Dear family, brethren, and friends,

Daryl and Rosalie Johnson brought me to the Rockhampton airport Wednesday where I flew at 1:15 PM to Brisbane and caught the next flight to Manila, arriving about 1:00 AM Thursday.  James Paet kindly met me and brought me to the hotel where I had a reservation.

When I made that reservation last month, I paid attention to the date of my arrival but not to the time.  I needed a reservation for the 19^th in order to have the room ready at 2:00 AM on the 20^th.  And, the hotel was fully booked.  They let me sleep on a padded bench in the arrival area, even providing a pillow and a blanket, until a room was available about 5:00 AM.  So, this time, I created my own adventure which allowed a trifold sleeping experience in one night:  sleeping on the plane, on the bench, and on the bed!  Definitely, the last was the best!  Otherwise, I believe this is called shooting myself in the foot.

James took me to the airport Thursday about noon to meet Professor (that is his name, not a title) Mashoko from Zimbabwe, Africa who was finishing his third preaching trip to the Philippines, made possible by the help of U.S. brethren.  As often happens when Christian first meet, we learned we know a lot of the same brethren.  Having heard good things about his preaching from Filipino saints, I was thankful we could finally get acquainted.  Filipinos appreciate his good work teaching God’s Word.  He was to fly home within a few hours of our meeting.

This afternoon I took some much-needed rest, exercised, and studied lessons for tomorrow when the last segment of this trip begins with visits to churches in the Metro Manila area, God willing.

Our Friday appointment was at Vicas in North Caloocan City where Ciricaco Evangelista labors in the gospel, which is a couple of hours drive from the hotel.  The audience of 51 included local members, visitors who are not yet Christians, and visiting preachers.  Rather than have a theme today, I presented mixed topics starting with “Why Do We Live?” and “The Truth about Abortion” in the morning session.  After lunch we studied “Instrumental Music” and “The Prison of Sin.”

During the open forum, there were some good follow-up questions about the lesson on abortion wherein I showed the Bible distinction between lawful and unlawful taking of life.  Someone asked if God is pleased when a nation eliminates capital punishment as the penalty for murder.  No, He is not pleased because He gave capital punishment to protect the sanctity of human life (Gen. 9:6; Rom. 13:1-4).

Someone asked if God holds a mother accountable for the loss of an infant due to an accident or medical complication.  No, the mother is innocent in such cases, but most people do not realize how deep the wound is in a mother’s heart when she loses a child by miscarriage, as the question reflects.  Also, I explained that if the mother lives a faithful Christian life, she will be reunited with her infant in hades at death.

We drove just under two hours Saturday to reach Santa Maria, Bulacan to work with Alex Estoy and Dominador (“Domie”) Guevarra.  Sixty souls were gathered, most of them in their teens and twenties.  This was a very attentive audience with several people taking copious notes.  I preached a series of four sermons on the theme “Life, Death, and Beyond.”

During the open forum, I was asked to clarify “paradise.”  The word literally means a beautiful and pleasant garden and it is used in three ways in Scripture: in reference to the Garden of Eden, to the realm of comfort in hades, and to heaven.

Then, more clarification was requested about the nature of the resurrected body.  We took time to study more carefully 1 Corinthians 15:35-44 which reminds us that God made many kinds of bodies such as plants, animals, bodies on the earth (mountains, volcanoes, continents, oceans, etc.), and heavenly bodies.  Therefore, we can fully trust Him to give us a spiritual body on the resurrection day, even though we cannot explain that body in great detail.

The humidity was low today and we met on the fourth floor of a business building owned by Domie where there is no outside wall.  Therefore, we received a comfortable and steady breeze all day.  It was a great joy to work with this congregation again!