Expecting Great Things

Since I've been sick over the last couple of weeks and ordered to rest, I've been thinking a lot about what we've been doing with these children. It has been over a year since Little Hands of Hope has been officially functioning in El Salvador and I have become so familiar with these children and they are so special to me. As I have been lying in the hammock, it has been hard for me to hear the children in the street in the middle of the day when they would normally be in here with us. It has been hard because I hear them begging to please just give them class for a little while or how about we let them in to help clean and cook. :) These particular children are ones that don't have stable families and I am sure that part of their desire to come in was from their boredom from being in the streets alone, from a desire to belong somewhere and be with someone who cared for them, and also probably from a desire to eat a good, warm meal.

Some of our mid-day crowd. 

I have watched one of these little ones be abandoned by his mother upon his father coming home from prison. This little boy has become the new lost boy of Meanguera. He is found in the streets after dark, alone - he is just 5 years old. He supposedly goes to school every day, but actually spends his time wandering the streets looking for something to occupy his time. He is such a smart little boy who can put together a puzzle quicker than most. He would cuddle in your lap forever if you picked him up because he wants to be loved. This is one little boy. Then there is another whose father is in the United States. His mother has a new man in her life. One of his older brothers has moved to another city to live with other family members. One day, I found this little one walking his several-mile trek to school - alone. He is just 6 years old. He doesn't like to talk and it is hard to put a smile on his face. He is constantly in trouble for fighting in school and sometimes he just doesn't go to class and wanders the streets. He does not say much, but he eats like there is no tomorrow. He has so much pain in his eyes, but it is hard to earn his trust so that he will open up and talk.

I could go on and on and tell many stories like those of these 2 little boys, but that would make this a very long post.  These children and their situations have been heavy on my heart these last couple of weeks and I wonder what will become of these children. Will they be loved enough in the short time they spend with us each day? Will they truly become lost boys who grow up to be lost men who resort to crime and look to gangs to be their "families"? Or will they remember and take to heart what we have taught them about what is right? Will they give their hearts to Jesus and rest in His love? If I think about it too hard, it hurts. But then I remember that God knows the situations of each of these children and why He has them there and I remember that my job is to pray and not just to anyone, but to the God who can do more than we can ask or imagine. He is a Father to these fatherless little ones.

 Today, I pulled out My Utmost for His Highest and was challenged by a question from Oswald Chambers: "Is our attitude today an attitude that springs from our vision of God? Are we expecting God to do greater things than He has ever done?" I often forget that I'm not in the struggle alone. I have Someone more powerful than anything and anyone - the All-Powerful Lord of the Universe who is not limited by humanity, fears, or weaknesses. He doens't need me anyway. He is the same God who brought the Israelites out of slavery, opened the Red Sea for them to cross on dry ground, helped a small boy defeat a veteran Giant, made the sun stand still for Joshua in battle. God is in the habit of doing great things, why don't I expect Him to continue that? So today my hope is refreshed and I am expecting God to do great things with these children! I don't know what He has in store, but I know that these children are close to His heart and He is going to do marvelous things in El Salvador!

A Word From Matia

Matia reading with the kids. From left: Juan, Lorena, Ezequiel, Abilio

Our blog is going to be a little different today. I thought it would be fun to see a different perspective from a Salvadoran who works here everyday. :) So I asked Matia to write a little bit about what he thinks and sees here at Little Hands of Hope. Here it is!

Working for Little Hands of Hope has been one of the best opportunities I've ever had in my life. It is a privilege to share God's Word with the children as well to love them, and educate and instruct them in the Lord. One of the things that is very satisfying for me is to see the children play with and share toys, since I know that some of them don't even have a single toy at home. They really enjoy playing and learning how to get along with each other. Many of the children were very shy at first, but we have seen them learn how to enjoy and get along with each other over the time they have been coming to the center. 

From left: Juan, Abilio, and Ezequiel. They are hiding. :)

From left: Lorena, Verenisse, and Keyla. 

Keyla (left) and Lorena playing with Matia. 

  I have a real hope that these children will have more opportunities later in life because of the English that we teach them - more than just job opportunities, but also opportunities to communicate with more people.  It has surprised me to see the ability the children have to learn new words. Even some of their parents have commented to me about how their children have advanced in English, learning Bible verses, and better behavior! 

Josue (left) and Erika Reyes. 

Verenisse (left) and Lorena playing dolls - a favorite!

We can see too that they are learning about  God's Word - they have learned various Bible verses and Bible stories. My hope is that we are able to plant the seeds of the gospel in every one of these children and they will be tomorrow's church.  They are learning so many spiritual values! 

 

Our New Little One

Flowers from ginger growing in the mountains of El Salvador!

We have a new little boy here at Little Hands of Hope! His name is Juan and he keeps us very busy! He lives in a community where there are no Evangelical churches. We are excited to have him and be able to help him in any way we can. His parents both work and he spent a lot of time with his grandmother before he came here. His mother is very anxious for him to learn good manners and we have really been working hard to teach him. He is slowly starting to change and we hope he keeps improving. He likes to run and play, but coloring is one of his favorite things ever!

Juan just enjoying the attention.

Helping us clean. 

Just being stubborn. :)

Pray for us with this little boy.  He has not had a lot of guidance in his young life and we are hoping we can help him grow up to be a wonderful young man with the love of Christ in his heart. Pray for all of our children  to see Christ's love here every day. Thank you all for your care, prayers, and support! You help us through the difficult times!

Independence Day

Instituto Nacional de Osicala (highschool) sporting Central American typical dress

Parvularia de Centro Escolar Benito Juarez (kindergarten)

El Salvador's Independence Day has come and gone. The children in the schools all over were practicing for weeks for their parades. The little girls were all excited about their special dresses and what part they were playing in the parades, dramas, or dances. It was a loud and colorful weekend!

In all of the excitement, I got a glimpse of some of the brokenness of this little country. Matia and I were talking about the civil war in El Salvador that ended 20 years ago. We both have friends that fought in the war. Matia lived it as a child. What is sad for me is how much that nasty conflict still affects this country. There are still people just now discovering that lost family members are still alive. Matia told me that in Meanguera there are still a lot of people angry at others over relatives that one of them killed in the war. Some Salvadorans that are in other countries are afraid to come home because of the people angry with them over their killed relatives.

It is a sad reality but it is hard to recover from a fight with your own flesh and blood on your own soil. But, that is why Little Hands of Hope is here. We want to bring hope to such a struggling place. It is a small country with a big wound, but I know that God can transform this country into a shining, hopeful one. Pray for these people and that these children will grow up to be a new El Salvador that trusts the Lord and shines hope!

The school in Meanguera marching in their parade. The ones with the sashes  are honored because of their good grades.

An indian, police man, doctor, nurse, fireman, and a soldier (only part of him :)  to celebrate El Salvador's history and part of El Salvador today. 

Students who are supposed to be marching. A couple of my girls are in there. 

Jonatan - the police man. He comes to the center in the afternoons. 

Cachiporras - some of the dancers in the parade. The two girls on the end to the right are some of mine - Verenisse and Madelyn. 

Erika in her cachiporra outfit and Lorena wishing that she got to dance too. :)

Sad, but Hopeful

They wanted me to take a picture of them and I just love how it turned out! From left: Mauricio, Dayana, and Olman.

Well, Little Hands of Hope has been as busy as ever! We have had a lot of children in and out of this building these last few days. Today though, I have a little bit of a heavy heart. I have just heard that 2 of our boys that come to the center in the afternoon have been stealing quarters from other children in school, slipping out into the streets during class, begging for quarters, and terrorizing the motortaxi that works here in Meanguera. Sadly, I am not surprised. I have also discovered them stealing toys from the center. I was hoping that it was just the temptation of toys they didn't have until I heard about their morning sabotaging outside the school. These children are 5 and 6 years old and have already had the police called on them.

Some of the busyness with our afternoon group. 

I have heavy heart because I love these boys and they really are teachable and sweet children, but they don't have fathers to care for them and their mothers don't pay attention to what they are doing during the day. In fact, one boy's mother works in another town and is not usually home. However, I have hope because, while the sin makes our hearts heavy, Jesus died and rose again to redeem us from our sins. Matia was also discouraged to hear the news, but I reminded him that this is one of the main reasons that Little Hands of Hope exists. We are here to help children in these difficult circumstances and bring them the hope and love of the gospel. I hope that this will change these boys' hearts one day. They are so young to have learned these habits and we hope that we can help them before they grow and are stealing more than just quarters!

I don't want to post their names to this blog, but please joing me in praying for these children and for wisdom for us to instruct and love them. They also have a friend who joins them in the mornings who used to come to the center. He used to come to the center, but he stopped coming. His situation is very similar to these 2 boys. Please pray that he will come back and that we will be able to help him. If God wants him here, he will come back.

Dayana playing with Matia

One of my concerns is that social services here in El Salvador could take these children away. In that case, they would go to a state-run institution. Funding is difficult in El Salvador and state-run institutions leave a lot to be desired. That is one reason that we are working to open an orphanage so that we can help children that would otherwise be in a situation with little hope and shine hope into their lives. Pray that we have wisdom for this process and funding soon!


P.S. Some of you were asking for wedding pictures. Here are just a couple!

Matia and me

My nieces wore typical Salvadoran dresses!

Back Again!

For some reason hiding under the table was very funny today! From left: Olman, Abilio, Dayana, and Lorena. 

We are back in El Salvador after a short visit to the US for a wedding that so many people worked so hard to make perfect for us. The children were so excited to come back to the center and it's been fun to be with them again. The kids asked to see pictures of the wedding and have been enthralled with them and who is who in the pictures.

Olman playing games with us. :)

We had such a pleasant surprise from Olman! He has improved so much. He still doesn't like to sit still and keeps us very busy, but he no longer cries at every little thing. He has a better appetite and he plays more with the other children! He LOVES to count in English. He hasn't even learned his numbers in Spanish yet, but he constantly walks around saying, "one, two, three, four, five..." Olman has a new little sister, but I'm not sure how much he will get to see her in the future since his mother often does not stay at home. You all have been so faithful in pray for Olman. Please pray for this improvement to continue! How exciting!

The kids playing with Matia while he tries to take the hammock out of the way.  :)

Pray for us as we work on finding a good lawyer to help us legalize our nonprofit in El Salvador so that we can start taking steps to set up an orphanage in the future. Thank you all for your support and prayers! You are very special to us!

Busy Little Hands!

The older children with Michael and Sandi. 

I was just looking over the last blog that I wrote and realized that it has been a month since I last wrote. I'm sorry that I left you all without updates so long. We have been so busy here and it's been hard to keep up with the blog. We have been trying to sort out my residency here in El Salvador and find a good lawyer for legalizing our nonprofit in El Salvador. All of these processes move a lot slower in El Salvador than in the US and require a lot more back and forth from us. It has been quite a lesson in patience for me. :) Hoawever, God has always been good and faithful and each time it seemed like there was too much to pull together, somehow it worked out. God is reminding me that it is not in my control and to trust His might and care - it's much easier that way!

We have also been working on getting a visa for Matia to travel to the US for our wedding and to meet some of you all. We are very excited because it was granted and we will be traveling to the US next week!

Olman with Sandi

Michael with his new friends: Madelyn (left), Ezequiel, Olman (touching his head :), and Lorena. 

We also had a fun time with our gringo visitors, Sandi and Michael. The kids just loved having someone come and visit them and spend time with them! They practiced some of their English and played until Michael and Sandi could play no more. :) It was fun to watch the children put some of the English into practice and see how much they could apply from what they have learned. The children were very affectionate and fought over who got to sit with Michael or Sandi. I got a laugh out of Iseyda who was sitting in Michael's lap and stroking his head and she told him that his hair was like the corn when it is just starting to bud! That tells you about the importance of corn here in El Salvador. 

We have still been busy with the children as always. Today, the older children asked to learn their Bible verse in English so we are working on that this week. They are starting to interact more during our Bible story times and I am praying that the Lord will touch their hearts with His love. Olman is still our little busy bee and requires a lot of attention, but he is such a joy to my heart. Matia and I are both sad when he misses a day at the center. What I am excited about is that Ariel and Kember have been coming back! There is so much work to so with them, so much love and attention that they need, and it is hard to know how to work with them sometimes. But God knows why He has them here and He can heal all of their hurts. 

We went to visit Kember and Ariel at their house. Left is Ariel's little sister, in the pink Kember's little sister, Allison, Ariel in the red shirt, and Kember in the blue. 

There is so much to tell about these children and I will tell you a little more about some of them individually over the next couple of months. Please keep them in your prayers. Pray for them to know Jesus' love for them, pray that they grow into adults who serve the Lord with the talents. Pray for us here who are trying to minister to these children, that we would love them in the way they need to be loved, truly show them God's love, and for us to use our time wisely.

Abilio brushing my hair and Ezequiel  being goofy as usual! These moments make this well worth it!

Thank you all for your love, support, and prayers. You all carry me through more than you know and we couldn't do this without you!

Matia with our little handful, Olman.