Halbrook Philippine Report August 19-26 and August 17-21 Report from Rody C. Gumpad
Halbrook Philippine Report Aug 19-26
Tuesday, August 25, 2015th Year of Our Lord
Dear family, brethren, & friends,
I am finally seeing the crescent moon very low on the horizon just enough to receive all your relayed messages of love and encouragement! I tried to catch up with some email Wednesday morning, August 19. Then Jamie and I went to the airport to welcome Deborah, Timothy, and Seth home from the U.S. where they had been visiting for several weeks. It was a joy to see the Williams family reunited.
That evening I studied with Timothy and Seth about the time God commanded Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. When I explained God was testing Abraham to see whether he loved God or his son more, Seth asked which one did he love more. I told him we must read the story to learn the answer. Every time we finished some part of the story, Seth would ask the same question and I would give the same answer. When we finally finished, Seth said he knew the answer: “Abraham loved God more.”
Thursday morning Deborah and I let the boys play in the sand and water at a nearby beach. It is interesting to see how children can entertain themselves gloriously with simple things God made like sticks, sand, and water better than with expensive manmade toys! Late in the day Daryl Johnson from Rockhampton picked me up to bring me there, where we shared supper at the motel. It was a pleasure to spend about three hours discussing the mission planned by the church and also many Bible topics.
Daryl and I spent Friday morning running errands such as having photocopies of my sermon outlines made to distribute during the mission. I returned to my room to study and prepare for our evening session. The brethren had diligently prepared for this six lesson series on the theme “It Is Time to Listen to God” with radio and newspaper announcements, banners at the front of the church building, printed invitations distributed far and wide, and personal invitations to relatives and friends.
Carol Zussino brought Deborah and the boys to Rockhampton to hear the first lessons and Jamie followed when he got off work. Our attendance was about 25 and we studied two lessons: “Attitudes Essential in God’s Kingdom” (Matt. 5 verse by verse) and “The Gospel Makes Us Right with God.” During the open forum there were questions about the rapture doctrine, where the soul goes at death, the authority for a church building, and the church treasury. We were off to a good start!
Our attendance grew to about 30 on Saturday including a lady from a local denomination who listened very intently and took notes. She came up afterward and talked with me for a long time expressing appreciation for the sermon focusing our study on Scripture. The first lesson “Young People, Read the Bible” and the second was “When Am I Ready to be Baptized?” During the open forum there were questions on the eldership, the difference between unchanging revelation and changing cultural practices, and the meaning of Ephesians 4:15 (“speaking the truth in love”).
Many good things happened on the Lord’s Day. It was announced in advance I would come to the church building to give brethren an opportunity to come early and ask questions or discuss topics of their choosing. Four of us had a very profitable discussion of various Bible subjects until about 3:45 P.M. when the audience began to arrive. At the 4:00 P.M. service we had first time visitors from the community, members who needed to be restored, and faithful brethren visiting from other areas. The attendance was about 40 including a good mix of all ages.
When the service began I introduced a two part study on “Serving Christ in the Local Church” (Acts 9:26). Both lessons emphasized that God planned the local church relationship as vital to worship God, to our spiritual growth, to the work of evangelism, and to our service to Him in many ways. People who float from place to place or who claim to “get in touch with God at home” without uniting with the local church disobey God and deceive themselves. Every member is needed in order for the body to function effectively.
At the end of the second service there was a good question about the role of miracles in the Great Commission based on Mark 16:15-20. I explained that the gospel was fully revealed to the Apostles including the necessity of faith in Christ and submission to him in water baptism to receive forgiveness of sins. The role of miracles was to confirm this gospel to be true. When the gospel was fully revealed and fully confirmed, the miracles ceased and have not been repeated because their purpose has been fulfilled (1 Cor. 13:8-10). One of the visitors from the community approached me for further clarification about baptism and also about miracles. We had a very calm and profitable discussion which we plan to continue via email.
The brethren at Rockhampton are to be commended for their diligent efforts in planning and preparing for this series of gospel lessons to be presented in their community. They related to me how encouraged they had been to hear Steven Deaton and David Halbrook preach for them, and they also greatly appreciate Jamie driving over to preach once each month. I told them they will not be forgotten when the Jamie Williams family moves back to the U.S. I will remain ready to preach at Rockhampton when the brethren there wish to schedule another mission series. After the dismissal, many brethren gathered at the home of Neville and Leonne Johnson for a good potluck meal and an enjoyable visit. Jamie and Deborah brought me back to Gladstone to catch my return flight to the Philippines.
Deborah, Timothy, Seth, and I got up at 5:00 A.M. Monday to go to the Gladstone airport. Jamie normally gets up about 4:00 A.M. for work but was not feeling well this morning. After plenty of good-bye hugs and kisses at the departure gate, I took the first flight from Gladstone to Brisbane. The next flight was from Brisbane to Sydney. The last leg of the trip from Sydney to Manila in the Philippines took about eight hours, which gave me time to nap and work on this report. It was a smooth and safe flight by God’s grace.
As today, Tuesday, comes to an end and our trip comes to an end, the beautiful song comes to mind “Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow.” Today Atoy Franco took Keith Greer and me to meet Rody Gumpad, Ely Ebuenga, and Samuel Paet at the Philippine Bible Society. Mrs. Vicky Franco at the P.B.S. worked diligently with us to complete as many orders for Bibles as our remaining funds would allow. This includes a large amount given exclusively for Bibles and held in reserve for today. With the funds provided by saints in the U.S. and in Australia, we were able to purchase the largest number of Bibles in all my years of experience here: 2,865! They will be shipped throughout the Philippines from Luzon to Palawan to the Visayas to Mindanao by the grace of God.
When the order was completed and paid for, we gathered at the wall where Bibles are displayed for a prayer of thanksgiving, after which hardly a dry eye could be found.
The work done by Keith and Grayson with Rody Gumpad resulted in 168 baptisms on Palawan, Mindoro, and Luzon. Another nine confessed Christ when I preached at the Bilibid Prison. Most of my time was spent teaching preachers the book of Revelation and studying what will happen at the end of time, with an additional week preaching the gospel in Australia. By splitting up we covered far more ground than would have been possible had we all three stayed together. God alone gives the increase when we labor in the gospel and God alone can measure the ultimate good accomplished. All glory is His, none is ours.
As this report is being completed, Keith and I are now ready for the long flights tomorrow which will bring us home to our dear loved ones and brethren who make these trips possible. We love you all, and thank you all, and above all, let us all join in praising God from whom all blessings flow!
In Christian love,
Ron Halbrook
P.S. Be sure to read the report of Rody Gumpad below.
August 17-21 Report from Rody C. Gumpad
Dearest Brethren in the List,
I noticed that there is slow internet connection and I will try to send this update report to THANK YOU all again for continue including us in your prayers! Hope & pray this finds you all again in the best of health!
Early last Monday (August 17th), we got up, and went pick up bro. Keith & Bro. Grayson at the hotel and brought/dropped Grayson at the Airport! We heard from his mom-Diane that he arrived home safely in Kentucky. We are missing him, his sweet voice and of his good song leading and him teaching us songs! Thank you, bro. Grayson for coming. You will always be in our heart & prayers so that you can fulfill your “McArthur” promise (“I shall return”)!
From the Airport, we traveled about three hours to our first preaching place that week in North-Central Luzon which were as follows;
DATE/DAY PLACE PROVINCE PREACHER BAPTISM
Aug.17 (Mon) San Quintin Church Pangasinan Andrew Romero 3
Aug. 18 (Tue)
A.M. Urdaneta Church Pangasinan Dominador Gomez 0
P.M. Inmalog Church Pangasinan Bernardo Quibina 0
Aug. 19 (Wed)
A.M. Saytan Church La Union Rodel Baagin 1
P.M. Gumot Church La Union Art Dela Cruz 2
Aug. 20 (Thu)
A.M. Caba Church La Union Carlos Domingo,Jr. 2
P.M. Travel To Tarlac
Aug. 21 (Fri)
A.M. Capas Church Rudy Yap Tarlac 0
P.M. Mabalacat Church Rick Darasin Pampanga 0
TOTAL OF BAPTISMS 8
In that first place (San Quintin Church), six (6) came forward and confessed but because it was raining the three others (Young mothers) postponed their baptism!
The Church in Urdaneta is now more than 40 years. The preacher is now 79 years old! Like in other Churches, they are requesting prayers.
The Inmalog Church is now also more than 30 years. The preacher was stroke twice (last year and this year) but he is teaching his son who is now assisting him for the work.
The Saytan Church is newly started by Rodel Baagin. They are doing good start and the Liberal Churches of Christ are there but they are strong teaching the Truth.
The Gumot Church is now more than 10 years. They are also meeting inside a house. Like in other Churches, we were packed inside like a sardines, so very hot!
The Caba Church is now also more than 35 years! They started their huge Church building through the help of individual brethren. They were bothered with different issues also including MDR issue! They are asking prayers because they are also presently experiencing some internal problems that they must resolve! Bro. Keith delivered here a VERY STRONG lesson that deals about doctrinal issues and even moral & Christian Character. If ye notice the attached pictures, even the goats came forward to hear him preaching, but in another picture you can see that bro. Keith made them silent and behave!
The Church at Capas, Tarlac is also struggling but going straight with the good service of their faithful preacher. It was there that another good friend of mine (Lordy Salunga) came and joined us up to the next place. He was recently with bro. Ron Halbrook held Lectures in Mindanao. It was good to see him again and heard him did the summarize of Bro. Keith’s lesson at Mabalacat Church.
The Mabalacat Congregation is also continue doing well and their singing is inspiring! Bro. Ric Darasin is their faithful Preacher.
We are so happy & grateful that we were able to go and visit these brethren/Congregation who were also very thankful as they said they were so very much encouraged by the meaty lessons presented by brother Keith! The weather is cloudy but the humidity is still un-explainable so please pardon if you see me at the pictures very wet with sweat! The same to our bro. Keith and yet we did not hear him complain or whatever, instead, he just go straight and delivers his lessons that I also summarized in our native language!
Brethren, once again, we are thanking you all for continue including us in your prayers. God be praised and we pray that He will help all the new converts to stay faithful and grow in the knowledge of the Lord! We still have schedules with our Bro. Keith Greer and kindly continue to include us in your prayers especially bro. Keith so that he will always in good health because we are getting a lot from his wonderful, very good lessons! All the fellow Preachers are asking his Power Point Outlines that he also promised to give. Let’s also continue include in our prayers our bro. Ron Halbrook who is now in Australia preaching. Lord willing he will come back here in Manila tomorrow and we will see him on Tuesday, Lord willing!
PS- Heavy rains and floods going on to some places now including towns in Cagayan and Ilocos as some brethren are calling and telling me their present difficult condition thus they are asking of prayers & help especially for foods! The Typhoons are causing these continues rains even here in Manila and hope it will soon stop, however, our weather Bureau people are saying that there will be more coming rains Whew! Well, may God help and guide us all! Brethren, we are so thankful for all your love & prayers! May God bless more all of of you! Hope ye can open and watch the attached pictures again and thanks for clicking again the Reply button so that I know if you get this report! Thank you so much, brethren!
Because of Calvary,
Rody C. Gumpad
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