Well, here we are at our 3rd year anniversary in ministry at Pan de Vida/Bread of Life Orphanage. I often say God is working on us more than through us. He has taught us so much in so many different ways and the last couple of months have been a real season of relying on Him!
It started almost 2 years ago when the boys moved to the hacienda and it looked like we would become a facility with 2 homes. In the end, that didn't appear to be God's plan and the boys moved back and their supervisors moved onto another ministry. Then, Pan de Vida developed transition housing for some of the older kids still volunteering here. Other older kids were able to be placed with extended family members. When they were younger, Pan de Vida was a place they could come to grow, receive an education and learn about Jesus Christ. Now that they are adolescents, we pray they can go and contribute to the households and demonstrate God's love and forgiveness to their families.
Now that many of the older ones are moving on, this has left Pan de Vida with mostly teenagers. And since we have all been teenagers and some of us have raised teenagers, you can relate to how emotional this age can be. With the changes, many of the boys have pushed away with a sense of feeling abandoned by the previous supervisors and afraid to open their hearts and love anyone else. I think most of the girls are scared and insecure about decisions they need to make to prepare themselves to eventually move on. All of this has brought on difficult and rebellious attitudes leaving the directors and all of us in ministry here stretched.
I was sharing with a fellow missionary the challenges and she reminded me of God's grace to us even when we really don't deserve it. I have to tell you it sticks in my mind so strong and as a husband and wife, Ira and I have both had to draw closer to each other to work together in exercising this grace.
We want to make every effort to give them a sense of family as opposed to being a facility. With such a diverse ministry here and so few live on volunteers, it seems you just get so busy with getting through the day doing the necessities and the importance of deeper relationships gets put aside. There is always interaction, but we all need so much more than that.
Ira has been allowing many of the boys to work with him in the workshop and on projects. We feel it is important to separate daily chores from the extra projects and thank them for helping. So last weekend, Ira threw the boys a pizza party and rented movies for a "guys night." The supervisor of the girls, took the older ones out for tacos and the youth leaders took the Levi to The Bicentennial Park for the annual world exhibition. The younger kids got to go to a local playground in El Pueblito. I chased the football team to their games. Also with the football field near completion, we are spending more time watching them play amongst themselves.
The youth group leaders started Project Koinonia which is the Biblical Greek word for communion, fellowship and partnership. They have also changed their format to having small group devotionals each Wednesday and then the big group activities every 2nd Saturday.
Already we can see many start to be more like themselves and putting down some of the walls. We know we will look back on this as one of the biggest growths in our ministry but does it ever come with growing pains. We are thankful God is allowing us this opportunity to journey deeper with Him and the kids. Praise His Name!
Post a Comment