WORDS FROM FRIENDS ON COVID-19: PAKISTAN

From Pakistan partner, Foreman Christian College (FCC) 

Dear Partners and Praying Friends,  

I hope this letter finds you and your loved ones safe and secure in God’s love and care for us in this broken and health-challenged world. Who could have guessed that a month ago church doors would be closed with worship moved online, public schools shut down with parents becoming classroom monitors, and our nursing homes closed to family visitors? This COVID-19 pandemic has upended all that we regularly depend upon and gives us one more opportunity to trust in the Lord with all your heart. (Proverbs 3:5)  

Just last week, Jim [Rector of FCC] and Beth Tebbe were ready to fly back to the US for our Spring FFCC board meeting; but on Monday Jim decided not to come. Good thing – Universities were closed by the government, and Pakistan closed its borders with Iran and Afghanistan to do its own work to flatten the curve of their citizens catching the coronavirus. With only a few hours warning, last weekend Pakistan also shut down all international flights. Jim and I have been in regular conversation; and he shared that while Chicagoland is smaller than Lahore in population (10 million vs. 14 million), it has 1,000 ventilators. Lahore has 40! Fighting the coronavirus will be a very different affair over there, so we need to pray.  

We are asking our friends to please add Forman Christian College, our students, Rector Jim Tebbe, and his faculty and staff to your prayers going up for the worldwide mission of the church. Here is what Jim wrote to one of our mission partners this week about those still living on campus:  

“Please pray that the virus will be kept away from our campus. We have a small city living here with about 1500 residents when everything is closed down. When dorms are open, it is up to 3000. There are important construction projects that are continuing. Please pray that they will not stop. Daily wage earners mostly work on those. If they stop, they are not paid, and they exist on day-to-day wages in order to feed their families.  

Pray that we will be able to get all our courses successfully running online for the rest of the semester. Pray for our budgeting process, as we will certainly have to adjust this for the fall.”  

Pray for the students who have limited internet access at home. We at Friends, like many of you, are working from home in our various locations and know the US internet coverage is being strained. Imagine what Pakistan is going through. Please also pray for our search for the next Rector to follow Jim. We will need board approval and a visa from the Pakistan authorities for our finalist. The hope is to have this person ready to start in the fall.  

Thank you for being a partner in this ministry. Your prayers are needed and are greatly appreciated. If you have prayer needs, let us know and we will pray for you at our weekly staff meeting and in personal times of devotions.  

If you want to reach me by phone or on Zoom, I’m happy to make time for you.  

We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers... - I Thess. 1:2  

Love in Christ,  

Rev. Samuel A. Schreiner III Executive Director