4/4/23
Tuesday was my last full day in Cebu. We left the hotel that morning and drove up into the mountain to get the Eskina, about an hour to an hour and a half away, where Mario (Mhar) Rubio has begun a fairly new work. When we arrived, the small building was already fully packed. I began as soon as we could set up and delivered a lesson on “Who Is A Christian?” Mhar then gave a summary in the dialect to relate the points to some who could not understand English. After the summary, two souls responded to let their desire be known to obey the gospel.
The second lesson of the morning session was “Breaking Temptation’s Hold.” We considered how the process of temptation works and the fact that we must allow ourselves to be a part of that process if we are enticed or surrender to it. We also considered some practical suggestions to resist and overcome temptation. That lesson and summary took the remainder of the morning session.
After lunch, we studied on “Water Baptism in the New Testament vs Denominational Baptism.” The main purpose of the lesson was to show that the principles learned in John’s baptism to prepare the way of the Lord and in baptism into the name of Christ stand in stark contrast with regards to purpose, action and effect. Since they are so clearly different, denominational baptism cannot be considered a substitute or alternate to the baptism commanded by Christ. Another lady from the Seventh Day Adventist Church responded after that lesson making known her desire to be baptized into Christ for the remission of sins.
4/5/23
My alarm was set for 3:45am on Wednesday morning so we could make it to the airport in Cebu for my flight to Manila and on to Tuguegarao. This time, I made all of the flights and they were on time. When I arrived in Tuguegarao, I was met by Rody and Tessie Gumpad who took me to the hotel where I unpacked and arranged my things for the week’s stay. That evening at 6pm, we looked at a lesson on “Being Approved to God” from 2 Timothy 2:15. An accident on a main bridge kept many from being there, but we hoped they would be able to come to the Thursday gospel meeting.
