Special Prayer Requests

Greetings! We have had another good week here at Casa Hogar. We all enjoyed working with the team, who left Saturday morning. For the next two weeks, we will be without teams, and as the school year comes to a close, we will have extra time to spend with the kids. The teenagers are already out of school, so we will be doing special activities with them this week. The younger kids finish school on Friday, so next week we will do special activities with them. Please pray that these weeks with the kids will be productive in deepening our relationships with them and building them up in their faith.

We also have special prayer requests for two young men at Sobre el Puente who have especially been on our hearts in the past several days. I can't use their real names for their safety and privacy, so I will call them Pedro and Andres.

As you may have read in our previous posts, Sobre el Puente ministers to street children with a drop-in center that offers them food, showers, and educational and spiritual training during the day. Sometimes, kids who have been coming to the day program for a while are given the opportunity stay and live at in the house there, if they follow the rules and don't do drugs. Pedro went camping with us three weeks ago, and after spending a week at camp, he and two other guys accepted the offer to live at Sobre el Puente. We were trilled when we heard about this, especially when they came to church that Sunday along with the Sobre el Puente staff. Last Monday night, however, Pedro had a conflict with one of the other boys over their personal space, and the other boy, who was bigger than Pedro, ended up physically attacking him. One of the staff members intervened, broke up the fight, and talked to them about how fighting is not the way to deal with conflicts. They prayed about it together, and it looked like everything was going to be fine; however, the next morning, Pedro was gone, and he hasn't been back to Sobre el Puente since. This is distressing for everyone who had hoped that this would be his opportunity to get off the streets and clean up his life. However, we know that God has a plan for his life, which may or may not involve him being at Sobre el Puente. Please pray that if it is in God's plan, He will give him courage to return to Sobre el Puente, and that either way, God would work protect him and work in his life wherever he is.

We also want to ask you to pray for Andres. During the camping trip, we kept noticing that he sometimes had trouble breathing, as if he had asthma. Last week, there was a doctor on the team that came to work at Casa Hogar, and on Thursday, when part of the team went to do activities Sobre el Puente in the morning, the doctor went along to do check-ups on the kids there. His diagnosis for Andres was not good. Years of abuse, life on the streets, and drug use have left him with a weak heart, weak lungs, and generally weak body. The doctor said that if Andres continues to live on the streets and do drugs, one day he will simply not wake up. He has been given the opportunity to live at Sobre el Puente, but he has not accepted. Please pray that God will work in his life, spiritually, physically, and mentally.

Working here in Acapulco continues to show us both the heartbreaking power of sin and the marvelous power of God. Praise God for His wisdom, love, and power even when we don't understand His plans. Pray that God will be glorified in these young men's lives and all throughout Acapulco.

sobre el puente and casa hogar

Hola amigos!
This is Samone updating. Hope you all are doing well. This is my first update since arriving a week and a half ago. its been a flurry of spanish and reconnections since arriving and it has been wonderful and sometimes an emotionally overwhelming experience. Therefore it has been good to be here with the kids and the other interns as well.
sorry its been a while. I am going to update you all on this past week! so this past week, Rebecca, Abril and I (Samone) went to Sobre el puente. For those of you who don´t know, this is the street child ministry. It was strange yet a blessing being back. Many of children I knew from last year are no longer there (each for different reasons). Some of them are off the new and better places. These are things we need to pray for the children, that they would continue on these paths God has set for them, and that they would continue to grow in the lord and strive to live for him. And this is something we all need to pray for. Its so encouraging to see how they started off going to sobre el puente, and now many of them have jobs and are studying and acquiring the skills they need to provide for themselves, and to live better lives. It was encouraging to see some of the kids from last year and how great, and healthy they look and how much they are improving. Proving to me once again how God is at work and he really is answering prayers for these kids. So this past week has been wonderful. We arrive by bus everyday at 9 30 in the morning. from then we do a craft and the have breakfast with the kids. Then its time for singing and praising God with drums, a tambourine and our voices. there are mostly new kids there this year and praise God three of them have such a desire for improvement they are living in the building where we minister. Together we all eat, talk, worship, pray and are just in constant fellowship together. it was hard at first getting to know the kids, espceially for me and my lack of spanish, but God has really helped me by giving me patience this week. Sorry this post was kind of short. I dont get on the computer much! But I will be back with an update shortly on our time with the team! adios

Work is good!

Last week, five of us stayed at Casa Hogar all day, helping in the kitchen and laundry in the mornings, while Rebecca, Simone, and April went to Sobre el Puente. Rebekah, Rachel, and Amanda had a great time working in the kitchen, helping to prepare the meals for the kids. Rebekah has become a good friend of the two kitchen ladies, thanks to her eagerness to help and learn about Mexican cooking. Annie worked in the laundry all week. It is amazing how many dirty clothes 50 kids can generate! Every afternoon, there would be another batch of freshly washed clothes to hang up on the clotheslines all around Casa Hogar.
Another team arrived on Saturday, so now we are back to helping the team with construction and with activities for the kids. Beka, Rachel, and Amanda enjoyed pick-axing and shoveling away all morning. As slow as the work seems when you are chipping away at a bed of rock with a pick ax, it was cool to see how much dirt had been moved at the end of the morning. It was also encouraging when one of the girls from the team told us that the girl's dorm/dining room building, which is so nice now, was nonexistent the first time she came four years ago. It is good to be reminded that, even if we are just moving rocks now, our work combined with the work of many other workers, with the God's blessing, will result in a beautiful new boy's dorm in a few years.

Our work site



The new girl´s dorm/dining room











Praise God for giving us another week of productive work and safety. Thank God for the team that has come this week, and pray that God will give them health, safety, joy, wisdom, and successful ministry with the kids here.

We're all here!

Another week has flown by! Beka, Amanda, and Simone have all arrived safely in Acapulco, so all eight of us are now together. We had our first Acapulco rain on Friday morning, amidst the excitement of the first World Cup match, Mexico vs. South Africa. We actually didn't get to watch the match due to a power outage, but the kids all watched it at school, with painted faces and all! The final score was 1:1, and we are all looking forward to the next Mexico match this upcoming Thursday.
Rebecca and Rachel returned from camping on Thursday. We had a great time, and were trilled to see God working in several of the kid's lives. During the devotion Tuesday night, several of the kids prayed aloud, and it was amazing to hear the evidence of their faith in their voices and prayers.
Yesterday morning we took 11 little boys to the beach and had tons of fun! We went to a closer, less crowded beach with smaller waves, so the kids were able to play and swim without any problems. The older boys (about 10 years old) enjoyed swimming and throwing water balls with some of the interns, while the younger boys splashed in the water near the shore, looked for pieces of coral, and dug a big hole in the sand.
Last night some of the interns went out to dinner with the only college-aged girl here at Casa Hogar for some older-girl time. This young lady has been a great help to us here. She has been helping us learn some Spanish, and we have been helping her learn some English.

Praise God for the good relationships we are building with the children! Please continue to pray for the children's well being, especially spiritually and emotionally. Many of the children have some family outside of the orphanage that they miss. Pray that God will comfort them and that they will come to understand God's love for them. Also, please pray for the financial needs of Casa Hogar. A decline in the Mexican economy over the past several years and the rise of education costs puts a constant strain on the orphanage's finances. If you would like to help financially with this ministry, you might be interested in the child sponsorship program, the Promise Project. As a sponsor, you can help with the cost of operating the orphanage while praying for and encouraging one specific child. Thank you for all the prayers and support you have given us thus far. You are a great encouragement for us working in Acapulco.

Sobre el Puente

Hello everyone, Rachel here! I don't have a lot of time this morning, but I wanted to give you a quick update on what we have been doing. In addition to hanging out with the kids from Casa Hogar in the afternoons, Rebecca and I have had the blessing of going to work at Sobre el Puente, the street child ministry sponsored by the church here in Acapulco. They offer food, clothing, showers, counseling, encouragement, and love to street children, generally between the ages of 12 and 20. Along with the hunger and health risks that come with living on the streets, these teens struggle with drugs, pregnancy, and lack of education, which makes it difficult to find jobs. Some have been living on the street since they were young children. However, in the midst of this bleak picture, I thank God for the compassion and service of the people who work at Sobre el Puente. This ministry gives hope to these kids' lives. Several of the kids are professing Christians, filled with the knowledge of Christ's love for them.
In addition to getting to work at Sobre el Puente, Rebecca and I were surprised on Friday by an invitation to go camping with them this week. After discussing it with our leader here at Casa Hogar, we accepted, and we will be leaving later this morning. We are going to an area about 2 hours drive from Acapulco, and we will stay until Thursday, camping, fishing, and doing other activities with the kids. This is an amazing, unexpected opportunity to interact with these kids and share the love of Christ with them!
In conclusion, here are some prayer requests: please pray for the street kids of Acapulco. God knows the plan that he has for each of them, so pray that he will work in their lives to bring them to Himself. Pray that God would protect His children from harm, give them strength to resist the pull of drugs and sex, and bless those who are trying to find employment so that they can get off the streets. Also, please pray for strength and encouragement for the people would work at Sobre el Puente. Their work is hard, and there is the potential for them to become discouraged, so pray that they can see God's hand in their work. Finally, pray for the camping trip this week. Pray for health and safety for everyone going, and pray that Rebecca and I would be able to use this week for God's glory, encouraging the staff and building relationships with the kids. Also, pray that we will be able to communicate effectively with our Spanish skills; street Spanish is very different from the classroom Spanish we know!
Thanks for all of your prayers and support; so long for now!

Pato Pato Ganzo (Duck Duck Goose)

Right now, the five of us (Rebecca, Rebekah, Rachel, Annie, and April) are sitting in the covered courtyard at Casa Hogar reminiscing about the past three days. We met last Monday in Atlanta, and arrived in Acapulco on Friday after a few days of training in North Carolina. We are thankful for safe travel despite the craziness that is the airport of Mexico City. The kids were waiting for us at the gate to welcome us in. Our first night was a whirlwind of names and Spanish.
Saturday, the English teacher intern showed us around the city and told us which buses to take. We had our first authentic Mexican meal and experienced Walmart, Mexican style!
Sunday, we enjoyed worshiping in Spanish and English at Jesus de Nazaret Iglesia (Church) along with everyone from Casa Hogar and the first short-term team of the summer.
Today, while the kids were at school, Rebekah, Annie, and April helped the team with construction at Casa Hogar, tearing down more of the old building in preparation for a new boy's dormitory. Meanwhile, Rebecca and Rachel went to Sobre el Puente, the street children's ministry here in Acapulco, to help them organize from the recent move to a new building. Thank you all for your prayers and support, and thank God for giving us this opportunity to work with the church here in Acapulco. Please continue to pray for us as we strive to break the language barrier and build relationships with the people here.

Leaving Soon!

Thank you all for your patience! We will be leaving soon for training on Monday morning. We arrive in Acapulco on Friday! Please pray that we will learn a lot in our training and have safe travels. It won't be long before you'll be hearing all about our times in Mexico!

Here are some great ways to pray for us:
1. Please pray that we would have pure motives in our ministry. To spend a summer in ministry is a privilege, but it is really easy to think of it as “our” work when it is HIS work. This is not about whether or not we can be “successful” missionaries; it is about obediently following His call. Pray that He will remind us of that constantly.

2. Please ask that God would use all of us interns to reach the children as well as to make an impact in the lives of the short term teams that come to visit. Ask the Lord to guide us by His Spirit as we jump into a new culture and try to minister. We're out of our league, but we're not alone!

3. Ask the Lord to make us all humble! We are interns because we need to learn how to do mission work! Please pray that we don’t think we are capable of doing this on our own. At the same time, please pray for confidence despite the many mistakes we are bound to make.

4. Please pray for our safety in travel and over the summer.

5. Please pray for our health! Mexico, I am sure, will bring on a whole new set of germs to fight off. Please ask for health so we can be putting our full energy into ministry.

6. Pray that He will be glorified!!!!

Thank you all!