Dear family, brethren, and friends,

James Paet picked me up at 8:00 A.M. and then Lordy Salunga joined us for the 2 ½ hour drive to reach Alacala on Wednesday.  Glenn Fiesta is an evangelist with this new congregation which began meeting a couple of years ago and now has an attendance of about 30.  Today’s attendance was 93.  The church meets in the San Vicente Multi-Purpose Cooperative in Alcada because they have no church building.  Though struggling without adequate support, they have a happy and healthy outlook rather than murmuring and complaining.
                                                            
The meeting began with the sermon “From Wretched Man to More Than Conquerors,” which was completed before the lunch hour.  After lunch I preached “When Peter Confessed Christ” (Matt. 16:13-19), showing that Peter confessed Christ to be God’s anointed King and deity in the flesh.  Jesus promised to build his church on this bedrock truth.  His church was built hundreds of years before Roman Catholicism and modern denominations.  One lady came forward during the invitation song with tears in her eyes to confess Christ and to be baptized for the remission of her sins.  We rejoiced with her and with the angels of heaven.
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Dear family, brethren, and friends,

On the Lord’s Day, February 5, I had the privilege to worship with the saints at Mabalacat where Ric Darasin has labored for many years.  It is a joy to report his life has been spared after serious health problems although he continues utilizing alternative treatments which may help him recover.

This church began meeting about 1975 and I first visited here on one of my early trips to the Philippines.  At least 40 attended as I taught “From Wretched Man to More Than Conquerors” and “Modest Dress through the Ages.”  There is a good mix of age groups in this congregation including young married couples.  A young Catholic man courting a sister was very attentive and the brethren scheduled a Bible study with him for later the same day.

I often enjoy glancing at the front inside cover of the songbooks to see if they may have been previously used by a congregation with which I am familiar.  I sang with a book which had been used by the Loop 287 church in Lufkin, Texas.  Most of their books are worn down to a frazzle with missing covers and pages.  I hope to round up some better songbooks for them after I return home.  Ric has had serious health problems but presses on, and he is an excellent song leader.
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Dear family, brethren, and friends,

By the good grace of God my 81^st trip to the Philippines planned for February 1-March 2 is well underway, and I will visit saints in New Zealand and Australia as well, God willing.  When Doug Rush loaded my 7 pieces of luggage and myself Wednesday at 5:15 AM Wednesday, we both nearly slipped and fell on the driveway which was iced over with a wintery mix of freezing rain and snow.  But, like two drunks leaning on each other, we managed to get into the truck without breaking any limbs!

Prayers for safe flights from Louisville to Detroit to Inchon, South Korea and on to Manila were answered. The Louisville and Detroit planes had to be de-iced (spayed with chemicals) before taking off because of the freezing cold air.  Having had only two hours sleep, I napped some on the planes but also worked on the sermon I will preach when I return home and report to the brethren at the Hebron Lane church about this trip.  When we finally landed in Manila Thursday night, I fell into bed at 1:15 PM, ready for a good night’s rest!
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December 20, 2022^nd Year of Our Lord

Dear brethren,
 
God blessed me through Jim McDonald when he took me to the Philippines in 1995 and my 80^th trip was completed November 29-December 20.  It was a great privilege and joy to work with Filipino saints again.  I had 54 opportunities to teach and 19 souls submitted to Christ in baptism to wash away their sins.

When there was a great harvest of both Jews and Gentiles at Antioch in Acts 11, the church at Jerusalem sent Barnabas to help, “who, when he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord” (vs. 23).  Anytime there is a great harvest such as has been happening in the Philippines, Satan works overtime trying to pull young saints back into the darkness of sin.  While I did some teaching on first principles, I concentrated on exhorting saints to cleave to the Lord.  Saints in every place need this constant reminder.
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Dear family, brethren, and friends,

By the grace of God I arrived home safely from the Philippines about midnight December 20, happy and thankful to be reunited with Donna.  As a result of exhaustion and stomach pain, I spent most of Wednesday in bed and was not able to attend our midweek Bible study.  It is Thursday morning here in the U.S. as I write this notice and I woke up feeling some better.  I expect to recover quickly, God willing.  There is much work waiting to be done here at the Hebron Lane church of Christ and I will do my  best to concentrate on these opportunities to serve the Lord.

It is always uplifting to see the faith, hope, and love of Filipino saints as we labor together in the gospel!  There were 19 baptisms, but the focus of this trip was on edifying the saints and fortifying their faith as we fight to maintain our faith in this wicked world.  I especially emphasized the dangers of pornography which have spread worldwide due to such easy access via the internet and cell phones.  I also had several opportunities to preach to young people on “Selecting a Mate” for marriage.
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Dear family, brethren, and friends,

We left the hotel before 7:00 A.M. and a three hour trip brought us to Bogo City on Tuesday to work with Rupert Ramirez.  Shortly before arriving, we stopped at the house of Gil Suico along the highway to invite him to join us.  He was a tireless work for God for several years until he got discouraged and fell away.  He was glad to see us and joined us for the whole day of preaching.

My morning lessons were “From Wretched Man to More Than Conquerors” and “The New Testament Church.”  After lunch we studied “The Reformation” including its accomplishments and its failure to restore New Testament Christianity, followed by “Come Out of Her, My People.”

During the open forum, a denominational preacher asked several questions regarding whether baptism is essential for the forgiveness of sin and whether people baptized in denominations need to be baptized again.  Yes, it is essential according to many clear passages such as Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38; 22:16; Galatians 3:26-27; and 1 Peter 3:21.  Yes, people who have received a baptism which is not for the remission of sins need to be scripturally baptized.  He also asked for more clarification of the difference between the Old and New Testaments, so we studied Galatians 3:24-27 for several minutes.  It was obvious his mind was open and he wants to study with Rupert more.
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Dear family, brethren, and friends,

Jack and I left the hotel in Bacolod City on Friday at 6:30 A.M. to catch our flight to Cebu City on the island of Cebu.  We were met by our dear friends Jonathan and Nanette Carino who live and labor in the Lord here.

The weather blessed us during the past week on Negros because the constant rain they had been having relented.  It resumed last night and is forecast to continue every day.  Daily rain is also forecast here on Cebu for the week ahead, with temperatures in the high 80’s, so we will pray for safety as we travel and teach.

Every night on Negros I worked hard to get to bed at a decent hour, but preparing lessons, reports, and email messages kept me up until about 12:30 virtually every night.  Then we tried to get on the road by 8:00 A.M. each day to travel to our appointments.  Fortunately, no appointments were scheduled for today.  There is work to do, but I am getting a little extra rest as well.  Did someone say we are getting older and we can feel it?  Let’s just count our blessings every day and do whatever we can in serving the Lord.  The night is coming when we can no longer work, as Jesus said in John 9:4.
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Dear family, brethren, and friends,

The brethren at Victorias City where Jack Jaco preaches hosted a series of classes on “How to Study the Bible” Tuesday and Wednesday.  We used the excellent Truth In Life workbook by that title, written by Cecil Willis.  Our hope was to have 60-70 primarily young people, but over 100 participants joined us the first day, ranging from 11 years old upward.  While we hope this series will help prepare young men to preach, young ladies were also welcomed to improve their study skills and skills in teaching children.

I taught “The Bible: A Book to Study” and “Can We Understand the Bible?” in the first morning sessions.  After lunch Jack addressed “Reasons for Bible Study” and “Preparing the Heart.”  These topics were followed by my lesson on “Improper Attitudes and Methods of Study.”  Jack ended the day with “Rightly Dividing the Word.”  The students gladly participated in reading passages and several of them expressed appreciation for what they had learned after we dismissed.
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Dear family, brethren, and friends,

I slept about nine hours Friday night, which is not at all typical for me, but maybe it will help my body make the 12 hour time change.  Saturday morning was spent catching up on some email (cannot get it all done), and learning how to use the iCloud to connect pictures on my camera to my laptop (with guidance from Kevin Stilts via a lengthy phone call – thank you, brother!).

After lunch I went to the airport to fly to Bacolod City in the province of Negros Occidental on the island of Negros.  Since there are not enough gates at the Manila airport to accommodate all of the domestic flights, a bus took us out to board the plane on the tarmac.  The covers on one of the jet engines were wide open with technicians working on both sides of it, which was not very reassuring as we boarded!  The travel time from the Manila terminal to the Bacolod terminal was about two hours and the flight was late, but it was a delight to finally Jack Jaco’s smiling face again at last.
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Dear family, brethren, and friends,

The Philippine preaching trip scheduled for November 29-December 20 is now in progress.  By God’s grace my flights on Tuesday-Wednesday from Louisville to Manila were safe in spite of 120 mph headwinds from Detroit to South Korea which caused turbulence and delay.  As often happens, a Catholic Filipino sitting next to me became interested in my comments about the church of Christ going back to the basics of the original teaching of Christ and he asked for my contact number.  I was glad to finally fall into bed at 2:00 A.M. Thursday.

By the way, the temperature was 85 degrees when the plane landed at almost midnight – and I forgot to bring my overcoat and snowshoes  for this freeezing winter weather! 🙂
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