Quantcast
Channel: bravedave | pleonast
Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 40

bi-annual post

0
0
If life may be said to have its peaks and valleys--overall we're in a peak right now. Its good to record the peaks, to help sustain us for the valleys that will come, as they do to all. Each season is good for us (Eccl. 3:1ff).
1. Our house in Indiana sold in November! I think that was a good learning experience.
2. Starla's recovery over the past six months has been increasingly noticeable. When we moved to Batesville, she was having daily headaches and once a month they were completely debilitating---she'd spend 1-3 days in bed and her stamina was nill. Now, she does not have headaches every day, no more of the monthly headaches, and her stamina is vastly improved and still improving. Thank you for every prayer you offered. We are still thanking God for His help in recovering her health. The docs and meds have helped, but her body has done most of the work, as God designed it to.
3. We are hoping to visit Jamie, Deborah, Timothy, and Seth in January!
4. We are hoping to also go to New Zealand and spend a few days with some brethren in Auckland. They are very isolated, so we hope we can go and have daily occasions to teach.
5. We are planning to go to the Philippines with Dad in February--both Starla and I! She's been preparing to teach a variety of subjects, according to the varying needs of the women. They rarely get this special attention and teaching. Deborah did this around 5 years ago and Bobby Adams has done this before. Ever since Starla and I met she has hoped for this opportunity, and her recovery has reached a level where we believe this is the best time to do this. Below is a summary of these plans. We will be benefitted by your prayers. If you or the congregation with whom you work is interested and able to help with our expenses, we would be thankful. Especially maybe the ladies there would be interested to know of Starla's willingness to go and work.
Until next time, Stand!
-----------

Brethren,

Greetings from Batesville, Arkansas where Starla and I have labored for the past year.

The Holy Spirit’s charge to Do the work of an evangelist is clearly heard today (2 Tim. 4:5). As a result of having a father who is an evangelist, God has blessed me with opportunities from my youth to see and be involved in the work of an evangelist. Also as a result of this, I have been introduced to doing the work of an evangelist in the Philippines, making my first trip in 2000 and five other trips since then.

Evangelists must go wherever there are people who want to learn, and the people of the Philippine Islands continue to show they are willing to learn. For decades, sinners of every sort have been willing to learn the original gospel. Sinners who have never heard the gospel continue to be willing to come to learn. Sinners who are being taught the gospel by faithful brethren come and learn. Pastors and members of all denominations come, knowing that their beliefs will be challenged! They often listen to the gospel in climate and seating conditions which most Americans would consider unbearable and will often ask questions as long as time allows. They are eager to hear and learn! Filipino preachers, and many saints, are equally persistent in spreading the gospel and desiring to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord. They will do (and are doing) these things whether or not Americans come, but the advantages which Americans have in education, wealth, and health obligate us to assist our Filipino brethren in their work, as Paul, Barnabas, Timothy, Titus, and likeminded men have done throughout the church’s history. But they could not have done their work to the degree they did without saints and churches sending and aiding them (Acts 13:3; 2 Cor. 11:9; Phil. 4:15-16). From a desire to do the work of an evangelist in the Philippines, I appeal for your help.

For roughly three weeks, in February 2012, my wife Starla and I plan to accompany Ron Halbrook, preaching throughout the Philippines. This will be the seventh time that I have shared in this work and the first for Starla. As I write, Ron is preaching in the Philippines, so he has not yet finalized specific dates and places for this next trip. In speaking with him for a few minutes during a break between his current preaching, he mentioned the likelihood of preaching in the countryside, which allows us to both encourage brethren (some of whom have recently suffered from typhoons) and teach the lost. He also suggested we would try to team up for 1-2 days of lectureships in a few places, where more time can be allowed for more in-depth teaching on specific subjects and questions from the brethren and the lost who attend. Other options will be considered when Ron returns home.

Five and a half years ago my sister Deborah travelled with Ron and I to the Philippines, teaching classes for ladies. Since the day Starla has known of these trips, she has hoped to share in this work. Those plans have been delayed while she recovered from the effects of cytomegalovirus, encephalitis, and meningitis which hospitalized her for two weeks, a year and a half ago. God has renewed her strength and she has a “fire in her bones” to do this work for her sisters in the faith. Maybe the ladies of the congregation there can best appreciate the need for this training and the effort required of a woman for this type of work. I hope her example will stir up many women, as has the labor of other women who have done what they could in a variety of ways (Tabitha, Priscilla, Bobby Adams, etc).

We anticipate that $8500 will cover all basic expenses for both Starla and I, though this is the first time I have budgeted for two people. There is always a need for money with which Bibles can be purchased and distributed, especially in rural areas. Though distributing benevolence is not the purpose of this trip, genuine needs are constant in a third-world country like the Philippines, where health-care is provided on a “pay first” basis. If the congregation there now is, or is interested in, regularly supporting sound, stable evangelists, let me know if I can help in some way. If you want to help in one of these specific ways, please contact me about that or make that clear in your letter to us if you send funds.

If you are able to help financially in this trip, please let us know as soon as possible. Due to some other travel plans occurring close to the time of this trip, we will be away from home beginning January 23, so we will not see any mail sent after that time, until we have returned from the Philippines.

Your help in prayer and/or funds in anticipation of this work will bear fruit, for neither His word nor the prayers of the righteous ever return void. Thank you brethren,

David & Starla Halbrook

Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 40

Latest Images

Trending Articles





Latest Images