Dear family, brethren, and friends,

A merciful God brought Steven Saunders and Jim Barnett safely home yesterday, and I have just arrived safely home Tuesday night.  We will never forget the privilege God has given us to labor with His saints in the Philippine Islands again.  Filipino saints benefited much from the training they received in singing and song leading by Jim & Steven.  I hope and pray our series of lessons on “The Bible Is the Word of God” were edifying and uplifting as well.

The gospel continues to spread throughout the Philippines and the churches are maturing spiritually as well.  Though our focus was on the classes and not on basics of the gospel, 18 precious souls were baptized. There are problems from time to time because Satan never rests in his malicious attacks against God and His people.  Filipino Christians have learned that God’s Word equips them to defeat every ploy, stratagem, and deception used by Satan.  Some who have stumbled have made corrections and grown, while others have fallen and departed, but the work overall is growing and stronger in every way.
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Dear family, brethren, and friends around the world,

Thursday marked the beginning of two days of studies on the theme “The Bible Is the Word of God” with the same audience here in Victorias City, Negros Occidental.  To start the series Jim surveyed the Bible to show its fundamental message is the coming of Jesus Christ to be the Savior of the world.  After this introduction, I guided our audience in a verse by verse examination of Psalm 19, showing that the creation and Scripture proclaim “The Glory of God.”  I called on our audience to help in reading the passages we discussed.  Everyone listened intently and participated well.  One brother’s eyesight is so poor that he walked up the to the white screen which projected the passage in large letters in order to read it.

After a lunch break, Steven resumed our studies by giving an overview of the three Bible dispensations, emphasizing God’s will that men obey Him by faith.  My next lesson explained “The Inspiration and Authority of Scripture (2 Tim. 3:14-17),” showing that God miraculously guided and guarded the giving of every verse in the Bible.  Thus, the Bible expresses God’s authoritative Word for our salvation.  We must humbly and strictly submit to His instructions in order to receive the forgiveness of our sins, to live in a right relationship with Him, and to spend eternity in heaven with Him.
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Dear family, brethren, and friends around the world.

The final two days in Puerto Princesa City on Palawan were devoted to the theme “The Bible Is the Word of God.”  Jim began the series on Thursday with an overview of the Bible message which is focused on Jesus Christ.  My first presentation was a verse by verse examination of Psalm 19 entitled “The Glory of God.”  Both the creation and Scripture proclaim God’s great glory!  When we extended the Lord’s invitation, two young ladies came to be baptized as a result of the work of Jonathan and Emmanuel Sapitula.  They were baptized into Christ without delay!

After lunch Steven discussed the three periods of Bible history: the patriarchal age, the Mosaic age, and the gospel age or Christian age.  He emphasized that God has always expected man to obey Him.  I then directed our attention to “The Inspiration and Authority of Scripture” followed by “The Writing and Canon of Scripture.”  These lessons show the Scriptures were given by the miraculous inspiration of God, resulting in 66 books which He has protected and preserved to our time without the loss or addition of even one book.
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Dear family, brethren, and friends around the world,

Monday morning we flew from Manila to Puerto Princesa City on the island of Palawan.  Dario Belviz and a large delegation of saints met us at the airport and brought us to the hotel where we will stay and conduct this week’s classes.  Many have come from great distances at their own expense, even from other islands, to attend.  I have been doing this type work long enough to learn to pity the host because a heavy load falls on him in making all the arrangements for an adequate place to conduct such studies and also to accommodate the brethren who gather.  Dario is faithfully fulfilling these duties with the help of several brethren without complain.

Normally, Steven and Jim prefer to have three full days for the singing classes, but today we started at 1:30 P.M. after traveling from Manila.  This first day I did not preach in order to let them maximize their time and relieve some of the pressure of losing half a day.  Actually, this was a blessing for me because the time spent in my room studying and resting allowed me to apply medication to my toes and to stay off my feet.  Perhaps the infection has slowed the healing process, but the wounds are closing up little by little (thank you for your prayers!).
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Dear family, brethren, and friends around the world,

By the grace of God, the time for my 72nd preaching trip to the Philippines arrived on Tuesday.  After completing all the details necessary for the trip, I was blessed to have almost two hours to sleep.  The lights from Louisville to Detroit to Tokyo, Japan to Manila all went well.  At Detroit Jm Barnett (evangelist from Hope, N.M.) and Steven Saunders (evangelist from Macon, MO) joined me for their third Philippine trip.  They are talented song leaders and bring valuable talents for teaching song leaders.  We checked into our hotel about 10:30 P.M. Wednesday, thankful for God’s providence in giving us safe travel.  I went immediately to the exercise room for a 45 minute workout, which helps me recover from the 27 hour trip.

Thursday morning several Filipino brethren met us at the hotel to re-pack six boxes loaded with materials for singing classes and assorted Bible study materials.  All these materials are relayed ahead to our destinations and are distributed at the various venues during our visits.  The rest of the day was present with miscellaneous duties such as visiting the money changer, and then reviewing lessons for the next day of teaching.
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