Halbrook Philippine Report April 25-30, 2013
April 30, 2013th Year of Our Lord
Dear family, brethren, and friends,
It has been a joy to see the moon night after night especially now that it has been a full moon! I can almost see your reflection on it there in the U.S. (Someone will be sure to remind me it is daytime there when it is nighttime here, but that is my story and I’m sticking to it. 🙂 )
Having completed the second leg of my trip by working on the island of Cebu, on the 25th I studied and prepared for the next leg. We flew to General Santos City in southern Mindanao on Friday and I preached all day Saturday at the Lagao church of Christ in Balite, a suburb of General Santos City. Ricardo dela Cruz was the longtime preacher here but he died last year and the church struggled in his absence. Romeo, his son, lives here but preaches far from here, The men rotate in teaching as they move through the New Testament and Delfin Allas does much of the preaching. C.B. Balbin comes at least once a month to preach and to give special attention to the young people.
C.B.’s work with the young people is bearing good fruit. Over half of today’s 33 attendees were young people. They showed keen interest as lessons were presented on “Attitudes Essential in God’s Kingdom,” “Purify Your Souls,” “Total Honesty,” and “True Repentance.” The attention was excellent in spite of stifling heat – we are just six degrees north of the equator here! An afternoon shower gave us some relief. After our open forum, we ended shortly before 5:00 P.M. Everyone is urging me to please return soon. I would like to come back and present lessons aimed at increasing the faith of young people in the challenges they face.
On April 28, the Lord’s Day, I worshiped with Aguillardo Untal at Bula, General Santos City. He was a friend of Rudy Tampon and was converted from the Pentecostal religion last fall. He had a large church but lost many members as the denominational pastors accused him of joining a cult. Therefore, I decided to schedule a two-day gospel meeting here to help him stabilize the situation. Jonathan Carino, Cyrus Gesulga, and Juanito Balbin with two of his sons (Dudly Ross and Sonnie Dave) were with me today.
About 75 attended this morning’s worship as I spoke on “Jesus Came to Seek and Save the Lost,” a very basic first-principles lesson. This afternoon we began with a two-hour open forum covering questions on the plan of salvation, worship, various aspects of denominationalism, and the charge that the church of Christ is a cult. Many of the questions were answered in the dialect by brethren Cyrus, Jonathan, and Juanito. Then, I preached on “New Beginnings in Christ” (a new covenant, a new kingdom, and a new birth).
The heat was sweltering again. The meeting place has only low walls and while I was preaching this afternoon the brethren moved the pulpit area to get me out of the direct sunlight which was turning me into a burnt offering. When I arrived bck at the hotel about 6:00 P.M. in wet clothes, I showered and fell asleep for over an hour from heat exhaustion and ate supper about 8:30 P.M. after cooling down. Regardless of the heat, this was a good day and I look forward to tomorrow!
Monday was the second day with brother Untal at Bula and our attendance was almost 100 including many young people again. At the morning session I gave lessons on “‘The Resurrection of Christ” and “The Gospel Makes Us Right with God.” After lunch the lesson was entitled “How Sinners Receive Salvation,” to clarify more about baptism. Then there was an hour-long open forum with several questions centering on baptism – it is hard for people from denominational backgrounds to understand why they need to be baptized again.
Although there were no baptisms, the seed was sown and good was accomplished by reinforcing the work of brother Untal in the congregation and the community. Many who left him after his conversion were able to give much in the collections, so now he faces a huge challenge because he can no longer meet his financial obligations for the property on which his house and the church building afe located. He may lose it all but so far he is standing firm.
On Tuesday, April 30, we traveled an hour from General Santos City to reach the church at Kitakal, Malungon, in the Sarangani Province. A couple of years ago the preacher there named Rene Sandoval was killed in a highway accident and his widow, Sel, has continued to labor faithfully for the Lord with the help of the brethren. 140 attended today including many young people. In the morning I taught on “The Purpose of Our Life,” and began a study of “The First Gospel Sermon” (Acts 2). After lunch the study of Acts 2 was completed. To encourage the young people I presented another lesson on “How Shall the Young Secure Their Hearts.” Two adults and one teenager were baptized.
The third leg of this trip is now history, which also means I am now closer to home. Tomorrow, God willing, I fly to Manila to make a connecting flight back to Mindanao to Cagayan de Oro City, Misamis Oriental. Thank you for your love and prayers as we are laborers together with God!
In Christian love,
Ron Halbrook
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