February and March update

             The last month and a half have been crazy, to put it lightly. Our newly scheduled program is in full-swing and there has been a lot of positive changes, but there are still a lot of challenges.

            Let me begin my thanking everyone who has taken such an interest in the kids and this program. I feel like I have a huge team of support every time I post a child’s picture for the student of the day or post a small update about what has been happening. So thank you so much!

            We were worried as we started the new schedule that the kids were not going to respond well, but we were mistaken. The kids have almost fully adapted to the new schedule and they are now starting to take control of it. They come to tell me that it’s time to switch to the next scheduled event, which makes me really proud. They are getting better and better at listening to the teachers and being obedient. With the fact that there was no order before, we had to come down hard to begin with to let the kids know that we mean business. As they are beginning to be better we are able to loosen up a bit and that’s not just a relief for the kids, but for us too, as it can be hard to constantly have to be a disciplinarian.

About half of our afternoon kids

            While the kids have been adjusting positively, there have still been some struggles, mostly amongst our team. I have been saying from the beginning that it is one thing to change the schedule of the kids, but another thing entirely to change the schedule of adults who have been working here for over a year. The idea is that everyone takes control of what they need to do so that I don’t need to tell everyone every single day what we are going to do next. As of right now, people basically look to me to say the word before things get done. But with time this will change.

            There have also been some struggles between our team who runs the project and the team that runs our office (our bosses). Nothing serious, mostly scheduling conflicts. But it certainly can add to the stress.

            Despite a couple of difficult set-backs, God has been using this work very positively. Kids are getting their homework done far more quickly than they were before. They are learning a lot more too.

Luis is one of our kids who needs a lot of help. His home situation is inexplicably rough.

            We have a Bible time every day for 15 minutes. On Tuesdays we have an hour of Bible time. So we have been working through the book of Genesis with the kids.  We just finished the story of Abraham and the kids have been doing pretty well at remembering the stories we have told.

            All in all, I am giving a lot of praise to God for the way things have been going. It is exhausting work, but the reward is in things unseen, and I know that long term these kids are going to reap that reward.

PLEASE BE IN PRAYER
-We want to be able to communicate the gospel clearly to these kids, which can be hard to do with a group of 30 distracted kids.
-Pray for the kids. I try to post a picture of one kid a day with a bit of information about that child. Maybe take interest in one and pray for them consistently.
-Also please be praying for my financial situation. The Canadian dollar being as low as it is has been hurting a lot. I am still over $700 per month short of my goal. Which sounds like a lot, but if I found 7 people who were able to support me at $100 a month it would be covered.

            Thanks again to everyone who has been so supportive of this work already. And if you are thinking of going on a trip sometime this year, why not make it Ecuador? We would love to see you here!