“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.