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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Dear family, brethren, and friends,

No preaching or travel was scheduled for Wednesday because I needed time to work on the transition into the new time zone, look at some of the email backlog, get some vigorous exercise, and review lessons for the next leg of the trip.

Thursday was a travel day which included flying from Manila to Iloilo City on Panay Island, where Jack Jaco picked me up for the long drive to San Juan in the Province of Antique where denominational preachers have invited us to teach.  Jonathan and Nanette Carino are with us, as well as Hernane Equipado from a Christian Church in Iloilo.  Upon our arrival in San Juan, we were welcomed by Richard Panaligan, a preacher for the Koinonia Community Church.  After eating supper and reviewing some sermons for tomorrow, I walked from 10:00 to 10:50 PM.  Though I am exhausted, this will boost my energy and stamina for tomorrow’s work.  After walking, I finished reviewing lessons for tomorrow and got to bed at 1:00 AM.
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Dear family, brethren, and friends,

It is summertime here in New Zealand and our temperatures are running about 80 degrees Fahrenheit (26.67 degrees Celsius), but with the humidity it can feel quite hot.  My clothes are damp with sweat after I preach.  Reviewing the sermons and trying to catch up on old emails and to keep up with new ones makes for busy days, but it is a privilege and joy to work with these saints who are making new lives in a foreign land.

Our Friday service was attended by 15 souls plus 7 participating via two media platforms from several nations representing about 10-12 more people.  Our topic was “The Truth about Homosexuality” and we started at 6:10 PM as everyone came from work.  The open forum was concluded at 8:15, but some of the discussions carry over during our supper on such occasions.
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Dear family, brethren, and friends,

The flight from Whakatane to Auckland on Wednesday took about an hour and Ronnie Salunga greeted me at the airport and brought me to his house about 11:00 AM. I reviewed my lesson for tonight, ate lunch, took a short rest, worked on email, walked an hour, and showered and got dressed for our service.

The Meadowood church of Christ gathered in the Salunga’s basement at 6:00 PM with 11 in attendance and another 20 people accessing the study via Zoom from New Zealand, the U.S., the Philippines, Africa, and India.  Most of the members here are Filipinos.  The theme for these five days is “Marriage and Morals” with the first session focusing on “Marriage: God’s Gift to Man and Woman.”
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Dear family, brethren, and friends,

Saturday was set aside to invite all the young people and their parents to study “Selecting a Mate: The Lord Builds the House” (Ps. 127:1).  Part 1 focused on God’s part and Part 2 on man’s part in the process of selecting a mate for marriage.  Our attendance of 44 filled a large room with several youngsters sitting on the floor, almost half of them ages 9-18 (plus 8-10 people joining via Zoom).  They could not have been more attentive.  They participated in reading Scripture and in asking questions during the open forum.  Some of them approached me to ask follow-up questions after the session dismissed.

Some of them are new converts who did not grow up hearing such Bible lessons, so they are learning a lot of new things.  The study explained that the most crucial step in finding the right person is being the right person, i.e., a faithful Christian who is separated from the world!
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Dear family, brethren, and friends,

The second phase of my schedule is to preach in New Zealand, where I arrived in Auckland on Wednesday afternoon after an all-night flight from Manila via Sydney, Australia.  Nothing unusual happened on the flight from Manila covering 5,350 miles, so our prayers were answered for safe travel (thank you for those prayers!).

I slept several hours after watching a documentary movie entitled “Beyond Utopia,” which would benefit anyone and especially young people.  It records true startling, shocking stories of what people must suffer and sacrifice trying to escape the oppression of the North Korean regime.  I did not realize people can be executed there just for owning a Bible.  Children are brainwashed in schools there to believe that Americans are vicious animals who want to destroy and devour the people of N.K. They are taught that N.K. is a paradise or utopia in contrast to other nations.  People who criticize the government or seek to escape are commonly banished to gulags or prisons work camps, or even executed in public with children included as witnesses.  We often take religious and political freedoms for granted when we should count our blessings and pray for our fellowmen to share those same blessings!
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Dear family, brethren, and friends,

By God’s good grace, my 85^th trip got off to a smooth start after hitting one big bump. A day before leaving, I learned the first flight was scheduled on a small commuter plane which would not allow me to bring seven pieces of luggage – i.e., the boxes of Bibles and teaching materials.  To solve this issue, Delta Air Lines rebooked me on a flight leaving Louisville 12 hours later, which meant leaving Wednesday evening and getting to Manila Friday about noon.

This means I lost the day devoted to errands such as repacking and shipping the boxes to upcoming venues, and adjusting to the 12 hour time change.  Instead, as soon as arriving, I met three Filipinos who help with the boxes and other errands and I must start preaching tomorrow after less than 24 hours for the transition.
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