Street Kids

Yeah I know this is early but I want to tell you all about what I did last week. While we were on Vacation back in August I met a couple that is friends with Marcia and Guillermo. They told me all about their ministry here. They are also from the states! They work with the street kids. These kids have really bad backgrounds and have lived on the street all alone. They have to do whatever they can to make it. Some of them have been thrown out of their homes and most of them have done drugs at some point. In this ministry they go out and find these kids and help them. They get them in school and help them with their homework. They have a system they have to go through and then once they are ready they get to live in this house with a full time caregiver, Jaqui, a 24 year old that is pretty much their mom. She works at a school so they all get to go there on scholarship. Their day starts at 5 am when they all wake up and get ready for school, this runs like clockwork, the each know what they are to do and do it, if the finish early and while they are waiting for breakfast they read their bibles. The transportation comes at 6:30 and they leave for school. The cleaning and cooking lady comes at 9 and makes lunch and cleans the house. Then at 12 they are home and ready for lunch. During meal time they each take a turn praying and have a seating arraignment. After lunch they take a nap from 1 until 4, and then homework starts. They work very hard with presentations, reading, and other homework. Before they came none of them could read and now they all can read to me! (lots of hard work and dedication) After homework is done it is time to play. I had fun playing a random marble game, I still don’t think I totally understand nor did I ever win! We also listened to music and danced, this was probably my favorite thing all week. One night we played volleyball but I was no good at that! ☺ These kids may have come from a rough background but the love of Jesus is all around. They are really good kids, polite and very respectful. Jaqui has a worked very hard with them. After play time there is an hour every night that they have bible study, this includes bible reading, prayer and some nights a message from Jaqui, she has such a heart for these kids and keeping them on the right path and sharing her love of Jesus with them. Next is bed time because 5 comes earlier than anyone wants it to!
One day while I was there the dog was acting very abnormal but I did not know what was going on so I went back in side, a few moments later one of the kids came and told me that the dog was having puppies! We all ran to the back of the house and sure enough there they were. I have never seen anything quite so gross! She had four all back puppies. SO CUTE!
I had so much fun this week and did not really want to go back to Marica’s even though I missed them. These kids were so great. I did not always understand them but my Spanish did take a really big step forward! I am really wanting to spend more time with this ministry so hopefully next month I can go back and spend more time with them. One funny story was that while I was there they were all asking me what kinds of food we eat in the States and one of the little girls asked me if we had eggs!!! LOL! I tried so hard not to laugh and answer but it was hard! Oh also there are five kids living there currently but Jaqui wants to go back out and start getting more. They also want to bring me out on to the street and meet some of the other kids they are working with. Marica said this will be really hard for me because I will want to bring them all home with me but can’t. I will probably cry when I get home too because Jaqui does every time she goes out.
I now ask you all to pray for these kids. They have come a long ways but still have a long way to go. I only spent a week there and already love them and know they each have a special place in my heart. God really is at work here!
Thanks for the prayers and for reading this!
Love you and miss you all!