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I know, I just wrote… but this one won’t be that long!  I promise!!!!

I wanted to ask you to please pray for one of our students…  Ruth…  I’ve known her for 12 years or so… from the streets as a teenager – who seemed so young and not too “deep” into the streets yet…  I remember urging her to go back home…  Then she got pregnant… the father – a street kid (Sueno mediano – middle sized Sleepy… some of you might remember the “Sleepy” brothers)…  This only tightened the ties to the streets… which led her down the road to jail… where her second child was born…  The father of her second and third kids died – street related stuff…  …and when Ruth got out of jail, she started coming to El Jordan…

She has amazing talent for handcrafts… crochet especially… She does amazing work… dress sets etc for little baby girls… etc…

Well… she has had her ups and downs… the downs coming with hooking up with an abusive, alcoholic guy…  El Jordan is a place for people who desire CHANGE… Ruth was one of our girls who last year, we told that they couldn’t come to regular (practical) classes… only Bible Study… We have had to do this with girls who are off the streets… off drugs… but are trying to sit on both sides of the fence… playing with fire… but wanting the benefits of  “being good”…  Anyhow… Ruth took her discipline well… it included us not selling her crafts for a certain time… 

This year, we would have allowed her to join a regular class… but she just wants Bible Study… She is working… trying to be responsible for her three kids… the three of them are now in school… so there are monthly fees, books, uniforms etc… as well as their basic needs for food and health…  She has been working as a maid – cleaning, ironing and cooking…  The lady where she works allows Ruth to leave early on Mondays in order to come to Bible Study at El Jordán… she just has to work harder, get there earlier or make it up another day…

Ruth missed class this past Monday… and I didn’t see her until Friday…  She had been bitten on her foot… or something happened to make it swell up… and start hurting…  She didn’t want to miss out at her work… because she was afraid she was going to lose her job… If she loses her job, what will happen to her kids???  …so she kept on working… bearing the pain…she went to see some doctor who gave her a shot… she has no idea what it was… it helped for a bit… but not for very long…  Friday afternoon she came to El Jordan to see if we had a doctor there… One of our doctors came in… looked at her foot… gave her a couple prescriptions… and arranged to see her again on Monday…

I should have taken her into a hospital… I was thinking about money… and the time commitment – if you start something (like taking them to the hospital)… you can’t just leave them there – you have to be there to follow the whole thing through… Sigh… there is no way to go back and change things…

Well…This morning I had 8 missed calls on my cell phone…  they were from public telephones so I had no idea who they were from until Ruth’s boyfriend eventually called again… to tell me that Ruth was much worse… and was admitted to the hospital… and the doctors were considering amputating her foot…  She was really scared… and wanted me to come and pray for her…  I just got home from visiting her… the infection has spread… they lanced her foot today and took out over a liter of pus…  Tomorrow morning she goes into surgery… and the doctors have told her along with her dad and brothers… that they might have to amputate…

I told her that I would come home and write you all… and ask you to pray…  She didn’t go to the doctor – because she didn’t want to lose her job… and now she might lose her foot.  Please pray… that the strong antibiotics she is getting will take effect… that the doctors will have wisdom in dealing with her situation… for provision for medical bills – and for the kids… and that God would have mercy – that she wouldn’t lose her foot…  What we also prayed tonight was that this situation would draw Ronald (her boyfriend) to believe and depend on God… and be a turning point in his life…

Thank you so much for your prayers…

I’ll let you know how things go…

Corina