Dear family, brethren, and friends,

I left my hotel in Manila at 7:30 AM Tuesday and by the mercies of God arrived at my home in Shepherdsville, KY Tuesday at 10:45 PM (Wednesday 11:45 AM in the Philippines).  This 27 hours of travel included a few bumpy segments when the pilot required everyone to be sure our seat belts were fastened, and there were a couple of delays along the way, but God blessed us with safe travel and it is good to be home again.

It was an uplifting experience for my faith, hope, and love as I worked with Filipino saints on this 65^th trip, as it always is.  The faith and resilience of these saints was evident as we traveled and preached in provinces still struggling to recover from super-typhoon Lawin last October.  I hope the hearts of our brethren were uplifted as we studied “Take Job for an Example” and “Rejoice in the Lord Always.”   It was a joy to work with Rody and Tessie Gumpad — I had asked him to help with travel logistics and to be my guide in reaching as many brethren affected by the typhoon as possible.  It was a joy to work with so many brethren in the provinces who are pressing forward by faith in God.
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Dear family, brethren, and friends,

From San Fernando City in La Union on Thursday we drove to Caba where Carlos Domingo has preached for many years.  About 60-70 attended including brethren from surrounding areas to hear the sermon “Take Job as an Example.”  Rody did his typically excellent summary in Ilocano.  It was good to see Denver Domingo who attended our preacher training class in Tuguegarao years ago – he is faithfully preaching while supporting himself.

The Caba church started work on a large church building to accommodate gospel meetings and Bible lectureships way back in 2004 but have been paralyzed by the lack of funds to finish the construction. The building is closed in and has a roof so that they can use it but no windows, no ceiling, and many other unfinished features.  The ladies especially wish the children’s classroom could be completed and put to use.  In spite of these problems, the brethren press on and do the best they can.
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Dear family, brethren, and friends,

The Lord’s Day, February 26, began with the services at the Laoag City church of Christ where Mat Sibayan, Sr. has preached for many years.  This is a well established church with a good building in which to meet in the downtown.  They have elders and deacons.  I broke the sermon “Take Job as an Example” into two parts for the Bible study hour and the worship hour so as slow the pace.  There is never a need to translate here.  Some of the members are professionals.  About 65 attended this morning’s worship.  When Jim McDonald first brought me here in 1995, the brethren were meeting in a rented space at a hotel.  The work has come a long way over the years.

When the service ended, we proceeded out into the countryside where a retired army major has a small congregation meeting in his garage area.  His wife is visiting their children in the U.S. and others were sick, so only seven attended, but they could not have been more attentive to the verse by verse study of Mark 16 on “The Resurrection of Christ.”  The retired major used to be a member of the Pentecostal religion and he is now anxious for other people to learn the truth, so he asked about Catholic baptism on behalf of one of the ladies.  She listened intently as I explained the differences between Bible baptism and Catholic baptism.  The seed was sown!
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Dear family, brethren, and friends,

I tell newcomers to the Philippines to memorize the words “patience” and “flexibility.”  I myself have been remembering them lately.  I have not been able to get a sufficient internet signal to be able to send reports or check email–I have lost a lot of time trying even late at night when I should have been sleeping.  Oh, well, patience and…what was that other word?

More importantly, our efforts to encourage and edify the saints affected by super-typhoon Lawin in October continue by God’s grace.  From Tuguegarao, Cagayan Province we traveled two hours on winding roads through the mountains of the Kalinga Province Wednesday morning to reach the Gobgob church of Christ in a rural area of Tabuk City where Ben Vistro labors in the gospel.  There were 123 people waiting for us, some in the meeting house and some under a heavy plastic shelter at the entrance.  Knowing they had been hit hard by the typhoon, I did my best to encourage them to endure life’s trials by faith in God.  So, I taught again “Take Job as an Example.”  It was not necessary to translate the sermon, but Rody Gumpad was asked to summarize it in Ilocano to underscore some important points.
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Dear family, brethren, and friends,

Greetings to everyone in the name of Christ our Savior from the Philippine Islands!

On Monday, February 20, we met with 123 souls at the rented meeting place of the Gundaway church of Christ in Cabarruguis, Quirino Province where Willie Pastor labors as an evangelist.  Their normal attendance is about 70, but several preachers from near and far and visitors from the community helped to fill the meeting place completely.  My first lesson was “Take Job as an Example” (Ja. 5:10-11).  This book refutes the age-old theory that God immediately blesses the righteous with material blessings and immediately punishes the wicked with physical suffering.  This theory caused Job and his friends to misunderstand Job’s ordeal as punishment for sin.

Most of the audience could understand English well enough, but for the sake of the few who could not well understand Willie translated in Tagolog as I preached.  Afterward Rody gave a short summary of the key points in the Ilocano dialect spoken by some of our audience.  Rody then gave a simple Bible lesson on first principle of the gospel.
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Dear family, brethren, and friends,

After leaving my house about 5:00 AM on Thursday, February 16, I flew through Atlanta, Detroit, and Tokyo to reach Manila.  Bad weather in Japan caused delays.  By the time I got to bed in my Manila hotel room, it was 3:00 AM Saturday, about 33 hours after leaving Louisville.  Though it was a little tiring, it is better to be thankful for the safe trip and the privilege to serve Filipino saints than to complain about travel problems.  “ Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!” (Ps. 107:8).

Saturday morning Sammy Paet met me at the hotel to help repack six boxes of Bibles, songbooks, and study materials I brought on the plane.  He took them to a bus station to ship them ahead so that I can distribute them along the way as I travel and teach.  I then took care of some housekeeping duties like visiting a moneychanger and picking up a few necessary supplies.  There was also time to review some lessons and quickly check email.  I squeezed in some time for exercise in order to boost my stamina, which I will very much need to finish this trip.
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The flights November 29-30 from Louisville to Manila were safe by the grace of God.

December 2-3 was scheduled at the Kapitbahayan church of Christ in Navotas, Metro Manila.  About 40 souls attended Monday as we studied topics related to unity in Christ, gender roles, and whether God or man will bring about the end.  A radio announcer who used to hear Ben Cruz attended and was convinced we are preaching the true gospel.  He was baptized when I returned to Manila in January.  It has been a joy to watch this church progress through the years.  The elders are diligent.  The evangelists effectively use radio programs to spread the gospel.
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Dear family, brethren, and friends,

Thursday, January 5, brought mixed emotions because I always look forward to working with Manila brethren, but I hated to leave Donna, Jamie, Deborah, Timothy, Seth, and Arabelle (with her arrival still pending) in Brisbane.  The plane flew from Brisbane to Darwin, Australia, and on to Manila, a trip of 8-9 hours.  There was much turbulence between Darwin and Manila, but I managed to do a little work and I was tired enough to sleep through much of it.  After checking in at the hotel about 8:30 P.M., I ate a snack and went to the exercise room for about 40 minutes even though I felt like dropping in the bed.  I knew it would help me adjust to the trip and the change of the time zone again.

Checking email Friday morning, I learned that my good friend Mark Mayberry slipped on the ice and snow while visiting his son Nathan, Sarah, and the grandchildren in the Louisville, KY area.  Unlike my wrist injury which escaped broken bones, Mark broke seven ribs and punctured a lung.  He had just begun serving as editor of Truth Magazine this month, so he certainly did not need this setback at this time, but we are praying he can recover without any serious complications.
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Dear family, brethren, and friends,

The New Year began here in Australia 15 hours before it began in New York City.  How appropriate that the first day of the New Year began on the Lord’s Day when the saints gather to thank God for our Savior and for all the blessings of our lives!

It was a beautiful Lord’s Day here in Brisbane and we began the day with a Bible lesson I wanted to teach Timothy and Seth from Joshua 22.  After Joshua secured the land of Canaan for Israel, the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half of Manasseh were given the land of Gilead east of the Jordan River as they had requested.  Soon word reached the remaining tribes on the west bank that a huge new altar was being built at the ford of the Jordan River on the east bank.  Everyone assumed this was an act of apostasy in rejecting the worship at the tabernacle in Shiloh and the ten tribes quickly prepared to declare war on their brethren.
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