Kimberly's Journey

He that has begun a good work in you will be faithful to complete it. What does that mean to you? I used to think I knew what it meant. I had a preconceived idea and only applied it to myself. If other people let me down I was quick to cut them off and not give them a chance. It is, after all, human nature to be that way. Isn’t it? But let me tell you…He completes His work in those we would least suspect.

I remember one girl, an orphan now, but at the time she was the oldest daughter of a prostitute and crack addict. Her name is Kimberly. Her mother, the drug addict and prostitute, whose nickname was Muñeca, (means doll baby in English), had somehow found grace in my wife’s eyes and, when she knew she was dying from HIV, convinced Katrina to accept the charge of her five children. Of course, this included the oldest, Kimberly.

Upon Muñeca´s death, the children were sought alter by the entire family. All the aunts and uncles stepped in and fought to take these children in. We thought, “What fortunate children. Their family loves them so much that they are fighting over taking care of them.” We found out soon that we were very mistaken in our assessment of the situation.

We knew that legally, the uncles and aunts would be awarded custody if we tried to fight them. Since the burden of five orphans, one of whom was retarded and severely handicapped, was more than we really wanted to deal with, we decided to let the family assume responsibility. The aunts and uncles worked it out amongst themselves and the children ended up with one of Muñeca’s sisters.

Several months down the road, we were contacted by the local office of the Department of Human Rights. They alleged that this aunt was forcing Kimberly to prostitute herself to care for her younger siblings while selling crack out of the house she lived in. The house had been owned by Muñeca and was, by right, bequeathed to the children. Furthermore, the family had only wanted the children so as to somehow take over ownership of the house and property their mother left them. So with help from Human Rights, we stepped in and took the children. Then we got approval from Tom Brian, Founder of House of Hope, for the children to take up residence in House of Hope.

The children had been through a lot; especially Kimberly. There were several discipline actions taken with her in the first year she was with us. She was caught stealing one of the vehicles, a 3-wheel machine called a BUV, and accidently running over another of the teenage children. Life with this child was like riding a rollercoaster! One day was up, the next down and then around and around and around again…

I had a hard time with all this. Like I said, when people let me down it is difficult for me to give them another chance. Kimberly would constantly hug me and hang on me; she was looking to me to be the daddy she had never known. Since I knew her past, I had resentment that showed. I didn’t want a prostitute hanging all over me! Well, Kimberly, it seems, had the capacity to forgive me even when I couldn’t forgive her. She would allow me the space I let her know I wanted, but she was always kind to me, always called me ¨Papa¨ and always respected whatever I told her.

Eventually, I came to see myself for the Pharisee I had been behaving like. It brings me to tears now, just to admit it. I had been so cold and standoffish, withholding what she needed for fear of what people may say about me. Hadn’t I ever needed anyone to love me unconditionally? Of course I had! And hadn’t I been involved in a lot of compromising issues when I was her age? I had probably done worse, and for less compelling reasons. Here I had been denying her the forgiveness and fresh start she so desperately needed while I myself would never be where I was now without having received both.

Isn’t it just like God to put people in our lives that repel us in order to show us how we are or were? Eventually, this past year, probably in an attempt to get a break from the rules and restrictions of House of Hope, Kimberly asked permission to go on a youth retreat with a local church youth group. While she was gone that weekend, she gave her heart and soul to God by accepting Jesus as her Lord and Savior. The changes in her behavior began to accelerate at a rapid pace and she began to become someone we were all very proud of.

For the past year Kimberly has been working as an apprentice at a beauty salon. The main thing she does there is pedicures, since it is the one thing the beautician doesn’t want to do. She has become quite skilled at giving a pedicure.

In addition, she has been studying theology in a correspondence style Bible Institute course. Just this past month, we sent her to a 6 month YWAM ministry course where she will learn the basics of ministry, particularly pastoring, and to present the gospel in a cross-cultural setting. She has made us all take a second look and re-assess her potential.

All too often we tend to not look for the good in people and, because we aren’t looking for it, it escapes us entirely. Let me encourage you, if there’s a person in your life that gets on your last nerve, it’s probably not an accident they are in your life.

Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend. Proverbs 27:17

God ordains people to aggravate us so we’ll change. Ask yourself: What changes are you due to be making in your life?

Bless you all,
Roger

House of Hope School

House of Hope School is back in action! We began our second “official” year of full classes in February. There are 34 enrolled for classes, including most of the ones from our house. (Bubu started middle school this year!) There are 5 of the teenagers from House of Hope enrolled in Adult education courses that run at night, including 13-year-old Naomi who came to us last year with her infant child. They were both malnourished. She has never had any formal education and is completely illiterate. She is starting first grade at the night school! Pray for them all!

Malnourished Children Feeding Program (Update)

The malnourished program Katrina and I started, and now continue at House of Hope, has been feeding from 90 to 120 malnourished infants and toddlers per month. If you would like to contribute to this very worthy project please include a special note with your donation stating that purpose. Milk program money should be sent to Send Hope. (That address is as follows: Send Hope, 720 E Main Street, Suite A, Allen, TX 75002.) Let me be sure to remind you that ALL of the money sent for the milk program is spent to buy milk and baby cereal for those children.

Chelma's Birthday Surprise!

Chelma had her birthday on January 1st, 2009, but it was celebrated with the February birthdays because “Mama-Miriki” (Katrina) was still in the United States. We were visited by some friends from Syracuse, NY, at that time and one of them approached Katrina with tears in his eyes and said, “You must be doing something right.” Katrina, a little surprised, asked why. He explained that he had taken Chelma away from the others and given her a special bag of candy, just for her, but that she had promptly run to the dining room and divvied the loot with all her surrogate siblings. Way to go, Chelma!

Update on Lil' Bill (Denilson)

On the 7th of February, Tom Brian brought back Denilson, our little malnourished child who, at the age of 6-months only weighed six pounds, which is smaller than most newborns. He had been staying with us at House of Hope, but had to be sent to Tegucigalpa because the doctors here could not figure out why he wasn’t gaining weight.

While in Tegucigalpa, the doctors had him on a very expensive formula, which helped for a while, but then he had a relapse. Because of this relapse the doctors did further testing and discovered tat he had been borne with a twisted intestine which kept him from properly digesting food.
Denilson was scheduled for surgery and now weighs a whopping 20 pounds! (He lost about 5 lbs from the 25 he weighed when he relapsed.) He’s a very happy, healthy baby; very small with a very big personality.

We wish to give special thanks to those who knew of his need and responded from their generous hearts to help financially or in other ways.

Aracely

In the book of Exodus, Moses was instructed to build a Tabernacle. He had never done anything similar, though he probably had sufficient administrative skills from having been raised as a prince in Pharoah's household. The main problem was that he had a million recently liberated slaves in the desert, their only resources being that which they could forage or had carried with them when they left Egypt. Where would he collect the supplies to make a Tabernacle according to the specifications God had given him?

Well, God always provides our needs. Right? In order to do that He usually has things set in order before He tells us what to do next. Such was the case with Moses and his task of building a Tabernacle. You see when the Isrealites finally left Egypt for good, God told them to go to their Egyptian neighbors and ask for goods to take with them. They carried expensive cloth, gold, silver, whatever they would need in order to build the Tabernacle, even though they did not yet know they would have to build it.

About a month ago, Aracely, who has a severe vision problem due to badly crossed eyes, was seen by an eye doctor. That eye doctor gave my wife instructions to keep a patch on Aracely's eye. Katrina's own brother had a lazy eye as a child, so she had already known to do this, but having no medical supply store in this remote place she had been binding a bandage around Aracely's head each day to keep the gauze in place over her eye. Talk about a mess!

Well, a day before the eye doctor visit, Katrina had opened a box full of donated coloring books and school supplies. In that box was a package set with a Pirate coloring book and a plastic eye patch for children's dress-up. She had thought it cute but had not made the connection. When the doctor described the plastic eye patch to Katrina, something clicked in her mind and she remembered the pirate eye-patch!

God is so good to us. Whenever He gives us something to do, though it may look as though it's not possible due to lack of finances or supplies, we can rest assured He has already made provision!