Preaching Activities from June 3 to June 11, 2019

June 3 (Midweek Bible Study at Tuguegarao)

We again continued with our study on the book of Genesis. Brother Jay shared to us a wonderful lesson on the 37th chapter about God’s way and Man’s way.

June 6 (Baptism)

We are very happy that Maricon Jose, a friend of brother TJ Maramag decided to be baptized into Christ. She have been attending our Sunday worships for three straight weeks already. I know that the mother of TJ, sister Jocelyn helped in the conversion of our new sister. She knows a lot about the teachings of Christ because she was raised with her Christian mother, sister Amy. Brother Jerome immeresed her in water in the pool at Enrile.

June 7 (Sunday worship at Tuguegarao and Palca)

I am very grateful to God for giving me again the opportunity to share His words to the brethren here in Tuguegarao. I prepared a lesson, a sermon to be exact for the brethren at Palca but because I was task to teach in our bible study here in Tuguegarao, I made the lesson into a bible study way. I shared to them the topic “Are you truly a Christian?”. In the sermon, brother Rody shared an edifying lesson on “Romans 13”.

In the afternoon, at Palca, I preached the lesson that I taught in Tuguegarao “Are you truly a christian?” but this time, in a sermon type. Still, many brethren are sick and have high blood pressures because of the hot weather. By this time of the year, we should already be experiencing rainy and cold weathers, but maybe because of the climate change, it seems it is still summer. We are praying that someday, with the Lord’s help, we can also install air conditioner in the chapel. We are hoping that brethren can also help us in buying one because the collection we have in Palca is very limited. Most of them are on the lower class and only working as laborers in the rice fields. We only average $10 every week in our collection.

June 8 (Preaching Travel)

Together with our faithful brethren brother Rody Gumpad, Jerome Forelo and me, we traveled to Bangued, Abra. On our way, we pick up brother Leonito Torreliza in Narvacan, Ilocos Sur. We started our trip at around 4 a.m. and thankful to God that we arrived safely before  dark in Bangued, Abra. It is a mountainous province covering the high Cordillera mountains. We stayed in Abra Valley Hotel because it is the center of all the places where we will be going.

June 9 (First day of the preaching in Abra)

We started the first day by traveling on higher mountain area. Brother Dionisio Balino who is from Lapaz also joined the four of us. We first went to Lingey COC at Bucloc area. A 3 hours travel from our hotel. Most roads are narrow, rugged and very scary. It is about 300m above sea level according to the people there. We cross the river using a small ferry boat. There are also some place where we need to cross on a wooden bridge just to get to the other side. It is a landslide prone area and we are thankful to God that it didn’t rain. By the help of God, we arrived safely in Lingey. We met two preachers, James Amangan and Rey Publay. James is the preacher at the area we are meeting, Lingey COC while Rey is the preacher from Cabaroan COC. The attendance is about 35-40 people. Brother Rody preached the lesson about “The True Church of Christ”. After the lesson, some of them asked questions regarding religion. Invitation was extended and two precious souls obeyed the gospel. I immersed them in water in the near river. We are also thankful for the trust of the brethren in the US for giving the benevolence money to brother Rody that we distributed. Life is hard in this area and they badly needed help. To document the distribution, I let them sign on the paper and will be forwarded to brother Ron and those who generously give the money.

 

 

On our way back, we stopped by on the riverside to eat our lunch. We then head to Salapay COC at Sallapadan where brother Eusebio Cabannag is preaching. Most of the brethren who came where of old age because the others are in school and at work. We met 11 brethren there and two members of the UCCP. Brother Rody preached about the bible dispensation. No conversion is the area but we are happy to see our brethren edified by the lesson. We also distributed the benevolence. And gave medicines and bibles to them.

June 10 (2^nd day of preaching)

The second day, we went to the congregation of brother Dionisio Balino is preaching at Ligis,Ganao COC at Lapaz. This time, we all had the opportunity to share God’s word because it is the only place we visited. The attendance is about 30-35 including all the children that greeted us. I preached first and I shared “Why few enter the narrow gate?” stressing the point that we must stay faithful. The second speaker was brother Jerome who preached “If end comes, am I ready for judgment?” speaking about being ready. And finally, brother Rody preached “Searching the scriptures”. Invitation was extended and there were 8 precious souls who confess their faith. Together with brother Jerome, we immersed them in the water. We again distributed the benevolence to them.

June 11 (Last day of preaching at Abra Region)

In our last day, we went to San Juan COC where brother Emmanuel “Manny” Tacis si preaching. It is about an hour drive from our hotel. We are happy to meet the brethren. The congregation was started by brother Isidro Tacis who is now with the Lord. The congregation still stands despite many challenges in the past. Brother Manny did a great job in working in this said congregation. Brother Rody is the only one who preached because we still needed to travel before noon going to Dingras. He preached about The Holy Bible. Invitation was extended but no response from the audience. The attendance is about 25-30. After the study, we again distributed the benevolence to them.

On our way to the last place at Dingras to visit brother Jun Macusi who had a mild stroke, the brethren at San Juan told us a alternate route to get there. Instead of four hours travel, it will only take 1 and a half of 2 hours to reach the area. We did so follow the route but on our way, we notice that only a few vehicles are passing the area. I counted 3 motorbikes and just 2 trikes. We drive climbing the cordillera mountains that seems we are not reaching its peak. It’s going up and up and we are the only one driving in the area. It is also a landslide area and we can see that many rocks fell from the mountain. There are also areas where it is very muddy and the scariest part is when the roads pavement are destroyed that with one mistake, we will fall down from the mountain. The road is like hanging from the ground. When we started to go down from the mountain, we noticed that the cemented road have many grasses. When we arrived at Dingras, we told them about the route we followed and they told us that no one is passing in that area that’s why grasses grew. With that, we are very thankful to God for protecting us from any accidents. They said that there are also rebels in that mountain, and again we are very thankful to God that we arrived safely.

 

At Dingras, we are happy to see brother Jun Macusi. When he got the stroke, he cannot speak, but now, he is already preaching. But still, he is in his wheel chair. He cannot stand. We prayed together with his wife. Please include him in your prayers. He is already about 80’s and his body is weak. Hopefully, he will still recover and regain his strength to continue in his desire to preach the Words of God.

After our visit, we traveled back to Tuguegarao. From Dingras at 3 p.m. we arrived safely at Tuguegarao at 9:30 p.m. We give God all the glory and honour for guiding us in this wonderful preaching trip. Hope and pray that I can continue doing this work until the Lord comes or when death strikes me. Those brethren we saw are a great encouragement to me. My faith grew stronger just by communicating with them. God is greatly to be praised because of the church that Jesus’ built. Without it, we would all be in sin, and without it, we might now know anyone of them.