Greetings all! Blessings and love to all of you ! While A LOT has been going on with us over the past months, we wanted to share some highlights with you all!
In August we were able to host and participate in a soccer camp for kids with special needs that came from Idaho. They are called Game Changers Idaho, and they are an incredible non profit who provides athletic opportunities to all kids with special needs. They brought a team of 32 volunteers and together with our volunteers from church we put on a 3-day soccer camp that was unforgettable. We also spent some time with the parents encouraging them, playing bingo with them and laughing with them. We hope that they return next year so we can do it again!
Also in August, our church celebrated National Kids Day. It is a day where the entire church service is put on by our children’s ministry volunteers. There is a small show that always has an evangelical message and then after there are inflatables for the kids to enjoy! It is the church’s largest evangelical event, and it is free to the public. The event brought in over 2500 kids (not counting adults) over 3 church services in our morning services. Our team of volunteers that work with our kids with special needs received and helped to support over 35 families to be able to enjoy the event with preferential seating during the service and being able to cut the line in the inflatables. We are incredibly grateful for the team of volunteers that served on this day! It was a very positive experience, and we have received more kiddos attending our regular church services on Sunday’s because of it!
In August, I met a little kiddo who is 7 years old, Santiago, in the children’s ministry Sunday school. He was labeled as difficult, out of control, and disobedient. Our team of volunteers were asked to observe him and see if we could help. First, Santiago is a GREAT KID!! He is smart, articulate, and fun to be around. As we got to know him, he told us that he had ADHD and that his “H” was bigger than most. He was truly sad and discouraged because he knew what others were saying about him. The comments he shared with us were surely from many other people in his life. It was heartbreaking. A plan was put into place that I would work with him and get to know him better and then train a volunteer in the regular classroom to be his support. At the end of the first Sunday, he said: “wow, I never liked coming to church and often fought my dad to come, but today I really had fun and want to come back!” Since then, every Sunday he looks for us to be with him. We are teaching him that he does have control over his body and can do things to help with his big “H”. We are slowly integrating him back into his classroom now that we have built a relationship and trust with him. We are so excited to see how he will continue to grow in his relationship with the Lord now that he enjoys coming to church! We thank you all for allowing us to make an impact in the lives of children like Santiago who have now been able to find a place in the church and enjoy learning about who God is and how much He loves us.
Also in September we had a parent support meeting for parents of kids with special needs. The theme of this meeting was self-care (spiritual, body, and emotional). We had presentations from a pastor, a nutritionist, and a psychologist. A woman named Prisilla attended. We get to have her son, Aurelio in our children’s Sunday school program in the specialized classroom. Aurelio, 5 years old has autism and significant behaviors. Throughout the meeting we observed Prisilla crying nonstop. At the end of the meeting, she came up to us and thanked us for the meeting. She said it was the first time she had understood that she didn’t do anything to cause her son’s autism and that God was not surprised by Aurelio when he was born. She was encouraged to know that Aurelio is made in the image of God too, and that he has a God given purpose in his life just like the rest of us. She said she was going to go home and apologize to her son for her hard heart towards him. She said that she was leaving the meeting so much lighter and filled with hope and care. We thank you all for allowing us to help families navigate their child’s disability through the eyes of our loving Father.
We met Danilo and his mom 1 year ago at a parent support meeting for adoptive and foster parents that we hosted. Danilo is 15 years old and is deaf and has autism. Danilo spent his first 9 years of life in an orphanage. That is where he met his now mom, Elda. Elda was a caregiver at the orphanage where Danilo and many other kids lived. She learned sign language to work and communicate with Danilo and the other kids. When the pandemic hit, the orphanage where Danilo was had a hard time keeping workers, so they closed their doors and sent the kids who lived there to other orphanages. Elda had grown to love Danilo and offered to foster him at her home until the pandemic was over. Since then, Elda learned that she didn’t want Danilo to return to the orphanage and petitioned to adopt him formally. The process is long, but it finally was processed and just 3 months ago Danilo was legally adopted by Elda! In September, Elda came to the parent support meeting we hosted and shared the wonderful news with us!! She also said that Danilo had expressed interest in coming to the youth church service, but the church doesn’t offer sign language interpretation because our team is small and still in formation. Elda offered to be Danilo’s interpreter so that he could attend the service!! Danilo enjoyed himself SO much at the youth service he wants to participate in the all-night lock in that the church hosts for teens the night of Halloween! Please can you join us in prayer! We are looking for a team of sign language interpreters (apart from the small team in training who interpret on Sundays during one service) who would like to come to our youth services to interpret for him every Saturday. We also need a volunteer to be with him for the lock in so that he can successfully participate and communicate his needs. We are so excited about Danilo and his mom beginning this new journey with us at church. He has never been able to participate in a church completely without his mom and we would really like to be able to provide this for him as he grows in his relationship with the Lord.
Finally, this past week, Clever traveled to Houston to present and attend the CAFO conference! CAFO, or Christian Alliance for Orphans, hosts a conference every year and Clever has been going for the past 3 years to learn about how to serve vulnerable families in foster/adoption. The first year he just attended. Last year they added disability as a vulnerable population, and he was invited to present at the pre-conference about church and disability! This year he was invited to present a workshop at the main conference about church and disability! He was also invited to pray in front of 2000 people for one of the opening plenary sessions! He is already planning on his return next year to co-present with a man he met there who has severe physical disabilities! We are excited for the future and the ability to encourage and mobilize churches and people around the world to invite and include people with disabilities in the church body!
On a personal note:
On September 9th, I celebrated 12 years here in Peru!! I can’t believe its been that long and we give God the glory for His constant care, protection, direction, and provision to make this possible. We feel like these past 3 years have been a constant fulfillment of that initial vision He gave me 15 years ago and there is so much more to do! Physically, I am still recovering from my surgeries but praise the Lord everything seems to be progressing well!
Kaleb is entering his last 2 months of 3rd grade! We can’t believe how grown up he is! He continues training in Jiujitsu and has begun taking drum lessons. His biggest interest over the past year has been watching, playing and thinking about all things football, thanks to the timing of our last trip to the US during college and NFL playoffs!!! He even wants his 9th birthday party to be American football themed. He loves Philadelphia Eagles and knows all the players by name and position! It is quite impressive since American football is not common here.
Clever and Kaleb took a trip to the mountains with some hiking friends of Clever’s in July. Kaleb did well and was the only kid who didn’t have a bad experience with the altitude. We hope soon I can join in these adventures at some level.
We have a very busy month ahead of us both personally and service wise, and then after November 8th, we will be able to slow down a bit and enjoy the holiday season and end of school year activities. We thank you all for your continued support, prayers, and encouragement. Please feel free to share our blog with others who might be interested in knowing more about what we get to do! We also love visits! So, if any of you want to come to Peru, please let us know!!!!
*As you know as missionaries, we do not get paid by the local church we serve at, and we rely on the generosity of others to pay our salary and cover ministry expenses that we need. We thank you all for your faithfulness over so many years. If you know anyone who would be interested in joining our team by supporting us financially and/or in prayer please let us know so we can reach out to them. We are truly grateful that you continue to see and value what we get to do here building relationships for eternity and giving dignity, and belonging to the vulnerable.