Sunday, May 16, 2021

 

Kumusta! Hello! in Tagalog

Hot season is in full swing! We woke up this morning at 6am to it already feeling like 94°F (34° for our South African family and friends) with 65% humidity. We're melting, and from what we hear, we have been experiencing a mild hot season!

At this moment, there are about three weeks left of the school year at Faith Academy. The last couple of weeks have felt like an endurance race, but God has been sustaining and strengthening us to continue. Alyson has been quite busy the last couple of weeks checking in with seniors who need a little bit more encouragement to complete their assignments in order to graduate. This year has been hard on them, and some of them have lost sight of their goal of graduating. Thankfully, their teachers, support staff, parents, and guidance counselor are there to help encourage them through this 'crunch time'. This is an awesome ministry opportunity. Please pray for all these efforts to bear fruit and for our students, especially the seniors, to finish the year well. I, Egbert, have been working on wrapping up the academic year with my freshman and sophomore students. It is a bitter-sweet feeling as the students will move on to the next grade or next class without us ever having face to face classes. It feels as if we missed out on so much when we think of a normal school year, but at the same time we feel a profound gratitude for just how much God worked in our lives and the lives of the students despite online classes. It has taught us that it is God's ministry that touches people's lives, and not our charisma.

Our region is still under MECQ, although the restrictions seem to be loose, or not as strictly enforced. Unfortunately, at this point, kids are still not allowed to attend school face to face. There will be another update on May 15th where we find out if restrictions ease or not.

With the school year coming to a close, summer is right around the corner. The doors have opened for us to be able to travel to South Africa to be with family for the summer. At this point, tickets are purchased and borders are open. We would like to ask for prayer that this will remain the case, and that travel will be 'easy'...or go as smoothly as possible. Our plan is to return to the Philippines in time to finish quarantine and be ready for the 2021-2022 school year orientation. 

We wanted to give you a visual of what class has looked like for staff and students this year:

 Alyson is checking in with some seniors to encourage them to finish strong.

Egbert is meeting up with his homeroom boys. Their house name is Machaira.





Praises

  • God has sustained us through almost a whole school year at Faith!
  • Our car is finally fixed to the point where there is nothing else that needs to be done for the foreseeable future.
  • We've been slowly learning and making progress with Tagalog
Prayer
  • The Seniors at Faith Academy. They are about to finish their high school career with no chance to reunite one last time in sight.
  • Struggling students: Both for academics and mentally
  • Our trip to South Africa to see family
  • MECQ restriction to ease, and for kids to be allowed to go back to face to face classes as soon as possible
  • More financial partnerships to come about for this next year God has called us to serve at Faith


No comments:

Post a Comment

March