September 23, 2006 Baptisms:Three souls were baptized into Christ. The Francisco sisters: Jessah (16), Jilah (15), and Jenevah (14) were immersed for the forgiveness of sins after they confess Christ as their Lord and Savior last Sunday (September 17). They are the “teen-age” daughters of Lindy and Annilyn. Five years ago these youths were just kids at Sunday school, now we are witnessing their obedience to the Gospel call. Their parents are faithful members of the church. Francisco family is instrumental for the ongoing outreach efforts in Tangalan town. We pray that these joyful young ladies will be useful for their Maker’s cause. (Eccl. 12:1-7). PIBS-Aklan:We gain one more Bible class teacher. Bro Ernest Christian Montoyo is a third generation preacher of Montoyo family in Bacolod City (Negros Island). Ernest expresses his willingness to teach at PIBS-Aklan regularly. He earned his two degrees in Religious Education (BA) and Secondary Education (BS) at Sunrise Christian College in Mindanao Island. He worked some years with the said college as faculty and Martial Arts coach. Married to his former co-teacher and a father of 3 year old girl; Bro Ernest settled in his hometown - Bacolod City early this year. He is now one of the preachers at the YMCA Bacolod City Church of Christ. His wife Tata teaches in one of the schools there. To Ernest this is a wish comes true, who always wanted to teach and preach in his hometown which according to him he missed for many years since as student and working as secular teacher and Teakwondo instructor. He is a boon for the Lord’s work in Negros and Panay Islands. All five of the stipend-receiving students were present for this month’s classes with one addition from Iloilo in the person of Bro Santiago Camerong. Who in spite of being “out- of-service” for a long time is still keen on notes and tunes. We named Bro Camerong as PIBS-Aklan’s “music-coordinator”. He is an alumnus of Philippine Bible College. WesVis Forum:The next month’s PIBS schedule is once again made to overlap with the quarterly WestVis Forum to be held here in Kalibo on October 24 to 27. The program/invitation is already on lay out form it will be distributed soon. We decided on these dates to coincide with the closing of classes of the schools in the country for a semestral break. In purpose of giving chance to interested brethren who are also taking break from their children’s schooling activities hopefully to attend. The forum’s theme will be: “The Power of Influence” based from the Bible study book Truth for Today of Bro Eddie Cloer. It contains a study of Judah’s monarchs during the period of the two kingdoms. We set aside the plan to lecture from the book of Psalms due to the volumes of materials, which we think to heavy for a seminar type discussions. Bro Bonifacio Patricio Jr. of Metro Manila is coming as one of the lecturers. We maintain on holding forums such as this for the continued learning of Christians especially church leaders and preachers. Some local church leaders here in Panay and Negros have never got the opportunity to go to formal Bible schooling. We believe that by constant studying of the Bible together we could gain what we missed from formal schools. “Iron sharpens iron” as they said. Outreach EffortsIn Batan Aklan.Bro Jaime Prado is still in Metro Manila for the fitting of his artificial limb, which was granted by benevolent donors. He was there since last month. The fitting was delayed because of mild infection. Concerning the work in Batan, the transactions with Prado relatives in Bay-Ang community are temporarily on hold, the proposed Bible study is not yet well received. Jaime’s presence seems the key to the homes of those relatives for us to get in and preach. We regularly visit his wife and daughter in Lalab community for Bible study, prayers and encouragement. Worship in their home every Sunday afternoon was also deferred until Bro Jaime returns home. For the meantime, Sis Ethel and Cristy are attending services here in Kalibo every Sunday, while Jaime in Manila continue to attend the church in Salawag. Their son Mark Prado, who was once, attended classes in PIBS-Aklan and home Bible studies here before he migrated to Manila for a job was baptized two weeks ago by Bro Bong Mejia, a preacher in Salawag. In Tangalan Aklan. Meanwhile, we are diverting some our resources and efforts with Tangalan outreach. We continue conducting worship services every Sunday afternoon at Lindy’s place, which we think became crucial activity for his daughters decision to put on Christ last Sunday (as reported earlier). We are looking for a good location to rent for meeting place, though Bro Lindy’s home is still fine for that purpose. The average attendance is fifteen and there are persons who are with interest on the Bible that we are laboring. Please continue to pray with us brethren on these ongoing efforts. Photographs that accompanied this report can be seen here |
