Page 10 - 2017 JFBNews - August

SHOFAR MISSION NEWS

On July 3, 2017, a 21-year old
student and single mother
committed suicide in a live video
stream on Facebook. Her 2-year
old daughter was in the room
with her. Less than two weeks
later, a 22-year old took his own
life, shortly after posting his
farewell note online. His mother
and relatives found his body.
Both of these suicides happened in Cebu City.
If you’ve been to Cebu, you can’t ignore the
advertisements that greet you as you walk off the airplane.
“It’s more fun in the Philippines!” is plastered on sparkling
images of a crystal clear ocean. The colorful jeepneys, loud
music, and year-round sunshine attest that Filipinos are a
happy-go-lucky bunch of people… they laugh their
problems off! However, you don’t have to be in the country
for very long to start seeing beyond the façade. Even
though depression and suicide are happening, no one
wants to admit it or talk about it.
As we continue pushing forward with Street Level
Ministries, we are understanding more and more everyday
what students are going through. Unable to pay tuition up
front? Student loans are virtually nonexistent, so I guess
you can’t go to school this semester. Want to major in Mass
Communication? Too bad. Your parents are forcing you to
take up Mechanical Engineering so you can get a good job
and send money home. Need someone who will just take
time to listen? Good luck. Online conversations are more
important.
I can’t help but wonder, “What if the students that
took their lives had someone who would have listened to
what they were going through? What if they had a
classmate who would have been a genuine friend? Would
they still be alive today?” These are the questions that keep
me up at night and remind me of how short life really is.
By the time this article is published, we will already
have had a recruitment meeting for SLM. At this point, I
don’t know what to expect. All I know is that there are
thousands of students in this city and God has called us to
love, serve, and pray for them. Whether two students or
twenty show up to the meeting, He has already chosen
them. Our prayers are that God would allow us to meet and
minister to the lost, broken, and lonely students; the ones
who are sick of pretending that everything is okay.
If you are compelled, please join us in praying for the
students of this city – that the truth of the Gospel would
win out over false gospels and that God would open doors
for us to minister to students. Also pray that we would be
discerning and wise with the time we have left before
returning to the states.

10