The delegation from North Valley Baptist Church and Golden State Baptist College landed in the Manila airport around 4:00 a.m. local time, completing a thirteen-hour plane ride from San Francisco. After passing through customs, we headed to our terminal, where we waited for about five hours for our flight to Iloilo. Landing in Iloilo, we were greeted by Pastor Rick Martin’s son and assistant pastor, Ricky, as well as several men from their church. We loaded up into a passenger truck and headed to our hotel, where we checked in. Several of the folks in our group walked to a nearby department store and grocery store to pick up some items for their stay.

 

At 4:00 p.m., we left the hotel for a restaurant located on a beautiful beach. This entire region consists of natural, tropical beauty, however the vast majority of the people live in great poverty. Right next to the hotel were scores of “homes” where families live right along the beach. Dozens of children were running and playing and all of these folks greeted us very warmly. As soon as we sat down to eat, heavy rains began falling instantaneously and strong winds were blowing. Our resident “tour guides,” Bro. Tom Apusen, Bro. Rene Baltazar, and Bro. Lito Reyes took care of ordering our food, and all of us had more than enough. Several folks tried some things for the first time as we dined on a local mango dish, seabass, marlin, jumbo shrimp (see the picture of Bro. Tim with his friend, “Goliath”), squid, chicken, lechon, and rice. Everyone was also treated to a fresh coconut filled with coconut milk.

 

After dinner, our driver took us to Bro. Martin’s ministry where there were literally hundreds of children, teens, college students, and members on the property preparing for their Pastors’ & Workers’ Conference which begins tomorrow. Folks were setting things up, practicing music, and even playing in the final game of their annual basketball tournament among delegates. This year, they had nearly 30 different churches enter teams into the tournament. Bro. Martin showed us their dormitories, their staff housing, their original auditorium, classrooms, their gymnasium, as well as the mammoth auditorium, with the newer roof structure that our church recently provided for them through our missions giving. It is incredible what the Lord has done through the life of this humble, committed servant. Bro. Martin graciously brought us into his home on the property, giving us drinks, and talking with us for about thirty minutes. He explained all that was planned for the week and all that they have prepared for our group to experience. We will be in their church services, visiting their extension ministries, preaching in several public schools, holding multiple services in various churches, and traveling to nearly ten of the churches that our church has started and supported in the past two years. We will be traveling by truck, ferry, and small boats at different times during the trip.

 

After leaving Iloilo Baptist Church, we arrived back to the hotel around 8:15 p.m. local time where our entire delegation enjoyed some much needed rest after a long day of travel. We will be posting additional updates throughout our stay here. Please pray that God would use this trip for each of us and that He would use each of us throughout this trip.