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Planes, Trains and Automobiles really has nothing with this past week… it is just a phrase that kept coming to mind… 

     - Planes, trains, automobiles

     - This, that and everything

     - Weddings, births, funerals… and international fair

It’s been one of those weeks at El Jordan…  Jenni and Chachi mentioned a couple times over the last 6 months that they’d like to get married… but its another thing to get paperwork and money together…  About a month ago Jenni asked me to write down everything that was needed to get married… paperwork, money for the justice of the peace… and everything else (invitations, clothes, food, decorations) were extras…  With 8 days to spare, Jenni came back to say that they had arranged it with the justice of the peace… they were getting married on September 18th!!! …at El Jordan!!! …and what else did they need to do?

WEDDINGS… Not quite as fast as Las Vegas… 4 days before the wedding, the hour was confirmed (3 p.m.) and that they would serve juice and munchies… and finish off with cake…  A couple girls helped me make up 20 wedding invitations… Heidi bought $15 of flowers… and some cream material… we got other things from previous events… and the decoration turned out beautiful…  More about the wedding in a bit…

The day before the wedding I got a call at 6:30 in the morning… from Mamuka… I’ve known her since she was maybe 4 months old – in her mother’s arms - on the streets…  I watched her, just older than what Marlee is now, curling herself up for “bed” on an empty table in the market… only to sit up straight, take off her shoes and hide them, knowing that if she didn’t someone might come along in the darkness and steal them… At 2 years old, her mom was taken to jail, leaving her alone on the streets under the care of the street kid family… until social services picked her up…  Several years later when Paola (street name) got out of jail, she “kidnapped” Mamuka out of the kids’ home…  from there, Mamuka grew up raising her younger siblings, witnessing her mom’s unstable behavior, and suffering the neglect/demands of her mom, grandma and aunts… always wanting to go to school, many times unable to do so…  Paola hasn’t been faithful at coming to El Jordan… but we still have always tried to keep some contact with her kids… 

Now Mamuka is 16 years old… and she wanted to let me know that she had just had a baby boy…  she had some complications in her delivery and they had to give her a cesarean… She is now a mom… a mom that has never had any example of what a mom should really be… Sigh…

WEDDINGS, BIRTHS and FUNERALS…. An hour after Mamuka’s call, Rosario’s neighbor called to let me know she had just passed away… Her “husband” (Fernando) and son (Victor – 16 yrs old) wanted to take her to the hospital during the night… but she had refused… They were awake with her until 5…  and she told them to sleep… that she was going to go to sleep right away… When they woke up at 7, she had already passed away…

Rosario is a woman who used to come to El Jordan… she was the one who disappeared for several days at the beginning of the year (went into a diabetic shock and got taken to the hospital)…  She never seemed to look after herself, admit a need to change or make visible efforts to change her circumstances… 

Victor was in a boys’ home for quite a few years… but ran away almost a year ago… and is hanging out with bad friends and getting into drugs…  Fernando works long hours on a sand truck (they go to the river, shovel it full of sand, and sell it to construction sites…) and he drinks… so although Rosario wasn’t a great influence on her son, now he is basically without any influence at all in his life…  So… please remember Victor in your prayers… and that Fernando would take his responsibility as father more seriously…

So that was our “planes, trains and automobiles” week… a wedding… a funeral… a birth… and as if that wasn’t enough, on Friday the 10 day International Fair started… We are blessed with a free outdoor spot in the “artisan” area… The first night was absolutely empty… the second night a bit better… so you can pray that people will be drawn to buy from our students… so they can tangibly see God’s faithful hand… and the fruits of their labor…

Marco and the boys from the shops are spending the weekend at our property…  They should be getting home anytime now… please continue to pray that the “Lord of the Harvest” send workers…  A new family started this past week – as caretakers… Their names are Antonio and Deisy… so you can pray for them too…

I was going to tell you a bit more about the wedding on Wednesday…  Chachi (the groom) hasn’t been very “firm” in his Christian walk lately… and it was a bit hard personally to get excited about helping him… although sweet Jenni is a pleasure to serve…  She has a physical handicap that make things harder for her to do things… but she works hard to help provide for her 6 children…  She longs to do what is right in God’s eyes but she carries a large burden with two young prodigal daughters (14 and 17)… and a lack of moral support from her own mom and sister…

An hour before the ceremony, Chachi and Jenni came in… their younger kids all clean, dressed up and hair cut…  I got a bit worried when I saw Jenni because she said she had a cream dress to wear… The beige dress she was wearing had a huge stain on the back and I frantically tried to think of some shawl or something that could cover it up… but fortunately she did have a new little dress to wear…

Chachi asked to talk to me for two minutes… He went on to tell his testimony… on August 18th seven years ago, he accepted the Lord in our library with one of our volunteers… He realizes that he hasn’t been a good “son” to God in this last while… and whenever he strays, his heart is never at peace… He wanted to get married to do what was right before God… and to give a good example to his children… He wants to make this a new chapter in his life… where he stands firm, becomes more involved in church and does what is RIGHT… “so…” he paused, “before I get married, I want you to pray for me…”

I asked him to share the same thing to his guests after Jenni walked “down the aisle” and they were standing together before the ceremony began... He said the whole thing again, asking people to please pray for him… Very touching... SO… today, I will add you to his list… and ask you to please pray for Chachi…  He still shine shoes in the park downtown which doesn’t help… but nor does he know what else he could do… There are other opportunities but he has never wanted to give that up… It is his “family”…

Jenni’s face when she came in was priceless... she hadn’t seen how we had decorated...  She later said she was “so happy and so sad” when she came in... happy to see her whole family there (although her mom and sister weren’t)... happy because she was getting married... and sad because it was so beautiful that she couldn’t believe that it was true!

Anyhow… I just wanted to share our week with you… and ask you to pray for the different people and their situations…

Thank you!!!  ….and God bless you richly!!!  You are such a blessing to US… 

Because HE is faithful…

Corina (for Marco, Keiden and Marlee)