Slaves to the Red Tape

These past few weeks have been especially frustrating for me in regards to Puerta de Esperanza.  We continue to see the Lord doing great things in the lives of the girls involved and we have received lots of interest from new girls who would like to come and live in the home.  It seems like God really wants this ministry to continue and expand and we see the girls growing in Him.

And yet.

There is this thing called the government.  And its a mess.  Recently they disbanded the social services arm of the government and fired everyone associated with it.  That just doesn't sound like a very efficient way to get anything done?!?  They are opening a new area that will only have a central office in Tegucigalpa, the capital 7 hours away from here.  It appears that for the moment they are a bunch of politicians sitting in an office making decisions without a real sense of what life is like on the ground level for those of us really working with children-at-risk.  All that to say, its frustrating.  Everything is changing.  The requirements for our home, the way the girls enter, the services we are able to provide... it will all be different.  And yet... how different?  In what way?  What changes?  No one seems to know yet.

Where does that leave us?  A standstill.  We are currently stuck with our hands tied waiting for things to all get ironed out.  In the meantime we are not able to move in any new girls or put anything new into process.  We could optimistically assume this will happen quickly, but its not likely.  It looks like we'll be frozen this way for a few months at least.  It is so frustrating to know that there are needs that we are able to fill, but we cannot act because of this hold-up.  But we must submit to the authorities here and wait on them to tell us what and when and how.

So will you pray with us that God will show us what PDE's ministry needs to look like in the meantime?  We have two girls in the home right now, one who will soon be moving out.  We have four other former PDE girls in the area with whom we are still actively involved.  We are constantly making new contacts with young pregnant girls who fit the description of those to whom we feel God has called us to minister.  So... could it be new Bible studies?  Outreach?  Sunday lunches?  Rides to church?  I know that God has something in mind for these months when I feel like we are stuck.  Please pray that He will show us what it is!