Latin America ChildCare

A recent story from Missionaries Carrie and Matt Love…

On one of my return trips from the DR, a Dominican came up to me and said, “hey aren’t you a missionary? He recognized me because I preached at his church. He remembered me because of some very Dominican jokes I used about beans. We were both on the same flight to Detroit and I switched my seat to sit next to him. As it turns out he attended one of our LACC schools while growing up! His family was very poor and the only way he could attend was through a sponsor in the US. He graduated and today he is married with 2 kids and is an architect. Plus he leads Royal Rangers at the church!! Time and time again Carrie and I are blown away by how God completely transforms the lives of students through LACC in the DR. Thanks for being a part!!

Carrie and Matt Love are Latin America ChildCare Missionaries to the Dominican Republic. You can keep up with them at their website http://www.thewaytheyshouldgo.org.

It wasn’t supposed to happen! A tragic car accident … his mom injured … both his dad and little brother killed.

Christhian’s life was thrown into turmoil. Not only was he heartbroken and grieving … but he and his mom soon found that eking out a meager existence became a daily struggle.

Today, though, Christhian says, “Thanks to the help of the people in our church and my school, we’ve been able to survive.” He attends the LACC school in Guayaquil, Ecuador.

“Thank you to God and all the generous people who help me have an education, lunch, and many other blessings,” he says.

We’re grateful to friends and sponsors like you who allow Latin America ChildCare schools to be there for children when they suffer such terrible loss.

Denisse, another student at the Guayaquil school, has also benefited from the strength and comfort of her teachers and church family: her father died when she was just in second grade. Almost simultaneously, her little sister was born … but the birth was difficult, and both mom and baby suffered severe complications.

The little family struggles, but Denisse says, “I want to thank all the people who help me with school, food, and clothes, because they are a blessing to my family.”

She wants to be a doctor when she grows up, saying, “With the school’s help, I will make my dream come true.”

Her mother has recently chosen to follow Christ as Savior, and Denisse is thrilled that everyone in her family is now a Christian.

Texting in class? Unacceptable.

Hacking a teacher’s Facebook page? Possibly illegal.

But these offenses were nothing compared to what went on at Jeyco’s old school. The public school in Ciudad Sandino, Nicaragua, was overcrowded with students who would fight each other at the drop of a hat, regularly cussed at the teachers — who also cussed back at them! — and didn’t seem to learn much, no matter how often they actually came to class.

Then Jeyco was able to come to Nueva Vida, or “New Life” School, the Latin America ChildCare school in Sandino City. Everything began to change for him!

He made new friends, settled down to become a good student, and he really got serious about his relationship with the Savior, Jesus Christ.

Plus, the daily meal was a Godsend. His family has been struggling just to get food on the table. Knowing that Jeyco would have at least one nutritious meal a day at school was a wonderful blessing!

Jeyco’s mother passed away last March, and of course, he was bereft. But he is coping, with the help of his friends, teachers, family, and church.

Thanks for helping young people like Jeyco get a chance at “new life,” through your support of Latin America ChildCare. You’re making a powerful impact!

He tripped and fell — his arm twisted under him —

Jhonattan sat up in shock, and horror, staring at the shattered bone of his arm protruding through the skin!

The pain was intense. He thought he might die. But his legs still worked, so he ran home, showed the gaping wound to his horrified mother, and followed her to the street to try to find transportation to the hospital. They eventually ended up on a public bus.

For the long bumpy, painful ride, Jhonattan stared at his arm wondering if his life would ever be the same. In addition to going to a Latin America ChildCare school, Jhonattan also worked hard to help his mother. His father had abandoned the family long ago, and Jhonattan had many responsibilities. How could he fulfill them now, with a mangled arm?

The doctors gave Jhonattan painkillers as soon as they could. Surgery would be necessary, but there were complications, and 17 days went by before the procedure could be done.

Hopelessness preyed on Jhonattan’s mind. His mother stayed beside him, but she was often tearful. He himself had wondered again and again how he would be able to go to school and do his work now … as well as how the family could possibly afford his hospital bill and pay for the surgery.

The only highlight of these bleak days was that many of his friends from school, his teachers, and pastor came to visit him, to pray with and encourage him.

It gave Jhonattan the strength to pray, “Lord, I know you will not abandon me as my father did. I am Your son, and a Father will not abandon His son.”

And he was right!

Because of the faithfulness of friends like you, the Latin America ChildCare Extreme Poverty Fund was able to help pay for Jhonattan’s medical bills! His surgery was successful, and today his arm is completely well.

“Thank you for the help that only God could have made possible,” says Florence, Jhonattan’s mom. “I will remember you all my life … for the help and health you gave to my son — and for returning hope to him concerning the recuperation of the use of his right arm.”

Jhonattan, too, says thank you, again and again. Your loving help made all the difference for them.

A WITCH DOCTOR — practicing the dark arts, making potions, casting spells.

That’s the future Alejandro’s parents saw for him.

They were both occult practitioners in Bolivia. They wanted to train their young son to follow in their footsteps and converse with the demons.

But when Alejandro’s mother died, his father struggled to raise a young child alone. He put Alejandro to work on the streets, at the age of five! Two years later, Alejandro’s father passed away … leaving a seven-year-old boy alone, fending for himself.

His future looked bleak at that moment … but then he was taken in at a Christian children’s home, House of Peace, and was sent to a Latin America ChildCare school.

It changed Alejandro’s life!

He soon decided to follow Jesus, and at the age of 13 felt destiny calling. He believed the Lord wanted him to become a missionary to India. He began to study hard and learn all he could about India — its history and people.

Thanks to the loving support of a sponsor like you, Alejandro was able to finish school, graduate from high school, and then go on to university and seminary.

This October, Alejandro will leave Bolivia for India for his first missionary assignment.

His life has gone in such a radically different direction than the one his parents marked out for him, and his transformation was made possible, in part, by Latin America ChildCare and friends like you. Thank you for showing Alejandro the way to his new destiny! Thanks for your support of Latin America ChildCare.

A THREE-HOUR WALK TO SCHOOL.

That’s quite a hike for first-graders.

But brother and sister Eugenio and Edilcia make that commute every weekday morning. The Latin America ChildCare school that ministers in the remote mountainous Guaymi Indian village of Soloy, in northwest Panama, is the closest school to their home. And their parents understand how important it is for their children to get an education.

But missionaries Rod and Sherry Boyd say the school does so much more than just educate children in need.

“Would we have had the opportunity to minister to Eugenio and Edilcia if we didn’t have the school? Probably not. We’ve discovered that this Christian school ministry opens new doors of ministry in Panama,” they say.

“We are convinced that the Christian school ministry offers the highest possible level of commitment to evangelism and discipleship. Imagine the more than 30 hours each week dedicated to children and youth, where teachers consider themselves ‘pastors’ of the young people in their classrooms. Most of the kids who attend come from non-Christian homes.”

Thanks for being part of a transformative outreach that is touching the lives of children — and whole families! — in some of the most remote and needy areas of Latin America. You’re making a wonderful difference!

New paint, new doors and windows, electrical and plumbing fixes — the team from Chalk Hill Assembly in Texas poured out their compassion on a school in Nicaragua by fixing it up! They remodeled Escuela Nueva Jerusalén (New Jerusalem School) in León, Nicaragua, and also found time to do a presentation in chapel and minister to children and families. Thanks for your help, Chalk Hill!

By Phil Schmidt

The children were terrified! Rebel forces and government soldiers clashed in the street, and their school bus was caught in the crossfire!

When the smoke cleared, and the little ones dared raise up their heads from the floor where they’d cowered, they saw God had protected them: the bus was riddled with bullet holes, but not one of them had been hurt.

This is one of the memories Juan Carlos Gonzalez retains from the civil war in El Salvador when he was a boy, a student at a Latin America ChildCare school.

His other memories of that time are better — the time his Christmas gift from his sponsors was a new set of tennis shoes to replace the tattered footwear he’d patched together with cardboard inside, and the way his teachers showed him he could rely on Jesus.

Today, Juan Carlos is a missionary in Fukuoka, Japan, where he and his wife Colette have planted New Life Church. The lessons Juan Carlos learned from his minister father and Christian mom, not to mention from his Latin America ChildCare education, have made a tremendous impact in his ministry — especially now.

“The powerful 9.0 earthquake that brought a deadly tsunami destroyed homes and took lives just minutes after it happened,” he says, reflecting on the March 11 disaster.

“The Japan Assemblies of God was quick to respond and reached the most affected areas within hours. Today, we are still dealing with the nuclear disaster that makes it difficult to deal with relief and reconstruction.”

Although devastating for Japan, the disaster has also opened hearts to the Gospel, Juan Carlos believes.

“Japanese people are now coping with the question of life and death, and we hope to see a positive response to the message of Jesus Christ. We ask you continue praying for Japan, until all may come to the knowledge of Jesus.”

Juan Carlos Gonzalez, Missionary to Japan and Latin America ChildCare graduate. He’s impacting others with the Gospel message he received at school, and he’s grateful for the opportunity to do so.

“My dearest friends at LACC gave me a chance to dream,” he says.

This is what Latin America ChildCare does today, for some 100,000 children in 21 nations, in the poorest neighborhoods of Latin America and the Caribbean. Believers who sponsor the children have the joy of knowing they’re providing not only a great education, but also a clear presentation of the Gospel and a strong connection to a local church for their sponsored child.

We love for our sponsors to write letters to the child they sponsor, it’s part of the wonderful connection that is made between a sponsor and the child they support.

And sometimes we receive questions from our sponsors about the possibility of connecting with their child through the social network phenomena called “Facebook”.

Questions like:

• In this technological advanced age, why are we still doing “snail mail” as our main form of communication between the sponsor and child?
• If my child has access to a computer, can I e-mail him/her directly?
• Wouldn’t it be wonderful if LACC setup a Facebook page for every child in the program so we could communicate directly with the children?
• Wouldn’t it save time & money to connect with my sponsored child through Facebook?

Those are great questions and we feel we have valid reasons in not facilitating direct communication between the sponsor and the sponsored child.

The policy of LACC is that we will not facilitate any contact with the children or sponsor outside the structure of LACC while the child is part of our sponsorship program and while it would be “cheaper”, it would come at an expense to sponsor and even the safety of the child that is in our program.

For example, it is not uncommon for some of our children, parents or family of the children to ask for money outside the sponsorship realm and while your sponsorship does provide for the education of your child and if you send in a special gift for birthday, Christmas or other need, we never give cash money to the child or family but rather purchase gifts on your behalf to give them. If we facilitated direct communication, you most certainly would be asked to give money to them. So this policy does protect you, the sponsor. We cannot protect you or your sponsored child if we are not involved in the correspondence between you and the child.

As well, without being the center of the correspondence process, we also cannot ensure that you don’t inadvertently write something inappropriate or offensive to the child – cross-cultural sensitivities seem to appear out of nowhere, even out of good intentions.

While it may seem easier and more cost-efficient for us to allow contact through social networking sites, we don’t allow it at this time because we want to be sure it’s done well, done right and done with the best interests of the children in mind.

Sometimes it is the child who tries to initiate contact through one of the social networking sites such as Facebook or twitter. If that occurs please don’t respond, even to say, “Sorry I can’t communicate to you in this manner”. Simply use the “block” feature to stop them from communicating with you in this way. But please do let us know that your child tried to communicate with you directly. We will remind them that they are not to do this.

This may seem harsh, but we truly do have the best interest of both the child and the sponsor at heart.

Thank you for your willingness to respect our communication policies as well as your desire to communicate with the child who you are helping.

On the other hand, we would love for you to connect with us on Facebook and twitter.