Dear family, brethren, and friends,

I got up before 4:30 A.M Saturday to catch a plane to Narita, Tokyo, Japan, arriving about 1:00 P.M.  Kim Caa and four other brethren met me at the airport.  We drove 4-5 hours to reach Yaizu, Shizuoka where we had supper in a restaurant which is fully automated.  The menu is an iPad and a robot brings the order to the table with the bill.  The bill was read electronically at the counter and I paid with a credit card.  There were  humans in the kitchen.  We arrived at the hotel along the seaside about 10:00 P.M.  Even though exhausted, I walked by the ocean under a full moon in order to gain stamina for the next day’s labor.  It always lifts my heart to see that moon and to know you can see it, too!

So many Japanese people have miniature dogs in public, I asked why.  It is so expensive to live here that couples often choose to have dogs rather than children.  How sad!

Dear family, brethren, and friends,

After Mark and I arrived in Iloilo on Panay Island Sunday afternoon, we took some exercise, ate supper, and prepared our lessons to start the lectureship on the Book of Revelation Monday morning.  In recent years, Jack Jaco and I have invested a lot of time and effort teaching denominational preachers in this area.  Hernane Equipado was recently baptized and is gradually teaching his Baptist congregation the true gospel, and baptizing them as they learn and are ready to obey Christ.  

Hernane and Jack arranged this lectureship because the denominations are saturated with the doctrine that Christ’s kingdom will not come until the premillennial reign of Christ.  They do not understand the church of Christ is the kingdom of God on the earth today, beginning in Acts 2.  The doctrine of Christ reigning in Jerusalem in an earthly kingdom for 1,000 years is utterly false.

Dear family, brethren, and friends,

On Monday Mark Mayberry flew from Manila to Bacolod City, Negros Occidental in the morning and I flew there from Cebu City in the late afternoon.  We both had safe and uneventful flights and were met by Jack Jaco. When I walked in the evening, I finally saw a small slither of the moon, so I know it is still there at last!

Mark and I rested Tuesday, worked on email, studied and reviewed sermons for tomorrow.  I got to bed before 11:00 P.M., which is a major accomplishment!

Dear family, brethren, and friends,

Our classes here in Cebu City continued Friday with a full house hearing Harry’s lessons on baptism and the false doctrines of inherited sin and salvation by faith only.  After my session on the Bible doctrine of predestination verses the errors of Calvinism, it was time to open the theme of “Premillennialism.”  I discussed the so-called rapture (a silent secret coming of Christ to remove all Christians from the earth), the false claim that Israel will be restored to its land again, Christ’s present reign in the new kingdom of God on the earth which is his church, and the 1,000-year victory of the saints over the Roman Empire under Christ’s reign in Revelation 20:4.  The 1,000 years are figurative language for a total and complete victory. 

Our open forums continue to address a lot of important topics.  It is argued that if man has free will, he is more powerful than God when he does things contrary to His will.  To answer this quibble, we ask, “Does God have the power to give man free will?”  The answer is a resounding yes, and that does not make man more powerful than God.  God is in control because He assigns consequences to our actions, which we cannot escape.  

Dear family, brethren, and friends,

The themes on Wednesday for the preachers training classes were “How to Establish Bible Authority” and “The Mission and Work of the Church.”  I taught how to establish and apply Bible authority for what we must preach and practice.  Next, I dealt with the difference between individual responsibility and local church action so that church will be distinctive as the church, not a social agency.  Meanwhile, Harry discussed handling the word rightly, the importance of context, and applying Bible examples.  His last study focused on the spiritual nature of the church.  Jack Jaco studied fulfilling the church’s mission without maintaining human organizations to do the work of local churches.

The open forum had a good mix of questions including how can we be sure Galatians 6:10 (“do good unto all men”) discusses individual duty and not local church action.  The context makes this absolutely certain because verses 1-9 repeatedly use nouns (“a man”) and pronouns (“he,” “himself”) referring to individual action rather than church function. 

Dear family, brethren, and friends,

On Saturday, April 11, James Paet dropped Harry and me at the Manila airport, and we flew to Cebu City on Cebu Island, arriving about 2:30 PM.  Jonathan and Nanette Carino were waiting to bring us to the hotel.  The flight went well and it is always a joy to work with the Carinos and other brethren here in Cebu City!

Raquim Miego drove me an hour and a half Lord’s Day morning to reach the Seaside church in Toledo City where Shamar Cajigas preaches.  We crossed high mountains on fairly decent roads, but Raquim had to dodge many places where landslides had occurred, and the road was being repaired.  Our attendance was 297 including many teenagers and young people in their 20’s and 30’s.  My lessons were “Come Out of Her, My People” (Rev. 18:4) and “Modest Dress through the Ages” (1 Tim. 2:9-10).  The audience could not have been more attentive and appreciative.

Dear family, brethren, and friends,

A merciful God allowed me to join Jim McDonald preaching in the Philippines in 1995 and now this is the 94^th trip – where did the years go so rapidly?  Evangelists Mark Mayberry from Alvin, TX and Harry Osborne from Tuttle, OK are in the Philippines about the same time as myself and I will be able to work with each of them part of the time.  My schedule covers April 6-May 8 including the last week in Japan, God willing. 

It seems no matter how much I try to prepare ahead, the last night at home is filled with last minute details requiring attention.  As is typical, I slept only an hour and a half, and then got up at 5:30 AM Monday to go to the airport.  I would never make it without Donna’s constant help organizing and packing clothes and other items for me to use.  There are no adequate words to thank her for getting me off and running these 94 times!

Dear brethren,

Thank you for keeping my travels and teaching in your prayers April 6-May 8 including part-time work with 2 other brethren from the U.S. as noted below — they, too, will appreciate your prayers.

PHILIPPINE TRIP ITINERARY Apr. 6-May 8, 2026

Apr 6-7 (Mon-Tues) Ron travel from Louisville, KY to Manila, Philippines. Mark Mayberry & Harry Osborne will also arrive.
Apr 8 (Wed) Repack boxes, run errands
Apr 9-10 (Thur-Fri) Ron & Harry: Lectures on Issues Dividing Brethren at Kapitbahayan, Navotas, Metro Manila
[Apr 9-16 (Thur-Thur)  Mark will teach in Tuguegarao, Cagayan area] Apr 11 (Sat) Ron & Harry travel to Cebu City, Cebu
Apr 12 (Sun) AM Ron preach at Seaside church of Christ, Mainggit, Toledo City with Shamar Cajigas; PM preach at Balamban church of Christ with Cornelio Rda.  
Harry preach in Cebu City Apr 13-18 (Mon-Sat) Ron & Harry teach Basic Bible Doctrine using Robert Harkrider workbooks
[Apr 16-20 (Thur-Sun) Mark return to Manila, Fri.-Sun. work with James Paet
[Apr 18-21 (Sat.-Tues) Harry to Manila, work with James Paet; Sun. Mark at Edsa, Harry at Canlubang, Laguna]

PLEASE SHARE THIS LETTER ON GOSPEL PREACHING IN THE PHILIPPINES!

February 28, 2026^th Year of Our Lord

Dear brethren,

Plans are underway for my 94^th Philippine trip since 1995 when Jim McDonald first took me. The focus will be on grounding evangelists in the fundamentals of the faith.  Mark Mayberry (Alvin, TX), Harry Osborne (Tuttle, OK), and I will cross paths and teach in different locations, God willing.  

The theme for training preachers will be “Back to Basics.” Hebrews 5:12 reminds us that all growth to maturity in understanding and teaching God’s Word rests on the fundamentals of the faith:  “For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God.” We cannot teach first principles exclusively nor teach the truth effectively without being grounded in the first principles.  New men need to learn the basics and mature men must be reminded.

April 6-8 is scheduled for flying to Manila, then a day to run errands and repack boxes of Bibles and study materials to relay to our venues.  April 9 Mark will proceed to Tuguegarao, Cagayan to work with Rody Gumpad and other faithful evangelists through the 15^th, while Harry and I will begin a two-day lectureship at the Kaptibahayan church of Christ in Navotas, Metro Manila on “Issues that Have Divided Brethren” for the 9^th-10^th.  These lessons will discuss the need for unity in the truth on issues that have troubled brethren for 150 years.  We will examine instrumental music, missionary societies, premillennialism, the one-container doctrine for the Lord’s Supper, institutionalism, the social gospel, divorce and remarriage, and other topics.  

February 25, 2026^th Year of Our Lord

HALBROOK REPORT: 93^rd PHILIPPINE TRIP FEB. 2-25, 2026

Dear brethren,                                  

It is hard to realize 93 trips ago Jim McDonald brought me to the Philippines to preach the gospel in 1995.   What a great blessing and privilege it has been through the years.  The 60 sessions on this trip were mostly designed for gospel preachers, but we rejoice for the 15 souls saved by God’s grace when baptized.

“God, Give Us Christian Homes” has been the theme of this trip based on Psalm 127: “Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.  It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows:  for so he giveth his beloved sleep.  Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD:  and the fruit of the womb is his reward.  As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man;  so are children of the youth.  Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them:  they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.” L.A. Stauffer’s study of “Family Life: a Biblical Perspective” provided good outlines pointing to our duties as husbands, wives, fathers, and mothers.  The classes were designed primarily for preachers in the hope they will scatter what they learned far and wide.