Saturday in Bogo City

Our Saturday began as a group of seven brethren from Cebu City (mostly preachers) met me at the hotel with a van and driver hired to take us to Bogo City at the northern end of Cebu Island. The city was devastated by Typhoon Yolanda one year ago today, but shows signs of much recovery at this point. I have been told it is in much better condition than Tacloban or other cities on Leyte, but I have not seen those places since January. The Lord willing, we will be working on Leyte at the end of next week.

The church in Bogo City started with the baptism of just a handful of souls earlier last year after some lectures were held there. (The work on Masbate Island began as a result of two brothers who heard the gospel at that time as well.) A year ago when we came bringing benevolent help provided by Christians in the U.S., there were 13 members of the church meeting in the center of Bogo City. Before the lectures today, brother Rupert informed us that there are now 93 baptized believers that make up the church in Bogo City! It is obvious that they have been working and are seeking to grow in their understanding of the word.

When we arrived at the venue this morning, a crowd that packed and overflowed the room was already assembled. They were all Christians, mostly members of the congregation in Bogo City, with one or two brethren from nearby areas. I preached a two-part lesson on The Blood of Christ and the Salvation of the Sinner. With a short break between for me to rest my legs while Roy Matta led us in some songs. Jonathan Carino then started a lesson on “Why Are People Lost?” He broke it in the middle so that we could take our lunch.

After lunch, Jonathan finished his lesson and then I presented a short one on “Striving for Faith” from Philippians 1:27-30. We ended the lectures at about 3:30pm so we could try to make it back to Cebu City before it became dark and so all could prepare for tomorrow’s worship. However, we ended up getting back to my hotel well after dark due to the very heavy traffic. After posting this report, I will go for supper and get back to prepare for the lessons tomorrow and repack bags to fit our limitations for travel to Masbate and on to Leyte. The flights to both place are on very small planes with strict limitations on baggage allowance. God bless!