Dear family, brethren, and friends,

Early Tuesday morning I caught a flight from Rockhampton to Brisbane on Australia’s well-known Qantas Airlines.  There were only a couple of hours’ time to transfer from the Domestic Terminal to the International Terminal, find the Philippine Airlines (PAL) check-in counter, get a boarding pass for my PAL flight to Manila, go through immigration and security checks, and get to the gate to board. PAL gave me a breakfast voucher to use in the terminal but there was no time to use it – boarding started about 15 minutes after I got to the gate.

The flight time was 8 hours, but we had smooth sailing and I took some rest.  The earlier PAL flight from Manila to Australia did not require passengers to wear masks, but this return flight did.  Perhaps there has been an increase in covid cases or a new variant (I have been out of touch with the news), but also I could not get a boarding pass until producing my vaccine record.  Upon arriving in Manila, it was necessary to show an eTravel document on the cell phone generated by the Philippine government upon application for it, which includes questions about covid and vaccines.
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Dear family, brethren, and friends,

My last Tuesday in Auckland I rested, caught up on a few emails, and spent the afternoon answering questions posed by Kyle Halnas about how a young man should proceed to continue developing into a mature Christian in the years ahead.  That evening Ric, Kyle’s father, and Kyle took me to a nice restaurant for corn and crab soup (one of my favorites in the Philippines), sweet and sour fried fish (about the best I have tasted), and fried rice for our dinner – a superb meal.

I had first known the Halnas family in Metro Manila many years ago and we are close and dear friends.  Ric is working to get his wife Malaine and their daughter Claire to New Zealand possibly by 2024, but one of the immigration officials has moved slowly because he does not see why Ric does not just get another wife now that he does not live in the Philippines any longer!  Our world is so twisted by sin that many people do not know up from down or left from right!
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Dear family, brethren, and friends,

On Friday, February 17, I flew on a small commuter from Auckland to Whakatane, Bay of Plenty Region, North Island, New Zealand – a beautiful day for flying and I slept the whole way.  Abner Salanguit had arrived back in town just yesterday after being with his wife Lani in the Philippines where her mother is in failing health.  He brought me to their house where the church meets.  There are 25 members now because some have moved away and some fallen away.  The church is composed of Filipinos, though they welcome anyone and everyone.  They are very evangelistic minded.

13 were present tonight and, in addition, many people joined our studies via Zoom (at least 9) and also Face Book (at least 12), and they participated in the open forum.

Our service started about 6:15 P.M. and finished about 9:30.  I preached “From Wretched Man to More Than Conqueror” and “Trust God Till the Danger Passes.”  In the open forum there was a good discussion of repentance – its meaning, its necessity, and its evidence.  This included some discussion of how much a person must understand in order to truly obey the gospel – he must know he is lost in sin, Christ died as the perfect sacrifice and arose, the steps by which we receive pardon, and he will be added to the undenominational body of Christ which is distinct from false religions.
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Dear family, brethren, and friends,

On Wednesday the temperature was moderating after the cool air generated by the cyclone.  A dozen people met after work here at the Salunga’s home in Auckland for our study with another 8 we could see online, but Ronnie reminded me the 8 may actually be another 10 or 12 or more because multiple people are participating in the session at some of those places.

Our international audience studied “What God Joined” by surveying God’s marriage law in the Patriarchal Age, in the Mosaic Age, and in the Gospel Age.  It is clear from the beginning of time that God’s intention for marriage has always been one man for one woman for a lifetime.  Jesus gave only one exception: When a marriage partner commits fornication, the innocent mate may divorce the fornicator and marry a new person without sin.  People in both ancient and modern cultures have defied this norm with horrendous consequences for time and eternity.  Even preachers in churches of Christ have accommodated this sin because of its widespread prevalence, teaching that all divorced people are freed by God to marry new mates.
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Dear family, brethren, and friends,

Thank you for praying for us during this cyclone (hurricane and typhoon also are synonyms).  Cyclone Gabrielle was expected to hit the North Island where Auckland is located about 10:00 A.M. Monday, but it weakened and slowed down.  It is just north of us and is expected to intensify as it approaches Tuesday morning.  It is already having an impact because some places in the area are losing electric power today.

We met at 6:30 P.M. with 7 in attendance and another 6 joining us online.  Our study focused on the husband’s role as “Head of the Wife” with concentration on Ephesians 5:22-33 and 1 Peter 3:7.  As happened yesterday, the open forum continued longer than the sermon as we discussed how husbands must conduct themselves if our wives are to be convinced that we truly want to lead in love.
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Dear family, brethren, and friends,

The flight from Manila to Brisbane, Australia scheduled for 11:35 P.M. Friday flew at 12:30 A.M. Saturday and landed about 7 hours later.  Fortunately, I slept several of those hours.  Two hours later I boarded the plane for Auckland, New Zealand, which landed about 5:30 P.M. local time.  Ric and Kyle Halnas met me and brought me to the house of Ronnie and Nina Salunga who are always gracious hosts.  Seeing these brethren and other saints here on Sunday was indeed a family reunion!

The Lord’s Day brought together 14 worshipers at the Meadowood church of Christ meeting in the Salunga’s home in Auckland with 7 more joining us online from various places who could not be here.  Our theme through Thursday is “Family Life: A Biblical Perspective,” following the general outline of 7 chapters in L.A. Stauffer’s workbook by that title.  Everyone was provided a copy of the workbook to facilitate further personal study of all 13 chapters.  Today’s topics were “Family Life: A Biblical Perspective,” “God’s Design in Marriage,” and “Love Your Wives.”
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Dear family, brethren, and friends,

James Paet picked me up at 8:00 A.M. and then Lordy Salunga joined us for the 2 ½ hour drive to reach Alacala on Wednesday.  Glenn Fiesta is an evangelist with this new congregation which began meeting a couple of years ago and now has an attendance of about 30.  Today’s attendance was 93.  The church meets in the San Vicente Multi-Purpose Cooperative in Alcada because they have no church building.  Though struggling without adequate support, they have a happy and healthy outlook rather than murmuring and complaining.
                                                            
The meeting began with the sermon “From Wretched Man to More Than Conquerors,” which was completed before the lunch hour.  After lunch I preached “When Peter Confessed Christ” (Matt. 16:13-19), showing that Peter confessed Christ to be God’s anointed King and deity in the flesh.  Jesus promised to build his church on this bedrock truth.  His church was built hundreds of years before Roman Catholicism and modern denominations.  One lady came forward during the invitation song with tears in her eyes to confess Christ and to be baptized for the remission of her sins.  We rejoiced with her and with the angels of heaven.
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Dear family, brethren, and friends,

On the Lord’s Day, February 5, I had the privilege to worship with the saints at Mabalacat where Ric Darasin has labored for many years.  It is a joy to report his life has been spared after serious health problems although he continues utilizing alternative treatments which may help him recover.

This church began meeting about 1975 and I first visited here on one of my early trips to the Philippines.  At least 40 attended as I taught “From Wretched Man to More Than Conquerors” and “Modest Dress through the Ages.”  There is a good mix of age groups in this congregation including young married couples.  A young Catholic man courting a sister was very attentive and the brethren scheduled a Bible study with him for later the same day.

I often enjoy glancing at the front inside cover of the songbooks to see if they may have been previously used by a congregation with which I am familiar.  I sang with a book which had been used by the Loop 287 church in Lufkin, Texas.  Most of their books are worn down to a frazzle with missing covers and pages.  I hope to round up some better songbooks for them after I return home.  Ric has had serious health problems but presses on, and he is an excellent song leader.
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Dear family, brethren, and friends,

By the good grace of God my 81^st trip to the Philippines planned for February 1-March 2 is well underway, and I will visit saints in New Zealand and Australia as well, God willing.  When Doug Rush loaded my 7 pieces of luggage and myself Wednesday at 5:15 AM Wednesday, we both nearly slipped and fell on the driveway which was iced over with a wintery mix of freezing rain and snow.  But, like two drunks leaning on each other, we managed to get into the truck without breaking any limbs!

Prayers for safe flights from Louisville to Detroit to Inchon, South Korea and on to Manila were answered. The Louisville and Detroit planes had to be de-iced (spayed with chemicals) before taking off because of the freezing cold air.  Having had only two hours sleep, I napped some on the planes but also worked on the sermon I will preach when I return home and report to the brethren at the Hebron Lane church about this trip.  When we finally landed in Manila Thursday night, I fell into bed at 1:15 PM, ready for a good night’s rest!
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