Summer Fun

                It’s amazing how quickly the summer has flown by! And that is probably because summer “vacation” never really started for us at the after school program. When the kids got out of classes in June, we started 5 consecutive weeks of daily vacation Bible school! The cool thing about it was that we got to connect with the kids on another level. During our regular program we work hard to keep the kids on task in order to finish their homework on time. Most of our time was spent telling kids to sit down or to stop talking to their neighbor. But with programing that included games, songs, Bible stories, and food, we got to relax more and just be friend with the kids this summer.

Working on one of the many crafts we did over 5 weeks.

               I think that the most surprising part of the whole thing was the kids’ reactions to the memory verses. When I originally suggested memorization of scripture, some of the Ecuadorian staff opposed the idea. They believed that Scripture memorization was too difficult for many of the kids. But I believe that children rise to the standards given to them, so we decided to try it.

                The response was awesome! The kids would ask for the Bible verses in their free time in order to memorize. Once they had it memorized, they would sit down with someone else who was struggling and help them learn it. One girl spent her time teaching a three year old how to memorize the verses, and he did it! Another boy, Joel, sat down with Luis, who is 12 and can hardly read or write. Joel patiently read the verse to Luis to have him repeat it until finally even Luis was saying the verses.

                In the final week and a half, our theme was the armor of God. So the Bible passage for the week was all of Ephesians 6:10-17. 8 verses with complex vocabulary. And by the fourth day of the armor of God, about 4 kids had memorized the entire thing. By the last day kids were voluntarily skipping games time to work on the verse, and about half of the kids managed to say the entire thing from memory!

                Since the program ended, I have spent a great deal of time cleaning out the center for the next school year with Erika and Adolfo. We have been prepping worksheets for next year and been working on sorting through all the applications for new kids in September. Last week I was on a work retreat on the coast and got to spend some amazing time bonding with the other team members (and hanging out in the surf  a bit).

                So now we are only a couple of weeks from our start date of September 5^th! I’m so excited for what the next year has in store for us. We want to go in with a strong educational, disciplinary, and spiritual plan for the kids, and we are trusting that God has amazing things in store for them and us.

PRAYER
1. Please be praying for all of our kids as they go back to school. This is a very financially difficult time for most of the families. We have helped every kid with about $30 worth of school supplies, but uniforms and bus fares are another thing entirely.
2. Pray for our team. Adolfo, Erika, and I have developed an awesome friendship which is already an answer to prayer.  But there is still some adjusting to do with my new role and with stricter control of schedule and employee expectations. We need grace, patience, and above all else the discipline to overcome old standards and to meet new ones.
3. Please pray about my finances. Or even better yet, help me with my finances. I wrote an update in June about my new financial reality as I move into full-time staff. My budget has gone up by $1000 per month in order to meet certain requirements for full-time staff (different health insurance, retirement, increased ministry fund, etc). Two people responded with a total of $150 of the 1000 committed per month. Which means I only need $850 more! I know many of you are also in certain financial situations, but if you feel led to support this work by keeping me here, please prayerfully consider supporting at $50, $100, or even $150 a month. If you already support, pray about what the future of your support will look like.

God is doing a good work. And all of you are part of it. Don’t hesitate to write me, to Skype, or to come for a visit (hint hint).
And if you have any questions about what we are doing down here and how you can be better involved or how to better pray for it, I am only a click away (thank-you Facebook).

(This is what the kids memorized! Be amazed)
Ephesians 6:10-17
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.