Dear family, brethren, and friends,

Jack and I left the hotel in Bacolod City on Friday at 6:30 A.M. to catch our flight to Cebu City on the island of Cebu.  We were met by our dear friends Jonathan and Nanette Carino who live and labor in the Lord here.

The weather blessed us during the past week on Negros because the constant rain they had been having relented.  It resumed last night and is forecast to continue every day.  Daily rain is also forecast here on Cebu for the week ahead, with temperatures in the high 80’s, so we will pray for safety as we travel and teach.

Every night on Negros I worked hard to get to bed at a decent hour, but preparing lessons, reports, and email messages kept me up until about 12:30 virtually every night.  Then we tried to get on the road by 8:00 A.M. each day to travel to our appointments.  Fortunately, no appointments were scheduled for today.  There is work to do, but I am getting a little extra rest as well.  Did someone say we are getting older and we can feel it?  Let’s just count our blessings every day and do whatever we can in serving the Lord.  The night is coming when we can no longer work, as Jesus said in John 9:4.
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Dear family, brethren, and friends,

The brethren at Victorias City where Jack Jaco preaches hosted a series of classes on “How to Study the Bible” Tuesday and Wednesday.  We used the excellent Truth In Life workbook by that title, written by Cecil Willis.  Our hope was to have 60-70 primarily young people, but over 100 participants joined us the first day, ranging from 11 years old upward.  While we hope this series will help prepare young men to preach, young ladies were also welcomed to improve their study skills and skills in teaching children.

I taught “The Bible: A Book to Study” and “Can We Understand the Bible?” in the first morning sessions.  After lunch Jack addressed “Reasons for Bible Study” and “Preparing the Heart.”  These topics were followed by my lesson on “Improper Attitudes and Methods of Study.”  Jack ended the day with “Rightly Dividing the Word.”  The students gladly participated in reading passages and several of them expressed appreciation for what they had learned after we dismissed.
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Dear family, brethren, and friends,

I slept about nine hours Friday night, which is not at all typical for me, but maybe it will help my body make the 12 hour time change.  Saturday morning was spent catching up on some email (cannot get it all done), and learning how to use the iCloud to connect pictures on my camera to my laptop (with guidance from Kevin Stilts via a lengthy phone call – thank you, brother!).

After lunch I went to the airport to fly to Bacolod City in the province of Negros Occidental on the island of Negros.  Since there are not enough gates at the Manila airport to accommodate all of the domestic flights, a bus took us out to board the plane on the tarmac.  The covers on one of the jet engines were wide open with technicians working on both sides of it, which was not very reassuring as we boarded!  The travel time from the Manila terminal to the Bacolod terminal was about two hours and the flight was late, but it was a delight to finally Jack Jaco’s smiling face again at last.
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Dear family, brethren, and friends,

The Philippine preaching trip scheduled for November 29-December 20 is now in progress.  By God’s grace my flights on Tuesday-Wednesday from Louisville to Manila were safe in spite of 120 mph headwinds from Detroit to South Korea which caused turbulence and delay.  As often happens, a Catholic Filipino sitting next to me became interested in my comments about the church of Christ going back to the basics of the original teaching of Christ and he asked for my contact number.  I was glad to finally fall into bed at 2:00 A.M. Thursday.

By the way, the temperature was 85 degrees when the plane landed at almost midnight – and I forgot to bring my overcoat and snowshoes  for this freeezing winter weather! 🙂
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Dear brethren,

Jim McDonald blessed me by taking me to the Philippines in 1995 and my 79^th trip was completed August 2-31.  Mark Mayberry from Alvin, TX joined me on the 10^th and Trey Torno from McKinney, TX participated August 10-22 for the Mindanao leg of our trip.  (Aug. 2-30 Keith Greer worked with Rody Gumpad on Luzon.)  I taught 62 lessons – Mark taught a like number of lessons, plus lessons by Trey – and 141 submitted to Christ in baptism for the remission of their sins through these combined efforts.

3,000 obeyed the gospel on Pentecost and the church immediately faced many benevolence needs.  “And all that believed were together, and had all things common;  And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need” (Acts 2:44-45).  16 earthquakes hit Mindanao October 2019 – May 2020 .  Hundreds of saints in remote areas lost their homes.  Saints in the Philippines, the U.S., and other nations have been sending funds to meet this unique emergency.  Our sermons aimed to edify these saints. We can verify that men such as Julie Notarte, Franklin Isla, Salvador Parbo, Nardo Francisco, Jolly Julom, Connie Balbin and others have been doing their best to handle the benevolence funds in an honorable and effective manner.  As donations permit we will try to complete this work as best we can.
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Dear family, brethren, and friends,

The 79^th Philippine trip was completed successfully by God’s good grace today.  Mark Mayberry and I returned to our loved ones this afternoon (Trey Torno and Keith Greer arrived home ahead of us).

This has been another profitable and fruitful trip in every way — thanks to many Filipino brethren who welcome us, work with us, and keep us safe.  We are also very thankful to all of the saints who donate funds and offer prayers to make our work fruitful and safe.

Above all, we thank God for opening these doors and giving us safe passage as He has guided us to precious souls who love and seek for the truth.
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Dear family, brethren, and friends,

Our flight Thursday from Davao City to Manila was safe and we both slept from exhaustion. Friday we studied and rested some but also spent a couple of hours at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial where about 54,000 Americans and Filipinos who died in WW II are commemorated with gravestones and inscriptions on huge limestone panels. By God’s providence one result of the war was that doors were opened for preaching the gospel here. God is still reaping a great harvest of precious souls in this land.

On Saturday Mark preached at the congregation in Sta. Maria, Bulacan all day and 13 souls obeyed the gospel. James Paet drove me to Vican, North Caloocan City where 52 people gathered to hear lessons on “From Wretched Man to More Than Conqueror,” “To Seek and Save the Lost,” “Young People, Read the Bible,” and “Finish the Race.” After an open forum, 5 souls who confessed Christ were immersed in a barrel of water.
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Dear family, brethren, and friends,

Julie Notarte took Trey to visit several churches Thursday and they harvested 12 more souls who obeyed the gospel of Christ.  It is important to remember that we are not baptizing these people after preaching one or two lessons, but they have been studying and learning at the feet of Filipino preachers – we are simply shaking the tree and helping to catch the apples which fall.

Mark and I were taken by Frank Isla to the New Matina church in Davao City where Juanito Balbin has preached for many years with the assistance of his sons – and now his youngest son, Connie, is helping him.  About 100 people including many preachers gathered for all-day preaching.  I preached “From Wretched Man to More Than Conquerors” to open the service, followed by Mark’s presentation of two sermons on lessons we learn from faithful Abraham.  My final topic was “Finish the Race (2 Tim. 4:7-8).”
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