Halbrook Philippine Report 52nd Philippine Trip December 2-20, 2013
December 26, 2013th Year of Our Lord
Dear brethren,
God blessed my life in 1995 by permitting me to preach with Jim McDonald in the Philippines. By God’s grace my 52nd trip is now complete. The original itinerary for December 2-20 was revised after the worst typhoon in recorded history hit the Visayan Islands in the central Philippines killing well over 6,000. Keith Greer from the Harrodsburg, KY church of Christ joined me for this three week trip and did his part well in spite of being sick during the latter part of the trip.
It was our privilege to work alongside faithful Filipino preachers as 79 precious souls confessed Christ and requested baptism. In addition to lessons presented by Keith and Filipinos, I presented 20 lessons in spite of missing three days with sickness. We also delivered benevolence, knowing “the administration of this service not only supplieth the want of the saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God” (2 Cor. 9:12). Truly, there were “many thanksgivings unto God!”
Our flight into Manila arrived so late we got to sleep in the wee hours of December 4. That same day we flew to the island of Masbate in the Visayas where Jonathan Carino guided us to Del Carmen to work with Gregg and Ronnel Jumao-as. These former Baptist preachers were converted in recent months and are patiently teaching their Baptist members the true and original gospel of Christ. I began by giving a short historical sketch of how Christ and his apostles proclaimed the original gospel, how Catholicism introduced many changes, how denominationalism produced another series of changes, and how our challenge is to find the original gospel. This provided a simple framework on the blackboard for all the other lessons Keith and I presented for the next two days. Twelve were baptized into Christ.
On Saturday the 7th a morning flight took us to the island of Cebu where we spent the afternoon preaching in a denominational building at Talamban, Cebu City with Ahl Bufral. This brother is another recent convert from denominationalism who is gradually teaching his former members the true gospel. Eight more of them were baptized that night in a swimming pool where we paid a fee for each of them.
These first two opportunities are the result of ongoing work at Bogo City on northern Cebu, which is almost three hours north of Cebu City. Gil Suico has done hard work for several years laying the groundwork in that area and this year much fruit has been borne reaching even to Masbate. On Sunday the 8th a van took us to Bogo City to do follow-up work with the growing number of saints there. Nine more were baptized. Martin “Rhupert” Ramirez is one of the recently baptized preachers helping us.
December 9-13 was set aside for preacher training classes in Cebu City with Jonathan Carino hosting. Classes were conducted daily from 8 AM to 7 PM
covering four workbooks by Robert Harkrider on Basic Bible Doctrine in addition to sessions on using a Bible concordance, a Bible Dictionary, and a reference study Bible. I missed 3 days teaching with an infected toe, Keith missed 2 days with an upper respiratory infection and severe symptoms of contaminated water, but we had solid help from Lordy Salunga, Jonathan Carino, Jack Jaco, and Rody Gumpad. We had books for 24 men but 77 attended.
On November 8 typhoon Yolanda hit the central Visayan Islands with 175 mph sustained winds, 225 mph gusts, and a 20 ft. sea surge. Over 6,000 died and 1,800 are still missing. December 14-16 was set aside to deliver benevolence to five Leyte churches, then three churches in the Bogo City, Cebu area. The devastation we witnessed defies description and even pictures cannot do it justice. Our brethren were filled with joy and thanksgiving as they received funds sufficient for 2-3 weeks food. There is still no electricity on Leyte. Follow-up help will be sent to repair and rebuild homes of brethren. Serious damage was done to other islands we were not able to reach. More aid is being sent as news arrives.
We returned to Manila on the 17th where I preached the next day at Bilibid Prison with Atoy Franco and Ely Ebuenga. Willie Pastor continues converting inmates and 46 confessed Christ this time. Our last day we bought about 800 Bibles in Filipino dialects for shipping to several places (many go to typhoon victims). We also visited Rody Gumpad at the Edsa-Pasay church of Christ meeting at a new location: 4th Floor, J & B Building, 641 EDSA Corner Rodriquez Street extension, Malibay, Pasay City.
Words cannot express my gratitude to God and to fellow saints who make these trips possible!
In Christian love, Ron Halbrook
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