Jennifer and Alex Cabezon

I thought I would take a moment to highlight one of our fellow staff. Mireya is from Honduras. She was a student in our January DTS and is currently serving on staff. Two days a week she visits a girl's home. I thought I would share part of her newsletter and some photos taken there last week when Mireya, Alex and other staff visited the Home to help with maintainence work. Here is an excerpt from her latest newsletter: I arrived at this orphanage with the desire to be a blessing to whomever I met there, be it the staff of the teens who lived there. My main idea was to begin a ministry with the teens in the orphanage, “Hogar Mi Milagro” (Home: My Miracle). There live 21 children and teens from the ages of 9 to 17, all facing difficulties and problems in their home lives. Their home is now this orphanage, which gives them a roof over their heads, and food, but it’s not a place where their voices are heard. Listen to them was exactly what I wanted to do, each Tuesday and Thurs

Sometimes a simple conversation can spark ideas. Alex had just such a conversation last weekend when he was hanging out with Wounaan friends and family, supporting a church youth group (I wrote a little about this in the last post). He was at a home, sitting around and talking with family and friends. The hostess' oldest son, Irving, was doing poorly in school, and in their usual frank manner, the family was discussing the situation. He had failed several classes his last report card. His mother was threatening to take him out of school and send him to the country to live with his grandfather, helping him on the farm. If it sounds pretty drastic to you, please realize that most of the parents of Wounaan kids in school now never finished their own schooling, and THEIR parents didn't go to school at all. So schooling is not a historical value, and is seen today as a means to an end: getting a better job. Most parents from indigenous communities make huge sacrifices to see th

I had a few moments to contemplate last night as we were in Chepo. It was almost midnight and I was looking for a shower. When I asked our hostest where I could shower she pointed me to the house next door. They had an unfinished shower out behind the house with a lovely view of the stars. I was amused to find that the shower curtain was made from an old political banner: amazing how many uses people find for those after the elections are done. We were in Chepo working with a small church, specifically with the youth group. Their youth pastor, Fransisco, has been great to work with and is full of vision and wanting to impact his community and beyond. He's the sort of person that it's a joy to work with. I was asked to prepare a teaching for the youth group on dating. Interesting, since the church is Wounaan and the Wounaan don't traditionally date as part of their culture. However, we talked a little bit about that and I found a Bible story I thought was relevant both to