Preaching activities for the month of May 2021

 May 2 (Sunday Worships)

The lockdown was again in place in the whole region but we are fortunate to have our worship services. In the morning, we had our worship at Tuguegarao. Since the lockdown here in our town is very tight, only a few attended the worship and the others just joined us through facebook live streaming. Brother Jerome preached about "The parable of the sower".

In the afternoon, brother Jay Gumpad and brother Jison Agbuya joined me in my local preaching congregations. Brother Jay preach in Palca while brother Jison in Dagupan. They are not allowed to go to their respective congregations that's why they asked me if they can come. After the worship in Dagupan, two precious souls obeyed the gospel. First was Marlon Ventura a 12 year old boy. I thought he is only 8 years old because of his height that's why I asked him some questions before his confession. The other one is Jovelyn Ventura, a mother, and is fighting a stage 3 cervical cancer. I think she is having her chemo every week. Please include her in your prayers. We brought them to Palca after the confession and baptized them there.

May 5 (Midweek service)

We still continued with our midweek service even though most of our brethren cannot come. Only our family is again in attendance. We studied the book of Proverbs chapter 3. 

May 9 (Sunday Worships)

The situation of the town is still the same that's why only a few came in our worship at Tuguegarao. Not more than 30 is in attendance. Brother Rody shared to us about the "Church in Philadelphia".

In the afternoon, only brother Jay joined me this time because he is still not allowed to go to Minagbag Church. I preached in Palca about "Why does God allow suffering?". While brother Jay preached in Dagupan.

After the worship, we visited the wake of sister Paulina Ramos. She died because of infections going to her eyes and brain caused by her dental procedures. This was sudden because we do not know any illnesses of our sister and she is very strong. She didn't know that she had diabetes and maybe that caused the infection to her head. She is living alone in her house because her husband left her for another woman 6-7 years ago and her children are living in other towns with their own families. Now that she died, no one is living in her house. Every time I passed by her house, I always remember her smile and a very good example of faith that she left. A month after her baptism 7 years ago, she got a job from a drugstore. They wouldn't allow her to take the day-off on Sundays that's why after just two weeks, she resigned from her job because she knows it is more important to be with the brethren on Sundays and worship the Lord. She is the most active sister who always message me on facebook and ask many questions about what she is reading in the bible. I know she is in a better place now with all the saints who went before us.

We are not allowed by the village officials to have service their that's why we only had the prayer. 

After the visitation, we also went to the thanksgiving at the new house of sister Lorna Llanes. I shared a short reminder about thanksgiving using the words of God and we joined together to pray to our Almighty and thank Him for the blessing He gave to their family.

May 12 (Burial service)

This is the only service they allowed us to do in the wake of sister Paulina. You can also notice in the picture that only few came because we needed to follow the protocols. Brother Jerome and brother Dennis helped me with the work. We did the service as requested by the family and also making sure everyone will here the message of the gospel hoping and praying that some or many of them will realized the need of obeying God's word before it's too late.

In the evening, we again had our midweek service here in Tuguegarao. This time, we studied Proverbs 4.

May 16 (Sunday worship)

The kind of lockdown we had was even tighter in some places in our region that includes in Palca and Dagupan. It's so sad that we are not allowed again to have the gathering there. Officials came to our meeting place at both areas reminding us of the protocols before Sunday. During our supposed time of worship there, the brethren told me that police came to check if we really did not assemble, that's how strict they were. Because of that, I again recorded sermon videos that I sent through our group chat in facebook.

While here in Tuguegarao, we still had our worship service just like before. And again, only our family are in attendance. I am the one scheduled to preach and I shared about "Understanding the times".

May 19 (Midweek service)

The elders decided that even though we are in lockdown, we will continue to have our bible study but won't allow anyone to come. We again decided that we will do the live stream on Wednesday.   We studied Proverbs 5.

May 23 (Sunday worship)

Our situation is still the same but there are some brethren who joined us for worship at Tuguegarao. Brother Jun Gumpad arrived coming from Manila and the elders asked him to preach to us. He shared the lesson on "Does prayer bring salvation?".

May 24 (Thanksgiving)

We had a thanksgiving service here at Tuguegarao for the baby of brother Jay Gumpad. They have some friends who came and listened to the lesson preached. 

May 26 (Midweek service)

Brother Jay was asked to preached to us about "Thanksgiving". It is also the birthday of brother Rody and sister Michelle and it is always a good thing to thank God for all the blessings not only for him but also for my son who is also having her birthday on the 28th. 

May 30 (Sunday worship)

This is supposed to be the last day of the lockdown but unfortunately, it is again announced that it is extended until June 15. I do not know what our government here in our region is doing. They are imposing a lockdown but they will not stop many people from going out of their houses that makes more cases of covid everyday. I noticed that every time the lockdown is coming near to an end, they are showing in the media many new and active cases. Our Governor is very mad at our Mayor because he thinks that our Mayor is asking many funds for relief to give us but the truth is, we never received any relief goods. The election will be next year and the sad truth is, according to our Governor, our Mayor is putting the money in his pocket to be used when he runs for the higher position next year. That is not a secret here in the Philippines, it happens every time.

We still had our service and no one can stop us here in Tuguegarao. Brother Jerome preached his final sermon here because the next Sunday, he will already be preaching in Villa Salud where our late brother Rolando Agpoon preach before. They have no preacher and he took the job. As of today, brother Rody and I are the only remaining preachers here in Tuguegarao. The other preachers can still join us on weekdays but they will not be with us on Sundays. Both brother Jerome Forelo and brother Jay Gumpad already moved their memberships in their local preaching congregations. 

Preaching activities for the month of April 2021

This month, our whole province is under a lockdown where we are not allowed to go out except for essential purposes. We cannot even go buy what we need unless we secure "Covid Pass" in our Barangay/Village Halls. This is very disappointing for me, for every brethren because we are not allowed to have the worships together. But on the other side, I am happy that even with this lockdown, we have many ways to preach the gospel. I hope that this month, I did the work I needed to do. Here are some of the things I did for this month.

April 4 (Sunday worship at Tuguegarao)

For the first Sunday, there are brethren who are still not aware of the lockdown that's why some of them joined us for worship. We did that live streaming and I shared the link to our brethren at Palca and Dagupan because I cannot go there. They informed me that officials came to them and told them that we are not allowed to have any gathering. They cannot watch it live because of the weak connection in their area. They needed to finish loading the whole video before watching.

Brother Jerome preached in our worship about "Christians and the Civil Authorities during this time of Pandemic". I am trying my best to make our live streaming work. 

April 7 (Midweek Home Bible Study)

We still have our midweek study even with this lockdown. We did the study at the house of brother Rody again. We studied about "Zacchaeus". Just like before, our whole family is there. This time, we did it different. Everyone of us will share any verse or anything that we learn from the chapter. By this way, we are sure that everyone will learn something in our study.

April 11 (Sunday Worship at Tuguegarao)

Our attendance this time is smaller than the first week. Our towns situation got worst. One of our elder, brother Flor Constantino shared the lesson to us. The lesson is about "Things a man can do". After the sermon, invitation was again extended and two precious souls came in front to confess their faith. Our new sisters are Geizel and Christine. Geizel's husband, Nelson had been christian since his young age and his wife is coming with him in the church for almost three-four years already. We are very happy that she finally decided to obey the gospel. Brother Nelson is very happy also because of that. 

April 14 (Midweek bible study)

We had an opportunity to invite brother Jimmy Duque to be with us in our midweek service. Still, a few came to join us because of the lockdown. He preached about "The seed is the word of God". 

April 17 (Visitation at Palca and Dagupan)

My wife and I visited our brethren in Tuao. We needed to secure documents from three different offices just to go there. At first, they really do not want us to have the permits. I went to them three times and on the last try, they finally approved my request. I also distributed the benevolence given by our brethren. They are asking our prayers because most of them are only in their homes, they can go out but they cannot go to work. There are also times that authorities are catching violators and penalized them. Sister Felisa Simangan asked us to pray for her husband who have stomach problems. They are afraid to bring her to the doctor because of Covid. She is also asking for prayers for her son because he met a motorcycle accident. His companion died during the crash and he was traumatized by the situation. I tried to visit the village halls to ask for permission regarding our worship, unfortunately, they still won't allow us.

April 18 (Sunday worship at Tuguegarao)

Our town's officials became more strict than the first week of the month. Our attendance became very small because of this. It was my turn to preach to the congregation. I shared to them the lesson about "Why does God allow suffering?". The elders asked me to prepare a lesson about this. 

April 21 (Midweek bible study)

This time, nobody came in church except our family. The towns situation is not good. We still continue with our bible study. We opened the book of Proverbs in chapter 3. After reading the whole chapter, each of us shared again a verse/verses. I am happy because even my kids/nephews/nieces have good explanations on the verse they choose. I am praying that behind this pandemic, good things will happen to them and one of it is gaining more knowledge of the word of God.

April 25 (Sunday worship)

It is the last Sunday of the month and it's brother Rody's turn to preach. He shared the lesson about the "Church in Sardis". I again changed the template on our live streaming because that's what the elders asked me to do. This time, only our family is in attendance. Some of our brethren are already infected by the virus including brother Flor, one of our elder, and his family. We have more than 1,000 active cases of Covid in our town. Our town is only small and that number is already big for us. 

April 28 (Midweek bible study)

We decided that we will start to study the whole book of Proverbs. If the lockdown continues, we will do this because we cannot invite any preachers outside our town. We studied chapter 1 and everyone again shared their thoughts regarding the chapter.

During this month, I started to make videos of short lessons that I am sharing on our group chat on facebook with our brethren at Palca and Dagupan. I also wanted to make zoom meetings just like what others do but their internet is very weak. It will be useless if we do that, we will not understand each other. With the videos I am sending them, they can just wait until everything is downloaded and watch. I am making two-three videos every week. 

Preaching activities for the month of March 2021

 March 3 (Midweek Service at Tuguegarao)

We are happy that during this time, we are able to gather with the brethren at the chapel. We continue to invite preachers from other congregations to share to us bible message every Wednesday. During that time, brother Jimmy Domingo was scheduled. He is the preacher at the growing congregation at Lanna Church. He shared to us the lesson on "Perilous Times". He also invited his whole family with him.

March 5 (Bible study at Dagupan Church)

We had finally decided that we will go back to our schedules on bible studies during weekdays on Palca and Dagupan. We cannot do it more than once every week because we still needed to follow some protocols. I have requested the brethren that we will have the schedules by switching places every week so that the authorities will not have anything against us. We started to have the bible study at Dagupan. As usual, we have good attendance and continuously growing number. Many of them are still not that knowledgeable about the bible because they came from the Catholic Church. I am happy that on their young age they decided to obey the gospel. Half of the brethren are aging from 12-25 and the other half from 40-65. We are on the  series in studying the book of Acts. I already started the first chapter and this time, I shared to them the second chapter. 

March 7 (Sunday worship at three congregations)

In the morning, here in Tuguegarao, our attendance goes up and down. Since the lighten protocols, the brethren are undecided whether to come or no because the number of cases for covid continue to increase. Sometimes we are about 110, but on other times, we are just 70. Brother Jerome preached to us a good lesson about "Rising above discouragements". A timely lesson because many are discourage of what is happening now in the world. 

In the afternoon, at Palca, I invited brother Mario Garma to help me in the work. He is one of the preachers at Sampaguita Church. I invited him because in Palca, he have many relatives and I am hoping that we can also invite them in the church. He preached in both places (Palca and Dagupan) and I did the rest. After the sermon at Palca, two precious souls obeyed the gospel. Victor Soriano had been joining us for worship for almost 3 months already while Geraldine Gaton is one of the students of my wife in their children's class, but since the start of the pandemic, she is joining us in our services. I am happy that she finally decided to obey the gospel. 

In Dagupan, after the sermon, three more young souls decided to obey the gospel. Only two came in front during the invitation but another one decided to join when we are leaving to go to the baptistery. Princess Fae Simangan, Raquel Casballedo and Gerald Narag had been with us on services for one month. They are all young from 13-15 years old.

March 10 (Midweek service at Tuguegarao)

We invited brother Efren Respicio this time. He is the preacher at Cadaanan Church. He shared a good lesson about "Humility". We have more than 50 attendance. 

March 12 (Bible study at Palca Church)

Second week of bible study on the book of Acts. We are at Palca this time. We also studied Acts 2. I invited brother Rody, Jison Agbuya and Jay. A few of the brethren cannot attend because they are at work. 

March 14 (Sunday worship at three congregations)

In Tuguegarao, one of our elders is scheduled to preach. Brother Flor Constantino shared a lesson about "New Normal". I think it is about 6 years since the last time he stand to preach. The elders decided that every month, we will all have our own week to preach. Brother Jerome is for the first week, brother Flor on the second week, I am on the third week and brother Rody will be on the last week.

In Palca and Dagupan Church, we continue to study the book of Acts. I preached in both places, Acts 3 about the lame man and the second sermon of Peter. We have two visitors at Palca and 6 in Dagupan.

March 17 (Midweek service at Tuguegarao)

Brother Victor Sinon is our invited teacher. He is a preacher at two congregations in the town of Tumauini. He brought with him 8 young people who are members in the congregation he is working. He shared to us "The teachings of Christ". It is difficult for them to come here in Tuguegarao because they are from the other region. Many checkpoints are on their way but thanks God they arrived and joined us.

March 19 (Bible study at Dagupan)

Our series on the book of Acts continuous. This time, with the help again of brother Rody, he taught Acts 4. Brother Jison Agbuya and Jun Gumuiran also joined us. I am happy that there are again new faces who joined us. Most of them are teenagers. I hope and pray that I can guide them to the right path. Teenagers nowadays do not have the desire to join church works but I am happy that in Dagupan, it is not the case. I continue to tell them to invite their friends and hopefully, one of this days, their parents or families also. This pandemic caused most of the adult to focus on looking for money because it is very difficult in their area to live and have a good financial life.

March 21 (Sunday worship at three congregations)

It's my turn to preach a sermon here in Tuguegarao. I made a lesson about the song "Where could I go?" It is the song we always sing in the sacred selections song book. The song have a wonderful message. We are already one year since the start of this pandemic here in our country. We tried to look for solutions in many ways we can think but in the end, we can only go to God for all the answers. 

I also preached the same lesson in Palca and Dagupan in the afternoon. We have again visitors from both places. I only have short time talking to them after the worship because I needed to rush and go to the next place. Lord willing, when this pandemic ends, we will decide on the best time for our worship so that we will have more chance to talk to the brethren. Please include in our prayers, our sister Grace Lamigo at Palca. She was diagnosed with cervical cancer but they are trying to look for second opinion from other doctors. We are praying that it will not be that cancerous. Their family is not financially blessed and it will be hard for them to buy her medicines of even have her operations. Please pray for her.

March 24 (Midweek service at Tuguegarao)

This will be the last time we have our midweek service this month. To this day of writing this blog (March 31), we are already under a very strict lockdown (ECQ). No one is allowed to go out again. We are thankful that we can have the time to have the bible study with brother Rogelio Esperance. He shared to us "The god's of Egypt".

March 25 and 26 (Cancelled activities)

I was invited by brother Sammy Paet to be one of the speakers at the lectureship in Baggao with the theme "How to study the bible" but unfortunately it was cancelled because of the tighten protocols and at the same time, electricity is out for the whole day. I had cancelled my bible study at Palca because I thought this will push through but unavoidable circumstances arose. 

March 27 (Sunday worship at three congregations)

In our worship at Tuguegarao, it was announced in the radio that we will have the lockdown the next two days but because of the heavy number of cases, many of our brethren did not come. Some of our brethren are also in quarantine because they are in contact with those infected by the virus. Brother Rody preached the sermon on "The church at Thyatira". 

In the afternoon, at Palca, I shared to them Acts 4, regarding the arrest of Peter and John. We still have our average attendance because the new protocols did not take effect yet. There are again brethren who are sick.

In Dagupan, I preached to them Acts 5. They are ahead on our study on the book because of the one cancelled day of bible study at Palca. After the sermon, one precious soul obeyed the gospel. She is Nicole Estanislao, a friend of Raquel Casballedo who is also baptized earlier of the month. She is with our services for three weeks already. She is 13 years young.