Morelia and Compassion Internat'l

Greetings!

I don't have much time, but I wanted to quickly update you all on how my trip to Morelia was. We left Thursday around 10am, and the drive was absolutely breathtaking! Mountains and lakes and little quesadilla shops the whole way! Along with about 7 tolls--very expensive tolls at that! Be thankful for our roads in the States!

We arrived around 2pm and Paul drove us around the city. It is also beautiful! There are tons of very old colonial buildings. It looks a lot like Spain apparently. There were lots of fountains too. In general, the city seems artsy and friendly. And there are tons of beautiful hotels- so come visit me!

After seeing the town, we went to the orphanage. Here in Mexico they are called Casa Hogares, and mine in particular is "Casa Hogar El Buen Pastor." Because it is summer vacation for the kids, many of the children's parents come and pick them up for a few weeks. So usually there are 30 kids living there, but there were only 15 while we were there. There is a directora, Hermana Sara, and a subdirector, Fernando, who is married with one on the way. Sara and Fer were raised in the Casa. There is also a gringo missionary couple living on the premises, but in a separate house a ways away from the Casa itself. They are Jacob and Charity, and they have two girls who are 1 and 3. Right now, there are also two young gringa girls living at the Casa. They just arrived in June and will stay until the end of November. They were very helpful and explained a lot of how the Casa works. It will be good to have them there as I get started. There is also a teacher who comes during the day to help with homework, whose name is Sandra. She is mexican, but speaks good english.

The children were absolutely precious, and so in need of love, warmth and attention. They were all calling me "mom" within minutes of arriving. Most of them are under 10, with the exception of about 3 girls and 2 guys. The youngest is a 4 yr. old girl named Lupita. I am so excited to get there and start working with them. One of my tasks will be helping the kids get ready for school-- hair, teeth, clothes, etc. and then also getting ready for bed. Right now, this area is pretty much ignored, so it will be nice to really be needed. Also, I want to have one on one time with each of the girls. This is really their greatest need: attention, someone to listen, and wise counsel. I am so excited to serve them in that way. There are some concerns about how the directors discipline the children, so you can be praying that I will already begin to contemplate this situation with wisdom, grace and humility.

We met the kids, took a walk with some of the girls, ran errands with the Hermana Sara, and I led a devotional with them Friday morning. We also sang and had a Bible Study. Then some doctors came and hosted a party for them on Friday as well. We left around 3 and got back around 9, stopping on the way for some quesadillas: yum!!

Saturday morning, we got up around 6 and headed outside of the city to La Paz to a Compassion International Project. We did a clown show and led some songs with the kids from the project, and then we each taught our own class...there were about 130 children there!! That went really well; it was great to meet the children and see how they live. Houses made of fabric and tin and whatever other material they could find. It was definitely an experience I won't forget.

So then we had our first day of VBS today! It was absolutely crazy! We had tons of kids and we were working out the kinks in the schedule, but I really think it went super overall. I taught English; today we learned colors and days of the week. The kids all really love learning English and are eager and well-behaved for the most part. God really supernaturally equipped me in remembering their names and gaining instant favor with them. So praise God, and thank you all for your prayers.

Pray that the rest of the week would go well and that these kids would really be affected by the news that God loves them and wants to have a relationship with them. We are also praying that their parents could come to experience the Lord through their children. Finally pray for energy for my roommate and me. There is so much to do in the next week and a half, and we are pretty tired!!

Love, Lauren