Dear family, brethren, and friends,

From San Fernando City in La Union on Thursday we drove to Caba where Carlos Domingo has preached for many years.  About 60-70 attended including brethren from surrounding areas to hear the sermon “Take Job as an Example.”  Rody did his typically excellent summary in Ilocano.  It was good to see Denver Domingo who attended our preacher training class in Tuguegarao years ago – he is faithfully preaching while supporting himself.

The Caba church started work on a large church building to accommodate gospel meetings and Bible lectureships way back in 2004 but have been paralyzed by the lack of funds to finish the construction. The building is closed in and has a roof so that they can use it but no windows, no ceiling, and many other unfinished features.  The ladies especially wish the children’s classroom could be completed and put to use.  In spite of these problems, the brethren press on and do the best they can.

After a wonderful lunch at the Domingo’s table, our next appointment was with the Centro church in Rosario where Rodel Baagin is doing a good work.  They currently meet in a small room in a civic building and about 70 people were crammed in like sardines in a can!  The room became so hot that both Rody and I ended up in wet clothes by the time we finished preaching.

Everyone was very attentive to the sermon “Rejoice in the Lord Always.”  At the invitation a man in his 30’s  and an 89 year old lady came forward to be baptized into Christ.  What a wonderful way to end our service!

Unfortunately, we were not able to stay for the baptism because of the necessity of traveling to Baguio City nestled high in the Cordillera Central mountain range.  A good two lane highway snakes it way back and forth in climbing these mountains in northern Luzon over 5,000 feet above sea level.  It is an independent city enclosed by the Province of Banguet.

While making our way up the mountains we were following a gasoline truck which barely stopped to avoid hitting another big truck while passing.  Rody managed to stop just short of hitting the gasoline truck and the car behind us did not realize what was happening until it was almost too late – it came within a hair’s breath of sandwiching us between it and the truck – whew!  This is too much excitement on the highways for one trip.

God is good and we safely made our way to our hotel in Baguio City by dark.  Because of the high elevation the temperature is a beautiful wonderful 60 degrees.  The people here are bundled up in coats, scarves, and gloves like it is in the dead of winter in Alaska – almost!  I took my walk for exercise tonight in a short sleeve shirt and was warmed up good when I returned to the hotel.  Americans originally built this city after the War of 1898 with Spain to give our military a good place for rest and relaxation and it has grown into a mighty city of nearly 350,000 people.  Many Filipino saints send their children to the colleges and universities here.  The gospel is needed in Baguio City.

Our Friday morning preaching was with the saints at Ambiong in Baguio City where Rosendo Guimpad labors.  Thirty-nine people met in his home as we studied “Take Job as an Example” including a summary in Tagolog by Rody.  A young man named Jose Garcia, Jr. has been working with his friends to teach them the truth with Rosendo’s help in Bongalon Labrador, Pangasinan Province about 65 miles away.  The seven friends brought by Jose ranging from 16 years to their mid-20’s came forward to confess Christ as God’s Son and to submit to him in water baptism for the remission of sins.

After lunch Rosendo guided us to the church in Cypress which is a suburb of Baguio City.  Mark Bayado preached here for many years and I corresponded with him beginning in the 1980’s until his untimely death September 9, 2015 at the age of 46.  His wife and son Joemark had the faith and stamina to keep the work going and we did our best to edify and encourage all of the saints here. Over 30 people heard the lesson on “Rejoice in the Lord Always.”  Joemark does the teaching now at Cypress while supporting himself, which greatly reduces the time available to concentrate on spreading the gospel, but he does not give up.

Our work in the provinces now completed, Saturday was a travel day from Baguio City back to Manila.  Because of heavy traffic, our travel time was almost eight hours, but the mountains were beautiful as we descended and this time our travel was without any bad incidents.  Rody, Jr. came to Baguio City to travel with us and was very helpful, even taking over the driving when his father became exhausted.

As for me, I ain’t driving in the Philippines no way no how, if at all possible!  Driving conditions here are very different than in America.  You have to learn that the main rule for driving is that there are no rules – every driver makes his own!  There should be an accident every five minutes, but someway somehow they manage to proceed.  There is one great advantage to traveling with Filipino drivers – it will make you a better Christian – because you will do plenty of praying!

Every Lord’s Day is beautiful for its high and holy privileges and this one was no exception on March 6.  The Edsa-Pasay church set a new record again today with 75 in attendance – it continues to steadily grow little by little.  I taught on “Why Saints Assemble” based on Hebrews 10.  We had a pleasant surprise when Ramon and Jonathan Carino came from Cebu City and joined our worship (they were in Manila filing papers on behalf of Ramon as a WWII veteran).  Ramon is 92 years old and uses a wheelchair, so he had to be carried up the four flights of steps to reach the meeting place.

Rody along with Sammy Paet consistently work with this church, and Rody, Jr. as well as others from Tuguegarao help as needed from time to time.

After lunch Sammy drove us to Paranaque City where a church meets in a garage at the home of Jimmy Battung.  Twenty attended today as I presented a study in two parts entitled “God Builds the House: Selecting a Mate” (Ps. 127).  Four young people present will be choosing a mate within a few years and I hope this lesson will help them prepare for the momentous decision.

Today is Monday and Rody, Junior, and Sammy took me to the Philippine Bible Society where I purchased 838 Bibles in various dialects.  These Bibles will be shipped to many brethren scattered in various parts of the country and they will distribute them to waiting hands and hearts.  Thank you to all the saints who are helping pay for these Bibles with your donations.  Praise be to God for His marvelous mercy!

Saturday evening I finally saw a sliver of the silver light of the moon, reminding me of the sweet poem from our childhood days:

I see the moon, the moon sees me
The moon sees somebody I want to see
So, God bless the moon and God bless me
And God bless the ‘Somebody’ I want to see

By God’s wonderful providence it is now time to go home and see the “somebody I want to see.”  There are many of you I am longing to see but especially my patient sweet Donna.  Without her loving help I could not be doing this work!  And how I wish I could see every “somebody” who also helps to accomplish this work by your prayers, donations, and words of sincere encouragement.  Please continue to pray for me as I make my way home on Tuesday, and please continue to pray for our Filipino brethren who are struggling to recover from the supertyphoon Lawin which struck with tremendous and devastating force last October.  I have done my best to lift their hearts, but this recovery process will last several more months.

May God bless and keep us all until we will be in heaven with Him and with each other someday!

In Christian love,
Ron Halbrook

To see good Bible study material, go to:
http://www.HebronChurchOfChrist.com
http://www.biblework.com
http://www.truthmagazine.com
http://www.CEIbooks.com