"Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything" (Hebrews 3:4, NIV).
Each week there seem to be so many wonderful and powerful things that happen at the Shelter. Children recover from illnesses, new kids are referred, visitors from around the world stop by to learn more about CSC and bring encouragement. It's often difficult to pin-point what things to share without writing a 10,000 word blog post. First, let me start out by sharing this fun picture of the kids playing at the Shelter 😊 (right).
CSC HAPPY HOMES, TALISAY CITY, CEBU
I couldn't let the week go by without sharing about the CSC Happy Homes Homeowner's Association. Years ago, Paul Reasoner and his son Joel Reasoner (Joel and his wife Jinkee are currently serving as CSC missionaries in Cebu) sat down over coffee to discuss a dilemma. Joel, at the time, was responsible for scheduling the Aunties that help take care of the kids at CSC. CSC employs dozens of local ladies to help with cleaning, cooking, changing diapers ... all of the daily tasks involved in caring for 80-100 children. Their God-honoring work frees up the House Parents to more intentionally disciple, lead, and guide the kids and is a large part of how we aim at providing a Christian home-setting.
Joel's dilemma had to do with something one of the Auntie's told him. An Auntie was unable to come to CSC one day because, in her words, "it was raining." Joel, as one would expect, asked how or why the rain would prevent her from coming to the Shelter. This Auntie shared that whenever it rains — even a little bit — the place where she lives becomes knee-deep in black water. She would therefore have to wait upstairs until the black water receded before she could go outside.
Believe it or not, this situation is not unique. Many of the folks who serve at CSC, and many of the people that live in Cebu in general, do not own a home and/or live in very difficult conditions. Joel and Paul's dilemma, and burden, was what to do about this.
Fast-forward to October 2019. After years of planning, fundraising, and prayers, folks at CSC are now celebrating the one year anniversary of the CSC Happy Homes Homeowner's Association. The CSC Happy Homes are a subdivision (a small, gated community) of 63 homes built in partnership with Habitat for Humanity. They exist thanks in large part to the fundraising efforts of Paul Reasoner, as well as the construction know-how of CSC staff like Jerry Salgo (CSC's Facilities Director) along with Habitat for Humanity Philippines, and the supervisory efforts of Joel Reasoner.
As you can imagine, this is a big deal! This is the first home that many of these families have ever owned in generations. Habitat for Humanity's "hands up" model means that these workers paid for their homes through "sweat equity" (i.e. - they put in the time and effort to help build them), through donations collected by Paul Reasoner, and through affordable home loans from the Philippine government's Pag-IBIG Fund, a government run affordable housing finance program. There's also a small multi-purpose room (a "community center" of sorts) where residents can hold Bible studies and church services, something that they do regularly. Pastor Fred, the president of the homeowner's association, was explaining to me how each block has formed a "small group" for the purpose of mid-week Bible study, and that he and other guest pastors hold services on Sundays for workers that can't attend a regular church service due to time/work constraints.
In a nutshell, because of the generosity of folks like you, many of the child-care workers are now able to live in affordable, safe, and structurally-sound homes that they can call their own. They no longer have to worry about knee-deep black water keeping them from serving the Lord whenever it rains. The compensation they receive from CSC has allowed them to put their children through school, and many of the Aunties' husbands have even been able to attend the local seminary and become pastors (there are presently five pastors serving in local churches that live at CSC Happy Homes).
What's even more amazing is that all of this is just the residual effect of focusing on glorifying God by sharing the love of Christ with homeless, orphaned, abandoned, and surrendered children, both in word and in deed. These Aunties and Uncles who work so hard to minister to the needs of our children at the Shelter can now have a shelter of their own.
Thank you for being a part of this amazing thing that God is doing in Cebu. To show our appreciation, here's a short video clip from the one year anniversary celebration!
"Now be pleased to bless the house of your servant, that it may continue forever in your sight; for you, Sovereign Lord, have spoken, and with your blessing the house of your servant will be blessed forever” (2 Samuel 7:29).
HEALTHY KIDS AND VISITORS FROM CANADA
It warms my heart to be able to report that the illnesses affecting the kids at the Shelter appear to have run their course. Fevers are down, the sniffles and coughs are gone, and things seem to be returning back to normal. In speaking with Paul and Marlys Healy (especially Marlys who serves as CSC's medical director), I was told that this was one of the worst mini-epidemics they've experienced in recent memory. Thank you all for your prayers, and praise the Lord for answering them with swift recoveries!
There was also another neat connection made this week between our past and our present. Pastor Homer Priero (a pastor here in Cebu) visited the Shelter along with a small team from Emmanuel Evangelical Free Church in Canada (Steinbach, MB to be exact). Pastor Homer has had a long-time connection with the Shelter; in fact, his wife Vanjing serves as CSC's Administrative Assistant and has worked at the Shelter since 2007.
When I introduced myself to Pastor Homer he said to me, "Pastor Roberto! I'm so glad to finally meet you in person. I've heard so much about you!"
Pastor Homer serves as the pastor of the Ambassador Church of Christ in Banawa, Cebu. For years that church has been the recipient of manna-packs shipped by the Filipino American Christian Church in Mounds View, MN, the church I had been pastoring for 14 years before serving at CSC! At regular intervals, FACC would pick up manna packs from Feed My Starving Children (see picture above), package them into balikbayan boxes, and ship them to partner feeding sites all over the Philippines. Pastor Homer's church is one of those feeding sites.
It never ceases to amaze me how the Lord works. Back in Minnesota, when we would pray over those boxes of food, we could hardly imagine the impact they might be having halfway around the world. To hear directly from Pastor Homer how their church and other E-Free churches in Cebu are able to use this food makes me just want to step back and praise the Lord.
PRAISES AND PRAYER REQUESTS
• Praise the Lord that almost all of the kids have recovered from their illnesses! The Aunties and Nurses have been hard at work taking care of kids around the clock, and prayer partners like you have been joining all of us in praying for swift recoveries. Praise God for his mercy and healing!
• A funny little praise report (more from the kids and not so much from me ... haha) is that we found CheezWhiz ... uhm, in a bag! My kids really like CheezWhiz, so this was a tremendous find last week. I, however, was already apprehensive of American CheezWhiz that comes in a can, so you can only imagine what I was thinking when I saw that it came in vacuum sealed pouches. We'll let you all know how it tastes; maybe in our next blog 😊.
• Pray that our family can continue adjusting to Philippine life, and that we pick up the language quickly. We've had two language lessons so far and things seem to be going great! Between Tagalog, English, and the very little bit of Cebuano that we know, we can pretty easily navigate the town. Pray that things continue to go well.
• The kids are off to a great start in their homeschooling, and according to Heather everyone seems to have settled into a really good rhythm at home. Praise the Lord that all of our school books arrived on-time and intact, and the internet is stable enough now for the older kids to do their online coursework.
• There are lots of things going on at CSC; lots of visitors in the next couple of weeks as well as the dedication of our new building, the Trevor Gleddie Building (pictured above behind the Canadian missionaries). Pray for everyone's safe travels and that the Lord is honored and glorified through all that happens in the next two weeks.
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