Today is my last official day here at Casa Aleluya. At the end of this month my fiance and I will be married and join together in ministry with Missionary Ventures, overseeing the team housing and working with teams to minister to the indigenous communities of Guatemala, in order to assist and enable them to both reach their own people for Christ as well as lead them out on short-term missions themselves. We are so excited about ministering together and the opportunities the Lord has ahead. I'm also very glad that we'll only be living about a mile away from Casa, so I'll still be able to come and visit! Thank God for that!
It has been pretty crazy lately, but I wanted to share with you all some of the highlights from the past few weeks.
A couple of weeks ago, I was rehearsing for a choreography/drama the Pueblo leaders were preparing for this past Sunday. I had a basic idea for the "script" to communicate the main idea of lesson to the little kids, but after we put it to music, there was still a good chunk of song left. I told them they could just cut it off, but they wanted to work with it. So instead of just having a skit where a boy is playing with friends and has to resist temptation to join them in bad choices (choosing Jesus instead,) they were able to share with the kids that the boy then goes on to lead his friends to Christ and in the end they are all there praying and praising the Lord together. I was so proud of the leaders, and so excited for what it means for the program that they take that kind of initiative and grow what was given them into a better end product!
Also with Pueblo, the leadership team officially elected Jose Estuardo and Victor 1 as the head leaders for the program from now on. I met with them and to go over all they need to know, and the past couple of weeks, I've been trying to stand more in the background, letting them run the Sunday morning program and the weekly meetings. I've been impressed already with what they bring to the group with their leadership. They have a great advantage in knowing from personal experience how to relate both to the little kids, as well as the other leaders--about this, I'm very excited. They both also show a lot of maturity and responsibility. They seem to have it down pretty well, but please keep them in your prayers as they make this transition and step into a larger leadership role.
What can I say, except that I feel it has really come to the point of the "kids" here at Casa Aleluya taking full ownership of the program, as the foreign leadership steps out of the picture. This being our vision and desire for Casa Aleluya as a whole, seeing this one piece of the picture come to fruition is great encouragement and fresh air for the soul. I pray you rejoice with us in this (though it may seem small, it is indeed big!) victory!
As I type, Marlin from the University girls dorm is moving her stuff into the apartment of our dorm, and later today Norma and Ingrid will move their stuff in as well, with the trio overseeing the precious young ladies in our dorm. I'm so thankful to know we have such good young ladies to take care of the rest in the dorm and make sure everything is running smoothly. Please pray for them all--the new dorm mentors and the rest of the girls living here, as they make this transition.
These girls have truly been a blessing to me over the past year and a half. We've definitely had our moments when they were not exactly angels (but then I've had my moments like that too!) but by and large, they have blessed me greatly.
I was blessed with the funds, because of many of your generosity, to be able to take them out to a nice dinner last Thursday. We went to this little, very genuine, Italian restaurant in Antigua, where they prepared a special meal just for us. It was such a sweet time, and we pretty much had the place to ourselves, so we really enjoyed our time together and had a chance to tell each other at least a little bit of what we mean to each other--and yes, I cried, but thankfully not too much, so that we could all still enjoy the very tasty food!
I'm going to miss these girls a lot.
Last night I went upstairs to say goodnight and make sure everyone was inside, and I got a chance to sit and talk with Vivian and Ludy for a little bit. Those are some of the sweetest times, just chatting and enjoying each other's company. At one point I started to cry. Vivian held me, and then she and Ludy told me "No, no don't cry Ginny--think of the good times and funny moments, so you'll laugh and not be sad." They are such sweet girls. I love them so much and am so thankful for the time I've gotten to spend here with them. I've tried to tell them at some points how they've likely blessed me in a greater way than I have them--well, there are also 16 of them! Seriously though, they are beautiful young women in so many ways.
Please keep them in our prayers--for their school, interpersonal relationships (including the romantic ones!), their relationship with the Lord--pray they would grow ever-closer with Him and allow Him to tear down walls of fear, pain, hardness, and whatever things they've used other than the Lord to cope with the struggles they've encountered in their lives so far.
My prayers for them are healing, freedom from spiritual bondage, growth and intimacy with the Lord, success (though not necessarily the world's definition of it,) and that in everything, they would be light and salt to the world around them, both here at Casa Aleluya and beyond these gates, and that they would always see and know the Lord's hand and blessing with them in everything they do. Please join me in praying this for them.
Thank you all for your faithfulness, love, time, prayers, material provisions and generosity in giving to these girls, the staff here, me personally, all the kids, and this ministry as a whole. It has been a blessing to work with you, and may our Lord bless you richly in everything. (Numbers 6:24-26)
in His hands,
Ginny
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