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!