Greetings to you all, once again, from Baguio City in the Cordillera Mountains of Central Luzon. I never tire of the beauty of the mountains here. Often times the clouds are drifting through the valleys or covering the peaks of the ranges and providing wonderful scenery wherever you look. It reminds me time and again of Psalm 121, “I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; From whence shall my help come? My help comes from the LORD, Who made heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to slip, He who keeps you will not slumber….” How wonderful to be reminded of His great faithfulness. We have experienced His faithfulness over and over, as you all have. It is wonderful to be able to lift up our eyes and call out to the LORD God Almighty and use the terms, Abba Father.
This past month we made two trips down to Manila. Both were experiences we did not expect. Most of you know that we were called down to Immigration for a hearing on the extension of our visa. We travelled down the day before Typhoon Pedring crossed the Island of Luzon and dumped lots of rain which caused extensive flooding. Well in the midst of that we were driving down to Manila in order to keep our appointment at immigration. We got to within a half a block of Roxas Avenue on Manila Bay when the flooding became so great we had to turn our car around and begin to find another route to the other side of town. Each turn we made put us into deeper and deeper water, at some turns we could see people walking in water up to their waists. While navigating a road with water up over my wheels, we received a call saying that the government offices had closed. So we navigated our way back toward high ground. It was a good feeling to finally be able to see ground beneath my tires. The following day we had to once again return to Manila where we were ushered into the room of an immigration attorney who asked us several questions, among them “What are the four gospels?, and name eight of the twelve apostles”. I guess we passed the test, as our visa was approved. We are praying that we will be granted at least two more years.
Following our interview at immigration we were able to travel home for a few days before heading back down to Manila once again to attend a CMPI retreat for expat missionaries. This is held down South of Manila. Between the time of our arrival home and our trip down another CAT 4 Typhoon passed directly over Baguio and dumped more rain. The drive down to Manila took us over some roads that were completely covered with water and flowing rapidly like a river. But the Lord brought us safely through. The drive from Manila to Laguna took us another five hours. But the time spent with our missionary colleagues, from Wednesday through Saturday, was a good time of fellowship and encouragement. We arrived back in Baguio on Monday morning of the following week and this time all the roads were clear.
The home bible studies are continuing along quite well, for which we thank the Lord. The Go family really missed the study on the two weeks we were away. They said; “It was too long, we really missed not having you over to study God’s word”. I taught the Tuesday study, the Wednesday study and will teach the Friday night study as well this week, which is about normal for me. This week I will speak only once on Sunday up at Mines View, it will be our last Sunday before beginning the bible school anew at the Navy Base Assembly. So following this Lord’s Day we will have five consecutive Sunday afternoons of bible school. This will be the final semester for the assembly there as we finish up our study of the church.
My preparations for Special Studies are coming along slowly. I will be teaching four sessions of two hours each on The Family in the Church. I am praying that it will be a good series of messages that will encourage the saints who are able to attend. I am also preparing for a youth conference that I will be speaking at in December. So lots to keep me busy.
Thank you all so much for your prayers. I do enjoy hearing from you. When you have a chance drop me a line on FB or via email. It would be wonderful to hear from you and to know that you are praying.
