Feet First

It has been a busy past four weeks, and most of it seems like a blur because it went by so fast. Upon my arrival, I was asked to jump right in and forego my week of adjusting. This caught me off guard, but I knew that I would be okay and would be able to handle whatever was thrown my way. So, feet first, I went.

I received a warm greeting at the Home from our local staff and the girls already in our care. It was a lovely first day, even though most of it was spent creating a daily schedule for the Learning Center (LC), our program's backbone, and the program I oversee.

As I have stated before, the LC is where the girls come for Christian/discipleship classes, English and math tutorials, Life Skill classes, and other fun activities planned throughout the day. These "classes" are known as the "first phase" of our program before enrolling the girls into a formal school to resume their education. (Most of the girls in our care do not have higher than an 8th-grade education.) In addition, we are blessed to have connections with a nearby missionary school. So when the time comes, the girls will be able to attend school there more than likely.

I have already spent several hours poring over the Life Skill curriculum, translating lessons from English to Spanish, and making a list of materials to buy to have a full-functioning classroom. We recently received copies of "The Purple Book" in Spanish, a fantastic discipleship book by Rice Broocks and Steve Murrell. (I went through the book myself several years ago with my small group from Liberty Church.) We have implemented this book in our Christian/discipleship class, and the girls love it! The other day, as our study/lesson came to a close, one of the girls commented that she wanted to continue to the next lesson :)

We are also blessed to connect with an online tutorial program called "Children of the Night" (WOW). They are based in Southern California and work with children who have been forced into prostitution in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The program they run is fantastic in itself, and they have extended their services to us! Every day our girls receive an hour tutorial in both math and English. It's already a joy to see smiles on their faces as they start to grasp the material presented to them.

My roomie, Rose, and I finally moved into our apartment! I have been living out of my suitcases for the past four weeks. It is very nice to feel settled and at home. Our place is not too far from the beach, and I am looking forward to spending some time there and going on some runs :)

Things to PRAY for:

• Pray for supernatural energy—not only for myself but also for my directors and other staff as we go about our busy day.

• We are currently waiting to have the internet installed at the Home. Please pray that this happens quickly! Everything here is a process. We were told about a month ago that they would be installing it shortly…we are still waiting.

• Please pray that we receive approval from Destiny Rescue Intl for our Learning Center curriculum to be translated into Spanish! This will not only save me hours upon hours of work but will be beneficial for future use. Right now, I am translating lessons on a day-to-day basis, and it is very time-consuming. Please continue to pray for the girls in our care and the girls who will eventually enter our care.

• Pray for their hearts to be open and for their minds to be set free. Pray for them as they also adjust and settle into the Home. Pray that I will be able to find a small group/Bible study to connect to. I am still praying and believing for about 8-12 more people to come alongside me every month!

PRAISES & BLESSINGS:

• A few days after I wrote my post "A Beautiful Moment," the girl I referred to gave her heart to Christ!!

• We recently had two brand new laptops donated to us! These will be used in the LC for tutorials as well as for office work.

• A few days after I arrived, my laptop "performed" a service update. Long story short, it did not like the update and was in a "frozen" state. I was able to take my laptop to a computer shop and the guy "revived" it! This turned out to be a blessing in disguise because it now works better than ever. He also had to re-install Microsoft Office on my laptop. His only copy was in Spanish, so I now have a bilingual computer—haha. In doing this, I was able to cancel my annual subscription with Office and therefore save money.

• Within two days of being here, there was one thing that stuck out: public transportation. It isn't as common here as in other Caribbean/Latin American countries, making it harder to get around. This was something that I hadn't prepared for. I immediately started to pray for the provision to buy a moto/scooter and shared my prayer request with my prayer partners. Within two days of sharing this prayer request, I received the funds to purchase a scooter!!