Special Prayer Request for Jizza's Graduation

Dear friends and supporters,

I'm so thankful to announce that in less than a month our very own Jizza Magallanes will graduate with her degree in Social Work. Then in June she will take the licensing exam to become an official, licensed Social Worker!  Although she doesn't yet have all the funds for her graduation and exam review, we are declaring by faith that she will graduate and attain her license.

Jizza leads an orientation for some of our clients

Actually, God has already been providing in miraculous ways for Jizza to complete her studies. Despite many trails, God has provided for all her needs and tuition fees over the years. She can now see the finish line, and she is fervently praying to graduate. I've asked her to write a letter to explain the final provisions she needs to graduate. We only need $275 more to reach this goal! If you would like to respond to her need through donations or prayer, contact me at johndlcoffey@gmail.com

John Coffey

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"The Realization of a Dream" by Jizza Magallanes

A blessed day! My name is Jizza B. Magallanes and I am 24 years old. I have been working with street children and marginalized families in Muntinlupa City, Philippines for almost three years now under International Teams Tender Ministry. At the same time, I am taking up a degree in Social Work at  the Philippine Christian University. By God’s grace, my mother and I have been working in order to fund my schooling after a painful downfall in my family’s finances which forced me to stop my schooling for awhile. I chose not to be affected by the situation and continued in my ministry despite the reality that being a full-time worker in a faith-based organization means not always receiving a steady income. It is my mother who works hard in order to support my studies. She used to work as a full-time babysitter and house helper because she firmly supports the importance of my education. And even now that she is earning a good salary by working as a house parent in the nearby "Children's Home" orphanage, she still works as a part-time clothes washer and house helper. As of now, we have been able to cover most of my tuition fee and are still working out the means to pay the rest of the balance. I wrote this letter as a step of faith, for we are still praying for provisions for my graduation fee and board examination review. Please see the breakdown below:

Amount	US $	Particular	Date Needed
8,000 PHP	US$ 200	Graduation fee (inclusion:  graduation picture, graduation toga, yearbook, alumni fee, copy of transcript of records, other school needs)	4th week of March or 1st week of April, 2014 before April 4
5,000 PHP	US$ 125	Board Examination Review Fee	3rd or 4th week of April, 2014
2,000 PHP	US$ 50	Allowance for transportation (Alabang to Manila, vice versa)	1st week of May, 2014
	$ 375 - 100 $ 275	Total Amount Needed (minus $100 in donations already received) Only $275 left to raise

I believe in my heart that it is my calling to serve God with the use of my talents and knowledge. I will be more effective if I have a degree and license in Social Work.  Please pray for me as I face this final struggle in my studies. I believe that God has a purpose for every trial in our lives and I decide to trust in Him and to hope that other people might want to join my cause.

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If you would like to join in helping Jizza graduate, contact John Coffey at johndlcoffey@gmail.com

Thank you for your support and prayers!

March Newsletter

Staff News at IT Tender
By John Coffey and Cecille De Jesus

It's hard to imagine running our programs without the support and encouragement of Jamielyn (aka "Jam"). For months she was been assisting at our preschool and Night Life programs. However, we are excited to share that since the end of February, she has started working full-time at IT Tender. The entire team is extremely thankful for her passions and gifts in teaching children, her creativity in the arts (especially with singing and dancing), and her skills with administration.

 

Jam is currently Cecille's assistant teacher in our preschool, she serves in our Food for Life nutrition program twice a week, she helps with our Night Life program, and she also assists with administration in the office.

“Serving and worshipping alongside my fiancé is an opportunity for the two of us to grow, mature, and understand each other better. Please pray for Jam as she adjusts to her new schedule at IT Tender.”

John Coffey, IT Tender Director

In other news, please pray for our full-time missionary and SLC Daycare teacher Cecille. She is one team member who inspires us all, and here is a personal update:

God Never Fails: As I continue the journey of my life, I continue to face circumstances that do not make it easy. There are times in everyone’s life that they will get tired, become weak physically, emotionally and spiritually, and for me this happened when I was first diagnosed in November 2013 with a large (12cm) ovarian cyst. I thought the process leading up to surgery would be easy, but in reality it has been emotionally and physically draining.

A lot of things need to be prepared: a 6 month course of pre-op antibiotics, multiple medical examinations and scans, and of course time and money is needed going to and from the hospital. The most difficult part for me has been the need to adjust how much I actively participate in the things I am passionate about: my studies to become a qualified teacher, my family and of course the SLC Daycare ministry where I teach. But through all of these hard times, God has shown me how to trust and hold on to His promise; that He will never fail me. I continue to praise Him for the continued strength He has give me to stand firm and continue this journey together with Him.

Things we are thankful for:

  ·      Short term volunteer Louise Carver has been volunteering with various IT Tender ministries since January but she has now arrived safely back in the UK. The team will miss her passion and dedication and the children will miss her love and caring nature

  ·      Following on from an evangelistic outreach camp last November and on-going ministry, the youth from our Night Life program have requested a bible study! This started a few weeks ago and a further update will be included in next months newsletter

  ·      New full time volunteer Jamielyn – her hard work and love for the children is already having a huge impact on our ministries

  ·      The visit of our Filipino partners Action International and their American visitors Mick and Tracey Burr. We had a great day showing them our feeding program which is sponsored by Action International

Things we would love you to pray for:

    

            ·      The on-going health of Cecille De Jesus; that her pre-op meds would be successful and that
               she would receive all the funds needed for her required surgery later this year

            ·      IT Tender is working in partnership with the local barangay (council) to host a ‘Nutrition and
               Hygiene’ seminar this month for parents of 50 of our clients – please pray for good
               attendance, open minds and improvements in families and communities

           ·      Wisdom as the IT Tender team conducts a mid-year evaluation and planning for our ongoing
              programs

IT TENDER -> FEB 2014 NEWSLETTER

My Month at IT Tender

By David Shields

I’m currently studying Theology at Belfast Bible College in Northern Ireland, but over the month of January I have been a volunteer at IT Tender. I came here as part of my experience in study, choosing to volunteer at IT Tender mostly because it would lead me literally to the other side of the planet, into the unknown and out of my comfort zone.

I have been so blessed in the 4 short weeks I have spent here in Manila and I’ve been taught so much about service, humility, fellowship and vision. Unfortunately I can’t cover all of my experiences in this one article, but I’ll try and sum it up. In all the ministries I have been so amazed by the children; their joy, thankfulness and incredible amounts of energy. It brought me such joy to serve these children and I learnt so much by observing how the IT Tender staff interacts within the communities that they are part of, and the team’s incredible desire to see the well-being of these communities developed.

Overall my time in the Philippines has been incredible and enlightening. The Filipino people I have had the honor of meeting are so kind, hospitable and patient with my very basic language skills, and the team here are inspiring and faithful servants of Christ. I’m excited to take home what I have learnt to start serving in my own community once more!

Food For Life: two month update

By Karin Jose

Despite some minor complications of lack of electricity and clashing schedules with aerobics classes, we have had such a great response from the children and parents on the feeding program since we launched in November 2013. The majority of the children are regularly attending and very much enjoying the food and activities we run. The children love playing games, singing songs, learning about Jesus through stories and are especially excited when they get the opportunity to do crafts. Food For Life has been blessed with many short-term visitors over the past few weeks who have been a fantastic help and who the children love! Food For Life is definitely a program where the more hands and happy faces helping the better!

Sharing the Christmas Story

We are thankful to God that already after only 2 months we have seen children put on weight, and in particular some of the younger girls who had skin issues due to lack of vitamins are looking a lot healthier.

Please continue to pray for the Food For Life team as we start to plan events such as nutrition and cooking seminars that will benefit the parents. We would also appreciate prayers that we are able to maintain good relationships with the various members of the local community that we come into contact with through Food For Life, and that they are able to see the hope of Christ and not just the physical assistance provided through the program.

Things we are thankful for:
·         The safe return of IT Tender Director, John Coffey, and that he was able to spend Christmas and New Year at ‘home’ with his family in Canada

·         The visit of David Shields from Northern Ireland who was with us for the month of January. His visit was a huge blessing and encouragement to the staff and all the children and youth we work with

·         The safe arrival of Janne and Martin Rask who are working with IT Tender until July 2014. Janne is a trainee social worker and Martin is completing a Masters in International Business. We are excited about both Janne and Martin’s contributions to our team and ministries

Things we would love you to pray for:

·         The health of full time volunteer Cecille DeJesus as she continues her on-going medication in preparation for surgery. Please also pray we are able to raise the additional funds required for her surgery and recovery period. We are still in need of approx. 25,00 PHP / $550 USD / £350 GBP

·         Benefits for our full time Filipino volunteers. The cost of the most basic benefit plan (with health and retirement benefits) for our workers is only around $7.50 USD monthly. We are praying for more monthly donors of IT Tender so that we can include in the Tender budget benefits for four workers

·         The upcoming seminar for the parents of children on the Food For Life program. We have connected with the local health center who will be leading training on nutrition and family planning

·         Preparation for our ‘Family Day’ that will be taking place later this year – we will be taking our clients and their families swimming (more details to follow!)

I.T. TENDER MINISTRY DECEMBER 2013 NEWSLETTER

“CHRISTMAS IN OUR HEARTS”
By: Gabby Malquisto and Jizza Magallanes

Every year the I.T. Tender Ministry Team hosts Christmas parties and extends additional help to poor children and families living in the streets and urban poor communities of Manila. We do this to show the love of God and spread the message of the good news of salvation. We see this as a great opportunity to reach out to more communites and street children as well as to the children and families already involved our programs.

This past December 2013, the Lord entrusted us with a bigger challenge that involved a great step of faith: Christmas parties in three major areas in Muntinlupa City for approxamately 225 children. The children invitited to these parties were from programs run at the IT Tender drop-in center, clients from the Sponsor A Child Now program, and also for the children and families involved in our Food For Life and Night Life programs in Putatan.

God provided every need for the parties and through the generosity of personal donors and our partner organizations, three parties were successfully held:
November 30^th – Educational Progams
December 7^th - Putatan Community
December 13^th - Alabang Night Life

We were also blessed to be able to give Christmas groceriesto approxamately130 families on December 22^nd.

Tender Team + Night Life volunteer
Amanda Moxley with Jollibee! 

It is not every day that these children receive special gifts and eat a special meal like Jollibee!It was a joy and a privilege to share these blessings with the children. These parties give the opportunity for our clients to actually be a child and have fun,and to help them understand the true meaning of Christmas - the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ who loves them so much and brings salvation to their lives.

We the I.T. Tender Ministry team have been so blessed to see once again smiles and happiness that can’t be bought at any price. We thank the Lord for His provision and for our partners who never stop supporting the ministry. We thank God for our brothers and sisters in Christ who continue praying for us and encourage us to continue what the Lord called us to do...to love those who are loved by God, our children. We challenge everyone to continue to support us and pray with us to lead these children to the path where God wants them to bring...the bright future.

Top Left: Nov 30 party / Top Right: Catherine / Middle Left: Extreme Response International Team who supported our Nov 30 party / Middle Right: Donors from MMHS class of ’85 who supported our Putatan Community party with children / Bottom Left: Gabby and the gifts / Bottom Right: Rochelle from Alabang