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.
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