Hello everyone. I hope this message finds you well. I am writing to sing of God's praises and goodness to the family I have been writing about through my blog and through the Mission Adelante prayer requests. I have been praying alot for this particular family and even went to talk to a respected member of the Mission community to get a more cultural perspective. He expressed the best way to approach this family in a loving and Christ-centered way. But God used another context to break through the walls. For those of you that don't know, there was a family whose parents were being very resistive to us spending time with their kids. I have been very respectful of the family and in the past few weeks, I have been really giving this family up to God. We went to a neighborhood birthday party on Sunday evening where this family was also at. I think that once the mom saw my love for her kids and that I truly just wanted to spend time with them, something in her changed. So yesterday, I went by the house and on a whim, decided to ask if one of the kids could actually GO get ice cream with me (In the past, I had brought the ice cream to them so that I wouldn't take them off the property in the hopes that the mom would see my genuine efforts to love on her kids) Well yesterday, she let one of the kids come with me to get ice cream! Not only that, the mom also let three of the five kids come to the park last night to participate in some activities that we sponsored. To say I am encouraged is an understatement and I am so grateful for God's faithfulness and love.
On the flip side, it's been difficult because the two older boys in this particular family both admitted to me that they are part of a gang. One of them is only nine and described to me how he had been beaten very badly last year in order to gain entrance into the gang. I think the hardest part about working with these kids is loving them but not taking on all of the worry that comes with that. I didn't sleep very much last night because one of the boys confessed to me that he had to leave the activities early to meet up with his cousin (who is his link to the gang) I worry about him alot and feel really afraid to let go, trusting him up to God. However, I know that with this love comes great responsibility and trust to place my hopes for these kids on God's altar of grace. I have been really feeling like God is breaking my heart this summer so much to the point that imagining my life apart from our community is unbearable. If anyone that reads this could be praying for this family, that would mean a great deal :) Love you all!!!!