“In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." (John 16:33)
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Read our most recent update on the Children's Shelter of Cebu Blog!
Did you know that the Children's Shelter of Cebu has its own blog? The CSC blog includes news and highlights from others that serve alongside us at the Shelter. Please click here to read our most recent post. In our post we highlight one of the biggest issues facing our kids during this very unique time that we are living in, one that I worry will go unnoticed. Thank you for praying with us and supporting us as we serve the children and people of Cebu!
The Highest In SE Asia
What we were unable to include in our CSC blog post was an update on the situation in and around the Shelter.
Last Thursday, the Philippines passed yet another milestone. It became the country in SE Asia with the highest number of confirmed cases of coronavirus. As of 4pm August 12th, the Philippines had a total of 143,749 cases, including 2,404 deaths due to COVID-19. On August 10th alone, the country posted 6,958 new cases, the highest single day increase on record.
The Philippines is now the country with the highest number of confirmed coronavirus cases in SE Asia.
In Cebu, we are still under a state of General Community Quarantine. The military presence is dwindling, but strict guidelines remain. Guadalupe (the small municipality that the Shelter is in) is still surrounded with barricades and has only one entry and exit checkpoint. By the grace of God, none of the children or workers (both locked-in workers and locked-out workers) have contracted the virus, and everyone is healthy and in good spirits. Again, thank you for keeping us in your prayers!
Please pray with us for the following:
• CSC has been in a state of lockdown since March 28th, meaning that kids and workers have been locked into the Shelter now for 4+ months! We have a very talented, diligent, and faithful team locked in, but living and working with the same people for five months is bound to take a toll. Please pray that everyone would remain united, encouraged, and would continue to look to the Lord for strength.
• Please also pray for our locked out workers and their families. Pray that they are able to remain safe, healthy, and supplied with what they need. The Philippines doesn't have unemployment insurance like other countries, so we decided to keep paying these employees at least a portion of their pay while they're not working. However, as the lockdowns and quarantines drag on in Cebu, we know that times are getting tougher and tougher for them. Pray that we can continue to be a blessing to all of our workers; both those that are locked-in and those that are locked-out. Thank you for partnering with us in this ministry.
• As I mentioned in the CSC blog post, our ability to take in new children, as well as our ability to present our current children for matching with prospective families, has been severely hindered by lockdowns and quarantines around the world. Governments are strained and unable to provide the same level of service that they provided before March. Pray that we can creatively and effectively perform our case management duties and get our kids the services that they need.
• Pray for the safety of those of us that need to travel around town for the ministry, obtaining supplies, heading to the bank, and running other essential errands. It seems there are new checkpoints and barricades everyday. Please pray for safety and protection.
Thank you all so much for praying with us, and for your love and support! By the grace of God, all our children have been able to remain well-fed and cared for, receiving the attention, education, and love that they need in order to thrive. There have also been no known cases of coronavirus in the Shelter or among our locked out workers. Praise the Lord! Thank you for supporting us through this pandemic. We couldn't do this without you!
ONE MORE THING
To provide encouragement to all of our locked-out and locked-in workers, the Leadership Team of CSC and I recorded a Praise Night video with special messages of encouragement so that all of us could worship together. Here is a copy of that video:
FAMILY PRAYER REQUESTS:
• Please pray for Heather's visa which expires on September 17th. Heather is on what's called a balikbayan visa, a visa granted to a spouse of a Filipino citizen (which would be me, Roberto). Normally, we would be able to reset this visa by simply traveling out of the country for a day and then re-entering it. However, with all of the travel restrictions in place around the world, there is no other country to travel to, even for just a day. We are looking at turning her visa into a Tourist Visa which can get to be a bit pricey. Please pray with us for discernment.
Thank you for your prayers, love, and support! Though we don't know when we'll be able to visit you in the States, we are so blessed and thankful for your partnership. Peace and blessings to you all!
Learn more about the Children's Shelter of Cebu here.
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