Activities for the month of May

May 3 (Sunday Worship at Metro Tuguegarao)

The lockdown continues on the entire Philippines and we are still unable to work normally especially in our preaching services. I am happy that I am able to preach here in Tuguegarao. I am the one scheduled to preached during our worship and I shared about “Where is Jesus?” On this time of pandemic, I can see more people searching for God. Most of the post I see on facebook are bible verses, prayers, and many things about God. People are afraid of this virus that they go to God but that is their only reason. They do not search for what God really wants. They are still doing things which they think God accepts, but they never really search or look for what God wants. I am happy that I can preach not only in the church but also with our live streaming. Many friends and brethren on facebook watch the sermon. I hope and pray that I have really opened their eyes about the truth.

Unluckily, the last month (April), I am able to record all the sermons on my phone and upload in on youtube. During my sermon, my phone got broken, I don’t know why, but it didn’t record anything. We used the phone of brother Jay as our second screen and so we cannot record also from there. The only file I have is the live video on facebook. It is still in the timeline of our group page in Palca Church. All of the sermons for this month is in that page and none on youtube.

May 4

I have contacted sister Erlinda Manuel through phone call. She do not know how to use social media apps and only have on old phone (not touch screen). She is living alone in their house in Angang (She is a member at Palca Church). Since the lockdown, I haven’t heard anything about her, even from her daughter, sister Nenita. It is not really a bible study, but I have conversation with her about the situation and encourages her with biblical verses. We ended the call by prayer.

May 5

The same way for sister Marites. I haven’t heard anything from her since the lockdown. If you remember from my previous reports, she is the one who have heart problems but now in a very good condition. I contacted sister Teresita first to ask for her phone number, but she doesn’t have one. Instead, I talk to her using sister Teresita’s phone when she went to their house. I ask about her situation and she told me that everything is ok except problems for their necessities. Food is their major problem because she still cannot work and her husband cannot work in the field because of the lockdown. I also gave encouraging bible passages to her and ended by prayer.

May 6

We had again our bible study at the house of brother Rody. We sung spiritual songs together as a family and studied Acts 3. Brother Rody, Jerome, Jun, Jay and I shared some thoughts about the chapter in front of our wives and kids.

May 7

I made another phone call and this time it is sister Krizel. Her sibling, sister Kenneth is in Cavite (called another day) and cannot go out because the lockdown in that area is more strict. Their parents are Christians also, but since being part of the counsels in that village, they do not have time anymore joining us in services. In short, they backslide and joined worldly people in the counsel. Thankfully, both their kids are faithful. But still I wanted to continue persuading them to return to church. During that time, they are not home with Krizel. They are frontliners and serving the village needs. We just had a short talk because the signal of her phone is weak that we cannot understand all what we are talking. We just prayed for their family.

May 10

In our Sunday worship here at Tuguegarao, brother Rody shared a good sermon. He preached about The True Church. I helped in other works and guided those who are coming in to join us in worship. Our attendance is only ¼ of our regular attendance.

May 11

This time, I made a call to sister Kenneth in Cavite. She is staying alone on her apartment. She is a school teacher but because of the lockdown, she is working home by online teaching. I needed to shorten our conversation because she still have many works for their school. I shared also two passages from the scripture teaching us to be steadfast in the Lord even with many trials. We again concluded the call with a prayer.

May 12

I made a call to sister Girlie Domingo. She is just 34 years old but not a fan of new technologies that’s why I also do not have any updates on her. I just got her phone number from her mother, sister Lorna. Regarding her situation, her family is ok, her husband who is not a Christian cannot work also because the welding shop he is working is close. Same with other brethren, they keep telling me of their struggles for their needs. Thankfully, some brethren who sent me funds for benevolence is given to all of them. I shared to her whole family John 10. We ended the call by prayer.

May 13

We continue with our bible study at the house of brother Rody. We continue to sing spiritual songs and joining in prayer. We studied Acts 4, and the same way, each of us preachers who are there share some thoughts on the chapter. We are happy because our kids are learning from our studies. We ask them questions about the discussion and they are giving good answers.

May 14

I also called the mother of sister Girlie, sister Lorna. Their house is just 50 meters apart but because of the lockdown, they remain at their own homes. Sister Lorna have asthma during my call and I can hear the way she breathes. We just prayed together and ended the call.

May 17

Brother Rody again preached in our sermon, and he shared about “What worship means to us?” We have a better attendance at this time because almost all rows of chairs have someone sitting on it. Our attendance is already half our average. We are about 65. The lockdown is still in play, mass gathering is still not allowed, but we are thankful that we can do worship because they are not that strict anymore.

In Palca where I am locally preaching, they are still very strict. The virus is not the main problem in that town, it is the Governor who doesn’t want anyone from other town enter his vicinity.

May 18

I made a call to sister Noemi, who is with her niece and father who is a member of the Jehovah’s witnesses. This is the longest call I have so far because her father asked many questions about death, soul, spirit and afterlife. I hope with the biblical answers I gave him, we can have more bible studies in their house after the lockdown and that he will also obey the truth.

May 19

I called sister Maria Andrada. She is with her niece during the call. Everything is ok in her family. Her daughter’s who are in Manila and abroad are also good. She is a jolly person and we have good laughs during the call. I also shared biblical passages and prayed together with them.

May 20

We again had our bible study at the house of brother Rody. We again did the same thing and studied Acts 5.

May 21

I made a video call to sister Dina in Taiwan, but because of internet problems on my part, we ended up chatting on messenger. She just ended her contract on her employee and looking for a new one. She is asking our prayers that she can locate a godly employer that will allow her to do Christian things. I just sent her passages on the scripture to think about. We cannot pray by chat but I told her that we will pray for her.

May 24

In our worship here in Tuguegarao, brother Jerome shared a good lesson about Why do we preach the gospel? We again have a good attendance of more than 50 including the kids. Those kids are only from our family, but the kids from our brethren who attended are not allowed to go out of houses as our authorities prohibits.

May 25

I made a call to sister Rowena and with him are other three Christians, her parents, brother Enzo and sister Gina, and her sibling, sister Charice. They’ve been lukewarm before the lockdown and this time; I am trying to encourage them to continue on serving the Lord. During the stretch of this lockdown, I am communicating with them and they are telling me that they already want to be back in the church. I shared passages about returning to our first love, returning to Jesus and to remain faithful. We ended by prayer.

May 27

During our bible study again in the house of brother Rody. We did the same things and studied Acts 6. The kids are now better since we started doing the studies. They can now explain and reason out ideas on the chapters.

May 31

All I thought is that the lockdown will end May 30 and so I already prepared everything I need going to Palca. But the announcement came on May 28 that the lockdown is again extended until June 15. I tried getting travel pass so that I can go and preach in Palca, if not to visit the brethren, but still, the order of the governor, is to not allow anyone from other town enter their area. Sad and disappointing moment for me.

Thankfully, we are still able to worship here at Metro Tuguegarao. Brother Rody preached the sermon, on worship, particularly on singing. I am still in charge of the brethren who are coming in and making sure that we are following the protocols of the lockdown which is social distancing.

And because I am still not allowed to travel to Palca, I joined brother Rody in going to Alibago Church in the afternoon. He got a travel pass from the Mayor’s office and the town of Enrile already allows anyone from other town to enter the place. I help in the work together with brother Jun and brother James.

When we are traveling back home, we heard from the radio that we no longer need to secure any travel pass when we want to go to other towns but be sure that it is only in our state/region. I am very happy to hear that news because I can already go to Palca without any hindrances. The only problem now is, if the governor will allow us to enter their town, and if they will allow us to have church gathering. I am praying that they will all allow this so that we can already worship together in Palca after three months of lockdown.

Activities for the month of April 2020

April 1

I started to schedule bible classes with the brethren at Palca every weekday. By the way of the internet and phone calls, we were able to have study on God’s word even when we are 40 kilometers apart. I wanted to continue my obligation to the brethren at Palca even though our situation does not permit me to go there. I prepared 5 chapters of the bible to share to them. I will just repeat the chapters for other families because they are not on the same day where we are studying.  I have already informed each of them in our group chat. We are doing this every 8 in the morning.

I started with the family of brother Lino Quines. Together with her is his wife sister Fermina Quines and their daughter sister Jing Doran (her husband who is not a Christian is also with them). We made the bible study possible by having a phone call. They set it to loud speaker and we read Romans. 8. For them to be part of the study, we read the verses, one at a time and one person at a time. There are four of them and including me. This is a good chapter to study for the times you are well or not. Aeiona, the daughter of sister Jing is sick and so we included her in our prayer before we end the call. The photos I am inserting here are not the latest photos, they just sent it to me to show in my report and some I just got from their facebook.

 April 3

There was a day gap between the study because of some important matters I attended to. This time, I made a phone call with the family of brother Junior Quines. He is with his daughter, sister Ann and his wife who is not yet a Christian. We read John 10 as our guide to our study. During this time of trial, we must look to Jesus who is said to be our shepherd in this chapter that takes care of us all. The good news to their family is that everything is healthy.

April 5

To continue with our worship to God, we did our obligation by going on live streaming on facebook using my account. There are five of us preachers here in Tuguegarao who are working together to make this thing done. Our families are also with us in the worship. Thankfully, we can still do this even though our town is in quarantine/lockdown. There are a few brethren who are joining us. This Sunday, brother Jerome preached a sermon about “Prayer”. I recorded the sermon and shared to the brethren at Palca. It is difficult for them to watch our live streaming and so I recorded the sermon and uploaded it on youtube for them to view in a latter hour after our worship. Here is the link for the first sermon of the month: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFP3PO4-Uwk&t=26s

April 6

I continue our bible study with the brethren at Palca. This time, with the family of sister Emy Rivard and her daughter sister Skyla. We read 1 John 3. I choose the chapter not because they are doing non-christian things but because they are new to the Christian world, I want them to learn of things we need not to do anymore. We included in our prayer her husband, brother Richard who is far from them and is working in Wisconsin.

April 7

The next family for the bible study is with sister Grace Lamigo. Together with her is his husband, Mark. He is also a Christian but became lukewarm. We studied Ephesians 1, the assurance of our salvation. I shared it to them because I wanted Mark to rethink of coming back to church because with Christ, we have the full assurance of our salvation and outside of Him, condemnation. Thankfully, their family is doing well. It is just hard because Mark is a carpenter, and he have no work right now. They are relying on relief given to the government and the benevolence by the brethren given to them.

April 8

Our bible study is with the family of sister Maria Lamigo, her mother, sister Pacita  and her daughter Carla Lamigo. I went back to Romans 8 for our bible reading and study. We included in our prayer, her son who is working in Manila and cannot go back home because of the lockdown. He is alone in Manila right now, no work and no salary. It is difficult right now to be there.

April 9

I have no bible study with the brethren at Palca but in the evening we had the bible study at the house of brother Rody Gumpad. We studied Matthew 27. In our country, Catholics are celebrating the easter by following the traditions of men. It is unscriptural and a sin to God all the things that they do. We are with our kids during our bible study and so we want them to know what the bible teaches and what is the error of the denominations.

April 10

We again had our evening bible study in the house of brother Rody. We continued with what we left the other night and so we read Matthew 28.

April 12

In our Sunday worship, brother Rody preached a sermon about the “Mystery of Christ”. I again recorded the sermon and uploaded to youtube for brethren to watch. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NmEGdyTo90

April 13

With this quarantine/lockdown, I am able to communicate not only with the brethren who are staying in Palca but also those who are abroad. I got a chance to study with sister Elaine who is in Dubai. I cannot call her through phone because that will be very expensive and so we had a video chat. We read and study John 10. She is alone in her apartment and no work. But thankfully, her employer is still giving her, her basic necessities.

April 14

Back to the brethren at Palca, I have study with sister Diday and her niece, sister Regine. We read and study 1 John 3. This is through phone call. Sister Regine’s husband is one of the frontliners right now. A nurse in a private hospital here in Tuguegarao and we included him in our prayer.

April 15

In the evening, we had our bible study again in the house of brother Rody. We intended to do this until this lockdown ends. We studied Acts 1 as continuation with the story we are following on Matthew 28.

April 16

Our bible study through phone call is doing good because after our studies, we still have good conversations on our group chat. This day, I studied with sister Teresita and her daughter sister Carrie. Their father is not yet a Christian but he is there with them. We studied Ephesians 1. I continue to invite Mr. Jose to our worship. Hope and pray that he can already join us after the worship. They are the family of sister Elaine in Dubai and sister Leah in Saudi Arabia.

April 17

My next schedule is with sister Marites Bauit. He is alone during that time because his husband who is not a Christian went to buy them their needs. We read Psalm 103 this time. Sister Marites have a heart problem. When I first met her, she is very sickly, but I can say that God’s miracle came upon her because when she became a Christian, her health continues to improve. Right now, she is very healthy. I know miracle already ceased because that is written in the bible but the love of God to those who fear Him never ends. I am very happy for this sister of ours.

April 19

In our Sunday worship, brother Jay preached the sermon about “Drawing near to God”. Here is again the video I uploaded in youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVbqW1ob8uU

April 20

In the morning, I had a bible study again through phone call with sister Teresita Andrada. She invited our sisters who are just their neighbors because I do not have any way of contacting them (Sister Jayzel and sister Princess).

We studied Ephesians 1. Everything is good with them, all are healthy.

In the afternoon, together with brother Rody and brother Jun, we had the radio program. We stayed in the chapel here in Tuguegarao and through phone call, the bible study is aired in the radio. We also made a live streaming over in facebook, Brother Rody is taking care of answering the questions, brother Jun is the one reading the verses in the bible and I am the one recording and editing the video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jdNNERctqg

April 21

I have a video chat again from our sister in abroad. This time it was sister Leah who is in Saudi Arabia. We read and study Psalm 103. Her problem right now is that she have no work because the place she is working needs to close. No work, no salary for her. She is asking for our prayers. She has a little savings that she is using to buy what she needed.

April 22

We again had our bible study at the house of brother Rody in the evening. This time we studied the second part of Acts 1.

April 23

With my next schedule, I had bible study with sister Nicol and sister Quennie. They are siblings and sister Claudine is also with them. We also read and studied Psalm 103. Sister Nicol is pregnant and her pregnancy is sensitive and she needs to take good care of herself. Please pray for her and her baby.

April 24

I have another chance to sharing the words of God to the family of sister Linda. She is with her daughter, sister Lorna and her two kids, sister Jocelyn and sister Girlie. We read and studied John 10. Sister Lorna is asking prayers for her children. One is in Norway, two are in Manila, one in Ilocos and one in Baguio. In total, she  have 12 children, four of them are in Palca.

April 25

We again had our live streaming and over the air radio program. Just like what we did last Monday (April 20), I recorded again the program. It is again me, brother Rody and brother Jun. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EC51Bw7WCY&t=562s

April 26

In our Sunday worship, brother Jun Gumpad preached the sermon. His lesson is on “Calvary: Three Crosses”. Here is the link to the youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8y6Rv93vfU&t=807s

This time, we are happy to see that 7 other brethren joined us in worship. Hopefully, the next coming weeks, our number will already increase because of the transition of the quarantine here in our province.

April 27

I had the bible study with sister Nenita and her daughter, sister Monet. We read and studied Romans 8. Sister Monet will getting marry after 3 or four months depending on the situation we are on. She is asking us to include her fiancé in our prayers because he is a policeman and on the frontline.

At noon, we had again our radio program. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLMCVWZizRs&t=252s

April 28

I had a bible study with sister Paulina. Sister Rosario and sister Lisa went to her house because they are just near. We studied Psalm 103. Sister Paulina asked to include in our prayers her children who are in Nueva Vizcaya, right now, that place have a number of cases of covid-19. Please also include them in our prayers.

April 29

We again had our bible study at the house of brother Rody. We studied Acts 2 this time.

April 30 (Today)

I have the chance to study with sister Angelina and her grand daughter. We read and studied John 10. Her daughter is in Hongkong and she wants us to include her in our prayer. I am in close contact with her daughter sister Dina and according to her, everything is fine in that country. She continuous to work with her employer and got a good salary.

****This is what is in front of me every morning during our bible study. My desktop monitor is dead and I need to borrow the TV of my mother to use as a monitor. Hope I can buy a new one soon because she also needed the TV.

Preaching activities for the month of March 2020

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 14^th. 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 49^th 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.