The year in review

I can hardly believe that it has already been a year since God brought us here to Cebu!

Its been a hard, trying, awesome, wonderful year. 

It is only with God's grace and strength that we could have made it thorough this first year. We are thankful for how active God is in our life and are happy to be on this amazing journey with Him. 

We also could not have made it through without the love and support of you all! Thank you for your constant love, encouragement, mental and financial support! Each of you are our gifts from God and we thank you so very much for allowing God to use to be a light in the lives of people involved 818 Ministry ... CBC, the street children, Lilia's Place church, Ronald and me. 

Here are some highlights from the last year.

 

Ronald and his mom, Erlinda, reunite after 8 years! 

Caidy has had a lot of new experiences, like food shopping. 

We celebrated 2 years of marriage!

Ronald has taught 7 classes Cebu Bible College.

Caidy started working with the Lilia;s Place children.
Starting with their VBS in June 2011 

We met Jesan. We only knew him for 2 weeks before he passed away.
He had a big impact on 818 ministry and we will always remember him! 

Ronald and I have been blessed to know other ministers
in the Cebu area! 

818 Street kids ministry started in June 2011. We now have a
weekly bible study and meal with 20 kids. 

In October we partnered up with Lilia's Place and planted a church
specifically for the Lilia's Place families and other street families/kids. 

We celebrated our first thanksgiving in Cebu with some Filipino friends.
And our American/Filipino couple friends (Andrea and Gephar).

We celebrated our first Christmas in Cebu! 

A CBC Christmas

Ronald and I always have so much fun with the students at Cebu Bible College! The Christmas celebration was no exception. It was a fun filled afternoon of trivia, "secret-santa" gift exchange, gingerbread houses and dinner. We were so excited to share our tradition of gingerbread house making with these 20 young men. They had such a fun time putting their graham cracker walls up with homemade frosting and decorating with a dozen types of candy  ... even though tropical storm washi showed us her powerful rains and winds, the guys still maintained a positive attitude.

Here are some pictures from the fun afternoon:

The group. Waiting for the fun festivities to begin! 

All the secret santa presents. 

Ronald tells everyone an encouraging story

Silly faces. 

The CBC singers share some of their songs with us! They are a talented bunch. 

The construction begins! 

The supplies! 

Vincent's group is working really hard to get the walls to stay up. 

Me and Arlene. 

Paulo group was putting the finishing touches on their house before they begin eating it! 

Leo's group is finished! 

Complete with a snowman and "dust" instead of snow.

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.