Read about what’s been going on at Shofar Mission in the Philippines.

Street Level Ministries

For the past five weeks, Street Level Ministries has been meeting simultaneously in two different locations on Friday nights. We have been watching short biblical teachings ranging in topics by various pastors, then coming together for dinner and a discussion. There has been a steady group of students attending in Toledo City, with fewer students in Cebu City. Britt joined the Toledo group twice so far and plans to attend once a month. Both cities have been blanketed with posters and banners. Some upper classmen are in Cebu City for limited face-to-face classes, so Britt has been hitting the streets to distribute fliers and WOTS.

We recently hosted a remote radio broadcast at Roadside Café and gave away free coffee to students. The merging of stations with the USA has been a move in the right direction. Jael has been learning production from Pete and gaining experience going live at remote broadcasts. Recently, Althea, a new member in Toledo, has stepped up to volunteer for Street Level Radio. We’re also on the verge of installing the station at two local business who would like to be sponsors. One of them is near our office, and the other is across the street from a local college.

The WOTS volunteers have been meeting weekly, finalizing drafts for Issue 90, and practicing writing. We distribute at many businesses throughout Cebu City, which allows us to reach a variety of people. The owners of one of the businesses that wants to sponsor the radio station got a copy of WOTS before the station was pitched to them. Because of that, they were familiar with Street Level, which made them even more open to sponsoring the station.

Summer starts at a different time for each university, so we’re continuing on with our weekly dinners and discussions. Everyone is hoping that next school year will bring students back to universities for face-to-face classes.

Exploring Creation Science

Since returning to Cebu, Exploring Creation Science lessons have been in-person with a school staff teaching digitally to the students. During lessons, Laura has been teaching the topic and learning objectives that are to be covered in that day’s lesson…so she is the science teacher for that class period. This means she preps or adapts a previous lesson to fit the grade level and learning objectives. Many schools in Cebu City remain online, however, school staff have all been able to report since April 1 (previously the government limited the number of employees allowed on-site).

Banawa Nazarene School was approved by the Department of Education for limited face-to-face classes during summer school (they are hoping for school year approval, but that is another application). The School Administrator offered Laura a weekly two-hour schedule and has begun advertising summer Exploring Creation Science Lessons. Both Inayawan Nazarene and Southern Bethany plan to offer summer classes and have extended invitations for us to join. Classes at Southern Bethany have a few weeks left to go, otherwise, everyone else is switching gears and getting ready for summer school! We are in communication with a couple of local shelters for children that also have schools. One has requested lesson information and topics, and the other one we will meet with this week. One school we proposed lessons to last January in Toledo recently received approval for limited face-to-face classes this August. We will be visiting them at the end of this month, as well as connecting with the pastor from the Universal Church of Christ Church & School.

Local Churches

A few weeks ago, we joined a Sunday morning gathering of all the Nazarene churches in our region. They were celebrating their 75^th anniversary as a denomination in the Philippines. We stayed for lunch and fellowship with church/school staff from both the Nazarene locations we work closely with. Laura taught Sunday school at the Banawa Church of the Nazarene (teaching some of the students she has in class), and this past Sunday we worshiped with Capstone Generation church. They are sending a team of 60 people on a mission trip to another island (Leyte) this week. Please be in prayer for them!

Prayer Requests

• Growth in biblical understanding and discipleship among the Street Level students
• Continued guidance with the potential Street Level Radio sponsors and smooth installation
• Pray for all the local churches and schools we work with. Specifically, a prayer of thanks for those schools approved for face-to-face summer school classes!
• Pray for team preparations, especially for our upcoming trip to attend the Toledo Ministerial Fellowship Meeting. Pray that God would stretch time that day when we present August missions team events and talk to the pastor of the Universal Church of Christ School.
• Pray for the meeting with school staff at St. Bernard School in Toledo the same day we are there. We plan to discuss teaching in-person lessons since they are approved for face-to-face classes.