Our Journey

2016 November: 

When we arrived in Dumaguete City in mid-November, God already stirred our hearts on this visit to start our Outreach Ministry of feeding children in a certain community where it's needed most. 

 

A little history : In the last 10 years we had  been traveling to the Philippines (mostly in Luzon- Pangasinan, Manila and Visayas-Dumaguete City & Cebu) visiting Agnes' parents, our families, relatives and friends. Each time we visited places in Negros Island, we volunteered with local Christian Outreach Ministry teams and also helped in an orphanage. We wanted each visit to make an impact on lives wherever God takes us. All those time and through our experiences, God have been preparing and equipping us for a mission ministry but still not knowing where to start. With a lot of prayers, we felt God's calling in our hearts, the need to start a feeding ministry this year giving hope to the hopeless and the broken in Dumaguete. We then committed ourselves to respond in complete obedience to God's calling and to start a ministry in Sibulan, Negros Oriental, Philippines.

 

As God orchestrated His amazing plan, we were already blessed with a vacant ancestral land in Sibulan from our parents. Upon our arrival we were planning to immediately build a temporary hut/shed on this vacant lot (ancestral land) in Tubtubon, Sibulan Negros Oriental, and use this area as the starting point for our food distribution. However, we were unable to proceed due to some land-use issues. A slight delay on our small beginnings but we knew that God was in control. We eventually cleared the area with the help of two local men and the issues were cleared. By then however, we didn't think we had enough time to build the temporary center as we were into the rainy stormy weather of January. We didn't know what else to do but continued to pray for God's guidance and direction to lead us where He wanted us to be. 

We didn't want to leave for the US and not do something for the needy...we thought was our main purpose on this trip.

 

2017 January: 

By early January, our prayers were answered and through God's divine connections, we found ourselves in a Barangay (Community) Council meeting one Saturday morning presenting our ideas. We gave them samples of our lunch packages during the presentation. Our ideas were met with enthusiasm and we were told that the elementary school nearby had some food needs. We found out that some children would go to school without having eaten any breakfast in the morning and some go home during lunch time with no food to go home to.  (The government does not provide lunches to public schools). We were told that these children were eager to learn but due to poverty, some cannot consistently go to school as some families just could not provide lunches for their kids. 

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That was the moment when we said, "This is it! We can start from here. With our limited resources and time, we can still start something". Through God's favor, we received approval from the Barangay Captain, the Council and school principal to start our feeding ministry to the children of Cangmating Elementary School Grades 1-6. However we only had a month and a half to do it before our scheduled return to the US, but we felt God opened doors for us to  connect with a community to start this ministry. Each step of the way God went before us. We have a great and awesome God indeed!

 

That day the birth of our Children's Outreach Ministry began at the Cangmating Elementary School. Our food distribution was then scheduled once a week. We cooked and prepared hot lunch packs for the hungry elementary grade children designated for the week. God provided and blessed us with local friends and volunteers, cooks and financial donations for this project. We fed an estimated number of 700 kids during the four weeks of distribution including  volunteers and workers. What a blessing! We know that God has more plans for us to work with on our next trip. Keep us in your prayers.

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April 2018:

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We started construction of our temporary building project April 2018 for our "Soup Kitchen" feeding program.

 

To the volunteers, community leaders, business people, financial and prayer warriors we thank you for your support from the bottom of our hearts! God bless!

 

(The vacant lot mentioned will be the site where our future temporary distribution area and Christian Ministry Center facility will be built in 2018)

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