Dear family, brethren, and friends,

Jhun Bautista and Lordy Salunga picked me up at the hotel in Manila Friday morning.  We first made a short visit at the clinic of Dr. Teresa Toreja to pick up some medicine she believes will bolster my resistence to getting sick.  Finally, after five hours of travel we reached Cabanatuan City in the province of Nueva Ecija in the late afternoon.

About 7:15 P.M. we arrived at the home of Danny Banting where a dozen people were gathered.  After a delicious Filipino meal, I taught a lesson entitled “When Peter Confessed Christ,” a verse by verse study of Matthew 16:13-19 showing that Christ established only one true church – and it is not Catholicism or denominational churches.  Our audience gave close attention, participated in reading the passages, and responded to brief questions presented to reinforce the lesson.
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Dear family, brethren, and friends,

By God’s grace I was permitted on Tuesday to begin my 69th preaching trip to the Philippines (7th trip to Australia), flying safely from Louisville to Detroit to Tokyo to Manila – about 24 hours travel time.  The flight did not leave Louisville until 10:00 A.M. (usually much earlier), which gave me almost an hour to sleep Monday night whereas often there is no time to sleep at all the last night before a trip.  It is surprising how much even an hour of sleep helps!

I worked and slept while flying.  We arrived Wednesday in Manila earlier than usual, about 9:30 P.M., so after checking in at the hotel, there was time to go to the exercise room at 10:15 for 40 minutes before I went to bed.  That really helps me overcome the exhausting effects of such long trips.
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Dear brethren,

By the mercies of God I reached home after more than 24 hours of travel from Manila to Japan to Detroit, Michigan to Louisville, Kentucky by plane and then by car to Shepherdsville.

My heart overflows with thanksgiving for the patient prayers and also financial support which made this trip possible.  It was uplifting to work with saints in the Philippines and in New Zealand again.  Twelve precious souls submitted to Christ by faith, repentance, confession, and baptism.  “Not because I desire a gift: but I desire fruit that may abound to your account” (Phil. 4:17).

Of course, I am only a temporary visitor in each place striving to strengthen and encourage the local saints who labor in God’s kingdom by faith, hope, and love.  The local saints labor day-in and day-out, trusting in God for the results.  “So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.  Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour” (1 Cor. 3:7-8).
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Dear family, brethren, and friends,

On Sunday night, December 10, we arrived safely with Ronnie Salunga back in Auckland after traveling from Whakatane, New Zealand.  Monday I tried to catch up on some email, took some exercise, and prepared for the all-night trip to Manila.  We left Ronnie’s house at 6:30 P.M. and drove near the airport to meet Randy Cabrilla’s family and the Salunga family including Marius Purcaru to enjoy a final visit over supper.

I checked in at the airport about 9:30 P.M. and paid another $50.00 to sit in an emergency row on the plane where there was plenty of leg room.  The plane left Auckland about 1:00 A.M. Tuesday and arrived in Manila at 6:00 A.M. on the same day (a 10 hour flight, adjusting for the change in time zones) and I managed to stretch out my legs and sleep most of the trip.  I came to my hotel in Manila and immediately went to exercise for 30-40 minutes which helps shake off the jet lag.  After eating breakfast, I used the rest of the day to catch up on more email (I think it is not possible to catch up on all of it) and to prepare for preaching and classes this week.
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Dear family, brethren, and friends,

I spent part of Friday preparing to teach the next lesson and also catching up on some email.  Abner took off work in the mid-afternoon so we could hike five miles up and around the cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean which took an hour and a half.  The footpath winds through heavy bush areas, and up and down steep steps, to Kohi Point for a panoramic view of the ocean’s blue-green waters and Whale Island in the distance.  The tui birds make the bush area sound like a jungle with its “complicated mix of tuneful notes interspersed with coughs, grunts, and wheezes” (http://www.nzbirdsonline.org.nz/species/tui  – see the beautiful birds at that site,  & then hear the sounds at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xk02PJBUODE).  It makes you wonder if a python will appear around the next bend, but fortunately there are no snakes in New Zealand.

We returned home, cleaned up, and by 6:30 P.M. arrived at the home of Joseph and Fe Gariando.  These faithful saints were our hosts as 11 people studied about “New Beginnings in Christ” (Ps. 118:18-20).  There were good questions and discussion about the meaning of “the kingdom of God,” when it was established, instrumental music in worship, and when we need to be baptized or even re-baptized.  Our study lasted from 7:30-9:30.  Later a young lady raised Catholic who admitted she knew nothing about the Bible said she was learning a lot from attending sessions like this.  The seed of God’s kingdom is being planted in Whakatane!
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Dear family, brethren, and friends,

After teaching the last session in Auckland Tuesday night, I worked until 2:00 A.M. Wednesday preparing everything to start the second segment of work planned for New Zealand.  Ronnie Salunga drove me to the airport at 6:00 A.M. to fly to Whakatane in the Eastern Bay of Plenty region on a regional prop-jet.  Abner and Lani Salanguit have been laboring diligently for the past few years to establish a congregation here.  It was a joy to meet Abner at the airport.  This is my fourth visit to the area since December 2011 and Abner and Lani are very gracious hosts whom I have learned to love.

During my visit here in December 2016, I preached a two-part sermon on “Two Attitudes Toward God’s Word: Conservative and Liberal” (Jer. 6:16).  After the sermon Abner announced we should embrace a conservative not a liberal attitude toward the authority of Scripture in all things.  After I left he made concentrated studies on institutionalism and on the International Churches of Christ because of his past connections with these movements.  He shared what he learned with the brethren here.  Consequently, a few months ago the whole congregation decided to cut all ties with such apostate movements and to be a fully independent and autonomous church directly under the authority of Christ exactly like the churches found in the New Testament.
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