Three things:

1. Check out updates at Siloe Community Clinic

www.siloeclinic.org

I’ve been adding new pictures of our work and wrote a couple blog posts.

 

 

2. Last week I made pizza with the two classes I teach summer cooking classes to at Open Arms Childcare. It was delicious and the kids had a blast. Toppings? Cheese, pineapple, pepperoni and red bell peppers!

This week we are making chocolate chip cookies.

3. Youth Group:  Our service project was awesome to be a part of. As quoted from leader Lauren Bell,  “This past Saturday (August 8th) the youth group gathered at church and went out into the community of La Mision to help clean up. They collected 32 bags of trash!  Please continue to keep us in your prayers. God is doing big things here.”   

Another Friday night

Last night we had another youth group.

Our plan:

• Go play soccer to attract other kids from town
• Invite them to youth group
• Play X-treme Volleyball
• Four songs
• A talk to inspire the kids for a service day (today at 3pm)
• Pizza…mmmm…..

As I prepared for it, I realized that doing youth group here is a scary thing for me. I have been doing youth ministry stuff for a long time, and I have grown very comfortable. But here is a different story. Language is a huge barrier for me. I feel like an outsider and I have to work so hard to accomplish what I think needs to happen.

But then it hit me. I don’t feel comfortable. All of a sudden, the phrase, “out of my comfort zone,” came to mind. And that is exactly where I need to be. I don’t want to be there. I don’t choose to be there. But to follow Jesus, it is exactly where I need to be.

As a result, my attitude changed. I was really into the night last night. I was present. I was attempting to have conversations that I found myself shying away from before. And as I faced my fears, there was a sense of peace in me that I hadn’t felt before at youth group.

Our plan seemed to work. We were able to get some guys from the community that don’t normally come. And everybody had a good time.

We will see how many kids show up to the service project today. (and we will see what we do, because we are just  going to show up, pray and go)

Photos, mobile ER, and youth group

Life has been different recently…through a bunch of different circumstances. First, Erin’s grandfather passed away. He was 89 and struggling with dementia. Erin has been sad but we are very honored to be able to go to the memorial service in a couple of weeks in Ohio.

In this picture is Blanca (on the right), her daughter, and her mother-in-law. Blanca brings her 10 month old daughter Shayla to the clinic and the ladies at the clinic have become a community for her. Blanca stopped by our house so that we could take pictures of her daughter so she could send it to her mother who lives in the US. While not being pro photographers, it was nice to be able to help.

Late last Wednesday night, we heard that Grace (pictured with her younger sister Noemi) was sick for the fourth day and very dehydrated. Grace is the daughter of Sarah, the Dr. at the clinic. Erin and I were asked to bring a nurse, Julia, who was with one of the groups at the orphanage, and some supplies to Sarah’s house so they could start an IV. Grace looked so terrible as we entered her house (poor girl) and Brendan and Sarah were very worried. They tried a couple of times to find a vein in the screaming child but the apparatus wasn’t working. The parents were then forced to make a decision to bring her to the US or try to wait it out and try to keep getting fluids into her. Before we left, we were able to all get together and pray and really lift this child before the Lord. As I looked in on Grace to say goodbye, she looked 100 times better than when I first saw her. We were overjoyed when we got the message the following morning that she was doing much, much better!

Tonight we are having another youth group. Lauren and I have been meeting very regularly trying to figure out where God is leading. There are so many details and twists and turns in the road to a healthy meeting. Tonight we (La Mision Ministries) are going to buy pizza for the kids and invite (inspire) them to do a service project tomorrow in the community. Please pray for us as we invest in this group of kids. They are still very shy and standoffish to what is being said. We pray for their lives to open up, as we open up to them.