Halbrook Philippine Report Dec 9-19, 2013
Dec. 19, 2013th Year of Our Lord
Dear family and friends,
Since my report on the 8th, this trip has kept me so busy there has been no time to send additional reports. A preacher training class was scheduled for December 9-13 (Monday-Friday) in Cebu City on the island of Cebu in the central Philippines. The previous Saturday I consulted with Dr. Teresa Toreja about an incision on my left big toe which had become infected and she insisted I come to Manila for treatment. By God’s providence, Rody Gumpad was coming to Cebu for three days and he had taught the lessons we were using, Robert Harkrider’s Basic Bible Doctrine. He agreed to replace me in teaching alongside Keith Greer, Lordy Salunga, Jack Jaco, and Jonathan Carino.
Teresa worked for half an hour without using anesthesia because it doesn’t take effect on an inflamed wound. That was such a fun pedicure I got enough to last a lifetime in one sitting, but it got my toe to gradually healing with the help of some medications. I was able to return on the 11th and resumed teaching the next day. The classes did just fine without me but I missed being there. Over 90 attended the first day even though we had Bibles and workbooks for only 24 men! The number settled in at 75 participants who stayed for the week. The class is for our own brethren but denominational “pastors” heard about it and signed up.
After teaching on Wednesday, Rody left and I stepped in the next day, but Keith got sick the previous night and was not able to teach the last two days. Jonathan, Jack, and Lordy divided his lessons and we kept our stride. My lessons were on the Holy Spirit and on biblical vs. Calvinistic predestination, and an evening session on using the Bible concordance and Bible dictionary. Friday was a full day for me with four lessons on premillennialism, another on the deity of Christ vs. Jehovah’s Witnesses error, another session with the concordance, and a closing lesson on how to use the center column reference Bible we distributed.
Because of our visitors, we extended an invitation which resulted in four being baptized into Christ. Before the participants go home we always distribute a variety of Bible study materials for them to take home and continue their studies. There were many expressions of appreciation for the class and the materials.
I got back to the hotel in time to eat a bowl of soup for supper about 10:00 PM and fell into the bed exhausted at midnight. A wake-up call came at 4:00 AM as we headed to the port for a Saturday fastcraft ferry to Ormoc City, Leyte. Keith was too sick to join us, but Jonathan, Jack, and I arrived in Ormoc City at 8:30 AM. From there we traveled almost three hours by van to Tacloban City to visit victims of Haiyan (Yolanda), the worst typhoon in recorded history. Sustained winds of 175 miles per hour with gusts over 200 miles per hour created a sea surge twenty feet high which slammed into Leyte like a tsunami wiping out everything in its path.
Imagine driving almost three hours viewing devastation all the way, yet realizing the storm reached much, much further-to Samar, to northern Cebu, to Negros, to Panay, and even as far away as northern Palawan. One measure of the typhoon’s power is the fact that it lifted huge ships and deposited them inland, one sitting squarely on a main street of Tacloban! Not boats, ships! One was a half mile inland.
In Tacloban we met Nilo Zabala and the church for which he preaches to distribute benevolence. Each family received enough money to provide food for two-three weeks. Some lost their homes and others suffered great damage. We hope to address these needs as funds permit. The brethren were so very happy and thankful for the aid they received.
Words fail me to describe what I have seen today. Trees twisted, beams twisted, and vehicles twisted like pretzels. Smells I do not know and do not want to know. Virtually every building in sight damaged or destroyed. Piles and piles and piles of rubble filled with every imaginable article common to normal life but now reduced to unrecognizable rubble. People along the road holding out their hands to solicit aid.
People living in small lean-to’s covered by plastic, in small tents, and in tent cities provided by relief organizations. The Red Cross, the Red Crescent (the Muslim equivalent of the Red Cross), the United Nations, and numerous relief agencies.
Handmade signs asking for help. Handmade signs expressing appreciation for help given.
No electricity still after five weeks, only gas generators for those few who can afford them.
Facilities set up by various countries from around the world extending aid. Trucks delivering rice guarded by armed soldiers. American flags flying to express appreciation for our nation’s help-the arrival of our troops had given the first semblance of stability after the chaos created in the aftermath of the storm.
Entire coconut groves flattened.
Reports of fishermen finding multiple human bodies when they pulled up their ocean nets. The death toll now tops 6,000 with almost 1,800 officially listed missing. Mass graves. Bodies found in such a state of decomposition as to be unrecognizable.
Our eyes could not take in what we saw hour after hour and mile after mile. Our minds could not adequately comprehend all the personal tragedies, horrors, and heartaches these people have experienced. But, one shovel full at a time and one nail at a time, they are cleaning the streets and countryside, and rebuilding. The Philippine government estimates it will take four to five years to fully recover. May God have mercy on them!
This is a Catholic culture with basilicas and cathedrals dotting the landscape. Not only are these church buildings filled with images, the images are in businesses, in homes, in schools, in government offices, along streets and highways-in all places public and private! It has been interesting to observe that these revered images did not protect the Philippine nation and people from harm. In fact, I saw images broken and fallen down. In some cases the images are still standing, but their surroundings are demolished. A miracle? Hardly, how could it be a divine sign for the image to save itself while not saving the people praying to it?! Idolatry does not bless or protect people but corrupts their faith in God. Perhaps the typhoon and its aftermath will cause people to reflect and to see the need to abandon their useless images and search for the true and living God!
This area from Tacloban City to Ormoc City is at the epicenter of the devastation, and yet severe devastation reached out in all directions. Electric wires and poles are down in all directions. There is no electricity on the whole island of Leyte and no one knows when there will be.
After returning to Ormoc City, a ferryboat took us back to Cebu City where I slept for 3 hours, then got up again at 4:00 AM Sunday to meet Jonathan and Jack at 4:30. Our ferry arrived again at Ormoc City at 8:30 AM. We spent the day visiting four far-flung congregations to deliver benevolence: Abuyog, Cagang Mahablad, Babybay, and Candadan Brandy Island. It is frustrating to know limited time and limited funds prevent us from reaching all of our brethren who are in need. Some are far off the beaten path and it is not now safe for us to go to such places. The U.S. State Dept. does not recommend Americans to go to Leyte at all.
There was not sufficient time to preach at most places because we had to complete our circuit and get back to Ormoc City to catch the fastcraft back to Cebu. I did present a short lesson on “The Great Commission” at Abuyog. The distribution was accompanied with expressions of appreciation for the gifts of love delivered from fellow saints and with prayers of praise and thanksgiving to God. Some of the brethren wiped away tears and others returned to shake our hands and thank us again and again. Our return to Cebu was safe if late, and I got to bed at 1:00 AM.
Monday the 16th we drove to Bogo City, almost three hours north of Cebu City. Three congregations in that area have been growing all year. It was too risky for us to visit each place, but the brethren met us in Bogo at a hotel where distribution was made to each congregation and in turn to its members. Again there was much rejoicing and thanksgiving.
Before returning to Cebu, we drove to the nearby house of brother Gil Suico, our faithful laborer in Bogo for several years. His house was severely damaged. In fact, the largest coconut tree I believe I have ever seen fell during the storm and was only deflected by striking another huge tree so that both were uprooted and crashed to the ground right next to the house. I earlier sent Gil funds to buy a chainsaw and he is cutting the coconut tree up and making rough lumber to use for repairs to his house and the meeting place. It is a joy to help those who help themselves. Other brethren are using the saw as well.
Martin “Rhupert” Ramirez is a preacher converted from denominationalism in recent months. He continues teaching and baptizing the members of his former group. Other denominational preachers are opposing him, but he is zealous and militant in fighting the good fight of faith. He shared some of these trials but rejoiced to suffer for Christ. He is not ashamed of the gospel.
On Wednesday our faithful brethren Atoy Franco, Elijah Sikat, and Ely Ebuenga accompanied me to the Bilibid Prison to visit Willie Pastor and to preach to inmates he gathered. 140 heard my lesson on “The Prison of Sin” (1 Pet. 3:18-4:11). I explained that all men are in the prison of sin, but Christ can set us free, teach us not to go back, and lead us to live a new fruitful life in fellowship with God. I discussed how Satan entices us and then holds us in a prison we did not expect and from which we cannot escape. It was clear many understood because they responded in answering my questions even before Willie gave the translation. When he extended the invitation, 46 made the good confession and requested to be baptized into Christ.
Willie wishes to express his love for all the deeds of kindness shown to his wife and four children by many U.S. saints from time to time. They continue to struggle financially and in every other way in his absence. The work he has done in the prison is truly amazing-he is a modern day Joseph!
Today, the 19th, Atoy Franco took Keith and me to the Philippine Bible Society where we ordered almost 800 Bibles in Filipino dialects to be shipped to various areas. Most will go to the Visayan Islands which were devastated by the typhoon. It is good to see Keith finally recovering from his respiratory infection and symptoms of contaminated water.
After completing these orders, we visited Rody and Tessie Gumpad at the large room now rented for worship for the Edsa-Pasay church of Christ. Sunday their attendance was a record 60 and the old rented room is no longer sufficient to hold the people. It is a joy to see the progress of this thriving work in the city of Manila where there are 12,000,000 people! There are also other good congregations scattered throughout Metro Manila. The fields are truly white unto harvest!
Within a few hours Keith and I will board the Delta flight from Manila to Japan to Detroit and then on to Louisville to rejoin our families and loved ones. This has been an arduous but rewarding trip. Thank you to one and all who have donated funds and prayed for our efforts. May God be glorified in all our efforts to serve Him!
In Christian love, Ron Halbrook
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