Dear Friends:
Summer vacation! For many of us, that is our short time every summer when we get away from it all, we get to relax, take our minds off of everything that absorbs us the rest of the year, and hopefully get some rest! Imagine our girls at Casa. Until they came to live with us, they didn’t even know what a vacation was! It was all about getting pulled from one shelter to another and the constant pain of separation from family.
So, since they have come to us, we try to take them on a retreat and vacation each summer. This summer, we took them to Mexico City! It was so fun seeing their excitement. For some of them it was their first time on a plane! They all cheered loudly when the plane landed! We stayed in a decent hotel near the center of town and the girls loved the nice rooms, riding in the elevator and taking the escalators, all things several of them had never experienced. We took them to pyramids, which they climbed, to the old city on the lake, where we went out in a boat and were sung to by mariachis, and on a city tour, where we went to a really nice archeology museum that told the story of the history of Mexico. Every day, they were led in a Bible study by our Spanish church pastor, Emiliano Leon. By the end of the week, we were noticing marked changes in our girls, as we focused on growth in relationship with the Lord and with each other. We are hoping and praying this will mark a turning point in some of their lives, as we seek to prepare them to become responsible adults.
On Sept. 5, we will hold a Fund-raising Fiesta for Casa in Santa Fe. We want to encourage you to buy tickets! See the flyer, included. Maybe you can put it up somewhere! We will have a silent auction with some really cool things that people can bid on, including art works, a thorough house-cleaning, and a hunt on a private ranch. Our goal is to raise $20,000 to help support the orphanage! We hope to see you there!
Phil 4:4-9 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me — put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
Phil 4:19 And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.
Alas de Amor has just about completed another school year in Palomas. We handed out certificates of successful completion of the program to our students. We gave special recognition to the students who were exceptional scholastically. We were pleased that quite a few students did very well! School is officially out the first week of July and will start again in August. Not much of a break for these kids. Your support has helped encourage students to run the race and stay in school! Each month we are encouraged by the participation of the kids and their parents. We are making a difference in Palomas!
Thanks to those of you who sponsored a child we are finishing the year with 114 children plus 6 college students. We will start the new year with 103 students and 8 college students.
Those of you who sponsored a child last year should have received a letter in the mail with a new picture of your child. We are always sad to report that some students choose not to continue in the program. Some drop out of school so they can work to help support families, some move away and others just decide they don’t want the commitment to excellence that our program requires. We hope that those sponsors who are affected by this will choose to sponsor another child. We have 24 new students who are anxious to join the program.
Sponsorship amounts remain the same for the coming year. $250 elementary (1-6), $350 Secondary (7-9), and
$450 High School (10-12).
We are excited that more of our kids are choosing college as an option and that the parents are seeing the importance of this step in their children’s life. College in Mexico costs around $1000 a year. US community college is $2,000.00 a semester. Two of our girls from Casa are in El Paso going to school. All in all, our college students need $10,000 this coming school year to pay their school expenses. If you would like to help sponsor a college student in part or full, we can work out a payment plan. We feel that this is an exciting and very important step in helping these kids to succeed in their community and in life, and to be able to give back to others. Any monthly amount you wish to give will help the whole group. Designate on the form at the bottom of the page that it is for College and we will use it accordingly.
We look forward to partnering with everyone for the new school year and pray the Lord will continue to bless and use the program to change lives in Palomas. Thank you for your faithfulness in the past, and for your future involvement. Together, we can make a real difference in a poverty-stricken town, where up until now, kids have been stuck with very little promise of a good future!