American thanksgiving

 



Jonah thought it would be great this year if his family had a chance to know what American Thanksgiving is like for us.  So we bought a couple of turkeys and hams and we had thanksgiving with about twenty five people here in the Philippines.  All of the people here had never had turkey before and so it was fun to share this holiday with them.  Both turkeys where gone and most of the ham was gone as well.  We also set up our Christmas tree recently.  Another fun day that was.  The tree was set up and decorated by seven kids.  Jonah and I sat back and took pictures and watched the kids all have fun.  They have had a tree of their own let alone help decorate one before.  They all had a blast.  We are really enjoying this season with all of our kids.

 eight of the "kids" with our tree

 Thanksgiving feast ready to be devoured

 nephew Ken, sister in law Melina and niece Sharon

 Faith enjoying Thanksgiving dinner

A couple of our young people enjoying Thanksgiving

 

We are in full swing for Christmas season here and what a busy time of year it is.  The biggest event we have coming up is our last youth event for this year.  We are expecting about 200 plus young people this month.  The event is planned for December 12 and 13.  They arrive early Saturday and have lectures, worship and games planned for all day Saturday and will attend a Sunday worship service the next day.  Please keep this event in your prays.

 

     We are all doing pretty well.  A cold has made its way through our family and had us all laid out for a day or two but we are all back to health and ready to stay healthy for the rest of this amazing Christmas season to celebrate our saviors birth.  We Pray you and your families will have a very blessed Christmas and a wonderful new year.

A picture is worth a thousand words part I

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so I am going to try an experiment with the blog today and you can come along for the ride.  If you get a chance leave me note and let me know what you think.  I will put a small caption under each picture to tell you who and when it was taken.

 

 Juagdan ECCU congregation at the church thanksgiving end of April 2015

 Faith on the steps at our house, Sept. 2015

 James and Inday, about July 2015

 Kuya Ken, Precious, Faith and Kuya Fredo.  In Negros March 2015

 The gang that went to Negros with us March 2015

 Ate Amy, Precious, Faith, Ate Jane, and Jolene Negros March 2015

 Lolo Kuya Ken, Kuya Fredo and Jonah Negros MArch 2015

 Kuya Fredo, Kuya Ken, Precious, Faith and Kuya Chloe, Negros March 2015

Kuya Fredo, Kuya Chloe, Faith, Precious and Kuya Ken, Negros March 2015.

 

 

The pictures from Negros is when we went to the local churches national conference in March.  I am so thankful for the three young men that where with us.  Ken Chloe and Fredo.  My girls love them and they love my girls and where great because they helped to watch after the kids.  Most of the pictures are at a park that we stopped at the last day before we left for home.  The girls wanted to get a lot of pictures with there "boys".  Hope you enjoy a small glimpse into our world here.  There will be a part two coming soon and maybe more when I find the other memory card.  God Bless.

Family day away and other news

 

 



On Friday a couple of weeks ago we took a day away to spend with Jonah's sister and her family.  The 5 of  them and 4 of us went to a resort about an hour or so from home to spend the day relaxing and swimming.  It was a good day to get away from the craziness of life here and to relax before the start of the Bible training here in Juagdan.  The girls and I spent most of the day in the pool.  They had a nice pool for kids that was not more than three feet deep and had a nice slide system set up with five or six different slides.  The girls loved having the chance to spend the day with there cousins and with mom and dad.  Three of the cousins live here with there mom and dad but are gone most of the week at work and school but the girls love them and they love the girls so it was nice for them to have a day to play together and just relax from the hectic life we sometimes lead.  

 

 Precious

 Chloe, Faith, Precious and Klent

 

Faith enjoying the water

 

 

In other news the girls are doing well in school and are learning a lot.  Precious is getting pretty fluent in Cebuano the local language here.  Faith is learning it as well and can speak in short sentences.  Faith has learned to spell and write her name.  She knows the alphabet and can write most of the letters free hand.  She counts to forty in English and to 25 in Cebuano.  We have started renovating a building near our house to start the water refilling business.  We have also started raising baby pigs to sell when they are older.  There is a big market for pigs and pork so we are trying it out.  We know that we can save some on our food budget by buying a baby and raising it to butcher when big enough.  The orphans are growing and learning a lot as well.  Marvin and John have almost mastered the alphabet which is a huge accomplishment from where they were just a few months ago.  I keep some busy on the weekends baking and making snacks for the mens basketball games on Sunday afternoon.  I enjoy baking and the guys love to eat the goodies so it is a win win.  I burn the calories mixing everything by hand and the guys eat all the yummies.  The kids all enjoy helping out in the kitchen when I bake also so sometimes it becomes a family affair.  It takes longer that way but is a lot more fun because there is a lot more laughter. 

 

This note may be a little early but better early.  We would ask that you prayerfully share our ministry with your friends and family.  At the same time we would ask that you prayerfully consider or work and ministry here for your year end giving.  May God bless you and yours.  Blessings

 

Cajigas family

new members

Wow it is has been a long time since I updated and for that we are sorry.  I just want to take this time to introduce you to a couple of new members of our family.  The first is Marvin.  He is a 13 year old boy that was living with his lolo (grandpa).  He is in the 3rd grade.  He is similar to our other three orphans in that he is very behind in school because no one has made him attend.  We are wondering how he even got to the 3rd grade.  He can not read and is not able to recognize all the letters by sight.  If done in order he has memorized the alphabet.  He is also very behind in math.  He can speak well.  He is a hard worker and has a lot of energy.  I am understanding know how a boy of that age can eat a person out of house and home.  He has a sad story.  His mom was raped by her dad and got pregnant.  Marvin is the result of that crime.  His mom ran away soon after he was born and Marvin has been raised by his dad/grandpa till know.  He was here with us for a week or so and then grandpa wanted him to come home.  He cried for a couple of days because he wanted to live here with us.  Grandpa finally let him go and he has officially moved into the orphanage.  We are excited to provide him with the love and support he needs to succeed in life.  We are tutoring him after school and on weekends in the hopes to get him caught up to where he should be in school. 

 

 

Marvin our happy one.

 

The next new member is Lexi.  That is what the girls have named our puppy.  We have had her for about five months know but are just getting pictures up.  She is a German shepherd Chocolate Lab mix.  She is already a tall puppy so we are sure she is going to be a big dog.  She is very well behaved and we are trying to teach her tricks.  The girls love her.  

 

Lexi our puppy

 

 

The last person we would like to introduce you to is DinDin.  I do not have a picture of her yet so will post later.  She is a new ministry partner.  She came to us in June.  She loves kids and has a huge servants heart.  She has taken over most of the care at the orphanage and helps us out around our home as well.  She is also working with the children at the church to start some more children's ministries.  She is also teaching our youngest orphan John and Faith in school.  We pulled John from the local school and decided to teach him at home because he was not learning at school and was to distracting to the other kids.  He has been doing much better here and Faith is enjoying as well.  They are excited to be classmates and cannot wait to share with Jonah and I all that they learned that day.  She has been a huge blessing to have and we are excited to welcome her to our family as well.

       In other news, we have a new ministry starting here soon.  In mid September we are starting a short term bible training program.  We have at least eight students for the first session and are excited for this new opportunity.  It is a three month program with a focus on leadership and evangelism/outreach.  We have six courses that are going to be taught with them working in the field to apply what they are learning at the same time.  I have been given the wonderful opportunity to head up this program with the help of the church board.  As we get started I will update you more about the ministry and let you know how it is going. 

 



Youth camp 2015 and other news

Youth Camp, wow what an experience.  There where a little over 200 young people from around Bohol that attended.  They stayed in tents and cabins on the grounds at a camp not far from our home here.  They started with registration where they got there name tag and where assigned there team color.  They did everything with their team.  The day started early at camp.  They started the morning with team devotions and exercise at 4:30 They then had time to get ready for the day before breakfast at 7:00.  The first session of the day started at 8:30.  They started with praise and worship then a speaker. The topics that where discussed where relevant to young peoples life today.  There where several pastors from the area that did the speaking.  After the lecture they where dismissed for chore duty.  Each team had a certain area of camp they where responsible for cleaning.  Lunch was at noon.  There was another session after lunch.  Then each afternoon there where team activities planned.  Basketball, volleyball, dramas, skits and even an amazing race planned.  Dinner and free time was then enjoyed by all before an evening session.  Lights out by 9:00 pm because morning came early.  We had the joy to be able to stay at camp with everyone as chaperones and just to observe and enjoy watching the young people get to know Christ and grow in him more.

 

 praying for one another

 200 young people from youth camp 2015

 kids from our village at camp

In other news The orphanage just needs to be painted and a couple of doors put on which should happen today and tomorrow.  It took a little over three and a half months to finish with a lot of love and sweat from a lot of very dedicated men.  We had two volunteer weeks and every Saturday was a volunteer day.  Every volunteer day at least three to five guys working. 

 



     We have three orphans currently living in the orphanage you can see there pictures below, but I will tell you a little about all of them.  Jerwin(tata) the oldest is 15 years old and has started the 5th grade this last week.  He is smart, enjoys spending time with his friends and recently became a new believer in Christ.  His sister in Donnabe(Ebec) she is 13 years old and has also just started the 5th grade.  She is fun loving and a great caretaker of the younger kids around.  The youngest is Jonh Allen he is 7 years old and started the 2nd grade.  He is full of energy and can be quite the trouble maker if not watched.  He is learning a lot of things to become more independent.  He was not made to do much for himself before he arrived so does not think he is able to do for himself.  They are all learning and growing well here and we pray they will continue to.  There mom Died several years ago in an accident and there dad passed in mid march from TB.  They have all been tested and two of them are being treated for TB and the youngest is being treated for the exposure.  They have a government program that allows people to be tested for and treated free of charge so we have challenged the church to get tested and treated if needed.  To help with that we will provide transportation to the clinic and help with any expenses if there are any. 



 

 Jonh Allan Dupalco

 Donnabe (Ebec) dupalco

Jerwin (Tata) Dupalco

 

 

In family news, we are all adjusting to life with three new kids around.  As you can maybe imagine we have a very busy house these days but we are enjoying it and taking everyday as it comes.  The girls have started school as well.  Precious is started the 2nd grade and is still homeschooled for know we will see about next year.  She is picking up on the language a little bit and loves spending time with her friends.  She is getting involved with some of the activities here.  She helps to clean the grounds and get the church set up every Saturday.  She also attends a pray meeting with some of the other young people on Friday evening.  She still talks about missing home every once in awhile but we are able to send a message to her friends and even call them and she is usually okay.  Faith is smart, fun and full of energy.  She knows how to count to ten in English and Viasayan.  She knows here colors, shapes and can identify the numbers 0-8 she is also starting to learn to write some of her numbers.  Seven is her favorite number to write.  We are not pushing her to learn but she asks to do school and we are letting her set the pace at what she is learning.  She has a lot of older girls that love to watch out for her so that is nice because she has a lot of energy and would run us in circles every day.  Jonah is enjoying being home.  He has taken up fishing here and has been out a few times with a young man from the church and they have done great at supplying us with fish to eat.  He has also started a livelihood project with the men at the church here.  they are planting oysters to then harvest and sell.  There seems to be a large demand for but no one was harvesting them.  Me, Jessica am enjoying having so many kids around to care for.  I will admit there are times they all try my patience but God seems to be blessing me with a lot more of that than I used to possess so he knows what we need and is a great provider.  I am proud to say also that I have lost pretty close to 35 pounds since we have been here.  I have been eating better and eating  less and have been walking at least  four times a week.  It also helps that we have a flight of steps in our house and I climb them somewhere between 20-30 times a day.  Anyway sorry this one is so long and has been a long time in coming but we where without internet for a week and have had a lot of activities going on here.  For more youth camp pictures see facebook.