It’s evening in Mindoro, and the mosquitos are out in swarms, beating against the screens with lusty fervor. Sounds of barking dogs and crowing roosters fill the silence. The roads are empty.
A mandatory 24-hour quarantine has been in effect for our province for over two weeks now, but the rules change almost daily, the guidelines becoming stricter.
No one is allowed out of their home unless it is for food or medicine, and then only when approved for a pass, once a week, and just to travel within their immediate barangay/ township. There are armed military and police guards at every checkpoint, and threats of prison or even being shot if people do not comply.
Francis and I have government-granted passes as we are health-workers, which allows us to come and go more freely, and for this we’re so grateful.
The government has supposedly empowered each Barangay Captain to distribute food to each family, but only a small fraction are actually receiving goods. It has become a political power-play that is punishing those who have not registered or voted. The health care situation is similar, and in many ways our hands are being tied about how we are being allowed to care for our community. It is only driving us to pray harder and become more creative in the ways we serve.
We’re not surprised by the corruption, but we wrestle with anger, are grieved, and pray we can be instruments of change at the root level of these issues.
We have been having meetings with local leaders, trying to love them well, challenging them to serve without agenda, and coming alongside them to get food and care to every family.
We are personally buying rice, soap, and other food in bulk, and taking them to local pastors to distribute, as well as bringing to Mangyan tribal families, many of whom have escaped high into mountains to rebuild their huts and have no access to food.
This week alone we bought 900 pounds of rice, that will be gone in days. Yes… 900 pounds.
We’re being called to homes to do checkups and provide medical care as well.
Over fifteen doctors in the Philippines have now died from Corona virus, some of them from PGH, the Covid-Center Hospital in Manila, and also Francis’ Alma mater. Francis has received an email beseeching alumni to come and help in the overflowing and under-manned hospitals in manila… we have grieved, cried, prayed together much over the devastation and loss of life, and asked for clarity of where best he could serve. For now it is here in Mindoro, as we are not only providing health care, but helping to be a voice for the tribal and overlooked peoples.
Our hospitals here are all overflowing with untested and undocumented cases, and all medical personnel are stretched thin.
At the moment we have a friend staying with us as she recovers from surgery and is also in early labor. Please be praying for a safe and beautiful birth, as transport to a hospital would be very difficult.
No matter where we are in the world, our prayers are rising up and mixing as one as we face the same battle. I realize that right now, we as the church have a powerful opportunity to be of one mind and heart-- to take our collective pain, the unknown, the raging global virus of sickness and fear, and with laser-focus turn it all to breakthrough, fervent prayer.
We get to join our heart-cries, become a tidal wave of power, bind and loose things, and see glory break through. We get to release hope and peace where there is none, into places where people are desperate and dying for what we carry.
I hope this changes us forward and forces our roots to depths we've never known, that the power and pressure of this storm reveals the power of The Spirit within us that many have never begun to understand. I hope we will never be the same
More than ever before, it is crucial that we be intentional about our focus; for what we focus on, lock our gaze and hearts on, will fill and change us into its likeness. We become like what we behold. If fear is your compass, you will be consumed and devoured by it. Fear, control, self-preservation is the low-hanging fruit that temps us when evil and danger press in close.
In this time of crisis, as we quarantine and wait with breathless prayers of protection over our families, I pray we rally and rise up to find our eyes glued to Jesus, that we cling to Him like a rock in the tempest. He is making paths in the wilderness, rivers in the middle of this desert and wasteland, doing new things, and I can see it. (Isaiah 43:19)
My prayer for myself is that my love for Jesus be measured by how I love those around me, by how I pour myself out as He does.
We want to be found at the end of this pandemic to be carrying out the radical love and generosity of The Father. We want to be found thriving and advancing with faith and hope in the One who holds all things together. He is still holding on to us.
Look for how He is moving, for the new things He is doing, and look for ways to join Him in loving others well.
We are so grateful for you, and are praying for you as you pray for us!