Dear family, brethren, and friends,

The Philippine preaching trip scheduled for November 29-December 20 is now in progress.  By God’s grace my flights on Tuesday-Wednesday from Louisville to Manila were safe in spite of 120 mph headwinds from Detroit to South Korea which caused turbulence and delay.  As often happens, a Catholic Filipino sitting next to me became interested in my comments about the church of Christ going back to the basics of the original teaching of Christ and he asked for my contact number.  I was glad to finally fall into bed at 2:00 A.M. Thursday.

By the way, the temperature was 85 degrees when the plane landed at almost midnight – and I forgot to bring my overcoat and snowshoes  for this freeezing winter weather! 🙂

Elias Cruz, James Paet, and some other brethren met me at the hotel at 10:00 A.M. Thursday to repack six boxes containing 400 lbs. of Bible study materials to be shipped ahead to Negros and Cebu islands where I will be teaching.  Other errands included visiting the moneychanger, getting adjustments to a cell phone, reviewing lessons for tomorrow, and catching up on some email (I fall behind during these trips and never catch up).  I also squeezed in time to get the haircut I needed before leaving home, but perhaps it was providential because the young barber from a Methodist background was interested in my work, which led to a discussion of the restoration concept.  I gave him some literature to read with information on how to contact brethren here in Metro Manila as well as in his home province.

James Paet and Junie Samontina picked me up at the hotel about 8:00 A.M. and we drove almost 2 ½ hours to reach the saints at the Minuyan III congregation in San Jose del Monte City, Bulacan Province on Friday.  James uses a GPS which guides us to all sorts of alternative roads to avoid Metro Manila’s terribly congested traffic – otherwise the trip would have been even longer.  Vicente Cay is the local preacher.  His mother-in-law died a few days ago and she was looking forward to our studies.  Vicente and his wife wanted us to come in spite of their grief, and they actually rejoice because she died faithful in Christ in the hope of everlasting life with God in heaven.

Forty people were assembled as we conducted four sessions to study “Selecting A Mate” (Ps. 127) and “The Danger of Pornography” (Eph. 5:3-5).  During the open forum questions were addressed about the one cause of fornication for divorce and remarriage, and the challenges of complying with civil government in a Catholic culture which has no formal law addressing any legal procedures.  The legal system cannot cancel God’s law, but Christians must do their best to accommodate the law as much as possible in respect for Romans 13.  We arrived back at the hotel at 8:00 P.M., exhausted but thankful for a productive day and our safe travel.

May God bless us as I will be traveling and laboring with saints on the islands of Negros and Cebu for the next couple of weeks.  I fly to Negros later today.  After the hiatus caused by two years of covid, it will be a joy to see all of these dear brethren again!  Thank you for your prayers for this work and for these saints.

In Christian love,
Ron Halbrook

To see good Bible study material, go to:
https://www.hebronlanechurchofchrist.com
https://biblework.congregateclients.com
https://truthbooks.com
https://www.truthmagazine.com