Face Painting
We had a team from Canada that helped us for a few days and one of the things that they did was face paint. This is Yerelin, another one of our big helpers, and her little cousin, Julian.
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Good times! But very hot!
These are two of our children that come to our program. When we are there, these two are usually there, too. In fact, Rachel has been a big help to us too. Also, in the photo is one of her little brothers Yunakin.
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"Our weekly life"
Greetings,
Since our ministry is growing, we thought we would share with you what our normal week looks like. For the past three months we have started meeting with the children three times a week. On Tuesdays and Thursdays we open the center up after school and give the children a safe place to play. These days are filled with different activities such as: painting, putting puzzles together, coloring and playing various games. On Saturdays we have kids church with worship, prayer, sharing a little word of God, doing some sort of activity and then we finish the day with a meal.
While all of this sounds like a lot of fun (and yes it is), it is also a lot of work. Most days are very difficult as we are trying to teach the children respect and the importance of obeying adults, but at the same time continuing to show them love. In the beginning, they thought that our love should come by us letting them do whatever they wanted, but they are slowly learning that there are rules to follow and if they can't follow the rules then there are consequences. They will have to leave the program for the day or sometimes we have had to tell them that they can not come back the following time also. As you can imagine, this brought on a lot of additional stuff for us to have to deal with. For example, you won't let me throw rocks at other children so I will throw them at your car. We have to watch them when they leave, so this makes it harder on the other person working with the other children, because now there is only one adult working with twenty to thirty children instead of two. Occasionally we do have some additional help but for the most part it is just the two of us.
However, we are very happy to report that the last week has been a very good week with the children and they seem to be catching on. We have not had to send any children away this week for their behavior so we are very thankful to God for this and we are giving Him all the glory.
Another piece of good news is that the children have been asking us to come and open the center more days a week. We have a few children that keep saying "why are you only coming three times a week, can't you come one more day?"
We would appreciate your prayers as we decide if we should open the center one more day of the week. We are considering having a day once a week for the older children. Maybe one week would be for the older girls and then the following week would be for the older boys.
You may now be asking what do you do the other 4 days of the week since you are only with the children 3 days a week. Well we have homeless ministry every Tuesday night and then we attend a Bible study with some of the people that live on the beach on Friday. The rest of the time is filled with shopping for our food and other items needed for the children's ministry. We also spend time doing administration work, preparing activities, and Bible lessons for the children and of course meeting with different people.
Our schedules have gotten pretty full during these last three months and we are able to do all of this because He has given us the grace to do it. Also, none of this would be possible without your love, prayers and financial support. For this we are forever grateful and know that you are planting many seeds here.
WIth God ALL things are possible. Matt 19:26.
Lots of love and Blessings,
John & Cindy
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