What's going on at Dulce Refugio
I know that many people have passed through this orphanage and left their mark at Dulce Refugio. I want to keep all of you informed about what is going on with the kids and the construction process. Please remember to keep us in your thoughts and prayers; I hope you continue to help us out here at Casa Hogar Dulce Refugio. Gracias amigos!
August has past, summer vacation is over and the new school year has started. Time to get back to the routine and keep moving forward. Lots of things happening down here in Aguascalientes.
Our girls started their 2nd year of high school. And thank God that they are able to go back to school and learn in person! Last year was all online and it's just not the same. We got their school supplies and their uniforms and now it's time for them to put in the hard work.
Since it's time to go back to school, we decided to have an outreach in Cañada Honda (the small town outside of Aguascalientes, where we just built the new church). I was able to buy school supplies for 200 kids and another ministry donated 200 backpacks. We worked together to fill the backpacks with the supplies and were ready to bless 200 kids. BUT on the day of the event, over 400 kids showed up! So we had to take everything out of the backpacks and hand out the school supplies and the backpacks separately in order to be able to give something to everybody. It was a great event! We shared the gospel and the kids from our church put on a drama to teach people how to have a relationship with God.
I installed all of the windows at the new church in Cañada Honda. Now, no more birds can come in and make nests or "use the bathroom." I also installed a window inside of the building which will be for the audio/production room.
We put egg cartons on the ceiling of the new church. Since the building is concrete and the roof is laminate steel, there is a lot of echoing. Putting egg cartons on the ceiling will help tremendously with the sound quality. This is the idea of pastor Isaac, the pastor of the main church in Aguascalientes. We've already been through 6 big stacks of egg cartons and have only covered about 1/3 of the ceiling. We still need a lot more egg cartons...good thing we have connections at local bakeries to help us with the donations.
Pastor Phillip Macintosh, from my home church in San Diego, came down for a couple of days. He came to visit Chevon, a fellow missionary from my home church, and see how she was doing. She has had some health issues recently and has some big decisions/changes to make in her life. I drove Phillip around and showed him the church project that he has been supporting. He also preached the Wednesday service at church here in Aguascalientes. Pastor Isaac translated for him and it was really cool to see the two men of God that have personally influenced/blessed my life so much, working together.
At the orphanage...
In the last 2 months at the orphanage we've said goodbye to 10 kids. But one in particular was a very happy goodbye. Dulce, one of our older girls, was adopted by a local family. Dulce is such a sweetheart (actually her name in Spanish means "sweet") and she is very mature. She was so happy to go to her new home and I'm so glad to know that they will provide her with a great life and lots of opportunities to grow and be successful. The director of the orphanage had a special dinner, prayed for Dulce and we all walked her to the door to say goodbye...it was a lil difficult to see her say goodbye to her two sisters who are still at the orphanage. But I wish her the best and will continue to pray that God will bless her abundantly in her new life.
School is in session at "Dulce Refugio" (Sweet Refuge). The kids started classes the last week of August and I am teaching two English classes. I was in charge of building this school on site at the orphanage and it is cool to see things up and running and to be able to take part in the process of educating the children.