Thursday, July 11, 2013

I.T. TENDER MINISTRY > JUNE 2013 NEWS LETTER



The Next Phase
By John Coffey

Be careful what you pray for. Perhaps the most dangerous prayer is to ask God to place you where you can give the most of yourself to bless others. When I first came to Manila in 2006, I was wrecked by the selfless love of Filipinos like Pastor John and Ate Gela Basiwa who gave everything they had to serve the poor. After leading IT Tender for 13 years, it is now time for Pastor John to pass on this incredible responsibility. Through much prayer and discernment, I became the next most likely candidate.

At first I was conflicted, believing that it should be a Filipino who takes on the role of Director of IT Tender. However, my teammates quickly showed me that I have the heart of a Filipino; I can speak Tagalog, joke like a local, and even successfully court a Filipina – not without God’s help of course. Nevertheless, I decided that I would only take on the role if Pastor John remained as my mentor and advisor. I also feel a sense of peace being under the Filipino leadership and guidance of the director and board of IT Philippines.


Ultimately, having a heart with “dual-citizenship” is a strength. My diverse background and my degree in elementary education equip me to further empower the poor at IT Tender as we offer access to education, relevant skills training, and discipleship.Thank you for supporting me and continuing to share in IT Tender’s vision to care for and educate street children.

Food For Life
By Karin Jose

Over the past few weeks I have slowly been stepping into my role as the Food For Life feeding program facilitator.  Although still in the early stages of re-introducing this program at IT Tender Ministry, we have officially launched the first program partnering with Batang Matinik in the province of Tiaong.

On June 10, I was able to attend the first of their feeding sessions being held for the grade 1 class at Tagbakin Elementary School. The day started with the Batang Matinik team introducing themselves to the mothers of the beneficiaries, who were all very excited that their children were able to be a part of the Food For Life Program.  We then went to introduce ourselves to the class and give outthe bowls of nutritious soup and a multivitamin to each of the 50 children on the program. The soup was very popular and one of the children told us the orange flavour multi-vitamin syrup was like having desert!

Members of the Batang Mitinik childrens team, 
Principal Bawal and Karin Jose from IT Tender
I was so impressed with the dedication of the team members who have committed to assisting and cooking for the program which runs 3 times for 6 months. Despite the early start and long walk with the food to the school there is simply joy on their faces and in their hearts – these people are real life heroes!

I am very honoured that the IT Tender team has entrusted me with this role, and I am excited to see what God has in store for us! I am looking forward to working alongside our partner churches to make a real impact on the lives of these malnourished childrenand their families and communities.



The Wordless Book
By Gabi Malquisto

This month of June, I.T. Tender Ministry once again participated at the 2013 ‘Action Evangelistic Camp’ run in partnership with Action International, reaching out to street children from different areas in Manila and Quezon City. Altogether there were nineteen street children aged 7 – 14 years old, and three of them are from the I.T. Tender Ministry.
Children praying a prayer of 
acceptance to Jesus Christ

Together with Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF), there was teaching about Jesus and His gift of salvation. It was really great to see the children having fun and learning about Jesus through the ‘Wordless Book’ lesson from CEF and responding to the prayer of accepting Jesus as their Lord and Savior. We were blessed to see children at their young age come to know Christ and start life with Him. 

We are thankful to the Lord for this event that became a tool for sharing His love to children at risk, and now we continue praying for these children.  We are also praying that more street children will be reached through partnerships and working together with other organizations, for our mission; to seek for the lost.


Blessings:
  • ·         Opportunity to conduct Sunday School Training including the ‘UN Convention on Children's Rights’ to our partner church Jesus Our Hope
  • ·         Successful turn over of leadership of IT Tender ministry to John Coffey, June 12
  • ·         For the provision, travelling mercy and wisdom as Jizza Magallanes took part in the ‘Child Sexual Abuse Program’ at Stairway Foundation, Puerto Galera
  • ·         For the opportunity to join the ‘Child Evangelization’ seminar lead by Extreme Response
  • ·         For all your prayers and support as we continue to serve God through the street children and children from poor communities. For God's blessings and provision for our ministry and personal needs, wisdom and protection

Prayers:
  • ·         The need for more child sponsor donors as we are sending children from poor communities to formal school. It only takes $20 USD a month to give these children an education

·         For regular monthly donors who will support IT Tender Ministry in any amount – helping with our operational costs, as we our currently praying fervently to be able to continue paying the rent for our drop-in center which is the heart of our operations
  • ·         Provision and guidance as the ministry is about to launch the SMART Kids program for children ages 1 to 3
  • ·         Provision and guidance for Karin Jose as the new Food For Life facilitator who will take lead working with our partner churches in the area of the feeding ministry
  • ·         For our God to continue showering the ministry with guidance, blessing of safety and good health and provision for its needs as it reaches out to the street children and children from poor communities