Every now and then it is good to shake things up and make a change. Last Saturday we did just that at FTC. The boys are in one dorm, a large building, but the girls are in two separate smaller dorm buildings. Rally and Marlyn Razon are the house parents for one girls’ dorm and Andrea and I are the house parents for the other. On Saturday, Lanie (and her almost 1-year-old daughter-Sara), Cristina and Krishelle moved down to our dorm. Annabelle, Diane and Rhodora (with Richelle) moved to the other dorm. It was a little difficult for some of the girls, as changing what is familiar presents challenges. Overall I believe it is a good change for everyone. It will allow Andrea and I to spend more time with all of the older girls now because they are now in our dorm (except for Tinay, who is the dorm leader at the other end).
The first picture is Annabelle, the second picture is Richelle, and the third picture is Andrea with Lanie, Tinay, Jessalyn and Krishelle.
Ok. I realized that I gave the “come up with a plan on how you will reach your dreams and goals in the next three years” assignment to the kids right between two major testing weeks. So . . .I gave them all a one week extension to come up with a plan. You can look for a summary next week.
There is a delicate balance when serving full time with kids (oh yeah, 24/7 – 365). You become a major part of their lives, like a parent, and they become a HUGE part of your life, like your own children. It is inevitable. You can’t live with children for two years, sharing tears of sorrow and laughter together, without becoming a “part” of each other. The first year here was a little hard on me, as the Frontline was really establishing a full-time center for children. Many kids came and left, mostly running away at night when no one would see them. At first, I found myself losing little pieces of my heart every time a child would leave. It was hard. As time went on I had to learn to accept the fact God may use us to influence some children for only a short time, but surely the love we showed them will last a lifetime.
The FTC kids are doing well! They are growing physically, emotionally, intellectually and spiritually. We are currently talking about their futures and what they believe God’s call is for their lives. I look forward to this Sunday night when we will meet again and they will explain their current plan for how they will achieve reaching their goals. And don’t worry-I took the over-sized scissors out of Josiah’s hands AS SOON AS I WAS DONE TAKING THE PICTURES!
Last night Andrea and I called together all the kids who are ages 13 and up. We started by singing the song At The Cross, then five of the kids volunteered to pray for (1) the FTC kids, (2) FTC staff, (3) kids still living on the streets, (4) PFMI leadership, and (5) the finances of the ministry. What a great way to start the night! If you could hear some of these kids pray I’m sure you would hear genuine love and conviction in their prayers. After worship and prayer I served the coffee (oh yeah! Filipino’s LOVE COFFEE!).
Next, we began to share some scary statistics with the kids to show them that even Christians fail. We want them to understand that just because you call yourself a Christian does not mean that your work is done (in fact, it has just begun!). The point of the message was this: “Many people choose to make Jesus their Savior, but fail to understand the importance of making Him their Lord as well.” We began to put examples up on the board of other masters, such as money, careers, gossip, idols and ministry. Oh yeah! I said ministry! Many times we become too much of a Martha, and forget that the most important part of being a Christian is being a Mary at the feet of Jesus.
Then we began asking the kids what they wanted to do with their lives. What are their goals and ambitions? What do they dream of doing in the not so distant future? The picture below is of the whiteboard in our house. In case it is hard to read I will list the contents here as well:
Babylene (15 years old): Missionary to Canada
Roldan (13 years old): Missionary to Africa
Peter (15 years old): Pastor
Lanie (17 years old): Missionary, Singer and Translator
Jefferson (16 years old): Missionary & Musician
Tinay (15 years old): Missionary to Korea
Jennilyn (15 years old): Missionary to Denmark
Judea (13 years old): Doctor
Cristina (15 years old): Singer & Dancer
Krishelle (13 years old): Hotel and Restaurant Manager
Do I believe that these kids can achieve their dreams? Of course! Andrea and I would not still be here if we did not believe that these kids can achieve anything as long as they make Jesus their Savior and the Lord of their lives. Now they have an assignment. By next Sunday they must submit a 1-2 page paper on how they plan to achieve their goal in the next three years (maybe more like 4 or 5 years for some of them). I will share some of the results with you all next week.
