One person at a time...

Greetings to all of you! We hope you had a very merry Christmas and have a wonderful New Year! We can’t believe 2025 is coming to an end! We have many plans for 2026 but before we jump into them, we want to share a story of one of our amazing volunteers! Her name is Stephany.

Stephany started serving in the kids ministry in the area serving kids with special needs in 2022. She showed genuine interest in learning how to connect with the kids, and really enjoyed her service. Stephany began to quickly show her natural leadership skills and great commitment to the kids we serve.

We invited her to co-lead the team of volunteers with the intention of taking on more responsibility and eventually covering maternity leave for the leader. This was a huge stretch for her personally, because this step came with the responsibility to interact more with the parents of these kids. Stephany in introverted and shy and struggled a lot with this role however with coaching and time, she began to gain confidence in her abilities.

2 years ago, the leader who was on maternity leave decided to not return, so the temporary position became a more permanent one. This helped Stephany begin to make her position her own. She began to do things her way, leading the volunteers, guiding them, encouraging them. She felt more comfortable talking with the parents and connecting with each kid. Her ability to connect with each child with special needs and teach them about Jesus exploded!

Towards the end of 2024 Stephany found out that she had a tumor in her neck that was suspected cancer. She had to wait 5 months to be operated on. Praise God the tumor was benign! The recovery from this operation has been very difficult.

Nearly a year post op, she still has decreased function and numbness in her dominant hand. Most people would take a step back and focus on recovery, however Stephany chose the opposite. Once her doctor cleared her to return to service, she dove in at 150%. From 7 am until 9pm she has served in all 5 services despite her own medical limitations, she has chosen to focus on others in her recovery.

She not only directly impacts the kids with special needs and their families every Sunday, but spends time training other volunteers how to connect with these kids and their families.

When we asked her why this change…she said that a few years ago, She received a message from God telling her that her calling would be using her hands to help others. She didn’t quite understand the message because her profession is administrative and not hands on at all. And when she began the hard work of recovery post op, she was still wondering what God meant. She reports that one day as she was serving, God spoke to her heart and said “This is your calling, look at what you are doing! You get to help change the life of a child and their family, one person at a time.” From then on, she has been clear that serving people with disabilities is her calling. Not only does she lead on Sundays, but she also serves on the team of teens with special needs on Saturday nights!!

Your financial support allowed us to help disciple Stephany and encourage her that she is capable of more. Every conversation, hug, word of encouragement, and training that we have been able to give her to help her get to this point has been thanks to YOUR generosity! We thank you for your belief in what we are doing. We thank you for allowing us to be Jesus’ hands and feet not only serving the vulnerable populations that we do, but also building up and helping our volunteers find their God given purpose.

End of year giving helps us cover months when our regular monthly donations are low. We are very thankful to those who make the choice to give their end of year donation towards what we get to do here to help every person we encounter have a personal relationship with the Lord and encounter their God given purpose. If you haven’t already would you prayerfully consider making an end of the year donation to help us continue to serve in Peru? We thank you in advance for your kindness and generosity. Donations are easy to make by clicking on the GIVE button below, or going to our page with our mission agency at The Antioch Partners.

Thank you all and God Bless you in this new year 2026!

Love Clever, Lisa & Kaleb