Whew!

Hi everyone!

I am so sorry I haven't written in a while. Life here has been really busy. Not only that, but the internet has been out due to a leak into the wireless router. While it is beautiful, rain messes up a lot of things here! Haha.

Things have been going really well. I definitely feel as though two months barely lets me get into things here. Sometimes I feel guilty that I am leaving in a few weeks, but I know that I shouldn't. I know this was where the Lord wanted me for two months, and after that I have a calling back in the U.S.

I have had a lot of good conversations lately, but these conversations have also confirmed my belief that there is a need for discipleship so much deeper than I can fill in a short term stay. Please be praying that the Lord would send someone to fill those needs that can be here long term.

My aunts and my grandpa made a book for the summer with a Bible verse for everyday. I always am so excited when I wake up to read it and be encouraged. Yesterday's verse was an encouragement for the weary soul: Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. (Galatians 6) It was JUST what I needed to hear.

Please continue praying for all of these kids. Since I am in their confidence, I can't share a lot of details, but there are so many of them that need prayer. I love these kids so much. Pretty soon, I think my heart is going to be in little pieces in all different parts of the world. Right now, there are bits in Georgia, Acapulco, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Indiana.

I am amazed by our patient and awesome God.

Next Summer

I feel like I am really starting to get into the swing of things here. Communication is still hard, but I am doing it. Last night I had a deeper conversation intermixed with reading the Bible for two hours with two of the older kids. I love these kids so much. The more I pray for a heart to love this place, the heavier my heart becomes for the people. Love is heavy.

A few of the little kids have started asking me if I am going to come back next summer. I always tell them that I do not know. It has been really hard here so far, but at the same time I love these kids SO much. Please be praying for wisdom in that regard. I don´t have to know yet if I should come back, but it is something I am going to have to do a lot of praying and thinking about.

There are so many needs that I cannot fill in two months, but I also need to remember that God does not operate on our time frame. He can do a lot in a month more. Please be praying that He will! Pray for courage and selfless love. Pray that I will love with HIS love.

Well, time´s about up in the internet cafe! Until later!

Buses, Spanish, and Jesus

I was writing the title for this, and I almost typed in "Jesus!" but I realized I had already titled a blog that way. I wondered if I should get more original and stop having "Jesus" in my titles - but then I realized that that's exactly what I want! Jesus everywhere. Not that I want to throw his name around in a flippant manner, but my true desire is that my time here be saturated with Jesus.

The Lord has really been teaching me a lot. I have been thinking about how I limit my conversations and interactions with people to what "I can do." The truth is, I am not limited to what I can do. I have a God who is able to do "immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine!" So, I prayed for courage and for words. In the past twenty four hours, I have had two opportunities to share with complete strangers about Jesus.

First, I was on the bus, sitting by myself away from the other interns. I was behind two women with a young baby. The Lord kept at me, "April, babies are great conversation starters..." Eventually, after a lot of prayer for courage to venture out with my Spanish, I began talking with them. I started by asking them how old the baby was and eventually asked them if she was going to be baptized. In Mexico, it is huge to baptize children; it is tradition. Of course, they told me yes in a Catholic church. So I began to talk with them about what they thought baptism was. I could give so many details, but to keep the story short, we ended up talking through basic beliefs about Christ. They believed that they needed Christ to get to heaven, but they also said that their good works could get them in. I shared with them how the Bible teaches that nothing we do merits salvation, that only through believing that Christ died for us can we enter heaven. After a long conversation, they promised me that they would read John 3 tonight. They seemed to have a very elementary understanding of Jesus, and I hope that our conversation leads them into the Word. Since they already "believed" in Jesus, all I could do was try to steer them toward a correct understanding of the only Way to heaven. It's all up to the Spirit now!

Then today, I had a HARD conversation on the beach with a gentleman. Please be praying for him! He has some very wrong beliefs about reincarnation and such. He was definitely not open to any other beliefs, but yet he really wanted to talk with me about beliefs. I asked him (in Spanish), "If you were wrong, would you want to know it?" He told me he was certain he knew the truth. I told him, "La verdad se llama Jesus Christ." (The truth's name is Jesus Christ.) Pray for all of these people, please!

Please continue to pray for courage for me, for drive to go beyond my potential and trust God to give me words. I am starting to really fall in love with these people, as I pray more and more that God will give me a heart for them.

In His hands I stand - broken and content.

Sobre El Puente!

This week I am helping out with the street child ministry, Sobre el Puente. To get there, we grab a bus and ride it for a long time. Buses in Acapulco has been one of my most interesting experiences so far. It's kind of fun! I love just watching all the colors of Mexico fly by the window.

I feel pretty comfortable at Casa Hogar now, but Sobre el Puente was a whole new experience. It's harder for me to understand a lot of the kids there - but I think it's just because they talk faster. I am getting there! This morning three of the boys, Rebecca, Simone, and I read through John 1. I'm hoping that the rest of the week will provide more opportunities to have conversations with the kids. Be praying!

Haha, so fireworks just went off. One of my friends sitting next to me (one of the guys here) decided to be funny and he convinced me that they were gunshots and it was typical here. Haha. The stinker.

Please continue to pray that I would live selflessly here and be constantly "making the most of every opportunity" as the Bible says. Some days I feel useful, others not so much. Hey, God works through the "unwise" of the world, right?

Here are a few pictures! (Sorry I can't get them to place themselves nicely in the text... but I figured you would like to see them anyway!)

Day Off

Today was our day off. Yay! While it's so great to be here at Casa Hogar, a little shut eye on the beach is great for your sanity. Before we took our beach siestas, we took eleven of the little boys to the beach for a few hours. They had so much fun. It was great to watch them laugh and play - and to play with them! They are so precious. Now that I have mastered their names, I am starting to get to know their personalities better.

After we took the boys back to Casa Hogar, we went back to nap on the beach for two hours. Despite several applications of sunscreen, I fried. Nuts. Oh well. My friend Pamela said that sunscreen just doesn't always work in Acapulco. Haha. What a bummer!

Then tonight, six of the interns and our friend Pamela went out for dinner. She has been SUCH a help to us! She speaks English very well and has taught us so many things. We had a great night.

Tomorrow is our day of rest, and I am so excited. Last Sunday, worship helped me so much to refocus and remember who it is that sustains me. There have been a lot of hard lessons to learn this week, and worship tomorrow will once again point me to all that matters: Jesus. The time to meditate and just praise Him in such a focused way is invaluable.

Next week, we have no short term group coming in. Usually, our job is to help them with construction until the kids get back from school. Since there is no group, I do not know yet if I will be helping out in the street child ministry, Sobre el Puente, or helping in the kitchen or what. We'll see!

You can all be praying as we try to figure out what we want to tackle this summer. The interns have spoken of a Bible study for the older girls, praise and worship nights once a week, Bible-focused time with the little ones (maybe story time?), and so many other great ideas. Pray for wisdom from the Spirit as we make decisions and implement formal plans - but also pray for wisdom in the little moments where the door opens for deep conversation with one of the kids.

God is at work!

Morning Breeze

There is such a nice breeze this morning! This is a picture of an iguana outside our room. Hehe! So fun. Anyway, this week I have "homework duty." Since there is no short term group in, schedules change a lot. Homework duty means I only have something from 5-7 or 7:30. Of course, as soon as the kids get home from school, I hang out with them. So, in the mornings I have been trying to do a lot of reading and working on Spanish. It's kind of nice to dabble in the world of study again. I really do enjoy it.

A few days ago, two of the kids (brother and sister) left Casa Hogar for good. It was really sad to see them go and to see the mixed emotions. They were sad to leave this place that they've been for so long, but yet they were going to be with family. Coming and going is a reality of life at Casa Hogar. Some kids still have parents, others don't. Some kids have been here almost all their lives, while others have not.

Life is hard here. Pray for the kids a lot, okay? I miss you all! :)

Another Happy Story!

This is kind of a continuation of yesterday's post, but oh well! I just wanted to quickly tell you guys about today! One of the boys hadn't gone too church in the morning, so I asked him to read the Bible with me for a while. He and one of the other guys I have been having good conversations with read the Bible with me and talked with me for an hour or so. We read Philippians 2 and they showed me a lot of different passages they liked and we had a great conversation.

One of the guys was talking about how easy it is to go to church and enjoy worship and then go to school and not live like a Christian. This is the kind of stuff I want to talk with them about! We talked about how amazing what God has done for us actually is. We talked about how we need to persevere in the faith. How awesome! All of these kids hear the Gospel at Casa Hogar, but they need people to dig deep and see where they are really at. They need discipleship. Some of them already know Jesus, some of them don't have a relationship with Him yet. Either way: please pray! Pray that tonight's conversations wouldn't end, that the Spirit will be at work.

AhhH! :) Pray. :)

Jesus!

I don't have a whole lot of time, so this will have to be a short summary. God is doing so much! At first things were really hard with the language barrier (even with the Spanish I know). I prayed a lot that God would still allow me to talk about Jesus with the kids and it's starting to happen.

Yesterday, S. (a 14 year old boy) taught me how to make a star out of paper and I was able to talk with him about the story of Jesus' birth and the star above his house. Then, I also got to read with B. (a four year old girl) and L. (a eight year old boy) from a children's story Bible and talk with them a little about what Jesus did.

Last night, one of the older girls asked me why I was always so happy and in a good mood. Why don't I get sad or grumpy? I told her the truth - sometimes I don't feel good, sometimes things are not easy BUT always, I can remember that Jesus has saved me and nothing surpasses that. We didn't get to talk for too long (we were having a sleepover). I am slowly breaking through with the older girls!

I also was able to give a Bible a brought with to one of the older boys who did not have one. (He's about 14). He promised me he would read it and already this morning he told me he read John 1 (I recommended he start in John.)

AHH! And all this in Spanish! God is at work! Please pray!

PRAY! :)

Oh, and I'm feeling great. This is where I belong right now. I miss you all!