“Merry Christmas” from Cebu! We hope you are all staying warm and enjoying the white Christmas! We received your Christmas cards in the mail… thanks for sending them 🙂 Keep reading to see what we’ve been up to this month.

Working with Local Churches

At the end of November, we joined the Inayawan Church of the Nazarene for their 44th Church Anniversary and holiday celebration. There was worship, a guest speaker, dinner, and games… it felt a lot like the JFB 30th Anniversary Celebration. We were thankful to be a part of it and continue building relationships with teachers, youth, and other church members. 

Last week, we went to Bohol to do some advance work for the team to come in January. While we were there, we visited Miracle Church of the Nazarene, which is now pastored by the former assistant pastor of Inayawan. He and his wife have been there for about 4 months. It’s a small church in a small town, but they’re seeing new families come through simple things like community Bible studies. While we were there, we talked about future ministry opportunities and had a discipleship discussion with some of the young people.

Exploring Creation Science

This semester classes began in-person half days only and by November 1 we were back to in-person classes all day every day! We were thankful for the opportunity to be in person. Many of the schools we minister in are connected to local churches. As many of you know we minister heavily with the Inayawan Nazarene church & school. This relationship began in 2017 when Pastor Tim & Sharon were at a stop light next to Pastor Allan driving the Inayawan Nazarene vehicle with the Nazarene logo. Sharon passed Pastor Tim’s business card to Pastor Allan and the rest is history. While in Bohol we had an opportunity to meet Teacher Gay again while visiting Miracle Church of the Nazarene. We first met her when an invitation was extended to visit and teach an Exploring Creation Science lesson at the Nazarene Bible College for students in grades 4- 6 & 7-12 as she was a high school teacher then and remembered Shofar. She now teaches in Baclayon, Bohol.

When classes start back up in January we plan to reconnect with the basic education department at the Nazarene Bible College and start planning summer school. Classes do not end until June 30 but schools are putting information for summer out now. We will also continue teaching at four to five schools throughout metro Cebu. Laura also hopes to reconnect with someone that teaches art from a Biblical Creation perspective here in Cebu City. Please pray for staff and students as they are away on holiday break. Many of their families are not Christians so pray they would be a light for their families and also that everyone would take time to slow down and spend time with God.

Street Level Ministries

We had a couple of meetings in December before students dispersed for the holiday break. This semester, we saw a lot of faces come and go. Some students came once or twice, so we’re hoping and praying that they’ll return next semester. Before the break, we had a small Christmas gathering with the current members. We woke up early for a hike to see the city, then grilled out for lunch. It was a refreshing and unifying time for the group!

Next semester, we hope to have daytime devotionals and monthly members-only meetings. We’re also looking forward to a Summit in February while the team is here! Please pray that the students would use Christmas break to draw near to God and rest well before another busy semester begins.

Street Level Ministries

What a crazy semester it has been! It’s hard to believe it’s almost December and students will be dispersing for Christmas break. Over the past few weeks, we’ve seen some new faces at both Street Level Cebu and Toledo meetings. Most of them have come because they’ve been invited by a friend or classmate.

Some students have been distributing copies of Word on the Street Magazine, which has been challenging and exciting… challenging to be denied or ignored, but exciting when students engage in conversation! Even if they don’t attend a meeting immediately, at least there’s the point of contact. Who knows… maybe they’ll come next semester.

If you remember from a previous update, we held a remote radio broadcast at our new Street Level Radio sponsor. That day, we collected contact info from 60 students for a raffle. Five of them claimed their prizes, which allowed us to meet them again and invite them to SLM. All of them claimed their free meals at our sponsors’ eatery 😊  

It’s a season of planting seeds, watering them, and waiting for God to produce the growth. If you are compelled, please pray for God to stir students’ hearts to see their need for Him and Christian community. Please also pray for the students that have been coming around to grow strong as disciples and keep reaching out to others.

Primary/Secondary Education

We have continued working with staff and students at the Inayawan Nazarene Church & School. Laura teaches there at least once a week. Now that everyone is in class all day every day, she will start teaching grades 4-6 every week. She attended the monthly school chapel service this week. Students in chapel for grades 5 and 6 were thankful this year for many things – especially Google Meet, church techs, and the internet connection that allowed Pastor Medel and his wife to join from Bohol.

At the beginning of last month, we helped them prepare the new classrooms that were finished being rebuilt from typhoon damage. We cleaned bookshelves and technical equipment that had been in storage since the typhoon last December. While cleaning, we got to know some of the teachers we do not normally work with. Last Friday night, we visited the pop-up coffee kiosk at Inayawan Nazarene that is ran by two of their church members. We met up with one of the Street Level students that lives nearby and spent time with some of the church members, youth, and staff. The three of us will also join their church anniversary/holiday party this Sunday.

Lessons continue at Banawa Nazarene. Students in grade 4 recently finished up a four-week lesson series. During the last class, one student compared the friction ridge skin found on our hands and feet to that of the polar bear’s paws (she was in class when we talked about fingerprints this summer). Laura has also been teaching at least once a week at both the Wesleyan School and Southern Bethany.

Please continue to pray for the staff and students. Pray especially for the additional opportunities at Inayawan Nazarene. Pray that we would be a blessing to them as well.

We’ve been back in the Philippines for a month already… read about what we’ve been up to!

Campus Ministries

Finally, after a long hiatus, many university students are back on campus! Most of the schools are practicing hybrid learning, so students have a mixture of in-person and online classes. Not everyone is back – it depends on the university, the student’s major, and their year in college – but it has brought much activity back to the city.

A lot of students go home on the weekends, so we changed our Street Level meetings in Cebu City to Wednesdays. A couple of students have joined consistently, and last week two new students attended. The main way to get the word out has been by visiting universities and passing out copies of Word on the Street Magazine. It’s a great way to get into conversations… well, with the students that don’t walk away quickly and avoid eye contact 😊 We also held a live radio broadcast at our new sponsor, where we got to meet people and let them know about Street Level Radio. The group in Toledo is still meeting on Friday nights, and Britt has been able to join them more often due to the meeting change in the city.

Prayer Requests:

• for students to prioritize their relationships with God and each other
• for the students that we have met to get connected and plugged into Street Level

School Ministry

We have continued teaching in various levels from grades 4-12 since returning to Cebu. Schools have until November 7 to have students in the classroom for all classes every day. This year, there have been a few different opportunities to be more involved with the Nazarenes. As of now, Laura has been able to attend chapel at Inayawan Nazarene and also co-teach a couple of classes with teachers at both Inayawan and Banawa Nazarene. Opportunities to be involved with other schools the Nazarenes work with have also been offered. Grade 4 students at the Wesleyan School in Talisay had their first Exploring Creation Science lesson while grades 5 and 6 previously had digital/Explore Booklets so they were familiar. Within the next few weeks, the students in grades 7-12 at Southern Bethany will begin a series that will start off talking about How We Got Here….the fact that we were specially created and have a creator.

Inayawan Nazarene Church & School members and staff have been working hard to get three of the six classrooms up and running that were destroyed by Typhoon Odette last year. We plan to join in the preparations during semester break in the next couple weeks. We will also worship with them as the students celebrate Thanksgiving on November 25 and the church Anniversary celebration on November 27.

Prayer Requests:

• Please pray for everyone at the Inayawan Church of the Nazarene specifically for safety during construction. Pray for all the Nazarenes we have worked with – specifically Inayawan’s old Assistant Pastor & his wife who are now in Bohol. Pray for their outreaches and the members from Inayawan that assist each weekend.
• Pray for the students at the schools we work with. In some cases, we see them in school and again at Sunday School in kids or youth.

At the end of August, we were invited to attend Youth Ignite – a large gathering of youth from around Cebu City. It was a day of worship, guest speakers, and breakout sessions with the aim of igniting young people’s faith in Jesus and helping them grow as disciples. Some Street Level students from both Toledo and Cebu joined. We set up our booth and handed out WOTS magazines and fliers to let people know about Shofar’s ministries. Britt was invited to speak about discipleship at one of the breakout sessions. After that, we went to the airport to catch our flight to the USA while the students finished out the event.

While we were in the USA, we were thankful to join one of our favorite Believers Church events – the annual campout! We played volleyball, badminton, hiked the trails, and enjoyed catching up with everyone. Laura taught a science lesson to the home school group, and Britt joined various Street Level activities. We were also able to spend some time with our families. Thanks for welcoming us back! It’s always encouraging to come back and see what God is doing in the Midwest.

We arrived in Cebu a few days ago… 

On Friday, Laura was able to visit two schools and continue scheduling opportunities to teach Exploring Creation Science lessons throughout the semester. Students returned to the classroom on August 22 for the first time since March 2020. This has also provided new opportunities for Laura to spend more time at the Inayawan Nazarene School. 

On Saturday, we installed Street Level Radio at Carol’s Carenderia – an eatery that’s located across from E Mall – a crossroads of students from many universities! We have a few technical glitches to work out, so we’d appreciate your prayers to get the station up and running! This semester, we’re adjusting our Street Level meeting day in Cebu City to see if we can reach students that can’t come on Fridays. The Toledo group continues to meet each Friday and had a steady group of students meeting while we were gone.

Street Level Ministries

July is always an exciting month for us since the 27^th marks the anniversary since SLM began in Cebu. To celebrate five years of God’s faithfulness, we threw a party at the office, complete with minute to win it games, jeopardy, a photo slideshow, and of course, cake! It was a great reunion of former and current students from both Cebu and Toledo. Dyreen even stopped by to say hello!

We have continued meeting weekly on Friday nights for dinner and Bible discussions. There’s a consistent group of students in Toledo and usually one or two new people there each week. We’re all gearing up for the SLM Summit on August 13. Students from both sides of the island have signed up to attend. We’ll spend the day talking about living an unwasted life – the cost and rewards of following Jesus, taking risks for God, and committing your life fully to Him. Please pray that students will sign up by July 31 and that God would prepare their hearts for the summit.

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Exploring Creation Science

July meant another school would start their summer classes in person! Visayas Wesleyan Christian School in Talisay began their two-week summer session on July 11. This was the first time since COVID began that the students have had class together. Due to lack of internet and devices, they only offered paper/pencil learning (modular packets). Students were thrilled to be in person, even with classroom windows and doors open, masks, and social distancing. Laura was welcomed back in person for the first time since COVID started to teach a lesson about fingerprints. In person lessons for students at Banawa Nazarene ended last week. To give students ample room to spread out and the ability for everyone to equally see and participate, lessons were held in the church sanctuary. We covered a variety of topics, from DNA to cells.

On June 29, the mayor of Cebu City issued an order to allow students in all levels to return to face-to-face classes. The mayors in Lapu-Lapu and Mandaue City have issued similar orders. The news was welcomed by many, but it came with strict health safety guidelines, so many schools will run phygital classes. The third week of September will mark the start of a month-long series about the Reliability of the Bible for students in grades 7-12.

Local Churches & Team Prep

On July 10, we both got to teach Sunday school at Inayawan Church of the Nazarene. The following weekend, Laura taught the youth at Banawa Church of the Nazarene about the validity of the Bible, and the children about Noah’s ark. We’re excited for the team to come and host Ministry Training Institute classes in Cebu City, Balamban, and Bantayan, where we can continue building relationships with local churches. Please pray for pastors to sign up for the MTI classes and all the preparatory work for the team to come!

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Shofar TV

Next month, we will start broadcasting Shofar TV on Starsat Cable TV in Bantayan town. We’re adding new programming to all the stations, including Living as Free and a Saturday morning feature of Exploring Creation Science lessons. Please pray for viewers to engage with the content and that the equipment would keep running well at each station!