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.
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