Ministry UpdatesRead the Latest News & Updates from El Jordán

God at Work

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Published: Tuesday, 07 June 2016 14:30
Written by Corina Clements Soria
This afternoon 10 girls and their children braved the cold, drizzly day to come to Bible Study at El Jordán.  One of them, Maria Nela, is a brand new student… she just turned 17… and is still on the streets… along with her boyfriend and their almost 2 year old daughter (and another little one on the way…)
 
Cold and rainy weather makes me pensive, sad…
 
…not so much for me… but for “my people”…
  • because even though my washed clothes are hanging on the line and don´t want to dry, Marlee and Keiden´s still have more “woolies” in their drawers… So many of the kids at El Jordan are wearing wet shoes, damp, cold clothes… and don´t have the option to change into something dry…
  • The seat of my car is cold to sit on… but my car takes me straight from my house to El Jordán in 5 minutes… I don´t have to stand in the cold drizzle for half an hour or more, waiting for a bus that might or might not pick me and my kids up… that will drop me off, wet, cold and blocks away from El Jordan...
  • I grimace about opening the door and facing the cold… but so many in our city live out there in that cold…
  • I shiver inside my house… BUT… I have a house… blankets… and hot water bottles (I bought the last 2 at the store the other day)… We have girls at El Jordán who live in rooms that are drafty… leaky, damp and cold…  Do you remember Elias who had tetanus last year?  Mariela showed up this morning wondering if she had money in her account from her beaded key chains…  Elias is discouraged, working hard to pay the debts from when he was in the hospital.  They moved from where they were renting to a place as “caretakers” although there isn´t much to “take care of”… with a door that doesn´t close, a wall falling in and a rotten tarp as a roof… It rains as much inside as outside… but more difficult than the physical discomfort is the fact that Mariela´s two oldest boys (16 and 17)  are involved in drugs and delinquency... and don´t respect her nor her “home”… Mariela knows firsthand the pain of those choices, but feels helpless to stop them…  Her little Josué (14) has dropped out of school… and Joselin (11 on the 10th of June) and Maria Elena (almost 7) have been told not to come back to school if they don´t have their textbooks and supplies...

Update from Annemarie

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Published: Sunday, 05 June 2016 16:30
Written by Annemarie N.
AN UPDATE FROM ANNEMARIE… Avant Missionary at El Jordán
 
I remember first meeting Leidy in jail – she was 20 years old, 7 months pregnant and sharing a room with her mother and younger sister. Because this was her first time in jail, she was released after only eight months. Her mom is in jail for the second time so this time most likely will be sentenced to minimum eight years. Leidy was released the night before having her second daughter, Romina, who is now eight months old.
 
Corina knows the family from almost twenty years ago when they were all on the streets. From the time Leidy was about six years old and her older sister Laura was 8, they would come to the streets to pick up “Christmas on the Streets” meals to share with their younger sisters. Leidy told me she began coming to El Jordán with an aunt when she was eight years old. A few years later, Leidy and her 4 younger sisters were put into a children’s home where Leidy was until she was in her mid-teens.
 
In February of this year, an El Jordán volunteer went to visit Leidy’s niece and met up again with Leidy.  That´s when she decided to sign up for El Jordán classes this year.
 

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Our Struggles

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Published: Monday, 29 February 2016 17:30
Written by Corina Clements Soria
This is El Jordán´s theme verse for this year:
 
 “Do not be conformed to this world,
but be transformed by the renewing of your mind,
that you may prove what is the good
and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
Romans 12:2
 
What good is external change, no matter how delightful it looks, if the core is rotten? It is worth it to have your friends or acquaintances think you´re great… but be in complete rebellion to the ONE who holds the universe in the palm of His hand? Why expend all our effort, heart and soul into attaining “ALL” in this life but be empty handed when we greet eternity? Do we do any favors at El Jordán - applauding lifestyle changes in our girls that “look good” when demons lurk inside sneering… smirking and taunting when “their” girl has heard about God and the Bible, but staggers and falls into the mud yet again???
 
“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,
in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world
and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air,
the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.”
Ephesians 2:1,2
 
 If you are dead, no matter how you disguise or decorate the outside, you still are dead… you are still a lifeless marionette in the hands of an evil puppeteer,  the ruler of this world… That is why Romans 12:2 is such an important verse… It gives us the sequence that must be followed…

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Faces From "Christmas On the Streets" 2015

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Published: Tuesday, 09 February 2016 21:30
Written by Corina Clements Soria
“Christmas on the Streets´” hubbub of activity has faded, replaced with focusing on the planning, organizing of this year´s activities…However, even after these 6 weeks, certain faces from “Christmas on the Streets” are still clear in my mind… Unfortunately, I never seem to remember to take pictures…all I have are pictures from my heart…

* * *
 
Sometimes when teenagers come and help with the preparations it´s a “camouflage” to hang out with friends or other times they´ve been “strongly encouraged” by their mom or church leader to get involved in “service”… …but 13 year old “Germán” showed up by himself (sometimes with his little brother) looking “cool” in his baseball cap, gel slicked hair and earphones constantly plugged in his ears… Day after day he´d come, quietly bagging our popped corn, wrapping gifts or doing whatever needed to be done… Why did he come?

“And your mom?”, I asked.
 
“She´s not here, she went to Sucre (16 hours away…)…she´ll be back on January 15th…”
 
“And who are you staying with?”
 
“My brothers” (two a bit older than Germán and a 7 year old…)
 
I tried not to look too horrified so he wouldn´t feel hurt... “Your mom left you by yourselves? She´s not coming back for Christmas?”
 

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