John 15

          We want to share with you an interesting interpretation of the I am the Vine, You are the Branches analogy we heard about in one of last Sunday´s sermons.

          Some of us want desperately to produce good fruit, but we must remember that fruit grows as a result of staying in the Vine, persevering with God.

          Pastor Victor of New Jerusalem reminded us that while God´s children will produce fruit, every tree has its time. A head of lettuce grows in a matter of months, and an orange tree bears fruit in 5-6 years. A palm tree bears fruit after 40-50 years!

          While God is certainly the root of a healthy tree, whether person or church, He has his purpose for each one. He will decide what type of fruit we will bear, and when. There´s no sense in hurrying something that takes time as long as we remain in the Vine.

Recently we held our first parent meeting at Nuestras Semillas. It went well! Not perfect--we forgot to say things--but Judith, Brunner, and Maria Jose did a great job of expressing important points.

Maria Jose, afterwards, told me:
"Diego´s mom came up to me after the meeting and she said his professors at school are wondering if he´s really doing his homework, because IT´S SO WELL DONE. They said his BEHAVIOR has been markedly better in these last weeks too."

So we praise God! By His grace we are doing something right!

 

Happy Mother´s Day! in Ciudad Nueva

We took pictures of mothers and their children to give them as gifts.

Upper left: Diego and family

Upper right: Angela and Joselyn with mom

Bottom: Tia Paulie leading the kids in a Mothers Day poem

Fresh Produce en el Mercado

If you´ve talked to us through Skype, you´ve probably seen one of our little friends, Danilo or Heidi, in the background.

Happy Birthday Laura! In March, but still...  :)

Ana and Laura with their host family at Laura´s surprise birthday party.

 En el Centro de Tacna,
in front of the city Cathedral.

Every Day...

Our Schedule looks something like this:

Mon-Fri mornings are flexible. We do laundry (by hand), spend time in the Word, prepare for classes/ Bible studies, or work on painting projects at one of the three Tacna Iberoamerican churches.

At 1pm we have lunch with the children from church and our fellow Nuestras Semillas teammates.
At 2pm our 20 elementary students begin homework, which lasts for at least two hours. (These kids have a LOT of homework!) During this time we gringas assist the professors by making copies, taking kids to use the church computers, or supervising a classroom if a professor must step out. We also use this time to talk to parents interested in signing up their children for the program.

5pm is "workshop" time. The kids learn (and eat!) in the kitchen, do a craft (with Tia Laura), play a game, or practice theater.
At 6:30pm the children get picked up or walk home. We then, as a team, clean the bathrooms and classrooms and gather for a brief meeting (and often prayer) before going home ourselves.
8pm is dinner in our homes. (Us gringas eat fruit, leftovers, and peanutbutter sandwiches in the afternoon to survive until such a late dinner :)

My (Stephanie´s) favorite hour of the day is definitely lunch, before Nuestras Semillas even starts. For many of the 70 church kids in the lunch table program, this is the only time during the day when they will tenderly hear their name called out or recieve a hug or pat on the back. I DELIGHT in greeting by name as many children as possible; I love seeing a group of kids huddled around Tio Brunner as they eat together; I´m happy when I see timid Joselyn fly into Laura and Ana´s arms for a bear hug. We cherish these moments, and we ask God to work His Love through the lives of these precious children.

Little Esmeralda, Luis, and Arnold eating lunch at the church