Dear Friends:
We have a group of our volunteers who meet together every Tuesday evening at 5:30 p.m. to pray for Casa de Amor, Alas de Amor, for the Pastors and churches in Palomas, for all of our volunteers, and for you, our faithful sponsors. We invite you to make Tuesdays your day of prayer for this ministry along with us!
God continues to speak to us and show us new ways to improve the effectiveness of reaching Palomas and the Youth of Palomas with the Good News and with education so that the young can make a difference in Palomas and in our world. It is really true that God has created each of us uniquely to have a positive impact on our world. He has given us different personalities, different gifts and talents, different opportunities, all so that we can participate in restoring God’s world to a place filled with Love, Joy, and Peace.
Bea Johnson, one of our volunteers, brought a Bible chapter for us to consider at our weekly prayer meeting:
Job 29:2-5 "I long for the years gone by when God took care of me, 3 when he lighted the way before me and I walked safely through the darkness. 4 In my early years, the friendship of God was felt in my home. 5 The Almighty was still with me, and my children were around me.
Job 29:11-17 "All who heard of me praised me. All who saw me spoke well of me. 12 For I helped the poor in their need and the orphans who had no one to help them. 13 I helped those who had lost hope, and they blessed me. And I caused the widows' hearts to sing for joy. 14 All I did was just and honest. Righteousness covered me like a robe, and I wore justice like a turban. 15 I served as eyes for the blind and feet for the lame. 16 I was a father to the poor and made sure that even strangers received a fair trial. 17 I broke the jaws of godless oppressors and made them release their victims. NLT
Implicit in these verses is that Job understood that blessings came from God as a result of his care and compassion for the poor, for the orphans for the hopeless, for the widows. As a result, he felt the friendship of God!
We are involved in the same thing! You are praying for and giving to this ministry, and together we are all touching the poor, the orphan, the hopeless, and the widow, helping them to overcome their terrible circumstances so that they have a chance to see the Love of God in their lives as well!
Our college girls are all moving forward with their educational plans, working on their English, and preparing for their next steps in college.
Our girls in Casa are all busy studying and working hard in school, and we have seen an improvement in grades in most of them! We also now have a professional Counselor working with them twice each month to help them overcome the emotional barriers in their lives. She is also working with them to help them prepare for the responsibility of becoming an adult.
Our team of caregivers at Casa are stronger than ever, as Betty continues to be “mom” for the girls, and the others do all they can to support and help the girls as well. After 6 weeks in Torreon, where she received a kidney replacement donated by her mother, Ana has returned to Palomas. It will be a while longer before she can come back to work, but We are all so grateful that her surgery went well, and her new kidney is functioning great! Gracie, who HAD Hepatitis C, is well on the road to recovery, and the rest of our team, Ruth, and Lupita and her husband continue to counsel and encourage the girls.
Our ministry team continues to come up with great ideas to encourage the youth and the Pastors on the weekends we are in Palomas. We have branched into a ministry team for the college students, and now we are starting a new team for the high school seniors to help them prepare for the next steps in life. Of course, the ministry to all of the younger kids continues, as the team brings Youth groups, drama, life stories, and more to encourage the kids. Pastor Beto is starting a new year of ministry to the Pastors of Palomas on this same week-end. We are so blessed to have so many capable people involved in this ministry.
We will be in Palomas the second weekend of October. If you would like to join us, please call Pat at 670-5659, or Jim at 690-8302, to make arrangements.
Please remember, PRAYER TUESDAYS!
Last month, we had the privilege of having the youth group from the Church Olivar in Ciudad Juarez come and work with our youth. All of them did a magnificent job teaching our students and their parents about God. We are thankful to have youth groups like this one supporting the Alas de Amor ministry!
If you know a youth group willing to come and share with our students and parents in Palomas, let us know. It would be amazing to have new groups coming to support us.
This upcoming visit to Palomas, we will start getting ready for our Christmas celebrations. Can you believe it? As most of you know, every year we try to have a gift for each one of the students and their siblings. We will be taking pictures of all of them this month. You will be receiving the picture of your student. We hope you can support us by getting a gift for them. I can assure you this will brighten their Christmas. Most of the families in the program do not have the means to purchase gifts for their children.
School for our students started in August, and over the past months they received supplies and their school uniforms from us. This month our students will be getting their tennis shoes. In November, the students will be getting their sport uniforms, which will complete all the material requirements they need for a successful school year.
Thank you! You are an important part of this ministry. Do not forget that you can be part our monthly active volunteers. We go every second weekend of the month. You will get the opportunity to meet our girls at Casa and our Alas students!
Blessings,
Jim, Pat and Bere