Dear family, brethren, and friends,

By the grace of God, my flights Wednesday-Thursday from Louisville, Kentucky to Atlanta, Georgia to Inchon, South Korea to Manila in the Philippines were safe.  To avoid a terrible huge storm working its way across the U.S., our plane flew around it by going southwest when we would normally fly northwest.  This extended our time in the air from 15 hours to about 17 hours, with only brief periods of bumpy travel.

Four Filipino brethren met me at the hotel Friday morning to unpack the six boxes of Bibles and study materials I brought on the airplane and to reorganize them in order to ship some of them ahead.  James Paet, my driver, will accompany me on Luzon as we deliver other packages at various venue along the way.  Running errands today involved time at a huge mall which required a lot of walking, but sunlight and exercise are good remedies for jet lag and the 12-hour time change.

James Paet drove me for about three hours from Manila to Angeles City on Saturday.  My hotel is located on what used to be Clark Air Base built by the U.S. military many years ago and in 1993 transformed into the Clark Freeport and Special Economic Zone. The Clark Parade Ground used previously by the U.S. military is now a park which provides one of my favorite places to walk in the evenings in the Philippines.  The rest of today was used to study lessons and to catch up on some of the backlog of email.

I have been staying in touch with Donna via cell phone and am thankful to report that she has been safe as the severe storms passed through the Louisville area including a couple of tornadoes that touched down.  Rain continues to fall and flash flood warnings are being constantly issued, but she is safe, thank God.

When I walked tonight, a perfect half-moon was smiling down on me as a reminder of your own sweet smiles.

On the Lord’s Day our first visit was with the Unity St. church of Christ in nearby San Fernando where Archie Alarchon has labored in the gospel for many years.  The small meeting place is attached to his house and was quite full with 40 souls of all ages in attendance.  Two sermons were preached in answer to the question, “Why Do We Live?”  Our life has no higher purpose or meaning than to learn to live by faith in God.  I was happy to meet Archie’s only grandchild, named Regan, who will soon be four years old and wants to become a gospel preacher!  I told him I hope to hear him preach some day in the future.

We ate lunch with Archie and then rested, after which we drove out into the countryside very near a volcano where Jerry Moral has proclaimed the gospel since 2019.  I had the privilege to preach in a gospel meeting there when the church first started and today 26 people gathered to hear the lesson, “After Death, What Then?”

This church meets under a roof extended from the house with three sides open air.  Everyone was very attentive in spite of the summer heat and I returned to the hotel in wet clothes, rejoicing for the opportunity to meet with these dear saints again!

I walked about five miles again tonight under a half moon which always reminds me of many brethren in other places who keep watch for the moon with me.  Thank you for your prayers!

In Christian love,
Ron Halbrook

To see good Bible study material, go to:
https://www.hebronlanechurchofchrist.com
https://biblework.congregateclients.com
https://truthbooks.com
thttps://www.truthmagazine.com