Ladies' fellowship at our home

ANTIPOLO, Rizal, Philippines: July 2009—Greetings from the Philippines, in the name of our only Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We hope that all’s well with you and your family and the various ministries in the church. Although we are in unsure and difficult days, I’m sure that everyone’s enjoying their mid-summer.

We’re in a mixed mode beginning this month. The Philippine schools have begun their new school year, but Rachel only started her “summer.” I’m teaching Homiletics at Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Cavite province. I’m also preparing a few classes to be taught at Mars Hill Study Center, but not sure if there will be interested interested students. I’ve also made contact with another school interested in using the study center for their research.

We continue to hold afternoon worship service on Sundays at the study center, with about 10-12 adults and eight children. I have resumed the series on Numbers (”The Pilgrim Church in the Wilderness”) after several Sundays preaching on 1 Peter. We will also resume our membership class study of the Heidelberg Catechism. So far, we have had 5 baptisms and 4 professions of faith, and we pray that the two adults and Rachel would persevere in their preparations for their professions. This week, I’m starting a Bible study for a family in Manila.

Children at church's "cry room"

Since the positive response I received in the publication of the Tagalog-English Version of the Westminster Confession of Faith, I have embarked on another endeavor: translating and printing booklets and articles that will be of benefit to Filipino pastors.

Because of the financial crunch during the last year, we rented a very small place to make ends meet. But we have found our house to be so small that life had been like living out of suitcases and boxes all over the house. We have found a modest, but roomier house, with additional rent of course.

So our immediate need is the two months’ advance for rent and deposit that the new landlady requires, a total of 40,000 pesos or about $850. We also have to do some “home improvement” projects ourselves.

Again, thank you for your interest in our work, and for your encouraging words and prayers. We hope this brief letter will help you visualize what we do in the Philippines, and to assure you that the Lord is with us in this distant part of our world.

Do send us a line. We too are interested in what God is doing in your life and in the church.

NOTE: Please make your checks payable to MEANS with the memo line saying “R1612 (FEURM)”. Mail them to MEANS’ address below.

We appreciate your continuing prayers and support of the Philippine mission.

Nollie & Evelyn Malabuyo
Email: dvopilgrim@gmail.com
Web: http://blog.twoagespilgrims.com

Mission: East Asian National Support (MEANS)
P. O. Box 8434, Bartlett, IL 60103 • 1-630-542-2168
Email: info@meansusa.org • http://www.meansusa.org/
Member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability since 2000.

Many visitors graced our retreat. A family came from 5 hours north of Manila, and another from about 2 hours to the south. Some members of our church family invited their friends to join us, some of them making the difficult 2-3-hour commute from the metro area.

Since it was our first retreat, and also the first time for many to visit this mountain city, we didn’t structure it too much, leaving more time for R&R and fellowship. But we did have three teaching sessions on 1 Peter 2-3 from Friday night till Saturday night, and a worship service this Sunday morning. The sermon was “Severe Penalty Against Covenant Disobedience” based on Exodus 4:18-26 and Acts 2:37-39.

But the most joyous part of the retreat were the professions of faith of three members and the baptism of all four of the children of one of the “professors.” For the first time, our whole covenant community witnessed God’s work among both adults and young children.

Tired but refreshed, the Lord sent us home with his blessing of grace, mercy and peace.

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It’s already summer vacation in the Philippines (April-May), and it’s supposed to be dry and hot and humid, but instead we’re getting an almost daily dose of rains. The weather people are now predicting that the country is experiencing a change in its annual weather pattern–a rainy season two months early.

This is a blessing in disguise for our mission church. Because of the rains and the overcast, temperatures have been abnormally lower, so our Sunday worship services are not as uncomfortable as we expected because of our lack of an air-conditioner.

We have had a few visitors these last few Sundays, so we now have up to 12-15 adults sometimes. Because the six children are very young and hard to control, Rachel started a Sunday school for them. They have enjoyed learning and singing together, but we need to get a better curriculum for them. Also, she has missed the preaching since she started teaching, and we have to rely on the printed manuscript and give

We have been going through the book of Numbers these last couple of months, with the theme “Pilgrims in the Wilderness.” I didn’t expect to learn so much personally from a book that many others shun because it is boring and “irrelevant” to Christians today. But like Israel sojourning in the desert on the way to the Promised Land, we too are pilgrims and strangers passing through this world on our way to the heavenly city of God.

Our Sunday catechism lessons after the service are suspended for the summer because of the heat. But three of our regular attendees have expressed their desire to make their profession of faith before the elders of the United Covenant Reformed Church in San Carlos City, Pangasinan, so I’m now conducting a member orientation class for them. The profession of faith is planned for May3 at our retreat in Tagaytay City, Cavite, about two hours south of Pasig City. The four little children of one of the “professors” would then be baptized. That would be an exceedingly joyous occasion for our covenant community.

Everyone is looking forward to our retreat on May 1-3 in a resort house that we rented for a whole month (much less cost-effective to rent for just a weekend). We anticipate a packed house because two to three other families might join us. We will be studying 1 Peter with the theme “Strengthened–not Surprised–by Suffering.” In his letter to our first-century brethren who faced untold persecution and hardship during their own time, we too are encouraged by Peter to persevere to the end. Evelyn feels overwhelmed by all the preparations.

With less than a month of school left, it had been a good year for Rachel as a high school freshman. She has progressed well and not intimidated anymore by a lot of school work and activities. Since she joined the school’s competitive track team, she has gained self-confidence and a wider circle of friends.

NOTE: Please make your check payable to MEANS with the memo line saying “R1612 (FEURM).” R1612 is our account number with MEANS, and FEURM stands for Far East United Reformed Mission, Inc., our nonprofit organization in the Philippines. The check should be mailed to: MEANS, P. O. Box 8434, Bartlett, IL 60103. MEANS stands for Mission: East Asian National Support, our new mission organization.

We appreciate your continuing prayers and support of the Philippine mission.

Beginnings

On June 21, 2008, as powerful Typhoon Fengshen was approaching Manila from the south, a new Bible study group of six young adults met at our home in Antipolo, Rizal, Philippines. We had an introduction to our Bible study and afterwards, a time of fellowship at the dinner table. Almost two months later, we decided to start meeting on Sunday afternoons for worship on a trial basis. On August 17, we started the Lord’s Day worship services that have continued to this day at the Mars Hill Study Center in Pasig City, Metro Manila.

The six who came were Albert Medina, Russel De Guzman, Maria Theresa “Mimi” Cadaoas, Jill Abarra, Joana Fe Cadaoas and Jeff San Jose (shown L to R in the picture on the left). All but Russel, who has a wife Donna and four little boys, are single. The De Guzmans have faithfully attended the services since the beginning.

Later, Janelita “Gigi” de Guzman (no relation to the first De Guzman family), an acquaintance from a different Bible study group, made it known to me her desire to have her infant daughter, Jessica Danielle, baptized. Gigi and her husband Edwardo “Egay” were catechized (Heidelberg Catechism lessons), and on November 25, Gigi successfully went through her membership examination with Rev. Napoleon Narag and Alfred Santiago, elders of the United Covenant Reformed Church in San Carlos, Pangasinan.

Thus, on Saturday, November 28, 2008, the mission church had a first profession of faith – Gigi de Guzman – followed by a first baptism – baby Danielle de Guzman – at the de Guzmans’ house in Cainta, Rizal, in the presence of all the regular attendees of the mission church. What a joyous day to witness a family initiated into the covenant community!

As Christmas was upon us, we had a Christmas fellowship at our house after the worship service on December 21. It was another joyous time of fellowship, games, singing carols, and of course, dinner, to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Continuing the Pilgrimage

Since then, Gigi’s husband Edwardo and two of her four daughters, Danielle and Julia, have also been faithfully attending the Sunday worship services.

Our Sunday afternoons consist of a worship service, usually about 75 minutes long, followed by a short time of refreshments, after which we begin a half-hour catechism class. We have finished Lord’s Day 25 out of 52 as of February 15, and we expect to finish in another couple of months. All of those who finish the class will be asked if they desire to make profession of faith, and those who do will also become members of the San Carlos church.

Visit by the RCUS…

Rev. Gil Baloy, pastor of Covenant Reformed Church in San Diego, California, and two other men from the Reformed Church in the U.S., will visit the UCRCP congregations in the Philippines next month. We are thankful that Pastor Gil agreed to lead our worship service and preach on March 15.

We will have an exchange pulpit on March 8, when I preach in San Carlos, and Rev. Edwin Puzon of Las Piñas will preach here in Pasig City.

By God’s grace, there will be a Philippine classis soon, with possible churches in San Carlos, Pangasinan; Las Piñas, Metro Manila; Calauan, Laguna; and Davao City. Lord willing, our mission church here in Pasig City will become an organized church in a year or two.

… and Mike Horton!

Dr. Michael S. Horton

Two days ago, I received a tentative approval of our invitation to Michael Horton, Professor of Apologetics and Systematic Theology at Westminster Seminary in California, to hold a Reformed conference in the Philippines. The dates are still being finalized, but will probably be in February, 2010. The conference place will be somewhere in Metro Manila. More details will follow in the next few months.

Summer Plans

We are planning a summer retreat for the group sometime in April or May. Stay tuned for more details.