May 11, 2024^th Year of Our Lord

HALBROOK REPORT: 86^th PHILIPPINE TRIP APRIL 22-MAY 11, 2024

Dear brethren,                               

God again opened the way April 22-May 11 for me to preach the gospel in the Philippines for the 86^th time since Jim McDonald first took me there in 1995.  I taught 58 lessons introducing the original gospel of Christ mostly to denominational preachers.  None were immediately converted but several are asking for follow up studies and are expressing an interest in obeying the gospel.  While preaching among churches of Christ, six people submitted to Christ in baptism for the remission of their sins.

Isaiah 11 prophesied the coming of our Savior to reconcile us to God and to unite the bitterest enemies in peace, joy, and love – including Jews and Gentiles and other divided peoples everywhere.  “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea” (vs. 9). As the gospel spreads around the world, many Filipinos have obeyed it.
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Dear family, brethren, and friends,

By the good grace of God, after leaving the hotel in Manila about 28 hours ago I have arrived safely home about 1:00 AM Sunday.  The flights were safe although we passed through some rainstorms and turbulent weather.

It has been my privilege to labor in the Philippines for the 86^th time alongside my dear Filipino brethren who are diligently and sacrificially serving the Lord.  I was blessed to have 58 opportunities to teach and to see 6 precious souls confess Christ in order to yield to him in water baptism for the forgiveness of their sins through his atoning blood.
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Dear family, brethren, and friends,

On the Lord’s Day, our round trip to Balasan in the Iloilo Province on Panay Island consumed five hours, but Jack Jaco and James Paet did an excellent job getting us there and back to Iloilo City.  We passed miles and miles of rice fields which should be standing in water but were barren and dry because of drought.  Romeo Jaco, Jack’s brother, labors with this congregation of about 30 souls in a rural area, but there were 50 present for all-day preaching today including visitors who are good prospects.

I preached a series of four sermons on the theme of “Seeking God and Salvation.”  I first presented “Evidence God Exists (Ps. 19:1),” followed by “Salvation: Amazing, Astonishing (Isa. 52:13-15).”

During a break I had a good discussion with a Baptist visitor who was interested in the difference between Baptist baptism and the original baptism commanded by Christ in the Great Commission.  I drew a simple chart on paper showing that Jesus said in Mark 16:16 Believe + Baptized = Saved.  Baptist doctrine teaches Believe = Saved + Baptized to join a local Baptist church.   He wants to teach his family what he is learning before he is baptized, which is typical for many Filipinos.  He urged me to return and go with him to the community he came from to preach the original gospel of Christ there.
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Dear family, brethren, and friends,

On Tuesday James Paet and I flew from Manila to Iloilo City on Panay Island and Jack Jaco drove us to San Jose in the Province of Antique.  All of our travels were safe and we thank God for His providential care.  Denominational preachers will gather here in a function room to study with us.

We had supper with two friends who are denominational preachers and who have been learning during our visits the last several months.  They initiated a discussion of the mention of pastors in Ephesians 4:11 as to whether such terms are titles or simply functions.  Men in denominations are often given the title pastor in spite of the fact they do not meet the qualifications in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1, and in spite of the fact they may not even be working with any particular congregation.  Pastors, bishops, and elders are synonyms for leaders of a local church who must meet the qualifications given in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1.  None of these terms are titles, but they simply describe the work these leaders perform in a local church.  They were receptive to this clarification.
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Dear family, brethren, and friends,

James Paet brought me to the Kapitbahayan church of Christ in Navotas for the Sunday morning service.  Knowing the death of Jimmy Bobis is fresh on everyone’s minds, I preached “After Death, What Then? (Eccl. 12:7).”  Today’s attendance was about 80.  I have been visiting this church since my first trip in 1995 with Jim McDonald and it is good to see their progress through the years.

In the afternoon we traveled to the church meeting at Floodway, Taytay in a room below street level with no windows.  Twenty people heard my sermon entitled “Finish the Race (2 Tim. 4:7-8).”  This is a squatters area, so the people are very poor.  In 2016 Fred Gonzales helped start this work (he has served as an elder at Kapitbahayan in the past).
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Dear family, brethren, and friends,

The 27-hour trip on April 22-23 from Louisville, Kentucky to Atlanta to South Korea to Manila in the Philippines was safe and without incident except for some turbulence on the last leg of travel.  I studied and took several naps.  I emerged from the Manila airport about 11:00 PM in sweltering heat and humidity.  But the moon has been over-the-top beautiful the last few nights!

James Paet and Elias Cruz were a great help Wednesday morning repacking the boxes of Bible, study materials, and homemade communion trays to ship ahead to the upcoming venues for distribution.  While out running errands this afternoon, I learned the temperature in Manila was 100 degrees Fahrenheit.  Welcome to summertime in the Philippines!  Some areas are suffering drought, and many saints are enduring crop failure and hunger.  It all has a domino effect driving up the prices of food and other commodities.

The first three days of preaching were Thursday-Saturday at the Edsa-Pasay church of Christ, planned especially for the deaf-mute saints meeting there.  They have a special place in my heart because they strive to worship and serve God in spite of their handicaps – motivating me to wonder, do I try as hard as they do in serving God?  Tonyboy Hornado has faithfully served them as an evangelist for many years, but he was not able to attend because he is tending to his sick father who just got out of the hospital.
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March 2, 2024^th Year of Our Lord
HALBROOK REPORT: 85^th PHILIPPINE TRIP JANUARY 31-MARCH 2, 2024
                              
Dear brethren,                               

By God’s providence, Jim McDonald took me to the Philippines in 1995 and now my 85^th trip there has been completed, as well as the 11^th to New Zealand.  I taught 49 lessons, mostly to souls hearing the original gospel of Christ for the first time.  403 Bibles in Filipino dialects were purchased to ship to the saints.

Once when Paul pondered where to preach, “a vision appeared to Paul in the night; There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us.  And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them” (Acts 16:9-10).  We do not receive such miraculous visions today, but we still serve the God who opens doors for us to find people seeking the truth.

January 31-February 1 three flights brought me safely to Manila, where I spent a day running errands, and then Saturday preached at Santa Maria, Bulacan with Alex Estoy & Dominador Guevarra. 50 souls heard a series on “Moral Truth in an Amoral Age” addressing abortion, homosexuality, transgender, and social media.  Young Filipinos tell me these sins are being promoted in some schools here. Sunday morning I preached “From Wretched Man to More Than Conquerors” to 30 saints at Pavia St. in Tondo, Metro Manila where Rey Tacbad is an evangelist. That afternoon James Paet brought me to Bacoor City, Cavite to preach to a church he is reviving where about 25 attended this first service.  Monday James drove 6 hours round trip to let me preach at the Cambio church of Christ in San Miguel, Bulacan where Jimmy Lacambra labors.  The audience of 40 spilled out into the yard in this rural place.
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Dear family, brethren, and friends,

Monday was another disappointing day for me because the battle to overcome this laryngitis is progressing so slowly.  It was a great day for the work’s sake.  We planned on 50 participants at the rented venue in Iloilo City for 3 days of Bible lectures and 79 showed up for this first day!  Jonathan and Jack know how to plow the corn in teaching the first principles of the gospel to the benefit of these denominational preachers.  I learned there was a good open forum with lots of Bible answers given to their questions.

Meanwhile, I am trying every play in the book to defeat this laryngitis including rest, intermittent exercise, prescribed medications, gargling warm salt water, drinking Salabat Tea (a Filipino term for ginger ea, often with honey or lemon), and drinking warm calamansi juice (a hybrid lemon or lime grown primarily in the Philippines).  Laryngitis typically runs its course in 3-7 days and today is my third day.   I can now talk a little with effort but not well enough to actually carry on a conversation and certainly not well enough to preach. All I can do is to grin and bear it one day at a time. This, too, shall pass, but the sooner the better!
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