Cajigas Family

We want to make sure our supporters know not just what they are supporting, but who.  Here I will feature individuals and families that are either local supporters or participants in the programs in which the church participates.  This may include my students, young people from the church, people involved with the children's shelter, or other community partners who are making a difference for the kingdom of God.  I will not guarantee I will remember to add a new person every month, but I will try.

As I have not yet started the 'on the ground' part of my ministry the pool of people is a little limited.  This limitation is more of a lack of information and pictures because there are already a lot of people making a difference for the kingdom in Juagdan.

I would like to begin with featuring the family that is running the day to day support for the children's shelter as they are a major part of the church and local community.

Jonah Cajigas is a Filipino who fell in love with an American missionary back in 2005!  Jessica Lucas Cajigas is that American.  They married in the US in May of 2007.  That is almost 10 years ago :)  Their two girls, Precious Lordes Ann and Faith Joy, were born in Grandville, MI.  Precious is 8 and Faith is 4.  When they married, Jess knew the day would come that Jonah would want to return to Bohol to do ministry.  In January 2015 that time came and they have been serving in Juagdan since.  Their ministry is to orphans and other children whose families can not physically support them.  They are now the care takers of the House of Hope Philippines.  It is a children's shelter that is literally an arms distance from their house.  The little boy in the center of the picture is one of the children that came to them at 7 months old.  His name is Mark and when he arrived he was the size of a newborn and very undernourished.  He has now been with them for a full year and is well on the way to legally being their son.  They hope to have the process complete by 2018, but for now they are already calling him MacMac which is short for Mark Aaron Cajigas!

After just two years Precious is bilingual and fluent in both English and Visayan.  She wanted to attend the local school, but found out she needs to learn some more Tagalog before she can truly be successful in the classroom.  She is taking this year to work toward that and is doing homeschooling with Mom and tutor Ate JaneJane.  Faith is also fluent in both English and Visayan, but was not quite ready to leave mommy for day care.  Next year, both girls hope to attend the local public school.  Mark as done remarkably well over the last year.  His immune system is still weak so he gets sick often, but he has grown considerably and has integrated well with his sisters.

Although there are house parent who live with the other children, Jess and Jonah are also parents to them.  So Mommy Jessica helps with watching the kids and making sure they have what they need for school and other daily needs.  Daddy Jonah helps with watching the kids and running the businesses that supplement the financial needs to support a "family" of 7 children plus.  Both of them are also involved as adult leadership with the young people's group from Juagdan Evangelical Church of Christ Universal (ECCU).  A couple of times a year they travel with a group of young adults who lead worship conferences and attend denominational events.

Aside from financial supporters back in the US, they have two local businesses to support their ministry.  One is egg laying chickens of which they now have over 200 layers!  The second is a water business in which they have a couple dozen customers they deliver purified water to.  If you are interested in learning more about their ministry check out their blog.

http://houseofhopephilippines.blogspot.com/

 Mark loves to lean out the truck window.  He is at an age of discover and loves to do so!

Faith still likes to ligo (take a bath) at the pump.  She has loads of energy!

 On my most recent visit I had the opportunity to attend on of the worship conferences.  These are the young people who led the seminars and taught a group of local church members how to lead worship and even taught some how to play the guitar and drums!

 Here Precious is taking their 'first fruits' as an offering to the church.  She was bringing the first batch of eggs from their newest egg laying chickens.

The family just hanging out on their balcony.  The extra kids are some of the children from the shelter next door.  When they are not in school they just hang out and play with the Cajigas family.

Sorry, Jonah didn't make the photo!  Just thought you'd like to see another photo of these wonderful people.  This is in the house we stayed at during the conference.