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NEWS
POCCA INTRAMS 2025
The Department of Education require all schools to have a week’s Sports celebration sometime within the academic year. It has been the tradition of POCCA that we integrate sports with the Performing Arts for our Talent Fest. Though it is a requirement and is hard work for the teachers, it is always a great celebration. The students of course, love the one week’s break from academics and it is a time that teachers, students and parents all unite together for the good of their various teams. Though the the students had very little time to prepare for the Talent Fest as it began just one week after their quarterly exams., the students still “pulled out all the stops” and did not disappoint. They are truly talented kids. There were four teams competing and they each did amazingly well.
There were team events that included students of all ages, to encourage each of them to give their best effort and even events for the parents to participate too. A particular favourite of mine is the “Talent Night”. There were various performances where the students were just outstanding. The Kinder Students stood in front of the crowd of students and parents to recite their poem. It was just amazing to see how these children, so young and yet able to stand up and perform their recital without faltering. Then came the grade 1 (1st year primary) students reciting the with visual aids, the entire story of Jonah. As judges we could see their script, so it was amazing to see how well they performed, sticking to their script but with incredible grammatical inflection for their age.
There was the “Battle of the Bands”, where each team had their own band leader and instrumentalists as they sang worship to the Lord. It was so amazing to discover just how talented our students are. It was tough to judge as they were all so talented. A particular highlight for me was that each team had their own preacher, who prepared and preached their own sermon on the theme of the Talent Fest, which was based on Galatians 6:4 The Dramatic Monologue performances had us all in tears, reminding us not to judge those who face worse circumstances than our own. Such incredible talents. Who knew that we had such gifted speakers in our school? As a ministry to do go through so many ups and downs (most of the downs are financial) but it’s at times like this that it makes it all worth while.
It is very rewarding for all the teaching staff, and for Dondie and I too to we see the harvest of all that the school has been sowing into the lives of the young people. This I’m sure was also a great encouragement for our son Nathanael who leads the youth group Ablze at church. He works really hard to encourage the young people to have their own small groups, to lead their own worship. I must say I shed a few joyful tears as I saw the students that night. It has been a tough 12 months regarding the progress of our new school building, especially as finances have been really constrained, but seeing those students perform opened my eyes to see why the enemy is opposing us so much. This of course inspires us to continue to fight the good fight. The enemy is always trying to rob us of our faith. But God who is rich in mercy gives us “Talent Fest” to inspire us to hold on to the vision, no matter what the circumstances.
- Chrissy
click here for a downloadable version and for the previous issues
FRESH PAINT
Since December the prices of everything as increased significantly, it has become harder and harder for us to provide all the needs of the children. Since limited funds has meant our entire focus has been on the children’s needs, we have neglected the maintenance of our buildings. But this summer, our houseparents have pledged to raise support by doing some fundraising activities to reach out to supporters locally, for paint, to paint the front of the homes before the start of rainy season. We greatly appreciate your prayers. This is a special project that our staff endeavour to do in order to contribute to the needs of the ministry during this very difficult time.
Please pray for God’s favour.
- Monique Sagal
prayer requests
“Please pray for Provision for our buildings’
URGENT repairs and maintenance,
also a Project Manager for the new School Building”
ADDITIONAL SPARROWS
We have received a referral from the Municipal Social Work Department of 3 young brothers, who’s father is in jail. They live within the community and a concerned neighbour alerted us to the kids situation. They have had little to-no education and have been abandoned by their mother. We are still waiting for the necessary paperwork so they can be brought to POCCH. We are looking forward to having 3 new additions to our POCCH Family.
- Monique Sagal
POCCA BIBLE MONTH
In the Philippines January is declared by the government to be National Bible Month to serve as a reminder of where our values and identity lies as a country.
In POC Christian Academy we chose to celebrate on the last school day of January so as allow some preparation time for the teachers and students. I decided to give the teachers the authority and opportunity to be creative in this celebration and give their own classes whatever activity or contest that is in celebration of the word of God. They went wild with all sorts of fun and exciting activities! There were costume contests, memory verse recitals, colouring, Bible quizzes, film showings and loads more. Who said that celebrating the Bible would be boring? It was indeed a fun-filled day both the students and teachers had a great time, I wasn’t there because I was at a regional meeting of school administrators and I have to admit I was feeling some FOMO (fear of missing out).
Even the parents went all out to supports their children and watch some of the contests throughout the day. The credit goes to the teachers for all that they truly gave a memorable, fun and meaningful experience to the students and it makes me very proud to work with colleagues who go above and beyond. Being a teacher is very much an exhausting job physically, mentally and emotionally as you do your best for each of your students and at times it does feel a bit much for us but it is during these sorts of events that you feel a deep sense of fulfilment. Just the thought that we are teaching these children the very important academics but even more than that the values, principles and faith that they will be able to bring no matter what they choose to pursue in life is enough to fuel the tank back up and keep going. For that we give the glory to God.
- Aaron Perillo
HOUSEPARENTS' DAY
Every February 14th we have arranged to celebrate what we call “Houseparent’s Day”, a day that is typically celebrated as Valentine’s Day our special day for the kids to demonstrate their love and appreciation for their houseparents. The kids together with the social workers prepare decorations and a special program for the night. The kids make cards, prepare songs or poems, play games and serve them their meal at the table, and end the night giving each houseparent a single stem rose and a chocolates. All the houseparents enjoyed the night, and was touched by the sweet messages the kids wrote on their cards.
The work that we do at POCCH is only possible with the wonderful, caring and dedicated workforce we have. And all their hard work would be worth it to know that the children they care for appreciate what they do. So, it’s great for the kids to get a chance to express their gratitude to our wonderful houseparents who work hard everyday.
- Monique
MORE UPDATES
39 YEARS OF POCF SUBIC
We were able to celebrate the church anniversary on February 23. We had two services so that we could accommodate all who wished to attend. Some of the Pastors and members from our daughter churches were able to attend also. It really was a joyous occasion as all age groups worked together and were included in the program, but of course most importantly we really felt the Lord’s presence in a precious way as we worshipped together.
UPCOMING U.K & EUROPE TOUR 2025
Lord willing Nathanael and I will visit the U.K., & Germany (and possibly Denmark) as planned in September/October. We are scheduled to minister in Germany throughout September and the U.K. in October (hopefully with a short trip to Northern Ireland too). We would love to visit your church/ small group to bring the God’s word and to share our vision. Again we suggest that you please contact us at our email address HERE as soon as possible to secure your preferred date. Hope to see you then.
MY BROTHER
My brother Paul has had a recent MRI and is waiting the results to know how successful the treatment has been. He is grateful for prayers and is feeling and looking really quite well. Please continue to pray for him to be completely cancer free
THANK YOU
Again we are so thankful to those of you who have sacrificed so much in order to support POCM both in prayer and finances throughout the year 2024. We greatly appreciate all our partners in this work, as without you it would not be possible
Together Let’s Make a Difference!
Love in Christ God bless,
Chrissy, Dondie & your POCM Family