Dear Friends:
Our next ministry weekend in Palomas is on March 8! We would love to have you join us! This last month, we were really short on volunteers, and we had to scramble to have enough teachers for our 5 groups: elementary, Jr. High, High school, College & Trade schools, and adults. If you are fluent in Spanish and gifted as a teacher, we would love to have you become involved! Our various volunteers also do things like check kids into the program each month, set up and break down tables and chairs, prepare food, set up clothing distribution, translate letters between sponsors and students, and lead worship. The more volunteers, the better! Thanks to Bob and Patricia Stockton (Stockton Mechanical) for donating a new heater for our building! Now all we need is a plumber to come and get it set up for us! And, we are always blessed when a handyman or handywoman comes down to go through and repair things in the orphanage, where we often need to repair lights, toilets, drawers, and do all kinds of maintenance things.
Every month, we spend about ½ hour in worship with families, ½ hour teaching groups of elementary, Jr. High, High school and college kids, spend time with Pastors planning, and praying with those who request it. It is truly a blessing to see how God is meeting us and encouraging people in Palomas who are involved! Our goal continues to be to help transform a town into a place where revival in Jesus is occurring all around, and taking captive the works of the devil and the world that are trying to destroy what God wants to do in people’s lives.
Many years ago, we felt a clear leading from God to establish Casa de Amor as an orphanage, and we refined that to an institution that would be more like a family than a normal orphanage, and that we would take in older girls, who had little chance of adoption. It was a great success, as we took in about 25 girls over the following years, and we are still in relationship with most of them, who have all now become adults, most with families of their own. We currently have 2 girls left at Casa. We have not been able to rebuild, because we need a full-time housemother or even better, house mom and dad, who are called as missionaries to help orphaned and abandoned girls. The job does not pay well by most standards, as we can only afford to pay about $1,000 per month, including free room and board, and so we have not found anyone who feels God’s calling to do this. Ana, our current Director, is worn out, after many years of doing this. So, if you might be interested in becoming a missionary houseparent at Casa, or if you know of anyone who might be, please let us know! If we fail to find anyone, then the orphanage part of the ministry will close in the end of October, when our last girl reaches age 18.
Of course, our scholarship program has been, and continues to be very successful, helping struggling families to keep their kids in school, and doing all we can to encourage them to develop a personal relationship with Jesus! That program will continue as long as we have missionary volunteers willing to do the things that are needed, and sponsors who are willing to sponsor students!
Our theme this year is based on Deut. 31:6—“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you." We are trying to explain to the students that there is healthy fear and there is unhealthy fear. In particular, God often calls us to do something that causes fear. For example, He calls us to tell our Salvation story to others and to seek to draw them into the Kingdom, but that often causes us to have all kinds of fears. In Exodus, he called people to move into a new land, to develop dependence upon Him, to destroy enemies, particularly idols in their lives, and to create a fruitful place in which to live. He may call us to do many things that help build His Kingdom or otherwise glorify Him. Change and following what God is calling us to do can cause all kinds of fear, and for that, God tells us to be strong and courageous, because He will be with us! The biggest problem we see with the youth in Palomas is their reluctance to place God first in their lives! The challenge for us is to seek God’s plan for overcoming that!
This month, we are going to look at the other side of fear that is important for us to recognize. The Bible tells us hundreds of times that there is one particular kind of fear we should have. Do you know what that is? It is fear of God! Here are just a few:
Prov. 1:7—The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.
Job 28:28—The fear of the Lord is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding.
Philippians 2:12—Work out you own salvation with fear and trembling.
2 Cor 7:1--beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
Matt 10:28-- do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
Our students in Palomas are much like students in the US— preoccupied with things that are “cool”, wanting to be popular, enjoying their time on social media, and hoping to do well in school, but often not willing to sacrifice to make it happen. They certainly do not seem to show a fear of God. In fact, getting them excited about anything related to God seems to be nearly impossible. To do it, we must show them how God is important to their lives, and also what failing to follow God looks like. In the midst of that, we pray that God will show up with His Holy Spirit power, moving in signs and wonders!
So, our challenge is to somehow stir them to both understand and want a close relationship with God, to fear Him in a way that causes them to draw close to Him. Please pray with us for them to turn to Him! Let’s pray for their town to turn to Jesus in Revival, even as we pray for our own communities!
May 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 & Pat