November 1 (Sunday Worship at Three congregations)
It is the first Sunday and the first day of the month and it is the best way to start everything by worshipping the Almighty God who gives us all the blessings. The pandemic problem on this day is slowly slipping away and I am happy that none of my family and our brethren are infected by it. Our attendance is still below average. Brother Jerome preached the sermon during this time and he shared to us the lesson "What does it mean to become a Christian?". He posted the sermon on youtube and here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyahTz16FUA&feature=share&fbclid=IwAR0EVEXwR3Ec2D3t3oEDvoHU1Ndfz3bRp191pAjiAUPrKC8YfaVdubD-a_o
In the afternoon, I preached the lesson "Too much of a good thing" on both places, Palca and Dagupan. I didn't have any pictures taken because my phone battery died.
November 2 (e-bible study)
I called this one e-bible study because we are having the study through facebook messenger and sometimes through phone call or text message. I have in communication with the Tabbu Family (Clarita, Gail and John Mark). They have been attending our worship at Dagupan for several weeks. Not every Sunday, but on times they are there. They've been going to the near village, Naruangan, sometimes and that's the time they cannot attend. Clarita is the grandmother of the two kids. I am happy to be sharing with them even though it is only through phone. It is difficult but nothing is impossible when the gospel is preach.
November 4 (Midweek service)
We still have our bible study at the house of brother Rody because we are still waiting for the next announcement regarding the protocols. We studied Acts 27 with our whole family.
November 6 (e-bible study)
I have another phone bible study with an old lady at Dagupan. She is Mrs. Felisa Abad. She is already at her late 60's and it is even more difficult to communicate with her because of her hearing problems. She is a first time visitor in Dagupan the last Sunday and I got her number. I prefer doing this kind of work until maybe everything is back to normal. But if given the chance to have the face-to-face study, I'd be willing to do it every week once again just like before.
November 8 (Sunday worship at three different places)
In our worship here at Tuguegarao, brother Rody preached to us in the sermon about "The promises and fulfillment of God's eternal plan". I only took the picture of the live streaming we did on facebook. If I am not scheduled to preach, I am the one who is taking care of those who are coming in, to guide them to their seats, taking their temperature and other things to follow the city's protocols regarding covid.
In the afternoon, I preached in Palca and Dagupan, "Some things God can't do/will not do". The weather is getting colder but thankfully, no on is sick. Our previous visitors are not with us this time.
November 11 (Midweek bible study at Tuguegarao)
Finally, we are again allowed to have the gathering every Wednesday night. Aside from our family, only a few brethren came. It is hard to come because there are only small number of public passenger vehicles allowed to go out. We continue with our study on the book of Acts and we are already in the last chapter(28).
November 13 (Flood)
I do not believe in the myth of Friday the 13th as a bad luck. It just so happen that twice this year that the 13th day landed on Friday, something bad happened here in our country. March 13th, it was announced that the whole country will have the lockdown and November 13th, even though we do not have any typhoon signal, but the worst flood happened here in Tuguegarao. In my 35 years of existence in this world, this is my first time experiencing this kind of flood in my hometown. The entire city is under water but thankfully on our village, it didn't reach our house. Unfortunately, many of our brethren's house are under water. They needed to evacuate for their safety. There are those who died according to the news because of electrocution and drowning but none is our brethren.
November 15 (Sunday worship at Three congregations)
The whole region is not flooded but the effect hits everyone. We do not have any electricity and brethren cannot come because there are still many areas flooded and un-passable. I am the one scheduled this time to preach. I entitled the lesson "Friday the 13th", but it is from the example of Job having the worst day of his life that even though this happened to him, he still manages to keep his strong faith to God.
I also preached the same lesson is Palca and Dagupan. They also do not have electricity and all the phones are dead. Some didn't come because they thought there are still flooded area that I cannot pass. Thankfully, we still enjoy worshipping God together and thank Him for protecting us from all the dangers.
November 16 (Distribution of relief goods to brethren)
Funds have been sent to brother Rody and our entire family help together to pack the items and distributed to our brethren. On our first day, we went to the families of Delos Santos, Panopio, Bangi, Guiyab, Maramag, Jose, Asistores and Piloca. We should also be going to the house of sister Marvita Ortaleza but the road is still flooded and we cannot pass. My wife and I are the frontliners in the distribution because we are the one who are ahead of everyone of them using our motorbike. We first go to one house and if the family/brethren are there, we will call them to come. When they arrived, that's the time we leave them and go to the next destination.
November 18 (second distribution)
The second part of the distribution was made here in Tuguegarao. Only three of us man came and the other are ladies that's why we are the once who carried the bags of rice and grocery items to the houses of our brethren. Brother Rody's camera have all the pictures, I didn't have the time to took mine because of the works I did. He may have sent you also his reports regarding this one. We distributed to the families of Mabatan, Battad, Nalog, Allapitan, Ignacio, Quines, Constantino and Darauay.
In the evening, we had our midweek service. We studied Romans 1:1-7. There are some brethren who already came. Thankfully, even though we are all tired, it didn't hinder us to study the words of God.
November 20 (distribution to others)
I do not know if I need to include this in my report. I helped my mother distributed relief goods to our relatives in the town of Alcala. Her friend from London sent money to her and that's the one we used for the distribution. Brother Rody, Jerome, Jay and me are all planning to start a new work in that area last March, unfortunately, the pandemic came and it never push through. We are praying that one of this days, we can already do it. I really want to have a congregation there, whoever the preacher is, because I have many relatives in that area.
November 22 (Sunday worship in three congregations)
After the flood, it seems like the pandemic is gone. Many people are already roaming around the city, very bad traffic wherever you go and there are no more social distancing. In the church, we still followed the protocol. Most of our brethren here at Tuguegarao already attended. Maybe 15 or less are the only once who didn't come. I am happy to see them all. Brother Rody preached the lesson "Amazing Grace".
In the afternoon, at Palca, I preached the lesson "Stop waiting in line". When we handed out relief goods, everyone needs to fall in line to receive one but on this lesson I shared, there are things we no longer need to fall in line like when we pray, when receiving blessings from God, when praising God, when we study the bible, when we obey the gospel and when we received salvation. We have new visitors coming from the near village of Villa Laida. They are the in-laws of sister Lorna.
In Dagupan, I invited brother Rody to come and preached. All those whom I have bible studies through messenger and by phone all attended. Brother Rody preached "What unites the church?". Sister Carrie came to me before the worship and told me that 8 of those who came wanted to be baptized and so we had the invitation and they all came forward to confess their faith. Two of them are just 11 years old, but when ask why they want to be baptized, they answered straightforward and so we included them in baptism. We brought them to the baptistery at Palca. I asked the help of brother James to immerse them because I have trouble with my back and legs. This are the names of our new brethren in Christ (Felisa Abad, Lyka Basa, Clarita Tabbu, Maria Castro, John Mark Tabbu, Kc Lamusao, Clarence Victorio and Gail Tabbu).
November 23 (Distribution of relief in Palca and Dagupan)
We also distributed to our brethren at Palca and Dagupan coming from the funds given to brother Rody. For those who cannot come, we went to their houses.
November 24 (Ballesteros distribution)
We needed to travel 2 hours to reach the area. The congregation where brother Fidelfin Miranda is preaching also experienced the flooding. The surroundings of the chapel is flooded and so when we reach the place, they are filling sand around it.
November 25 (Midweek service at Tuguegarao)
We continue to have our midweek service in the chapel. News broke out that those who were flooded and went to evacuation centers all have swab test and if their are many positive tests of covid, we will again have the lockdown. Thankfully, only 6 tests positive and we can continue with what we are doing. We studied Romans 1:8-17.
November 26 (Minagbag and Barucboc distribution)
We also went to the congregations of brother Jay Gumpad at Minagbag and brother Edgar Lingbawan in Barucboc. It is from another region and so we needed to pass many checkpoints. Thanks be to God because we are allowed to go there. In Barucboc, my heart melts when one sister suddenly cried when she got her bag of rice. She told us that the past three days, they do not have any rice. They cannot work because the rice fields are also flooded. She is thanking very much. We cannot do any of this without the help of our generous brethren. This might not cover much of what they needed, but I am sure, it is a big help for their needs.
November 29 (Sunday worship at three congreations)
For the past 8 months, this is the first Sunday that the chapel is again full. The covid protocol slightly decreases and many can already come. We still need to follow social distancing, but our attendance cannot handle such. Brother Rody preached about "Collection/giving".
In the afternoon, at Palca, I preached the lesson "Reminders from the book of Galatians". The family from Villa Laida came again and we have additional visitors who are Palca. Three of them are relatives of the Lamusao family.
In Dagupan, I also preached the same lesson. I am very happy of the growth in numbers in that area. Two years ago, there is a congregation here, but because of the decline of number in attendance, they decided to stop. Three of the faithful brethren from that area (Enzo, Gina and Teresita) came to join us in Palca. As months pass by, four from Dagupan were also baptized in Palca. During the time of pandemic, traveling is not allowed but I had the chance to go to them and preach. We divided the worship, one in Palca and one in Dagupan. We started in Dagupan with about 7 brethren and two non-christian. As we continue to have the worship there, three were baptized last August, one in September and 8 this November. We also have brethren who are coming back. This 29th of the month, 4 of them joined us and we also have five non-christians in attendance.
When everything is back to normal, we are planning that they will no longer need to go back to Palca and join in the worship there. We will just re-established the congregation in the area because our attendance last Sunday is already 29. We are praying that the congregation will continue to grow both in numbers and most especially in the knowledge of the truth. I am praying that our new visitors will also obey the gospel soon.
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