Looking Back and Moving Forward

A year ago six foreigners were standing on the side of the road with luggage. Colene stopped, offered help and dropped them off at their designated spot. An hour late I got a phone call wondering if i could house these same people and 'oh by the way they are looking for ministry opportunities". A year later three ministry teams have come in separate months and done amazing things for the children's home in Manila, Malaybalay as well as the communities we reach out to... Over fifty workers and ministers of the gospel joined our efforts and many other groups around Manila this past month.

A year ago over twenty middle school kids were stranded at the Manila airport. They had just arrived and were suppose to head up north to minister however a typhoon shut down all travel and thus the call came to our children's home wondering if we could put these young adventurers to work. We did and a year later this same school has sent over administrators , two other work teams, and countless blessings for the homes in Manila and Malaybalay.. The middle school teams from their school arrive again next Monday!

Two years ago a team of aspiring workers showed up from Minnesota with a young couple named DJ and Rachel Langefels leading the team. A year ago this couple had enough of short term experiences and came to give their lives to God while working with our Manila children's home. This past couple of weeks the core group of the Minnesota team from 06 arrived again. After finishing their time one person wrote about the amazing change that had occurred in the lives of the kids and how impressed they were with DJ and Rachel's role and how they were being used by God!

God has indeed blessed our small group in 2008. We are pumped and excited to see what stories will be told a year from now as we see some of our first kids being adopted into forever homes all around the world!! First up are our twins, Daniel and Jacob who will be traveling to live with their parents in Elgin, Ill. sometime later this year or early next. Oh yeah, it was a little over a year ago that a group of short term medical missionaries were involved in saving the lives of the twin's mom, Daniel and Jacob....

What has your year been like? What will the next year hold? Keep looking for those God given opportunities to be about HIS work and have fun looking back at what God has done in your life in the coming year....

Thanks for allowing us this privilege...

Jeff for the Longs

World Racers in Malaybalay

For the last week and a half the world racers have been here in Malaybalay doing amazing work with the children's home. Between construction, working with the kids, and getting involved in the community they will definitely leave a mark on this town. The team helped with two big pours at the new children's home including the main stairs of the home. It was a messy job but they were more than willing to jump right in to the work, even the afternoon after they got off the plane!

The kids are also enjoying having the team around, new friends to play with who have an immeasurable amount of energy for them. There are basketball games every day, card games, puzzles to play with, they are definitely enjoying their new companions. It is easy to fall in love with the children here and the world race team has experienced that first hand.

Besides those two things, this world race team has taken initiative when it comes to working with the community. They are getting involved with the local church, visiting people in the hospital, helping the youth group, getting to know students at the schools, and even singing in the church choir. Their love for these people and excitement about getting involved has encouraged everyone. It has been incredible to watch what they are doing here.

Class Trip

On Wednesday I was able to go with the grade school class and we went and visited a Filipino school. We wanted to have our students see what it was like in a public school. It is so different from our school. The class sizes are above 65 in a classroom. The students are very well behaved to be in that setting. The teaching style is so different as well. It was very interesting to see.

Below are some pictures of our kids sitting in on a Filipino class.

Cuatro's Got Talent

On Friday was the first ever Cuatro Christian School Talent show! The students have been looking forward to this night for over a month and there was definitely excitement hanging in the air. At the children's home the kids were all getting ready, boys put in hair gel and girls got a little lip gloss for the special occasion, so much fun!

The second floor of the school was decorated with bright parachutes making a beautiful stage for the students to perform. With a very laid back feel, we invited parents and family members of CCS to simply come and enjoy the entertainment. When it was all set and done we had about 30-35 community members watching the students perform. The even began with the singing of the Philippine national anthem. The night was full of singing and dancing and what a great job done by all the kids. We had some soloists, some hand motions to popular worship songs, and of course a rendition of one of the songs from the famous High School Musical. It was fun to see all the students to use some of the gifts they have but don't get to use on a regular basis at school.

Over all the night was enjoyed by all and hopefully the students were encouraged to use their gifts for others in the future.

Kaitlyn

Simple Fun

I think the bottom line is that kids love puppies. It's so simple. Rachel's parent's have two dogs, and when a new litter of puppies comes along, they graciously let groups of the kids go up to their place to play with them. The kids absolutely love this. For some of them, it's playing with a puppy that gets them out of their shell, making them more excited and expressive than usual. This is a favorite activity and a great chance to get out and do something fun with a handful of the kids at a time. Here's pictures from the most recent puppy adventure:

DJ and Rachel

This and That

We have a great staff that are interested in taking great care with our kids. Today we were able to go through a refresher Red Cross CPR course at our newly acquired YMC building. Ate Laling's cinnamon rolls were a big hit as was lunch, the youth group from our local church provided back up at the children's home watching and caring for the kids.

Nurse Marilyn and her visiting Nurse sister Patsy also supervised and made sure all the little and not so little bundles of joy were well cared for..

The 'BIG" kids got to go to Faith Academy in the afternoon to watch Kuya Kyle play soccer and then they had a big swim in the Faith pool... Compliments of Uncle Ted and Aunt Rhonda McMillin who are paving the way for many cool things around the children's home already! Its been great having supporting board members surround us with lots of love. Thanks for praying for us and making ALL things possible as we seek to serve Jesus, the kids and the community around us.

Jeff for the team

Moving On Up!

At school things are going great. Our grade school kids will be going to another school tomorrow to visit and see what other students are doing and how other schools are run. Some exciting news at school is that in the last 2 weeks we have had a couple students move up.

Rene finished the third grade and now is working at the fourth grade level. He does very well in Math and Bible. Language and Science are a little tougher for him but he loves to learn and is doing great.





Angel Miles was able to move up to our Kinder A
class from the Kinder B class. She is ready to start
reading!





Jan Andre another one of our kids was able to move up to Kinder C on Monday. He is starting to put letters together to start reading simple words. And he is doing well in learning to write as well.




We look forward for more students moving up in the ranks soon. Thanks for all your support for Cuatro Christian School.

Kim Courtright