Dear Friends:
This last couple of weeks was graduation time in Palomas. Lupita graduated from high school, and we also received great news that she had passed the admission test to law school in Cd. Juarez! This is a hard exam, and it shows how hard she has worked this last couple of years after having many years of off-and-on seriousness about her studies. She has matured a lot, and she is making good decisions in her life, and we feel very blessed to have been able to help guide her these past 7 years she has been with us. Of course, we will continue to support her as parents, and she will hopefully come and visit us each month and help us with our Alas scholarship program. She and Andrea plan to live together. Andrea graduated last year, and she is in the college of Accounting in Cd. Juarez. We are told she is doing well in her studies, she has a serious boyfriend, and so we will see what the future holds for her as well!
Vanessa and Angelica graduated from middle school a couple of weeks ago, and so this is another milestone for them! Angelica is doing very well in her studies, and Vanessa had a bit of a downturn for a few weeks, but now she is working hard to regain her lost ground. We are seeking to find a place where they can both work during the summer, because we have found that is the best way to keep them focused and out of trouble, and it also gives them the reward of income for their work! We require that we keep half of all they earn to have a savings for when they start their lives when they leave us. They will both be starting high school in the end of August.
Nahomi, unfortunately, chose to break our rules and take off from home this last month, and once we found her, Ana, our housemother, confronted her about her priorities and goals. Unfortunately, though she is now 17, she really hasn’t matured, and she informed us that she is not interested in an education, nor is she interested in living under all of the rules we have, so we had to take her to a locked-in institution in Chihuahua, where she cannot escape. Unfortunately, she also will not get any further education, nor will she be able to have any help to prepare her for adult life. Ana told her that once she turns 18, and gets out of the institution there, if she changes her mind, she is always welcome to come back and we will try to help her prepare for adulthood. We will continue to pray for her and contact her to let her know we are still there for her. Much prayer needed! Lord willing, we will yet see victory in her life!
When I was an obstinate child, my mother used to tell me, “you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink!” It took a few years for that to sink in. We are each the only person who is responsible for our lives. Ultimately, life is going to be what we make of it, for better or for worse. Unfortunately, when we make bad decisions, we almost always hurt others as well as ourselves. On the other hand, we build others up by our good decisions.
There is so much in the Bible about this. One of my favorites is Prov 27:17: As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. NIV Maybe because I am a lawyer, I like this. But, I really think it is true, and it is really a foundation of a Christian-based democracy, as the US once was. It is through discussion and thinking through ideas together that we come up with sound decisions. When people make decisions based on feelings or on popularity, or on little information, the decision will usually be harmful. You don’t have to look to far to see how lack of honest discussion and debate have caused great harm in the US.
I think of Ps 40:8 I delight to do Your will, O my God, And Your law is within my heart." NKJV. It is important to keep ourselves grounded in God’s teachings. Since He is our Creator, since He is perfect, since He created the standards for us to live by, it is foolishness to say, as we often do, “I think...” Does it really matter what we think? I submit that is only so, if we can show that we are aligned with God’s thinking on the subject. We only get that by being students of His Word.
In Gal 5:22-26 we read, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. NKJV I am so thankful that when I blow it by showing anything but love, joy, peace.... I can confess my sin and be cleansed and restored by God (1 Jn. 1:9) Also, the only way we can live in the fruit of the Spirit is if we are filled with the Spirit of God, and that only comes by taking ourselves off of the throne in our lives and allowing God to take his rightful place as our ruler. It only comes when we ask him to fill us with His Spirit to overcome our own haughty spirits.
Being a Christian is not for wimps. God places a call upon our lives to live for Him openly and without reservation. Back in the 1970’s, there were a bunch of radically saved young people who were stirred up by the Spirit of God. They were known as “Jesus Freaks.” They openly proclaimed Christ as the Truth, the Way, and the Life example for all people. They were not embarrassed by their faith, they did not worry when people said they had gone overboard. They felt the power of God in their lives. Many of us older people today can identify with that, if we were born again during that time. I would always prefer to be ridiculed for my faith rather than to be a silent conformist to this world. Matt 5:13-16 reminds us: "You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it useful again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless. You are the light of the world — like a city on a mountain, glowing in the night for all to see. Don't hide your light under a basket! Instead, put it on a stand and let it shine for all. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father. NLT.
The end of July we are taking our girls on a retreat to spend some time exploring what it means to be born again and what it means to be filled with the Spirit. I believe this is the only sure antidote to all of the teachings of the world that contradict God’s view of His Creation. Please pray with us as we prepare for this time that it will have a powerful, life-changing impact on the girls.
I want to pray Ps. 23 over you this month: May you see the Lord as your shepherd, and you shall not lack. May you lie down in places of beauty and abundance in Him. May He renew your strength, guide you along the right paths, and may you bring honor to His name. Even when you are in the darkest places, may you find comfort in his guidance and correction. May He drive evil away from you as you realize how close He is to you. May you sense the abundant provision of the Lord in your life even in the midst of your enemies, may you feel honored and blessed by the Lord, so that your joy overflows and helps others, and may His goodness and unfailing love pursue you all the days of your life and may you live in His house forever!
Hello once again, Alas de Amor family! We hope that you are doing well, wherever this letter finds you during this beautiful summer. June is always a special time for us here at Alas de Amor, as it means that another school year is over. We are so thankful to see so many of our students move on to the next year of their schooling, with 6 of our students completing their last year of high school. As is tradition, we reward all of our students that work hard to excel in their studies, so all of our Alas students whose GPA is greater or equal to an 8.5 (out of 10) received a prize. It’s our privilege to share that the number of students that we hand out these prizes and rewards to has steadily increased. We are also overwhelmingly proud to announce that all 6 of our high school graduates will be attending college in the coming semester, with 4 being accepted to Universidad Autonoma de Ciudad Juarez and one of them accepted to Universidad Autonoma de Chihuahua. It is very clear to us that God continues to do great things with our volunteers and our donors, as every year we see more and more students choosing to attend college. Not too long ago, a college education was nothing more than an unattainable fantasy for most students in Palomas. Now, we see that more and more families are being empowered and inspired to help their children move on to higher education. This is all thanks to you, our sponsors, and we thank God for every single one of you who chooses to support our mission. Aside from the graduation celebrations, we also gave out this year’s Alas de Amor t-shirt, a tradition we’ve had for many years now.
We also had a chance to talk to our students about the major impact which their decisions can have on their lives. This topic is one which is of critical importance to Alas de Amor students. It is also a topic which has also proven to be most difficult to effectively communicate to our students. Many of our students are far too young to be able to measure the importance of getting good grades and staying out of trouble, but there are just as many students who do not have the same number of opportunities to succeed as you or I do. Alas de Amor tries to provide students with a real chance to pursue a career in whatever their heart desires if they choose to work hard in school and stay with the program. At the end of the day, we cannot force any child to study hard, attend church and stay out of trouble but we can teach them important lessons and we can continue to provide financial and emotional support all throughout their schooling. Most importantly, we can provide them the word of God and reflect Christ by showing them the same kindness, hope and love that Christ gives us.
One amazing story of success that we can share with our students as well as you all is of one of our Alas alumni, Oscar Maldonado. Oscar has been with Alas de Amor for many years now, all the way through his college education. Now, Oscar is looking to starting his professional career. Oscar has recently interviewed for 4 different jobs, and he has just received offers for 2 of them. It is truly amazing the amount of effort and dedication that such an achievement requires, but Oscar put his trust in God and he has done great things in his life.
Stories like Oscar’s are not the only stories of success from Alas, and they are important stories to tell. Our Alas students can see themselves in someone like Oscar and understand that, though it may be difficult, it is possible to accomplish their dreams and break out of the cycle of poverty. For us all, it is equally important to tell these stories to our family members, friends, coworkers and other people we know because these stories are the kind of stories which touch the hearts of others and which God uses to inspire others to sponsor a child in need. Finally, stories like Oscar’s are important because they inspire us to keep moving forward with our mission, as they fill our hearts with determination and courage to work harder and to find greater ways to bless our children in Palomas.
We close this month’s newsletter by first thanking God for the amazing things which have happened this year, a school year which even with COVID as well as many of life’s other adversities God has made successful and a cause for celebration for us all here at Alas de Amor. We would also like to thank you, our sponsors and volunteers, who are the lifeblood of our organization. We cannot emphasize enough how none of this would be possible without your time, your donations, and your prayers. We ask that you continue, above all else, to keep praying for the children in Palomas and their families, as well as pray for God’s infinite wisdom and guidance to keep steering Alas forward into the years to come.
Berenice