Good Things Do Happen in Juarez

With all of the negative media attention that Juarez has received in the past few years, it’s easy to focus only on the danger and violence and to forget the good things that do frequently happen in our city of approximately 1.3 million people.  And good things do happen.  I’d like to share about a couple of them with you.  I didn’t know this until recently, but turns out that there is a very large, upscale, widely-heard-of conference center and restaurant here in Juarez called Cibeles that every year puts on a after-Christmas party and meal for hundreds of children from many orphanages here in Mexico.  This year, we were invited.  Upon arriving, we ascended a wide, beautiful staircase into a huge ballroom full of tables of children sipping hot chocolate and eating pastries and cookies.  It kind of felt like we had arrived at a royal ball!  The best part for us adults was definitely getting to see a few children who we knew and had grown close to--children who had previously been at Rivers of Mercy for some period of time and for a variety of reasons were now at a different orphanage.  In fact, we actually got to see two girls who had been at Rivers of Mercy during the whole Christmas break because the orphanage where they live closes during the break!  The kids were served fruit cups, pizza, hot chocolate, and soda as different clown shows entertained them throughout the event.  All of the adults were served an entree from the kitchen, simple yet more sophisticated than the pizza.  They had face painting, balloons, and candy bags for all the children.  What a treat!

 

About a week later, our kids got to enjoy another fun outing.  A couple of months ago, we met a small group of people who were very interested in coming alongside of us and helping us out in any way they could.  Recently, some of them took us all to the theater to see the movie “Puss in Boots”!  For some of our kids that haven’t been with us for very long, this was their first time ever at a movie theater!  After the movie, we walked across the parking lot to Burger King, where they had a room reserved for us.  The kids loved playing in the HUGE indoor play area but took a break to eat their burgers, fries, and chocolate sundaes!  As they were wearing their paper Burger King Club crowns, they probably felt like kings!  It warms my heart to see when efforts are made to give our children, who have suffered so much in their short lifetime, an unforgettable experience.  Much thanks to Fernando and his friends for making this possible.  And we encourage you to give thanks to God with us that despite the violence in this city, good things still happen in Juarez.

Another Visit with Samuel and Paola

Samuel, Paola, Itzel, and Joel

Well, I sat down to write a blog about the holidays here at Rivers of Mercy, but it was too overwhelming, because so much happened!  So, I decided to share a heartening update about Samuel and Paola, two dear children who lived at the orphanage for about a year and a half and were adopted by a loving couple about a year ago.  Most of you probably know their story--two very sweet children who lives were transformed by Christ during their time here at Rivers of Mercy and who learned to trust God’s plan for them even when it appeared that their world had been turned upside down.  After learning that they would never be able to return to their original family, they were adopted by a kind Mexican couple here in Juarez.  Well, about a week ago, Emmis couldn’t get Paola and Samuel off his mind and suggested that we go visit them.  Leave it up to God --  just a short while after he’d voiced his thoughts, we got a call from them!  We arranged to go visit them on one of our last weekdays of Christmas break.  We took all of our kids from the orphanage (about 30), and ended up playing with Paola and Samuel at a park near their home all afternoon!  We took them a bicycle as a late Christmas present.  They were thrilled because they hadn’t had one before.

Samuel, Emmis, and Joel

A few days later, Samuel, Paola, and their mother and father showed up here at the orphanage.  Their parents had never seen the orphanage before, so Paola and Samuel enjoyed showing them around and excitedly shared memories of their time here.  As we ate pizza together for dinner, Samuel’s mom turned to us and said, “You must know that Samuel and Paola love you two very much.  You are very special people in their lives.”  I got choked up.  I was touched.  It’s not very often that we get to see just what an effect we have on these kids’ lives.  But even if we are never able to know here on earth, we will someday!  That makes it all worth it.

Previous blog posts about Samuel and Paula: 
http://juarezkids.blogspot.com/2011/07/visiting-with-samuel-and-paola.html
http://juarezkids.blogspot.com/2011/02/samuel-and-paola-new-beginning.html
http://juarezkids.blogspot.com/2010/11/praise-report-on-samuel.html
http://juarezkids.blogspot.com/2010/11/please-pray-for-samuel.html
http://juarezkids.blogspot.com/2009/06/let-little-children-come-to-me.html
http://juarezkids.blogspot.com/2009/05/yesterday-we-welcomed-two-new-children.html

Celebrating the Mexican Revolution & Thanksgiving

Here in Mexico, November 20th is a national holiday commemorating the start of the Mexican Revolution.  On this November 20, 2011, Mexico celebrated the Centennial Anniversary of its Revolution. On this date in the year 1910, the revolutionary war to overthrow the dictator Porfirio Díaz, began.  In my years living here in Juarez, I’ve noticed that for September 16th (Mexican Independence Day) and Nov. 20th, schools here always have the children dress in traditional attire representative of the time period and have a festival at the school, where they sell traditional Mexican food and the children dance, sing and recite poetry.  I’ve always felt, however, that many children don’t really understand the history behind the holiday.  So, this year I decided to do something about that.  Martha helped me make puppets of the key people and leaders involved in the revolution, and we used the puppets and other images to tell the children the history of the Mexican Revolution in an exciting, suspenseful way.  I taught this lesson at the kindergarten, and Martha taught this lesson here at the orphanage.  She even had the children make their own replica of the traditional “wide-brimmed” hat that the revolutionaries wore!  They made them out of thick brown construction paper and then decorated them.  The kids loved them!  (see photos)

Just a few days later, while Emmis, our kids, and I spent a few days in Las Cruces, NM with my family, everyone at the orphanage was having a special Thanksgiving celebration.  Although Thanksgiving is a U.S. holiday, we like the tradition of giving thanks, and this year, several good friends of ours provided all of the food for a huge Thanksgiving feast.  All of the children, staff, and their family members enjoyed a delicious Thanksgiving meal and reflected on everything we have to be thankful for--everything that God has given us and done for us.  Emmis and I are especially thankful to God for the privilege of being used by Him to fulfill His purposes, and we are so thankful for all of you, because it is your love, encouragement, and support that sustains us and this ministry.  “Rejoice always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”  1 Thes. 5:16-18

Thanksgiving Meal at the Orphanage

Fernanda

I want to share another heart-warming personal testimony of a little girl in our new kindergarten named Fernanda. Fernanda is sweet, obedient, intelligent, and is definitely an over-achiever. She is one of the most advanced students of our the class. However, not only has she been learning quickly and excelling academically, but has truly been taking to heart the truths about God that we have been teaching through the Bible lessons. Some time ago, in our series of Bibles lessons to teach the children the fundamental truths of the gospel, we taught several stories of miracles Jesus had done--how he had healed the paralytic, made the blind man see, and much more. We taught them that Jesus is God and can do anything--there is nothing that is too difficult for Him. He can do MIRACLES--wonderful things that only GOD can do.

Well, one day in class, one of our little girls named Margarita had a strange expression on her face, and I asked her what was the matter. She told me that she had a stomach ache, and I stopped what we were doing in that moment and said a quick prayer out loud with all the children that God would heal Margarita and take away her stomach ache. Fast forward several weeks. Raquel (my fellow teacher) and I were leading a mandatory parent meeting at the kindergarten, where we not only teach them activities that they can do with their children at home to advance their learning, but also share the hope of the gospel with them. The meeting ended, but one of the moms lingered, and I noticed that she was waiting to talk to me. She shared with me that she had recently been diagnosed with skin cancer. I remembered that Fernanda had once mentioned this in class--that her mom had gone to the doctor because the spot on her face hurt her. Fernanda’s mom explained to me that Fernanda had said to her matter-of-factly, “Mami, we prayed for Margarita at kindergarten the other day--that God would heal her and take away her stomach ache. We can pray for you too, Mami, that God will heal you.”

Wow--how touching and fulfilling to see how our kindergartners are applying to their personal lives the truths that they are learning about God! And what a testimony to Fernanda was to her mother! May we all echo Fernanda’s heartfelt prayer, and may we all learn to have the same honest, simple trust in God in regard to our own life situations.

Daniela and Fernanda (cousins)

Teaching a Bible Lesson to the Kindergartners

Campamento!

Our kids recently got to go on an extra-special outing--a campout!  Just like last October, we were invited again this year by a Mexico missions organization in Albuquerque to take our kids on an overnight campout that they were hosting.  This year the campout was held at a different location, at a place called Lago Daniela (Daniela Lake) near the city of Lazaro-Cardenas (approx. 4 hours south of Juarez).  This missions organization plans all of the details of the campout and takes all the food, sleeping bags, tents, and other equipment for our children and accompanying adults.  Emmis and two young couples (friends of ours) took 24 of our children (the older ones, ages 6-13) on the campout.  I stayed home with my kids and all of the younger kids at the orphanage (ages 2-5, about 15 of them). 

What our kids and adults liked best about this year’s campout was the location!  They said there were lots of green trees and beautiful flowers.  There were also outdoor swimming pools, a small pond/fish hatchery, and a nearby stream!  After seeing the pictures, I definitely want to go with them next year!  The kids came back talking very excitedly about everything--playing in the river, sleeping in tents, swimming in the super cold swimming pool, eating yummy food (hot dogs and nachos!), and participating in various games and activities.  We are so thankful to those who made this campout possible for our kids, who otherwise would not have this opportunity.  It was such an extraordinary experience for them!

Click here to view more photos of the campout

A Young Man's Kindness Lives On

In April of this year, a handsome, successful young man from here in Juarez contacted us wanting to have a party here at the orphanage for our kids for “Children’s Day,” a Mexican national holiday.  He was a good-hearted man just seeking to help others.  Many members of his family came with him to have the party for the kids.  They provided a jumpy house, pizza, a professional clown, a pinata, and brought us a large amount of groceries.  After this visit, this young man felt called to help out our ministry on a regular basis and he made a personal commitment to come once a month to bring us a large supply of groceries.  He did the hard work of going to different food distributors and asking for donations for us.  This was truly something that he took on to help others in need.  Since April, he and a friend or cousin would come once a month and bring us large quantities of eggs, vegetables, and fruit.  This was very helpful because we are no longer able to bring fresh fruits or vegetables (or eggs, dairy, etc.) from the U.S. into Mexico due to a recent law established by Mexico.  He was a genuinely nice guy--really interested in the work we were doing and he committed to helping out in whatever way he could.

Sadly, we were recently informed that he had been murdered in a scandalous episode of violence.  We were shocked and extremely sorrowful.  However, his family contacted us and told us that they wanted to follow through with this young man’s commitment to help us.  This past Saturday, we were touched and blessed by this young man's family and friends.  A large group of his family members and friends came and spent all afternoon with us.  As we introduced ourselves, we also exchanged words remembering him.  It was very sad, but his family was encouraged by being able to carry out his desire to help the children here at Rivers of Mercy.  They gave the kids goodie bags, played with them, brought us lots of groceries (90 dozen eggs--see photo!), and even brought two hair stylists to cut the kids’ hair!  The stylists were here until the evening cutting all of the children’s hair--what a blessing!.  This same group of friends and family members of this young man plan to come next month and bring groceries and tennis shoes for all of the children.  We are touched by their kindness and compassion.  Please pray that God would comfort them in their loss and that we will be able to share Christ's love with them.
 

Hair cut time! :)

Eggs!

All of us and our kind visitors

Idali

I wanted to share a sweet testimony about a little girl that attends our kindergarten.  This little girl’s name is Idali.  She is one of our kids from the community (not from the orphanage or the nearby Christian community center, Amistad) and she comes from a non-Christian household.  Idali is very quiet--doesn’t participate much.  One might think that she isn’t paying attention or learning.  However, we’ve learned that even though she is very quiet and timid, she is absorbing everything that she is being taught.  About a week after kindergarten had started, Idali’s mom was sweeping the classrooms for us one day after school.  Wanting to make conversation with her, I asked her what she thought so far of the kindergarten.  She responded, “Oh, yes, it’s wonderful...” and went on to tell me that ever since Idali started kindergarten, she will not let her family eat a meal without first praying and thanking God.  This is obviously something that we have taught and modeled at kindergarten, where we teach a Bible lesson three times a week.  It is touching to see that God is now real to Idali and she is beginning a relationship with Him.  Then, last Friday at our Mexican Independence Day celebration, her mother shared something else with us.  She told us that aside from Idali insisting on praying before every meal, when Idali sees that her grandpa is about to start drinking (alcohol), she tells him that they must pray first.  Idali’s mom says that the grandpa is so moved by Idali’s heartfelt prayer that he decides to set his drink aside and not drink!  Wow!  What a testimony this little girl is being to her family!  

Idali

Kindergarten Class on Mexican Independence Day

Click here to view more photos of our kindergarten class on Mexican Independence Day.

This Friday, we are having our first monthly parents’ meeting, and we will be sharing with them the message of the gospel, as we have been doing with their children.  Please pray that God would not only use us to impact the children with the love of Christ and the hope of the gospel, but the family members as well.  To God be the glory!

P.S.  I recently received an email from a kindergarten class at a Christian school in Albuquerque, NM letting us know that their kindergarten class is praying for our kindergarten class here in Juarez.  This is quite an encouragement! 

Answered Prayer for Imelda, Alvaro, Axel and Adrian

In January of this year, we received four siblings here at Rivers of Mercy--Imelda (11), Alvaro (10), and twins Axel & Adrian (8).  Another sibling, Sandra (6) was brought here later this year.  They also had three younger siblings at a government run orphanage.  These children were taken away from their parents because they were always left home alone for long periods of time while their mother and father were at work.  Imelda and Alvaro made meals on the stove for their younger siblings, changed their diapers, fed them their bottles, and took care of all of the responsibilities of a parent at their young age.  Here at the orphanage, they were obedient, friendly, and responsible children who were always wanting to help.  Alvaro proudly considered it his job to take out the trash several mornings a week, and was very responsible about doing it.  Imelda helped me do the girls’ hair on the weekends (and we have around 20 girls--imagine!)  We grew very attached to them during their time here, and definitely formed a special bond with them.  For some time after they first arrived, they would go to visitation sessions at DIF, meaning that they had the possibility of returning to their mother.  However, one day, their names were taken off the visitation list, and we and the children realized that their names had been moved to the adoptions list.  This was a worrisome thought, since this meant that they would probably be separated from each other because of there being eight siblings.  Imelda, Alvaro, Axel, and Adrian prayed diligently that they would be able to go back to their mom.  We knew it would take a miracle.  Alvaro made a deal with one of our good friends and worker, Lily, who was scheduled to have her wedding reception here at the orphanage on July 31st.  The deal was this--he would pray that God would keep it from raining the evening of her wedding reception (summer is the rainy season here), if she would pray that he and his siblings would be able to return to their mother.  Both Lily and Alvaro kept their ends of the deal.  They prayed fervently.  On the evening of July 31st, there was not a cloud in the sky--the weather was perfect and Lily’s reception was beautiful.  Lily says that Alvaro told her, “See Lily--God answered my prayer for you.  You have to keep praying that God answers your prayer for me!”

Alvaro on his birthday

Fast-forward about a month.  God does the unexpected.  We get a call from DIF that a kind, well-to-do uncle of the children’s is wanting to take all eight siblings under his care, since the mom was unable to do so.  It turns out that during the time that the children were away from their mom, she had had serious health complications and was left unable to speak.  When this uncle found out about the situation of his niece and her children, he immediately came up to Juarez (he lives in Durango, Mexico) and told DIF that he wanted to take custody of the children.  So, not only were the eight kids able to stay together, but they were able to be reunited with their mom--the uncle took her under his care as well.  Several days after they left Rivers of Mercy, the newly-reunited family moved down to Durango to live with the uncle, who would enroll them in school upon arrival.  Honestly, we were heartbroken over their leaving us (it’s been pretty hard on us), but awed by how God worked a miracle in order to answer their hearts’ prayer.  “Oh Lord, you know the hopes of the helpless.  Surely you will hear their cries...” Psalm 10:17

Siblings: Sandra (6), Imelda (11), Adrian (8), Alvaro (10), and Alex(8)

Kindergarten -- Colegio Esperanza

Phew!!!—I finally have a spare moment to share with you about the start our new private, Christian kindergarten, Colegio Esperanza, which the Lord guided us to begin in conjunction with several other brothers and sisters in the Lord.  After months and months of preparation, school began last Monday, August 22nd.  We had asked the parents of our kindergartners to stay for the first day, since we wanted to emphasize to them the importance of their commitment, support, and involvement in their child’s education.  We started everything off with songs (with Emmis) and a devotional (given by Abel Gomez) in the church which is right next to the dorms where our classrooms are located (several blocks away from the orphanage).  Then we had the children and the parents join us in the classroom, where together they decorated name tags that the children would wear the first week while we learned their names.  We talked to the children about our expectations for them during the different activities of a typical day at kindergarten, and then I stayed in the classroom with the kids while Raquel talked to the parents about the school’s rules and policies.  At the end, we all enjoyed eating delicious chocolate cake that Abuela Mary had made and adorned with cute school decorations!

Abel giving the devotional

"When you want to answer a question or say something, raise you hand..."

 

That was the first day—and in the days following we got right to work with the kids—tracing names, learning numbers and colors, reading stories, journaling, group time, listening to Bible stories, and more!  It is so awesome to be able to teach a Bible story as part of the school day!  Last week we taught about God’s creation of the world.  Everything is going great.  I love it—it’s been a lot of work, but we’re getting the routine down.  We have 18 students, 3 from the orphanage and 15 from the community.  Everything at the orphanage is going great as well.  As soon as I get home from the kindergarten, all of the kids run to me and eagerly ask me how it went at kindergarten.  I then ask them how their morning went, and enjoy talking and sharing with them.  We are excited and grateful to God for making this first step of what He has called us to do possible.  Thank you for your continued prayers and support!

A few pictures of some of our students at the kindergarten:

Eduardo - From the Amisad community center

Blas - One of our boys from our orphanage

Vicky - A girl from from our orphanage

Martin - He's a son of one of the Bible institute students at Pastor Julian's church

Fernanda

Bible Lessons with New Kids

So, for those of you who don’t know, we have a lot of children right now!  A lot.  Thirty-seven, to be exact, I think.  : )  That’s definitely more than we’ve ever had at once before.  Thank the Lord, He gives us new strength and encouragement each day to love these children, care for them, teach them, discipline them, and to reflect to them the difference that knowing Christ makes in our lives, and the difference it can make in theirs.  Since so many of our children are new, several weeks ago we began teaching them the series of lessons that we created to teach them the fundamental truths of the gospel--who God is (Creator, loves us, Holy), about sin and the punishment we deserve, about God’s promise to one day send us a Savior to save us, about Jesus’ birth as a fulfillment of God’s promise, etc.  I thought I’d share with you about some of the extra-special, recent Bible lessons.  After finishing the classes about the six days of creation, I decided to have the kids make a special “creation snack” to review what God made each day.  As you can see in the photos, the kids made “creation parfaits” in transparent cups--first chocolate pudding (darkness), then vanilla pudding (light), cubes of blue jello (water), cool whip (sky), crushed graham crackers (earth), coconut flakes dyed green (grass), star-shaped cereal (stars), Swedish fish (fish), and animal crackers (animals)!  This was a special treat and a fun way to tie together the lessons on creation.  

The kids making their "Creation Parfaits"

Creation Parfaits

Yummy!

Later on in the series of Bible lessons, the children learned about how for hundreds of years, the people waited for God to fulfill His promise to send a Savior who would save them from their sin.  Then, they learned about the angel’s exciting announcement to Mary, Mary & Joseph’s journey to Bethlehem, and the birth of Jesus in a lowly stable.  He was God’s Son, the promised Savior, who would save the people from their sin! (Matthew 1:21)  Re-enacting the journey to Bethlehem and the birth of Jesus made these truths all the more memorable and exciting to the kids.

The journey to Bethlehem

The birth of Christ

I was particularly impacted this year as I prepared the classes and pondered the contrast between God and Caesar Augustus that was highlighted in my son’s children’s Bible.  “While Ceasar, the king of the Roman world, was showing everyone how great he was by counting all of his people (the census), God the king of the universe, was showing the world how great He was by sending His Son into the world as one of His people.”  Thank you God, for sending your Son to be our Savior.  We are humbled, and oh, so very grateful.

Visiting with Samuel and Paola

Many of you probably remember Samuel and Paola.  They are precious siblings who spent almost two years here at the orphanage with us, and we grew to love them so dearly.  They both developed genuine relationships with God that affected their outlook, attitudes, and lives.  We witnessed the fruits of the Holy Spirit in them.  Then, before Christmas last year, they were adopted by a new family here in Juarez. 

We visited them shortly after they had gone to live with their new family, but didn’t have a chance to return and visit them....until last week!  We called their new mom and arranged with her to meet them at a park near their home to visit with them and play with them.  So, we loaded up the vans and took all of our children to visit Samuel and Paola.  They were so excited to see us!  They hugged us and then met all of the new children.  They seem to be very happy and well-adjusted with their new family.  Samuel and Paola are also very intelligent, and Samuel recently won first-place at a district academic competition! 

At the park, Paola seemed to enjoy hanging out with Diana and Mayte, who were the only girls that she knew from her time at Rivers of Mercy.  Near the end of our time at the park, Emmis asked Samuel and Paola to share with the other children a little bit about what it has been like for them to have been adopted and have a new family, and how their life has changed.  They both encouraged the children to not be scared or nervous about having a new family.  They told them that new parents have to attend trainings (through DIF) to learn how to be good parents, and that they (the children being adopted) attend trainings to learn how to be good children.  They encouraged them to not be afraid to talk with their new parents about how they feel, but to trust them and share freely with them, since their parents love them and want what is best for them.

Samuel sharing about his new family

When we got home, Emmis told me something that really touched my heart.  He said that when Samuel finished talking to the children at the park, he turned to Emmis and told him, “Tell them the story of José (Joseph)...c’mon, Emmis, tell them about José!”  Remember?--Remember Samuel’s testimony?  Hearing the Bible story about Joseph shortly after arriving at the orphanage changed Samuel’s life—he realized that even though bad things had happened to him that he didn’t understand, God was and is in control and allows things to happen for Samuel’s good, according to God’s perfect purpose.  Samuel wanted all of the children to understand this—that just as God had a perfect plan for Samuel, He does for them, too.  This is the message of hope that truly transforms the hearts and lives of despairing children.

Read a previous blog about Samuel and Paola's New Beginning here.

Yari, Mari, and Raul

Last Tuesday, our beloved Yarisdi (Yari), Maria (Mari), and Raul left the orphanage for good.  During the 3+ years that they spent here, there were times when we thought this day would never come; that they would end up growing up here at the orphanage.  We couldn’t imagine life here without them--Yari’s cheerful attitude and friendliness, Mari’s laugh and wisecracks, and Raul’s constant mischief, but oh so sweet face.  Yari, Mari, and Raul were not children from DIF (the Mexican social services), but children of a single father whose wife left them and told the children that she no longer loved them.  Their dad always showed that he truly loved them and cared about them, but he had to work in order to provide for his family, and therefore had no one to care for his children, to take them to and from school, and to be responsible for them while he was gone.  During their years here, not only were we able to provide them with a loving and safe home and an education, but we were also able to instill in them the love of God and the truth of the gospel and all three children prayed to receive Christ as their Savior. We especially saw fruits of the Holy Spirit in Yari, who on several occasions expressed to us that she wanted to be a missionary when she grew up.

Group picture before Yari, Mari, and Raul left

After being here for approximately three years, their dad was finally in a position where he could have his kids with him.  His girlfriend of quite some time, who has shown that she truly does care for the kids, has committed to caring for them while he works and is going to be responsible for taking them to and from school.  Maybe not the ideal situation, but at least the kids will be okay, and they’ll be able to be with their dad.  So, last Tuesday night, we had a going-away party for them. We were happy for them but so, so sad for us...they have been such an integral part of life here at the orphanage.  Mary made them each a cake with their name on it (see photos).  The adults and the other kids here at the orphanage took turns saying special things to Yari, Mari, and Raul.  It was an emotional time.

Yari

Mari

Raul

Saying good-bye to Yari was the hardest.  She had been like another daughter to Emmis and me, and she loved Joel and Itzel so much and always wanted to be with them and help out with them.   Not only do Emmis and I miss her, but I know that Joel and Itzel do too.  Yari was always right there with me, during the best times of my life as well as the most difficult times. She will always, always be in my heart.  We hope to keep in touch with Yari, Mari, and Raul and visit them occasionally.  They are extremely missed, but we are grateful and content to have had the opportunity to have been a part of their lives for several years and to instill in them the hope and purpose of knowing Christ and living for Him.

Joel and Yari