Fundacion Shalom

Dear Friends,

My last post is a couple weeks old, I just didn't have time to post it. I thought I would bring you more up to date. Things at the foundation are increasinly difficult. The director is very busy with various tasks in the office and at the foundation itself. Hermana Dorris is working hard every day with the boys, discipling them and keeping them busy with homework and lots of chores. This week there was no school monday so many of the boys didn't come until monday afternoon. Others didn't come until late tuesday and missed school on Tuesday. The two highschools dont have class this week and two of the boys went to school on Tuesday, but when Hermana Dorris arrived to talk with the teachers, it was closed. Apparently the boys went to a friends house or something and didn't come back to the foundation until they were due to arrive from school. They had a long day of chores ahead if them. Others refuse to do their homework and are causing trouble at school.

It is increasingly difficult lately to keep the boys under control. Nothing bothers them. Punish them, put them to work, do what you will, but they won't budge. The twins are especially difficult, one of them comes back from school with a note from the teacher every day. Most of the boys have at least one brother at the foundation but most of them don't look out for each other. They keep an eye on each other only to do them harm or get them in trouble. The older ones when asked to help their siblings with homework just complete the homework for them which results in laziness and they fall behind inschool because they aren't learning.

Please pray for God to send more help for these boys. We are also looking for a new tutor because the one we have isn't overbearing enough to control the boys and they do whatever they will. Hermana Anita is already in her sixties and there are very few helpers. We are also losing the cook at the end of the month so she can be home to raise her three boys. We need more men of good Christian character and strong masculine presence. The women are doing what they can, but we are missing the other half. We need more men who are forcefull in their disciple. The boys go home on the weekends but if they even have a father figure in their lives he is working or not home, and the moms are often away as well. At this point prayer is the most important thing for these boys. There is no one who can change them but God.

Please also pray for patience and wisdom for all of us who work with the boys. Pray for God to work through us and to make his presence evident at the foundation. Satan is at work but our God is bigger, better, and stronger and He is in control.

Thanks for your time and for reading my blog.

God Bless!

Dear Friends,

It has been a while since I last wrote and for that I am sorry. So much has happened and I don’t even know where to begin.

First off, things at the foundation are going well for me. I have been keeping super busy. I am no longer teaching English lessons, because there just isn’t time. I couldn’t make any headway with the boys because, some days they would come, other days they had more homework so the tutor wouldn’t let them come to class. Sometimes they would come, and refuse to do any work. Since most of the boys I was working with are ages 9 and under, it wasn’t really fruitful to push it, when they wouldn’t be able to continue. Since then I have been working on my special assignments, Francisco and Alberto, who are really slow at their homework and neither one, can read. There were a lot of behavioral problems with Alberto, so he is now only attending school on Monday’s and the rest of the time I am copying the homework from Francisco into Alberto’s notebook. He is way behind but he is learning slow but sure. I have seen some improvement, but it helps that he wants to go to school, so he works a little harder when you remind him of that fact. I work with him one on one in the mornings, drawing, coloring, cutting and pasting, etc. trying to develop his motor skills. Then after lunch I work with both boys trying to motivate them as they do their homework.

I also have had some other assignments for the foundation to do on my own time. Such things as, translating letters and brochures for visitors from the U.S. and also writing letters to churches asking for work groups to come and help build other buildings on the facility. It has been interesting work. I have also sewed blankets together, since it had been “cold” at night and the boys have been wetting the bed because the blankets are to small. Many of them are having to eat dinner at 5pm and not eat or drink anything until the next morning. I was also given a pile of clothes that I had to distribute to the boys according to size, and mark it with their numbers. Each boy has a number that is used to mark his clothing, so that we can keep track of it all. Uniforms are always a difficult mess, but we have recently developed a new method of organizing them, which seems to be working well. Another new task for me was to re-do the board that we have at the foundation. It’s a sort of display with the list of needs, news articles, plans for improvement, photos of the boys etc. I had to redo the whole thing to make it look presentable for a group that was coming this weekend from Arizona. The boys tear it up quickly, so it doesn’t look good for long. I am really enjoying my work here, but it is quickly drawing to a close. I wish there was more I could do.

These boys really need prayer coverage. They struggle with all sorts of issues. As of late the issue has been thievery, a couple of boys are stealing money but we can never find where they are hiding it or how they take it in the first place. We also have one boy who struggles with homosexuality, he finds the lifestyle very appealing, and has been in counseling for it. Other boys have anger issues, and are quick to hit the other boys and fight back in the face of disciple. Others seem calm and peaceful and never do anything wrong, but they are poking and prodding and planting ideas in the minds of others, to cause trouble. One boy told me he snuck into the girls bathroom at school and wrote the devil’s number on the wall. He was quite pleased with himself. Satan has a strong hold over these boys, which only the Lord can break. We need to spend a lot of time in prayer and fasting, interceding on their behalf, before we lose them.

On the brighter side, there is a couple from the US living here in Ecuador and looking for a ministry to work with. Right now they are coming to the foundation on Thursdays to sing a few songs and do a brief lesson with the boys. They try to bring a little craft to do each week as well. I’m not sure all of the boys are getting much out of it, but some are I’m sure. They really like to sing the songs and do the crafts. And some of them really tried to learn the memory verse this week.

I am definitely keeping busy. I found out that I can eat strawberries, and grapes and all kinds of fruit, because there is a special fruit wash that I can by here to clean them all. I am thrilled, since I love fruits and veggies and I’m not to crazy about meat. I have had all sorts of delicious shakes in the mornings before I leave, and in my opinion we eat like royalty because the fruits and veggies are so cheap.

On Friday, July 4, Luis and I got married finally after three years. We went to the civil registry with our two witnesses and Luis’ mom and got married. Then we celebrated with a special meal here at Luis’ house and then later in the week we celebrated with my host family with another special meal. Then on Tuesday we went out for pizza with some close friends. We are definitely keeping busy and we are really happy. Its going to extremely difficult when I have to go, since I am getting close to his family and getting even more attached to him.

With that I will close. I think I have brought you up to date. Again I apologize for not writing more often, but it is difficult to find time since I don’t get hope until 6pm and then a shower and dinner, and I am exhausted and Luis has to keep working. Its becomes difficult to make it to a cyber.

Blessings to all, and please keep us and the foundation in your prayers!