Staff Blog

For most people, getting on a plane to Cebu City, Philippines is a glamorous occasion. It’s exciting to see a place on your itinerary that many people have never heard of…a place that’s exotic, tropical and far away.

Mitch and Ruth Ohlendorf are on their way to Cebu as I write, but I doubt glamorous is a word they’d use to describe their departure. Their year of home assignment in Minnesota, USA has come to an end. They packed up their lives (again), left two beloved sons behind at college and returned to a ministry that moves quickly and requires incredible flexibility, diligence and commitment.

Mitch and Ruth leaving Minnesota is another sacrifice in a long list of sacrifices they’ve made for the homeless children of Cebu. They’re not jet setting off to see a far-off world for a couple weeks. They’re returning to their call. They are the hands and feet of so many who care about orphans. Mitch is our Cebu Executive Director and Ruth is Outreach Director.

Here's a glimpse into their call to CSC via a short interview:

How did it first hit you, "I want to work for CSC?"

Mitch: When I was in Cebu the first summer on a short-term mission trip. I was in a group of seven that wasn’t working for the shelter, but we were based there with social time at the shelter. I knew that first summer, at least by the end, that God was calling me to this work. I didn’t have a moment where I fell to my knees or saw a blinding light. It was a progression that happened as a result of the whole experience.

Ruth: I grew up not wanting to work with “snotty kids!” But then I saw these big Americans working with and hugging the most malnourished in our community. Here are these handsome men and beautiful women coming to our country and doing this hard work. This changed my attitude towards the children, and I couldn’t help falling in love with them. You could see the physical difference in the children after they came to the shelter.

Looking back at this point, what are some highlights of your time at CSC?

Mitch: Certainly the development of our facilities. It’s a highlight to work hard with those who made it possible through giving. Of course, it’s thrilling when very large sibling groups or children with special needs are placed for adoption. Those children who had equal opportunity at CSC, but less of a chance at adoption due to various circumstances. Being part of that process. Any day spent doing things with the kids is a highlight for me.

Ruth: Looking back the first heartbreak I had was when a girl named Arlie left for adoption. When I started working full time at CSC she was one of the kids who would go around with me in the village. When she left I could hear her calling to me and that was really sad, and I really missed her. When Arlie returned to Cebu a few years ago that was so exciting. Since she left in 1983 I didn’t know if I’d ever see her again. When we said goodbye back then we never knew if we’d see a child again. Now, kids come back, but that wasn’t always a given. Being able to see them and knowing how they are now is a highlight.

When was a time it really struck you you’d changed a child's life?

Mitch: Any time that I do the matching work for a child. It’s a very burdensome, weighty time knowing I have the responsibility of choosing a family for a child--a family for the rest of their lives. It also hits us when we see children at home after they’re adopted. Seeing the ways they’ve been blessed and even challenges they’ve gone through, seeing them continue in the Christian values that they learned while at CSC, especially as they start their own families. It’s important to see the cycle of abuse, crisis and trauma being broken. Sometimes you see what the kids have come from and wonder how they can break out of that, but many have. A boy named Mark having a hole in his heart and seeing him rescued from that and having the life he has now. A girl like Anna. She would be dead if CSC hadn’t stepped in. She and her sister both had sepsis, she survived but her sister didn’t. Everything we do each day, whether major like placing children for adoption, or spending 5 minutes giving special attention is changing their lives.

Ruth: Roselyn and Julieto, two of our Teen Home residents. I encouraged Roselyn to think about going back to school after it became clear she had just settled on being a beautician. She want back to high school and now she’s in college and almost graduating. Julieto saw this and wanted to do the same thing. Roselyn became an example and now Julieto is graduating from high school. We have outreach kids (children who were returned to their birth family) who have graduated from college. With CSC’s help, they’re able to make this happen. 

What does it mean to you to be called?

Mitch: To do what you would not otherwise want or feel equipped to do. I think if you didn’t feel called you wouldn’t be in the ministry as long as we have. There are many encouraging things, but there are also many discouraging and difficult things. Being called is about persevering.

Ruth: Hard to see kids make the same mistakes others have made. Instead of learning, they repeat them. But if you’re not there for them, they don’t have any other family. You are their family. I think that’s what calling is really about at CSC.

What would you tell a young person who is interested in a career in missions?

Mitch: It’s a chance, along with many challenges, to live a life filled with incredible blessing and reward and joy. You’ll have done something that’s changed a lot of lives.

Ruth: You’ve heard the phrase you receive more than you give. CSC is very much that place. You can never give more than you receive. There are times you don’t feel good, and going to the shelter makes your day. The kids are excited to see you. They just make you smile.

Well, Mitch and Ruth Ohlendorf make us smile. We are thankful they followed God to his work for them at CSC.

The other day I was having coffee with a donor. We were having a good talk when another donor walked into the coffee shop. He was meeting with a pastor and the four of us got the chance to do introductions and say hello.

I know both of these donors well and it was exciting to introduce them, but the best part was how the one introduced me and CSC to his pastor friend. He said, "my wife and I only give monthly to two organizations. One is our church, the other is the Children's Shelter of Cebu."

When he and his friend walked away, the other donor looked at me and said, "wow, what an honor." He was struck by that statement too. Could we ask for a better endorsement? It was really touching.

Since those introductions I've been thinking about how much I love our monthly donors. There's something very encouraging about someone signing up for Electronic Funds Transfer or choosing to give faithfully every month. Whenever I look at the monthly contributors list I marvel at how much they must believe in CSC. You can't say, "I believe in you" much better than giving something of yours to keep us at work in Cebu. And to faithfully do it every month? It means a lot.

All of our contributors must love our kids and love what we do. They could find something else to spend that money on, but instead they send it to care for homeless children in Cebu. And we love our donors too! We wouldn't be here without you.

Imagine what it would be like to wake up knowing today is the last day you will see your child. I wonder how carefully you would choose their clothes or the last words to share with them. I wonder how hollow it would feel to stand on the sidewalk as they are driven away. 

Imagine returning home without your children in tow. They were with you when you walked out of the neighborhood, but now you walk alone. Your world is upended. You’ve lost the title “mom” or “dad.” To make matters worse everyone is watching you from their front step or window. Secrets don’t keep long where you live—especially secrets like this.

People know what you’ve done and they don’t restrain themselves from staring. This is a lonely walk back to an empty home.

You can’t believe it got to this point. How could it? You didn’t have children to abandon them. But then he left, and there were no jobs to be found. The life you dreamed of isn’t visible anymore, and you don’t have anywhere to turn. Somehow the best option became giving them away.

Sometimes when I’m speaking to a group a person will ask how our kids end up in the care of the Children's Shelter of Cebu. I’ll confess that for most of the children a parent is still alive. “How could their parents just abandon them,” they wonder. It’s hard to explain. In our good-Christian mentality, you just don’t ever give up on your kids.

It’s hard to describe the straight jacket that is total poverty and utter hopelessness. It’s hard to explain not being able to protect or provide for your child. I can’t pretend to understand, but I know it’s easier to demonize the mom who couldn’t care for her baby than to put myself in her shoes. She doesn’t deserve to be understood because of what she’s done. Right?

I don’t know. High horses are easy to climb on when you’re propped up in a world of options. Judgment comes easy on this, but judgment has always been easier than understanding, including when a mom concludes her child is better off without her.  Judgment isn't our job at CSC. Our job is to love that child the best we can. It's the least we can do for those moms whose seperation is not the mark of selfishness, but of sacrifice.

Last night I got to the shelter in time to chat with the kids before prayers and bed time. For some reason, one group of girls had all kinds of questions about what employees fit where and who's "in charge" of whom. I began to wonder if I needed to get the org chart out. We seem to be raising a lot of management consultants right now (or a group of experts at delaying bedtime). 

I wasn't sure what to think about the questions and was hesitant to answer. The hierarchy didn't seem all that important, and I wondered why they would care.

But then, why wouldn't they? This is their home, and I suspect behind all of this is an underlying question that goes something like, "we can trust all of you, right?" They want to know who will take care of them, who will sacrifice for them and who will always be there. I think I could go through that org chart and check every name off when it comes to meeting those criteria. I'd put this team up against any other, anywhere.

Eventually the questions turned into who was more important and that's where I stopped them. You might know how easy that was to answer. "You are, girls. You are the reason all of us are here, you are the reason our jobs matter, you are the ones who make this important."

That answer had the advantage of being true...and getting them to go to bed.

Meet Jill Grasley (pronounced "grays-lee"). She has joined Children's Shelter of Cebu as Development Officer. We are thrilled to have her on the team. I have been praying for this position for over a year, and Jill is going to be a great fit. She is an answer to prayer!

Jill will work in our US Office in a much-needed role. For the last nine years, CSC's US office has consisted of two full-time employees and one part-time. In those years, our budget has more than doubled--growing from $915,000 to $1,890,000. Now that my job scope has expanded, we need someone who can focus full-time on the fund development that provides our beautiful children with a home.

Jill has been employed at Crossroads Adoption Services in MN for over 12 years.  She assisted many families through the adoption process--including several CSC families.  Jill has focused the last several years working in the area of fundraising through event management, grant writing, donor cultivation and social media.