Dear family, brethren, and friends around the world,

By God’s grace our trip continues to go well.  A little past 10:00 A.M. Friday Sammy Paet picked up Mark Mayberry and me in Manila and waded into the labyrinth of Manila traffic, rated among the worst in the world.  Fortunately, Sammy used to drive a jeepney (a Filipino taxi jeep) and knows how to traverse the side streets and byways of the bowels of Manila.  After an hour or more we emerged and proceeded to Angeles City to meet Lordy Salunga and brethren with him there.

Lordy accompanied Mark to the Bayani St. church in Santa Ana in the Pampanga Province where Rupert Gaspar labors with a new congregation.

Jerry Morales met with six brethren this past Sunday in the first meeting of another new congregation at Anao, Mexico also in Pampanga.  Jerry is from that area and has a lot of contacts and friends among denominations and liberal churches there.  Jerry brought me there and I preached on “Salvation: Amazing, Astonishing” (Isa 52:13-53:12) and on “Trust God Till the Danger Passes” (Ps. 57:1).  About 30 souls attended including a Pentecostal “pastor” and four of his members, all of whom were very attentive and told me they enjoyed the study.  During the open forum, this “pastor” was recognized to ask if he had any questions, but he said he understood everything well.

When Lordy arrived with Mark at the day’s end, they reported that Mark’s lessons likewise were well received.  There were no baptisms today, but the seed of God’s kingdom was sown and He will give the increase according to His will.  After arriving in Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija at 9:30 P.M., Mark and I ate a late supper, took some exercise, studied, and “crashed” in our beds.

Mark and I again went different directions on Saturday. Jhun Bautista traveled with Mark a couple of hours west to Canaan West, Rizal to preach morning and afternoon sermons to about 25-30 Christians.

Aries Bautista took me a couple of hours the other direction to the new congregation meeting at Andres, Munoz where we met under the trees in the open air.  About 25-30 people were singing praises to God when we arrived and I immediately spoke on “Salvation: Amazing, Astonishing!”   This lessons emphasizes that God’s ways are not man’s ways.  Both the Christians and the visitors were very attentive.  After lunch we moved to a different tree to avoid the sun’s changed position and I discussed “Why Saints Assemble” (Heb. 10:24-25).  Aries made a summary of about 15 minutes in the local dialect after each sermon.  No one was converted, but the brethren were very happy and thankful for this day of gospel preaching.

On the Lord’s Day Jhun took Mark to the 7:00 A.M. service at Agbannawag, Rizal and then both of us preached at Cabanatuan City.  Mark based his lesson on heroes of faith in Hebrews 11 and I discussed “Why Saints Assemble” from Hebrews 10.  Our attendance was about 40 with a good mixture of age groups.  When the song leader announced our presence, he called me Jim, i.e., Jim McDonald – brethren often associate me with him because he brought me to the Philippines on my first few trips.  This has happened several times over the years and I am flattered to be called by Jim’s name because of the widespread love and respect for him.

After Jhun’s wife prepared a delicious lunch, we traveled to San Jose where Mark again spoke on heroes of faith, this time focusing on women.  My sermon based on Psalm 57 was entitled “Trust God Till the Danger Passes.”  The subject seemed appropriate because the father of Jhun and Aries is blind, has cancer, and suffers from other complications with delusions at the age of 74.  His wife and children are struggling to care for him and to find the right medical help for him.  We visited him after the service and read Scripture and prayed for him.

One young lady who has been attending and learning made her decision to obey the gospel today.  Jhun took her confession of Christ and we went to a nearby river where she was baptized into Christ.  There was great rejoicing in heaven and bitter consternation in Satan’s camp!

The temperature today was about 100 F – summer has arrived in the Philippines.  Come on into the water with us, if you like hot, hot, hot.

When I was here in Cabanatuan City in February, I reported on my visit to the memorial to the Japanese prison camp where U.S. soldiers were rescued by a daring raid pulled off by combined American and Filipino forces.  As a result, someone anonymously sent me a copy of Ghost Soldiers: The Forgotten Epic Story of World War II’s Most Dramatic Mission by Hampton Sides.  The author spent years researching his subject and interviewing all the parties involved he could find, and wrote one of the most readable history books I have ever read.  Thank you, whoever you are, for sending this historic jewel.

Thank you for keeping our travels and preaching in your prayers as we press forward!

In Christian love,
Ron Halbrook

To see good Bible study material, go to:
http://www.HebronChurchOfChrist.com
http://www.biblework.com
http://www.truthmagazine.com
http://www.CEIbooks.com