Dear Friends:
Christmas in Palomas was very special this year. Thanks to all of you, we gave out over 125 gifts to impoverished kids around town who are in our scholarship program, and we didn’t forget their brothers and sisters!
Many of you supplied those gifts! The smiles say it all!
It was a very special time of remembering God’s Amazing Gift to us of a Savior, Christ, who is able to wash away our sins and make us new and clean!
When we think of the birth of a new baby, we think of the innocence, the joy at each new sight and discovery, and the opportunity for new beginnings as a new life begins to explore this new world. Jesus came to give us a new world to explore! A world colored by good and not by evil.
1 John 3:8-9 The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work. No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.
He wants us to be innocent, even when faced with evil!
Luke 10:2-3 Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.
He wants us to spread light in the darkness that is the sin and evil and ungodly attractions of the world around us!
Acts 26:17-18 I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light , and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.
Such a blessed time of year, as we remember the Christ child who came to save us from ourselves! Of course, the birth would mean nothing without the cross, but we do have the cross, and so we can rejoice that God sent his Amazing Grace to us that if we will only Believe in Him, Trust our lives to Him, and Follow Him, His Grace will make us new, give us a fresh start, and lead us in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake! We pray that you all had a blessed Christmas Season, and we also pray that you will feel the excitement of this New Year. Let the renewal He brings in us to model the life and attitudes of Jesus in our own lives set us free from our past. May we look forward to all of the opportunities God will bring into us in the New Year to bring hope, to bring love, and to bring joy into a world that so desperately needs His love. Please pray with us for our girls at Casa, for our girls in college, for our kids and families in our Alas program, and for yourselves and all of us that we will receive empowerment from our Savior this New Year of 2019 to set people free!
Briza and Cielo have been given student visas and will begin English language school this week in El Paso, thanks to William and Margerita Sanchez, who are hosting them!
We hope you had a blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year! We are excited to start a new year and continue our work with our students. Our hope is that God would continue to support and guide us on helping our students. We stand with faith, believing that God has a great plan for each one of them. We are ready to see the amazing new things he has in store for us and our students.
In our last visit to Palomas, we had a great time visiting and enjoying some time with all of the churches we work with. Each Church had a small devotional to remind us that our Christmas celebration is to remember the birth of Jesus, our savior! After the devotional we all shared a meal, which was prepared by each church.
All of our students and their siblings received a Christmas gift; they all looked very happy. To all of you who contributed with a gift (s) or money, to make this Christmas special for the kids in Palomas, La Modelo and La Victoria. Thank you! To all of the sponsors that made the time to come Palomas and meet their student (s). Thank you! We were excited to see all of you. I can assure you, your student (s) felt very special. Lastly, thank you to all the volunteers. It was amazing to see all of you helping and interacting with everyone in each event.
I hope you have blessed year… And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19