A Day Off School

What could be better on a day off of school than a popsicle and a cat face?

Happy Birthday, Juan David

Juan David is our newest child at NLCH, and yesterday was his 8th birthday. We've loved getting to know this little boy- he's full of joy, loves to wrestle, jump on the trampoline, and spend all day every day playing. That's what a little boy his age should be able to do, instead of working to support his family like the little guys we saw in Antigua shining shoes or begging for money.

Birthdays here are fun- Wendy lets the kids select what flavor of cake they like, and she bakes it for them. (The birthday kid receives TWO pieces of cake- everyone else gets one.) We sing happy birthday to them at dinner and get to see them get their present and blow out their candles.

Nataly

Nataly is a 17 year old young lady who came to live at NLCH in January through the court system. Both of those factors about her coming here (her age and the court involvement) were unusual. Normally we do not accept kids her age because they have probably already had plenty of experiences that have shaped their character in such a way that could damage our community here at NLCH. We typically do not accept kids from the court system because if a court places them here, a court may also take them out. We want our kids to be able to trust that they have a permanent home with us.

Our directors and social worker made an exception for Nataly in January with the hope that she would be an exception to those usual disqualifying factors. We were all pleased that she got along well with the other kids and worked very hard as one of the four who helped us plan the events for Holy Week.

Unfortunately, Nataly ran away on Friday. Before coming here, she lived with an aunt in Guatemala, and we now know that she ran away to the aunt's house and is safe there. Because of her previous history, she had become very street-smart and was very good at deceiving people.

I was very surprised and saddened because Kara and I saw her walking on the street as we were driving that afternoon. We pulled over and talked to her and she seemed fine. Except for the fact that she wasn't supposed to be walking alone, I didn't think anything about her being there because she is one of a group of our students who attends an afternoon class in that area. She came over to talk to us and smiled and said that she was taking something to the person in the house right there where we were. As we pulled away Kara saw her knocking on the door of the house and waiting for an answer, although as it turned out all of that was a cover so that we would not think anything was suspicious.

Kara's instincts were better than mine. I trusted what Nataly told us, while Kara felt like something was not right. She called our director and asked if Nataly was supposed to be there. When we found out that she had not shown up for her class, we went back to the house to ask about her. The people there had never seen nor spoken to her.

This has been difficult for us and for the other kids who lived with Nataly over the last several months. We all got to know and love her and for her to leave like this is hard- under deception and without giving any of us a chance to assure her of our love for her and say goodbye.

So please join us in praying for Nataly, that the Lord will lead her somewhere where she will be safe and can deal with the issues of her past. Also please pray for her friends here who are confused and hurt, and who are already too familiar with feelings of loss and abandonment.

Contrasts

Kendon needed some new pictures of the construction progress on our new property, so I climbed up on the roof of the shop and took this picture below. The building in the back right is Casa Elizabeth, where our girls already live; back left is the employee apartment building where we will live soon; front is the boys' house, hopefully to be completed later this year.

As I took the picture, I thought I would also take the picture above, facing a different direction from the roof of the shop just to show the contrast of what life is like around us to what life is like here at the home. It's so great to be able to give the nicest buildings in the entire city to kids who have been told their whole lives that they are not worth much and don't deserve anything. Not that nice buildings equate with the kingdom of God, but this contrast is present in so many ways, as God's kingdom is so active in NLCH and so noticeably absent in so many things that happen outside our walls.

Retiro de Jóvenes (Youth Retreat)

We returned Sunday night from our first retreat with the older kids here at the home (25 of them ages 15 and up). The retreat was in the town of Panajachel on Lake Atitlán, which as we've posted before, is one of the most beautiful places we've ever been. We stayed at a small compound owned by Central American Missions, which has several houses with kitchens, a lawn, and a great view of the lake and one of the volcanoes.

We had devotional times in the mornings after breakfast and in the evenings after supper. Preparing three talks would be a challenge for me in English... it was a whole other game in Spanish, but I survived. Saturday everyone had most of the day free to go swimming, buy souvenirs, go fishing, or just relax at the compound. One of our boys, Rubén (pictured left), proved to be quite the fisherman considering that he just stood on the dock with a net that he borrowed from one of the workers here at the home. He came back with about 40 fish that he caught, which the boys got to eat for dinner on Monday night.

We enjoyed getting to be with these kids in a different setting, and are starting to develop some good relationships with some of them. Our hope is that the time we had with them this weekend helped to establish some trust that will allow us to be more useful to the Lord in our time with these wonderful young people.

Youth Retreat

Please pray for us this weekend!

Tomorrow afternoon at 1:30 we are leaving to spend the weekend in Panajachel with 25 of the kids here -- ages 15 and up. Panajachel is a small town located on the coast of Lake Atitlan. It is three hours from the children's home. We will spend two nights and return on Sunday afternoon. The kids are very excited!

Daniel is leading all of the worship times --both the music and the message. He just found out last week that he would be responsible for this, so he has been working very hard for the past few days to prepare. It is hard enough to prepare three 45-minute sermons in English but to do it in Spanish is that much more difficult and time-consuming!

We are really looking forward to this weekend, as we know that it is another opportunity to bond with the older youth and provide us with shared memories. Please pray that God will speak clearly through Daniel and that the language difference will not hinder the message. Please pray also for each of the children who are going -- that God would work in each heart and that they would know and accept His great love for them.

I look forward to sending an update on the weekend when we return!

Holy Week

Last week was an extremely busy week for us! All of the kids were off school for the week and Daniel and I were in charge of planning activities to keep them busy (not an easy task with 48 children!). We worked with five of the youth to plan games with a different theme during each afternoon. All of the kids were divided into four teams and they competed against each other. Boy were they competitive!!

Each night during the week, a different group of the kids had a sleepover (little boys, little girls, big boys, big girls). The first one was the little boys' sleepover at Kendon & Wendy's house. They watched a movie, ate popcorn and pizza, made Resurrection cookies, and then went to bed around 10 pm. The next night was the little girls' sleepover in the guest building. Emily and I were in charge of that one. I thought that it would be about that same as the little boys'. Much to my surprise, at 2:30 am a few of them were still going strong and asking if we could play! I had to put an end to the fun and tell them it was time for them to settle down and go to bed. We prayed together and thankfully, within 15 minutes they were all asleep.










Two nights later, the older girls watched movies in the guest building until 4:30 am! I think I am getting too old for sleepovers! As long as it is only once per year though, I can say that I had a good time.

On Wednesday and Thursday night, Daniel did Journey to the Cross with the kids. He set up 13 prayer stations around the campus depicting events in Jesus' life during Holy Week. Each had different activities for the kids to do. One of the stations was about Jesus washing the disciples' feet and Kendon washed the feet of each child. It was a very touching station.

Especially on Thursday night, I really felt God's presence during the prayer station activities. Several of the older youth stayed a long time at each station and a few were emotional when they finished. One of the oldest girls told me that she had never experienced anything like that and really felt like God was there with her.

On Friday evening, Daniel organized a Good Friday service where we watched "The Gospel of Matthew" and took communion together. It was a neat time together, and once again I felt God's presence near us that night.

Thank you to each of you who prayed for the activities of last week!

Supermen

I think this may be my favorite of the pictures we've taken so far...

NLCH Entertainment

The little guys were a little wound-up after dinner on Saturday night.... actually, they are pretty wound-up most of the time, and the camera only seems to encourage it. Here are a few pictures from that night and a video that I thought I would share because I like Josue's dramatic skills, plus the belching in the camera at the end is a nice touch!

We did a skit to introduce the Holy Week Olympics and I was the olympic weightlifter (thankfully there are no pictures of that!). The little guys had fun playing with my weight bar after the skit. Wow... they look strong!

Sammy is always ready for a picture!

I'm on a Roll!

After writing my previous post on Friday, I now have another example to add to the ever-growing list. Last night before dinner, we were getting ready to do a small drama to introduce our Holy Week activities and I asked one of the older girls (who teaches English in our school) if she could turn off the lights at one point during the drama. I thought I was explaining it very clearly but then she stopped me and said, "ummm... wait, it's better if you just say it in English."

Now I am really beginning to think that I may need to go back to language school!