Life and Ministry update

WARNING LONG POST AHEAD READ AT YOUR OWN RISK It has been more than a year since I have updated this blog. Last time we updated the kids where finishing a school year and we had just gone into lockdown due to COVID-19. The Island was in lockdown for several months. Travel to and from the island was an only as needed basis and anyone coming onto the island had to quartine for 14 days. travel around the island was harder also. There where check points set up at every town. You would have to exit your vehicle and have your temprutare taken and then reenter your vehicle to get through the town. kids where only allowed in the town for doctor or emergency. this went on for several months. soon the lockdown was lifted but there where strict rules in place. Facemask and shields required everywhere and kids where only allowed out on certian days times. In the village things where not enforced as much but the towns and the city where strict about enforcement. Just recently Travel to and from other islands has opened back up to the general public. Leaving the island is easy but coming back requires a negative swab test. And the test, results and travel all have to happen within 72 hours. If the test is positive you will either not be allowed back or special circumstances will allow you to travel but you will have a medical drive to a place of quartine till the test comes back negative. travel around the island is easier but the rules for stores and malls are still strictly enforced. November we where allowed to have our youth start meeting again but had the mask and social distancing rules. We live in the village so is not strictly enforced. We do our best to follow the guidelines. We where allowed to have a Christmas party with our youth. We made a full day of it with some worship time, teaching and games. The youth had a great time and where excited to be meeting again. January came and saw some health concerns for Jessica. A couple of trips to the doctor figured out I had a severe kidney infection and kidney stones. The infection was brought under control with a two week course of antibiotics and the stones where small. I felt better after that and thought everything was great. We continued meeting with the youth two Sundays a week and Precious started her won ministry with the church, more about that later though. Fast forward to the end of April and Saw health concerns for Jessica again. This time it was a trip to the emergency room for severe abdominal pain. after an ultrasound and a Catscan. The doctor found a mass on my colon that led to an emergency surgery. The mass was removed along with two smaller ones on my small intestine. They where all sent off for biopisy and after ten days in the hospital I was finally able to come home on mothers day. The first seven days in the hospital I had no food or drink. It was not till the last three days that I was slowly able to start eating and drinking again. The biopisy came back positive for colon cancer. I was refered to an Oncologist and started Chemotherapy the beginning of June. I am almost done with the first cycle and have seven more after this. I have one course of IV Chemo and then two weeks of oral meds, one week off and then start over with the IV. I have to do this for eight times and then they will test again. When the Chemo is done and I am in remission then the Surgeon will reverse the chlostomy. God is Faithful though and I have been recovering well and so far have not been sick or had reactions to the Chemo. The first two to three days after the IV cycle I sleep a lot but other than that I am thankful to be feeling really great. I have had some questions recently about our ministry and am not sure that I have made it really clear what we are doing here in the Philippines now. The Orphange was shut down due to the difficulty in registering it with the government. There where for kids living in the orphanage at the time and they have a home with us. We are still working on the adoption of all four of them. The process has been delayed even farther due to COVID. Instead we have started a youth program in the church. We meet two Sundays a month with the youth. Youth here is from 9-when you get married. This means we have some youth in there 30's. The older help out in a leadership capacity but are still part of the youth program. At our meetings we have a time of sharing about how God is working in peoples life, 5-10 young people share each time we meet. We then have a time of praise and worship, a teaching by Jonah or I and then small group discussion. The whole program is one that we have developed and the teachings come from resources we can find for free or purchase online. The youth have really enjoyed this and if for some reason we can not meet they are always asking when we can meet again. We also try to have at least three youth camps a year. The youth camps last for 2-3 days and have youth from all over the island. Our church youth is about 75 young people but our youth camps are about 150 young people. The youth all stay on sight and we have fun and a time of growing and learning in the faith. Precious has grown into a missionary in her own right and has taken on a big ministry. She asked Jonah and I if she could start a Sunday school program for our kids kinder to grade 6. With funds provided from the mission budget she has taken this task on with a diligent and humble heart. She prepares a lesson every week for two classes and also finds and provides at least four to five activities to go with each lesson. We do not have prepared and premade curriculums available to us so everything we do is from research and whatever God gives us. She prepares the lesson at least a week in advance so the teachers can prepare and study and if the activities are harder they are given in advance as well. The kids are split into two classes one for younger kids, kinder to grade two and the other class is grade 3-6. The younger class does a lot of color pages and other easier activities and the older kids are more on word puzzles and that kind of thing. Precious does all of the research and printing. She also does the schedule for the teachers and all of the teachers are given a love gift at the end of each month she also makes sure that is done. She ask help in typing the story for the teachers once in awhile but otherwise this has been 100% her ministry. If you ask her She will tell you it is not a big thing and she has lots of help. She is quite humble about it and loves it. She loves the kids and has made it her mission to get to know each one on a personal level. The kids know she cares and they love her in return. We are so proud of her for hearing Gods call and answering it all while living her everyday life as a daughter, sister and student also. Faith has been gettting involved a little with the worship team and loves music and singing. Mickiala, Andrew, Mark and Marah are all either part of the Sunday school or youth and are growing up to fast. School this school year is coming to a close again the end of this month and it has been a unique and growing year for all of us. It was decided back in October that the students would not be allowed to do face to face learning with the teachers. Some of the larger cities where able to do online classes but those of us on smaller Islands and in the villages had to do modular learning. We as parents go to the school every Friday and recieve a packet from the teachers that have all of the concept notes and activities for the kids to complete for the week. They get one packet for every subject. The older kids can for the most part complete the work themselves with some help from mom dad or a young person we have hired to tutor some of the older ones. The three youngest is hands on for mom and dad. We found out the beginning of this month that the school year will be done the end of this month and that most of our kids are having to do two weeks worth of school in one this whole month so they can be done on time. The start of the next school year is still a question mark as to when and weather they can return to face to face is still being decided. It has been discussed to do half and half but not sure. Precious Has continued to do well with school. This year has been harder for her but she has a couple of friends that have been a great support for her. Faith has done well also and needs a little help with a couple of subjects but most of the time does great with school. Sometimes getting it done is hard but that is lack of motivation. A pep talk from mom or dad usually gets her back on track. The rest of the kids have had a harder time of this year but they are learning and getting it done. We always want to thak God for his faithfulness in all he has done for us. We thank all of you for your support as well. Sorry for the long post and thank you for reading it. GOD BLESS!!!

Crazy season begins

It is March which means my life is not my own for the next three months or so. March brings graduation and school closings.  Right after  all that is our church thanksgiving national church convention, national youth convention and also an inter-barangay youth camp.  I have all six kids in school so have to be at all the programs for all the kids.  Mark and Marah will have their preschool graduation on March 19.  Both of them learned a lot this year but will have some work to do with mom at home over summer break to be ready for kindergarten next year. 

On April 1 the elementary school will have their closing program.  The big event of the day will the graduation of Precious from grade 6.  Mickiala will be finishing 3rd grade, going to 4th next year.  Faith is finishing 2nd grade and will come back to homeschool with me for 3rd grade and last Andrew will be finishing kindergarten and going to 1st next year.  So far it seems all the kids are doing well and will end the year with good grades.  Precious is going to be taking an entrance test this coming Saturday the 14th for a national Science high school in Ubay.  She is not sure she wants to attend there this first year but the entrance exam is valid till the 11th grade.  She is pretty sure she wants to go to Biabas Trade High this next year.  It will mean either having Jonah drive her every morning or hiring a driver service.  She has chosen this school because of the academic standing and the fact that they are more technologically advanced then the closer high school.  I am proud of her in that she wants the best education for herself and that she is willing to work hard for a good education.  It is hard to believe she is growing up but we are proud of her non the less.

We always celebrate our church Thanksgiving this time of year and it is a great way to reflect on what the Lord has done for and through us and to look to what he has for us in the coming year.  It is a wonderful service or worship and celebration and a wonderful time of fellowship and food after the service.  There are always games like basketball and just a great time celebrating the blessings we have been given.

The National convention is often in Negros but once in awhile is here.  This year it is here in Bohol so that means hundreds of people for 3 days or so.  They all stay here at the compound where we live so is busy and loud and semi chaotic but it is a time for the denomination to plan for the coming year and for future.  It is also a time to reflect on the past and what can be done to make the church the best it can be with God using and guiding his people. 

The denomination also has a national youth convention which is in may in Negros.  We have about 10-15 young people from our church going with us this year.  Several of them are working for us on the weekends and evenings to earn money for there registration.  they have games and small group times and teachings on topics that are important to the youth of this day. 

It is also time for one of our inter-barangay youth events.  We are hoping to make this an overnight event.  This is a great outreach opportunity for the local church to  reach the young people of our community and introduce them to the gospel and love of Christ.

We will continue our every other Sunday youth service most of the way through the summer but will take a month off in May because of all the other events going on.  I will try my best to post pictures after each event happens but if it a couple of months before you hear from us it is because of all the things that we have coming up.

We ask that you pray for us in the coming months that we will have the strength and energy that only comes from The good Lord and that we can all stay healthy with all the extra people and activities going on and lastly pray for patience for us as our normal routine is turned upside down and inside out

Pray that God will be glorified in all the activities coming.  Thank you and God bless!!

ministry changes and friends visit

 

Hi friends  and family,

It has been a long time again.  I truly do apologize for the long delays.  I am a busy mom and internet is not always our friend. 

So last time we shared some big family news about the adoption of our four kids.  It is still a slow process and we are patiently waiting for things to proceed.  We pray that God will "light a fire under people"  but till then we know God has a plan and we wait for his timing. 

 

Since we have decided to adopt all of our orphans our ministry is seeing a shift.  We are starting to focus more on the youth of our church and our community.  For the youth of our church we have started a youth service.  The youth meet two Sundays a month for a time of worship, pray, teaching and small group discussion.  The church youth is mostly taken care of by Jessica.  Jonah is also working to start a campus ministry at the local High school.  He is working to save some money for a budget to build a small building that they can meet in. 

 

 

We also are so excited to have had visitors for the last couple of weeks.  One of our friends and fellow missionaries got married last week and so we had wonderful friends come from the US for the wedding and spend some time with us.  Our kids have had a wonderful time reconnecting and us moms have had a wonderful time talking and playing games.  I am hoping that you will all see a guest post soon from one of these dear friends.  She has a great description of our ministry that she will share with you all and will be able to share more pictures with you all.

 

Sorry it is a short post also but I have my last day with these dear friends so I am going to spend as much time with them as possible.

 

God bless

 

 

 

 

 

Grandma Kerkstra pillowcase dresses

 

 

 

 

 

The two best friends reconnecting

family news continued

In June we took all six kids to Cebu for the day and visited Cebu Safari Park.  It was a great day and the kids all had a lot of fun seeing all the animals.

 

All six kids

 Daddy with all six kids

 three newest Cajigas kids

 Two oldest

 Sister love

 Mommy with all six kids

Family picture as of Sept 2019

Family news

I will have to post the pictures later they did not copy from word  Sorry for now ignore the little picture titles

 

I have to start this post with an apology for not updating more often.  I do have somewhat of a legitimate excuse this time though.  Our internet has not been working well for a month or so now. 

We do have some big news coming from our family though and would like to use this post to tell you about it. 

I will start with a little bit of a back story so that you can all be familiar with the people I will talk about.  As many of you know four years ago this coming January we took in a sibling group of four kids.  Mickaila, Andrew and the twins Mark and Marah.  Mark has been with us since the start.  Mickaila, Andrew and Marah where in our orphanage being cared for by house parents.  The beginning of this year they were still living at the orphanage but to save some money they took all their meals with us.  By the middle of the year we decided that we would try and start the adoption process over again and this time we would process the adoption for both the twins.  At this point we did talk about the older two but felt at that time it would be too difficult to try and decided not to at that time. 

 All

Our family as of January 2019

Well God knows his plans and stalled the adoption so that he could work in our hearts and make his will known and  to allow us time to be comfortable with that chose.  A few weeks ago Jonah had a meeting with the new adoption worker from Cebu and they continued to stress  how much easier it would be to process the adoption of the four of them and it would be more likely to be approved.  All four have been under our primary care and God had been working on my heart at least to be okay with adopting all four of them.  When it comes to something like that I talk to Jonah about it and then let God do the rest.  If it is his will then he will make it clear to Jonah as well and he will come to me and we talk about it further.  This was one of those times.  After the meeting with the adoption worker he came home and told me he thought we should adopt all four of them.  So our family went from four when we arrived five years ago.  We tried to grow it by one within a year of our arrival and know almost five years later we are going to double from our original size. 

We went to Cebu safari park in June, this was before we knew we would adopt all of them but it was a great family outing.

                Daddy with all his kids.

 

The three newest Cajigas kids

The two oldest sisters.

 

Sister love

                Mom with all her kids.

 

Newest family photo.  Sept. 2, 2019

The first step should be about a month or so.  The adoption worker will but out a news report on different news outlets looking for the birth mom.  She has one month to reply.  If she does she could be arrested for warrants on theft charges.  If she does not reply the children will be considered legally abandoned and available for adoption.  If everything goes as it should a year and a half from know the kids will be legally Cajigas.

This does mean that my life is busy and revolves around cooking and caring for kids.  I enjoy it most of the time but there are definitely times that I cannot wait for grocery day or nap time.  Most days I do not get nap time though because I only have one that takes naps everyday still.  I have two that do not nap most days.  They do have quite time most of the time.