Dear Friends
We will be in Palomas this coming weekend, May 4, where we will celebrate Family Day! If you would like to come, please contact Emiliano or me and we can explain details about the van going down and returning from The Light. We are looking for volunteers to help in all of the administration that goes on to host the event. It should be a lot of fun, as we come together with all of our Alas families to celebrate God’s primary social unit, the family! Come and experience a week-end mission trip! You will get a chance to talk with the child(ren) you are sponsoring and their parents, and you will experience first-hand the difference you are making in their lives!
It has been a fun and eventful school year, as we draw to a close for this year. We have been blessed to see the young adults we are sponsoring in college do well this year! We have been blessed to see the interest of the kids and even the adults in our program consider God’s purposes for their lives. We are praying it will make a difference to them as they go on from here. We find that there are so many Christians who have never really considered that God has purposes for them in general and in every day of their lives. I love the words of Paul as he considered God’s Call upon his life, and the most meaningful response he could have:
Phil 3:7-14 I once thought all these things (things of this world)were so very important, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the priceless gain of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I may have Christ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own goodness or my ability to obey God's law, but I trust Christ to save me. For God's way of making us right with himself depends on faith. As a result, I can really know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I can learn what it means to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that, somehow, I can experience the resurrection from the dead!
I don't mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection! But I keep working toward that day when I will finally be all that Christ Jesus saved me for and wants me to be. No, dear brothers and sisters, I am still not all I should be, but I am focusing all my energies on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us up to heaven. NLT
These verses have become my life verses, though, of course, living them out is difficult and I usually fail. Nonetheless, they express my heart’s desire.
Looking ahead, in June we will have a “graduation ceremony” for all of our young people, and in July, we will have a day of worship, teaching, and fun at a local pool as the kids enjoy their summer vacation.
School starts up again in August, and so there is much to do between now and then, determining which students will be in our program this coming school year, getting sponsors for all of them, obtaining all of their information for shoes and school clothing, and determining our theme for the coming year. We are seeking to involve our Pastors in more and more of this, and also our parents, and we appreciate your prayers in helping us to move forward to bring the love and power of Jesus into Puerto Palomas youth.
We are in need of teachers who can commit to teaching the kids and their parents in the coming school year. And, we are always in need of people who can help with organizing activities and events, setting up, taking down, cleaning, and repairing as needed at our shelter, and translating letters.
This coming year, our last 2 girls at Casa will graduate from high school, and so Ana and we are busy trying to help them prepare to be on their own, hopefully going to school somewhere.
I have felt the Lord saying there is still more to be done as an orphanage, and so please pray with us that we might find someone with vision and dedication to build the orphanage back up, bringing in a new set of girls for us to help. We know that God loves orphans and wants to provide for them through us. They are special in His heart.
Ps 68:5-6 tells us: Father to the fatherless, defender of widows — this is God, whose dwelling is holy. God places the lonely in families; he sets the prisoners free and gives them joy. NLT
So far, we have been that family for 28 girls. It is our desire to become that family that is needed for more girls. The need is great, but it is difficult to find people who have enough education, experience, and most importantly, a calling to run an orphanage with 12 girls. Please pray with us for the right people needed to make this happen.
The LORD bless you and keep you; The LORD make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.
Jim and Pat