Dear Friends:
This last month, we arrived in Palomas on Friday afternoon, and met the girls at a small private swimming pool. The water was fresh out of a well, and it was COLD! Fortunately, the afternoon was hot, so they had a great time playing, shivering, and warming back up. We finished the afternoon with some KFC we brought with us! On Saturday night, we held a graduation party for Maria, Paola, and Ana at the Pink Store, and the girls all got dressed up. I’m learning that girls love opportunities to dress up! We had a Bible study with them later, and talked about living lives that count in God’s Kingdom. We talked about His desire to interact with them, about His love, about why He sets boundaries for our conduct, and about the joy He can bring us in every circumstance. I am sensing that they are all drawing closer to the Lord during these times when they really can’t go anywhere, and so they are getting more time for devotionals and Bible studies.
Now, the new school year will be starting, and we are not sure yet what that is going to look like. We are still struggling to get an acceptable level of internet, and we are still unsure how the teachers plan to really get the lessons out to the kids and how the kids are going to learn. We are hoping and praying that whatever shape this takes, that it will be meaningful and challenging. We were really blessed to get their report cards this last month, and all of the girls improved in their grades during the Spring semester. When I talked to Ana about why, it was apparent that it is because she and the other staff are structuring time when the girls do their studies, are helping them, and making sure they get their work done. It is like having a one-on-one tutor! So, that is a silver lining in all of the COVID restrictions.
We have 2 girls working, Andrea, who will be in 11th grade this year, is working at a money-changing office, Paola was hoping to get a job in a factory, but she was not selected. For now, she is making desserts and trying to sell them. I don’t think she is selling very many, but the girls at Casa are enjoying her concoctions! We also have 2 girls who are in specialized education—Lupita is going to school to be certified as a Nurse Assistant, and Paola is going to school to be certified as a teacher’s assistant. As the girls get older, we encourage them to get jobs because, first, it keeps them busy, second, it prepares them for their future, and third, it allows them to save some money for when they become independent. A couple of the girls who have left Casa are still pretty dependent on us for support, and so we are still working on educating them and trying to help them become independent. We find that some of the girls who left Casa have done just fine, and others have really struggled with the whole idea of being an “adult.” I guess just like in any family, except our “family” is much bigger than normal!
Please keep our Director, Ana, in your prayers this month. She has a long history of mis-diagnosis by doctors, which eventually led her to kidney failure a couple of years ago, and she got a transplant. However, the anti-rejection medications she is taking have caused her to develop cataracts and severe loss of vision in one of her eyes. We are praying that the Lord will guide in this and that she can be fully restored!
We are still praying for 6 new girls to come to Casa, and hopefully we will be getting some now as the new school year starts. Please pray that they will be girls who can benefit the most from what we have to offer!
Please pray that we will be able to share the Words of Life with the girls this week-end that will change them. Please pray that God will bring the increase as we sow and water! Please pray for our financial needs at Casa. Please pray for divine protection for staff to continue! And, please pray that DIF will send us more girls, as we need about 6 new girls for the coming school year!
I have been thinking about the paradox of growing older, taking responsibility, making wise decisions, and the Lord’s call at the same time to remain like a child in faith and trust.
Matt 18:1-11 18:1 About that time the disciples came to Jesus to ask which of them would be greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven! 2 Jesus called a small child over to him and set the little fellow down among them, 3 and said, "Unless you turn to God from your sins and become as little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven. 4 Therefore anyone who humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. 5 And any of you who welcomes a little child like this because you are mine is welcoming me and caring for me. 6 But if any of you causes one of these little ones who trusts in me to lose his faith, it would be better for you to have a rock tied to your neck and be thrown into the sea. 7 "Woe upon the world for all its evils. Temptation to do wrong is inevitable, but woe to the man who does the tempting. 8 So if your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. Better to enter heaven crippled than to be in hell with both of your hands and feet. 9 And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. Better to enter heaven with one eye than to be in hell with two. 10 "Beware that you don't look down upon a single one of these little children. For I tell you that in heaven their angels have constant access to my Father. 11 And I, the Messiah, came to save the lost. TLB
The distance between the viewpoint of our society and that of God is growing wider and wider. We now live in a society that thinks it is ok to murder unborn children, and even wants the government to fund it. We live in a society that thinks sexual preference should be celebrated, whether it violates God’s standards or not. We live in a society that seeks to repress religious convictions for the sake of societal preferences, and to force Christians to cater to those preferences in violation of their convictions as followers of Jesus. It is all around us, and it is invading Mexico just as it has already invaded the U.S. Without a doubt, persecution is coming in the name of “progressive thinking.”
How will we raise up our children in the midst of this pressure? How will we prepare them for the onslaught against God’s standards? Will we be able to steer them on a course that allows them to maintain child- like faith and trust in God and His Word in the midst of pressure, ridicule, and even attacks that are occuring in society in general, in the schools, in the entertainment world, and on nearly every front? Will we be able to help them develop the skills and tools to resist this onslaught from hell? Now is a time, more than ever, when we and they need the covering and empowering of the Holy Spirit to resist and to even advance against this Kingdom of darkness. Please pray for us, even as we pray for you!
For the month of August, we prepared the packages and backpacks for all the students in the program. We decided that it would be best to not have our monthly meeting, but we were blessed with an unforeseen opportunity.
We decided to visit each one of our students. A representative of Alas de Amor and another from the Church, while following the sanitary regulations, dropped-off the packages and backpacks. During our short meetings, we had the opportunity to introduce ourselves and review the guidelines of the program.
We are grateful to God to be able to start the school year, the same way as all the other years. That is, by meeting with each of our students and their families. We usually see everyone at the same time at our shelter, but this year, we had the fortune of meeting everyone more intimately and our eyes were opened. We learned more about the families we are working for. We were able to see where they live and learned about other necessities that these families have. The global circumstances that we are in served to reaffirm that Alas de Amor is making a difference in these communities. I personally had the opportunity to talk to several new students that were eager to be part of the program. It touched my heart to see how happy they were to see us and receive their school supplies.
We also learned that the Mexican government was collaborating with the main TV stations to provide classes to the students. This will be a useful teaching tool for our students. For the last five months, the main method for teachers to send and receive homework to and from students, is through WhatsApp. They sent pictures of the assignments and the students sent back pictures of their answers. Clearly, the education system in this community (as in many more) is struggling through the challenges the pandemic has brought. However, the teachers, students, and families are resilient and working hard to make the best of these circumstances.
Your Donation:
All the schools will continue to be closed; therefore, we won’t be purchasing the formal uniforms for our students. Instead, we will be providing monthly pantry kits for each family. Since there still is a lot of scarcity of goods and jobs in the community, some of the schools have decided to charge the annual quotas, and we will be paying them as well.
We will keep you updated as the country starts to reopen. Depending on the regulations, we may begin our monthly meetings again. May you have a blessed month. Keep us in your prayers.