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.

Dear family, brethren, and friends,

From the time James Paet picked me up Friday in Angeles City to go to the airport in Manila until I arrived in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia was about 20 hours.  It was good to see Nick Rowe and his wife upon arrival late at night.  Getting to the hotel about midnight, I took 30 minutes of exercise, caught up on a few emails, and got to bed at 2:00 A.M.

We started the classes at the Padi Mas Point 2 church of Christ in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia on Saturday morning with 15 souls in attendance.  The theme for the first two days is “The Authority of Christ.”  Today we studied his authority in his word, as our Savior, as head of his church, departures from his authority resulting in the gradual formation of the Roman Catholic Church, and the reaction from within the Catholic Church because of its many false doctrines and its corruption in the 1400’s-1500’s resulting in the Protestant Reformation.  

Dear family, brethren, and friends,

My July 26-September 4 trip got off to a good start by the grace of God.  No matter how hard I work to get everything organized and ready to go, the last day and night are filled with attending to a multitude of last-minute details.  Often there is no time to sleep, but this time I slept almost two hours before going to the airport at 4:30 A.M. Saturday, which is a victory.

I usually sleep on the first flight, but a Baptist preacher who grew up in South Africa was seated next to me on the Louisville-Atlanta leg and we had a profitable Bible discussion.  I gave him James R. Cope’s foldout tract on “The One True Church” with my email address on it.

It took 45 minutes to walk to the gate in Atlanta to board the plane to Inchon, South Korea, so there was no time for breakfast.  On this plane I took a couple of 2-3 hour naps and got a ton of work done on charts and outlines.  Getting to Manila about 10:15 P.M., I was at the hotel by 11:00 and was able to go to the exercise room for 35 minutes before sleeping, which helps me recover from the long flights.

PREFER EMAIL REPORTS, NOT U.S. MAIL? IT ALSO SAVES STAMPS. Notify halbrook@twc.com
Ron & Donna Halbrook
3505 Horse Run Ct.
Shepherdsville, KY 40165-6954
PLEASE SHARE THIS LETTER ON GOSPEL PREACHING IN THE PHILIPPINES!

July 1, 2025th Year of Our Lord

Dear brethren,

God opened a door for me to preach in the Philippines in 1995 with Jim McDonald and I am preparing now for the 91st trip July 26-September 4, including a 3rd visit to Malaysia. The schedule includes the islands of Luzon, Panay, Negros, and Mindanao with lessons to save the lost and to edify the saved.

God gave disciples of Christ the name “Christian” because it means they belong to Christ as his adherents and his special possession. God chose to bestow this name when Gentiles as well as Jews were being saved in Christ at Antioch while Paul and Barnabas preached together: “And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch” (Acts 11:26). God is calling sinners to be saved in Christ and bestowing this blessed name on them in the Philippines, in Malaysia, and around the world!
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May 6, 2025^th Year of Our Lord

Dear brethren,                                  

God’s gracious mercies provided the open doors, financial means, and safe travels for the completion of my 90^th Philippine trip, and first trip to Japan, April 2-May 6.  I am indebted to Jim McDonald for introducing me to this work in 1995.  There were 82 occasions to preach, resulting in 30 souls who submitted to Christ in baptism and one sister who repented of backsliding and was restored to her Lord.

John proclaimed that because Jesus Christ is God or deity, He is the source of life, who enlightens us to God and all truth: “In him was life; and the life was the light of men.  And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not” (Jn. 1:4-5).  Satan and sin could not defeat this light and it still shines in the Philippines, Japan, and all the world.

Dear family, brethren, and friends,

I spoke with Teresa Toreja in Manila this morning (night there) and learned that her husband Jerry passed away.  He was normal, active, and happy on Friday but has had health problems in recent months.  She woke up about 2:00 AM Saturday because he was groaning.  She tried to resuscitate him without success.  She said it seems his heart failed.

Jerry had served as an elder for the Kapitbahayan church of Christ in Navotas.  The church split over covid issues but was reunited and worshiped again as one church on March 12.  He was hoping to devote the remainder of his life to preaching the gospel as he told me when I saw them on March 2.
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June 20, 2019th Year of Our Lord
                              
Dear brethren,

Upcoming travels scheduled for July 30-September 6 will take me to preach Christ in the Philippines (75^th trip), New Zealand (9^th trip), and Australia (8^th trip).  I thank God for opening these doors by the invitation of Jim McDonald to accompany him to the Philippines in 1995.  It will be a privilege to labor in these lands again to encourage the saints in the spirit of Philippians 2:14-16, “Do all things without murmurings and disputings:  That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain.”  Saints shine in this dark and stormy world of sin and death as lights along the shore guiding souls to Christ, the beacon light of eternal salvation.   “Let the lower lights be burning, send a gleam across the wave.”  Christian lights are brightly burning around the world!

God willing, July 30-31 will find me engaged in about 24 hours of travel from Louisville, KY to Manila.  The next morning local brethren will help me repack boxes to ship ahead so that materials can be distributed in various areas where I will teach.
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Dear brethren,

I just received this notice from Jonathan Carino about his father’s death.  It has been a privilege for me to work with both of these faithful evangelists for many years.  Ramon was highly respected for his godly life both among the churches in the Philippines and in his local community by its citizens and leaders.  He was a rock of strength and stability which will be sorely missed.

On April 21, 2000 I heard him make the following observation and wrote it in the front of my Bible:  “Light obeyed bringeth more light.  Light resisted, rejected bringeth night!”
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