Ok...so I am a terrible blogger and am going to try and do better to keep you updated on things here in the Philippines. :) So lets try this again! We just sent out a newsletter that I posted on this site that you can read if you like. Things are slowly settling in to a routine here, but as always that will get shaken up in a week or so. Sierra has been here serving with us since November and she is heading home next week. She believes God has called her home for a season, but that she will join us again. We pray that she does. She does amazing things here and we will definitely miss her. She has quite a few youth that she disciples and ministers to on a weekly basis. She also is our worship team leader and she conducts prayer meetings during the week with our kids. She has a huge impact on our ministry and I pray that she will come back sooner than later. Please pray for her as she makes her transition back to America.
We are also planting a Vineyard church here and things are getting ready to kick off. We will be meeting in the high school starting next Sunday. We are excited because we pray and hope that as we meet in a more neutral place (other than our home) more people will join us. I am excited to really get the children's ministry off the ground and our pastor Paolo is excited to get the church really up and running. We need prayer for our worship team as they will be without a leader and decent instruments once Sierra leaves. But I feel confident that God will provide our needs for the church.
Our kids have been really busy in school. Four of our kids recently participated in a Science competition at the district level. They all did really well but we found out last night that the high school "jingle" team, which Albert was a part of, got first place!!!! We are so proud of him. The jingle competition was where each school had to come up with their own song, or 'jingle', about science and technology and our school won! A few of our high school girls have had to bake for part of their school projects so I have had a good time teaching them how to follow a recipe and bake cookies and pancakes!
Layla, Ellie, and Lily have all been doing great. Layla really loves kindergarten, Ellie is almost completely potty trained, and Lily is really having a blast with all of the kids here while she is on her summer vacation. Thanks for all your prayers! Until the next update: Be blessed!!!
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Friday, July 29, 2011
Fairweather Family Update July 2011
Hello from the Philippines! We hope you have been able to stay cool and are enjoying your summer. It is the rainy season here in the Philippines, but the weather has been pretty nice. Jack got stuck in a typhoon in Manila in June while picking up Tammy and the kids from the airport, but like Prince Charming he waded through a mile long poop river to get to the airport. It took four hours but the family finally got a taxi back to the hotel around 3:00 AM...what a welcome back to the Philippines for Lily.
In May we did our first Arise Ministries baptisms at a beautiful white sand beach island about 1 kilometer offshore from our house. It was a great time and 16 people were baptized! Three of the people decided to get baptized AFTER we started! It was encouraging to see these new Christians getting so excited for the baptisms!
Sierra continues to be our evangelist. She keeps reaching out to people and leading them in to faith in Christ. She is also doing mentoring with a number of the young people. She is leaving in 2 weeks and she (and Lily of course) will be sorely missed. Please pray for Sierra as she is struggling with leaving and saying goodbye to her new family and friends.
The kids are all back in school now. They are all studying hard and doing well in their classes. Rhiena is in her first year of college for nursing and we have students all the way down to Layla and Gwen in kindergarten. Next year we will probably have to send Kim (boy) to a special school for children with disabilities. He is really struggling with school. When he was 4 years old he had a high fever accompanied by convulsions and has had many cognitive problems since then. Please keep him in your prayers.
We were recently approved to use the local high school "hall" for our Sunday morning church services. This is a huge blessing and we are super encouraged and excited. The rent is really low; the highest it will cost us is $20 a month. We've been meeting at our house lately and have about 30 people in attendance. Our house is about a mile from our main focus (which in America is close, but here it is a little bit farther than we would like) but the high school is right smack in the middle of our target area. This next Sunday is really our inaugural meeting, so we are pumped! Please pray all goes well!
Jack has been coaching the high school soccer team and it has been interesting. Soccer is NOT popular in the Philippines by any stretch of the imagination, so it is fun and challenging at the same time (especially trying to explain the rules to the kids in English!). We have been blessed with sponsors from America (Joe and Paula Cobb's real estate company in San Diego and Jack's long time childhood friend Holy Crocker) for the soccer team. We'll post pictures as soon as we have the uniforms completed.
We were also blessed with an incredible gift from a family who are part of the Littleton Vineyard Church in order to help us buy land. We have found a piece of land at a very reasonable price and are hoping to be able to make a move on this place in the next few months (It is about $2,825 per acre and we can buy from 2.5 to 7.9 acres). We are still in need of about $5000 to purchase the land and start getting it ready to build on. If you would like to help out with a contribution to our land purchase fund, please contact us or make a donation through LifeChange (www.lifechange.net).
Attached is a document giving a little detail on each of the children we are currently taking care of (17 kids plus Lily, Layla, and Ellie). We hope that you and your family are well, and we miss you all very much. Thanks again and again for your support and prayers. God bless.
The Fairweathers
Prayer requests:
In May we did our first Arise Ministries baptisms at a beautiful white sand beach island about 1 kilometer offshore from our house. It was a great time and 16 people were baptized! Three of the people decided to get baptized AFTER we started! It was encouraging to see these new Christians getting so excited for the baptisms!
Sierra continues to be our evangelist. She keeps reaching out to people and leading them in to faith in Christ. She is also doing mentoring with a number of the young people. She is leaving in 2 weeks and she (and Lily of course) will be sorely missed. Please pray for Sierra as she is struggling with leaving and saying goodbye to her new family and friends.
The kids are all back in school now. They are all studying hard and doing well in their classes. Rhiena is in her first year of college for nursing and we have students all the way down to Layla and Gwen in kindergarten. Next year we will probably have to send Kim (boy) to a special school for children with disabilities. He is really struggling with school. When he was 4 years old he had a high fever accompanied by convulsions and has had many cognitive problems since then. Please keep him in your prayers.
We were recently approved to use the local high school "hall" for our Sunday morning church services. This is a huge blessing and we are super encouraged and excited. The rent is really low; the highest it will cost us is $20 a month. We've been meeting at our house lately and have about 30 people in attendance. Our house is about a mile from our main focus (which in America is close, but here it is a little bit farther than we would like) but the high school is right smack in the middle of our target area. This next Sunday is really our inaugural meeting, so we are pumped! Please pray all goes well!
Jack has been coaching the high school soccer team and it has been interesting. Soccer is NOT popular in the Philippines by any stretch of the imagination, so it is fun and challenging at the same time (especially trying to explain the rules to the kids in English!). We have been blessed with sponsors from America (Joe and Paula Cobb's real estate company in San Diego and Jack's long time childhood friend Holy Crocker) for the soccer team. We'll post pictures as soon as we have the uniforms completed.
We were also blessed with an incredible gift from a family who are part of the Littleton Vineyard Church in order to help us buy land. We have found a piece of land at a very reasonable price and are hoping to be able to make a move on this place in the next few months (It is about $2,825 per acre and we can buy from 2.5 to 7.9 acres). We are still in need of about $5000 to purchase the land and start getting it ready to build on. If you would like to help out with a contribution to our land purchase fund, please contact us or make a donation through LifeChange (www.lifechange.net).
Attached is a document giving a little detail on each of the children we are currently taking care of (17 kids plus Lily, Layla, and Ellie). We hope that you and your family are well, and we miss you all very much. Thanks again and again for your support and prayers. God bless.
The Fairweathers
Prayer requests:
- Health for our kids. Due to the rainy season here they have all been struggling with on and of sicknesses. Please specifically pray for Ellie as she has had bronchitis and is not gaining weight properly.
- Sierra as she heads back to America. Please pray that God sends her a strong Christian network of friends and that she continues to stay on fire for the Lord.
- Lily as she goes back from being here this summer. Pray that God will bless her and that her time here and the kids here will greatly impact her life.
- We are still in need of 3 child sponsors.
- Money for the land we would like to purchase and money to be able to build dorms for the girls and boys as well as a church building.
- God continues to work here and that more and more people come to know Christ.
- Our first church service as the Calapan City Vineyard Church at the high school. We have no sound equipment so it would be great if God provided that for us as well.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Yay for Albert
He also took another exam in November that is a placement test. This test checks the level of competency he has in school against his age or the proper grade he should be in. Therefore, since Albert is 16 he could essentially be placed in 4th year high school if he does amazingly well. So we'll see how he does. We have yet to receive those test results but we should get them next month. We are hoping that he gets placed in 2nd year high school and can go into that grade next year with his friends. As of now the local high school has allowed Albert to be temporarily enrolled until he gets his test results. His teachers think very highly of him and are willing to help him get official grades this year so all his work can be counted. Please pray that the test results of this 2nd exam are positive and he can continue on to 2nd year high school next year! Thanks!!!
February Newsletter
Hello again to all the friends and family of Arise Ministries. This month has been a nice, regular month (which is nice for a change!) Actually, we have been doing really well since we’ve returned from the U.S. in the beginning of December. We thank all our family, friends, and supporters for your prayers, we couldn’t do it without you!
We still have 15 kids with us, and as we noted last month, our little buddy Irish will be returning to stay permanently around April 1st (she will make 16 kids). The kids are improving their grades in school and prefer the new schools in Calapan. This week the city hosted the regional high school sports competition, so the high school didn’t do much school work. Instead it was a fun filled week of cheering on our city and province against the evil hordes of Palawan, Romblon, Occidental, and Puerto Princessa. The boys loved watching the soccer and have been training intensely every day so they can try to make the soccer team next year.
We had 2 new baby goats born this month. They are a boy and girl and Layla and Sierra named them Bella and Jacob. Their mom does not have very good mothering skills so she doesn't like to feed her babies. Everyday we go out and make the mom lay down so her babies can nurse. We have also been milking her to make sure she produces enough milk. It has been tedious but Jack is working hard to make sure the babies live and that they are healthy. So far so good and they are absolutely adorable. They both fell asleep the other day in Sierra's arms!
All the kids are very thankful for the sponsors’ increase in their food budget. They really enjoy the greater variety of ulam (ulam means any other food that goes with your rice) during the week. They are also eating more and some are even getting a little chubby! We are also beginning to get bunk beds made for all of the kids. The plan is to have one made per month. We had our first one installed this month in the boys house and they were all so excited! So thank you so much for that, and thank you to all our sponsors and supporters.
We hosted our first ever Valentine’s Party and had a blast. Tammy and Sierra made chocolate chip cookies and Marshmallow popcorn balls. These type of treats are super special for the kids because any type of baking in the Philippines is very rare. We also traded Valentines and the kids loved getting all the kind words of encouragement from each other. It was a lot of fun.
Jack has been teaching classes to the staff on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings. That has been going really well. The classes focus on parenting, Biblical Principles, and Life Lessons. The staff seems to really enjoy the classes and they are a great way to interact on a regular basis. Tammy teaches school to Layla on Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays and she loves having school like the other kids. She always wants to do her “projects.” She is now able to recognize all her letters (big and little) and she is getting good at writing her letters. She impressed Tammy when on her own, without any prompting, she copied down ‘Happy Valentine’s Day.’ Tuesdays and Thursdays have been fun because Jack takes Ellie and Layla for the day and Tammy gets to take care of administrative tasks. This has been very helpful in getting things organized and paperwork processed.
We are also now having youth group on Wednesday nights. It is super fun! Sierra and our student/staff member Carmona help Jack lead the youth group. It is amazing how 50 kids will just show up on a Wednesday (school) night ready to have nice clean fun and hear about God. We also have been having life lessons classes with the high school kids on Friday nights. This is a good time where we can help the teenagers dream big and start to put their dreams in to action in a kind and loving Christian environment.
Until next month…Blessings!!! With love, Jack, Tammy, Layla, & Ellie Fairweather
Prayer Requests:
The Worship Team
Tammy and Ellie at Mimaropa
Dennis and Gwen at Mimaropa
Jielyn and her Valentine's
Mac Mac passing out Valentine's
Marshmallow Popcorn balls we made for the party
Ryan showing off the Valentine's he received!
Layla being a superhero!
Ellie being a superhero!
Tammy telling the mama goat to do a better job being a mom and to start feeding her babies!
We still have 15 kids with us, and as we noted last month, our little buddy Irish will be returning to stay permanently around April 1st (she will make 16 kids). The kids are improving their grades in school and prefer the new schools in Calapan. This week the city hosted the regional high school sports competition, so the high school didn’t do much school work. Instead it was a fun filled week of cheering on our city and province against the evil hordes of Palawan, Romblon, Occidental, and Puerto Princessa. The boys loved watching the soccer and have been training intensely every day so they can try to make the soccer team next year.
We had 2 new baby goats born this month. They are a boy and girl and Layla and Sierra named them Bella and Jacob. Their mom does not have very good mothering skills so she doesn't like to feed her babies. Everyday we go out and make the mom lay down so her babies can nurse. We have also been milking her to make sure she produces enough milk. It has been tedious but Jack is working hard to make sure the babies live and that they are healthy. So far so good and they are absolutely adorable. They both fell asleep the other day in Sierra's arms!
All the kids are very thankful for the sponsors’ increase in their food budget. They really enjoy the greater variety of ulam (ulam means any other food that goes with your rice) during the week. They are also eating more and some are even getting a little chubby! We are also beginning to get bunk beds made for all of the kids. The plan is to have one made per month. We had our first one installed this month in the boys house and they were all so excited! So thank you so much for that, and thank you to all our sponsors and supporters.
We hosted our first ever Valentine’s Party and had a blast. Tammy and Sierra made chocolate chip cookies and Marshmallow popcorn balls. These type of treats are super special for the kids because any type of baking in the Philippines is very rare. We also traded Valentines and the kids loved getting all the kind words of encouragement from each other. It was a lot of fun.
Jack has been teaching classes to the staff on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings. That has been going really well. The classes focus on parenting, Biblical Principles, and Life Lessons. The staff seems to really enjoy the classes and they are a great way to interact on a regular basis. Tammy teaches school to Layla on Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays and she loves having school like the other kids. She always wants to do her “projects.” She is now able to recognize all her letters (big and little) and she is getting good at writing her letters. She impressed Tammy when on her own, without any prompting, she copied down ‘Happy Valentine’s Day.’ Tuesdays and Thursdays have been fun because Jack takes Ellie and Layla for the day and Tammy gets to take care of administrative tasks. This has been very helpful in getting things organized and paperwork processed.
We are also now having youth group on Wednesday nights. It is super fun! Sierra and our student/staff member Carmona help Jack lead the youth group. It is amazing how 50 kids will just show up on a Wednesday (school) night ready to have nice clean fun and hear about God. We also have been having life lessons classes with the high school kids on Friday nights. This is a good time where we can help the teenagers dream big and start to put their dreams in to action in a kind and loving Christian environment.
Until next month…Blessings!!! With love, Jack, Tammy, Layla, & Ellie Fairweather
Prayer Requests:
- We are still in need of a social worker. For whatever reason it has been very difficult to find a qualified person in our area.
- We are still in need of a house parent for the girls. Carmona is getting ready to start college and we are still looking for a kind Christian to take her place. We have some people that have applied so prayer for who God has for this position would be greatly appreciated.
- Prayer for our licenses to be completed. Currently we are working on obtaining our final license with the Department of Social Welfare and Development. We just recently completed our Mayor’s Permit which was the second stage of becoming fully licensed here in the Philippines (woo hoo)!
- We have been looking at a piece of land near our current location. The price is right…but it is a little farther away from town than we would like (the big problem there is having internet). We wouldn't move there for at least a year and a half, but we are trying to be wise with the decision.
- Prayer for Rhiena’s health. She still has pneumonia despite now being through 2 courses of antibiotics (including Ciprofaxin).
- Prayer for Rodrigo who has had on and off ear infections since we found him on the street 2 years ago. He would have had tubes in his ears if he lived in America, but he is a bit old now.
- Continued prayer and financial support for this ministry. We can’t help the lost and hurting without people helping us!
The Worship Team
Tammy and Ellie at Mimaropa
Dennis and Gwen at Mimaropa
Jielyn and her Valentine's
Mac Mac passing out Valentine's 
Marshmallow Popcorn balls we made for the party
Ryan showing off the Valentine's he received!
Layla being a superhero!
Ellie being a superhero!
Tammy telling the mama goat to do a better job being a mom and to start feeding her babies!Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Valentine's Day
We threw our first ever Valentine's Day party for the kids on Sunday night. We made them marshmallow popcorn balls and chocolate chip cookies! We played a few games and passed out valentines. It was really a lot of fun. I had all the kids make a mailbox for their valentines but not all of them made one, or they didn't make a very big box. What was neat was that I had a few of the kids say to me that they didn't think they would get that many valentines and that is why they didn't make a box, or a nice box. They were all so excited to read what others wrote about them. It is always nice to have someone write something nice to you...we all need encouragement like that. Our kids really need that type of positive reinforcement in their lives. We will definitely be throwing another Valentine's Party next year! Here are some pics of the fun times we had!
making popcorn balls!
Rizza
Rhiena
Lyka
Carmona
Layla
Jeric
Erick
making popcorn balls!
Rizza
Rhiena
Lyka
Carmona
Layla
Jeric
ErickTuesday, February 8, 2011
New Baby Goats!
Yesterday while we were at the market getting our food for the week one of our mama goats gave birth to 2 babies! We have a boy and a girl and they are adorable. The mom is having a hard time accepting her babies and we're not sure why. We talked to the vet and he gave us some ideas on how to get the mama to be a good mama. We thought we were going to have to milk the mama ourselves and bottle feed the goats, but it seems like she is doing better. Plus, Jack tied the mama up so she can't leave her babies and that is working so far. Layla named the baby goat Bella and Sierra is still debating on what to call the boy goat, but she has had some good suggestions. The baby girl is black with some white and the boy is black, white, and brown. Here are some pics:
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Animal Adventure
Here is an update on what is going on with our animals. We finally have some good news about how well they are doing. It was getting pretty rough there at times with the animals dying, but things are looking up. God's provision and faithfulness are amazing!
1 momma chicken had 11 babies, Dennis “rescued” the 11th one by helping it out of the shell.
1 momma had 10 babies. They are the tiniest, tiniest cutie little baby chickens you could imagine…and they are all healthy and thriving.
The Momma turkey had 7 healthy and strong babies. The Tom turkey is so excited about his new kids. He attacks Jack whenever he gets within 20 feet of the babies.
The goats are pregnant and one should be delivering any day.
The big momma pig is pregnant and should have a nice litter of piglets in April.
We have 3 hybrid chickens that are laying eggs. We sent them to the incubator because the chickens won’t sit on them. Jack brought them to the incubator place and they just laughed and said they don’t take turkey eggs. When Jack told them they were chicken eggs (just really big chicken eggs) they laughed even more. When Jack told them the momma chickens were ½ native chickens and ½ commercial chickens they laughed even harder…then to top it off they were rolling laughing when Jack informed them that the daddy chicken is a Chinese chicken!
We got a few chickens to eat (they are still alive) and on the way home one laid an egg in the bag, and another one laid an egg 5 minutes after we got home. They continue to lay eggs…so they might get out of the dinner menu just yet.
January Newsletter
Hello again everyone. It has been one year since we set out on this journey to the Philippines and it has been quite a year full of ups and downs. As we look back upon this year we thank God for our provision. We thank you, our supporters, too. Without you we couldn’t do what God has sent us here to do. Lives are being changed. The Kingdom of God is moving forward.
We currently have 15 kids in our full time care. We are blessed to be able to minister to them daily. We are also blessed to be able to minister to many of their families on occasion. Whether we are visiting a mom in the city jail or an alcoholic dad, we are blessed to be able to minister to the families. The 4 Briones siblings went back to Puerto Galera for a week over Christmas. Their dad, who is an alcoholic, only drank alcohol 1 time during their stay. He was remorseful for the one time and apologized to his kids. The Kingdom of God is coming to that family.
We’ve been back in the Philippines for a month now. We were in the U.S. for the month of November and we had a great trip. Since coming back to the Philippines things have been going pretty well. All of the kids went back to visit family or friends for the Christmas season. There were no major problems while the kids were out of town, so that is a huge blessing. Praise God!
We had a super party on December 31st as we celebrated Christmas, New Years, and Dennis’ birthday. It was a wonderful night and our eyes welled up a number of times as we saw the joy on the kids and staff’s faces as they received the gifts. The kids are so thankful to all of you that so generously gave them gifts this holiday season.
It was with sadness and joy that we send Mato, Wang Wang, Kimberly, and Desiree back to Manila to stay permanently with their dad. Their dad was working in Saudi Arabia (their mom is in jail for drug pushing) and came home to stay. So they are able to stay with their dad and their dad is able to take care of them. We are glad they are with their family, but of course we are sad to see them go. We hope and we pray that we were able to lay down enough of a Christian foundation that they will grow to be followers of Christ in their adulthood.
Jack was able to go to visit Irish’s family this month. Irish, age 7, was placed with us in April by her uncle. When we moved to Calapan in September Irish went back to stay with her uncle. The uncle sent her back to her abusive family in November, so Jack went to check on the situation. By the grace of God, Jack was able to find Irish’s home in another province in a city that he had never been to before. Talking with the family, we gave them the option to have Irish come back and stay with us. The family has 9 children and is poor. The father abuses Irish because he doesn’t believe Irish is his child. The family decided to send Irish back to stay with us after she finishes her school year! We are very excited to have her come back.
Sierra has been staying with us now for a month. She has settled in and her ministries (worship and mentoring) are going strong. Her worship team has started practicing and she has started teaching guitar and drum lessons to the kids and staff. Our neighbors are getting involved too and a number of them are taking part in the music lessons. She is also doing a wonderful job with mentoring the teenage girls and conducting daily devotionals.
Now that we have been operating for a year we have a little better understanding of the cost of caring for a child. We have found out that free public school isn’t really “free” and that Albert (age 16) eats more than Rodrigo (age 7). We have adjusted our child sponsorship to $55 a month to account for the actual cost of caring for these children. If you sponsor a child and are able to increase your sponsorship to $55 a month, we would be so thankful. If you can’t, we understand and it is no problem, and we are STILL SO THANKFUL FOR YOU!
We would like to thank all the people who so generously gave for our washer and dryer, air conditioner, and bed. Thank you all, once again, for your support, thoughts, and prayers. We love and miss you very much and look forward to seeing you during our next visit to the U.S. God bless and love,
The Fairweathers
Prayer Requests
Health: Tammy, Ellie, and Rhiena are sick with the flu and cough. They are all on antibiotics now. Please pray for their speedy and complete healing.
Car: That we can quickly find a buyer for our SUV and find a good smaller car to replace it at a good price (we don’t need the 4x4 now that we don’t live in the mountain).
Irish: That Irish can come back to stay with us in April without any major problems.
House Parents: That we can find new house parents for the girls. Carmona is the house mom for the girls but will be starting college in June so we are looking for replacements.
Social Worker: That we can find a qualified social worker with a heart for Jesus and children.
Friday, January 28, 2011
OUR STORY
While conducting medical outreaches in 2006 in the Philippines, Jack and Tammy fell in love with the country and especially the Filipino people. One evening while walking the streets of Manila Jack saw many young 6 to 8 year old children pulling out pieces of cardboard and going to sleep on the city sidewalk. He knew that this just couldn't be right, and God began to lead him and Tammy on a journey which would culminate in service to some of the poorest of the poor people in our world.
We desire to help children that are abandoned, abused, or neglected. We provide a loving Christian Children's Home for each child in order that they are able to develop life skills and live a full life as God intended.
Our vision for the Children's Home is to raise up Christian leaders of tomorrow. This home will be much more than an orphanage. The children will be loved and get all the basic necessities of life...but also so much more. Each child will be involved in a tailor made discipleship program which will teach them in depth about:
Christianity and Christian Living
Finances and Financial Management
Economics
Social Justice Issues
OUR MISSION
To share the love of Jesus Christ holistically to forward the Kingdom of God. This is done locally and globally. We understand our place in God's Mission and Kingdom to be a ministry to the poor spiritually, physically, and emotionally, through a children's home and community development program in the Philippines.
OUR VISION
To provide holistic care to orphans, street children, and impoverished families in the Philippines.
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