Summer Blessings

Dear friends and family,

This has been a busy but very good year, the children at Precious Moments are blessed with good teachers that THANK GOD had been paid on time since May even though only one classroom has been sponsored all year round, CLA church from Canada is going to help to pay for the teachers the rest of the school year!!! 180 children have education, a pastor that comes to share devotionals with them every week, and a crazy friend name Betty!

Say Good Bye is always hard, after 15 years coming to the same church I could not continue going there, after the Senior Pastor dissolved the elders committee, the church divided into 2 groups. The only healthy way for me to continue good relationship with both groups was to be out of any of the two churches and so I did.  Renuevo is not my church any more but God had greater plans for me! After visiting a couple of big churches I started visiting a small church near my house, the Pastors are an elderly couple and their daughters family are assisting with them in the ministry. Soon they asked me to help in some ministries, the first one was in my heart, to start a pre-youth group, with children between 11 and 14 years old, we started thinking in how to get them to come, and I wanted the kids that age from the orphanage to come as well! A every 2 week meeting were we would have fun, food and hear from God. Here is what we thought:

1.      Not to meet at church, but in my house, this was going to be friendlier and not too religious.

2.      Meet every 2 weeks to be able to have money to feed them.

3.      Have a tournament using my WII this was going to be the mainly reason why they would come.

Our first obstacle was that the WII had an accident at the orphanage last weekend and it is not working, and that was kind of the “hook” so help us praying that the Lord will give us another idea on how to make this happen!

A summer full of blessings! In May I hosted a team from Indiana, they came to build a home for Jocelyn who has kidney problems and was living in a house with dirt floor and not a flushing toilet, you got to see her face when she decorated her room after the house was built! What a blessing for the family, and in this house the church of the area meet because they don’t have a building to meet at, now, it is hosting about 50 people every Sunday!

As a result of this team another church jumped to the call to go and serve and bless others, another family was blessed with a home in June, I praise the Lord because he allowed us to be part of His great plans for Guatemala!

In a more personal note, I am very happy that I finished my 3^rd semester at university, I am taking 4 more classes now, I praise the Lord for His provision of money, time and wisdom to study! I am sure I will help much better to the children when I get this degree.

I also need to thank God for the palace that He has giving me, this is my house, and it is your home as well!

My dogs are doing good now, after the “super dog” incident, well Junior (the cocker spaniel) apperantly saw the superman movie and thought he could do the same and felt off from the roof, thank God he not only survived but nothing major happened!  but the family grew abruptly thanks to Milly (the white mini schnauzer) dated a gray mini schnauzer and guess what? Yes! 6 puppies came!

Thank you for walking with me in this privilege for serving the Lord by serving the children of Guatemala, please pray with me for this:

1. Safety
2. The children of the orphanage, and specially that we can start the youth group here in my house.
3. Pastors Jaime (helps at Precious Moments) 
4. Pastor Manuel, (my new church in Sumpango)
5. That the van continues to rent to provide money for food for the children.
6. Thank God with me for all the good things we have, health, and salvation!

March 2013

Dear friends and family,

February came and left so fast! I was blessed to minister with and by 3 different teams that came to visit and help the children at the orphanage, as well as the kids at the school near a garbage dump. We were able to bless a widow and her 5 children with the building of a home and not only that! We bought 4 bed for the children who are between 9 and 18 years old, who had never slept by themselves because there were only 2 beds for the 6 of them.

                                                                                          

I thank God that a Church from Mississippi is going to support one of the nine classrooms at Precious Moments during the whole year! Now only 8 more classrooms to go!

Precious Moments is running well, please keep the safety of the teachers, students and myself in your prayers, just last Friday we decided to have a special day, we took the kids to a park to have the devotional there, and I took my green van to make trips with the kids, as we were having our devotional, someone broke into my van, stole everything, radio, my computer, some money, books even the first aid kit! I lost about $1,000.  I praise GOD because they did not hurt me, and I know that HE will provide.

I PRAISE THE LORD that one man from Wooddale Church decided to donate money to help Pastor Jaime Osorio to come and preach to the kids 2 times a month, now we (Jaime and I) are praying to be able to provide food to the kids, so at least that one day they will have a decent meal in their body. We are teaching to 50 kids every week and each meal will cost about $2.00 per kid, so we are looking at 100 per week to feed lunch to 50 kids. Please keep that in your prayers as well!

God is good! I got another loan to make some remodeling at my house so it can fit more people! So when you come to visit me it will be a little bigger, please do not think that I have a huge home! My land is 6 meters front (19 feet) by 12 meters deep (40 feet) so as you can imagine I needed to make some additions on top cause it is the only way to build in that small land. UP! And I want you to join me in thanking God for that!

Another exciting news is that I have a new puppy! It is a boxer named Rocky, he is going to be the watch dog! (so I hope!)

The orphanage is doing great, the kids are learning, I am still teaching English 2 times a week and go to the babies as I can as well. We just finished our first trimester of school and they are doing well. Pray for Cristofer who is 7 years old, just came to the orphanage, he has been in the line between been HIV or AIDS, he is doing better now, but he will be check again, to diagnose next month.

PRAYER REQUESTS:

FOR HEALTH, mine and from the kids.

I really want my mom to come in April when I dedicate my house, please pray that she can come! (and if you have miles from American that are about to expire and you are looking for someone to use them, we can do that for you!)

Pray for my Church as it is going through a hard time in leadership.

I want to be more like Him, I want to share His love through my eyes, please keep that in your prayer list.

Please pray for monthly supporters for myself.

May the Lord bless you with health, joy, love, provision and with the gift of giving you the opportunity to share about His love to others.

Welcome back to School

Welcome back to school, reads the posters I am making for the orphans at the HIV orphanage, it is unbelievable how time flies, I was just excited about Christmas and now we are starting the year again.

In Guatemala the school year runs from January to October, me at the university February to November.

For those of you who don’t remember why I went back to University after so many years, let me remind you the reason (and it is not that I am trying to convince myself to keep going!) in both places, Precious Moments and HIV orphanage there is a great need of someone with not just the love for the children but these children have to deal with so much in their lives, in precious moments, there are killings and killers in their families, drinking, abuse, sexual abuse and neither the teachers or I know how to help those kids, and the orphanage, parents dying, family rejection, and friends dying there as well.  After praying about it, I decide to go to school and get some more knowledge in how to help these kids better, that is why I registered to Psychology School,  it is a long road… 5 years of taking 4 classes each semester. 2012 was my first year, so far 8 classes taking, 8 classes passed!  4 more this semester!

I am not happy to share that my father has been drinking a lot more, he just does not want to change, it hurts me a lot to see him killing himself like that. My mom is doing well; she wants to come back to Guatemala for good in a couple of years. Junior and Milly are doing good, keeping me busy all of the time.

Precious Moments started last week with regular classes, 150 children were in the same 3 bedroom house, the owner of the house increased the rent by $50.00 this year, so we are paying now something like $337.00 per month. Thank God the teachers agreed to continue working with us but begged to get paid by the end of each month. Please pray for us, it is hard to get good teachers to work under the conditions that Precious Moments offers, the children really need this opportunity, if you and your family, or your cell group, or your church would like to sponsor a classroom, we have 9 classrooms that NEED monthly sponsors’ with $275 each month you can provide education to a whole classroom, full of kids that might not have any other opportunity to education. If you or your church is interested in joined us in this adventure of providing education with Christian values, once a week Bible teaching, and love to this kids, let me know and I will give you more info. PLEASE PRAY WITH US so we get 9 classrooms sponsored!

The orphanage… there is a new guy in town! His name is Samuel, we think he is about 3 months, is HIV+, he has a big head, and we are doing some test to know what the problem is.

Josue on the other hand (the boy who has problems to breath and problems to eat) is doing better, he has gained so much weight! He went to surgery but the doctors could not do anything to repair his problem until he grows a little more.

Thank you for been with me in this walk; we know that God cares for children even more for orphans! Thank you for praying for us! I love the Lord and love these kids, please help me praying for safety, health, and provision.

Welcome back to School!

Welcome back to school, reads the posters I am making for the orphans at the HIV orphanage, it is unbelievable how time flies, I was just excited about Christmas and now we are starting the year again.

In Guatemala the school year runs from January to October, me at the university February to November.

For those of you who don’t remember why I went back to University after so many years, let me remind you the reason (and it is not that I am trying to convince myself to keep going!) in both places, Precious Moments and HIV orphanage there is a great need of someone with not just the love for the children but these children have to deal with so much in their lives, in precious moments, there are killings and killers in their families, drinking, abuse, sexual abuse and neither the teachers or I know how to help those kids, and the orphanage, parents dying, family rejection, and friends dying there as well.  After praying about it, I decide to go to school and get some more knowledge in how to help these kids better, that is why I registered to Psychology School,  it is a long road… 5 years of taking 4 classes each semester. 2012 was my first year, so far 8 classes taking, 8 classes passed!  4 more this semester!

I am not happy to share that my father has been drinking a lot more, he just does not want to change, it hurts me a lot to see him killing himself like that. My mom is doing well; she wants to come back to Guatemala for good in a couple of years. Junior and Milly are doing good, keeping me busy all of the time.

Precious Moments started last week with regular classes, 150 children were in the same 3 bedroom house, the owner of the house increased the rent by $50.00 this year, so we are paying now something like $337.00 per month. Thank God the teachers agreed to continue working with us but begged to get paid by the end of each month. Please pray for us, it is hard to get good teachers to work under the conditions that Precious Moments offers, the children really need this opportunity, if you and your family, or your cell group, or your church would like to sponsor a classroom, we have 9 classrooms that NEED monthly sponsors’ with $275 each month you can provide education to a whole classroom, full of kids that might not have any other opportunity to education. If you or your church is interested in joined us in this adventure of providing education with Christian values, once a week Bible teaching, and love to this kids, let me know and I will give you more info. PLEASE PRAY WITH US so we get 9 classrooms sponsored!

The orphanage… there is a new guy in town! His name is Samuel, we think he is about 3 months, is HIV+, he has a big head, and we are doing some test to know what the problem is.

Josue on the other hand (the boy who has problems to breath and problems to eat) is doing better, he has gained so much weight! He went to surgery but the doctors could not do anything to repair his problem until he grows a little more.

Thank you for been with me in this walk; we know that God cares for children even more for orphans! Thank you for praying for us! I love the Lord and love these kids, please help me praying for safety, health, and provision.

2012 news letter

I thank God for my family, my mom is doing well, He protected her in New York during the storm that hit the West Coast this year. She is still working (cleaning apartments) but she is tired, I pray that 2013 would be her last year there and then she can come back home and enjoyed her grandchildren and beautiful daughters here J

My father is doing OK, he is still drinking but not too bad, he has a lot of physical problems that had kept him away from drinking too much. He lives by himself in Guatemala City. I see him often, it is hard for me to see him drunk, I love my dad!

I thank God for the opportunity to visit my sister Cynthia in September, her husband William is a marine and he is serving in Afghanistan, I got to visit her right while his base got attacked, God protected him but some other marines died, and I was with my sister while that happened. I got to see my mom who came from NY to see me in California as well as my aunt who raised

 me, her name is Zoila, she is 75 years old, and prayed for her son conversion for more than 25 years... God gave her the gift of seen his 50 year old son walk up to the altar to accept Jesus in his heart!

My sister Doris, is doing good, she did great in university and she is only one year away to become an E.S.L. teacher, just like me, I love when my sisters follow my steps! Except when I fall, than I don´t want them following me!

My bodies, Junior and Milly, Junior became 8 year old last August, he loves Milly, she is full of energy, playful, and does not like to listen! I love them both, but Junior is the one I love the most. (please do not comment anything in front of Milly!) We love going to visit the children at the orphanage, and the children there LOVE them, they love Milly the most but I don’t tell Junior that. 

PRECIOUS MOMENTS

2012 has been a pretty busy ministry year; I continue teaching Bible lessons, at Precious Moments, a school for poor children that live near the garbage dump of Santa Fe, zone 13 of Guatemala. This year we only got 2 teams to visit us, to do ministry there. It is hard to teach about a loving father if their father here in earth is a gang member who kills people as a job. This year we got 2 families that the father was killed, and another family, of a single mom, whose 2 children got to be in the wrong place, at the wrong time, they both got shot, both alive thank God, but seriously injured. I visited this 3 families a number of times now, but their heart  is hurt and love is not in their eyes any more. Please continue to pray for these children, for Martita the founder of this ministry, and for finances that would cover the teachers’ salaries, we are looking for next year 8 churches, small groups or schools that would like to “adopt” a classroom for $250.00 per month, this year we served to 180 children. (in a 3 bedroom house!)

And please pray for me! As I drive there now once a week, please pray for safety more than anything.

HIV ORPHANAGE

There had been some changes, If you had ever visited the orphanage you have to had noticed the lack of adults in the babies area, only one or two nurses to take care to 8 to 12 children… thank God a church from Minnesota started a program called “Hug a baby” and they hired a nanny to hold babies while they drink their bottle, change their diapers regularly and also give some physical therapy to the children, she is doing a great help and I can see the improvement in the health and social skills of the babies, if you want to be part of this ministry let me know and I can give you the information you need to do so.

One of our children is in heaven now, she (Ingrid) had some cardiac condition that affected her, if you visited she is the one in bed, or wheel chair, she could not walk, talk, or move, now she is free as an eagle!
The children learn in a slower pace, but they have fun doing it. Please pray for me as I want to be a witness of the love of Jesus for me and for them.