Merry Christmas

Christmas is almost here which also means that our two year anniversary is almost here as well.  It is hard to believe that we have been here almost two years already, but at the same time it seems that time has flown by.  So many changes have been seen in our ministry and a few even in our family.

Ministry changes first.  Our arrival saw the demolition and reconstruction of the orphanage building.  three months and a lot of dedicated men and man hours went into the building and with such love for the work that was being done.  Soon after completion God showed us who was in charge and that he would be the one to determine which kids would be coming to us.  We would have preferred younger kids but our first two where teenagers.  A brother and sister pair 16 and 13 they had lost there mom a few years previous and had just lost there dad.  With all the trauma of life they did not focus on school and fell very far behind.  they both where in the 4th grade when they arrived and should have been in there later years of high school.  Since there arrival one (Tata) the oldest has chosen to return and live with family.  He is in the 6th grade and doing fair in school.  We still see him and he comes to visit once in awhile.  The second (Ebec) is also in grade 6 know and still lives here.  She is doing very well in school and trying very hard to succeed.  She is a teenage girl and so has all the drama and emotions one would expect but she is growing into a wonderful young women who wants to serve her Lord.  The third kid was John and a brother to the first two.  He was 6 years old.  He also struggled with school.  He was supposed to be finishing the second grade.  but was held back because of grades.  He did not read or write or know any of his numbers.  We tried so hard to help him but learning is a huge struggle for him.  after almost a year and a half he learned the alphabet in order but could not point out any letters.  He learned to count to ten also but could not identify numbers.  Just a couple of months ago he and a married sister chose for him to move and live with her family.  Next was Marvin.  He was 13 When he arrived and also was very behind in school.  He was in the third grade and could not read or write.  He showed a large desire to learn and make life better for himself.  With the help of a tutor he know reads and writes.  He is in the 4th grade know and doing well with school.  He got into some trouble here and was given the choice to stay and be monitored closely or to go back to grandpa.  He chose  to go to grandpa.  But some good friends and a cousin of his heard of the situation and invited him to move in them.  So that is what he chose to do.  The last group of kids to join us was a sibling group of five.  They still had a mom but she was unable to care for them.  They where so underweight, malnourished and sick when we got them.  they where 13, 5, 2, and twins at 7 months.  one of the twins was cared for by an aunt so came about a month later when the aunt said she could not care for her anymore.  They all have grown so much and are learning and developing at a wonderful rate.  Hazel did not like all the rules and preferred the freedom that she had with mom and so chose to return.  She still texts and calls Jonah almost daily.  She has quite school.  The younger ones a right on track with school and are learning well.  They are back to full health and are staying healthy.  We have a wonderful couple that lives at the orphanage to help us out and act as house parents.  They have two kids of there own a son and daughter.  there kids are 4 and 1. 

The orphanage is our primary focus of concern but our ministry has taken on new aspects as well.  We help to conduct a local youth event quarterly here at the local church and also every three to four months we travel to other islands and help the local churches to conduct there own youth outreaches.   The funds for these ministries comes from our business income and tithes.

One other aspect of ministry that we are involved in is the Operation Christmas Child program with Samaritans Purse.  I (Jessica) and have joined the local staff as a volunteer resource coordinator.  I am in charge of helping the local team to raise funds to help with the cost of distribution of the boxes.  We have several members of our church that are ministry partners and receive boxes to had out to the kids.  It has been fun for our family to see this side of the ministry, because when in the US we also packed boxes. 

Our most recent family picture

Know for the changes in our family.  We have invested some of the money from my dads trust to start two businesses.  One is a water refilling business.  We have a 21 stage water purification system and have gained a lot of customers.  Our business has grown so much that we have hired two guys to work the business and handle all of the deliveries for us.  We still fill the occasional water container but the guys we have working are great.  The other business we have is egg laying chickens and we sell the eggs.  We have about 200 chickens.  Jonah's sister lives with us and takes care of the chickens for us.  The biggest change is the addition of our youngest kid.  We are in the process of adopting our son Mark.  He is a year and half old.  He was seven months old when he came into our care.  He is one of the twins.  He was the size of a one month old baby and developmentally he was an infant.  He has grown so much and has reached so many developmental milestones since he has been with us.  He is learning to talk and he walks and he is just so much fun.  He is so different from the girls when they where that age it is so much fun to watch him grow.  We have had two visitors since we arrived.  Our pastoral care couple from the mission agency we serve with was here to visit all the missionaries and stayed with us for a couple of days.  and we are excited to have Christine Davenport with us for six weeks.  She arrived about a week ago and is seeing all of the controlled chaos that makes up our lives here. 

With all that has been said there have also been two major changes in our support.  two of our big supporters have passed away and since we have lost there monthly support.  that totals 350 dollars that we have lost in monthly support.  So if  you would please be willing to pray with us in finding new support to fill in the lose that we have suffered.  We know that God is in control and he shows us that daily.  But the lose of that support does effect our ministry in a huge way.  Please feel free to pass this on to any friends or family even churches that might be interested.  We can send more information to anyone that is interested.  Thank you so much for all your love and support.

My contact is email or facebook.  email is jcajigas111081@gmail.com and my facebook name is Jessica Lucas Cajigas.  If you have people that want to contact me via facebook have them send me a message as to who and why they are friending me because I do not accept friend request from people I do not know.

Merry Christmas to your family from ours and the most blessed of New years.  Gods blessings!!!

Cajigas family,

Jonah, Jessica, Precious, Faith and Mark