It’s been a long time since I’ve written… What’s been going on?
* I finally got rid of my second identity…but I still need to take the time to renew my driver’s license... The work I did before on it has expired so I have to redo everything…
* Marlee’s birth certificate finally got re-transcribed into the system… SO… we were able to get her ID card which is what we needed to travel to Peru…
* Marlee Jae turned a year old… Wow… She is VERY proud when she stands up alone… but so far hasn’t shown too much interest in walking by herself…
* Keiden Lee turned 4 years old… He wanted a “MacGyver” cake… Hmm… We compromised… for another TV celebrity, Mickey Mouse… One of his favorite gifts… 2 guinea pigs… (He thinks they are called “skinny pigs”).
* Marco is almost XX years old! (May 28th)
* Both Keiden and Marlee have been sick with colds that don’t want to go away… Marlee didn’t want to eat or sleep when she was sick… so we are trying to get her over a bit of anemia…
* Marco has been sick (colds, stomach problems… a couple times each…) I’ve been healthy… just tired!!!!
* I wrote a VERY LONG OVERDUE prayer letter… especially for the people who don’t have e-mail (If you know someone I should send it to, let me know…)
* Uncle Norman came to visit for a week... Time flew by… but it was such an encouragement for us at a time when we felt a bit alone…
* my back shock absorber fell off about 10 times in a week before I could take my poor truck into the shop… I got to be quite the pro at lying on the road underneath the truck, wiring it back up… Maybe I wasn’t that much of a pro if it kept falling off!!!
* picking up the 40 litres of milk someone donates every week, I must not have put the lid on very well… it tipped over… and about 5 litres of milk spilled under my seats and carpets in my truck… hmmm… Sometimes I think it is okay to cry over spilled milk!!! Especially when it is hot… and my windows have been closed… Hmmm….
* we had a really good “open house/expo” at El Jordan in April… It was so encouraging for everyone – volunteers and students alike to see so many people come out and support our girls…
* we have a lot of new girls coming to El Jordan… and when girls come… so do their babies… Right now we have 30 kids who are 2 and under… This afternoon there were 12 babies… IF THERE IS ANYONE OUT THERE WHO LOVES BABIES...and would like to come for a month or two or three… or a year… just for the babies, let us know!
* we have several second generation street girls coming to El Jordan… (whose parents are still on the streets/jail…) They are young, have babies, and really have no idea about how to live life… Please pray for Pilar, Ana Karen, Leidy and Jamaira. I am so glad they are coming to class… but sometimes we lack time to really build into their lives… and our nursery is overflowing so it is hard to do much more than “survive” right now… ***Ana Karen asked prayer today for her siblings… Yajaira:11, Abraham:14 and Daniel: 16 who are rebellious, stealing, wandering the streets etc… ***Pilar called me aside on Friday… wanting help… I braced myself for the “Can I borrow…” but she surprised me by asking, “Could you help me pray for my family?” ***Leidy is 17ish and has a month old baby… who ended up in the hospital with a terrible eye infection… Leidy looked after her day and night… I told Leidy I was so proud of her… (Her younger sister just had her second baby… and was back on the streets within days.) Leidy started crying, “But I made her sick…” Oh… these girls need a mom! ***Jamaira is someone I want to write a bit more about… so I’ll leave her for another day…
* we travelled to Peru for 10 days to visit Marco’s family… and so they could meet Marlee… their one and only granddaughter… Keiden was old enough this time (he was 9 months old last time…) to enjoy the ocean… and going to the zoo to see a real zebra, hippo and giraffe… One special comment while we were watching the changing of the guard in downtown Lima: Ever since Easter, “Jesus dying on the cross” has definitely been Keiden’s favorite Bible story… When he saw all of the soldiers marching and in their special outfits he looked quite worried and said “Jesus die on the cross in there?”. Awww….
* Things like a drunk man breaking my truck window… buying my groceries and then them not accepting the only bill I had in my pocket… a thick, yellow hot sauce accidently falling all over my keyboard are little extras that fit in here and there…
* Other extras, that make the others more bearable(!!!) are hearing the girls thanking God… seeing people with almost nothing and yet sharing with others in need… and other girls struggling with temptations yet resisting…
* One story: I dropped off our student Rubitza and her three kids at the corner where they catch the bus… She was sad, frustrated and didn’t know what to do… She has to work (selling things on the streets) because the father of her kids drinks, is irresponsible etc… She left the kids at her mother in law’s room… and Samuel, the dad, was supposed to pick them up, take them home, give them supper, put them to bed… Samuel got there at 9 or 10 at night… He woke the kids up and started walking them to their room (6 or 7 blocks away)… He was drunk and two blocks later he laid down on the side of the road and went to sleep… the kids couldn’t wake him up…so little Samuel (6 years old) had to walk his younger siblings home… get them into their room… and into bed… Hmmm…. How many 6 years olds that you know could do that? Rubitza was so sad… if she didn’t go out to work, her kids suffer…. If she goes out to work, they suffer… What can she do? …What can we do? We can walk with her in her difficult journey by praying and encouraging her… that she will hold faithfully to her Heavenly Father and see how He comforts, loves and provides…
* TUESDAY AFTERNOON (now this afternoon!) there is another important hearing regarding the sexual abuse case. PLEASE PRAY… I will copy and paste the same requests I asked you to pray for last time… they are the same…
What I would ask YOU is for your specific prayers:
That Truth will be Revealed and any lies be frustrated
That any corruption in the trial process would not be permitted
That God would provide for the girls… and encourage Samira and Fanny who are helping them…
That though all of this, EVERYONE involved will hang onto Micah 6:8… to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly in HIS sight…
Wisdom and peace… for everyone involved…
For God’s protection for El Jordan and our family.
· Working relationships within El Jordan have been affected. Abraham, our administrator, is closely tied to the accused man and his family and he hasn’t been able to understand the choices I have made. …and I think he might chose to leave his job…
“Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
Whose hope is in the LORD his God,
the Maker of heaven and earth,
the sea, and everything in them—
the LORD, who remains faithful forever.
He upholds the cause of the oppressed
and gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets prisoners free,
The LORD gives sight to the blind,
The LORD lifts up those who are bowed down,
The LORD loves the righteous.
The LORD watches over the alien
And sustains the fatherless and the widow,
But he frustrates the ways of the wicked.
The LORD reigns forever,
Your God, O Zion, for all generations.
Praise the LORD."
Psalm 146:5-10
Sadly, there have been more girls that have come forward with testimonies of abuse… It is all just so ugly and sad… Again, in the worldly realm, the accused seems so powerful with “good lawyers” etc… but what we pray is that TRUTH will prevail…
Also… Abraham will be leaving El Jordan as administrator… He will be working with us for one more week to finish up some things and be teaching the basics to another volunteer who will be temporarily filling in…
So… PRAY as well for El Jordan… and everything that this change will affect… It will be difficult but God has given me such a peace that it is all okay… and I firmly believe that Fabiola, our volunteer who will be filling in every afternoon and Saturday’s will fill a gap and help create in El Jordan a warm and welcoming atmosphere....
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT AND PRAYERS…
We love you… appreciate you and need you…
May God bless you richly…
Corina for Marco, Keiden and Marlee