HPHRRI CHRISTIAN

CHARLE&WWB RO&ERTA 6EL?>*i

P.O.BOX 4-9
RPARRIjCM^^MAN
PHILIPPINES
FORWARDIMG AaENT'.
aar.r.l.toluweR
fAlRfieuOj-NEBRABKA
1960 CAMP BRCAH9 ALL RECORDS
The Cagayan Valley*Chris
tian Service Camp, which was
held April 17-22s I960, ontKe3
campus of the Aparri Bible Sem
inary, broke all previous en
rollment records, with a total
of 82 campers enrolled. . This
was exactly the same number as
were enrolled the two previous
years, since there were 52 en
rolled in 1959, and 30 in 1958,
The Cagayan Valley Camp
had its beginning in 1955, when
the first camp was held in Hagan,
Isabela. In 1956 it was at Gonza-
ga, Cagayan, and the past four
years has been held on the ABS
campus. Although this was anew
venture among the Churches of
Christ inthe Philippines, it has
proved to be very successful.
The campers include young
people from age 12 on up. They
are divided into four different
age groups, each group having
altogether different classes .
For recreation and activities
they are divided into teams. The
"ca;mp follows a schedule much
like one inthe States. Preachers
of the area and teachers in the
Seminary assist the mission
aries in the teaching.
Each camper pays P5.00 or
brings food in that amount, and
the camp pays for itself, except
for facilities which are provided
by the mission.
Two young people received
certificates for having attended
six years of- camp, three re-
ceived five-year and five re
ceived four-year certificates.
These were awarded after the
closing prayer circle on Friday
afternoon. Five young people
made the confession at the clos
ing chapel service of camp and
were baptized that night at the
Aparri Church of Christ chapel
by Brother Faustino Peneyra,
during the opening sessionof the
convention. About 2O0 brethren
from all over the Cagayan Val
ley attended the convention,
which closed Sunday noon.
-EVANGELISM
Everythingwe db in the work
here is done to acjcbniplish the
great task of spreading the Gos^
pel of Christ, It can truthfully
be said that every dollar we
spend is spent for Evangelism.
Whether it is for the develop
ment of the Seminary or other
Christian Education, or the
printing ministry, all of it is
spent that the Cibspel xhessage
of salvation mijght reach out to
the millions around us who are
living inthb darkness of sin and
despair. The S e m i h a r y and
Printing are indirect methods
of evamgelism^ as is much of our
workhere. However, we do have
a very.^tal "direct" evangelis
tic work in progress all of the
time. As this is written, a very
cbhcehtrated- evangelistic CeUii-
paign is just cbming to a close,
in whichtenteams of preachers
gave five weeks of the summer
months holding Bible Institutes
and Evangelistic meetings in
more than fifty places. This
campaign was designed to in
struct the Churchniembers and
to win souls to Christ. It has
done bcth. The number of bap
tisms reportedfor April (not ail
reports are in) is 53. 22 have
beCn reportedup to May 15^ The
total number'bf baptisms re<ir
portedfrom jani' 1st tb May15th
is 123. This compares with 89
at the end of Maly last. year. One
hew Churchhas beehestablishcd
so far this .yteri-* and many
o^ers are in the process of
being established.
There are those who sa.y that
preachers on a missibh field
should not be supported by the
bi?e&ren iu America. We be
lieve fiinhly tifiat the Churches
shouldbe taught to support their
own workers . The question is, -
how are the Churches going to
be taught vnthout teachers ? We
believe-that if we help the prea
chers now so they can give full
tinie to preaching and teaching
in the Churches, it will not be
long before the Churches will
recognize and accept their re
sponsibility of fully supporting
their own workers. Many are
giving partial support at pre
sent. This evangelistic and
teaching program is going to
continue; Your financi al help
is needed to keep these prea
chers in the field proclaiming
the'"*Word of Life*'. Our thanks
to all who make this pfogfam
possible. Your dollars are in-
vested in the saving of sbuls .
Evangelist Virgilib Ibarra
and wife Blanche are the prbud
parente of a baby girl^ Rachel.
Evangelist Sergio vIB-agrg g o
was in a carabao bart "accident
while travelling in his evange-
listic work^ He Stiffei^d bhly
minor injuries.
'REPORT OF 3EtECEIPTS^AND EXPENDITURES OF
APARRI BIBLE SEMINARY BUILDING FUND
Received for Fund while inHhe States^ 1956, 1957 -
Rec*d through des. gifts after return to-Philippines. -
.Borrowed from Friend in Nebraska
TOTAL TO BE ACCOUNTED FOR -
^$3,055.59
- 484.97
- 2,000.00
-$5,540.56
E X P E N DITU-R&S h -
MATERIAL (Lumbeiv Roofing, etc.
LABOR
MONEY ORDER CHARGES - - - - -
^$4,264.58
- 1,253; 08
- 22.90- $5f, 540.56
As many of you will recalls
when, we were in the States
1956 ahd 1957^ an attempt was
made to rais^e $15,000 with
which we proposed to buy pro
perty and erect a Seminary
building and boys* dormitory.
As you will note in this report
that goal was far from being
reached. As a result, we were
forced to go into debt. A good
personal friend andfriend of the
Lord's work everywhere loaned
us $2, 000 withthe under s tandizg
that it* would be paidback either
before or after cur returnto the
States for another furlough. Had
it not beenfor thisloan, itwould
have been almost impossible to
carry^on the work of the Aparri
Bible Seminary these last two
yeare.
During :the four years that
Norval and Dondena Cmipbell
spent in &e work here, they
built a house, mostiyfrom their
own funds. When the decision
was made cniic e r ni n g; their
b^mi^a hbW i^minaryr^dn the
west coast of Luzon, they asked
us to purchase dieirhouse here.
This we agreed, to do. They
asked $4800 for it, which was
considerably less, than they had
put into it. The Mission still
owes> $4450 on this house. So
you can see that our total debt
is considerably more than the
above report shows.
At considerable expense, the
Campbell house.iy^as esqpanded
from a 24 X 24 ^Ot building to
a 24 X48 fopb Seminary build
ing. Other neoess ary* changes
were also madeand ;the build
ing was painted so that we have
a Seminarybuilding-ade<|uate for
our present needs.. Several ne
cessary improvements were
also made on the Girls:^-dormi
tory, including <: a ceiling up
stairs, a roof over the breeze-
way, new glass i^ndows (to re
place the temporary nipa shut-
:
:
A
l
^
R
I
U
?
^
i
G
i
R
u
S
'
O
O
R
j
A
S
&
M
I
M
A
R
.
S
U
l
L
P
m
o
?
,

-
.
'
T
n
.
h
i

V
.
'
'
I
I|
>
v
-
,
'
r
o
r
>
I
'
,
-
.

i
I
^
\
|
l
L
l
|
;
/
\
S
E
I
-

'

'
.
'
-
j
i
f
r

<

"
'
o
y

-
i
.
V
]
*

*
'
V
w
"
3
f
f
i
t
;
j
>
^
^
?
.
.
,
p
;
'
^
>
>
f

-
c
v
3
'
J
^
5
g
y
;
x
=
.
,
r
,
,
.
.
.
*

V
/
I

v
t
*
.
>
'
i
:
T
-
:
-
l
,
A
'

"
;
v
i
t
e
o
i
-
e
"
6
!
'
^
"We were asked recently con
cerning onr-long-range:' plans
for the work hereWe glad
toknowt|:-at someone estpects us
-to have "ioag-range" plans. The
sketch o n the^ opposite page
, shows the. prope rty-we now- have
here InrAparrio That,, which is
Surrpu|ijie4r pY: ^otte^ lihes is
what we wouldlike to have, some =
time in the fijtvip.e . The Aparri
.School of, Fifheiies j which o.c-
. ' ^ V i
Ctipies seye.ral, acres .tp- the -wes t
and jeo^ th^ of a ,Buhlic
Sjchopli ; j-ust in the ^ocess of
, development The lawye3|. who
. took-rcare of the papers on the
propertywhichwe; bought for ;the
iboysi^ 'dorniitory, tpldj me thet
when Vthat-School Is fiiii^shed .aU
of this property pver.here will^he
worthy about 5 tixnes what'it is
: now^ Hpw we, wish we had the
money with which to purchase
all of this right nowl It is true,
not .all of it is for sale, but
three-fourths of it c p ul d b e
bbughf almbst- in^ diately, I
thinkj^andit wouldprobably take
some real persuasion to get the
rest of it. There are no perma
nent buildings on any of it, how
eyer,; and all o itr is quite; low
and; therefore undesirable to
most people but us. It; is de-
sirable to us^ because we know
how it can be turned into good
usable land. <
Someone .;will say, ".Why do
you want that much jextra land^"
In the,firat placef, we are crow
ded right now where the Sem
inary and our house is. We need
n;^re room. Secondly, we wpuld
very much like to h.aye a gopd
Christian High School here in
Aparri someday and to have that,
we need more land. We .would
indee 4 be g rateful if s opae d
friend. of the yjp.rk here .would
prpyi4^,P:S means w^t^x-whiph
tp purphase these various piepes
.of ^p r o p^^e r ty , . We ,a.te<p3;!^ing
about this^,..and trusting
. Lord's -leadingv j*le:ase .,j^E;ay
..yd^ua!
. Bldg. Fund fcont Vd from;pg..;;3-)-
J^prs), a>medi-agua, (a per3pLa-
. nent awning pyep dowTista;^irs
. windows), and ppint; outside, and
ups tai r s inside. :This ^ was all
. done in. 195S> . ,
. ; In il 9.59, pr.ope:i^^was, l^PWght
and a hoys' dormitory,bmlj^Lng
was e rected, whichwas used:by
the boys last year, but is..;^atill
. not completed. It needs perma
nent glass windows, a- septic
tank, at least two coats^of paint
this year, and other iinp;poye-
ments outside and inside, .which
will . cost an estinrated,: ::$6PP,
Windows alone, will :cost above
We wishi to, thank everyone
who has had a part in, this build
ing program. It willmtean much
to the future of the Lord's work
in the Philippines.. -
APARRI BIBLE SEMINARY
The opemxig of another school
year is fast approaching. Infact,
by the time most of you receive
this. Seminary classes will al
readybe insession. Enrollment
is June 13th, and classes begin
eveningAtotal df 60"stud-
e nt s enrolled last y e a r . On
Match 4th, two graduated with
the Bachelor of Theology
diegxee, ahdthree girls received
two-yei^ certiBcates.
We 'are xnakixig a changie in
j^i^ this year. All full time
students wiH be req^uxed to eat
together in a tommon dicdhg
^h^;^^Heretofore, each one has
-dbde^S owncooking)v Each one
requiredtobring one ca-
vah (about 120 pounds) of rice
per semester, and eachone will
^e requiredtowork 3 hours a day
at some assignedtask aroimd the
: Seminary. The girls will pro
bably do the cooking and dish
washing, and the boys the hea-
'^rer worki of wMch there is al-
ways plenty. This planmay cost
alittle more intholong rimj but
-wefeel that the spiritual lives of
' the students will be strengthened
a great deal because regular
devotions canbe conducted, and
because of amuch better spirit
ual a tino s p h e r e during t he
^^meals . It will also be better for
'many of -them physically, for
many do not eat properly when
they have to do their own cook-'
ing. A small poultry project
has been started which we hope
will provide eggs for the dining
hall, and some for sellthg-. We
also hope to. raise a nice garden,
andinthis way help cut down on
the expenses of the dining hall.
-"Pilans arebeingmader to- con
vert the garage and workshop
(which is actually a part of the
Seminary building) fnto a dining
haU. Thiswill involva- some ex
pense. A smallkitchenwill have
to be built onto the dining hall.
' Restrooms and washrooms are-^
heeded Which nebe:ssitates the.
making Of a septic'tahk. Alto^
gether those improvements will
probably cOst^ abOut $175.00.
Then we wUl have to, build some -
sort Of she I t e r for the Jeep
Station Wagonr ahd me old Jeep
iahd trailer. We hope to meet
these needslittle by little*' Your
prayers and financial help will
becrehtt^hp^eCiafed^^^^^^
The 'printing-press is being
kept busy' these days under the
capable hands Of Piihter Will -
iam ' Bagain, 19^ graduate of
ABS. Tentracts havebeenprin
ted and' distributed, and the
quarterly lloGano paper, "Ubbog
Ti Biag", all of- which are a
great help in the work. Also
printed this p a s t ye a r were
school p ap e r 5, programs,
posters, and DVBS, Camp and
Baptiszuel certificates.
HERE and THERE
The Aparri Church conduct-
ed four DVBS's simiiltaneous-
ly this year for 2 weeks, in 4
different sections of Aparri,
Two teams of girls worked in
thes e, mornirigi- and afternoon.
On Easter Sunday allv the child-^
.rengathered at the Chapel build
ing for a combined prograim.
The Seh^^family took a va
cation in Cebu- and Manila in
March and AprilVCharles spoke
for the Commencement at Cebu
Bible Seminary, and also at the
Mcinila conventioh.' Some good
f e 11 o w s h i p was ^exyoyed with
Hales, Carlsons and Betty Yar-
borough. We were fortunate to
be inManilawhenlmogene Will
iams came through," and had a
wonderful visit with her. We
had not seen h^f for 15 years.
Mr . Nicanor Graneta recent
ly moved from Gonzaga, Caga-
yan, to Quezon Province, with
his fainily, tobe'nearhis elder
ly parents. There is no Church
there, but he has several pros
pects already^ -
Ricky and ULoyd Selby were
i among the ' 82 campers of Ihe
Ybuth- Camp this year. Ricky
, was ^
! ^ MfsasiBertha Filer spent five
l^days With us before gbing down
i to>Mindanao- to begin heir work
]with RifthSmith.' We'ehjoyedher
: visit so yery.muchc C
Robby Selby won top honors
in his 4th Grade class at the
Aparri Elementary School.
Aparri has beenwithout elec
tricity since February. We are
fortunate to have our generator,
but gasoline is very expensive.
Ldoyd Selby was honored in
being chosen to play the part of
Hansel in a pageant built aroimd
the story of ** Hansel and Gretel"
for the coronation of the "Baby
Queen" at the Aparri fiesta;
SeminaryArtist Ben Castillo
is busy working on various
charts for the preachers to use
in their evangelistic work. -'; .
Charles Selby recently re
ceived an award as the "Out -
standing Missionary and Educa
tor" of Aparri, from the Aparri
Lions *Club, whichgave several
awards to the outstanding citi
zens of the town. -
May 30th marks an anniver
saryfor the Selbys. On that day,
in 1947, we sailed for the first
time fromSan FrancisCO for the
Philippines. On that day, in
I960, we will begin our 14th
year of work in the Philippines .
During that time,- our entire
farniiy has been supported by
one Church, the lndiahbla
Church of Christ in Columbus^
Ohio. ' As OUT needs have ih-
creased, they have increased
their help. We thank God for
their 'faithful ^d unwaVerihg
support through the years .' '
D
TtiiG iBummer there are seven
teams of girls working in DVBS
all over the Cagayan Valley.
Most of,these girls are stu
dents of the Aparri Bible Sem
inary.Theybeganas soon as the
-public schools closed in March,
and will have only one or two
weeks^ of vacation before the
"^Seifeihafy opens ohJune' 13. The
Churches here are assisting fin
ancially im this progrsnn, and
we hope e ventuallythey will take
itover.completely. The mission
pays travelling and other e3q>en-
ses, and guarantees every .girl
$2.50 a week for her work. If
they receive that much from the
Church where they go, that is
igppd, but if not, yre add to what
Ihey i^eceive to make it that
amount. ...j; .
. It.ia hardtoi^as^^^ va
lue, pf this work. Lastyear more
than 1000 children were taught
in one or two weeks of DVBS.
Usually the : children and their
parents beg the girls to stay
longer. Last year the Churches
Ke r p gave j?152.60, and the
Mission put ?433.45 into DVBS
work.. It is certainly vorth every
centavp spent onit r Perhaps you
are looking for a worthwhile
place to send your DVBS offer
ing this year. Any gift sent for
this project wotildbe greatly ap
preciated.
8
SUMMARY the WORK
1959 ) ...
226 Souls Won to .Christ
5 Churches Established
2 Churches Revived
60 Students Enrolled APARRi
BIBLE SEMINARY
Began publicationofQuarterly
ILCcano paper, UbbogtTi Biag
kV60' (Jan.' ir"it6'May"^ ;^
123 Souls won to .Christ
1 Church- EstabliiShed
82 enrolled Chri s tianSe r.Camp
SUMMARY of NEEDS ;
Special oGifts . to help pay off
Seminary^ Debt. .
$600.00 for Bpys' Dormitory :
$ 1Z5. 00for DiningvHall and Kit-
chen> Sei^nary Building.
Books for the. Seminary Library
Us.ed Literafui^e;!
Choir Mvsic b^^
Used sunppperrwpight clothing :
Baby clotheSj [ne:W, or uped
Student supppjrtj .($1;0 ai nip-.)
Sppport for Seminary faculty
Gifts for Evangelism. , - i
PRAYERS
NOTICEDA new setof slides has
been" sent to Mission Services,
and is available .upon, request.
Also a\^sb^bna^^Pap^^ pf our
wprk .will sppxL. be. ready, and
aVa i 1 a b 1 e upon request from
Mission s e^.yi p e s ,3 ,iBpx 968,
Joliet, Dl. if , nrr r;
BRJMS HIS TOR,y
li .. y *.
The work o^^:preachiTig>-the
Gospel in northern Luzon was
begunzn^yyears ago by Mr. W.^
H. Hanh"ai>and was carried on
/faithfully through the yeafs uh-
der-^e leadership of BtTother
Fauslino Peneyra.^
In ?''june 1 947Charles and
Roberta Selby with their one
year old son, Uoyd, arriyed in
Aparri, Cagayan, to join Bro.
Peneyta and others in carrying
on thiAwork. Bro. Selby began,
immediately t o t e a c h a night
dlassih a smallNtraining school
in Aparrp and spent much time
woiking Biro.. Pfeneyra a-
mong the Churches of the area.
during the war/^eitrs,. In 1948 ,
a second son, Richard,^ was born
to the Selbys in Manila* ahd in
1950 Robert was born in llast-
ings,
In 1952^6 Selbys established
the Aparri.^itde S A
yeair latter,' they were joined in
this work by NorVal add Dondena
WoncMti^ '^mrM ef
CHAR).E^e.^ !^ERTA SELB^
tn^tilwipJSftjfiihfhilipph
Of THE WORK
Cpnipbell,. and Bro. Campbell
.became^^ean of the Seminary.
Afterfpuryears the Cam|:niells,
challengedbythe needof a Sem
inary on the western coast of
Northern Luzon,triaramsfeirred
their field of endeaijor to Vigam,
ilOcos Sur. The work of Aparri
Bible Seminary continued with
Bro. -iPeneyra and two of the
first graduates of the Seminary
assisting the Selbys in ^teaching.
A youth camp was started in
1955, ^d has been quite suc-
cessfid.:. It is held for one week
just prior to the Aparri'Conven
tion in April, on Ihe Seminary
campus. It is a wonderful week
of felIoyrshii>j%orship and study.
A number of new Churches
have been establishedin the past
few years, especially as gradu
ates of the Senainary have gone
forth to proclaim the Word of
God> There are how 45 Churches
of Christ in this three-province
area, and each-year around 200
have been baptized into Christ,
A. E-sTABLtSHED CHURCHES
n PROSPECTIVE churches
MAP OR
V^UVSVl
NQRtV^ERW CUZOKI
iPH I L 1 R t N 'S>
APAERI BIBL SEMINARY
The- Apairi Bible Seminary
wd'S established in 1952 under
the leadership of Charles. Selhy..
Tea c h e T s we re Charles and
Robe'rtaSelby and Bro. Faustino
TPeifeyTar ad* abaut-35"stcrdents
were enrolled. Classes Were
heldinthe chapel of the Aparri
Church of Christ and the Selby
home. In 1953, Norval ahdDon--
dena Campbell joined the facul
ty, and 45 s t u d e h t S enrolled
from Abra, llocos Sur,' Caga-
yahV and Isabela provinces. In
Sept. Ihe Selbyhouse was turned
into a Seminaiy Building after
the-Selbys and Campbells naoved
into the new Selby home. Four
were g r aduated from the Sem-
inary in 1954 in the first Com
mencement exercises. Of these
first. graduat<is, two have joined
the faculty of the S e m i n a r y .
Mrs. Esperanza Aguas teabhes
Greek and Christian Education
cT'aB.'S feis ", anti^^isn Ijaurreano
Lopez teaches 'Hozhiletics and
New T^ stament. The*;Other- two
-graduates are busily Engaged in.
the establishment of hew Chur<
ches'..' V '
^ The 1955-56 school year saw
the largest' enrollment in the
history of the Se'mihary* when 72
young people enrolled. Since its
establishment, the average en
rollment has been 46 each year.
There have been 2! graduated
fromthe Seminary, having com
pleted the required four-year
course, and 13 young women
have received two-year Christ
ianWorker Certificates. Seven
teenof the graduates are engaged
infull-time Christianwork,. and
-manyofthe^stttdents-arepireaxrhs
ing and teaching regularly each
Lord's Day ^dduring vacations.
In 1954 a girls' dornaitoiry
was constructedonproperty ad
joining that where tha Selby and
Campbell houses had been built.
When> the ^Campbells-1 returned
to the States in 1957 with-plans
to return and work in another
iegion, their house wasr bought^
and the next year was doubled
in si ze andmade into a very fine
Seminary building. In 1959,
property was! purchased on the
same street about one block
north, and a boys' dormitory
was constructed. Future plans
call for the erection of a mar
ried couples' apartment on the
same prOpbrtyv ^
METHODS OF EVANGELIZmG
- Thb viorkof evangelizing^ the
Cagayan Valley is carried->on
through' a threefcil'd iniiiistry:
Dire'ct Evangelism, the Apai^iri
Bible' Sfeminaryv and Prihting.
By "Direct Evahjgelisni'' is
meant the actual "vbrk df preach
ing the Gospel to the people of
this area, "publicly and from
house to houseu. " Because of the
extreme -poverty of the bre
thren, none ofv thj^. Churohes, is
able to suppprt la worker/ on a
full time b a ai s . -It has been
i^eai9llcx,gfith
give some help:ttO;^o9ythyvy^pr-
kejTS in order i|:o kepp them iin
.the.: Jield- preaching tbe^ GospeJ.
The-souls wQUitp Christ; and the
..Chur;<hieiS, rpstabB^sbed,.; ^apd^re. -
Ivferedeaclayj^rt are indic^ve of
the"worthihess rof &iaj psogre^.
c^he Sem^ary>. d-i a^ousa e d
'.e lfsre whe;f e in this .paper, _is
proving its w^rth as:a preacher -
training institution. It, is. |elt
that Filipinos; c^ best preach
ito Filipinos}.! therefore a prog^
ram for training Filipino prea
chers is highly important. Such
a: program- should result in a
self-supporting, self-; sustain
ing,; s elf-eactendii^-work.
Through the generosity of the
Churches cf .Clay County,:HI.,
Fisher, 111., Mondamin, Iowa,
and many others, a Multilith
'Offset: Press and' c o n^p a n i on
equipment were providedfor the
work. This:.is -proving to: be a
wonderful aid in spreading:^the
Word., A number of tracts have
beenprintedand, circidated, and
a., quarterly paper, ."Ubbog ti
Biag", , (Fountain of . Life), is
being.publishedby,the preacher s
of the area, which according to
reports, is bringing some very
good results,
. The missionaries a n d , t h e
Filipino workers .are indeed
to the Churches of Ame-
; ri.ca for their generous suppprt
of this three-fold ipinistry.
V : - t : .
NEEDS WHlCIi YOU CAN
SHAI^ IN THE LORD'a^WORK
L. Books for. Seminaryjjlibrary.
.2> UsedBible;School literature,
., ::fia9peeialiy; q\iartfrlie%- ^d
,3. Used D.YBS matOfiala, flah -
nelgraph, s toricjS;,. cOtc.
i4. Old choir3iiiossicpGa^gjDohks.
: 5;i ;Used sumnie r clothing.
6,. Baby clotherr new or used.
7. Student suppo.rtjrfor needy
:r. Seminary students, $10 amo.
8. Gifts for evangelistic work.
R. Additional suppprt for Sein-
- inary/acuity. >
10. PRAYERS for the work and
workers^ . ^
. NQTICE : .
<lPleaaej send adl .monetary-gifts
tOrforwarding agent RICHARD
. L. TQi.liyERi . PAIRS^LD,
NEBRASKA. Send all gift pack
ages to PHILIPPINE MISSION
CHURCHES OF CHRIST, P. Q
BOX 49, APARRI, CAGAYAN,
PHILIPPINES, Mark packages
"Gift Package", and "Used Lit
erature" , "Used Glqthing" ^ or
"Used Books",c,etc.
^ Property of
* t.tbB.AR^
OZARK BIBLE COLLEOa Cg^an. Philippines
-4 Joplin, Mo.
Dear Friends in Christ:
i know that many of you have been desiring news of the latest developments in the work
of the lord in the Cagayan Valley and we hope this letter will cariy with it sufficient
information to answer that desire..
On June 13th we began another year in the Aparri Bible Seminary, We are indeed happy
to inform you that we have another increase in enrollment this year over that of last. At
the present time, 6? young people are enrolled in the Seminary, Only 12 of these are part
time students, the rest being fulltime in the College and Institute departments. The
dormitories are really full this year with 35 boys in the boys* dormitory, and 24 girls in
the girls* dormitory. We have a small house built next to the boys' dormitory where a married
couple and their children are living. Both are full time students in the Seminary, We have
fixed a small one room apartment doxsmstairs in the girls* dormitory for the wife and baby of
one of our full time preachers, Bro, Virgilio Ibarra, Mrs, Ibarra is attending the Seminary
full time while Bro, Ibarra is out most of the time in his evangelistic activities. We can
still f^ up one more apartment downstairs in the boys' dormitory, and may have to do that at
the beginning of the second semester if things work out as we expect them to. We have a
common dining hall this year and are feeding about 50 students at each meal. This is proving
to be quite a task, and a bit expensive, but we feel it is doing the school a world of good
and the students as well. It makes it so much nicer when we don*t have to worry about each
student finding time to cook his own meal and besides that, all of the students eat at the
same time and have good fellowship together as they do so. We feel that it is a great im
provement over former years. The kitchen, which adjoins the dining room, is stilti^he process
of being built. ThisHt quite an expense for us right now, but we are getting it done little
by little. Because of the new policy concerning the dining hall, and the fact that each
student eating in the dining hall must bring one cavan of rice (about 120 pounds) per
semester, we expected quite a drop in enrollment this year over that of last. We are
pleasantly surprised to have a substantial increase instead.
The evangelistic campaign which was held during the summer months was veiy successful.
During the months of April and May there were a total of 120 baptisms, I have not received
all of the reports for June as yet. The total number of baptisms for the first six months of
the year is I83, but I feel sure that it will be close to 200 by the time all reports are in.
This compares with 226 for the whole year, 1959<> So far this year, four new churches have been
established. Some of the congregations have built their own chapel buildings also. It has
never been the policy of the mission to build chapel buildings. Each congregation has always
built its own. We are trying to help these congregations to have a preacher whenever possible,
but are always working toward the time when they will be supporting their own preachers
entire^. This evangelistic work is going on constantly in five provinces of Northeastern Luzon,
Up until this year, we had work in only the three main provinces of the Cagayan Valley, but
now a Church has been established^ in the eastern part of Mountain province and down in the
extreme northern part of Quezon province. We now have a total of 48 Churches of Christ in
this area. 2|- years ago there were only 30 Churches in this part of Luzon, We believe we
are on the verge of some rapid growth in this evangelistic work. More preachers than ever are
in the field, and some in particular are doing a wonderful job of reaching new places.
As the work here grows and as souls are being won to Christ and more and more con
secrated young people trained to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ to a nation so
deep in sin, it is natural that our financial needs should increase also. As I have been
going over our whole program I note that we need at least $1,000,00 per month to keep this
work going. About $^0,00 per month is put into Evangelism, nearly $500,00 a month goes into
the work of the Seminary, The other $50,00 goes for other mission expenses. This leaves us
nothing for our printing ministry. We have been doing what we caii along that line as funds
permit, but not nearly what we should do. Several tracts are now ready to be printed, but
funds just are not available right now with which to purchase paper to do the printing. We
are veiy much in need of more regular pledges for Evangel-ism, for the Seminary, and for the
printing work* We would be most grateful for any pledge of any size given on a regular
basis for aiy part of the work here.
Perhaps most of you noted from our last Aparri Christian the fact that we are in debt.
We have received a very wonderful gift from our Living-Link Church, ~t5e~lndiah61a Church of " ^
Christ to be applied on the debt on the Campbell House, That debt has thus been reduced to
$3850,00, When the $2,000 which we borrowed to complete the Seminary building is added to
that, it makes a total debt of $5>850, This letter is going out only to those who have at
sometime in the past given for the work here. If each one or each group receiving this
letter would send just $10,00 over and above their regular giving for the work, we could
pay this entire debt and have a little left over for con5)leting the boys* dorraitoiy, I
would so much appreciate your giving this your careful and prayerful consideration. Your
gift at this time will be of great help in this veiy tiying time.
Yours in Chr