* December Visitors (1)

December has been a month for visitors.  In early December we had some ladies from the CERC in Singapore stay with us for just over a week, although for 5 of those days they visited Baguio, a tourist town north of Manila.

Myself, Peng Lan, Kah Pik, Daisy, and Chek Siang

On their first Sunday here, we worshiped in the Protestant Reformed Church in Bulacan.

Waiting for Church to start.

Visiting afterwards.

Some fellowship at the Mercado house while the men were having a consistory meeting.

 Outside the Mercado home.

 There was also some time for fellowship in the Flores home.

 The second weekend that the four ladies were here, two men from the CERC in Singapore also came to visit - Brothers Ishu and Suan Kiat.

 That Sunday, we were in the Provident Christian Church in Marikina.

 Two of the ladies entertained some of the children for a while.

 And we had some fellowship at our home that Sunday evening.

 Also added to our visitors that weekend were some Kleyns from Australia.

(The Kleyns and the men from Singapore all stayed in nearby hotels.)

This is a picture of all of us. 

Now we look forward tonight to the arrival of Prof. and Mrs. Engelsma.

Prof. will be speaking at a conference here next week.

We hope to update you about that in our next blog.

* Visit to Singapore

Last week Rev. Kleyn and I traveled to Singapore.  The purpose of the trip was two-fold: speak at Covenant Evangelical Reformed Church's Reformation Day Conference and install Rev. Lanning as minister of the Word in CERC. 

Besides these two purposes there were some side benefits as well.  We were able to renew our acquaintance with many of the members of CERC and even meet some we hadn't met before.  And we were able to catch up with the three men from Hope PRC in Michigan who were stopping in Singapore on their way to visiting the evangelism outreach in Yangoon, Myanmar.

The theme of the Reformation Day Conference was The Reformation and the Development of the Truth.  The three speeches were as follows: 1) Restoration of the Truth at the time of the Reformation, 2) Furtherance of the Truth, and 3) The Price Paid for the Truth.

Rev. Kleyn speaking at the Reformation Day Conference Friday night and Saturday.

Some discussion in between speeches

Books for sale!

Sunday morning, Rev. Kleyn installed Rev. Lanning as pastor of CERC.

Sunday night: Rev. Lanning preached his first sermon as pastor (no longer minister-on-loan) of CERC.

Sunday lunch at church

The view from the top of the building the church is in

The young people cooked supper/dinner for the visitors and others after church in the evening.

The young people also organized some games for us.  The three teams were 1) the three men from Michigan 2) the Kleyns and 3) the Lannings.

The men from Michigan picked the category of Pictionary.

This was "Vanity of vanities".  It just so happens that John builds vanities (of a different kind) for his work.

The Kleyns were next and picked Charades.

I'm not sure what this was supposed to be anymore!

Lannings weren't left with too many choices so did their best with the Singapore Slang.

  

They had to pick the right answer and then say it with the right emphasis and intonation.

I think they got most of them right, although the Singaporeans were doing a lot of laughing!  :-)

The last category - a math essay question - went to one person from each team. 

I'm afraid the Americans didn't do so well with this one! 

(I think Rev. Kleyn is hoping for help from the audience.  :-))

They were given only 4 minutes to solve it, though, and they all did have a good start at it.

Then a farewell shot....

...and a parting Psalm (Psalm 121, the travelers Psalm).

 "The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore."

  

* Classis of the Protestant Reformed Churches in the Philippines

The third Classis Meeting of the newly formed Federation of Protestant Reformed Churches in the Philippines was held this past Friday, October 31, in the building of the Protestant Reformed Church in Bulacan. 

PRCB in Muzon, Bulacan

Rev. Smit leading in opening devotions.

The next few pictures show the many who attended from both churches (Berean PRC and PRC in Bulacan), plus some visitors.

Some discussion after the meeting.

There was also time for lunch and fellowship together.

Committee work.

We thank the PRC in Bulacan for hosting the meeting of Classis.  And we pray that God, Who is faithful, will "establish the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands, establish thou it."  Psalm 90:17

  

* Visit from the Lannings

This past week we've had the privilege of having the Lanning family from Singapore come to visit us.  They were able to meet several of the groups here, have some good cultural experiences, and also to spend some time with the Smit and Kleyn families.

 

The Three Rev's.

 The Three Ladies.

 

Thursday night some of them came with us to Provident Christian Church for the weekly Essentials class that Rev. Kleyn teaches there.

 The children were very excited to have a trike ride, so we drove into Antipolo and took a couple short trips on the trikes.  With all of us, we needed a total of three trikes.

Roy and Florence Tan and their daughter, Elena, from Singapore were also able to join us for a couple of our outings.

 

Supper at Smits' home.

On Sunday Rev. Kleyn was preaching in Singapore, but Rev. Lanning was able to preach once for the PRC in Bulacan and once for the Berean PRC.  Here we are in Bulacan.  (Sorry, I wasn't able to get a picture in the Bereans.)

Consistory of PRC in Bulacan.

Farewell supper at the Kleyn's on Thursday night.

 

Group shot.

 

The real group shot.

The Lannings enjoyed meeting the saints here and the fellowship with them.  And we were all encouraged in the work in the various places God has called us in His church here in Southeast Asia.

 

* Monthly Trip to Bacolod and Sipalay - September 20-24

The third week of every month, the two missionaries travel to Bacolod City and Sipalay.  Rev. Smit usually leaves on Saturday and preaches in Bacolod on Sunday.  Rev. Kleyn then joins him on Monday and together they do classes to the group in Bacolod City on Monday night, and then pastors' classes in Sipalay on Tuesday.  In September they did a switch, so that Rev. Kleyn did the Sunday preaching there and Rev. Smit came down on Monday.  I was able to travel with my husband and meet the people, some old friends and some new ones.

Getting ready for the services on Sunday morning. 

Sunday morning's gathering.

Enjoying our lunch and fellowship.

Rev. Smit arrived as scheduled on Monday afternoon.  Monday evening we held two classes.  Rev. Smit taught church government, and Rev. Kleyn taught doctrines.

Fellowship after Monday night's classes.

We left early Tuesday morning and drove down to Sipalay (a beautiful drive through the sugar cane plantations and along the coast) arriving in time for the 9:00 a.m. start of the pastors' training classes there.

Rev. Kleyn teaching Reformed Church Order.

In Rev. Kleyn's 2 1/2 hour class period there were 30 questions asked!

The attendees.

The route to and from Sipalay is under construction.  This was a tight squeeze.  I think they actually scraped each other as they passed.

I personally enjoyed this visit.  Hopefully I'll be able to go along again sometime.  It's always a joy to meet and get to know more of God's people here.