changes in Animana...

As you may remember, I went to the town of Animana last year and had the chance to go back. Last year the kids of the town were horrible. They were mean and had such tough exteriors. You could just see the fact that they had such a hard life and had lived through many things at home. It was a very tough time to have patience and love for the children and teenagers.

This year we were totally surprised with the way the kids had changed. They were so loving and willing to talk and hug and hang out with us. I got to see many of the children I met last year and see how much they had really changed. It was so surprising the way they had opened up and softened their tough exteriors from a year ago.

These are a few of the teenage girls I tried to make relationships with last year and didn't have any results. This year we spent a lot of time hanging out and talking deeply about the Lord. It was a complete change. In the second picture is one of my friends from last year who was the most special to me.  Josue is his name,8 years old, and he comes from a hard family story as well, having lost his dad at a very young age and his mother who doesn't care much about him. As well as last year, he's still the trouble maker of the town, but he remembered what we had talked about the story of Jesus. One day he was waiting for me early in the morning, he had been walking around waiting for me and shooting birds with his sling-shot.  He had a lot of questions for me about the Bible and about who Jesus was. I had a kid's magazine for us to read together. He read to me that morning and his questions continued. It was a great experience to share the love of Jesus with him, that he doesn't see from his neighbors, his friends, not even his family.

making connections...

The culture and way of life in these towns of the Valleys of the North are very particular. They are very much small town ways of living. Its normal to leave your doors unlocked all the time and people are just trusted, bikes are left outside of the neighborhood grocery. There's a trust within the families as well, where the kids can roam free to all of the other houses in the town.

One of our daily walks to visit houses.

Along with that comes a curiosity when new people come to town. We would be walking down the street and meet new people all the time, especially the kids. They would come up to us and ask what we were doing, who we were, or why we were visiting their town. My favorite thing to do was to ask the kids who came up to come along with us to invite for the film projection we were going to do that day. They would come with us and of course knew everyone in town so they could tell us who lives where and how many kids lived in the house and all the details! It was a great way to have a mini tour guide!

 A few connections we came across, or the Lord brought our way were the son of the pastor of a church way deep in the mountains who got us connected with his dad, Marcelina who works in the Municipal center as the Secretary for the Council of Women, and the bakery's owner told us of a family in need who lives up in the mountain in tents.  They don't receive any help from the town because they don't support the government, so some of the guys on our team paid them a visit to share the gospel with them as well as leave them clothing donations.  The connections were just un-ending in all of the little towns.

open doors in San Carlos..

As I explained in my prayer letter, the Lord gave us so many opportunities in the small town of San Carlos. Along with all of the contacts we made, there was one family there who are believers. They were a vital part of our time spent in the town. Martha, the mother, was a prayer warrior during our time. She has 3 daughters who all attend the schools. The principals allowed us to show the Jesus film in the schools, presenting the gospel to all of the students.

However, we didn't get to hear much about the results from the showings. Because it was in a school, we couldn't pray or ask the crowd who had accepted Christ. The evening after one of the movies was shown for the 2nd-5th grade group, I was talking with Martha's daughter. I asked her how she liked the movie and if she learned anything new. She told me that she loved it and her teachers did too. She said that after the movie in her normal class, her teacher couldn't stop crying with tears of joy because of what she had seen. It was a great conformation that the Lord is working and moving in the hearts of the people.

many stories to tell...

There are seriously so many stories that I've got stored up that I'd love to share from the Valles Project. I shared a couple in my prayer letter that just went out this month, but I have so many that I want to share with y'all!

The three and a half weeks were full of adventures and exciting surprises. The work we did there in the North was very different from my day-to-day here in La Plata. Some of the main focuses are to share the Gospel with the people of the towns, distribute donations, get the local churches connected with the non-believers of the area, provide love and fun for the children and teenagers, and so much more.

Our prayer throughout the project was that the Lord would surprise us. One afternoon we loaded up a truck with donations and our team of 9 and went up the mountain, stopping house by house to give them out along the way. We stopped after about 4 houses well up the mountain where 3 women, one pregnant, and their children were waiting on the side of the path.

It turns out they were waiting on the March of the Virgin to pass by. The Catholic church holds marches or mini parades through the towns with the images of the virgin or statues to stop house by house reciting prayers and worshiping her and asking her to bless the town. These women and their children had been waiting over 5 hours for the virgin to pass. Instead of finding the virgin, we stopped to share with these women the hope of Jesus and give them  clothes to take home to their families, baby clothes for the expectant mother, school supplies for the kids, and some food items as well. It was a great picture to provide these Mothers with the hope they were waiting on and didn't even realize it.