Baptism

Praise the LORD!

Last Wednesday night K and C were both baptized at our local Spanish church!  I was so excited that we could be there to support them and some of the former PDE girls were there too.  It was just a blessing to be able to watch them take the step of faith to say "I belong to Jesus" publicly.  We talked a lot about what baptism means and why it is important.  It is more than just a step of obedience for a believer, its a way to share that God has changed them.  He called them out of darkness and into life.  He has given them a purpose and a newness to life.  Its something to celebrate that in His good grace, God rescued them from certain eternal death!  And we give HIM all the glory!

Pictures

Its been awhile since I've posted pictures, so I thought I would share a few of the recent happenings...

This is what it looks like when we take a group trip to the grocery store!  Looks like we took a whole preschool and I didn't even have any of my own kids with me :)

A sweet girl who came with her church last summer passed away this year.  Her thoughtful mom sent down some of her clothes and stuffed animals and made some girls and kids REALLY happy in the process!  We are thankful for her life, her love for Jesus and Honduras, and the blessing of getting to put her things in loving hands now that she doesn't need them anymore.

Some pictures of my kids growing up... I wasn't feeling good one day so Dixi and Nicolle made me lunch!  They are getting so old and responsible.  Andres loves mangos... and mom.  And the twins are now 5 months old, which is hard to believe!  (I can't believe I don't have pictures of Angel...)

Apprenticeship

Before K moved back into the house I told her she was going to have to work.  Too much free time at home always causes trouble :)  She is studying third and fourth grade at night school, but it just doesn´t quite keep her busy enough and I really want her to use this time to learn everything that she can that will help her when she moves out.  That being said, we decided Thursday was the day to go out hunting for a job or an internship or something.

K has a remarkable eye for sewing.  She can barely see and I don´t know how she can even thread a needle... but she does.  And then she makes pretty much anything that she wants to.  She sees a dress and then makes one with no pattern.  She took a pattern for a bag and changed it until it was something she liked better.  She hems pants and makes curtains and whatever else she puts her mind to... so the logical option was to find a place where she could learn to sew.

The first shop we went to is a sewing shop, but they also do designs and patterns.  I had never been there before, but as we walked in the owner immediately met me with a comment on how good God is to her by His grace.  Have you ever met someone that just gave off a feeling of peace and knowledge of God?  That is how I felt about this lady.  She listened intently while I talked about the home and K.  She agreed wholeheartedly that the Gospel is the most important thing.  And then she agreed to have K come and work with her.  Its an apprenticeship and she won´t get paid, but she will teach her everything that she can.  :)

To say that K is excited is an understatement.  She started this morning at 8am and I can´t wait to hear about her day!  Please pray that this will be as good of an opportunity as it seems and that she will make the most of it!  Pray for her to learn more about the Lord as a result of working with this lady and for her to show Christ as well through her attitude and actions.

A new sister

This week we are praising the Lord that K made a decision to follow Christ!

I don't even know that I've had a chance to post on here that K and her 2 year old son moved back into PDE after a year away.  She really suffered during that year and showed tremendous growth in humility and maturity.  It has been really hard for me to watch her have such a hard time, but I have never let a girl back into the home after they choose to leave because of their own rebellious.  However, after much prayer and listening to God's leading, I presented the option to her.  She was over-joyed and promised that this time would be different... and it has been.

The first big noticeable difference was her attitude towards the things of God and studying His Word. In the past she had always been willing, but not eager, and had a very uninterested way about her.  She sat through church because she had to and did Bible studies because I asked her to, but she asked no questions and made no effort to dig any deeper.  Within the first week of moving back she was asking me to teach her more about God and study His word with her.  She started going through a book of the basics of Christianity with the house mom, on her own initiative!  And then, came to know Christ as her own Lord and Savior!  Praise God! :)

We have seen such growth in a short time.  We know that God has been working on her for years and we are thankful to see fruit springing forth now that she has made a decision for Christ.  It shows in her attitudes, her service, and her love for her son.  Today I am starting a study with her for new believers, pray that she continues to learn and grow!

Growth

I love watching C grow.  First and foremost as a follow of Jesus and then after that as a mom and a student.  She is learning so much.  In her study of a Gospel-centered life with Amy she has been learning about repentence... but not just book learning, actually taking it to heart.  Just this week she beat Satan's efforts to lead her back into stubbornness and self-will by running hard after Jesus, knowing that her sin was against Him first and foremost, and then also asking for forgiveness from the offended party.  And as I went by today to dole out the consequence for poor behavior there were no excuses, no defense, just humility and acceptance.  And from there we get to show grace... oh so much grace.  

And she's a sweet mom :)  They stayed with me for a few days over the weekend because our house mom was sick and I loved seeing the contrast of her mothering A compared to when they first arrived.  She was patient, yet firm.  She played with him!  That's a really big deal.  They sat and did puzzles together and laughed together and spent time... he was so happy and so proud.

As for myself and the house moms, we have a new challenge.  Seth recently started seminary classes in Spanish for some local church leaders and we're going :)  Old Testament survey in Spanish!  Mostly challenging for me!  This week the power went out and we had to run the generator for the video to work... I would be lying to say it wasn't a tad miserable to not have the fans running.  But even so, the content is good and we are going to learn so much.  I'm really thankful for the new opportunities!

Reconnecting

These past two weeks have been about reconnecting with the girls and the ministry and getting a feel for how everyone is these days.  I have really enjoyed my time and seeing what the Lord is doing.

I was so blessed by Y volunteering to come out and clean my house last Sunday.  On her only day off she got up early and came and cleaned my house!  What a servant heart.  I also split the cost with her of going to our church's big conference the week before Easter with the promise that she would pay attention and tell me what she learned.  She came back and replayed every word.  She learned so much and seemed to really absorb it.  She is so hungry to learn more about the Lord and that makes me so excited.

C has been really busy going to beauty school classes in the afternoon and 7th grade classes at night.  She has learned pedicure, manicure, hair cutting, and is working on dying hair and working with other chemicals.  In her colegio class she has been doing schoolwork, but also had a special teacher come who taught them how to make jewelry.  She is so excited about it and has been able to sell some of what she has made.  It is so good for her to have some of her own money to spend that she earned.

Our other C has been very busy since moving out of the home.  She and her cousin, B moved into a small apartment at first but within two months found an inexpensive 3 bedroom house and another roommate and were able to move to a much better location.  She is busy at school doing a project on lettuce and learning how to make her own pump.

B is staying at home and taking care of the kids.  We got good news about B's daughter this month when Renee's dad came down.  He is an orthopedist and was able to tell us that G's leg problems and normal and will self-correct and there is no need for braces or surgery.  We are all very thankful for that!

K desperately needs a job.  Can you pray with us for that?  She is in a difficult living situation and it would be great for her to move into a room on her own.  They don't always have food... and she just needs a job.  But with a very low education, that's hard to find.  She is persevering with school and doing really well!  She is excited about her progress.  I also helped her get some more sewing materials this week so that she can offer some basic hemming and altering services and earn a little money that way.  C is going to teach her to make necklaces this week too and maybe some of those will sell! 

Please continue to pray with me for Spiritual growth for each girl and child that is in or has come through PDE.  I see some of them growing leaps and bounds and really seeking to know more of the Lord.  Others not so much.  But I just desperately want them to know the grace of God and know that He is enough for them.  Please pray for me as I continue friendships with them that God will give me the words to show them more of Jesus!

And then, because I couldn't help it.  I'll leave you with some twin pictures from our picnic today!

Seeing God Move

I am really enjoying getting back into the swing of things with PDE.  C has grown so much since I was on maternity leave.  She and Amy have been studying "A Gospel Centered Life" and learning about believing the gospel, the law versus the gospel, repentance and grace.  She also went to the local churches big conference a few weeks ago and soaked up what the pastors had to say.  I sat in on Bible study this past week and was blown away hearing her talk about all the things she has been learning.  She has been praying for her mom to go to church for a few weeks now.  Last week she actually had class over the weekend, but her mom went to church with Dona Oneyda and C's son A.  C was so excited!  Now she's praying that her mom will keep coming and that her brothers and sister-in-law would come too.  Can you pray that with us?

I was able to meet with the lawyer this week to try to catch up with how things are going.  We are now just praying through what God wants for PDE and how we should proceed.  The good news is that things should be much easier than anticipated.

I have been working on a new video about PDE... I thought I'd share it here!


In other news, the twins turn 3 months old today and are as cute as ever :)