Prayer Update - July 2006

"It is for freedom that Chist has set us free. Stand firm then, and do not let
yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery" Galations 5 : 1

Prayer Update - July 2006

"Therefore my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give
yourself fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labour in the
Lord is not in vain. 1 Corinthians 15:58

Hi to all our friends around the world! Let me start by saying "Happy Friendship Day" to you all! Here in Bolivia,
the 23rd July is Friendship Day and everyone celebrates by sending messages, and cards to their friends. It's
something that we don't have back home, but having a special day to remember the importance of friends is a nice
idea, don't you think? Thank you all for your gift of friendship to us.

"A friend loves at all times" Proverbs 17:17

July has been a tough month in some ways, not least because of the behaviour of the kids (let's just say it's not
good!), but it's also been a encouraging time too and we hope that you will pray with us for various issues that we
have come up against this past month.

Just after the last report, the Totai health staff working in the area of
"Programme for the Prevention of Hearing Impairment" visited the
children's home to do hearing tests on all the children and staff and
were even able to test the babies with new equipment donated from
Scotland. Wax dissolving ear drops were distributed and the children
with more serious problems will be referred to the health centre for
further treatment.

The children from the prison started coming along to the health
centre for their health checks, where they are seen by the doctor,
nurse, physiotherapist, dentist and also have a vision and hearing
test. Twenty children have been seen this month and have received
treatment and medicine where necessary. The main problems were
parasite infections, skin problems and a few cases of malnutrition, all
of which are now being treated. One little boy was referred to a
cardiologist after the doctor detected a heart murmour, which his
parents had never had checked out since his dad is in prison and
the cost was prohibitive. The cardiologist has asked for more specific
tests and thinks that ultimately surgery is the only option, but he
doesn't know quite how urgent it is yet. Please pray for Chepi, who is
7 years old, as he goes to Santa Cruz for more tests and that we will
be able to support him and his family as they wait for the results.

Girls from the children's home

Hearing Tests in the Children's Home

The first two weeks of July were the school holidays here in Trinidad. Their long holidays are during their summer
(our winter), over the Christmas period - everything is the wrong way round -it can get confusing! To take
advantage of this free time that the children had, a holiday bible club was set up at church by the pastor every
morning for the first week and two days of the second week (for more information on the church, click here) The
children from church, sports and the freedom kids programmes were invited to come along and participate. There
were around 70 children every day and we had a great time with the children. We started off with a worship time
and taught some new songs, then watched a video, had a quiz and a games time. The children learnt a lot from
the "McGee and Me" videos, which dealt with themes such as lying, cheating, playing fair, and doing the right
thing. There was also a colouring in competition, with pictures related to the videos and there were some great
pictures entered!

Games Time!

The Holiday Bible Club

After the holidays, we started our twice weekly classes with the
prison children again, on Tuesday and Thursdays, morning and
afternoon. Our morning group was quite small, as most of the
children study in the morning and come to class with us in the
afternoon, but the morning group is older and the children are
enthusiastic and eager to come along and learn so we wanted to
do our best to keep going with these classes. Since there are
only 4 children in the prison to come out in the morning, we have
invited the ex-prison kids to come along too. They now live in the
local area and are arrive on motorbike taxis. The past week we
have had between 8 and 10 children attending these morning
classes and we hope to start a bible study with them in the next
couple of weeks. We need to go to Santa Cruz to look for
materials and bibles. Last year almost all of the children in the
prison received a bible and we hope to be able to give a bible to
each girl in the children's home, as well as the new children in
the prison.

The morning class

The afternoon group of children is much bigger with over 20
children most days and they're also much younger (we have
five 3-4 year olds!) so they are quite a handful! The plan
with this group is to back up what they're learning in Sunday
School, where they're starting in Genesis and going through
the bible. We're going to base our activities and videos on
the bible stories that we're teaching and hope that this,
along with Sunday School will really help the younger ones
to understand the important aspects of the stories that
they're learning.

The behaviour has been less than perfect for the past few
weeks and it can be really frustrating at times, especially on
Sundays when we can have up 50 children from the prison,
orphanage and community and we're responsible for getting
them to church and home again. Due to the quantity of kids,
we have to do at least 2 trips in the truck so Sunday is now a
very long day. Please pray for us as we work with these
children, and that God will give us a constant supply of
patience and understanding.

We also would ask for prayer for a situation in the prison
with a family that I've known for over 5 years. Maira's
husband is now in jail and she has been leaving her older
daughters at home alone to be able to live in the prison with
him. We had to speak to social services the other day and
the father is now annoyed with us and doesn't want his
younger children to come to classes with us. Please pray for
this family, that Maira will realise that her responsibility lies in
caring for her children, and especially for the older girls -
that they would start going to school every day and not miss
classes and that they would know God's protection and love.

The afternoon class

One of our 4 years old students

I have been suffering from frequent headaches and insomnia this month which have left me feeling very tired and
without much energy. It's been hard with the children's difficult behaviour, because patience doesn't last too long
when you're exhausted! Please pray for my health and that God will strengthen me and give me the extra energy
and patience I need to work with the kids, even when I'm tired and they're being awkward!

Chicho has been playing the guitar at church for the past month and is a one man band at the moment! He's been
learning all the children's songs and now plays in class and at the children's home and the kids are much more
enthusiastic now that we have music. They're still pretty much tone deaf, but it sounds slightly better than before!
The most important thing is that they are singing praises to God and it's so encouraging to see them singing and
doing the actions. I'm still looking for a keyboard to be able to help out in the area of music.

Last month we asked for prayer for somewhere to live. We spoke to the owners of the house that we are living in
and they have offered us the house for a contract of one year or two years. We're still praying, but it looks like
this is where we'll stay. It's a good location, has a great big room at the front for the kids' classes and we feel that
God could really use this house as a place to serve him until we are able to build our own house with children's
centre. Please pray for clarity on the house issue.

We are hoping to travel to Santa Cruz next week to buy class materials, a bible study book and bibles for the girls
in the children's home. Chicho is going to be in charge of the studies for the morning classes so please pray for
him as he looks for books in Santa Cruz for the kids. I'm trying to arrange a date in August to have a sleepover
with a group of teenage girls, with time to get to know each other, watch a video, make pizza and have a bible
study. Please pray for the building of real friendships with these girls and that God would use me to reach out to
them.

For a summary of prayer points, which will be updated regularly, click here

Thank you all for your prayers. Please keep in touch.

love Rachel and Chicho xxx