We left to go to Iloilo Baptist Church around 8:30 this morning. Today was the quarterly alumni meeting for the graduates of Iloilo Baptist College. The male graduates attend meetings that deal primarily with church planting. Bro. Lay, Bro. Apusen and Bro. Capaci also spoke at these meetings.

At 11:30am, our group met the pastors that North Valley Baptist Church has supported in the past or is currently supporting. Bro. Martin spoke very highly of them and the work that they are doing. These are dedicated men and our church is privileged to be able to have a part in their ministry of reaching lost souls for Christ. NVBC pays the salary of these pastors for one year and also pays for their church building. It normally costs $1000 to put up a decent building for their church services. All of the men, except for one, that NVBC has supported are still in the ministry. The one exception went to be with the LORD a year or so ago. This truly is a worthwhile investment for eternity.

After meeting the pastors, we went back to the hotel to have lunch before going to Antique. We ate at the Al Dente Restaurant. This Italian restaurant served us a delicious meal.

The drive to Antique took 2 and a half hours over mostly good roads. Our driver, Bro. Edgar, must be related to Jehu in the Bible for he driveth furiously.

We arrived at Hamtic, Antique to take part in the services of Grace Baptist Church pastored by Bro. Renante Villanueva. Pastor Villanueva is one of the pastors that NVBC supports. He was saved at Iloilo Baptist College during college chapel.

Pastor Villanueva pastors four churches in four different towns. He travels from town to town on Sundays to make sure that each of these churches has at least one service on Sundays.

Grace Baptist Church held this Friday night service in honor of our group. Our ladies sang one of the special numbers and Bro. Daniel Fittro led the closing song for the evening.

Bro. Dan Christians was the guest speaker. He preached from Luke chapter 16 about Heaven and Hell. We did not know this but today was Bro. Christians ninth spiritual birthday. He was saved at NVBC on October 9, 2000 and baptized during the Missions Conference of that year. It was truly fitting to have him preach tonight. At the invitation, four souls were saved and decisions made for Christ.

We arrived back at the hotel around 8:30pm.

Tomorrow our group will be split up with most of the men going to Bacolod and the rest staying here in Iloilo to participate in the IBC’s extension ministries. Every Saturday the church ministers to literally thousands of people through their Bible clubs and other programs.

The men in Bacolod will be visiting churches that NVBC supports and preaching there as well. Our group will then be reunited on Monday when we go to the different public schools in Negros.

We may not be able to post new blogs and pictures until Sunday or Monday. Do pray for us that we would see a great harvest of souls during these next few days. Have a great day!

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