Feliz Navidad!

“Oh, Father, bless this site and the people who have come in it over the past year.  Keep them safe and in Your care over this Christmas season.  Si tu quieres (if it is Your will) bring us back again in January to serve You again.  Amen.”

We were leaving the Social Work Site in El Callejon for the final time this year.  Making sure all the windows were closed, all the doors locked, and the water turned off.  We had gone around the El Callejon ‘loop’ saying goodbye, talking and praying as we went. 

We are two weeks from celebrating Christmas.  Sadly, when we should all be focused on Jesus emptying Himself to come and save us, many focus instead of being as filled up (with alcohol, food, gifts, fights, flirtations) as they can.  It’s true back in the U.S., it’s true in El Callejon, too. 

So, we pray.  We pray for the families of El Callejon and the surrounding communities.  That they would resist the temptations of overspending and over-indulging, which are so common at this time of year.  That the partying would not get out of hand and dangerous. 

That the Prince of Peace would reign in the hearts and minds and souls of those He came to save, both here, and throughout the world. 

We ask you to join us in lifting up this community.  Over the past year we have seen progress, ‘thin places’ where God’s kingdom is breaking in.  The little ones learning to say ‘please’, the teens eager to explore difficult questions of faith, couples like Luz and Fermin and Kathy and Richie becoming legally married.  We’ve welcomed students and outreach participants from the U.S. who have come and shared their lives and the love of Jesus. 

We have also watched relationships between parents and children struggle, seen teen girls ‘get married’ at 16, lost members of our fellowship to sickness and death.  There have been days and weeks when it’s felt futile to continue. 

But, we remind ourselves that Jesus came, He died for our sins, He rose again and is returning.  In Him, the hopeless find hope.  In Him, everything is able to be redeemed for our good and His Father’s glory. 

We thank each of you for your support, love, interest, and most especially, your prayers.  The work is not easy, but nothing worth doing is! 

As we go home to visit family and friends (Daisy to Columbia, Kimberley to the U.S.) we know we can trust in our all-powerful, all-loving God to care for His beloved people in El Callejon.  He was there before we arrived, and will stay even if we leave.  All praise to Him!

We pray that each of you has a wonderful Christmas celebrating God-with-us.  We look forward to sharing more stories of Meeting Jesus in El Callejon in 2013.  Until then, Dios te bendiga!!