Preaching Activities for the month of September 2020

 September 2 (Midweek Bible Study)

We are back to having our midweek bible study again in the house of brother Rody and we studied Acts 19. We are back on the level of lockdown that we call GCQ (Enhance community Quarantine). All above 60 and below 20 are not allowed to go out. Sickly, pregnant and PWD are also not allowed to go out that's why we are not allowed to gather on church on Wednesday evening. Public vehicles are also few and it will be hard for many of our brethren to come especially because it is night time. The last week of August, we are at MECQ (Modified Enhance Community Quarantine) that only allowed one individual to go out of their house to buy basic necessities and because of that, I am not allowed to go to Palca and Dagupan and pass the checkpoints.

September 6 (Sunday worships)

Any lockdown won't stop us from having our worship here in Tuguegarao. We continue to have our live streaming on facebook using the page of Metro Tuguegarao Church of Christ. Brother Rody was the one scheduled to preach the sermon and he shared about "Paul's Prison Epistles.

In the afternoon, after not having our worship because of the MECQ, we are happy to be together again. No more checkpoints on my way to Palca and Dagupan. I preached in both places about "The choices we make". Many of our brethren at Palca did not come because of the current situation on the area and the protocols that we need to follow. But in Dagupan, we continue to have the same number of attendance because the situation there is better.

September 9 (Midweek bible study)

We continue to have our midweek bible study at the house of brother Rody. Together with our whole family, we studied Acts 20. We included in our prayers all those brethren whom have a family member that died and also many are sick and have the covid-19 here in the Philippines. 

September 7-12 (Work in the chapel)

For the whole week, we've been working in our chapel, fixing many things because we weren't able to move freely the previous months. As the time of publishing this blog (October 1), we have a scheduled meeting with all the men of the congregation on Saturday (October 3) for the possible plans we will make during this time of pandemic. This pandemic might take longer and so we will plan what ways we needed to do to help edify our brethren.

September 13 (Sunday worships)

In our worship here at Metro Tuguegarao, many of our brethren still cannot come. Three villages in our town is on total lockdown and one of it is Linao East. Four families that are our brethren are from that area. Brother Jerome preached the sermon and he shared about "Recharging your spiritual passion".

In the afternoon at Palca,brother Jun Gumpad came to me and asked me if he can come join in the preaching. We divided our work in the two places where I am preaching. He preached the sermon in Palca and I preached in Dagupan. We have an attendance of 32 in Palca and 16 in Dagupan.

September 14 (Bible study)

I have a bible study with our sister in Hongkong. It is through facebook messenger and by an audio call. I cannot do video call because of the slow internet connection. They are also currently in a lockdown. Sister Charlene is a faithful member of the church in Palca and is currently working as a domestic helper in Hongkong. I shared some edifying verses to her to strengthen her faith. They cannot go out and have their worship in the city area right now and I hope that the call I made gave her spiritual strength.

September 16 (Midweek bible study)

We again had our midweek bible study at brother Rody's house. We do not know how long we are going to do this in their house because the number of cases of covid is rapidly increasing in our town. We studied Acts 21.

September 17 (Bible study)

This time, I made a group chat that includes three young individual in Palca and Dagupan (Geraldine, Gaile and JM). I am sharing to them the basic concepts of the church and salvation. Geralding is the only one among them who experience bible learning through my wife in their children's class while the other two are just new. They just joined us about three weeks ago in Dagupan. Until now (October 1), I am still teaching them about the bible. I am praying that one of this days, they will also obey the gospel. They are asking me bibles but unfortunately, I do not have any available right now.

September 20 (Sunday worships)

Our worship in Tuguegarao's attendance is getting low lately because of the current situation of our town. Many are hesitant to get out of their houses. On this day, five villages are already in total lockdown and three more are on process of having it. We continue to have our fellowship with all those who came and thank God that no one from our brethren from Tuguegarao, Palca and Dagupan have the covid. Brother Rody preached about "What Jesus said abour prayer?"

In the afternoon, at Palca, I preached about "The new normal". It is not about the covid situation but having a new normal in our life as a christian. I also preached the same lesson in Dagupan. We have on visitor there and she is the one with the purple clothes on the right side of the picture(3rd picture below) beside our sister with the blue shirt and with glasses.(I forgot her name). She is a catholic and is interested in the study. She also joined us the next week. Please help me pray that through my preaching efforts, God will touch her heart and soon be one of our faithful brethren. 

September 21 (Bible study)

We went to the house of brother Randy Viernes. They invited us to have a bible study in their house and also pray for their daughter Nicol who just celebrated her birthday September 20. Sorry for my mask, my sibling just gave it to me and I do not have anything to use at that time.

September 22 (Bible Study)

We also went to have the bible study at the house of brother Lino Darauay. It is a bit scary because the next village from their area have a few cases of covid and the number of people who joined us is a bit much. It is also the birthday of brother Lino and we joined together to pray for him.

September 23 (Midweek bible study)

Our bible study remains to be very important to us especially to help our children learn more about the bible. It is not only because it is scheduled but because we needed spiritual strength to battle Satan everyday. We studied this time Acts 22.

September 27 (Sunday worships)

Our attendance in Tuguegarao went low with just 49. Many areas of the town are closed with barricades right now. In just a 6 days, our town will look like a ghost time once again. Our City Mayor already announced of the MECQ, or a total lockdown in the whole town. Our worship continues with the sermon preached by brother Jay about "Why there is an empty seat in the church?".

In the afternoon, brother Jay also joined me in the work. He preached in Palca the same lesson and I preached in Dagupan about "Color Discrimination". The next two weeks, we will not have the physical worship in both areas because I cannot get out of our town because of the lockdown but I will make a way for them to hear the words of God. I will record a video and send it to our group chat.

We will not have the live streaming also on Sunday (October 4) because it was announced that the whole town will have no electricity. We will make a way to serve our brethren.