Good times, Bad times

Good Times

We have had a long awaited visit this week by 2 families from a Korean Church in New Jersey in the USA that has supported the ministry for many years. The families have been in touch for a while wanting to respond to Martin and Rosa's invitation to visit but it took a while to decide if they were going to come as a team or as a family. In the end they decided to come as 2 families for a missions trip and holiday combined, so last Thursday the Kims and the Lees arrived, 10 people in total, to spend 3 and a half days with us in El Refugio. Since only one of them speaks Spanish and Johanna doesn't speak much English she delegated the coordination of their time with us to me. 

Having teams is a double edged sword for us, it is great to have help and to introduce people to the ministry and children as this enables them to get a better idea of what we do so they can take more first-hand information and experiences back to their home church which can do a lot to increase the amount of support we receive in return, not just financial or practical but also spiritual, after visiting a project you get more of a sense of ownership to the ministry and the team. However, trying to find things for 5 adults, 2 teens and 3 kids, who don't speak much Spanish, to do over 3 days can be a challenge, unfortunately it often falls to mundane tasks of cleaning and organising, however we did try to get as much contact with the kids as possible for them. Thankfully this team came with a real heart to serve in whatever way even if that meant chopping veggies for Fridays lunches or sorting out cupboards, the 3 younger kids had a whale of a time cleaning chairs still dusty from the construction. The 3 older kids were able to help with the homework in the library, Sean (19) helping with maths, along with IK translating while Chelsea and Vivian (15 and 13) listened to 2 younger boys read, Spanish being phonetic makes it easy even for a non Spanish speaker to listen to someone read. 

We were also able to take the older kids, along with the mums to visit Loma Fresca which was a great chance for them to see where the kids live and the needs that they have first hand. They were all touched by how friendly everyone was and one of the mums Susan commented that the teens had said how they felt they had received more than they had given during their time here, something that is often heard from people on their first mission experience. You learn the true meaning of "it is more blessed to give than receive" 

The team really blessed us as a team too, not only did they bring lots of resources for the children (paper, glue, sweets etc) but also brought sweets for the staff and invited us to spend a day with them at the apartment they had rented for the 10 days holidays, so we spent the bank holiday relaxing by the pool and playing with the kids and the joined them for dinner. As we were leaving Susan surprised me by giving me a large quantity of the extremely streaky bacon that is the closest they have to bacon here as a surprise, I had mentioned that I miss bacon! So hopefully I can get enough meat from it to make a decent bacon buttie :D

So now they are off to enjoy the holiday part of their stay and life here in El Refugio returns to normal, I am sat in the library with just one child who didn't bring homework so is sat in the reading corner with a good book and I am writing this blog. 

Bad Times

While all is well with us un El Refugio it has been a difficult time for 2 of our other ministries, at the university mission one of the girls who shares a house with another female missionary was attacked and nearly raped, she told her attacker that she was a missionary and christian and he replied "well in that case I wont touch you" Thank God for his protection, however he did break into the house and stole all their computers, cameras and documents. She was locked in the bathroom where she still had her mobile so was able to call the boys for help. 

Also the neighbourhood where the YWAM school is based has experienced a bad earthquake due to some geological fault under the area which has apparently be known to the council for some time but they have done nothing about it nor have moved anyone out of the area or prevented others moving in. Last week the earth moved, the poorly constructed houses in the poor neighbourhood collapsed and many have been made homeless. These and many others in the area, which is at high risk of further damage, have been evacuated from the area permanently including many of the pupils from the school. At the moment the school building itself has not been affected by the damage, however it is right on the edge of the evacuation zone so it isn't out of danger yet, also the team are left considering what they will do about filling the spaces left by those who have left the area. Thankfully there have been no deaths, you can read more about it here

Please pray for these two teams, that God will guide and protect them at the challenging time. Also, pray with us for the provision of a male to join our team to increase the protection of what is at the moment, and all female team. We are taking many extra precautions to ensure our safety and thankfully have not in the history of being in the building, had any break-ins, so we dont feel in danger, however it is best to be as safe as possible. 

Thanks for your continued prayer love and support

Blessings to you all

Petra