Christmas Party on the street

The tuesday before Christmas, Ronald and I along with 5 others went to the streets to visit with the kids. With the help of a very generous sponsor we were able to throw the kids a special Christmas party! We played 3 games -- pin the nose of Rudolph, an egg toss, and a filipino game similar to musical chairs. With each game there were winners and prizes! We had fun prizes --marbles, handheld tetris game, jacks and a piggy bank.

Reading the story of Jesus before the games begin

a Filipino game ... the kids listen to music and dance around the paper, when the music stops the partners have to get on the paper, with each stop the paper gets smaller and smaller ... last team standing wins. 

Chip and Ian had a really fun time! 

Pin the nose on Rudolph 

It was so much fun sharing in these activities with the kids!  I didn't get any pictures of the egg toss but it was by far the most fun I have ever seen these kids having ... the smiles on their faces and the laughter from their mouths brought so much joy to my heart! 

After all the fun games and festivities we gave the kids a delicious meal from Jollibee (that included 1 piece chicken, 2 rice and a coke) and brownies. Lilia's Place also brought yummy cookies to share! 

James Ryan is enjoying his food! He also loves posing for the camera! VERY guapo. 

Kevin also loves posing for the camera! 

Sisters, Jennifer (middle) and Azel with their friend, JunJun (left) showing off their delicious food! 

This was the first day we meet Joshua... He was happy to get in on the fun! He won the dancing game and really loves the food! 

The kids not only had fun games, prizes, a warm meal, and dessert...  we were also able to buy each child a new pair of flip-flops!!! And, because of Lilia's Place each child received a new shirt! The kids were ecstatic about their gifts and even tried on their new shirts and shoes immediately.   

Jack shows off his new blue flip flops. His old shoes were so worn with holes in the soles and torn to pieces. 

Arnold won one of the games and won this fun tetris prize! 

Mark takes a minute to show off his prize of marbles and his bag of goodies --a t-shirt and shoes

Marz sporting her new guitar shirt! 

Kevin loves his new shirt! 

In total we gave out 25 meals, 25 flips-flops, 25 shirts, 5 prizes and a lot of LOVE.

We could not have done this without our generous supporters. THANK YOU so much for loving these kids and sharing what you have to be able to support them in this way. 

if you notice their feet you will see they are all wearing their new shoes

showing off their new shirts! 

A Philippine Thanksgiving

As our family and friends celebrated Thanksgiving in the United States it was just another ordinary day here in Asia. However, we weren't going to let that stop us from celebrating thanks ... after all, we have much to be thankful for.

• We see a lot of poverty here in Cebu and most of the time (not all the time) it is because some ancestor made a poor decision and it sadly set his descendants up for a rough life ... We are incredibly thankful for great families who made good decisions to ensure that we would have great lives. Thank you.  
• Technology. 
• Food on the table and roof over our head. 
• Old friends. 
• New friends. 
• All of our supports that make it possible to be able to do work in this place. Not just our financial supporters, but all of our cheerleaders as well :) 
• Grace. Love. Patience. 
• I am thankful that my first Thanksgiving away from home was a success! 

We had a great time sharing our heritage with some Filipino friends! Andrea and Gepher Lopina opened their home for a wonderful Thanksgiving feast! It was a good time of food, laughs, and new traditions (such as pilgrim and indian hats). 

Love and Peace. 

-Caidy 

Saul

Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.  He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

  “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.

   “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied.  “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

 The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus.  For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.

 In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!”

   “Yes, Lord,” he answered.

 The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.”

 “Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem.  And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”

 But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”

  Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”  Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized,  and after taking some food, he regained his strength.

I would like to say that I am Ananias, who faithfully follows the Lord in all circumstances... But sometimes I am Saul, persecuting people around me. Thankfully we have an AMAZING God who uses all sorts of broken people to be His instruments! 

what is on my mind.

If this blog were written in a bunch of facebook status’s this is what it would say…

Caidy Quilaton …. Is feeling beyond thankful for the amount of blessings God has bestowed upon 818 ministry in the last seven months.

Caidy Quilaton … Cebu seems so familiar some days and other days I feel the deep reality of being a part of the minority.

Caidy Quilaton … is finally getting used to washing laundry by hand. But I pray that God doesn’t mistake my “used to” feelings for comfortable feelings. I would still love a washing machine.

Caidy Quilaton … Ronald Quilaton is my favorite human. 

Caidy Quilaton … poverty needs to end. Soon.

Caidy Quilaton … the ‘A’ says ahh, the ‘A’ says ahh, every letter makes a sound the ‘A’ says ahh.

Caidy Quilaton .. Thank God for awesome friends who spend lots of money to travel to the other side of the world for a fun visit!

Caidy Quilaton … God’s GRACE is enough. 

Caidy Quilaton ... all you need it LOVE 

Caidy Quilaton ... dear dogs, although I have gotten used to your constant barking during the waking hours, I would love it if you restrained from barking during the sleeping hours. sincerely, sleepy neighbor.   

Caidy Quilaton .. hello summer, why are you still here? oh thats right, you never leave that Philippines.

Caidy Quilaton ... it is possible to obtain peace in such a broken world? 

Bartimaeus

Then they came to Jericho. And as He was leaving Jericho with His disciples and a large crowd, a blind beggarnamed Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the road. When he heard that it was Jesus the Nazarene, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus,Son of David, have mercy on me!” Many were sternly telling him to be quiet, but he kept crying out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” And Jesus stopped and said, “Call him here.” So they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take courage, stand up! He is calling for you.” Throwing aside his cloak, he jumped up and came to Jesus. And answering him, Jesus said, “What do you want Me to do for you?” And the blind man said to Him, “Rabboni, I want to regain my sight!”And Jesus said to him, “Go;your faith has made you well.” Immediately he regained his sight and began following Him on the road. 

What is your first thought after reading this story from the book of Mark? 

Possibly it's the amount of compassion that Jesus showed on Bartimaeus. Maybe for some of you it's the beggars faith, and maybe like me it's the way the crowd treated the poor blind man; shushing him like he wasn't worth anything ... the crowd was anything but compassionate towards Bartimaeus.

I have lived in the Philippines for 4 months 3 weeks and 3 days. Out of this time I have walked past this one man at least 10 times. This man is crippled and sits on the stairs of a sky walk daily . He begs for money, holding a cup out to the people walking by. 

About a week ago I walked past this man paying him not a whole lot of attention.

Then the thought dawned on me. He probably can't get a job because he is disabled. He was most likely abandoned as a child because of his disability. He probably doesn't eat more than two meals a day. He probably doesn't know anything else.  Then I thought "wow, Caidy, you are just like the crowd in the Bartimaeus story". 

How many of us are like the crowd? Yes, we all wish we were like Jesus, but don't lie to yourself. 

My challenge for you all is compassion. Try, just for this week, to have more compassion on  the people you encounter on a daily basis. 

Street living and injustice

It is quite common here in the Philippines to walk down the street and see a child reach their hand towards you and say phrases like "money" or  "taga-i ko ug kwart" (give me money) or "ma'am, sir money".  It is also common to see children sleeping in stairwells, on sidewalks and on streets. However, it is even more common to see people pass those children like they don't even exist.

Tonight Ronald and I were walking down the street and we saw a little boy, probably no older than 12, sleeping on the side walk. He was LITERALLY sleeping in the middle of the side walk. Does something seem wrong with that picture? YES! Something is defiantly wrong with that picture. People are not meant to live like that. God created good and I whole heartedly believe He wants us to live good lives. Is this child living a good life? I don't think he is; He doesn't have a bed, no consistent food source, and who knows if he has family. 

 So, not knowing anything else to do, we gave this poor little boy food. Now back when I lived in the states ... not that that was to long ago ... I would usually feel pretty darn good about feeding a homeless person. I never questioned where they would get their next meal because there are so many ways for a homeless person in the states to get fed. But not here, not in the Philippines. Tonight giving that child food and then walking away only made me feel worse; I am heart broken by the fact that he is left out in the world all alone with no one to provided for him. And here I sit in my nice house, with a comfortable bed and plenty of food in my fridge while this poor little boy is out on the streets sleeping on the sidewalk not knowing when he will eat again. HOW SAD. 

I am at a complete loss here, friends. As christians we are called to take care of each other. Quite honestly, I haven't seen enough of this. We are a selfish people and until we overcome ourselves we are going to continue to see starving children and homeless families. 

I don't know what to do. The only solutions I can come up with are short term solutions. I am looking for long term, heart of the matter solutions. I want to get to the root of this problem ... why are children living on the streets and how can we change that? 

Please pray with me as I look to God for the solution. 

1 John 3:17 

If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth."

Peace. 

-Caidy 

Ahh ... VBS

Vacation Bible School! 

I remember when I was a little girl I LOVED VBS at South County church of Christ. It was the next best thing to church camp. I would beg mom and dad to take me every night! Fortunately for me, I would usually be able to go 3 out of 5 nights. It was the best! The singing, the skits, the crafts, the snacks, the friends ... it was a blast! We had fun while learning about people God used in the Bible. It was a great experience and I never imagined that one day I would be able to create the same kind of fun for kids in the Philippines! 

These last few weeks I have been apart of the planning and executing of two VBS's. One for Lilia's Place and the other for the Consolacion church of Christ. Both have the same Joseph theme.

Lilia's Place was a great experience! We shared a different part of the Joseph story and did two crafts  each day. My personal favorite was the day the kids put J in jail. Each kid had a different way of arranging the jail bars and it was so adorable to see what their little minds came up with. 

 I saw, on a daily basis, how much these kids were soaking in every minute of the fun and learning more and more about our amazing God! It reminded me of my times as a child at VBS; I was more than happy that I could help these children make fun childhood memories!! 

Lilia's Place VBS was encouraging in many different ways, however, my favorite part of the week was when I taught the kids the Hippo song. Immediately after singing, sweet four year old Lilia said "Good job, Caidy!" She stole my heart in that moment. I thank God for precious, kind, encouraging children like her.

Consolacion VBS is every Saturday in May. Since the church meets at a school building it is not possible to have a one week long VBS because of summer classes. SO... that leaves Saturdays! We have two weeks down three more to go. It has also been a lot of fun! Getting to know these kids is a blast as most of them don't understand a word I say. I have learned that you don't need words to share a common love with children; you just need a smile and a warm heart.

 We have had about 45 kids attending the VBS and 8 mothers attending the parenting class. So far so good all around. We have many helpers and it has been encouraging to see everyone come out to help make this a great experience for these kids. I am excited to see what God has in-store for the next 3 weeks at Consolacion! 

Love and Peace to all. 

-Caidy