It continues to surprise and delight me as I meet more Filipinos in my fairly small town, most of them fairly newly arrived. Among other “cultural jolts,” they are usually shocked at how cold it is, especially now that winter is closing in on us! Besides warm clothing, they have various needs: housing, furniture, child care, medical care, vehicles, etc. What a joy to be able to help, while practicing my “rusty” Tagalog, and provide hospitality and a meal, even as I recall how we were welcomed years ago into their country...and struggled with the heat and humidity!
Earlier this week I had another delightful surprise of meeting a well settled and established Filipino immigrant, this time in a Fredericton Women’s Missionary Group! My new friend, L, came to Canada years ago and of course, still has a soft spot for her native country. She joined with the mainly Canadian group of ladies to pray for God’s work in her country of origin. One of the key prayer requests I shared was for the need of church volunteers in the Marikina area of Metro Manila, which is where “L” grew up, to mentor/partner with university students to co-teach Biblical values in local public elementary and high schools. We pray that many more Filipinos, like “L,” may trust Christ as Saviour and become close followers of Him.
* * * * *
Two
Curriculum Testimonies from Uganda
(slightly revised from the
VOICE Africa October report)
By the grace of God, an organization that helps needy children in a number of areas of Uganda, has embraced the teaching of Biblical values using the VOICE material. At this point, they have taught two modules, Truth and Responsibility, and just completed the training for Forgiveness. The teachers from the different centers of the project highly appreciate the tool for its simplicity and also testify of how life transforming these values are to their children.
A participant from a well-known evangelical church told us that one of their participants said “the Scripture Union VOICE program has helped me change the way I teach Sunday School children because the curriculum is easy and well organized for a teacher to follow.”
