Filipino Diaspora in Singapore

01/04/2010 12:00 am Admin John Watts <au-mediaSPAMFILTER@omf.net>

The first time that I met Anna she was in tears. Imagine how difficult life must be… Anna’s husband was bitten by a snake and died, leaving behind Anna and her 4 year old daughter. Anna is one of the Filipino domestic workers that comes along to our Filipino Fellowship which meets at St George’s Anglican Church after the 10am service. Anna is working here in Singapore and her parents are looking after her daughter in the Philippines.

I was amazed at how God’s word spoke into Anna’s life. We were studying Genesis 3:15 which is where God curses the serpent and how Jesus (the offspring of the woman) will have ultimate victory over the Evil One. After the Bible Study I was in a small group with Anna to pray. Anna thanked God for the way in which she was learning so much from the Bible. Anna isn’t able to come along to Bible Study regularly but is growing in her understanding of what it means to be God’s child.

Mary’s employer abused her physically and verbally. She had marks on her arms where her employer had infl icted burns on her with a hot iron. As well as doing the ironing, Mary was responsible for walking two large dogs. One day when she was walking the dogs, she noticed St Georges Church and decided to attend the Sunday service. In tearful sobs, Mary told us that she was looking for a new employer. I knew someone who was looking for a domestic helper and so we exchanged mobile numbers. A couple of weeks later I received a distressed call from Mary Ann to say that one of the dogs that she was responsible for had escaped! We tried to help by designing a “Lost Dog” poster but knew that the most effective thing that we could do was to pray. About a week later, we were overjoyed to receive an SMS from Mary to say that the dog had been found – unwell but alive! Praise the Lord that Mary now has a Christian employer (a member of St Georges) and is inquiring about doing more in-depth study of the Bible.

Prayer Points

  • Praise God for the opportunities that we have here in Singapore to reach out with God’s love to Filipino domestic workers.
  • Pray with us as we seek to train Filipinos to lead the Filipino Fellowship.

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