Father to the Fatherless

     This week the Fatherhood of God has been on my mind fairly regularly. I have been trying to think how to share with these children His love. The children, with whom I am surrounded, are hungry for love. They have no one constant in their lives. No one that they can turn to in any situation. They don't know what a father should be. I want to share with them how God is the perfect Father, how he will always be with them. That they needn't feel as if their self-worth comes from the esteem of others, but that they are worth something, because they are a child of the heavenly Father.

Please pray for all of these children, who yearn to be loved.

     Pray for the little girl (only ten years old), who flaunts her body in order to get attention and "love" from those around her. Her mom is a prostitute, she knows nothing else. Pray that she realizes beauty isn't in the outward appearance, it is in the heart.

     Pray for the little boy who thinks that to be loved he must entertain and please everyone. As a street vendor he had to be comical to get people to buy from him, pray that he doesn't use this to cover up the hurt thats inside.

     Pray for the siblings (A 13 year old girl, 9 year old girl and twins that are 6) who are hurting because their older sister ran away. Pray that they will be able to trust God is watching over them and her. They have told me they are worried for her safety, pray that God will protect her.

     Pray for the little girl who is about to be adopted. Praise the Lord! Her new parents are coming this week. While she is excited, she is also extremely nervous. Who wouldn't be? Meeting your new family... leaving everyone who has been your friends and family for years, going to a new country, and having to learn a new language... when very few people you encounter will speak your native tongue? Pray that the transition will be smooth, praise the Lord she is going to a home that loves Him.

     Pray for the two girls, some of my dear friends here, who will be leaving this week. This Albergue has been their home for many, many years... and now they must take the first step in growing up. At ages 18 and 17, they are going to transitional home. The 17 year old will begin a path to the university, the 18 will begin some kind of job. Pray that they will trust God throughout this very scary time. Pray for them to adapt quickly and to quickly make new friends. It will be a big change to go from living with 40+ people, to living with 7. Pray that they aren't lonely.

     Pray for the sibling group (Boy 13ish, girl 11ish, and boy 7ish) who, because of the selfishness of their mother, had a failed adoption, their mother will never be able to take them home, and the government is saying they will never be available for adoption again. Pray especially for the oldest boy. He is taking this very hard, even talking about suicide. Pray he can see he is loved.

     There are many more stories, which I will leave for another day. Please remember all of the children here. Any one of them has been through more than I could ever imagine. I am daily reminded to rejoice in my many blessings.

Here are a few pictures of this week's happenings...

Brought a table and a fan in my room. I had to get everything off the floor to dry out my room. This picture was taken after we got the two inches of water out.

The buckets outside my room, collecting water. Some of  these we actually had to dump and couple times.

 

I am sure that some of you have heard me talk about the Salaverry burgers. Salaverry is the little town closest to us. There is a little "restaurant" (you can't really call it that) in the town that sells these burgers. I like to get three meat (as you can see, the patties are nearly paper thin), but others prefer two meat and a fried egg. Anyway, it comes with fries on the burger and it is oh, so delicious.

Here is a close up

 Bonfire!

 Pablo

 Rosita

 Rosita with her little brother Alejo

 Paul

 Yemalit and Sam. I am going to miss Yemalit when she leaves this week!

 Sisters, Isabel and Heydi

 Heydi and Yessica

 Jorge

 Isabel, Heydi, and Cristina

 Abraham and Oscar

Brigette, Isabel (House mother who is leaving this week), Sofia, Another house mother (I can't spell her name) :-), and Cristina