From Stephanie´s Journal

   

            Surely the hardest part of this job is saying “No” to kids who really want to stay at the church after school, but whose parents are not willing to put in the extra effort for them to be here.

            Last night we walked two girls home whose mom has not paid anything after a week of their staying at Nuestras Semillas. Joselyn, a 3^rd grader, warned us that her mom “is usually not home when we get there.”  She wasn’t. So today I had to almost push them out the door, reassuring them we love them and want them to stay, but we need the support of their mother. It hurt my heart to do so. But the idea of Nuestras Semillas, Our Seeds, is that the parents work together with the church; we cannot raise them ourselves.

            Walking with the girls in search of their mom brought back into perspective the real neighborhood of Ciudad Nueva. Living on “Main Street” in Ciudad Nueva and walking daily back in forth between the safety and warmth of my house and the church soothingly numbs me to the reality of the kids whom we are serving.

They too walk to and from their schools on Main Street and the church halfway up the hill. But after lunch at the church they continue up the hill, carrying their heavy backpacks and pulling younger siblings along during the heat of the day. Their feet get dusty when the road ends; they have no running water to wash them well. Coughs echo between houses, the whole pueblo sick from cold, dry air that penetrates the makeshift walls of their homes each night. And it’s not even winter yet.

Even though we are living in Ciudad Nueva and daily interacting with these precious children, we can easily forget the hardships they face when beyond our reach. I’m trying to remember so that when I greet them, I greet them with all the love I can tangibly give them.

Today was our first day of the after school program. We were all pleasantly surprised with how calm it was. Even when things didn’t go according to plan, everything worked itself out smoothly. We definitely felt the peace of the Lord throughout this exciting first day.

The kids seemed to really enjoy themselves during lunch, crafts, kickball, and even while doing their homework!

Laura led a craft in decorating visors.

Paulie and Maria-Jose helped kids with their homework.



Please pray that God continues to do a work in the hearts of these kids as well as prepare and lead our Nuestras Semillas team in the right direction. Thank you to all who have made this program possible!



A lot has happened in the past month and we’re very excited to share with you!

In our last update, Stephanie and Christine were still living in Local Central, the church 20 minutes from the church we work with every day in Ciudad Nueva. They have both moved now and are living with host families! Stephanie is living two blocks away from Laura and Ana in Ciudad Nueva with a married couple, their two daughters, and grandson. Christine is living with a good friend, Judith, and her mom and son. Judith lives further away but works in the church so she and Christine take public transportation to the church together each day. Stephanie and Christine are very thankful to God to be living with a family and sleeping in a bed!

We finished painting the two classrooms after four and a half weeks:

The first room is for 0-8 year-olds on Sundays and will be used for the daycare Monday-Friday during the after school program.

The second room is for 9-12 year olds on Sundays and will be used as a classroom for homework and other activities Mondays-Fridays in the after school program.

We had a lot of fun coming up with the ideas for these rooms and watching the walls come to life!

It was a lot of work; here are a few pictures of us painting:

Laura

Ana

Stephanie

Christine

After finishing painting the classrooms, we’ve focused almost every hour of every day on preparing the after school program.

We cleaned out an office that hasn’t been organized in years.

We’ve walked throughout the neighborhoods passing out flyers promoting the program.

We’ve been purchasing games, balls, shirts for the workers, smocks, and other supplies we’ll need.

Ana and Stephanie have worked with parents to sign up children for the program.

We’ve had countless meetings with other committed brothers and sisters in Christ to plan the program. In addition to us four, we have been meeting with:

Judith—She is lady Christine is living with and works in the church. To start, she will be running the daycare center. If God provides someone else to run the daycare center she will be a teacher in the after school program.

Pauly—She just moved here with her husband from Chile and will likely be the administrator of the program. She has had a heart to be a part of an after school program for years.

Bruner—He coaches soccer in Tacna and will be in charge of teaching sports almost every day at our program.

Maria Jose—Bruner’s wife who worked at an after school program for years. She has more experience than any of us and her advice is extremely helpful. Depending on other work, she hopes to be a teacher in the program as well.

All of these people love God, love children, and are just as excited about this as we are! We are so blessed to have such committed people help plan the program.

We also have a lot of interest from other adults and high schoolers in the church who want to volunteer in the program. It’s exciting to see that God is stirring the hearts of others to work in this program. We praise God so many Peruvians desire to help long-term.

We’ve decided to call the program “Nuestras Semillas,” which means “Our Seeds.” The idea behind the name is that the children are the seeds of the parents and church/after school program. The program aims to work closely with parents so that the children from the community will grow in knowledge, wisdom, health, and love.

Our specific hopes for the children are:

1. That they experience the love God has for them through the actions and words of the teachers.
2. That they feel secure with the teachers.
3. That they feel they are part of a greater family—the family of God.
4. That they understand the material from school and complete their homework.
5. That they learn how to live healthy lives (physically, mentally, spiritually).
6. That they have fun with the activities such as sports, games, teaching, art, crafts, cooking, choir, and drama.

Our specific hopes for the parents are:

1. That they feel secure sending their kids to a healthy, sound place after school.
2. That they grow in knowledge and wisdom as parents and desire to participate in the growth of their children.

Above all we are praying God works in the hearts of every child and parent involved in the program.

Well, Nuestras Semillas starts TOMORROW! We can’t wait to see what God has for the program, and of course, we are looking forward to keeping you all informed. Thank you for reading and thank you for your prayers!