It was tough for Angelica Echivarre, a Christian woman to survive in a neighborhood infested with drugs and prostitution in the Philippines.
But this program teacher is inspiring her community and ushering in a change in the locality.
Echivarre was raised in the notorious area of Lorega, but she received Christ at her local church and a ministry, Compassion International, which strives to take children out of poverty.
“I was found by Compassion as a hopeless young girl in the middle of a very dysfunctional community,” Echivarre said. “It was in Compassion where I learned to boost my confidence and practice my faith. Today, I am paying back by paying [it] forward.”
Pastor Davis of Cebu City Alliance Church said the community is changed now as the area which used to be filled with drug dealers, is now a safe place for children to play in the backyards and street.
![Philippines-Pastor](https://storage.googleapis.com/faithpot/2019/11/1f098558-philippines-pastor-300x241.jpg)
“Before, urban taxi driver will not come inside Lorega,” said Davis, whose oldest son benefited from being part of Compassion. “[Shootings] every day, but Lorega now is totally open with the gospel.”
Parents had no hope for their children in Lorega before, but now they are filled with a new purpose and hope for a brighter tomorrow.
Echivarre serves as a Compassion program teacher at the Loving My Neighbor Student Center in Cebu City, where she was registered and grew up in the Lord years ago.
“I advocate for children, as I was once a child like them in the center, giving them hope in Christ just like what Compassion did for me,” she said. “I now lead my own cell group for a bunch of young people and [serve as] one of the core leaders in the youth ministry.”
This true story of a young woman, Angelica Echivarre, who has become a beacon of light in the darkness of Lorega, reminds us that only through Christ we can truly have a bright and secure life. Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”