Volume 39   Number 3                                                                                     November 1996

By the grace of God, Charles & Joshua Fry and I were granted an opportunity to work again in the Philippines. As has been the case in the past visits it turned out a good opportunity to work with and serve the Filipino brethren. In particular it was good to work with Roger Wanasen again. You may have heard that Roger had become discouraged due to various circumstances, and certainly, it was one of our primary goals to see how we could further encourage and assist him. He has become central to the Lords work in the Philippines, and it was important that we encourage Roger if possible. Roger has decided to continue the work, and there does appear to be a way that we can help him. I will address this at the close of this report.

As usual, it was an extremely busy 3 weeks that included many discussions and meetings. Charles & I brought lessons at each church we visited attempting to concentrate on the importance of church organization, the edification and growth of the church, and the work of Evangelists. During this time, we met many brethren whom we had met before in the previous 4 visits, and we met a number of new acquaintances.

We spent the first few days in the Manila area meeting with the churches at Cavite, Cubao, and Macabebe among others. We then flew to Pagadian City on the island of Mindanao for a week where we were met by many brethren. We traveled to many churches and had many opportunities to preach what we believed to be true regarding the above mentioned topics. Included in these visits was a meeting with the church at Camanga. They are an extremely poor and rural church that had recently had devastating weather to their nice crop. Nevertheless, despite their poverty, we learned that each family provided a chicken (s) for us to eat. We received not one request for funds while there. These brethren were very poor, but they did not wear their poverty as a badge. I thought of the church at Smyrna that was poor, but yet were rich.

After spending the week there we flew back to Manila and met with Cubao again. On Monday, we flew north to Laoag where we met several brethren. We then began to work our way south by bus and jeepney visiting many brethren and churches along the way.

A highlight of the journey was meeting Jinny Sarceda, son of the late Cris Sarceda. He is a young man who has a good understanding of the Scriptures and desires to work full-time in the Lords vineyard. He would make Roger an excellent fellow-worker and companion. Certainly one of the reasons for Roger's discouragement seems to be that he is alone. He needs a fellow-worker. Jinny would fit that role perfectly according to Roger and several others. I will also address this at the close of this report.

We arrived at Resurreccion late Saturday evening and stayed at the home of Hilario Wanasen. It was a joy to renew fellowship with the church there on Lord's Day morning. They were one of the first churches to receive us, and I have learned through their example of the knowledge and love for the truth that many Filipinos share this ability to discern the truth and desire to follow it.

Their example of an Eldership, mutual edification, and their sending out Roger and Hilario as Evangelists is a light to other churches and brethren desiring to follow the NT pattern. May God continue to be glorified through their labor and faith.

After visiting other churches we eventually returned to San Jose, the home of Roger & Doris. We departed for home on Wednesday morning with the assurance that God had allowed us to do a good work.

As I mentioned previously, one of the goals for our journey was to find how we could be of encouragement to Roger. We discovered that Roger was not getting an adequate amount of support. We also found who many of us feel may be an appropriate fellow-worker for Roger in Jinny Sarceda. If you feel compelled to help with financial assistance in this work, I urge you to contact Charles Fry or myself, and we can give you more detailed information. I have prepared a separate report that deals specifically in the area of how we can encourage both Roger and Jinny. If you desire this report, please contact me, and I will be happy to forward it to you.

Again, it was a privilege and an honor to travel once again to the Philippines, and I thank God for this opportunity. May God continue to grant us wisdom and peace as we endeavor to serve the Filipino brethren.