Dearest Friends,
JUAN GABRIEL AND FRIENDS
This afternoon we spent a most delightful time at an orphanage. These children had all suffered greatly, and it was an honor to make them smile. One little boy, Juan Gabriel, looked so much like my little grandson, Aiden. He was the youngest of all the children, and so it seemed to me especially sad that such a little boy would be in this place. When he came in the room, he was not smiling, but very quickly I saw the most wonderful smile.
All of the children in this orphanage still have parents who live in the area. They do not understand why they cannot live with their parents, why they do not want them. Their parents are alcoholics and drug addicts. One little girl complained to her mother that her mother’s boyfriend was treating her inappropriately. The mother did not believe her, and accused her of trying to steal her boyfriend and sent her to the orphanage to punish her. She has remained there ever since. Most of the children have stories like this.
I told the story of Joseph to the children. They really identified with this story, because Joseph’s family failed him too. It was so sweet to hear them calling on Jesus, asking Him to rescue them. They really need a rescue!
Our friends from La Pintana have committed to come back to this place and other places where we have done show to tell them more Bible stories. They need your help! They have almost no tools to do this work with the children. I talked with them today about providing them with lots and lots of felt cutouts they can use to tell stories. Andrea said that she had seen one of these kits, but it had been too expensive for her to buy. For me to buy the largest pack of felt Bible stories I can buy and pay for the extra suitcase for a friend to transport it to Chile, I will need $1000. I really need someone with a big heart to see these children’s big needs and provide this gift for them. I also need someone to see the needs of the children we will be serving this summer. We are developing a new program and have many upcoming expenses relating to that project, as well as the purchase of thousands of Bibles for children. Please pour prayer on these needs. Please hold these sweet children from the orphanage in you prayers.
FOUR SHOWS
We did three shows at a school for very privileged children, but whether a child is rich or poor, they need Jesus. The Catholic religion teacher came to me after the show. She had tears in her eyes and thanked me for the program. She said that it had touched her heart and it had touched the hearts of all the children. Our show #4 was in a very poor part of town and something unusual happened. The teachers were offended by the Gospel and made us stop the program. By the time they became offended, we had already finished the Bible story and prayed with them. I believe God kept them from stopping us sooner. So many of those children came and gave us hugs. They were very hungry for love.
LIFE IN CHILE
We have eaten horse meat and survived two earthquakes. We actually slept through both of them! Today we saw a dormant volcano. We enjoyed a brief visit to the Pacific Ocean this past Sunday. We rode in an acensor, which is a box that slides uphill and downhill on a metal track. It had a very steep slope and a very funny name, Concepcion. Who names an elevator? We also saw the first Protestant church in South America that was allowed to have a steeple and bells. Chile is a beautiful country, full of mountains that seem to touch the sky. However, you can rarely see the mountains because of the smog. They are under a severe air alert because the pollution levels are so high. The air is very difficult to breathe. We are having an amazing time!
In Jesus,
Linda