Feliz Año Nuevo!

Feliz Año Nuevo!  As we welcome each new group back we greet each other with Happy New Year!  After visiting friends and family over Christmas in Columbia (Daisy) and the U.S. (Kimberley), we returned to El Callejon last week. 

It’s been great to be back, reconnecting with the women, teens, girls and other little ones of the community.  To hear how they are doing, to share in hugs and laughter again.  To look forward to this new year, knowing that Jesus is already there, and we can expect Him to move in powerful ways. 

We have a terrific team of students with us from The Forge, a gap year program in Texas.  They've brought great ideas and an incredible passion for Jesus with them.  What a wonderful way to begin 2013!

our students made 'flag banners' with the Chiquitas.
"Hija de Dios" means Child of God to help remind
them of how much He loves them!

As always, we’ve got lots of plans for the year, including new classes, encouraging the women to go deeper in their faith, more one-on-one discipling, finding new and creative ways to share the joy and hope and comfort of the Gospel. 

And, as always, we want to hold those plans loosely, allowing the Holy Spirit to guide us in all that we do.

Returning also meant plunging back into the problems of the community.  As you all know, poor choices, financial difficulties, and strained relationships, rarely take a ‘Christmas holiday’!  

We know that only the power of the Gospel can transform this community and the people living there.  And so, we have recommitted ourselves to making this our first priority.  In every situation, in every conversation and encounter, to speak of Jesus and His love, to point the women to our only Source of hope. 

the students teaching our Teens how to write
(and pronounce!) Child of God in English.  We want
them to remember who they are, and help with their desire
to learn English, too!

This year is going to be a full one, with more Outreaches (students, adults and others who come down to minister with us for one week, two weeks, or even several months) than ever before. 

Our prayer is that each of them will meet Jesus in new ways during their time with us.  That they, too, will come away with the conviction that the Gospel is the most important thing we can offer. 

It is a huge responsibility and honor to be in El Callejon, serving the people there, the participants who come down, and, most important of all, our Holy, Almighty, Triune God. 

We invite you to join us in prayer for the community, for Students International, for Daisy and Kimberley, for the many (many!) people back home who give sacrificially of their finances, who spend time in intercessory prayer, who write to encourage us, who visit.

We wish we could reach out and hug each of you and wish you Feliz Año Nuevo as well!  Know that we appreciate you and your interest in the big things God is accomplishing in this small part of His world!