Disclaimer: In many of the photos the children & adults are not wearing facemasks, this is because we are visiting them in their homes. Be reassured all the volunteers are wearing facemasks and adhering to the locally prescribed hygiene standards.

Reeve's Supporters Newsletter June 2021
Confined to Barracks Again!

Since 12th May we have been in a Hard Lockdown here on Coron due to the rise in cases of Covid -19. The timing was not good for the ministry of City Gates as we had just finished 1 week of Summer Bible School in 6 of the areas, we regularly hold children’s cubs, when a week of increased restrictions was put in place. Our plan was to hold Summer Bible School in the remaining 4 areas. But all our plans had to go on hold for now. We hope to hold summer school in the remaining areas when we come out of lockdown.

Covid Update

We have been blessed over the past year to not have too many cases of Covid here on Coron. However, this month has seen more positive cases, and these are rising daily. There are increasing numbers going to hospital and there has sadly been some deaths. Worryingly there has been an appeal for ventilators put out!

Early in May, we had a week’s restrictions on gatherings to try and prevent the spread however the following week we were all then placed in a stricter lockdown as cases continued to rise. Whilst there is a definite need to try and manage the rise of cases through the lockdown, it has also brought other problems. Many families who rely on a daily wage can no longer go out to work and so are relying on aid from the local officials. They have received basic food parcels however as you can imagine this is limited.

We are so thankful that it was possible for us to take food parcels to the families in our communities in the two days prior to the lockdown.

Thank you to sponsors which made the food packs possible.

However, due to the strict restrictions in place now, we are not allowed to go out to provide any further help at the current time. It is frustrating and we are heavy hearted at not being able to provide more support where we know there is a need, however we must follow the protocols in place.

Personally, we are very blessed that where we are living is not in the critical zone. This means we can go out of our home to a local store/wet market. However, we cannot leave this Barangay (village). Anything more that we might need has to be purchased by the Barangay officials/frontliners on our behalf. The families in the communities we minister in and where City Gates church and school is, are within the critical zone, so they are unable to leave their homes at all. We are keeping in touch with families who have access to phone and social media and will return to our usual work in the communities as soon as we are allowed.

We praise God that Vaccines have been given to healthcare staff and are shortly to be given to senior citizens and those with comorbidities.

Summer Bible School

We had planned to do summer school in all 10 areas where we hold children’s clubs. We planned to do 6 of the areas one week and the other four the following week. It was held over 4 days a week.

The theme was Superhero’s of The Bible. To engage the children with the Bible stories we used puppets to tell them about the heroes of faith in the Bible each day. We kicked off each morning with a prayer, followed by a lively action song, Jesus You are My Superhero, much enjoyed by all! To use some of their excess energy we did games with them before getting to the serious stuff. To help the children remember what they had been hearing about we encouraged them to learn some memory verses. The session was topped off with them making a different superhero craft each day, it was a challenge to bring them back together to close as they were enjoying running about acting as their favourite superhero! We were blessed to have an increased number of children in areas and many of the youth and parents getting involved and helping.

On the final day we held a graduation ceremony in each area and presented the children with a certificate of attendance, a gift bag, and a food pack to each family. We thank Elim Hope Church Stafford for their generous donation which enabled us to provide all these blessings. We also thank family members and friends who spent time knitting and who sent a variety of soft toys and items that could also be included in the gift bags.

The following week we were all prepared with the van loaded up for the second week of summer school in the remaining areas. The night before we received news that restrictions were being put in place and no gatherings were allowed. We had to postpone and hoped that we could resume the following week. However, cases continued to rise, and we were placed in a strict lockdown. We plan to still return to completing summer school in the remaining area as soon as we can.

Pass it on!

We received a request for help from one of the local rural health workers asking if we could help them with getting some face masks and alcohol sanitizer as they did not have enough resources.

Due to the kindness of everyone that supports us and the work here we were able to pass these blessings on. Thank you!

Wow

We were blown away by the creativeness of the parents in one of our children’s clubs’ areas.

They made the graduation so special for the children.

We were so excited and blessed to receive boxes from family and friends who had collected items to send for the children and adults here on Coron. We Church – Easter Celebration are planning to give out the items during the summer school children’s clubs in April/May so that we can ensure all the children receive something and to make the summer school extra special for them. We look forward to sharing the photos of these being given out in our next newsletter.

Praise and Prayer

Thank you for your prayers.

• Healing for those suffering with Covid.
• For the healthcare system to cope with the rising cases.
• For provision of medical supplies that are needed.
• For God to provide for those in in need right now.
• For protection and safety of those in our communities and church.
• For those who are grieving the loss of loved ones, including Pastora Riza who lost her close friend.
• For access to vaccines.
• For City Gates team to remain safe and well so that we can support the communities. Especially for Miss Rozel who is due to have her baby in July.
• Praise God that the first week of Summer Bible School went well and the children enjoyed the time.
• Thank the Lord that He continues to keep us both safe and well.
• We thank God for the technology, albeit limited, we have enabling us to support our families here and keep in touch with family and friends back home.

Thank you for taking the time to read our newsletter, we are so thankful for all your support and could not be doing any of this work without you.
Many Blessings
Love from Andrea and James

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