We started off the month of June with such great joy seeing six of our youth come forward for baptism. My heart filled with such joy to watch as Alison, Keyla (pictured above), Linda, Bryan, Ronniel and Zamir made this commitement to the Lord. We rejoice as they fall more in love with Him.
This month was the time to buy uniforms again for all of our sponsored students as they prepare to start their second semester of classes in July. One of our teenagers, Gerald, (pictured above) came to me after receiving his uniform with a huge smile on his face telling me how excited he is because he's never had a school uniform before. I love to see our sponsorship program helping kids to feel good about themselves.
Cadence and I went to visit sweet Delinger in Nuevo Amanecer while his broken leg heals. We were able to bring him some books, coloring books, crayons, and a puzzle to help keep him entertained while he's on bed rest. I love this kid's joy! And we taught him the US tradition of decorating casts. It was such a fun afternoon.
The biggest part of our ministry this month and what has been on my heart more than anything else is my beautiful Lydia and her family as they continue to fight with her health issues. She has been in and out of the hospital for the last several month and the doctors still don't know the cause of her illness. This month we spent a lot of time praying over this sweet love and her family and just pouring out love over her. We're still believing for healing!
This month we welcomed a new sister to our New Song family. We are excited to have Monterey here with us for the next three months working in partnership with the clinic to complete health surveys and create a curriculum that local health workers can use to teach preventative health measures in our communities. She is adventurous, kind and full of life. We are blessed to have her join us.
It was such a blessing to have Don with us again this month. We love our Don Don! He has been visiting our communities taking water samples to continue searching for a cause to the kidney disease that plagues our community. We are so thankful for his dedication, faithfulness, and hard work. Cadence and I also had to privilege to take Don to visit with each of his sponsored students and their families. I love to see the beautiful relationship he's building with them.
This month I had my best Nica adventure yet! We went to Somoto Canyon (almost to the Honduran border) for a FULL day (over 12 hours total trip) of hiking, swimming floating, climbing, jumping, and boating our way through the canyon. I love adventure days with my New Song family! The canyon was breathtakingly beautiful. My favorite part was leaping from the rocks into the river below. I love it!
This month we once again faced death in one of our precious families. One of the families in Santa Matilde lost their husband and father to a mystery illness at the age of 28. I will never get used to burying people younger than me and spending time with 23-year old widows. However, it is a wonderful moment to be able to come close to a family in their hurt and show them that the Lord sees them in their suffering and hears their heart's cry. Many new widows fear for their children and worry how they will be able to provide for them. I love to find sponsors for families in difficult situations because you can see it speak to their hearts that they have see the One who sees them.
I've been so proud to see my Santa Matilde kids improving in their reading and math skills. Alicia and I are still working way below grade level, but she is improving in her counting skills (pictured above working with math manipulatives to practice counting and addition). I have also been so proud of Yubelkis and Nataly do so well with phoneme awareness and letter sounds. I believe they will be great readers soon.
In Santa Matilde, we've also been doing a lot more story time with our kids. I love reading to our little ones and watching them fall in love with books. Animated story reading is one of my favorite things to do with my kiddos. My mom sent me some awesome children's books in Spanish and I have loved getting to try them out. My 1st and 2nd graders love ending every week's tutoring sessions with a read aloud time.
We ended the month with an early birthday celebration for my dear friend, Rosita. Cadence, Rosita, and I went to Chinandega for pizza (Rosita's favorite), food dares, World Cup watching, and then a 3D movie to end the evening. It was such a sweet time! I loved getting to celebrate Rosita and to give her a day that's all about her and speaks to her how loved she is.
