Update on the Washer

I just realized we haven't done an update about our laundry situation since the post about our only washing machine breaking down and having to wash by hand.  So here is what's happened since then:

After about four months of phone calls trying get the repair guys to come out, and no luck with having the machine repaired, we were ever so grateful for a generous donation from someone who knew of our situation and wanted to help out.  Finally a new machine! Praise God!

I also got a big surprise when I came home one day to a new washing machine in our house!  My amazing husband, and Avis and Tammy had all pitched in to buy one that the three of us can share.  This works out great, and now we don't have to worry about getting in the way of the house moms doing their many loads a day.

The new washing machine is working great so far, but I have noticed that the house moms still often do laundry by hand in the kitchen sink.  This is because one washing machine is not quite enough to meet the demands, and with that machine running almost all day every day, we can be certain that just like the other washers we have gone through, this one will only last so long and before we know it we'll be needing a new one again.  We know now that standard household washers are clearly not made to handle this amount of laundry a day, so it was time to look into other options. After looking into prices for commercial washers, the kind used in laundromats, we found that they were a little (well actually more like a lot) out of our price range, and decided on a semi-commercial instead, which brings the price down to less than half of what a commercial washer costs.  The problem is that Go Ye still didn't have anywhere close to enough money to buy a semi-commercial washer either.  But, thank God, He always provides. And this time He provided through Tammy's church in the States.  Tammy went home to visit her family for a few weeks in June, and during that time her church family stepped in to help.  They decided that their VBS project this year would be to help the needs at Casa de Paz, and within a week they had raised enough money to buy us the semi-commercial washer!!  All I can say is THANK YOU LORD!! Not only did He provide us with the funds needed to buy a high quality washing machine, but He also gave us more family; another whole group of brothers and sisters who love and care for us.  We are looking forward to personally meeting and getting to know a few of Tammy's church members when they come to Casa de Paz for their January mission trip.

God is Good.  He is so Good, so so good to us. :)

On a side note I should add that we do not have the new semi-commercial washer yet.  We are in the process of trying to get a hold of the company.  But hopefully soon.

Bienvenida, Angelita

Another baby girl!  Welcome, Angelita!  Thank You Father for providing this place - Casa de Paz - a House of Peace, a place for Your precious little ones to call home. Thank You Father for the great plans that You have for Angelita's life!

Creating Hope

Exciting new things are happening at Casa de Paz. With Avis' book on the verge of being published, we are seeing a new light of hope for Go Ye ministries. Up until now Go Ye Ministries has been supported by Avis and her family, and donations. It is nothing short of a miracle that we are still here; God has been faithful to provide all these years. But since the original supporters of Go Ye, which is mostly Avis' family, are all getting older and may not be here for much longer, it was now time to move forward and find new ways to keep this ministry going. As Avis says "We don't always want to be holding our hand out" It would be so great if we could make a bit of our own income to help with costs, and Avis' book will help do that as all the proceeds will go to Go Ye. Our prayer is that as Avis shares her story with the world, God will touch hearts and inspire a desire for more willing hearts to support and be a part of His ministry here in Pacasmayo, Peru. I really have no doubt that it will; Avis is one of the most inspiring women I know, and I am blessed to work alongside her and learn from her. She is an amazing example of what it looks like to walk by faith and live life on fire for God.

Avis Goodhart - founder of Go Ye Min

Another exciting thing happening, one of Avis' long time dreams for Casa de Paz is finally becoming a reality. Years ago Avis had invested in high quality sewing machines in hopes of starting a business to help make a bit of an income for Casa de Paz, but only now is it finally happening.  Ysabel, a self taught seamstress, was hired about a year ago to sew and make things to sell, and also teach the Casa girls how to sew and crochet. Just recently, Avis gave her sewing business a name. Creating Hope. Everyone agreed that this name suits well as that is exactly what the goal is for this business; to create hope. Hope for a better future for Casa de Paz, and for our kids to learn good life skills. And hope for the people in the community; we can provide jobs for women to help them make an income to provide for their own families. 

Tammy, one of the full-time volunteers at Casa de Paz, is working on making a web page for Creating Hope, where people will be able to shop online and have the products shipped by mail. Ysabel has been teaching me how to sew and crochet, and I am excited to learn, and be a part of this new adventure. Ysabel is naturally talented and gifted; she makes most of her own designs and creates beautiful work, but she is not familiar with some of the bigger sewing machines. We are still looking for an experienced seamstress who could help teach us how to use the serger machine for better quality sewing.

The dresses in the picture below were all made by Ysabel. She also makes beautiful handbags, blouses, tablecloths and place mats, decorative pillow covers, slippers, and crocheted scrubbies for washing dishes. And more!

The girls modeling a few of Ysabels beautiful dresses.

Crocheting with Ysabel

Mom & Dad visit

I always say that blood does not make family, God makes family. But how wonderful when your God family just happens to be blood family as well. I can't pit to words the great week we had with my parents and nephew here. My kids got to see their grandparents, my dad got to eat ceviche,(lime cooked fish) on the street. We went for walks on the beach. But more than all that they got to see a little of what our life here looks like, our water tank broke while they were here so we started out our search for a new one and ended up spending an entire day looking for a tank we liked and in the end still just ended up with a small one that at first we paid no attention to. By the way thank you dad for paying for it. Our van needed some repair, so my dad got to see what it means to find a mechanic here that you can trust that he knows what he's doing and won't rip you off. Also we needed a new headlight ( o did you think the mechanic took care of that!¿ nope it doesn't work that way here) and of course we ended up at the store just after two, silly me forgot that all stores are closed from 1:30 to 4:00. Than we went to the Trujillo market, my dad bought a bunch of belts to take back, and after paying we got escorted to a safe spot by the guard because he feared we may get robed. But more even than all that we talked and shared our lives with one another, life is really good don't get me wrong but it isn't perfect and there is always something to complain about, and how great when you can share those things with your own dad. Reminds me that we have another dad that beats even the best of dads here on earth, and we may forget how awesome it it that we can share everything with him, he's never to busy or losses interest in what we have to say. Praise God. Bless you in Jesus name amen.

Genesis

It's not often that we have a newborn at Casa de Paz, but last month a new baby girl was brought to us at just 10 days old right out of the hospital. Casa de Paz orphanage is her first home. In a way, that is sad, but on the other hand it far outweighs being in an abusive home with people who don't want her.  The mother is a young 16 year old who was said to be mentally unstable and not able to care for a baby, and as in so many cases, no one really knows who the father is.  The baby girl was left nameless until she came to Casa de Paz where our orphanage director, Gina gave her the name Genesis.  Everyone agreed that the name suited her well.

Baby Genesis is a blessing to everyone here at Casa de Paz. She is in the great care of our wonderful house moms, and also has many older brothers and sisters to love on her. We are all cherishing the time we have with Genesis, especially knowing her time at Casa de Paz will be short, as babies are usually quick to be adopted.  

A day or two after Genesis' arrival, we got a visit from a lovely couple from San Pedro, (a nearby town). We recognized them right away, they had visited the orphanage the previous year.  She is American and he is Peruvian, and they are also missionaries to Peru. It turns out that they have been following all our Facebook and blog updates, and came as soon as they heard about baby Genesis. This couple had been wanting to adopt for several years already, but had been waiting for God's confirmation. Well the moment they saw Genesis, they both knew without a doubt that they needed to adopt her. She was worth the wait. The adoption process was started almost immediately. We are praying for a quick and smooth adoption process, and if all goes well, Genesis will go home with her new parents in about 5 - 6 months. In the meantime the new parents are visiting daily to spend time with Genesis and help care for her needs, including buying diapers and formula, and we are enjoying the remaining time with Genesis at Casa de Paz. :) 

Esteban's Healing

I love when God changes my mind. I used to think that I could do this Christian walk on my own, and I carried an attitude of 'I don't need anybody, God is all I need!'.  I think part of where this attitude came from was because of my lack of trust in people. But God has slowly been changing my heart and my way of thinking, because although I still think that it may be possible, I don't believe that that's how God wants us to live, doing it on our own. I've started to see more and more in the past few years how important it is to be surrounded by the Body of believers.

God's word encourages us to meet together, and pray together. "For where two or three gather in my name, there I am with them" Matt 18:20.  

God wants us to worship and fellowship together, to encourage and teach one another."And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another - and all the more as you see the Day approaching." Heb 10:24,25.

 And, God wants us to help each other when in need. One of the greatest ways God works in our lives is through other people. And there is never nothing we can do to help when a brother or sister is in need; We can Always pray, in fact prayer should always be an automatic response when we see someone in need....I have seen God work many miracles through the power of prayer. But, sometimes there are situations where God calls us to do more than pray...

"Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?" (James 2:15, 16) 

We're praising God for Esteban's healing. It was through the prayers of many, lifted up to heaven, and, those who were able to do more to help, stepping out in faith and taking action, that God worked out Esteban's healing. The trip to Trujillo our small team took for the second blood donation was a success!  There was enough blood donated for Esteban to be able to have the surgery to remove the tumor. He is now cancer free and on the mend!! Thank You Lord!!

Not so Happy Mothers Day

Mothers Day is one of the biggest and most celebrated holidays in Peru.  One of the first thing we learned when we moved here was that Peruvians LOVE to throw parties and celebrate. And they like to go all out, with games and dancing, presents, and of course lots of food. Well, we celebrated Feliz Dia de la Madre for close to a full week!  I felt very loved and special, but honestly I was glad when it was over.  I'm really not much of a party person... for me just knowing that I'm appreciated for all I do as a mom is enough.

dancing for the mamas :)

Generation of Leaders school program

All the Casa de Paz mamas dancing

Putting on a skit

Fun games

A traditional Spanish Ballad

  

The kids from our school "Generation of Leaders" came to the orphanage to put on a show for the mamas. It was a full house, everyone was dressed up, and each mom received a pretty rose pin as they came in.  The kids did an amazing job.... some sang songs, some put on little skits, and to end it off there was a hot meal for everyone.  It was a great day filled with love and laughter, but there was also another side, an unspoken sadness... The kids love and adore their Casa de Paz mamas, there's no doubt about that, but that doesn't mean they don't think about their biological mothers, especially on Mother's Day. I remember this from last year, it was the first time in my life where I actually thought about what mothers day must be like for kids with no moms, or even worse - kids with moms who abused and abandoned them. I can only begin to imagine what some of the kids at Casa de Paz must be feeling when they think of their mothers.  Hurt, betrayed, disappointment, unwanted. And at the same time they just miss their moms. This year there was one girl in particular who I noticed was extra quiet and often withdrew from the crowds during the celebrations. My heart aches for her. I want to make it all better for her, but I don't know how. So I did what I always do when I see one of the kids crying, I just held her, and spoke words of life to her. "You are loved, you are wanted, you are important, you are a child of God and He has a great purpose for your life.  

As she wept on my shoulder I thought about her story... 14 years old, oldest of 5 siblings...Their father had a job that required for him to be away from home a lot, leaving the kids in their mothers care, and that's where the problem was - they did not receive any care from their mother. I don't know all the details but I can imagine that this beautiful young girl was the one caring for her 4 younger siblings, the youngest being an 6 month old baby. Their father is now fighting to regain custody, and visits now and then, but the kids have not seen their mother since arriving at Casa de Paz almost a year ago.

I can't help but be furious every time I hear stories like this. Just a couple days after Mothers Day we had another little boy brought to us. His own mother had beaten him to the point where he had to be brought to the hospital and bandaged up. It is one thing to hear about men abusing children, but mothers?!?! When I think 'mother' I think Protect, Nurture, Teach, Love...At least that's the kind of care I remember receiving from my mom, and it's the kind of mom I try to be to my own kids.

But as much as I feel anger toward these unfit mothers, the Lord is showing me a new side of it, causing me to feel sadness, and even compassion for them as well.

Every time I cry out to God on behalf of these children, asking why God? How? I don't understand! He replies "Exactly, you don't understand. It is not your job to understand. Your job is to love. No matter what."

And I ask "Okay, well how am I supposed to love these abusive mothers?" And He replies "Pray for them.  LOVE your enemies and PRAY for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven." (Matt 5:44)

So I pray. And as I've been praying for them, I'm seeing more and more that God loves them and this was never His plan for their life, and it was never their plan for their life. There is a lot of brokenness and pain, there are demons that need to be driven out, spiritual strongholds that need to be broken.... There is a lot of healing that needs to happen. There are moms out there who don't know Jesus, some who might not ever even have heard of Him...

So I pray.