Dear brethren, 

Please keep brother Mark Wallace and myself in your prayers as we travel and teach God’s Word.

PHILIPPINE TRIP ITINERARY Dec. 1-20, 2025

Dec 1-2 (Mon-Tues) Fly from Louisville, Kentucky to Manila, Philippines

Dec 3 (Wed) Repack boxes, run errands

Dec 4 (Thur) Preach at Pasig in Villa Regina Events Venue, Brgy. Bambang  with Jhun Abueva

Dec 5 (Fri) Fly to Ilocos Norte

Dec 6 (Sat) Preach with Daniel & Dante Tiongson

PLEASE SHARE THIS LETTER ON GOSPEL PREACHING IN THE PHILIPPINES!

October 22, 2025^th Year of Our Lord

Dear brethren,

As I prepare to preach December 1-20 on the 92^nd Philippine trip, I am indebted to Jim McDonald for taking me there for the first time in 1995.  The harvest of souls coming to Christ in that land confirms the power of the gospel to save a lost world.  By God’s grace, I will be joined by Mark Wallace, an elder at the Oldham Woods church of Christ in La Grange, Kentucky.  This will be his first trip and we hope not the last.  

Like Abraham, Filipinos embrace God’s promise to bring His faithful saints to the eternal city He prepared for us to worship and serve Him forever.  “By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise:  For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God” (Heb. 11:9-10).

Dear family, brethren, and friends,

By the grace of God, I have arrived safely home tonight about 10:30 and it was a great joy to see Donna again!  God has blessed both of us with safe travels (she visited our daughter, Deborah, and Jamie Williams in Texas while I was overseas).  Sunday I will be reunited with all of the saints at the Hebron Lane church of Christ who are so vital to the work just completed in the Philippines and Malaysia.  

I thank God for all of the Filipino and Malaysian saints who helped and labored with me.  May God bless and reward all of you for your sacrifices and service in His kingdom.  Your faith, hope, and love are an inspiration to me to strive to be a better Christian and a better evangelist in serving our Savior.

Dear family, brethren, and friends,

Salvador Parbo drove for two hard hours from Digos City Friday morning for us to reach President Roxas, Capiz where I began preaching to 157 souls just after 10:00 A.M.  Joel Neniel has been doing a good work as an evangelist with this congregation while supporting himself as a public school teacher.  I worked with his father 30 year ago when I first came to southern Mindanao.

The first lesson was “The Prison of Sin,” followed by “Back to the Bible.”  After lunch we studied “When Peter Confessed Christ,” which emphasizes that Christ built his church on the solid foundation that he is the rock of our salvation because he is the Christ, the Son of the living God.  Among our denominational visitors were members of the Iglesia ni Cristo (1914) sect, founded by a Filipino named Felix Manalo.  This religion like the Jehovah’s Witnesses insists that Jesus Christ did not come as God in the flesh – he is not deity but was only human.  

Dear family, brethren, and friends,

My first work in Digos City, Davao del Sur was back in 1997 with Jim McDonald.  Julie Notarte has concentrated in this area and reached out to remote tribal and mountain regions of southern Mindanao.  His father established a congregation here in Digos City and a church building was constructed in 1973.  Julie’s sons (Joshua, Joseph, Jonathan, and CB) have matured and share in the tremendous workload this successful work has created. Literally thousands of people have obeyed the gospel through the years in these surrounding areas and mountains.  

Tuesday, 97 souls joined us here in Digos City to begin exploring the theme “Life, Death, and Beyond.”  In the morning two sessions covered the subject “Why We Live” and in the afternoon “Man as Body, Soul, and Spirit” and “The Gospel Makes Us Right with God.”  

Dear family, brethren, and friends,

Thursday-Friday (Aug. 21-22), a lot of saints must have been praying for me as I tried to manage the cancellation of a flight from Cagayan de Oro City which was replaced by a flight requiring an all-night stay in the Manila airport to wait for a connection at 4:00 A.M.  Stephen Carpentero faithfully drove me to the airport in CDO in a rainstorm.  When I checked in for my flight, I was told I could not check my suitcase through to General Santos City but would have to pick it up in Manila and check it in again there, but they could not give me a reason.  

When I got to Manila, retrieved my suitcase, and tried to check it in again, I had a long wait and finally they said my 4:00 A.M. flight was cancelled, and I was booked to fly at 10:45 A.M. Meanwhile, the airline would pay for my overnight stay in a hotel about 20-30 minutes from the airport.  After getting 6 ½ hours of sleep, Friday morning I was in a van in another torrential downpour headed for the airport where I finally made the flight to General Santos City in southern Mindanao together with James Paet who graciously came as a helper.

Dear family, brethren, and friends,

On Monday, the 18^th, I reluctantly said goodbye to Alvin Miguel and his sweet wife when they dropped me at the airport in Zamboanga City.  I flew to Cebu City where I had a very productive four-hour layover, which gave me time to work vigorously to catch up on some emails (although many still remain unanswered).  The next plane brought me to Cagayan de Oro City, Misamis Oriental where 19-year-old Stephen Carpentero met me and brought me to the hotel.  He is the son of Jhun (Cipriano, Jr.) and grandson of Cipriano Carpentero, both of whom were dear friends and co-laborers in the gospel for many years.  They would be proud of Stephen for continuing to hold high the torch of truth.

Dear family, brethren, and friends,

On Thursday, the 14^th, Jack Jaco took me to the airport at Bacolod City, Negros Occidental to fly to Manila and then on to another flight to Zamboanga City, Zamboanga del Sur.  I had to recheck my suitcase in Manila, but it was nowhere to be found.  Finally, they found it and I had to check in, go through security, and get to the gate ASAP.  About five minutes after I arrived, the boarding started.  So, again, all is well that ends well.  Alvin Miguel met me and helped me get settled in at the hotel.  Since I got to bed a little past 1:00 A.M. last night, I am ready to get a good night’s rest and start tomorrow’s lectures. 

It is a privilege to work with Alvin Miguel and the other saints here in Zambogana City.  A two-day lectureship on began on Friday covering the book of Revelation in a function room near my hotel.  The brethren do not have a meeting house which can accommodate us and 74 attended this first day.  We studied an introduction and the first 11 chapters in four sessions today, followed by an open forum.  Our audience includes all age groups of men and women, and they could not have been more attentive.  Some commented this is the first time in their life to hear such lessons on this book.

Dear family, brethren, and friends,

Since I got to bed in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental at 5:30 A.M. because of the late ferry on Monday, August 11, I slept until 10:00 A.M., ate a late breakfast, and then went to Victorias City where Jack Jaco labors in the gospel.  I was scheduled to preach two lessons in the morning and two after lunch on “Moral Truth in an Amoral Age,” but I managed to squeeze three of the four lessons into the afternoon session with a full house of 63 people present.  The air condition struggled to cool this full room, and I was covered in sweat, but the way everyone listened so well made such factors fade away.

We finished at 5:00 P.M. Jack drove me back to the hotel where I exercised, ate supper, worked on sermons and email, and got to bed by 12:30 A.M.  A full day was planned for Tuesday, beginning with a two-hour drive to Puey, Sagay City where Jordan Cabras lives and preaches for brethren surrounded by sugarcane fields.  He erected a tower nearby at his home to broadcast the gospel on a make-shift radio station.  

Dear family, brethren, and friends,

It is a bitter-sweet experience to complete preaching appointments because we  treasure our relationship and new memories with brethren where the work has been completed while we look forward to the same things at the next appointment.  I have learned to love the saints at Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malyasia and we never have enough time to accomplish everything we would like to do, but we trust God’s providence to use our efforts to advance His cause and His kingdom in some way.  

After saying final good-byes Thursday to Nick and Justina Rowe, I spent 4-5 hours in two airports and over 6 hours on two planes in order to reach Manila  about 9:30 P.M. via Kuala Lumpur.  After talking with Donna and Connie W. Adams via cell phone, exercising, and catching up on some pressing emails, I got to bed about 1:00 A.M.  All is well that ends well by the good grace of God.