Happy Thanksgiving! I was planning to send this email out in time for Thanksgiving, but I’ve been a little behind these past few days.

The biggest news this month is that our daughter Margaret Sophia was born last week! We named her Margaret after my grandmother who has been such a blessing to us. Both mother and daughter are doing well, but sleep sure has been much more difficult these past few days! We are so grateful for God’s wonderful provision and protection throughout the complicated pregnancy. And we are so excited to now hold our little girl in our arms! Please be praying for Yuli as she continues to heal from the C-section that was necessary.

Elias graduated from high school at the end of October, and he is now searching for his first job. So these past few weeks he’s been here at home with us, and we’ve had much more time to spend with him than we normally get. It’s been great to have this time with him, and our relationships have grown a lot deeper. He’s also been an absolute blessing to us this past week with our new daughter as he’s been so incredibly helpful with cleaning and running errands. I really enjoy our time together, and it’s so wonderful to watch him grow and mature. Please pray for him as he searches for a job.

Benjamin just celebrated his 24th birthday last week, and he also just started a new job. He decided to work at a cell phone company where a few other guys from Casa Shalom now work. This new job offers more money, but I’m concerned because it also requires longer hours. Our relationship with him has grown and matured a lot these last few months, and we’ve seen a direct link to how busy he is at work with how stressed he is at home. (In other words, he’s just like all of us!) Please pray for him as he decides where to work and how to invest his time.

The house construction continues to progress as well. We’re currently working on putting stucco on all the walls and installing pipes and drainage lines. I’m not sure when the house is going to be finished, but the progress continues to move along. I guess I should make a new video soon in order to show all the progress since we poured the roof!

Verse for November

This month we finished our Bible study on the book of John. I just love this book, and I learn more and more each time that I read it. It’s fascinating to see how Jesus interacts with His disciples and other people around Him. The thing that really stood out to me this time was how Jesus acted as a leader. I want to be a good leader to the guys that God has placed in my life, and I want to be a good leader for my family.

Chapters 13-17 are so rich with great examples of His leadership during the last supper and in the Garden of Gesemane. Jesus serves the disciples by washing their feet. He says hard things to them and does what He knows must be done. He gives them a vision for the future and a plan for the present. He challenges them and comforts them. He spends a long time praying for Himself and for them. And all throughout these chapters there is a continuous theme of love: God’s love of Jesus, Jesus’s love of them, and their need to love each other.

John the Baptist’s attitude about Jesus is exactly what I want and need for my life. It’s a great response about how to be a good leader:

He must become greater; I must become less.”
John 3:30 (NIV)

I would appreciate your prayers for me: Jesus must become greater in my life, and my personal desires and attitudes must become less. It’s so simple, yet so hard. Thank you!

Thank you so much for your support and prayers for Yuli, myself and our ministry with these guys. We pray that God also blesses your lives and draws you closer to Him. We pray regularly for you, so please let me know if you have any prayer requests!

Brent & Yuliza

Elias finished up his internship that he started in August. He was hopeful that they might offer him a full-time position, but it didn’t work out. We would appreciate your prayers as he now starts job hunting. Saturday is his graduation ceremony from high school, and they’ve asked him to share his testimony at the ceremony. He’s pretty nervous right now as he prepares for it!

Edwin and Jenifer are siblings who stayed with us for Christmas last year. On Sunday their older brother Hugo died of complications from pneumonia. He had several medical conditions that had progressively worsened over the years, and lately he had been constantly in and out of the hospital. The most beautiful thing about his testimony was that in the middle of all his problems and pains, he always talked to everyone about God’s goodness. Well now he’s in the presence of his good God and isn’t suffering anymore, and we give God praise for that.

Out of this sad time came a new beginning. Hugo had left the orphanage years before I arrived, and his death reunited many guys who grew up with him and are closer to my age. We had an INCREDIBLE time meeting them and getting to know them. It was like a big extended family reunion! The common feeling with everyone was “I miss this family. We need to get together more often!”

On Monday I got sick, and I wasn’t able to get together with them. They responded, “No problem, we’ll come to your house!” God helped me feel better in the evening when they arrived, and He really blessed our time together. I’m very excited about the new relationships! Yuli and I really enjoyed listening to each of them share their experiences after leaving the orphanage and learning about the challenges that they faced. Yuli invited them all back over again in a few weeks so that she could cook for them all, but I think that she forgot that she’s about to give birth! (God really blessed me with an incredible wife!) We would really appreciate your prayers that God would allow us to continue to build these new relationships, and that we can encourage each of them to continue to seek God as adult men.

At the end of September we poured our cement roof! It was a pretty massive undertaking, and it used about 150 sacks of cement (about 6 tons), 14 cubic meters each of sand and gravel (around 23 tons each!), and lots of water. Coming from the United States, it’s a little weird thinking about all that weight above your head. I put together a quick and very shaky video of the process if you’re interested. The last few weeks we stopped construction in order to let the roof fully dry, but now we’re back removing the wooden mold that held it all together. It looks good!

Our family is going to grow in size very soon! Yuli is less than a month away from giving birth to our little girl, and we can’t wait to meet her! We work with lots of kids, but not with many babies, so it’s going to be a huge change for us. We’re so excited to soon meet our little gift from God! Last week we took advantage of the break in construction and snuck away for a little vacation to relax for a few days. Pretty soon our lives are going to become a lot busier, and so the time was so needed and refreshing. The doctor says that our baby is doing well and already over 6 pounds, but she has her umbilical cord wrapped around her neck twice. Please pray for our baby during these final weeks of pregnancy and as we decide if a C-section is necessary.

Verse for October:

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted
and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
Psalm 34:18 (NIV)

Please pray this verse this month for all the kids and men that God has placed in our lives. Edwin and Jenifer are going through a time of sorrow. The guys who live with us are affected by the rejection of their mother. Many of the kids at the orphanage suffer from the abandonment and abuse and brokenness that brought them here. We so desire to be used by God as a conduit of His love and healing. Please pray for us!

Thank you so much for your support and prayers for Yuli, myself and our ministry with these guys. We pray that God also blesses your lives and draws you closer to Him. We pray regularly for you, so please let me know if you have any prayer requests!

Brent & Yuliza