10 Nationalities for One Cause

Who would have thought five years ago that a 12-year-old little girl (referring to Janel Long’s request of her parents to help the children) would have had such a worldwide impact. When Jeff and his family opened their hearts and their door to orphaned and unwanted children, they probably wouldn't have guessed at the number of lives they would touch.

Today K.I.M. is accustomed to opening its doors to volunteers from around the globe, although it is not often that they host such a diverse group of nationalities simultaneously. This week sees the return of Seoul Foreign School on its fourth annual mission trip, whose students and staff come from around the world.

As you look around the Ministry Center, you will see 10 different nationalities: Korean, American, Canadian, Filipino, British, Australian, Japanese, German, South African and Taiwanese. In addition to our school joining the efforts, we had two Aussie construction company owners join us, and man, did they work hard and fast—yet they interacted great with our kids. Also, a father/son combo joined us from a school in Taiwan. Together these all worked side by side with the 15 or so Filipino workers in a very harmonious way.



It has been a pleasure to see God's wonderful people from around the globe join together in one place, all with a heart to serve.

Written By: Seoul Foreign School teacher

Four Years of Service

Every year 50+ high school students come from Seoul Foreign School to sweat, sweat, and SWEAT for a week full of heavy labor. Over the past four years they have played a significant role in four of our ministry sites at KIM.

Three years ago, in 2007, they helped pour the second floor of our Cuatro Community Center, which is now the main sanctuary for the Tugumpay Evangelical Baptist Church and also doubles as the location for several of our Cuatro Christian School classes.

In 2008 they returned, this time to help with our children's home extension. At maximum capacity and running out of space, the SFS Team helped with adding a new wing onto the far side of our children's home. This new wing included a sala (living room) for the children's home boys, a bigger, more spacious kitchen, a state-of-the-art nursery for our babies and toddlers, as well as a nice, large dining room for mealtimes and other special events.

Then last year, in 2009, they came back to work on the church building next door, the JCCV (Jesus Christ Church in the Valley). In the early stages of adding a fourth story to the building, SFS played a huge role in transferring hollow blocks up to the roof. The seventy-five high school students and teachers/staff made an assembly line that started on the ground level and climbed up two flights of stairs, went through the church sanctuary on the third floor, and then climbed another flight of stairs on the back side, all the way up to the roof (soon to be fourth story). For a week they passed hollow blocks, mixed cement, swung hammers, and even helped to dig the first three holes for the footings for our YMC Extension Project. They even found time to help transfer hundreds of books from our old CCS Library to the new location.

This week, May 22nd-May 29th, SFS is back and already working very hard! Despite the exhausting temperatures as of late, the SFS students and staff are up early everyday, working with shovels, axes, hammers, scrapers, paintbrushes, and a variety of other tools. They are working on a two hour rotation that includes scraping and re-painting the Cuatro Christian School (at two different locations), digging, moving dirt, and mixing cement at the back of the YMC for a new building currently being constructed, and also playing with kids at the children's home.

And somehow, despite the many hours of hard physical labor, each year, the SFS Team also finds time to hold a community carnival, do devotions at the children's home, have a community concert, and go shopping for donations for the children's home, the cuatro christian school, and the community kids.

As the famous expression goes, the SFS Team comes to Manila every year, and pours blood, sweat, and tears into Kids International Ministries. On behalf of KIM, thank you for all your help, thank you for getting dirty and working hard, thank you for the many donations and your giving heart, and thank you for the impact that you have on this organization and in the Kingdom of God.

We can't wait to see you next year!

A Place to Belong

I first visited KIM back in 2007 while my daughter Christie was serving with the World Racers. She absolutely fell in love with KIM and the Filipino children and that was just the beginning. Fast forward to April 2009, which is when Christie returned to the Philippines to serve as a long term missionary at KIM. God had placed in her heart a desire to to come and show his love to these children. Along with the children of KIM she has now found that He has also given her a passion for the community children. On several occasions, while chatting with Christie, she told me about these two little brothers in particular named Manny and Iman. Although I could sympathize with her from across the miles, now that I have come to visit, I know exactly what she means and how she feels. How could anyone not love these beautiful boys.



Upon my arrival on May 20th, while being picked up at the airport, I was introduced to little seven year old Manny. He has grown quite fond of Christie and follows her around on a regular basis. The next morning I met little four year old, beautiful, big brown eyed Imon. These two little brothers are desperate for a sense of belonging, so Christie has welcomed them into her heart showing them love as a mother would her own.

I love seeing firsthand how God uses a willing heart. God first asked her to come to Manila and in her obedience she said yes. Then God showed her these two brothers and placed a special love in her heart for them and asked her to show His kind of love and she responded yes Lord. Christie now is on a quest to implement a sponsorship program for these children to help the community children who have so many needs to get monthly support that will be used to help feed and educate them. It is her hope that they will know that they are loved and will be cared for and that God sees them and has not forgot about them. He is using KIM to help them and to let them know that they have a place to belong.

Written By: Jackie Albaugh