Monday in Caloocan City

Today was a re-introduction to the frustration of Manila traffic. A terrible delay in Pasay and Makati delayed Rody and Tessie Gumpad along with Ely Ebuenga from picking me up until very late. The road to our schedule was also very crowded bringing even further delay. It has been several years since I last preached several days in Manila and the delay reminded me of the difficulties of getting around in the greater Manila area (called the “National Capital Region” – NCR) composed of 19 to 20 million people. If you think traffic is bad where you are, just come to Manila and you will quickly see how fortunate you are!

The first appointment was with the Phase – 6, Camarin congregation in Caloocan City. I had worked with the congregation several years ago when Jun Layusa was preaching with them. Jun has since moved to the Bicol region to start a new work, so others are now doing the preaching there. Getting to their meeting house is a challenge in many ways ranging from the winding and rough roads to get there as well as the path to walk to reach it.

We had a good number gathered to hear the gospel. Since our time was limited due to the travel, I preached a very shortened form of “When Was Saul Saved?” Rody followed with another tarp sermon on “The True Church of Christ.” When the invitation was extended, 3 came to be baptized into Christ.

The second schedule was with the San Jose, Tala congregation in Caloocan City. The work is a relatively newly restarted one. The preacher is the restored son of the former preacher who passed away from the effects leprosy a few years ago. It seems the son now has concern for the work his father gave his life building and we hope his concern will remain and grow.

The preaching started with a lesson I gave on “Cornelius: Who Needs Salvation by the Gospel?” We noted that even good people have sinned, thus, they are in need of the gospel. Rody followed with a lesson on “The Bible – It Basic Divisions.” No invitation was extended at the end of the service because there was only one non-Christian present and she was not there for the full teaching.

 

We started our travel back to the hotel at 3:10pm to try and get a head start on rush hour traffic. We arrived back at my hotel at about 4:40pm. That was about 1/3 of the time of the morning commute. Since Rody’s car is not allowed on the roads in Manila tomorrow, we will take the MRT to the closest station for our schedule, then take a taxi from there.