Jenny's Life in Cebu

For any missionaries, family matters have a big bearing on their work. This is certainly true for the Healys. We have been concerned that Jennifer find meaningful things to do here in Cebu. We are thankful for some good developments in that area in recent days. Jenny is going to help out in the Children of Hope School library two days a week, and attend a local special ed. school two or three days a week. She will be learning life skills and benefiting from socialization and interaction with people outside the home. And she can be of help to our volunteer librarian at the school by learning to put away books and helping out the kids when they come into the library.

Please pray for Jenny. Change does not come easy for her. But we are thankful that these two opportunities came about for her and know that having a meaninful routine will be very good for her. Thanks for your prayers!

Things beyond our control

The difficult part in leading a ministry is dealing with important factors that are beyond one's control. Governmental policies and priorities, weather and health issues are some examples. But the most difficult to manage are the financial variables. Like the exchange rate.

CSC's ministry in Cebu is paid for in Philippine pesos. The money sent to us from Minnesota for our ministry budget comes to us in US dollars. So the rate of exchange is very important. For several years the rate has grown consistently, putting us in a favorable position. But this past year the exchange rate has gone down - about 17%. That means that we have 17% fewer pesos to work with here in Cebu. Our expense remain the same, but we have less money to pay them with. We have had to use our cash reserves to make up the difference.

In the next days we will be making a budget for 2008. Part of that process is trying to peg an exchange rate for the year. That is really a difficult decision. The exchange rate is determined by a combination of economic factors and government policies. Making a forecast is kind of like trying to predict the weather many months in advance. It is hard when something that affects us dramatically is something that we cannot influence. No manner of hard work or creative genious on our part is going to change this.


In some ways, the same is true of God's will. He is on the throne of the universe, and nothing happens apart from his willing it to be so. We cannot bribe or manipulate him. But we know that God is aware of all our needs, and that He loves us and the children that we serve. Unlike government officials and others who influence our future, God has our best interests in mind.

A letter from the past

I ran across a letter that I wrote a few years ago for CSC. I thought it might be interesting to put it here. It is always good to look back at the things that God has allowed us to experience and to reflect on the lessons we have learned. During these difficult financial times at CSC it is great to know that we have a God who helps us overcome disappointments and setbacks.


Dear Friends,

My brother Dave sent me an advertisement from the St. Paul paper announcing a B.J. Thomas concert coming to a casino in Minnesota. It was meant as a joke, but it brought back a flood of memories, most of them pretty grim ones.

In 1978 a small group of us were trying to raise money to start a ministry in the Philippines. We were concerned about the needs of homeless and hungry Filipino children. But none of us had experience in fund raising! We tried everything, from donut and candy sales to supermarket collection cans and marathons. Finally, after having raised almost nothing for our efforts, we got the idea to have a benefit concert. We decided to have B.J. Thomas come to the Minneapolis Auditorium, and one of our group members put up the money to book him and his group and to pay for the initial promotion of the concert.

The concert was a disaster. The auditorium held about 10,000 people; less than 3,000 showed up. I’ll never forget the feeling of standing in the lobby waiting for the crowds that never came. We couldn’t pay the orchestra, the ticket office, the printer, the radio stations or the newspapers. There we were, a group of youngsters with a desire for a ministry in Cebu, surrounded by angry, threatening creditors. It seemed like our organization and our dream for an orphanage were dead. But for some reason we didn’t give up. We still felt called to the Philippines and a ministry to homeless children. Somehow we managed to placate the creditors, make small but consistent payments, and pull ourselves out of the hole that the B.J. Thomas concert had put us in. Within a few short weeks we received a donation of $40,000 from a Bethel College student and we were on our way to Cebu to begin the ministry. All our plans and efforts to raise funds had netted us a pile of debts and a load of frustration. But God’s miraculous work in the heart of a young man resulted in enough money to purchase property in Cebu and begin the work.

Tat has been a lesson we have learned so many times over the years. God reminds us that this is his ministry and that He will provide the resources. He is continually touching the hearts of people, who respond with gifts of prayer, money and time. We know that it is not just the words that we write or the quality of our visual presentations that bring in the funds. It is how God uses those efforts, or creates other situations to bring people into the CSC family. Our efforts are inadequate, even pathetic at times. But God takes our faith and commitment (although sometimes found lacking) and makes something great out of them, in the work of the ministry in Cebu and in the promotional efforts in Minnesota.

This fact has kept us going through difficult times over the past 20 years. In the past few weeks we have been discouraged over the behavior of some of our children. Some have been unruly, others disrespectful. Some have been unloading some of the emotional bggage that they brought with them to CSC. Some have expressed their curiosity in inappropriate ways. One boy had to be placed out of CSC. There are still painful decisions to make, but our discouragement is tempered by the knowledge that God directs this work, that He gives compassion and perseverance, not only on that night in 1978 when we limped home from the Minneapolis Auditorium, but every day since.

Thank you for your part in helping us with this ministry for the past 20 years. When the raindrops were falling on our heads, you were there to put up an umbrella of love and solidarity. We need your prayers and your gifts to be able to move ahead eith this God-inspired ministry.


Sincerely,

Paul Healy
Cebu City