ATL

Hey friends!

I am back in the States safe and sound! I am currently in Atlanta attending "Debrief" with Mission to the World. Thus far, we have learned a lot about what to expect with readjusting to our own culture. Tomorrow night I fly back into Wisconsin. Thank you all for your prayers! Once I get settled in at home, I will post some more.

Adios

Well guys, this is it. Tonight I have one last sleepover with the older girls and tomorrow morning I leave for the States. I can't believe it. I will give you guys a thorough concluding blog when I get back, but for now just pray for the goodbyes and travel!

Sick

I thank the Lord that I have enjoyed such great health this summer so far. Of course, the summer wouldn’t have been complete without a little excitement. The past three days I have had some version of the flu. Needless to say, it’s been pretty miserable. However, even in my discomfort and frustration with being out of commission, the Lord continues to teach me things. For a long time, I was stuck on my back with not even enough energy to read. Lying there, I was able to think a lot about suffering in general. How incredible that Christ persisted through such unimaginable suffering when He could have put an end to it at any second. What a Savior!

I was talking with one of the girls the other day. She was not in the best of moods, so I asked her if she was okay. She asked me why it mattered to me. I told her that I was her friend, and she was important to me. She sharply told me that I was not her friend-- I was just an intern that came for the summer and then left. Of course, I told her that whether or not she considered herself my friend, I loved her. Later on, she came up to me and gave me a long hug and talked to me for a while. I think that the long hug was an apology for being short. :) Nonetheless, those words were heavy words. Words that hinted at some of the pain these kids have gone through. Pain of people coming and going. Pain of people hurting them. Pain of families torn apart. Who can blame her for feeling that way?

The good news is that I was here this summer primarily to communicate the God loves these kids. Even if I cannot be a part of their lives forever, I hope that all those late night conversations and little moments talking about God will stick with them. I hope that when the kids look back on this summer, they will see that Jesus was at work in us eight interns. That’s what matters.

I have asked for prayer for this before, but I would like to ask it again. Please be praying that God would send more people here long term. There is such a need for discipleship! Please pray that God would even bring more Christians from the area to be involved at Casa Hogar. Pray that God will keep working when we are gone, just using different tools!

Pictures!

Hey guys! I am just going to share a few pictures with you for now! Hopefully soon I will get another good post about life up. In summary, things have been great!

Joker

This post is of little consequences, but I thought it might bring a smile to some of your faces.

One of the kids here at Casa Hogar has taken to calling me "joker" because I smile too much. What a laugh! I love these kids very much. They are all starting to tell me that I shouldn´t leave, though. It is hard! Keep praying for them!

Wednesday

WELL. It’s Wednesday. As they say, time flies when you’re having fun. Today, it is the short term team’s day off. Two of the other interns wanted to go with them, so it means a free day for the rest of us. After a nice bit of reading in bed in the early morning, I got up and did the dishes in the kitchen with Amanda. Some mornings, dishes for fifty kids can seem like a mountain. Today, though ,breakfast was pretty simple, so it did not take that long. After that, I set out to clean our rooms. I am feeling pretty accomplished right now!

Life has been really good here. With a team here again, it’s back to playing translator- but I am getting better at it! The team this week has been talking a lot with the kids about how precious they are in God’s sight. I hope they will really begin to grasp the concept. I love these kids so much. The biggest desire of my heart is that they will walk with Jesus all their lives. The other day one of the older girls said that although bad things had happened in her life, she was so thankful because otherwise she never would have come to Casa Hogar and met Jesus. Now THAT is a great testimony to this place.

I always have this routine with the little boys. I tell them that I love them. Then, some of them roll their eyes, but they all grin ear to ear. Then I ask them if they know who loves them even more. They know by now to tell me, “God.” Then I ask them how they know He loves them. “Because He sent his Son to die for me.” Yesterday, at the end of one such conversation, one of the little boys said, “Nunca te olvidaré!” (This means, “I will never forget you.”) Of course, I felt really special. My little day dream was interrupted, “porque eres un mes!” (This means, “Because you’re a month!”) Haha. He told me ever April he would remember me. What a sweetheart!

I know there are probably a million more stories I am forgetting to share. God is doing great things here, but in little ways. Please be praying that the Lord would piece together my many small conversations with the kids and work in their hearts. Pray that they would fully grasp the Gospel that they are hearing. Most of them have officially accepted Christ, but we all know that Christianity is not a onetime decision, it is a lifestyle-- saved by grace alone, and living by grace alone.

Keep praying for these precious kids! I have less than two weeks left... hard to believe. Pray for me too, haha, because I've already cried once! :) Pray that God would keep them on my heart so I will be faithful to pray for them. Pray that He will keep me leaning on Him. Pray that I will keep perservering in these last days. Pray that God would still do crazy stuff!

This morning, my book brought up a beautiful verse from Psalm 48: "For this God is our God for ever and ever; He will be our Guide even to the end."

Amen.

What God is Doing

The other night I got down on my knees (literally, this time) and asked the Lord to forgive me. Having only two and a half weeks left, I had an attitude of "what can I really do in two weeks?" Honestly, it is something I have often struggled with here. I repented of my attitude, and told Him that I knew He could do crazy things in two weeks, and that I was going to work hard and wait on Him.

Of course, He responded to my prayer by challenging me in so many ways. The street ministry staff asked me to give the Bible Lesson. I was so scared. I am a lot more comfortable working with the little kids, because my Spanish does not need to be that incredible. Working with teenage kids from the street scared me. What if I didn't remember how to say things? What if they didn't pay attention? None of the staff at the street ministry speak English, so I would be stuck.

Yet, God reminded me that I had promised I would not limit myself to what I am capable of doing, and instead I would remember that He can do anything through me. I agreed to do the lesson. I spent a lot of time praying and thinking about what to talk on. Eventually I narrowed it down to one idea. In a short prayer, I asked God to confirm it. I opened my Bible to the exact passage. While I am not a big fan of the "open the Bible and point the finger tactic," I was convinced. There we go.

The lesson today, with the help of the Lord, went wonderfully. All the words came out, the kids paid attention - even more so than they usually do. Whether it's because I am a blue eyed blond or because they really were interested, the listened. I am so thankful!

I have had a lot of good conversations lately. Not only that but "my" lesson for VBS (all of we interns had a day we were in charge of) went really well. My relationships with the kids are awesome. We took them to the beach yesterday and had so much fun. It is such a privilege to be able to tel these kids that I love them and then to tell them WHY I love them: because Jesus loved me first and because He loves them. Please keep praying that God will do crazy things in these last two weeks!

Finally, please pray that God will bring some of the street kids to a saving knowledge of Christ. A lot of them have heard the Gospel but it hasn't really hit them yet.

4th of July!

Yesterday was the Fourth of July. Whoohoo! I must admit, it was a little strange being in a different country on our day of independence. Despite the lack of grilled burgers and fireworks, we still managed to have a jolly time. Bekah Clark suggested we make a banner. It read “4 de Julio.” (Personally, I think it was a brilliant way to show our patriotic spirit in a way that still remembered we were in Mexico. Perhaps I am giving us too much credit though.) We marched over to Doug, our mentor’s house, with a few of the Casa Hogar kids and our banner, and serenaded the gate until his kids came running to unlock it. After that, the Sirvens (Doug’s family) was kind enough to pass out water and Yoli. We had a lot of laughs as we tried to teach one of the kids the national anthem.

Today we had our first day of activities with the little kids. I’m not going to lie, the first word that comes to my mind is “disaster.” Haha. They were just on edge today, and we had a lot of trouble getting them to behave. However, tomorrow is a new day. Please be praying for wisdom and patience for us. Trying to handle a group of twenty 4-11 year olds in a language that you aren’t fluent in is definitely hard. I am thankful for what I know of Spanish, but even more thankful for Rebekah Clark. She knows MUCH more than I do.

Honestly, while I don’t like hard days, it does make me thankful that I am not in this alone. It makes me think about the poem “Footprints.” For those of you unfamiliar with the poem, it talks about a man reviewing his life after he dies. In the majority of his life, there are two side-by-side sets of footprints, from God walking next to the man. The man asks God why sometimes he sees only one set of footprints in the sand. God replies, "That was when I carried you." I think today was a day where He “carried” me. I am so thankful to be walking next to my Savior.
Keep praying for these kids!

Here are a few pictures! (They are not from the 4th, just from random parts of the last few weeks.)