Anjo is one of the kids from a family we are helping in the community of Sucat. He lives together with his parents and three siblings. They usually beg in the street to get enough money for their food. Knowing that they only live in the street, they don’t have bills to pay, but food is the main reason why they beg for money from people walking in the street. Since, Anjo’s parents don’t have decent work, they feel stuck in a poor community within a busy city. They are relying solely on what people give them.
Then one day, Anjo's mother was invited to attend our IT Tender Women's Camp. It was a big turning point in her life, because God used this camp to open her eyes and to move her heart. At the camp, she expressed her desire to send her son, Anjo, to school. Even Anjo really desires to go to school. The sad part is that she knows what her desires entail and that she can't fulfill them. And the more she knows it, the bigger and bigger problem grows in her eyes because of the reality of where she is. Though she knows how huge the challenge is for her to send Anjo to school, she is relying on what she learned from IT Tender Women's Camp. She knows God answers prayers.
After she expressed and presented her desire, one of her counselors donated a certain amount of money, enough for Anjo’s school supplies and other requirements needed in his school. When she returned from camp, she shared the news with Anjo. It was a touching scene to see Anjo’s big smile after he heard the great news from his mother. He is very excited and thankful. Even his mother is so thankful to know that God heard her prayers. Anjo is now enrolled in a school and enjoying life as a student. It is amazing to see him transformed from being a street kid, dirty and bare-footed, and now a good-looking boy with his school uniform and with so many hopes inside his smile.
This is a big encouragement to us as we continue to bless the community, and they are people with lives changed. Anjo and his family is one huge testimony of God’s love, and that is the message we bring, we preach and we are sharing to people. Anjo’s story is enough for us to continue doing what we are doing. We are thankful to God for the changes he makes in people's lives. To Him be all the glory.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
A touching story from daycare
We would love to share just one example of how our daycare is really impacting the lives of the street children and their families. Princess is a six-year old street-child living in Metro Manila. Her mother earns a meager salary as a pedicab driver in the community. Her father, previously known for drinking excessively in the streets, is now in prison. Ever since Princess was born, her mother felt distressed about how she would take care of her child. When she gave birth to Princess, she couldn't afford the hospital costs to deliver the baby with any aid from a doctor or nurse. As Princess grew up, her parents couldn't afford to let her go to school. However, once we opened our new daycare center, street children like Princess finally had a safe place to get an education, to look up to good role models, and to experience the grace, compassion, and love of the Lord. Without a father figure, Princess bonded quickly with the male teachers and helpers in the daycare. Her heart and attitude softened, and a new sense of joy was evident in her everyday life. She experienced new feelings of confidence and accomplishment upon learning the alphabet and learning how to print her own name.
Princess's mother often tells us how happy and blessed she feels to know she now has help in raising her child. One day, Princess's mother saw three of us walking in the rain, and she quickly offered to bike us home in her pedicab. Even though she doesn't earn much through her job, she still tried to refuse our money when we paid her the fare. She said that the reason why she didn't want us to pay is because she feels we have done so much for her and her family. In fact, Princess's mother really wants to learn more about us volunteers and about our church. She attended our church for the first time last Sunday! Praise God for the way a mother can be moved and can experience blessings through our love for her daughter. Only by the grace of God is our daycare able to influence entire families, and to Him we give all the glory!
- Kristofer, Tin Tin, Mackie, and John (the daycare teachers)
Princess's mother often tells us how happy and blessed she feels to know she now has help in raising her child. One day, Princess's mother saw three of us walking in the rain, and she quickly offered to bike us home in her pedicab. Even though she doesn't earn much through her job, she still tried to refuse our money when we paid her the fare. She said that the reason why she didn't want us to pay is because she feels we have done so much for her and her family. In fact, Princess's mother really wants to learn more about us volunteers and about our church. She attended our church for the first time last Sunday! Praise God for the way a mother can be moved and can experience blessings through our love for her daughter. Only by the grace of God is our daycare able to influence entire families, and to Him we give all the glory!
- Kristofer, Tin Tin, Mackie, and John (the daycare teachers)
Monday, August 9, 2010
Daycare Field Trip 5
Kids had a super amazing great experience! They usually play outside the street so they took advantage of the trip to fully enjoy the Museong Pambata (Kids Museum) and Manila Ocean Park. We, as their teachers are so overwhelmed to see them being kids again. Thank God for a wonderful day with kids from Daycare.
DAycare Field Trip 4
Kids had a super amazing great experience! They usually play outside the street so they took advantage of the trip to fully enjoy the Museong Pambata (Kids Museum) and Manila Ocean Park. We, as their teachers are so overwhelmed to see them being kids again. Thank God for a wonderful day with kids from Daycare.
Daycare Field Trip 3
Kids had a super amazing great experience! They usually play outside the street so they took advantage of the trip to fully enjoy the Museong Pambata (Kids Museum) and Manila Ocean Park. We, as their teachers are so overwhelmed to see them being kids again. Thank God for a wonderful day with kids from Daycare.
Daycare Field Trip 2
Kids had a super amazing great experience! They usually play outside the street so they took advantage of the trip to fully enjoy the Museong Pambata (Kids Museum) and Manila Ocean Park. We, as their teachers are so overwhelmed to see them being kids again. Thank God for a wonderful day with kids from Daycare.
Daycare Field Trip 1
Kids had a super amazing great experience! They usually play outside the street so they took advantage of the trip to fully enjoy the Museong Pambata (Kids Museum) and Manila Ocean Park. We, as their teachers are so overwhelmed to see them being kids again. Thank God for a wonderful day with kids from Daycare.
Upclose and personal!
There had been many challenges in my life, but I am thanking God for giving me His word I can rely on and amazing people I can trust who are on my side when I need help. I am so thankful!!! Last year had been a hard year for me. I never thought I would have the strength to stand up again and move forward. Even people that were close to me were surprised that I would be able to face the challenges they thought would knock me down. But, here I am, standing strong and moving forward. It’s all by God’s grace!
I hold on to God’s grace. I remember what a pastor who is helping me said in his email to me, “In His mercy, He doesn’t give us what we deserve and in His grace, He gives us what we don’t deserve”. That is completely true to my life. Without His grace, I wouldn’t have the strength to stand up again and overcome any challenges, and I wouldn’t learn to humble myself. His grace removed every pride in my heart, bringing me to knees and surrendering my whole being. It enables and empowers me to be strong enough to face any kind of challenges.
Now, after a year, I am seeing myself again being trusted with a great responsibility that I believe I am inadequate to handle. I am overwhelmed to know that God finds me faithful enough that he is giving me this new responsibility. This is being the chairman of the board of trustees. The board of trustees is in-charge of making policies for our church. I am now, as the chairman, in-charge of leading the board meeting and setting up a quality leadership for our church. This is a huge responsibility for me knowing I am young for this kind of role in our church. Just what Solomon felt when David died and all the responsibility in leading the Israelites was on his shoulder. Just the same, I feel inadequate but I know with God’s strength, I can do it. I know God help me to fulfill my responsibility.
One piece of advice my mentor gave to me was to encircle myself with God-fearing people who I am comfortable with to talk about what I am feeling and not to forget to ask advice from people who are advanced in knowledge. That is wise advice and will surely be followed. I already sent emails to people who I think will be great people to have around. If you are interested in helping me out with this, please don’t hesitate to send me an email. I would love to hear from you.
Not only as the chairman of the board do I feel inadequate, but also I am leading Be:E again. There are more students added now than in the previous session, which means more pressure in leading and leveling it up. But I will keep on believing and trusting God in every privilege on my end. This is because I know He who started a good work in me will be faithful to complete it in me. It is not about what I cannot do, but what God can do in my life. As what Solomon prayed to God in 1 Kings 3:7-9, I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties…so give your servant a discerning heart…to distinguish between right and wrong.
I hold on to God’s grace. I remember what a pastor who is helping me said in his email to me, “In His mercy, He doesn’t give us what we deserve and in His grace, He gives us what we don’t deserve”. That is completely true to my life. Without His grace, I wouldn’t have the strength to stand up again and overcome any challenges, and I wouldn’t learn to humble myself. His grace removed every pride in my heart, bringing me to knees and surrendering my whole being. It enables and empowers me to be strong enough to face any kind of challenges.
Now, after a year, I am seeing myself again being trusted with a great responsibility that I believe I am inadequate to handle. I am overwhelmed to know that God finds me faithful enough that he is giving me this new responsibility. This is being the chairman of the board of trustees. The board of trustees is in-charge of making policies for our church. I am now, as the chairman, in-charge of leading the board meeting and setting up a quality leadership for our church. This is a huge responsibility for me knowing I am young for this kind of role in our church. Just what Solomon felt when David died and all the responsibility in leading the Israelites was on his shoulder. Just the same, I feel inadequate but I know with God’s strength, I can do it. I know God help me to fulfill my responsibility.
One piece of advice my mentor gave to me was to encircle myself with God-fearing people who I am comfortable with to talk about what I am feeling and not to forget to ask advice from people who are advanced in knowledge. That is wise advice and will surely be followed. I already sent emails to people who I think will be great people to have around. If you are interested in helping me out with this, please don’t hesitate to send me an email. I would love to hear from you.
Not only as the chairman of the board do I feel inadequate, but also I am leading Be:E again. There are more students added now than in the previous session, which means more pressure in leading and leveling it up. But I will keep on believing and trusting God in every privilege on my end. This is because I know He who started a good work in me will be faithful to complete it in me. It is not about what I cannot do, but what God can do in my life. As what Solomon prayed to God in 1 Kings 3:7-9, I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties…so give your servant a discerning heart…to distinguish between right and wrong.
five things on my mind right now.
1. Teachers’ Clinic. This is a new ministry that started last week. It is a hands-on training that aims to develop potential teachers/preachers in our church. We just had our second session this week and it was a fun learning experience. I know that each person attending this clinic can learn a lot, and I know someday they will use what they have learned. How to lead a bible study group, to share your devotion and to give an exhortation are the first subjects. Next will be, how to teach and preach the word.
2. Daycare: Since I volunteered to be a teacher in Daycare, it has been a wonderful experience for me. Thursday is my day to teach in Daycare, and every Thursday since I joined has been great, fun and exciting. I love to teach kids, most especially when most of them show a lot of interest to learn. Yes, there will be young students who are playing around, running, screaming and crying at times when we are teaching, but I wouldn’t mind because most of them are happy listening and learning from Daycare. I remember when Toph (our Daycare Principal), shared to me what the mother of one of our students wrote. She expressed her gratitude to us because her daughter is learning a lot. Since she doesn’t have the money to send her daughter to school, this daycare became a huge blessing for her. We (the teachers of Daycare) are thanking God for this wonderful opportunity to be blessing.
3. Be:E. I will be handling this discipleship program again this coming term. I am praising God for giving us more students who are eager to undergo Be:E: 5 more students were added in our 11 regular students. I am still in a state of shock until now because I couldn’t imagine how this program became such a powerful tool that develops members of our church to be more effective in ministry. They have learned so much, and the perspectives of their Christian lives have been enlightened.
4. Training Department. We will be busy these coming months because there are many churches requesting us to train their youth. Our schedules are fully packed, and that’s why we need to put off some churches' requests for trainings until next year. Because of the demand, I need to rearrange my schedule and list of priorities.
5. Communication. This month, we had a college student who worked with our team as her on-the-job training. She helped not only me as the person in-charge of the communication department but also some of our team members. She helped in making brochures, a fanpage in online networking sites and some print ads to promote our ministry. Right now, I am asking a few people who can help me develop the communication department by making a video presentation and print ads, and entering in networking sites. YM needs to keep updated the people who are interested to know what we are up. I think networking sites will be a great tool for it.
2. Daycare: Since I volunteered to be a teacher in Daycare, it has been a wonderful experience for me. Thursday is my day to teach in Daycare, and every Thursday since I joined has been great, fun and exciting. I love to teach kids, most especially when most of them show a lot of interest to learn. Yes, there will be young students who are playing around, running, screaming and crying at times when we are teaching, but I wouldn’t mind because most of them are happy listening and learning from Daycare. I remember when Toph (our Daycare Principal), shared to me what the mother of one of our students wrote. She expressed her gratitude to us because her daughter is learning a lot. Since she doesn’t have the money to send her daughter to school, this daycare became a huge blessing for her. We (the teachers of Daycare) are thanking God for this wonderful opportunity to be blessing.
3. Be:E. I will be handling this discipleship program again this coming term. I am praising God for giving us more students who are eager to undergo Be:E: 5 more students were added in our 11 regular students. I am still in a state of shock until now because I couldn’t imagine how this program became such a powerful tool that develops members of our church to be more effective in ministry. They have learned so much, and the perspectives of their Christian lives have been enlightened.
4. Training Department. We will be busy these coming months because there are many churches requesting us to train their youth. Our schedules are fully packed, and that’s why we need to put off some churches' requests for trainings until next year. Because of the demand, I need to rearrange my schedule and list of priorities.
5. Communication. This month, we had a college student who worked with our team as her on-the-job training. She helped not only me as the person in-charge of the communication department but also some of our team members. She helped in making brochures, a fanpage in online networking sites and some print ads to promote our ministry. Right now, I am asking a few people who can help me develop the communication department by making a video presentation and print ads, and entering in networking sites. YM needs to keep updated the people who are interested to know what we are up. I think networking sites will be a great tool for it.
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