Thank you so much for praying for us this past month! We received so many wonderful emails, and it’s been very encouraging and uplifting for us.
It’s been a really busy month, and I want to let you know about everything that’s been going on here while you’ve been praying.
Our Kids
All of our kids are doing well. This week is exam week for the end of the first quarter of school, and so everyone’s studying hard.
We did have an issue about 3 weeks ago where I had a problem with Alfonso because of his behavior, and to be honest, I didn’t handle it well at all. I was tired and frustrated, and I didn’t control my anger. He ran away and went to stay with his mother for a few days. Fortunately, we were able to talk about everything, and I was able to apologize for not acting correctly. He’s been back since then, and I think that God used the situation to allow us to have some good conversations about everything. Please pray for Alfonso as his heart is so broken because of his parents’ actions. I would also appreciate your continued prayers that I would have more wisdom and patience with all of our children.
We’re also talking to a new boy who might join our family named Julio. He is 17 and, like many of our kids, grew up at Casa Shalom. But he left the orphanage 2 years ago and hasn’t been living very responsibly. We’ve been talking to him for many months, and he’s realized that his actions are causing him a lot of problems and he wants to start over. We had a long talk again with him yesterday afternoon, and he’s thinking and praying about everything. Please pray that God would direct Julio and us with this big decision, and we hope that he will come to live with us.
We had a young woman named Keila visit us for about two weeks. She attends our home church in Austin, Texas where she works with their women’s rehabilitation home. She wanted to come to visit us and see what we do with our kids, and it was great to have her here to love our kids.
Our Monday night meetings with the shoeshiners are going well, and fortunately we have received more help with some new volunteers and a bunch of the helpers who had left are coming back. I would appreciate your continued prayers as it’s still a lot of work of food preparation and energy to work with them. Monday night was extra special because a young boy named Fernando asked to pray to receive Jesus as his savior! He’s 9 years old and just started to come this month to our Monday night meetings. Thank you for praying!!! I’m sorry that I don’t have any pictures of him, but I’ll try to get a picture soon.
And here’s another answer to prayer… We bought a van! We found a 2007 Mitsubishi 12 seat van for sale at a price that we could afford and bought it about a week ago. It’s fabulous!!! Thank you to everyone who provided the money to be able to buy it! It’s a huge blessing to us.
Los Gozosos (“The Joyful Ones”)
Many of you have probably already heard about the tragedy that occurred in a government run orphanage on March 8th when 40 girls died in a fire after being locked in a room together. It’s truly a terrible and heartbreaking story. Here’s a story about what happened on Reuters.
The orphanage, which is located about 40 miles east of us, is being shut down by the Guatemalan government, meaning that new places have to be found for roughly 700 children who are now without a place to live. Please pray for all the orphanages who will be receiving these children.
In our town there is an orphanage for children with special needs called Los Gozosos. They are taking in 10 special needs children from this orphanage which doubles their number to 20. We’ve gotten to know the orphanage well over the years because our friend Diamond, who has stayed with us several times over the last 3 years, volunteers there. And we’ve gotten to know the director Maureen well, and she’s truly an inspiring lady with a huge heart to care for these special children.
Los Gozosos always struggles balancing their budget with all the costs associated with running a home that cares for kids who have lots of extra and unexpected costs. They’re converting some classrooms into bedrooms for the incoming children, but they need a lot of financial help to buy additional beds, medicine and food. Their webpage is at www.losgozosos.org.
So here’s my request: Would you consider supporting this vital ministry? I know that money can be tight, so if you were planning to send support to us, could you send it to them??? They really need the help. Here’s their online donation page.
Thank you again for your prayers these past 30 days. It has meant a lot to us, and we need them! Thank you for your generosity allowing us to buy a van and for supporting the work that we do with the kids.
Brent
Celia just turned 18 and she finished 9th grade. This is a big accomplishment here because many children are not able to go to school this long. So they have a big graduation ceremony, and she’s the first one in her family to finish 9th grade. This month she starts vocational training to be a preschool teacher. Alfonso is now 17, and he also finished 9th grade last year. He is also about to start 10th grade and will receive training in computer programming. In some ways he can be our most challenging child, but we’ve enjoyed seeing our relationship with him grow tremendously during these last few months. It’s wonderful to watch him start to fully understand how much we love him.
Flora is now 23, and she is working in a store near our house. This has been her first year to be working, and she enjoys making a salary! She transitioned into her own apartment about two months ago and now lives about a quarter mile from us. It’s wonderful to be able to continue help and counsel her, and to see her continue to seek the Lord’s will for her life. And Carlos is now 26, and he continues to work at a pure water distribution company. He’s such a sweet and easy-going guy, and he continues to seek the Lord’s will for his life.
The new school year starts in two weeks, so right now is the best time for our home to grow. We’re currently talking to two families about caring for their kids and giving them an education, and in both cases we’re receiving resistance to the idea by the parents. We’ve met the kids through the orphanage, Casa Shalom, and they’d really like the opportunity to go to school. But they’ve been sent back to their parents by a child-services judge, and the decision is up to the parents. Please pray for God to work on their parents’ hearts so that they can come to live with us.
2016 was a very exciting year for the ministry to the shoeshiners and homeless. We continued to meet them every Sunday morning to share food and God’s love with them. And we started a bi-weekly meeting on Monday nights to have a more formal Bible study and dinner together. It’s been so great to get to know them better, and to have a more focused time of ministry with them. Every Sunday we feed 100 people, and 20 come on Monday nights. We now have a better place to hold our meetings, and this year we’re changing to weekly meetings. It’s a much bigger time and financial effort, but it should provide more consistent attendance.
The teens and young adults that we have helping us are very dedicated, and they raise the majority of the finances through people of our community. I hope to continue to minister with them and to them. It’s so easy to get so focused on the physical needs of the people around us that it’s easy to forget about their much greater need of a Savior.
In early December we were able to take a trip to visit our home church in Austin, Texas. We had a great time staying and fellowshipping with our pastor and his family, and it was so wonderful to reconnect with lots of old friends. The trip was extra special because our dear friend, Edwin, was able to go with us. He grew up at Casa Shalom, and I was his houseparent when he was a teenager. It’s been great to work with him these past 12 years and watch him grow into the man he is today. (Goofy story: I was so shy to talk to Yuliza when I was trying to get to know her, and Edwin helped me!) During our trip Edwin was able to visit his mother who lives just south of the border in Mexico whom he hadn’t seen in many years.
We’re blessed to be able to serve in Guatemala, and we’re so grateful for your continued generosity through the years. Thank you so much!
Now that we’ve finished the construction we have more rooms
