Using Every Opportunity for the Lord......

Do you ever think about the things you do, the places that you go, the people that you meet? Do you ever think that each one of those is an opportunity for you to share the gospel. Today, I took Micah downtown in El Pregreso, to a Barberia(Barber Shop) that I have never been to before. We walked in and we were the only clients there. We started to talk as the guy began to cut Micah's hair and the Lord just opened up the doors. I was able to share the gospel with them both. The one gentleman Donaldo said that he was in fact saved....but boy did he have questions. He read the tract that I handed him out load and wanted more clarification. It was awesome to see. We were there for probably 1/2 and hour. The last 15 minutes was just sharing about God and how good He is. I am thankful that I have overcome my fear of sharing my faith....due to rejection by others. The fact of the matter is....when others don't listen they are rejecting Christ......I told the man today....I want to be able to share with others the love that my God has for all. I don't want to hold it in in secret as if I am the only one going to Heaven......that would be like throwing a big birthday party and not inviting anyone but yourself. God wants all of us to be there. Some still think they don't need HIM, but just like I told Donaldo today.....we are all born with a missing piece and only God can fill it...(one of those phrases my Pastor Jeff Jones always said) (Everyonwe has a God shaped void in their life). They try to put in everything they can....drugs, money, alcohol and so on....but none of those things bring true contentment and happiness like giving your life to Jesus. So, I challenge you today....to use every opportunity that you have been given to share something about what God has done for you.

Parenting, training and guiding

As I was growing up I learned a lot of things from my momma. There were some things that she out-right taught me and then there were somethings that I learned just by her example. While we were in the states we were sharing the story of Kathya's former life and that her mom and siblings were still living in poverty. A few of the girls in that class gave me a few dollars to buy them some food when we returned home. A few weeks ago my friend Valeria was here for a visit so I thought we would go and buy the things we could and drop them by Kathya's moms house.  When we arrived we saw her little brother Jose sitting in a chair as if he was being punished.....if you ever met him you would know that he doesn't sit still very well. I got out of the car and could immediately tell that there was something wrong with him. He was burning up with a fever. He was dressed in all of his clothes and his mom had wet a shirt and placed it on top of his head. She began to tell me that he had been like this for a few days. I asked her if the had given him any medication and she said that she gave him a pill(and adult pill) around 7 am that morning. It was now 12 o'clock. I ran down the street to where Karla's parents live to see if I could borrow their bathroom to cool him off. I began to explain to Delmi(his mom) that she needed to get his clothes off and try to cool him off. This child had a fever so high that his eyes were rolling back in his head, he wouldn't talk, and he had used the potty in his pants.
It took awhile to cool him off but he started to talk a little bit.  I placed him in the hammock with just a cold wet rag around his neck and head. We ran to the house to get the thermometer and some childrens medicine for him. At that time we learned that he had a fever of almost 106. Mark and I went back to the house and picked him up where they had placed him on a bed and covered him with a blanket. (keep in mind that it was code to 100 that day or hotter.) Mark picked him back up and went over to the faucet outside and began to pour water on him to cool him off. At this point we are explaining to her that he could die from a fever so high that goes untreated. She begins to sob. I giver her a hug and let her know we are here to help her. She hugs my neck.

trying to keep him cool in the hammock

Ada and Jose are Kathya's siblings

I say all of that to say that she never had an example to follow. She had no idea what to do in a situation like that. She thought she needed to keep him covered up. She didn't try to get him to drink and she didn't know that she shouldn't give a three year old adult medicine. This all comes from not being trained when she was little. She had never been parented she just had to survive.

Here at Hope/Esperanza....we are striving to change that. We are hoping that these kids will see godly parents and learn from our example. We pray that they will guide their families and even know what do to in situations just like that above. We desperately need to help the children by training them to be  good children which means that they can grow up to be good parents one day. Please join us in prayer as we help raise, train and guide the next generation. We have started with 15 we want to help more but need your prayers to touch  hearts of a new couple willing to join our ministry. Then we can build a new cottage to help 15 more children.

Jose ran out to tell us thank you as he is feeling better and drinking the gatorade we bought him.