Ministry UpdatesRead the Latest News & Updates from El Jordán

Where We Are At TODAY

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Published: Monday, 27 June 2016 14:30
Written by Corina Clements Soria

Warning: This is a letter that has taken me 6 months to write… it´s long, detailed but it explains some changes we are going through... Kudos to anyone who actually wades through it all...

Time has flown since that day in 1995 when God first “branded” the street kids on my heart… and as day turns to night and back to day again, years and seasons go by; and life now seems barely recognizable in comparison to those "early days"...

Babies, who I had the privilege of naming, now have their own babies… Little kids who I held tight in the midst of their chaos, are now mothers of as many as 5 kids… Skinny little 11 year old “Mono” who I met in the “shoe shiner park” is now an almost thirty year old who works at our boys´ shops… I have lost count of how many kids (of all ages) whose grave I´ve stood beside, where I´ve been asked to say a prayer or read a verse…

Sometimes I think I should still be in my twenties… or thirties… Then I look in the mirror… and remember that I´m racing through my forties!!!

Life twenty years ago was much simpler… I had one key… my bed and everything else was borrowed… my possessions were a two burner stove, a pot and a frying pan… no vehicle… I had a budget of about $35 a month where I didn´t eat much… I could take one “micro” (little bus) a day (and walked the rest)… I didn't have to worry about utility bills or mechanics… accidents or meetings… My life basically boiled down to walking and talking and being with street kids… Sleeping, waking up and doing the same thing all over again…

As in anyone´s life… in any part of the world, 20 years have brought major changes in life, ministry and our country...

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I Believe...

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Published: Wednesday, 08 June 2016 14:30
Written by Corina Clements Soria

Hi there…  I´m sorry to bombard you with so many El Jordán things lately… but this video is just such a great overview of the last 15 years at El Jordán… Every time I watch it I am overwhelmed by who God is… and all He has done…  Enjoy!!!

This is the note Heidi put on Facebook with the video:

It's finally up!!!  In October of 2015 we celebrated 15 yrs of God's faithfulness over El Jordan ... this powerpoint was made remembering many of those times ... due to many tech glitches, third world internet and problems that the greatest tech guys stumbled over .. we finally have it on the internet to share with all of you!!  A huge thank you to all who worked on helping us get this up, (Calgary, Kelowna, Bolivia, Spain, and Kansas City) and huge thank you to God for His care over us!

 

The song that is playing in the background in Spanish is Hillsong´s “This I Believe - The Creed”. Just in case you want to listen to the song afterwards in English here is the link: This I Believe (The Creed) - Hillsong Worship.

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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More Articles ...

  1. Our Struggles
  2. Faces From "Christmas On the Streets" 2015
  3. Celebrating 15 Years of His Faithfulness
  4. Looking Back At the Last 15 Years
  5. God´s Fingerprints