PLEASE SHARE THIS LETTER ON GOSPEL PREACHING IN THE PHILIPPINES!

January 8, 2026^th Year of Our Lord

Dear brethren,

God willing, I plan to preach in the Philippines February 2-25 for the 93^rd time, thanks to Jim McDonald who introduced me to this work in 1995 by the grace of God.  This trip will concentrate on the vital work of edifying the saints in regard to marriage and morals, along with opportunities to preach to the lost also.  

The theme for these lessons of edification will be “God, Give Us Christian Homes,” based on Psalm 127, “Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.  It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows:  for so he giveth his beloved sleep.  Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD:  and the fruit of the womb is his reward.  As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man;  so are children of the youth.  Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them:  they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.” With the Bible as our textbook, we will use L.A. Stauffer’s study of “Family Life: a Biblical Perspective.”

Dear family, brethren, and friends,

Tuesday I was at the clinic at 7:00 AM for the endoscopy ordered by the doctor and received mostly good news.  My esophagus and stomach are infected with some kind bacteria, but the doctor gave me prescriptions for medicines which should clear it up.  I am even more confident because of your prayers and God’s healing hands.

By the time the test was finished and we had the medicines, it was 11:00 and Rolly Salvador drove fast and furious to get me to the Alzate church in Villasis, Pangasinan where Armenio Olino serves as an evangelist.  Rody Gumpad went ahead of us to preach in the morning to maximize the time and we arrived at 1:00 PM.  I preached two lessons focusing on Acts 2 entitled “The First Gospel Sermon.”  Today’s attendance was 73 and three precious souls submitted to Christ for their salvation by being baptized.  

Dear family, brethren, and friends,

I regret to say that for several nights I have not been able to find the moon, but I know it is there – reminding us of God’s grace and our love for each other when we see it.  

On Saturday morning Rolly Salvador drove us from Rosario in the Province of La Union to Baguio City which is an independent city in the geographical region of the Province of Benguet.  Our journey required climbing to an elevation of 4,900 feet and my body has struggled to adjust to this radical change. 

Dear family, brethren, and friends,

Let me start by correcting the first report which said 200 attended at Allistitan – the correct number was 50.  I was in the hospital and did not get the correct information until much later (thank you, Daniel). 

Our Tuesday appointment was with Leonito Torreliza and the other saints at Candon City, Ilocos Sur.  Leonito has labored for over 40 years in the gospel here in this area.  The meeting place is a large room at the front of his house, and it was filled with 46 people today.  Mark Wallace started the morning with a study of Noah’s life, character, and work.  Then, I preached on “The Prison of Sin” (1 Pet. 3:19).  Rody Gumpad summarized the lessons in the dialect.

After lunch Mark discussed preparing for eternity and I preached “After Death, What Then?”  As nearly always happens after I preach this sermon, additional discussion is generated by good questions which are raised.  This is because the unseen world is so far different from our world that God can give only pictures of things we know to represent the things we cannot see and cannot fully understand in our present state.   The sum of it all is this.  God is preparing us to spend eternity with Him in heaven and the fullness of heaven is being with God, while the fullness of hell is the miserable experience of being without God forever.

Dear family, brethren, and friends,

By the grace of God, I have the assistance of Mark Wallace on this trip.  He is an elder at the  Oldham Woods church in La Grange, Kentucky.  Our flight from Louisville to Detroit was delayed Monday morning because the extremely cold air forced them to de-ice the plane, i.e., to spray it with chemicals to remove any ice and to prevent ice forming which might cause the plane to crash.  There was time in Detroit to grab a short breakfast and board our next flight to Seoul, South Korea, from where we flew straight to Manila. Because of weather and wind, the flight to Seoul required 14½ hours.  After arriving in Manila at 10:30 PM on Tuesday, we immediately knew we were no longer in the land of ice and snow but in the land of heat and humidity.  After checking in at the hotel, I went to the exercise room for 45 minutes in order to gain more strength and stamina for the next day.  

Dear family, brethren, and friends,

While traveling and preaching in the Philippines, I suffered an attack of acute gastroenteritis with dehydration and was hospitalized Friday. By God’s grace, I was released from the hospital Sunday about noon after receiving medicines and nourishment via IV.

As the news has spread, several of you have sent kind messages of encouragement. Thank you for your prayers. I apologize for not having time to respond to your messages as we now continue traveling and preaching.

In Christian love,
Ron Halbrook

To see good Bible study material, go to:

https://www.hebronlanechurchofchrist.com

https://biblework.congregateclients.com

https://truthbooks.com

https://www.truthmagazine.com

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.