Lynette Orange: June 2020 Newsletter

A new kind of normal...

Food packs for 200 families

I am sure like me you too may be getting a little tired of hearing the phrase “new normal”? The longer we live in lockdown and restrictions it doesn’t feel ‘new’ anymore. A drastic change in the way we have been living over the past few months and changes that are likely to be with us for some time to come.

One advantage: getting extra time with family

As I have reflected on perhaps things that have been ‘lost’ during this time I have also been reminded of the many things that have been gained. I have been overwhelmed at times by just how much provision has been made for us at City Gates Academy and how God has used people from all over the world to help us during this difficult time. The situation could have seemed impossible yet with God all things are possible.

Even if, socially distanced... still not been
able to hug my sister or my nephews!

I am reminded of the passage of scripture from Matthew 6:26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

Remember, you are valuable to God and despite all the circumstances that are surrounding us at this moment He will always be our provider. He will never leave us, not forsake us.

13 weeks and counting...

No work, no pay, no food. This was the terrible situation most of our families faced as lockdown was brought down with little warning upon the Philippines. Thanks to generous donations from around the world City Gates and its amazing volunteers have been providing food parcels weekly for the past 13 weeks to around 200 families. These parcels have been lifelines to families who would have had no other source of food. Our God values each one of them and has provided.

A new way of learning

One of the biggest challenges we face is providing our high standards of education to our students who are living in poverty. With no internet or access to computers we face huge obstacles. Yet, God knew all of this would happen and had already gone before us. You may remember a few years ago I completed a masters module in Development for Education. In this very course we learned about distance learning and how to provide quality education and training to remote places with no internet! How good is our God?! He gave me the blueprint 3 years ago. Now we just need to work on the logistics and implementation.

The long wait is over

I have felt like I had been fund raising for a long time for this photocopier. It has been at least 3 years, if not more. Proposal after proposal I had written and sent off to various organisations, with no result! But as we know with God His timing is perfect. At the time when we are needing to prepare for home learning, which will mean increasing our demands for printed material our photocopier has arrived. Thanks to donations from Rugby Rotary Club and other sponsors our photocopier arrived earlier this month. As I have said already in this newsletter. We are valuable to God, He knows what we need and He knows when we need it.

With love always,

Lynette