ril.

1959
Charles and Roberta Selby
P.O. Box 49 Send All Gifts
Aparri, Cagayan c/o R. L. Tolliver
Philippines _ _ _ Fairfield, Nebraska
N E W P R ORE R T Y P U R C H A ^ E "if
DORMITORY UNDER CONSTRUCTION
In January we successfully concluded negotiations for the
purchase of property which we have needed for so long. Because
it was low and somewhat swampy, we were able to purchase it
at a very low pi^ice . "We have been fillihg^ it, using our own Jeep
and Trailer, and the students oh the Self Help program of the
Seminary. By the time school was out, it was about three fourths
filled. One carpenter has been hired thus far, and he, with the
help of several of the students who are remaining in Aparri this
summer, has begun to put in the cement footings for the posts
of the boys' dormitory which we hope to have completed before
school opens in June.
Just a little over $200 toward this building has been received
thus far. The estimated cost of this 24 by 36 foot two-stoiy
building is $2, 500.00. We are going aheadwith the work on faith
that the funds will come ir as they are needed. It will be
more than a month from now that most of you receive this issue
of the APARRI CHRISTIAN. We would be very grateful if you
would take this matter before your Church Missionary Committee,
or Missionary Circle, or Bible School Class, or if you could
just send a gift personallyfor this very important andneedy pro
ject. When you receive this, it will be just about one month be
fore the new Seminary year opens. At that timej every day will
be important to us here. If we are to have this building ready
for the boys on opening day, we will need your generous help
immediately.
PLEASE SEND ALL GIFTS TO OUR FORWARDING AGENT,
MR. R. L. TOLLIVER, FAIRFIELD, NEBRASKA;
THE LEAVEN ,A T WORK
In 1956, an interdenominatiojaaJl missionary and hip; co-wor
kers, went into a small community in eastern Cagayan and through
various means, split one of our active Churches, taking with
them quite .a large number of our Church members. They then
called one of their active preachers to minister to their newly
formedgroup. During the 1957-58 school year, one of our students
visited that village each week-eiid to minister to the small group
of remaining faithful brethren. *He became well acquainted with
the preacher of the interdenominational group, and had many
friendly discussions with him =concerning the New Testament
Church. Just after school was out a year ago, this man, Nicanor
Graneta, made known his intention to renounce denominational-
ism in all its forms and become a simple New Testament Christ
ian. He was immersed along with his family and eleven ^members
of the Church to which he hadmini stored; and most of the breth
ren who had been led astray when the Church was split,; returned
to the fold. Bro. Graneta, although nearly 50 years of age, en-^-
tered the Aparri Bible Seminary last J\me to begin the first for
mal training he has ever had.
Two weeks ago, during the conference of a denominational
group here in Aparri, Bro. Graneta invited one of the delegates,
a "lay preacher", who was his relative, to stay with him in our
boys' dormitory. By the time the conference was over, Bro.
Graneta and others had talked with him enough concerning New
Testament Christianity that he was ready to renounce denomi-
nationalism also. He asked Bro. Graneta to accompany him to
his home in Isabela, where he was baptized along with four
others, and at least fourteen more were to be baptized the fol
lowing Lord's Day. Bro. Fernando Pastor was already busy in
that town establishing a new Church, and this is going to be a
great boost to that work. Here-is an example of how New Test
ament Christianity can bring unity to all men when they are will
ing to drop their denominational shackles . Bro . Graneta is now
ministering to one of our active Cagayan congregations, which
supplies most of his support, and we are giving him a little help
each month. A pledge of $20 a month would help'this man a lot.
EVA N G E L I S M
Although' our program of evangelism is still moving along, I
wish I could give it a mighty boost. I had an opportunity to talk
with most of the preachers when they were in Aparri at the close
of:the school year. They will be making an all-out effort during
these summer months when the opportunity for open-air evan
gelistic meetings is the greatest. One new Church has been es-
tablished^ajid about 31 baptisms have been reported since January
1st, although probably there have been more, unreported. Ber
nardo Olbraza organized the hew Church in Canayon, Abulug,
Cagayan,! a work which he opened last year. Virgilio Ibarra has
new work in four places in Nueva Vizcaya, and we hope to see
some newi Churches in that areasoon. Fernando Pastor has very
promising work in two places in Isabela. The one in the town of
Diffun was given a big boost through the help of Bro. Graneta,
mentioned elsewhere in this issue. Sergio Banggo and Ricardo
Paez are planning to open a new work in San Gaspar, Cagayan,
this summer and will work in several other places as well. Ri
cardo, who has had one semester of work in the Seminary, was
Sergio's second convert in the town of Tuguegardo. During
Christmas vacation, Ricardo baptized a young man whom he
brought to Christ. Lazaro Oloraza continues a very fruitful work
in Roxas, Isabela, and neighboring towns. He has baptized more
than 50 into Christ since last July. Most of the students are al
ready out working in various places for the summer, the girls
iii DVBS and the boys in evangelistic work. This program needs
your earnest prayers and financial support.
SEMINARY CLOSES
><
Commencement exercises of the Aparri Bible Seminary were
held on March 18th. Five, students received degrees and diplomas,
and five girls received their two-year Teacher's Certificates.
Bro. Ray Carlson came from Cebu to be our Commencement
speaker and we thoroughly enjoyed a few days of fellowship with
him. About 45;students enrolled for a highly successful school
year. "We are hoping for a much larger enrollment in June.
DAILY VACATION BIBLE SCHOOLS
Beginning this week, there are six DVBS teams scattered
throughout^e province of Cagayan. The first of May, five teams
will continue the work in the provinces of Ca^ayan, Isa^la, and
Nueva Vizcaya. "Hiey will hold about 48 weeks of . DVBS during
the summer months,, finishing up just in time to return to Aparri
to begin another school year. These girls will teacih perhajps
more than 1000 children during these coming months, llie
Churches will help them some, but usually do not do more than
just barely pay their expenses. Ve have always guaranteed e^ch
team of two girls $5.00 a week for every week that they are en
gagedin holding a VBS,. This surely is little enough for all of the
effort that they put into it, an4 it does give them'soinething to
start thje next, school year with. "With 48-50 weeks of Schools
you can readily see that our expanses could rim as high as $250 .
Would your children's, departments be interested in giving a spe
cial offering that a thousandchilfdrenin Northern Luzon might be
taught the Word of God, many of them for the first time? We
would also like to ask you to collect your used DVBS materials
and send them to us to be used next year in our schools here.
Anything that can be used in VBS work will be most welcome.
REGULAR SUPPORT FOR WORKERS NEEDED
In most of the above articles I have mentioned ways in which
you could help this work in specific ways. Regular monthly or
quarterly gifts can be sent just fpr the work in general or for in
dividual workers, whether evangelists on the field., or students
in the Seminary, or Seminary Teachers^ or other full time wor
kers. $10.00 or $15. 00 a month will support a student in the S'em-
inary, depending on whether he is preaching or not. $20 a month
will keep a married couple in the Seminary. We are helping some
of the preachers Who are working full time with established cong-
gregations with $25 a month each. We need more c-ipport for our
Seriinary teachers and wotildlike to communicate with any group
interested in helping us with this very important part of our
program here.
. ^WIOFFlNEMISSlON^C50BiGfell<W^CHRIST'-- ^-
Ev^ngseliswv *v - /fr^lr; fea;^2je'S;)W^ -S^tiy, i
Apai^;aikBlldie:S&miinary= H'.^.;:- -fc -^v;; P;-wiii*;-.^ v^ .v ar.-^ R^ci^i^rgCl^ive3?r^"
Ap^iari'iChTistianiPr'ess .
<;; ;;-,v-, ,A:tlgUti]Apl^^9 "^'"- .c ;'^-c "'A-r; " -UUf-yt] v-r
*U v--"''--' ':' >; ^'.' - >vf.:i ;Vv.- *;-.... .< Ji - /:>?fr^?-5:%:j I'i $*'':: ivyt :- ':>: :::iO '.: ?:'?>; ^s:^- 7
D^t^Ba'ethad^ill/Gh3?i8t^^=i >>* - r^iWOY :.; ;v;V i.V'''''' -'''i' ' ^^ -
?^.^ ,-*4^-1 ,,^4 *^-- ;'/V';>;. '-iv' .,* l '.. >S *' T.i* .' .'i ,*.^ "^ *.. T*' 1-1 .1 ^u'iCXi.*^ '.'^/U A^^iff./ l ' f // ^-'IS [^*^ ' %i ' ' - -
rxiB aiotetljiat ou^daaft nestrs^wletter ^^a^iatad ajgc^ticiday. 'W4' afj?e'jaiijidoTaS ^
get this letter out before the 19th of this mouth since again this yeaUfv- beg^Mnii^^^SB
we have to put 5 centajsros extra on every piece of mail that goes out. This is a forced
contHbuidon^oc the, I^errculbsiSrSoniet^iof IhetrBhilippMeac Idhitiktf<;runs <td<^pt^/30lhi,
Wcinan 'sayesquiteri^ moneyryby^^t^lthis letter in^emailfs befote thg t9thv'fe r o-v'
VAt- two o 'jdocfeithie moocnsb^^wefinished ^priating the ifirst:isSuev6f theptobanqipj^ier/f
which the pi^iachere^Osf dds. ar^eanaie^iputtiag-nut. .IvhaKe: beenworking Xidimy .ap^e^^tinsei)/'/
for the past month4n..pr<^^in|f this< tOcprinti^^ We<prmted>the d, OOO^eopies^bf^lhielfiirbt-? / .
issue in just a few hours last night. Right at this moment,^ several of them'studentS/rarfe><-
foldihg and stapling it getting it ready for distribution. Its size is 6 l/Z by 8 1/^ inch^si
28-.p^es^:Qt that: sin^.Ws;; ate still using -jn^vlherdirect image'' paiifer''Majsterss fo5r'thiS?''
prixxtizig;^ sp thawo^k is not asvgood asdt^^uld'be-ii^'weweretising the phc>tbgraphi!C^pro>^
cess-and a metal master of some kind, but it is good enough to get us,by for th4kdainambe--cc
ing. I have several tracts waiting to be prepared for printing, and hope to get those done
soohi! ^}ettii%:the money':6 the materials>is^ohd of/ohr'^obdenasr ahd^adotfier is^Xiixdihg
the time to d&^ithe.^oid^'nf-preparing.^thecmastisrs . -iP^fihd tlmi about the -cad i'" '
:actuifiyiget 1shat;Work:dorte i s at. night ikfter. eyerymoelse ds' dn::bed;^ I^dsii^tRep so'mady l3n4
teri^iOne during ,the .daytimev^*thatp^cran:getvbTy4 donevmca:job lil9e''that '' *
r- ?,1< ?.;.: y:; :?7 .7-v 'b
.Thereiismothhig-nduchi!^at.-^iS'new that arebhayihg-
a very gpodryeai^'Sotfar ^.:::lt is; qiiite; anaa^hg'^ tcs thwt? 11 of th^/^St<rdentS5ha?^^'befeh^ ''
tized into Christ:' since the opening of school* I had not realized that there were* that msny
who had not accepted Christ before coming to the Seminary. I knew that there were some
and ^ of us have bqen doing':aiot of teaching both in and out of the classroom, and now
we see the fruit of that teaching. A lot Of good is being accomplished in the Seminary be
sides this, bu:tJ?;Sim e^Ortlky^uld be well rewarded if this were all that had been
accoxnplished. ;\
The evangelistic work is coming along, quite well The total number of Ibaptisixis fbf
this ^ear now stands at 132* 1 doubt if all of the reports for July are in as yet, In fact,
I am^sure they are not, "Word from the men in the field has been very sketchy since my
last letter so 1 don't have much along that line to report. Sergio Banggo is having an in-*
crease in attendance in Tuguegarao and there seems to be an increase of interest on the
part of some in that town. We are certainly praying that the work there will prosper to the
extent that someday we will have a thriving congregation there, one that will have .a perr*-
manent place of worship so that their witness can be magnified a great deal, BrO. Banggo
has calls to several places outside of TUgUegarao also, and has hopes of estaldiShing
other new Churches in those places. Broa "Virgilio Ibarra took the big step into naalri-
mony just about a week agu He married the daughter of one ofpur older preachers in
this Area, Miss Blanch 'Valentin. She is a very fine Christian girl and will be a-wonder-
ful help to Bro, Virgilio in his work in Ntteva Vizcaya. They were married at Virgilio's
home, just a short distance from Aparri, and the next day left for Nueva Vizcaya where
Virg&o has been working for the past several years* Two of our' new students canfe from
that work, and both of them have been baptized since their arrival here. Virgilio reported
one baptism in that area for the month of July* Lazaro Oloraza has reported 4 baptisms
for Jixly in his workiin Roxas and Caligian, Isabela. BrOo Pastor is still carryiiig on his
good work in Cordon and Diffun, having reported 2 baptisms for the month of July. There
.ma ^4.1. a - J.1. _ A . , , , - - -
We have eight student pireadhkifs going 6ut each week end! this year. Three of these
aj^e iust bOginiu preach s.O ireally atre just gaining experience at the present time < None .
of these young men have won any souls to Christ since the opening of school twO months
agOi :but have:be:en doing a pretty good work^ior the mostpart in the places where they go.
The trouble is, they have only one or tUro d?^8 en the week-end to work, and often times
during their absence preachers from the various sects which we have'haTe deliberately go
to try and undo anything that these yoUng men might have been able to accomplish during
their week-end work, On the other hand, I believe that their failure to win anyone to Christ
is partly because they simply do hobpUt^orth ettough>effort; We are going tottry and'remedy
that^as-the weeks, go byi'..^ ^'
..We-haVe.not^been able ito do anythinig further with the boys ^-dormitory nor have we
been able to-get a fence around'the lotv AWe feel>this is the'most important thing right at
the present, but it is going to cost quite a lot to fence it. We are planning to put a wooden
picket- fencoAalohg^the front and wireAfenoing on the aides and back. Fencing bere is Very
important-since therois so much stealing at evely-opportunity, Of coursei they can climb
over'the fenee^ but most of them do hottsbe the chance on doing that. A fence and a good
watch-do^-Usually keep them-outi "'v'-'-
We haven^been able.to putaside any mO'ney as yet with which to replay the loan which
we mentiened>n ourrlastdetterv Any help-ibat any of you can give on this will be greatly
appreciated;-:..'i : -h---'.
:^ PiiEASE SEND- AIiIi GIFTS FOil-ANY PART OF THE WOBiK TO OUR FORWARDING
AGENT SHOWN-ON THE LETTER-HEAD, We send our most heartfelt thanks to'every one
of yxi yrho'-^e haying alpart in this work here* Webave some veryTimportant plans for the
future, development of the worhhere. anddf -eyerything works out in accord^ce with" those
plans,, we will be able to report's^nne very great advances in the Liord's work here in the
ox^two. We W8^:fpryburt^layeraabd"yto he^; m
we .might berable^ to^con^md^d- souls>to .Christrand train young -eoui'-winnersi."
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Yours, in Christ
..k
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Gharfes and Roberta Selby
P. O. Box 4 9 Property of Forwarding Agent:
Aparri, Cagayan LIBRARY Mr. R= L, Tolliver
Philippine s OZARK BIBLE COLIRGTr Fairfield, Nebraska
~ THE EVANGKLl'S'Tl'^ STORY ~
30 CHURCHES OF CHRIST IN CAGAYAN VALLEY, Jan. 1, 1958
42 CHURCHES OF CHRIST IN CAGAYAN VALLEY, Oct. 1, 1959
231 SOULS WON TO CHRIST, 195B
186 SOULS WON TO CHRIST, Jan. to Sept. ,1959
6 NEW CHURCHES ESTABLISHED, 1 REVIVED, 1958
3 NEW CHURCHES ESTABLISHED. 2 REVIVED, Jan.--Sept. 1959
Thatinanutshellis the story
of the Evangelistic work in the
Cagayan Valley for the past 21
months. We believe that the
number of baptisms for this
year will surpass that of last
year, and that eachyear will see
evengreater advancement in the
Lord's work. As the graduates
of the Aparri Bible Seminary go
out into fulltime work in the
harvestfields each year, we are
bound to see growth in the work.
Right now there is very pro
mising work in two places in
Nueva Vizcaya where Bro. Vir-
gilio Ibarra is working, Bro,
Felipe Bayani has been preach
ing inat least three places where
we have never had work before
and has won some souls in each
of those places. Bro. Jose Da-
lilis has newwork in at least one
place in his area and Bro. Ser
gio Banggo has some very pro
mising work in two or three
places in southwestern Cagayan
where we already have one new
Church this year. One or two of
the students are preaching in
places where there have been
brethrenformaiiy years, but np
organized congregation. All of
these places, and many more
not mentioned are very likely to
develop into^ new Churches be
fore too muiy months. These
young preachers and their fami
lies are worthy of your support.
There are some, both single
men and married couples who
need your help. We woxild be
happy to communicate with any
whowouldlike to adopt the sup
port of a young man or a family
as a missionary project.
SEMINARY NEWS
fti aianyr we are having
the best year we have ever had
in the Apa'rri Bible Seminary.
Enrollment for the first Semes^
ter was" 55 and only one student
had to drop out. The report is
that" he is coming back for the
second semester. There will be
one new student for sure, and
others are planning to come for
the oecond semester.
The boys' dormitory is still
unfinished and we are still in
debt on it, but the boys are get
ting along with it as it is and are
so happy to have it as nice as it
is. Just" to have it on our o\m
property with plenty Of space
adl around is a wonderful thing.
Always before, the dormitory
was in places where other hou
ses'were crpvirded right up next
to it. and,, of course, there were
alvrays complaints frpni every
body concerned, about various
ii^e Ihings . We have -none
tbaf^hisybar and we are,grate
ful. We.,ar^;graduaX^y getting.a
fence around the lot where the
do.rmitpry is, and when that is
c.omphfA: W ,will. feel, better
even yet. Up until now, people
have lot as a
short-cut to one of the adjouung
barrios of Aparri. SomeUiing
like that can result in trouble .
We are thankful we have had
none so far, except that some
of the boys' things were stdj.en
one night;- -
7 young menhave been going
out each week-end and 3 others
go out from time to time to
preach the Gospel in various
places within traveling distance
of Aparri. These young men
have reported five baptisms
since the first of September.
Several of these young men ar^
just inthe proces s of ^tting the
experience they need to become
effective preachers of the Word.
One of the Literary Societies
is sponsoring an evangelistic
meeting which is held in one of
the sections of Aparri every
Friday afternoon. They are us
ing the Seminary' s P. A. sys -
tem and are attracting quite
large crowds. We do not know
what this will result in, but
surely it can do nothing but good.
This is^Semester examweek,'
next .week is vacation, , andmost
of the student preachers be
m vari
ous. pla.cos.' .The boys who are
not. preaching, will accompany
those vrho are and will thus get
somke, very valuable practical'
eaq^exience.
. . The.Selby family will go to
iLocos Sur for an evangelistic
coziferente. We are looking for
ward to a few days fellowship
with the Cetmpbells.
A GROWING WORK
The work in this area is a
growing work. More preachers
are going into the field every
year and they are opening up
new fields ifor preaching every
month. The Seminary is showing
an annual increase in enroll
ment each year and our print
ing work is just beginning to
make itself felt inthe area. With
auchgrowth comes -added finan
cial responsibilities and obli-
g'ations. We are giving help to
a nunaber of preachers, simply
because they could not be
preaching on a full time basis
without some help from the
Churches in America. The
Churches are very poor, but
they;do buildv&eir own Chapel
buildings, and.. are accepting
more responsibility every year
for the''support oT their own
preachers. We believe the time
; will come when the- chur.che#
jwil] be- supporting their 1own
=workers .entirely^ but untU that
i comes, we believe we ought
tp: get .tixe preachers into the
field add heep.theni the^^ if, at
: aP possible. Betweeii 20 and 2$
of. our Semina^ . students are
receivinghelpino r der that ^ey
might remain in the Seminary
' and,, of course, that is ah: added
financial burden. Anyone Who
has had any printing done lately
knows howexpensive that canbe.
All of this work is dependent
upon the free will gifts of Chur
ches andindividuds in America.
During the past two months, of
ferings have fallen well below
the average expenses per month,
and we cannot long go on that
way. There are several Chur
ches and some individuals who
have made pledges on a monthly
or quarterly basis, which we
encourage andraskfox-.-We^would
like for people just to pledge
certainspecific amounts far the
work, leaving us free to use it
each month where it is needed
most. However, gifts sent for
specific purposes or individuals
are very welcome, $10 a month
will keep a student in school and
another $5 will send him out on
the Wdek-ehdto preach. Preach
ers on the field are receiving
from $15 Up to $.50 depending on
whether they are single or ihar^
ried Whether they are work-
.ing^with es,tabli.siied_ congrega-
tipiis or are engaged in estab
lishing new congregatians . We
would be mosit; happy to .hear
from anywho wouldlike tO: shalpre
in this gresit wprk Of ti*aining
workers arid Saving soul*
. We wish to exp r e s s o u r
thanks to ail of you Who have had
a part in this work both firianr
cially and otherwise .You are the
ones who keep this work going.
PRINTING PRESS
pre s s 1s peinjg use ci mor e
and more aH of the time but we
.s.ti^ lack the tim^ to keep it go
ing as much as we, should. The
- tracts which;.we have, been able
tp publishha>^e;been put. to good
use all over this.area, The Sem-
: iinary students have been hand-
; 4ng them out, during their Fri
day afternoon e vang e li s t i c
meeting and w are sure that
some valuable contacts will be
made in this way.
The preachers of this area
-are writing and editing and pay=
ing for a paper c^ed "Ubbog ti
Biag". (Fpunt^n of Life), which
. to beginr mth, is being published
quarterly. The first. iseue has
beep put for auite some, time
we^^re receiving some
very good reports concerning
4,. i,|s, e^ept in mapy places. One
. ,preache,r V!^tPte the^editpr that
; mf^nyojf the pid^
, no^Jxeen; cpB^ .
,,. |irXong tl^e^ye started;.cp^
;<^.,^e..- pf; ...
-; ..^andp ipastpr is Editpr and Dros.
, ^ergip,' 3.n<i: .J^nu^P^P
. Lope are . ^sistant^ Editors.
. presentare reaiized
. Jhe near ydllr see a great
; ' ejxpansrpn in this printii^ p^^^
gram which \^1I mesh a great
deal to the work in this area.
BOOKS ARE NEEDED
One of the great needs of the
Aparri Bible Seminary is Books. ^
We have a very limited Library
at the present time and would
very much like to eaqpand it.
Any, books suitable for a Semi
narylibrarywould be very wel
come auid would most certainly
be piit to good, use, If you know
of any retired ..preacher who
might be Interested in donating
his library to the Seminary, we
would, appreciate it very much
if you would talk to him about it
or inform us concerning it so
that we might contact him.
Books in the Philippines are
very scarce, and what the re are,
are very e^ensiye, therefore,
goodbooks of anv kind would be
highly useful. Books suitable
for IBgh Schppl or College re-
fereiice books in any field would
be welcome.
NOTICE
Pleas^ send all monetary gms
to forwarding agenty RICHARD
t; TQL^
NEDRAskA; Sen^W gift^ck-
ages to.JPlriiM>MNE MISSION
CHURCHES 6f CHkisT; pJ6.
b6X 49,^ '!^ pAGXYA^i,
PHILIPPINSS . kark packages
"Gift Package.'y ^d"Used Lit
erature" , ."Used Clothing^'^, or
"Used Books", etc.