Work in Masbate (Nov 12-13, 2013)

11/12/13

The past few days were extremely busy as we first established communication with brethren in the areas hardest hit by Typhoon Yolanda and corresponded with brethren from the U.S. wanting to help. The first has been heart-wrenching beyond measure while the other has been encouraging and joyful beyond measure. With so much to do in assessing the need and preparing to distribute the help, Jonathan and I have gotten very little sleep. Since we had to be away from my hotel at 4:30am this morning, last night was another very short one with little sleep. We are looking forward to a full night’s sleep tonight here in Masbate.

The lectures here started a little earlier than we thought possible because our drive from Masbate City to the venue took less than an hour, while we were expecting it to take twice as long. After setting up, we started with an introduction from 1 Peter 1:22-25 on “Salvation and the Seed, God’s word” emphasizing the need to go back to the original gospel as the seed if we seek the salvation received at that time. From that, we went immediately to “God’s Use of the Prophets,” a lesson on the verbal inspiration of Scripture and its implications.

After the lunch break, we started the study on “Authority” by looking at the need for it and the source of it. At that point, Jonathan gave a summary of the lessons to that point in their dialect. We then concluded the lectures for the day with the remainder of the material on “Authority” dealing with how the will of Christ is expressed and understood. The audience seemed very attentive and thoughtful. Many seemed to be giving serious thought to the things presented, taking notes and turning to read the passages cited. It was a very good first day for the lectures.

Throughout the day, we had rain varying from light to very heavy. The reason is that this country is now experiencing its 26th typhoon of this year. (Yolanda was number 25.) Thankfully, this typhoon is relatively weak, but it is bringing heavy rains which are hampering recovery efforts from Yolanda. This storm should move out of the country by late in the day on Wednesday, according to forecasts.

We received word that the brother in the flesh of Nilo Zabala was also killed in the storm. Juanito Escuadra from Baybay also reports that one brother in that congregation was killed by the storm. That makes two brothers and one sister in the Lord who are known dead at this time. Our brethren in Ormoc report that many homes of the brethren there were destroyed. (The count we received is 26, but we will try to verify the number tomorrow.) We have yet to hear from two areas where we know there are faithful brethren. All report that there is little food to be had anywhere on Leyte and their supplies are running out. Since we know and have worked with all of these churches, the reality of the suffering is striking to us. However, it also makes us more determined to use the funds provided in an effective way to do all that we can in helping them.

Though it does not seem possible, the reality of the horrors in the aftermath of Yolanda get worse by the day as the search and rescue efforts are underway. The U.S. military seems to be taking the heaviest load in those efforts as other sources still appear disorganized and ineffective. U.S. military helicopters seem to be transporting the only significant amounts of food to Tacloban and the surrounding region. As the efforts increase, the reports coming out are that there are corpses everywhere. The rioting and anarchy are still not under control, but it seems to be getting better. Please continue to pray for our brethren and all who are undergoing these very difficult times.

11/13/13

Please excuse the delay of this report. I normal send them out before supper or at least before going to bed, but I did not get it out last night. There is no wifi in our rooms here in Masbate, so I meant to get the report ready in my room, and then send it from the cafe. However, I feel asleep while writing and woke up to find the cafe already closed. The good news is that I got 9 hours of sleep and am feeling great! After three or four cups of coffee, I felt fully revived. As it turned out, it would not have helped me to go to the cafe anyway, because the internet connection is down.

After talking with Leslie early this morning, she confirmed what I could not by my email as I could not get online to read it. She said several had called saying they had already sent funds through MoneyGram while others were having problem with sending them. When I talked with Jonathan about the situation, I told him that I planned to get all of those funds when we got back to Cebu as we had discussed earlier. However, a little later, he raised a problem with my plan that I did not realize. It turns out that it takes several hours to receive the funds sent by MoneyGram. Since there were already several MoneyGrams to receive, that process was certain to take us longer than we had between landing in Cebu at 8am on Friday and leaving by fast craft at 11am that day.

So, we left as early as possible in search of a place to redeem to MoneyGrams and then convert them to Philippine pesos. We found out that the bank for which Jonathan’s daughter, Christine, works would handle both ends of that transaction for us and at a much more favorable rate since it was for relief being brought to the typhoon victims. The bad news is that it took us tree hours to get those funds. This put us very late for the lectures, but there was no choice, we had to get the funds for which I had already received the information needed for redemption. Having an established exchange, John called Christine and asked that she assist us to receive the funds that are still coming. So, we will check early in the morning for the information to receive any remaining MoneyGrams and get that information to Christine by email hoping that she can help cut through the red tape and help us get the cash within an hour so we can get to the fast craft on time.

Jonathan called ahead to Greg Jumao-as, our host, and ask them to take their lunch early and be ready to start when we came. We arrived at almost noon and began immediately with the lesson on “Salvation and Saul.” Some material, regarding the differences between baptism in the name of Christ and denominational baptism, was added to the end of that lesson so as to consolidate two lessons into one. Jonathan gave an extend summary of the lesson and then taught on “The Church in the Eternal Purpose of God.” After that, we considered a lesson on “Counting the Cost.” An invitation to obey the gospel of Christ was extended by Greg and nine made known their desire to be baptized into Christ. By the time we drove some distance to the ocean where the baptisms could take place, another two decide to be baptized, so a total of 11 were immersed into Christ for the remission of sins. After a week of such horrible news from the typhoon, it was especially sweet to see eleven come to the new life with a living hope!

After this report, it will probably be late Friday night our time before I will have access to an internet connection making another report possible. At that point, I will have returned from Tacloban and Ormoc City, the Lord willing. Please remember us in your prayers as we will be distributing the benevolent help sent by brethren in the U.S. God bless!