When God Plans the Trip: How a Family’s Itinerary Changed to Embrace 3 Kids

As Aaron Kellar lugged a heavy bag down a steep dirt path through a rainforest, he marveled at the series of events that had brought him to this moment on an island in the Philippines. Just four months earlier he never could have imagined walking to a remote village with his wife and daughter and three other children who were beginning to feel like family.

In a flash, he saw the many details God had been arranging all along.

Aaron carries a bag full of groceries along a narrow path

Aaron and Laura Kellar have a passion for world travel. But that means something more to this couple from Colorado than visiting tourist attractions or relaxing at a resort.

“It’s the people,” says Aaron. “… I just feel like I see God more and more as we see more of His people.”

When Laura and Aaron’s daughter, Taliah, was born, it was only natural that they would soon include her in their cross-cultural adventures. By age 9, Taliah had visited 28 countries, including some hard places.

How it All Began

Kids have always been important to the Kellars. Laura is a high school business teacher, and Aaron is a high school counselor. The couple also shares a passion for child sponsorship and helping children in poverty that started before they were even dating.

Laura was just finishing college when she sponsored a girl in Guatemala through another organization. Aaron came to Laura’s house for a game night and saw a photo of Evelyn, her sponsored child, on her desk.

“I started asking a lot of questions because I was really into international travel at that time,” says Aaron. “I was like, ‘Oh, this is great. … This is something I can do!’”

Aaron began sponsoring a boy from India.

“As a young, single guy starting off my professional career, writing him was just so good for me,” Aaron recalls. “I remember going to Walgreens and getting pictures [printed] and mailing them out. And it was so different than anything I had ever done. I’d find myself praying for him in my daily life.”

Disappointment Leads to New Possibilities

As Taliah grew older, she began drawing pictures to enclose in their letters to the sponsored kids. Taliah, now 9, says she draws pictures of the things around their home, “like mountains and stuff like that.”

Before Taliah was born, Aaron and Laura had visited some of the children they sponsored. It was something they were eager for her to experience too. So they planned a trip to visit one of their sponsored children in Ecuador but learned the visit couldn’t be arranged.

Coleen’s sponsorship photo

They were disappointed, but they changed direction and planned a monthlong trip to Korea and to Japan, where Aaron’s mother grew up. Then, almost as an afterthought, they added a stop in the Philippines.

Before the trip, Aaron was visiting with his longtime friend Tony Miller, who works with OneChild.

Aaron told him how their plans to visit their sponsored child had fallen through and described their itinerary for Asia, including their “random” decision to stop at Cebu in the Philippines.

Tony said, “No way!”

He told Aaron that OneChild had a Hope Center in the area and said they could sponsor a child there and make a visit during their trip.

With the trip only four months away, Aaron wondered if they could arrange everything in time, especially since they had never sponsored through OneChild.

“We can work pretty quickly,” Tony said with a grin.

OneChild can help you plan the trip of a lifetime too — learn more!

Aaron and Laura wanted to sponsor a girl close to Taliah’s age and learned there was only one unsponsored girl in that age range in the Cebu area. By that afternoon, they had become the sponsors of 11-year-old Coleen, which they later felt was providential.

And the Kellars soon saw more evidence of God’s hand on their plans.

They had originally booked lodging in an area four hours away from Cebu City. But Laura had begun to feel uneasy about the remote location. So they changed their plans and booked an Airbnb condo in Cebu City instead.

While planning their visit with Coleen, Laura realized that because of tight schedules, if they hadn’t changed their lodging, they would have been too far away for the visit to work out.

Learning About the Heartbreak

A morning in June found the Kellars waiting in the lobby of their condo complex in Cebu for the Child Champions to arrive with Coleen, her brother Nicqui, 13, sister Alexa, 9, and their mom, Shy.

Willeen, a OneChild Program Advisor, came in advance and gave the Kellars an orientation for their visit. She shared that the children’s father, Kuya* Louie, had once run with a dangerous crowd. Then he met Jesus and became a testimony to how God can change a life. He became a loving husband and father and a strong witness to other men in the community.

Read about how Kuya Louie’s guitar lesson with Nicqui led to a music program at Sapangdaku Hope Center

But while riding his motorcycle in 2022, Kuya Louie was shot and killed by an unknown person.

“He truly gave his life to follow Christ,” says Aaron.

Willeen says the Kellars couldn’t help shedding some tears when they learned of the tragedy.

“But there was still joy knowing his faith and how his life was transformed by Jesus Christ … that he is now with his good Father in heaven,” says Willeen. “It made them more eager and excited to meet and be with Coleen and her family.”

From Shyness to Friendship

Soon, Coleen and her family arrived, accompanied by Pastora Lorna, the Director of Coleen’s Hope Center, and Child Champions Faith and Raine.

Left to right: Child Champion Raine, Child Champion Faith, Aaron, Laura, Nicqui, Taliah, Coleen, Alexa, Shy, Hope Center Director Pastora Lorna and Program Advisor Willeen

Having met several of her sponsored children before, Laura says it’s always a little awkward at first.

“Should you shake their hand or hug them? You don’t really know them yet, and I think it’s awkward for them too,” she says. “They don’t know what to expect; they’ve never met a sponsor before. But it’s also special. And you warm up throughout the day.”

The Kellars had brought gifts for Coleen and her siblings, and Coleen had made a necklace for Taliah.

Willeen says the families began to connect as they exchanged gifts. Coleen and her family spoke some English, which also helped.

Laura smiles as Coleen and Taliah try on matching shirts.

The Kellars wanted to treat Coleen’s family to a shopping trip, which became a great bonding time for Taliah, Coleen and Coleen’s sister, Alexa, who is about the same age as Taliah. Everyone got to pick out some items, and when Taliah suggested she and Coleen get matching shirts, she discovered they had the same taste in clothes.

“She likes the color green,” says Taliah. “She doesn’t really like girly, pink stuff. So that’s why we got the green shirts.”

“More than the gifts, it was the moments shared that they would surely cherish,” says Willeen.

They all went to lunch at Jollibee, a popular Filipino fast-food chain. For children facing poverty, a meal at Jollibee is a very big deal.

Taliah declared her lunch of spaghetti and French fries “the best meal I’ve ever had!”

After a little more shopping, it was time to head to Coleen’s home in Sapangdaku, about an hour’s drive from Cebu.

Coleen’s mother, Shy, wasn’t confident about her language skills, but during the drive she mustered her courage and told Laura in English, “I’m just so grateful for my kids!”

Read a child’s account of “The Moment I Met My Sponsor”

A Revelation Along the Road

The driver took them as far as possible, and then they began a 10-minute hike along a steep dirt trail leading through lush forest to Coleen’s village.

The Kellars had provided funds for the Child Champions to purchase groceries for the family. Nicqui toted a big bag of rice while Aaron carried a heavy load of groceries to the village.

As Aaron watched Taliah and Alexa ahead of them on the path, holding hands, a powerful revelation struck him.

He remembered how the logistics and budget concerns had become stressful during trip planning, and he had started thinking, “It might have been so much easier if we just didn’t do the Philippines.”

But watching the scene unfold along the trail, he thought, “God’s just showing me the whole reason we had this plan was to come over here … to take you [Taliah] halfway across the world. … You’re walking to their village!”

That revelation wasn’t the last one he would experience that day.

Left: Aaron watching his family on the path ahead. Center: The group walking to the village, with the youngest children in the lead. Right: Taliah and Alexa holding hands as they walk.

Finding Joy in the Hard Places

Taliah admires the family’s small shop.

The Kellars visited the family’s home, roughly the size of a modest office, built of concrete blocks and a corrugated metal roof. The river where the family washed clothes and bathed was not far away.

“The rural village might be the most poverty I’ve seen other than Tonlé Sap in Cambodia,” says Aaron. “There’s poverty … and then I think there’s borderline extreme poverty. That was eye-opening.”

They learned how the Child Champions had helped Coleen’s family after they lost their father, who was the main income earner in the household. The Hope Center gifted the family the initial inventory for a small shop they now run from a window in their house.

“They put their arms around them tangibly,” says Aaron, “They helped them start a little store.”

And the Kellars could tell that the Child Champions’ care was not limited to Coleen’s family.

“They know all the kids in the village,” says Laura.

A Different Kind of Visit

Taliah was soon tossing a Frisbee with Coleen, Nicqui, Alexa and their cousins in a dirt field behind the house. With a chicken tethered to a rope looking on and some of the kids catching a snake, it was far from a suburban playground back home. But Taliah says playing with the kids in the village was a special memory for her.

Left: Two boys show off a snake as a rooster keeps watch. Center: A path through the village. Right: Taliah plays with Alexa and Coleen in their home.

Watching the children play, Laura had a sense of having come full circle. Though they had visited other sponsored children before Taliah was born, now she saw her daughter connecting with their sponsored child while she and Aaron connected with Coleen’s mom and Child Champions.

Aaron had similar thoughts. “I feel like God’s been prepping us our whole life to do this with [Taliah]. Watching her minister to the kids is so touching.”

Aaron and Laura visit with Coleen’s aunt, Rosemae, while the children play.

A Big Surprise

Nicqui with Alexa and Taliah in the van, unaware he would soon be sponsored.

When the Kellars sponsored Coleen, Aaron had thought of sponsoring a second child at the same time. But since they were new to OneChild, Laura had suggested they wait.

Then, while in the village, the Kellers learned that Nicqui had recently lost his sponsor. They decided then and there to sponsor Nicqui, too.

“It totally shows God’s hand in it, and His plan that was there all along,” Laura says. “Because Nicqui was there and needed us.”

“I was just like, ‘Wow, God, You brought us to see two of our sponsored kids!’” says Aaron. “God always has these great things planned for us way above what we have planned.”

Aaron says it was touching to see Nicqui’s reaction when they told him.

“Nicqui was just in shock. Like, ‘Oh my gosh, you guys are going to try to sponsor me?’ And it was just a really special time.”

A Little Hope Center With a Big Mission

After an unforgettable time in the village, the Kellars prayed for Coleen and her family and hiked back to the van to visit Sapangdaku Hope Center.

Read more about how Sapangdaku Hope Center is transforming families in their community.

Two things stood out to the Kellars about the Hope Center: meeting Child Champions who had once been sponsored children themselves, and seeing how the Hope Center helps protect children from human trafficking and gang involvement.

“The protection that the Hope Center gives these children, that was really mind boggling.” says Aaron.

Trafficking and online child exploitation are rampant in the Cebu area, and Laura even noticed young Filipino girls accompanied by older, foreign men at the condominium complex where they stayed.

But the Hope Center’s support helps children stay in school and gives them a vision for a better future.

The Kellars pray with Pastor Joey (at right, beside Aaron) and Child Champions at the Hope Center.

Learn how OneChild supports child survivors of trafficking

The Deeper Impact

Laura, Aaron and Taliah returned to their condo that night grateful for how God had orchestrated their amazing journey. They knew the impact would last far beyond that day.

Willeen was deeply touched by the visit as well.

“This visit made me realize the profound impact that sponsorship can have — not just in providing material support but in building meaningful, lasting relationships,” she says.

Meet a widow from Florida whose life was changed by sponsorship

But perhaps the most moving commentary on the visit came from Coleen and Nicqui as they shared with Pastora Lorna their memories of the visit.

“I was happy that I finally got to see my sponsors’ faces, and I really got to spend time with them,” says Coleen, adding that she was surprised by how tall they were — and how very kind.

Recalling the visit, it wasn’t the shopping or the gifts that Nicqui mentioned. It was the fact that the Kellars made the difficult journey to their home, and the friendship they had formed.

“I am happy that Coleen’s sponsors visited us and include to sponsor me,” Nicqui says. “Taliah took time to share photos of their family — and share her life.”

Discover the impact you can make on a life when you sponsor a child today.  

*Kuya is a term of respect for a man in the Philippines.