Communication

Once again I feel like we are falling behind in our communication with you. However, we are thankful to those of you who are faithfully praying for the ministry of Hogar de Esperanza, the children we are caring for, and those who are responsible for their care, in spite of the lack of constant updates. There is no way to measure the effort given by those laboring at the orphanage. Even for those who are in paid positions, their paycheck comes nowhere close to covering the sacrifices they make. This dedication can be seen in the house mothers, each of whom is taking care of about 8 kids and their needs around the clock; the watchmen who are working overtime, not getting a day or night off for weeks; our secretary who fills many roles; our cook who faithfully prepares every meal; the guys who are leading, directing, and administrating everything, who when they finally do go home still carry the responsibility for all that is going on, and they are reminded of that when they get a phone call from someone needing information or asking them to do something more. There is so much to be done here, all with few resources and no quick fix for anything. But thankfully, we have faithful people in each position who are understand these sorts of conditions and do not complain. We are working on restructuring to become more organized with more people fit to do this intensive labor. There is relief in sight.

God Provides

Since the beginning of the New Year through some generous giving and some careful budgeting, we have made it to this point with money still in the bank. We are thankful for how the Lord has cared for us and for the confidence you have shown us in entrusting us with your gifts. We seek to continue to be absolutely faithful to the Lord with all that he allows to come to our hands.

Back to School

March here means the beginning of the school year and that means a spike in expenses in every home in Peru that has school aged children. Everyone handles it in a different way. Those who are short on funds have to get creative. Some get a second job. The police here use a different method of applying fines, but we won’t go into detail on that. We can’t use this method, and we have a lot more children than the normal family, so we trust the Lord. He moved in the hearts of a few different people including the director of the school most of our kids attend, a couple of ladies visiting from Venezuela who have been tutoring the kids, and the founder of Hogar de Esperanza, David Miller, who sent down a generous gift thinking of the kids and school. Last week, we had the privilege of handing out packages that outfit the kids for the new year. They were thrilled. The school requirement for students to have uniforms and the lack of school supplies actually provided by the school means there is quite a bit left for each student to provide on their own. So, Alex was out searching for these supplies. This turns the beginning of every school year into a sort of adult, city wide scavenger hunt. In the end, we feel like we won and so do the kids.

The Bottom Line

I would also like to ask you at this time to pray for the issues that we are facing with the individual kids. It easy to think of the orphanage as just an institution or of the kids as a group or even simply of the finances, the bank account, or as it is commonly called the “bottom line”, but it is important to remember that each one of these kids is an individual facing their own unique set of challenges and blessings. On one hand, we have kids in a position where they can be adopted (and it seems that we have one in that process right now with a family that would like to take him in; pray that this process would go smoothly and that a loving, nurturing bond would form.) On the other hand, there are others who are not in this position, and some of them are struggling with behavioral problems that affect their ability to learn and even function as a part of the society, in school or at Hogar de Esperanza. Pray for these kids, that we would handle their cases with wisdom and grace, and that the best decisions would be made to bring them to an understanding of the truth that we all need to embrace; that we have a loving Creator whom we are responsible to, whom we have failed, but who offers us the provision for our failure in the person of Jesus Christ. To clearly present this to each one of these kids in our word, decisions and actions; this should be our bottom line.

Steve Twinem (Board of Hogar de Esperanza)

Que Dios les bendiga,