Lily of the Valley Orphanage

Me with two kids - the boy has a behavioral problem & has gotten kicked out of school. He, I think, wants some love. The girl, Karen, is mentally handicapped. Her sister grew up here too and has stayed on to work in the kitchen so Karen gets to see her sister everyday!

The kids love digital cameras! They love to have their pictures taken, then run to the camera so they can see themselves on the LCD screen! I taught a few of them how to use a digital camera & they loved that they were able to frame the picture themselves, use the zoom & take the picture. It was hard to get the camera back! This was taken by Blanca, who learned super quick.

Lily of the Valley Orphanage

Yoshi Carillo (student at the Bible Institute who's heading into missions) is a favorite with the kids! She's very fun, hyper-active & wise. She's good with the young ones & the teens.

Many of these kids at the orphanage have families, but their families can't afford them. They get to see their mother & siblings (and father if he's still around) for a few days each year at holiday times. A few kids are together with siblings. These guys have sad stories and crave personal attention & love.
This orphanage also accepts handicap children. The little guy sitting down in the picture is sitting down because he cannot walk. He has legs, but he drags himself everywhere with his arms. He has a beautiful smile.

Lily of the Valley Orphanage

Julie Tibberts (mk visiting her family for the summer) & some kids from the orphanage.

I visited an orphanage a while ago. Lily of the Valley Orphanage has 115 kids & is run by a couple who has never been able to have kids of their own, but now have over 100 that call them Mom & Dad. He is from Pennsylvania & she is from Puerto Rico. It is an amazing place - they have a George Muller mentality. They trust God for their daily tortillas literally & He has never let them down!

paletas

Libni showed us where to get the best paletas, at Germania paletas in the background. It's actually about 20 minutes out of town in a place famous for their icecream & paletas.

Paletas are a frozen treat on a stick. The base can be made with milk or water - so you can choose creamy or icy. In Panama the flavors were all fruit. Here, however, they have other flavors too! They had coconut, lemon, nut, guava, banana, strawberry, mango, and others - I don't remember all that they have. However, the one I was scared to try was avocado! An avocado icy popcicle!?! Libni said that was one of her favorites!

future co-workers

This week we didn't have Spanish classes, so I took the opportunity to hang out with students from the Bible Institute & Missions Institute here. Some of these guys will be future co-workers! Others are getting Bible, missions, & churchplanting training to go back to their home areas & work in ministry there.
There is one family - the Amayas - from Honduras. There are two guys from Tijuana, two guys from here, and one guy from farther south. Libni, my language helper, is from here also. There are others in the training, but these were the ones that had not left yet for summer break or those who are staying here for the summer.

my street - north

my street - standing in front of my house looking north

my house - sorta - at least for a few more weeks

the house I'm housesitting for another missionary

She'll be coming back in a few weeks, so I'm looking for my own place.
There is an apartment above a Mexican family available located close to other missionaries which I will take if we can't find something with a family in my church or other churches in the area.

my street - south

My Street - I'm in front of my house looking south

Green Grass!

This past week all my coworkers & I got together for a conference at a hotel about 2 hours away.

It was there that I realized that there are two things that I miss about that US that I did not realize I was missing. The first is grass - green grass! In this city there is virtually no grass, much less green grass. If there is grass it is only a little patch in someone's "yard" - too little to be good for anything but mowing. The hotel had a courtyard area full of green grass! We set up a volleyball net and played in our bare feet! My first time to go barefoot outside since I got to Mexico! (In the desert here there are thorns everywhere outside called torritos - goatheads in Arizona. They REALLY hurt when you step on one!) After living so long in Panama & seeing all the jungle - it was good to see some green again here in Mexico.

The other thing that I was missing and I thoroughly enjoyed at the conference was worshipping the Lord corporately in English - singing and praying together in my heart language. It made me realize from experience the importance of learning the tribal language. They must hear the Gospel in their heart language to be able to understand clearly. I have been going to church here now for six weeks in Spanish - but the Spanish does not communicate (yet) the way sermons & songs in English do. It's the same with the tribal people.

One of other things that I really enjoyed this past week was meeting most of my mountain coworkers & learning about how things are going in the areas where they are working. I will be sharing some of that with you in the days to come.

There were beautiful sunsets every night!

Libni

My language helper, Libni, and I. She helps me twice a week with Spanish & we hang out a lot besides langauge times. She's 19 and is attending the Bible Institute here in the city. She's also studying with the Red Cross to be a paramedic.