April 27, 2015th Year of Our Lord

Dear family, brethren, & friends,

It is a joy to report about the labors which so many of you make possible. As our work continued in northwestern Luzon, Mark and I went in different directions on Wednesday, Apirl 22. When we met at night, Mark reported six people were baptized. In the morning Rex Bayaca drove me to the Cacafean church of Christ in the mountains of Marcos, Ilocos Norte where Angel Pascua preaches. The building was full to overflowing including the brethren from the Elizabeth East congregation where Rex preaches. Since many young people attended, I presented the lesson “Young People, Read the Bible” and Gil Caindec translated.

April 21, 2015th Year of Our Lord

Dear family, brethren, & friends,

On Saturday, April 18, Mark and I sent out reports, packed, and went to the Tuguegarao airport to take a plane to Manila. After saying our painful goodbyes to Rody, Tessie, and Junior Gumpad, we flew safely to Manila, waited four hours, and took a connecting flight to Laoag City, Ilocos Norte arriving about 7:00 PM. It was a joy to see brother Mat Sibayan, Sr. and Jr. and company. We immediately proceeded to our hotel, ate supper, and studied for Sunday’s lessons. I “crashed and burned” about 1:30 AM.

April 17, 2015th Year of Our Lord

Dear family, brethren, & friends,

On Thursday, April 16, Mark Mayberry and I split up and went different directions to cover more ground. He preached for a rural congregation at Anonang where Geronimo and Gerald Ganela have labored. This is a new and growing work. About 60 attended today and four souls submitted to Christ in water baptism.

April15, 2015th Year of Our Lord

Dear family, brethren, & friends,

Thanks to your prayers and God’s grace, the preacher training classes were very successful April 6-10 in Cebu City on Cebu Island. Jonathan Carino and his family, members of the Cebu City church of Christ, and other brethren rendered invaluable services behind the scenes. On Saturday, April 11, the men went home. One of the denominational preachers who was converted went home and shared what he had learned with his wife. He sent word that he baptized her into Christ.

April 10, 2015th Year of Our Lord

Dear family, brethren, & friends,

Greetings to one and all from Cebu City on Cebu Island where Lordy Salunga, Mark Mayberry, and I have been teaching classes for five days to preachers. What a great privilege! It is made possible by God working through His people who donate funds for our travel, for Bibles and teaching materials, and for venues. Thank you, brethren, for yielding yourselves to God and thus making this work possible. And we thank the members of the Cebu City church of Christ who donated their time to prepare food and perform many other tasks to make these classes possible.

April 5, 2015th Year of Our Lord

Dear family, brethren, & friends,

My 58th trip to preach in the Philippines is well under way with the welcomed help of Mark Mayberry, an elder and evangelist with the Adoue St. Church of Christ in Alvin, TX. The flights March 31/April 1 from Louisville to Atlanta to Narita, Japan went well. There Mark and I met to complete our trip to Manila in the Philippines.

Dear brethren,

Our merciful God has granted safety and success for my 57^th preaching trip to the Philippines (4^th trip to Australia).  I thank God for Jim McDonald introducing me to this work.  Christ’s beautiful invitation to sin-weary souls must be heard by all mankind:  “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matt. 11:28-30).  Sean Rizor of the Fremont, OH church of Christ joined me through February 7.  We emphasized first principles.  In addition to Sean’s good lessons, I spoke 29 times in both countries and 77 souls responded.

February 20, 2015^th Year of Our Lord

Dear family, brethren, and friends,

By God’s grace I arrived home tonight after 24 hours of travel.  Though physically exhausted, I come home spiritually uplifted by my association with saints in the Philippines and Australia.  It has been a privilege to work with all of these brethren again and to observe their faith, dedication, zeal, love, and sacrifices in serving the Lord.  I thank God for all of these brethren as well as all of the brethren who help to make such preaching trips possible by their encouragement, financial help, and prayers.  I hope to send a formal report on the trip soon.

February 18, 2015

Dear family, friends,& brethren,

Friday got off to a good start when the young men who visited our Wednesday night service came early for our scheduled Bible study this morning. The study and discussion continued for a solid three hours. I presented an overview of God’s plan of redemption from Old Testament to New Testament times, followed by summary of how Catholicism and denominationalism developed. Then I guided him through a study of Mark 16:15-16 coupled with examples of gospel preaching in Acts 2, 8, 16, and 22. Next, he opened his notebook where he had written summaries of things he had read or heard preached, and each entry had a list of questions generated by his reflection on these things.

February 12, 2015th Year of Our Lord

Dear family, friends,& brethren,

Today, February 11, I started catching up on some email, but I may not ever get it all done. I studied my first lesson to start the series tonight on “The Authority of Christ.” There were eight present who regularly attend plus one visitor who saw the ad in the newspaper. He appeared to be in his mid-20’s and was very attentive, turning from passage to passage. My lesson focused on Christ’s authority expressed in Scripture and our visitor understood this concept. During the open forum he said he knew Christ warned about false teachers and, therefore, it was important to check the Scriptures when men teach.