Dear family, brethren, and friends,

On October 16 a major earthquake measuring 7 on the Richter scale hit the vicinity of Koronadal City in the Philippine province of South Cotabato in the southern part of the island of Mindanao.  Its effects were felt far and wide, bringing great devastation and suffering especially to rural and mountain areas heavily populated by the poor including our brethren in Christ.  Several smaller quakes occurred and several hundred aftershocks have occurred.

Numerous reports and appeals for help  are coming in from our brethren.  Pictures show areas which literally dropped down, open gap lines in the earth, destroyed homes and church buildings, and other marks of destruction.  Landslides were triggered.  A sister in Christ and her infant were killed when a landslide demolished their small dwelling.  Forced evacuations have resulted in tent cities and people living in gyms which have no side walls. The population of one of these tent cities is about 70% our brethren.  It is not safe for people to return to their farms and dwelling places.  In many cases, if the house did not totally collapse, it is unsafe for the inhabitants to go inside and so they sleep outside the house.

The government sent shipments of rice, but much of it was not edible.  Local governments have assigned citizens small lots to rebuild their homes and start a new life, but there is no money with which to rebuild.  Christians are suffering dire need of food, clothing, and shelter.

Here is a report from brother Frank Isla who has been visiting some of our brethren to assess their needs and to comfort them:
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October 6, 2019th Year of our Lord

Dear family, brethren, and friends,

Wednesday was a difficult day because it was largely devoted to preparing an open letter to a Filipino brother who has fallen into sin.  Benji Tacis in the province of Abra on Luzon had stolen over $3,000 in benevolence funds entrusted to him by Mark Mayberry and me almost a year ago.  I knew there was a problem about six months ago, but it has been a long and tortuous process to document the facts because the intended recipients live in remote areas (which is why we asked Ben to deliver aid to them).  Difficulties in travel and communication required great patience and persistence.  Once all the information was gathered and confirmed from the six churches, I urgently needed to confront and admonish Ben to repent while also warning brethren not to entrust funds to him.  Mark’s input was also included in this letter.

I hated to leave the saints at Brighton on Thursday as I flew to Paris.  To learn more about the church in Brighton, go to their web site at churchofchristinbrighton.com (be sure to include the letters “in” as shown to avoid going to the web site of an institutional group involved in the social gospel and centralized projects).  They occupied the present church building in 1890 but began meeting in 1868 (and no, I was not there at that time! 🙂 ).  The address is Brighton Church of Christ, 11 Oxford St., Brighton, UK (contact Constant Coulibaly at 44-798-485-9904).  There are five Brits in the congregation rather than one as I reported, but I met only the one.
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October 1, 2019th Year of our Lord

Dear family, brethren, and friends,

The first Philippine trip this year included side trips to London, England and Paris, France (Jan. 28-Feb. 7).  I left home September 26 to visit those same congregations again and plan to return home October 7. The Thursday afternoon flight out of Louisville took me to Atlanta where I caught an overnight flight which brought me to London Friday morning.

By God’s good providence, Kyle Campbell had introduced me via email to Constant Coulibaly, an evangelist serving the Brighton church of Christ in England. Brighton is on the English Channel, an hour and a half south of London’s Heathrow Airport.  The church has been meeting there since at least 1890 when the building was constructed.  The United Kingdom like Europe has been secularized to the point that churches of Christ struggle to say alive in a spiritual wasteland (and the U.S. is rapidly going down this same road).
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A warm welcome is extended by Constant Coulibaly and all the saints meeting at the Brighton Church of Christ Sept. 28-29 when I will speak on the following topics:

Saturday
10:20 AM Evidence God Exists
11:45 AM The Moral Glory of Jesus
2:30 PM When Peter Confessed Christ
3:30 PM Open forum

Sunday
9:30 AM Back to the Bible
11:00  AM The Prison of Sin
1:45 PM Lord, To Whom Shall We Go?
3:00 PM Open forum
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By God’s good grace the trip scheduled for July 30-September 6 to preach Christ in the Philippines (75^th trip), New Zealand (9^th trip), and Australia (8^th trip) has been safely and successfully completed.  I owe Jim McDonald a great debt of gratitude for opening these doors by inviting me to accompany him to the Philippines in 1995.  The focus of this trip was to edify the saints although some first principle lessons were preached also in the 70 presentations made – 23 souls submitted to Christ by faith in his blood by being baptized for the remission of their sins.  It is always edifying to work and worship with these saints who shine as lights along the shore guiding souls to Christ, the beacon light of eternal salvation (Phil. 2:14-16).

Elias Cruz, James Paet, and Junior Gumpad helped me in Manila on August 1 to repack boxes of study material to be distributed along the way.  The next day James Paet drove Lordy Salunga, Jerry Moral, Archie Alarcon, and me to western Luzon.  Rey Siene and his father preach for a congregation at Beddeng, San Narciso in the province of Zambales where we labored Saturday and Sunday.  It was a delight to meet Rey after corresponding with him.  The next two days were devoted to working with Leonito Torreliza at Candon City, Ilocos Sur.  Lordy, James, Archie, and myself preached to 47 people and two were baptized.
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Dear family, brethren, and friends,

It is about 8:00 P.M. Friday here in the U.S. in Shepherdsville, Kentucky and I am finally home by the mercies of God.  After another safe completion of another trip proclaiming the gospel, I am not as much conscious of being tired as of being blessed beyond words.  My heart truly overflows with thanksgiving to God and to His saints in the Philippines, New Zealand, and Australia for the privilege of working and worshiping with our brethren in those lands for the past five weeks.  This work is made possible by the quiet devotion and sacrifices of Donna, and by the moral and financial support of many brethren in many places, especially the Hebron Lane Church of Christ.  It is good to be home with my loved ones again.  Yet, the saints in faraway places are always in my heart and my daily prayers.

I well understand that I am only an occasional visitor in these countries, but the real day-in and day-out work in God’s kingdom is being done by the saints who live in those places.  If only I can encourage them in the good work they are doing, these trips are successful.  May God bless them all as they press forward day by day.
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August 31, 2019th Year of Our Lord

Dear family, brethren, and friends,

On Wednesday, August 28, I went to the airport in Manila to catch the plane going to General Santos City in southern Mindanao, almost 600 miles to the south.  My friend Hugh Walton advised me from his years as a pilot to “hydrate, hydrate, hydrate” when flying – when he is right, he is really right!  Let me explain.

The terminal was hot, the flight was delayed, and I had to stand a long time sweating on a bus which brought us to the plane on the tarmac before it was ready for boarding.  I was so tired after finally boarding I soon fell asleep after hearing the pilot say we would fly at 35,000 feet altitude and did not awaken until the plane made its approach to land.  I had gone to the airport at 10:30 A.M. and we arrived in General Santos City about 3:00 P.M.  It never occurred to me that I had missed lunch and had failed to drink anything while running this gauntlet.
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August 27, 2019th Year of Our Lord

Dear family, brethren, and friends,

All day Monday was reserved for travel.  I arose at 6:00 A.M. and Daryl Johnson took me to the Rockhampton airport to start the journey.  The first flight took me to Brisbane.  With only a few minutes to catch the connecting flight, I moved on to Sydney where the real fun began.

I had to get in line to wait for a bus to transfer from the domestic terminal to the international terminal.  When I got in line, my plane to Manila started boarding at the other terminal!  My heart sank because it did not seem possible to make the 10-12 minute bus ride, then pass through immigration and the security check, without missing the flight.

After I jumped through all the hoops, I gave it my best 100 yard dash through the terminal and someone from Qantas Airlines near the goal post saw me zipping along and called out to ask my name – he said turn right at the next corner and board the plane!  By then most of the overhead storage bins were filled, but an attendant found space for my briefcase and my laptop case about ten seats away.  I plopped down in my seat sweating from stress and olympic exertion.  There was no applause in the stands, but I certainly was a prize winner – or at least a very thankful traveler.  There was only one bumpy segment during our flight.  Though I did not get any work done, I was rewarded with some delightful dozing.
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August 25, 2019th Year of Our Lord

Dear family, brethren, and friends,

Randy Cabrillas took me to the Auckland airport at 4:00 A.M. on Thursday to fly to Australia. Most of the way we drove on an eight-lane highway with virtually no traffic, but we entered a strong rain.  Shortly before arriving at the airport, a vehicle moving at a high rate of speed coming from the opposite direction suddenly turned right in front us, apparently trying to beat a red light, and barely, barely missed crashing crosswise into the front of our car.  Someone must have been praying for us at that moment!  The driver surely saw us, and how could he have imagined such a sudden turn would not cause him to crash into us?  Randy is a careful driver, but this is a reminder that even the best drivers cannot predict the rash moves of other drivers – our lives hang by a thread every moment we travel on the roads and highways.  We must be prepared to leave this world every moment of every day!

My flights to Brisbane and then on to Rockhampton, Queensland went well, affording the opportunity for a couple of good naps.  Daryl Johnson greeted me at the airport about 12:30 P.M.  During our good visit over lunch, he said he is planning a trip with his wife to visit her relatives in Illinois during July of next year, hopefully, and they would like to visit the Hebron Lane church in Shepherdsville, KY.  It would be a special joy to return the hospitality which has been shown to me on numerous occasions by these two saints.
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