March 1 (Sunday worship at Tuguegarao and Palca)
With the first Sunday of the month, we started on a new series of our lesson in our bible study here in Tuguegarao. We had a booklet that brother Rody got from our brethren in the US about the topic on “Family”. He will be sharing us the entire book on Sundays. In the sermon, brother Jerome share to us the lesson “Offering that which cost me nothing”.
In the afternoon, at Palca, I shared to the the lesson about “Looking for Jesus”. I adopted this lesson from the outline of brother Joe Price. I translated the outline in our own language and added some additional verses. There are still a lot of sickness in the church and also death of the father of sister Teresita Puselero.
March 2 (Funeral service at the wake of Mr. Domingo Ganab)
Sister Teresita invited us to preach in Dagupan in the wake of her father. Only her and her daughters are the members of the Lord’s church. She wanted that her mother and siblings will also hear of the gospel. Some of their neighbors also attended the bible study. Brother Jerome shared the lesson about “Value of Life”.
Together with my fellow workers, Dennis Yuson, Mario Garma, Jayjay Gumpad, Jerry Soliva and Robert Pader we served by sharing the gospel to them.
After the service, we went to Palca to install the tarpaulin I made for our Gospel Meeting. Sad to say that we needed to cancel it because of the lockdown cause by the coronavirus epidemic. We are on a lockdown until April 14th. Another reason for the cancellation is the death of one of our speakers, brother Virgilio Bocarile. He is a good and faithful man who served the Lord with all his heart.
We will re-schedule the Gospel Meeting when the lockdown ends and look for replacement of brother Virgilio.
March 4 (Midweek service at Metro Tuguegarao)
We continue to study the book of Genesis. Right now, we are on the 49th chapter. Brother Jay shared to us the lesson. Sad to say that we needed to cancel our next Wednesday services because we have a curfew of 7pm to 6am since the lockdown. We have our services at 6 to 7 p.m. Another reason for cancellation is that, only one member of a family is allowed to go out and it is only if we are to buy our necessities like foods and medicines. We are given a quarantine pass that authorities will check if we go out.
March 5 (Home Bible study)
Together with brother Rody and sister Tessie, we went to the house of brother Alex and sister Malou Ganela. We had a bible study in their house. They are working in Italy and just had a few weeks’ vacation. They should be going back to Italy March 8 but they were stopped by the immigration. Italy is also on a lockdown and all flights here in the Philippines are cancelled.
We studied about “God’s spiritual house”. Sister Malou wanted her mother to learn the truth. Her mother is always attending our services every Sunday, but she is yet to be baptized into Christ. We tried to persuade her and hopefully, she will decide sooner.
March 8 (Sunday service at Tuguegarao and Palca)
We continue with our series of lesson about family headed by brother Rody in our bible study. Brother Jerome preached about “Death” in the sermon.
In the afternoon, at Palca, I preached to them about “What the devil does to the word of God?”. We are thankful that our sick brethren the last week are already with us. We also made a list of home bible studies in three villages. In Angang at the house of sister Teresita Andrada (March 13). In Dagupan, at the house of sister Teresita Puselero’s mother (March 19). In Palca, at the house of sister Valentina Mabborang (March 27). And again in Palca, at the house of sister Junior Quines. (April 3). But again, because of the lockdown, it is all cancelled. Bible tracts distribution (April 1 and 2). Lord willing, we will push through with it in the next month.
March 11 (Midweek bible study at Palca)
We had a visitor coming from Cabarroguis, Quirino, brother Willie Otey Pastor. He shared to us a wonderful lesson about “At the feet of a traitor”. Sharing us an example of Judas that we should not follow.
March 12 (Gospel Preaching at Rapuli, Sta. Ana)
We travelled for 3 hours going to this area. It is a new work that brother Alex Lagat had started. There were 2 speakers, brother Jay Gumpad and brother Rody Gumpad. And as a result of the preaching of the gospel, six (6) precious souls stepped forward and confessed Christ and two (2) more decided to obey when we went to the river for a total of eight (8) precious souls.
March 15 (Sunday worship at Tuguegarao)
The lockdown has just started but because it is not yet that strict, we still gathered for worship in the morning. And to follow what our government proclaimed, we needed to shorten our worship. We just continued with our study on the series about “Family”.
I contacted the brethren at Palca about what the authorities in their town (Tuao) told them. Sad to say that they already stationed a lot of check points in the area. In other towns, we can still enter, but in this town where I am working, it is totally closed. The reason is, our Governor is in that area. He won’t even allow anyone to pass by his house. He stayed in their house during the stretch of this lockdown. Many citizens are complaining because he is not doing his job to serve the people. Unlike our Mayor here who continuously updates us on what is happening and trying to protect and serve all those who are under him. One of the chieftains in the village there is my classmate during college. I called him and ask him if he can give me a pass to enter Palca, but he said, he cannot do anything. They even have travel ban in their area. Our brethren at Palca are calling me and telling me that they cannot get out of their houses even just to buy their foods. Thankfully, the chieftains on each village are giving them some relief. One kilo of rice and one canned good. But that is not even enough for a two individual in one house. Even if they can go out, they do not have enough money to buy what they needed. They cannot go to work and most of them are low income earners.
If any of you my dear brethren can generously help our brethren at Palca, please do so. I will be willing to be deliver it to them. I already promised them to share some of my support when the lockdown ends.
March 22 (Sunday worship at Tuguegarao)
It is very unusual to have a worship here in Tuguegarao that ¾ of the seats are empty. Aside from our family who is situated in the same compound of the church building, only two other brethren attended. But we made a livestreaming on facebook using my account and also of brother Jun Gumpad. The camera on my phone is blurry because it is not that high-quality camera. The brethren from Tuguegarao, Palca, Pasay and many other congregations are very happy that they can be part of the worship even though they are on their homes. Even our fellow preachers here in our region are watching our live streaming.
March 29 (Sunday worship at Tuguegarao)
The lockdown continues but our worship to God will not stop. We are doing everything we can for our brethren everywhere to be part of our worship. I even made my facebook account active again just to locate every brethren from our congregation. I am only using my fb to chat with friends, relatives and preachers before, but now, I needed to do something that will involve edifying our brethren. This time, we only use the phone of brother Jun for live streaming and I just shared it. It is clearer because his phone is the recent one released in the market. Brother Jerome preached a lesson about “Prayer” and I continue to help in other works.
I also recorded the sermon and made an account on youtube. I saw that it is clearer than what I took during my live streaming. Maybe that is what the effect of using directly on fb. I uploaded it on youtube so that those who cannot view the sermon on live streaming, can watch it again. I am planning to do this starting now. And possibly, if God gives me a chance, I can also record all my sermons in Palca. Right now, it is not possible, because I am using my phone to connect to our projector. And that is also the reason why I do not have enough pictures during our worship at Palca. And most of the pictures I am posting here are not taken in my phone's camera, I only got them from our brethren.
This will be the end of my report for now… May our wonderful God who gave us a beautiful life be worship always. Let’s all trust in Him because He can cure everything. It is hard for Doctor’s to find the cure of the virus right now, but if we continue to trust in God, He will give us all the answer.
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