Dear family, brethren, and friends,

Tuesday was designated as a day to rest and to study for the upcoming days.  I worked until 1:30 A.M. preparing lessons for the next leg of the trip.  The highlight of the day was spending the evening at a Chinese restaurant with the Balbins including Erlinda (Juanito’s widow), Sonni’s family, Connie’s family, and Honey Mae’s family.  I believe I met Juanito Balbin here in Davao City in 1997.  

I got up at 6:15 A.M. on Wednesday to travel to Kitakal, Malungon, Sarangani where Dondon Cadayona serves as an evangelist.  Their church building sits just off the main highway between Digos City and General Santos City.  Over 100 souls were gathered to hear a sermon series on “Suffering: Why, and How Long?” which includes “When Good People Suffer Bad Things,” “Take Job as an Example,” “God Rules the Nations,” and “Wait on the Lord.”  Julie Notarte translated the lessons into the Cebuano dialect for the sake of several in the audience who do not understand English well.  The building overflowed with many people sitting outside and hearing the sermons from our microphones.

The Philippines, and especially southern Mindanao, suffers an abundance of natural disasters – the most recent was a major earthquake followed by ongoing aftershocks here in southern Mindanao.  I am going to repeat this series of lessons several times while in this region which is still trying to recover.

I was wet with sweat because of the heat and humidity before noon and stayed wet all day, but the fans kept the air moving and the heat was not really oppressive as it can be at times.  Several preachers were wearing suits and ties, while I was wearing their cultural equivalent which is a nice barong, a dressy shirt which hangs loose outside trousers.  It is good to see many Filipino preachers believe it is important to dress up rather than dress down when we assemble before the Lord to serve and worship Him.    

After finishing the lessons, I returned to a hotel in Digos City, arriving after dark.  I managed to get through this long day by taking two ibuprofen in the morning and again about noon.  I also napped while traveling.  When walking tonight, I saw the moon, although it was partly obscured by clouds at times.  

After I got almost seven hours of sleep, we drove to Bansalan on Thursday where Frank Isla has preached for many years.  140 people filled the building and heard the four lesson series on “Suffering: Why, and How Long?”, which was translated by three brethren.  Our audience was very attentive during the lessons and very appreciative afterward in spite of the high heat and heavy humidity.  Two souls for whom Christ died submitted to him by faith, repentance, confession of his name, and water baptism.  Heaven and earth rejoice!

Before returning to the hotel at the day’s end, we made a side trip to a community where the earthquakes had destroyed the houses of three Christian families.  Thanks to benevolence help, they are building a small two-story house where all three families can share and live.  They greatly appreciated our short visit and the benevolence funds making this project possible.

Our Friday schedule brought us to Genatilan, Kidapawan City, Cotabato where Hope Itdang labors in the gospel.  This large church building was filled and overflowing with 225 people.  The gospel meeting started early so that Jhun Layusa and Edwin de Pedro from Luzon preached before our arrival.  I continued the meeting by proclaiming “God’s Great Plan for Our Salvation” followed by “Modest Dress through the Ages.”  Connie Balbin summarized the main points in Cebuano as we sometimes do in rural areas.  When the invitation song was sung, three precious souls stepped forward to confess their faith in Christ and to submit to him in baptism.  Again, today, heaven and earth rejoice!

After enjoying a delicious lunch at Hope’s house, we traveled to visit places where houses and church buildings destroyed by the earthquakes had been replaced with better structures.  This ongoing work is made possible largely by benevolence provided by saints in the U.S. including the Hebron Lane church in Shepherdsville, Kentucky.  Saints in other nations have helped also, not to mention sacrifices by Filipino saints to provide assistance.  The earthquakes cause landslides and even leave some of the terrain unstable so that people cannot return to their property and destroyed houses.  At times local governments provide small lots for these displaced citizens, but at other times they must find ways to purchase their own lots.

As we made our way back to the hotel shortly before dark, we passed an accident scene where a pickup like ours had turned into the path of a concrete truck.  As you can image, it was not a pretty scene!  Thank you for your prayers as we are traveling around in this work!

Our Saturday was set aside to visit saints who are victims of the series of earthquakes which began June 8 with a 7.8 magnitude quake followed by thousands of aftershocks and numerous ongoing landslides.  We left shortly after 8:00 A.M. and returned at 7:00 P.M.  

Julie Notarte and Frank Isla transported us in two 4-door 4-wheel drive all-terrain trucks which took us into the mountains of three provinces, and we saw only a tiny fraction of the victims.  Thousands of Christians were affected by the destruction of houses and church buildings and property were rendered unstable and unsafe, requiring relocation.  To reach six congregations we followed all kinds of roads (concrete, remnants of concrete left by earthquakes, rock roads, and dirt roads with large ruts, mounds, and crevasses created by earthquakes and torrential rains).  Two rivers had to be crossed and our pickup barely pulled up on the bank of the second river even in 4-wheel drive after repeated attempts.   

We visited one government sponsored relocation camp where people live in tents but lack sufficient clean water, food, and medicines, which is the common lot of people in all relocation camps.  This breeds diseases, diarrhea, and death.  A mother of a young adult who is severely handicapped was caring for her on her bed of bamboo slats in one of the tents where we stopped to speak.  

Saints met us at church buildings which have been replaced with the help of U.S. saints in addition to their own sacrifices and much help from other Filipino brethren.  I spoke on “The Lord Is our Shepherd-King” (Ps. 23) at the church meeting at Motokling, Mongokayo, T’boli, South Cotabato.  A man and his wife obeyed the gospel here after the sermon.  Next, we visited Sitio Dos Cientos, Brgy. Kawayan, Malungon, Sarangani where I offered words of encouragement from Acts 20:32.  Here I met the widow of a preacher who was murdered by bandits on May 7 of last year.  He is buried behind the building.  

We traveled some distance through the mountains to reach the church at J.P. Laurel, Malungon, Sarangani where I spoke on “Victory in Christ” (Rom. 8:28-39).  A preacher here was murdered by a drug addict and I met his widow.  The next two buildings are still under construction but will be used for the first time tomorrow, which means I had the privilege to be the first speaker in both places.  I preached “Wait on the Lord” (Ps. 27) at Purpk 1, Relocation, Balnate, Magsaysay and gave the same lesson at Asbangelok, Bacungan, Magsaysay, both in the Province of Davao del Sur.  There was time for only a very brief stop at the Purock 8 church in that same area.

All of these lessons were designed to give saints encouragement as they pass through the painful experiences of a major ongoing natural disaster.  I assured them there are saints at home who have heard this news and are praying for them, as well as sending assistance where possible.

In truth, I can barely comprehend all I have seen today of human suffering and Christian faith – how can I adequately report what I hardly comprehend?

Our Lord’s Day morning appointment was at the church meeting in Palosingko, Kapatagan, Digos City, Davao del Sur where Ruel Malubay preaches.  This area is part of Mt. Apo, the highest mountain in the Philippines at over 9,600 feet.  It was a pretty drive coming up into the mountains here this morning, but there were numerous signs warning the area is subject to landslides.  140 souls heard sermons entitled “Come Out of Her, My People” and “The Bread of Life.”  Their nice church building is almost complete.

We had a good lunch with the saints at Palosingko, then took an afternoon rest, and proceeded to Padada for their 4:00 P.M. worship.  In 2010, I held the first gospel meeting in this community as we tried to plant a congregation.  Ben Canada helped us make some of the first contacts among his relatives and they were among the first baptisms in this community. Tony Russell was one of the young people I baptized during my years with the Wooley Springs church of Christ between Athens and Ardmore, Alabama (1967-73).  When he heard of the new church planted in Padada in 2010, he donated funds to put up their first church building.  It did not survive the earthquake in June of this year, but they now have a much better meeting place.  About 40 people heard the lesson “How Beautiful Heaven Must Be!”  Joshua and Cebe Notarte rotate preaching here. 

After the service, we drove to General Santos City, arriving about 7:00 P.M.  When I walked, the moon was beaming down, proclaiming God’s glory in the heavens!

In Christian love,
Ron Halbrook