Lockdown Ministry

Life has continued in lockdown, and so has ministry...however, there have been some major changes. Since much of our ministry revolves around travel and trainings (large-group gatherings), many things have been put on hold. In spite of that, there have been some things we've been able to do. For one, we've gotten caught up on computer and administrative work (receipts and blog). 

Then, just like the rest of the world, there have been a LOT of zoom meetings. We are thankful that some things have been able to continue in this way, including a training about God's heart for the nations that Steve leads every Saturday morning with about 20 in attendance.

 

While this lockdown has been a challenge for us, at least we have food to eat. Those who live hand to mouth (if they don't work that day, they don't eat) have been starving. :( The boys had the opportunity to help with some relief loading and packaging for Timothy Project, run by our close friends. They were a big help carrying the large sacks of rice, and they helped with sorting/packing eggs and other food. They did not help with distribution, but I added a couple of Timothy Project's pics of the people they prepared the food for.

 

Zach has continued leading worship in our little house church (with his cousin), and it has been amazing to see how he's grown in this through lockdown.

 An unexpected ministry opportunity presented itself a couple weeks ago when I (Jen) heard about a new family who had arrived from the States just before lockdown (welcome to the Philippines!), and they were expecting a baby the end of May, but all their baby supplies were stuck in customs through lockdown AND no stores open selling baby stuff. I was able to coordinate some loaner items for them through my network, and figured out a way to get it delivered to them (NOT easy!). It was God's perfect timing though because we got it delivered one day, and she went into labor that same night! It was several weeks early, but baby and mom are both fine and recovering at home. And they have clothes, bed, blankets and other things for him now. :)

So ministry during this time has definitely looked very different, but we have been thankful for the opportunities we have to reach into the lives of others...even if done virtually.

Lockdown Life

We just found out that Manila will extend their lockdown again, new date for it to end is May 31 (but could be extended again). This means that Manila will be locked down longer than Wuhan was. Here's a few pics from our locked-down life. 

Zach has continued with his advanced foods class, and we have enjoyed weekly international recipes. Ecuadorian sweet rolls was a favorite.

 The guys have been enjoying playing "knock out" for school/work breaks. Our two basketballs went flat, and nowhere is open to buy new ones, but a friend loaned us two, so they have been able to continue.

 It was a hard day when they announced no graduation. Zach stared into space a lot of the day, processing. In the States, graduation is a happy celebration and an important milestone, but for an MK, graduation is even a bigger deal as it is when they say goodbye to the world where they grew up and all their friends (most of whom they will never see again) and try to find closure to this life before starting their new one on the other side of the world. We are praying for this group of MKs who have been denied the opportunity for healthy transition activities. Research says they will flounder without them, but our trust is in God for these precious MKs.

 Rugby sports awards were held online. Ben was awarded Most Inspirational Player for JV, and Zach was the MVP for varsity. So proud of these guys!

 Meanwhile back in the States, Mikayla has been staying with my parents. We are so thankful that they have each other during this time, and they have been such a blessing to Mikayla!

 Online school has continued. It has been a challenge (there was a 2-week stretch that Zach was putting in 12 hour days until I started emailing teachers), but they have persevered, and we are so proud of them.

 The weather has added some challenges too - heat index has been up over 115 most days lately (sometimes higher!); it was 102 in my kitchen - straight temp not heat index - when I was making supper the other night. Now we have a typhoon headed our way that we have been tracking. This is especially exciting because we have a section of roof that is about to give, so Steve needs to reinforce it before any winds...but hardware stores are closed with the lockdown. We think we found a place to get some lumber, so trying that...

 Another thing to be thankful for in this lockdown is that we live a couple houses down from "the cousins" so we have considered ourselves 1 household during this time and enjoyed lots of time together. I found these pics on google photos from where they synced from one of the boys' phones. Looks like they were on the roof at the cousins' house. :)
(yes, there is one more cousin, but her pic wasn't in the ones I found)

Here is our ticket to the outside world during quarantine. It is the quarantine pass issued by our area. It says that only one person per house can go out to buy food or medicine.

 Ben gets a kick out of this side because it lists Zach as head of household because he is the one who got the pass. It says that anyone without a quarantine pass will be caught.

As of this past weekend, our area has gone to "general community quarantine" instead of "enhanced community quarantine". Not much has changed for us since still only supposed to go out for food/medicine, but a few more places (like hardware stores) are open now. And the road checkpoints aren't as strict so Steve and I went out for a short drive in our area (to check out a house to possibly move to), but apparently you still need the quarantine pass to go shopping.

Thanks for continuing to pray for us during this time, especially for wisdom as we try to figure out summer plans.

Relief Project

This lockdown has been incredibly difficult for our tribal friends. They live hand-to-mouth, which means if they don't work one day, they don't eat on that day. Well, with the lockdown, they have been prevented from going out to work the day jobs they are used to. Additionally, they are not allowed to hike to the river where they can find fish and river snails as supplemental food; and the promised government aid/relief has not come through for the vast majority. So this has been a hungry season for them, eating whatever plants they can find in the area surrounding their homes (which are now stripped bare). Thankfully, a couple weeks ago, we were able to secure some funds from our organization's disaster relief department to provide at least some food to these hungry families. Our tribal partners there bought rice, noodles, and canned goods, repackaged it, secured the necessary permits to travel to other villages, and distributed relief to more than 300 tribal families. While it was only a bandaid on a gaping wound, it was something anyway. Please pray with us that they can get back to work soon - we are getting texts again this week that they just don't have anything to eat. :(

Tribal House Church

A friend in one of the villages in Bicol sent these pics that were an encouragement to us, and we thought they might be to you as well. It was one of the very first house churches that we planted, starting back in 2007. During this quarantine lockdown, they have continued to meet (no one is apparently monitoring what happens in the villages, only if you go out to the roads) to study the Word and worship together. I'm not sure they get the whole idea of social distancing, but still an encouragement to see their desire to continue drawing close to our Father in the midst of this difficult time.
(Sorry for the poor photo quality - taken on one of their cheap cell phones in the dark.)

LOCKDOWN

On March 15, 2020, the city of Manila went into enforced lockdown. It was such a disappointment as we were supposed to leave the next day for Zach's last school break in the Philippines and a much-needed break for all of us, wakeboarding and surfing with friends and family. But we decided to make the best of it and have some fun at home for that week. Since my sister's family lives a couple streets away, we decided to count ourselves as one household for the lockdown period. The first few days of lockdown, we did tons of activities: an escape room, science experiments, water balloon fight, obstacle course, photo scavenger hunt, photo remakes, and game nights. We also chose ideas from a jar for themed food nights that included Korean, Italian, Mexican, Hotdog roast, hobo dinners, etc.

 

 While it was such a disappointment, we were so thankful to have my sister's family to hang out with; and we definitely created some great memories!

Ben and Gabby both have birthdays in March, and they were supposed to have a combined sweet sixteen birthday party, but the lockdown... so that is on hold right now, like so many other things. Instead we did a french silk pie and enjoyed game night as family.

 After spring break, the boys went back to school...online. It has been an adjustment for everyone, but they are handling it well overall. It is funny how different teachers are handling the "online" aspect of school. For PE, Ben has to work out with a clock visible behind him to show how long he is working out. Smart. :) They also do time-lapse videos of their workouts to submit. Zach's Advanced Foods class has been fun since we get to benefit from his cooking (though it is a challenge to find recipes that we can actually find ingredients for at our tiny grocery store).

While there have been lots of disappointments (our family Christmas gift was a trip to Singapore to watch a Rugby 7s tournament this past weekend...cancelled), something cool that has come out of all this is that Zach has picked up guitar again. And he has taught himself a new skill - leading worship with it. My niece has worked with him, and the two of them have been leading our house church worship and Zach has led other family worship times.  

We have been so crazy proud of our guys and how they have handled all this. It has been HARD. We are on day 33 of total lockdown - not allowed to leave our house. ONE person is allowed a quarantine pass that allows them to go to the corner grocery store to buy food (must bring the pass and wear a mask and go through disinfecting tents). For us, Zach is the one with the pass since Steve is high-risk with his asthma, and I can't carry groceries home with my wrist. Last time Zach went grocery shopping for us, he waited 2.5 hours in line outside the store, only to get in and have incredibly limited selection (tiny store) with lots out of stock. Don't worry, we're not going hungry...we're just having to get creative on what to eat, and it's not necessarily our first choice options. For the boys, the hardest thing is that they miss their friends and are sad about so many cancelled things - the spring musical they were both in and had practiced months for, sports tournaments, vacations... And Zach is missing out on his final few months with his friends before everyone says goodbye and heads to their home countries around the world. Honestly makes me tear up if I think about it long. Really hard stuff. But they have handled it amazingly well. Such grace and strength. So thankful for our guys. 

Would you pray with us though? Last we heard, the president here is saying that we won't be able to go out of lockdown until there's a vaccine...who knows if he's serious, but this is nuts. We are supposed to be coming back to the States for the summer to settle Zach into college...but everything is on hold and up in the air right now. And not just inconveniences like for us; many are starving, and things are getting worse by the day. Also pray for health for Steve as he still struggles with his asthma and for wisdom to know if we need to do something else for him.

Ok, I'll leave it on a light note. A friend of Zach's made this meme for him after his last grocery trip.

For those who are wondering about Mikayla. Her college went online now as well, and she is staying with my parents in Missouri. She is doing well, and we are so incredibly thankful that she has them.

Ministry Travels

While Steve has continued to struggle to control his asthma (appreciate your prayers!) and has had to cancel several trips as a result, he has been able to do some traveling in the last couple months. As we've talked about before, while tribals reaching tribals is still our primary focus, God has blessed us with several new opportunities in mobilization and training. One of these is as a consultant for One Sending Body as they send Filipinos internationally. Another is as the representative for SE Asia to the Globalization Advisory Council as our organization works to partner with more and more countries as they send workers into the harvest. Steve took at trip to a neighboring country for training for this.

 He was also asked to accompany someone from our organization to a seminary up in the mountains to connect them with the president there. The first attempt was cancelled due to the volcano eruption; the second attempt was cancelled due to travel restrictions for the pandemic (before the lockdown). However, for the second attempt, it was scheduled over the seminary graduation, so Steve was supposed to speak at baccalaureate, and our friend at commencement. Even though the purpose for the trip had changed, Steve couldn't leave them hanging at the last minute without speakers for the two big events...so he went and spoke at both. It was a great time of developing relationships and networking as well as a blessing to see how God is at work there.

 Another trip was to a southern island in the Philippines to speak at a convention of tribal churches there. He was able to cast vision for how they as tribals can be used by God to reach other tribals and help them start thinking through what that might look like. He only took this one picture on the trip, so doesn't look very exciting, but it was an exciting trip. :) We also took at trip to yet another island for a retreat time with our colleagues. However, I can't post pics of that time, so you'll just have to take my word for it. :)

Another trip was to the Mangyan on an island just south of us. Some of our Bugkalot partners went with Steve to meet with the Mangyan tribal church leaders to further discuss a partnership between the two tribal groups to reach the Agta in Bicol. It was cool to see the map they had developed to show the areas that need the Good News and their desire for how a partnership could make this happen more effectively. Sadly, the lockdown has meant that the next meeting with this group to develop some concrete plans has been cancelled for now. We will trust God to move this forward in His time.

 Excited to report that the Mangyan officially decided to partner with the Bugkalot to reach the tribals in Bicol. Taking tribals reaching tribals to the next level!

 Another trip Steve took was with the Global Empowerment team here in the Philippines up into the Bugkalot mountains to meet with the church leaders in conjunction with key ones they have sent out. The idea was to evaluate how "sending" has been going and develop a plan for the best way to move forward together. It was a productive time, and they all felt good about the next steps. Unfortunately, two different important meetings to move this forward had to be cancelled for the lockdown, so we are now in a holding pattern. A big prayer request is about the support for the Bugkalot who have been sent. A foundation had been partnering with them to help them send their missionaries, but more recently a church in Manila had indicated their desire to partner with them. An important meeting between that church's board and the Bugkalot church leaders was cancelled, and the church cannot proceed without that meeting...which can't happen until the lockdown is lifted. They have enough support through the end of May, but April and May are the summer months here, so if there won't be support for them for next year, they need to know whether to move their school-age kids back home over summer or not (cannot transfer school mid-year here). Anyway, many things affected by the lockdown; prayers definitely appreciated as we trust His timing and plans when so many of ours are being uprooted.