preach in the prison from time to time. We stayed
for over an hour visiting with Willie and a couple of other brethren to
encourage them.
In the afternoon we drove to the home of Jimmy Battung in Paranaque City
where a church meets. I taught the same lesson to 15-20 souls who were gathered,
and then we had an open forum. Rick Halnas joined us from Timaru, New
Zealand by Skype while his wife and children worshiped with us (his son led the
singing). Rick is married to Malaine, Jimmy’s daughter, and their two children
have been converted. Another grandson, Troy, has also been converted.
I got up at 3:30 A.M. to take a flight Monday to Masbate City on Masbate
Island where Greg Jumao-as gathered denominational “pastors” and friends for two days of study. Jonathan Carino and
Jack Jaco went with me. Because of transportation problems people
dribbled in all morning until about 65 were gathered. My first study was an
overview of the Bible entitled “The Message of the Bible: Salvation in
Christ.” Jonathan then taught on the three dispensations. My next lesson
was “The Two Covenants.” Jack spoke on “The Bible Is the Word of
God.”
The open forum scheduled for 30 minutes continued for an hour and a half with questions
ranging from why there are racial differences in humanity to whether there are
living apostles today. One man told me he taught in a Baptist Bible school for
a number of years, but he learned many new things today. He asked me to put all
my PowerPoint charts on his USB so that he can study them again on his computer
(few here have computers).
Our studies continued Tuesday with growing interest. To balance the content
of the material presented, I began today with a study of “The Purpose of
Our Lives” followed by “Salvation by Obedient Faith” (a textual
study summarizing Romans). Jonathan taught on grace, faith, and obedience
followed by Jack in the afternoon on contrasts between the two covenants. My
last two lessons focused on fundamentals of the faith: “The Gospel Makes
Us Right with God” and “Back to the Bible.”
During the open forum one man asked if there is a difference between baptism in Matthew
28:19 and Acts 2:38 regarding a formula of words to be spoken. When I pointed
out the two passages explain the meaning of baptism without giving a formula of
words, he was satisfied. Both days our audience has been in a learning mode,
not a resist-object-fight mode as sometimes happens. We definitely expect to
see fruit from these labors.
It was good to discover three brethren laboring in the Masbate City area who can
encourage Greg Jumao-as: Loreto Lacson, Edizon Almencion, and Simeon
Caayon. They attended both days with their wives.
Wednesday morning we got up at 4:30 A.M. to catch the flight back to Manila.
Jonathan and Jack went on ahead to Cebu City while I stayed today in Manila.
Atoy Franco drove me to see Dr. Teresa Toreja for a follow-up visit
regarding my ear infection. She found the ear is healing and gave me another medicine to supplement the process.
Also, my suitcase finally arrived from the U.S., so I finally have more than
two changes of underwear! God willing, I will catch up with Jonathan and Jack
tomorrow.
Meanwhile, I saw the sun for a few minutes at the Masbate airport this morning for the
first time on this trip, but the clouds and rains are still here in Manila and
I cannot see the sun or the moon. I will try to catch up with all of you
sending messages via the moon ASAP! Thank you for your thoughts and prayers,
and please always include Donna, my most patient and dedicated helper.
In Christian love, Ron Halbrook
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