An Update from Elizabeth in Mexico...

Hi all!

Well, as you can see I have officially been in Mexico for three weeks, though it seems like so much longer! TONS has happened this week and I have not been able to email! I am sorry if you have written me an email and I have not been able to email back personally. I love getting your emails! In the next email I send out I am planning on writing down what I do on a semi-normal daily basis. (No day is really normal) Not today though, I have to much to say and too little time!

So, We will start about were I believe I left off last time. Wednesday morning: After breakfast I set to work making pizza for lunch/dinner. (With homemade sauce! That was interesting) When a family stopped by. I thought it was rather odd because, really they just came in and sat down. There was a mother, a father and four children. They were filthy, so dirty you could not imagine it. There was an 8 year old girl named Laura, a 5 year old boy named Luis, a 2 year old boy named Haviar (Sp?), and a 1 year old girl named Patricia. It turns out that they were coming to drop off the Laura to be taught by Amy. So, finally the parents left, but as they were walking out the door Luis started sobbing saying that he didn't want Laura to stay. As the story unfolds, it turns out that Laura had gone a "Vacation" by herself for about a year. Her parents call this trip a "vacation" but Laura says that this is not true. We believe that she was in a foster home for about a year. It is a very complicated story, The father isn't her father and her mother doesn't seem to care much about her. So, anyway, Laura was so dirty on Wednesday and she really wanted to "Bath." Now, I am not going to go into all the details, but take the dirtiest child and times it to about ten and that is how dirty she was. When Amy took a hair thing out of Laura's hair her fingers turned black! So, Amy and I gave her a shower. This eight year old girl had not the slightest idea how to bath herself! Next came the dreaded thoughts about.... my favorite thing... LICE.... Now, most of you probably know my drama with lice. How when I was young I got it SO many time. I could never understand what good could ever come out of me having lice, but now I believe I may have found it! Since I had lice so many times and knew what it looked like, I was the PERFECT candidate to look through Laura's hair. After a through inspection and much to my relief it was determined that that little girl did NOT have lice. So, happy and clean she went about her schooling, learning the colors and numbers to diez. When her parents arrived to take her home, she insisted that she wanted to stay the night. So, though they had never met us before, they willing agree to her spending the night and going to the city with us in the morning. She had the time of her life! Though, she did not much like seat belts. It was Gracie's birthday and she loved being able to celebrate with her. Since while we were in the city we were at the dentist, Amy had Magda look at Laura's teeth. They were TERRIBLE!!! (Autumn count your blessings) She had eight teeth that need fillings and 10 that need crowns. So, over the past 5 days Laura has spent the night three times. She has been with us all day everyday. And every day when her brother must leave her he begins to sob. This was a conversation that went on between the too of them. Luis: " YOU HAVE TO COME HOME WITH US TONIGHT!" Laura: "But I don't want to go home" Luis: "Laura, Why don't you want you come home?" Laura: "Because THEY love me here" Then, the next day Laura tells us that she never wants to go home. Things are not right in that home, Luis is traumatized and at first said he wanted nothing to do with us. He said the devil lives in the bathroom and the you can't touch food that has fallen on the ground because the devil sucked on it. Do you see the kind of lies that these people teach there children! Who and Haviar looks like a girl, why? Because his parents promised the virgin that they wouldn't cut his hair! But, as a close here is some good news. On friday night I was able to give all the children showers! And NONE of them have lice. Luis started coming to school today and wants to come back! He ran up to me before he left and gave me a hug! Saying, "I am coming back tomorrow, and if not, you have to come to my house." And Laura parents said that they would sign papers so the [Christian family will] have Guardianship of Laura! PLEASE be praying for the [Christian family] as they make decisions and for these children! They are in a hurtful and abusive sitaution right now. Be praying that God keeps the children safe, and if it is His will, that they might come to stay with the [Christian family] forever. I can't give all the details about their home life, but it is deffinately not a good one. Before I go I want to tell you about a way that we saw God work today! There were three extra mouths to feed today and just when we did not know what we were going to feed them, and neighbor brought over a chicken for us! :-) God is SO good! He always provides at the right time! Please keep these kids in your prayers!

Love,

Elizabeth

P.S. Amy says Hello!

P.P.S. I forgot to tell you a highlight of my week! Last week after youth group we played Volleyball. (As did LWY I hear) But I am sure the two games were very different! Wel played volleyball in the street, get ready for this.... WITH NO NET!!!! It was so much fun and totally crazy! The electricty wires were the lines! It was great to see them just playing the game to have fun! As games should be! It was a real challenge to me!

[Christian family] the original name was removed for both the children and the family's protection. If you would like the name of the family, please contact Elizabeth, requesting to be put on her e-mail list. Thank you.

LWY @ Nursing Homes This Week

The Living Word Youth will be meeting at various nursing home locations this week. The locations are Sunset Village (9640 Sylvania-Metamora Rd. Sylvania, OH 43560), Harboside of Sylvania (5757 Whiteford Rd. Sylvania, OH 43560), Heartland of Waterville (8885 Browning Drive Waterville, OH 43566), and Harborside of Perrysburg (28546 Starbright Boulevard Perrysburg, OH 43551). If you have any questions as to which nursing home location your youth are assigned to, please contact Hunter at 419-329-1100.

Do you need the Early Bird Sign-up form?

If you need the LWY's 2009 Winter Retreat Early Bird Sign-up form, please click on the link below for a PDF version of it. If you have any problems with this, please give Hunter Turner a call @ 419-329-1100.

Thanks!

Microsoft%20Word%20-%20Early%20Bird%202009%20Sign%20Up.pdf

All the way from Mexico!

-The following is an update from Elizabeth, who is currently in Mexico.-

"Hey!

I hope you all are well. I am still healthy here in Mexico, which is very nice. Kids club was fun last we, we made thumb print book marks! The kids are a great example to me of finding pleasure in even the smallest of areas! Let me tell you the excitement of last week. There was a meeting at the catholic church last week. The priest told all the parents that if their children came to the Acosta's house they would not be given first communion. Now, this might not seem like a big deal to you, but if you do not get first cummunion here in Mexico you are not going to go to heaven OR be married. (By the catholic church) So, basically the priest was threatening to take away their salvation. Now, to the people here, not going to heaven isn't such a big deal. Most of them think that they can't possibly earn their way into heaven anyway. (They aren't good enough) So, they believe they will just stay in purgatory forever. BUT not getting married is really huge for them. So, long story short, we thought there weren't going to be many kids there on Friday. BOY WERE WE EVER WRONG! There were 45 children at the Acosta's house. That is an all time high! So, that was a great example to me of how all thing are possible in God! :-) You can really see here that God is removing the scales from the peoples eyes and allowing them to see the truth! Then, after kids club on Friday night there is Adult Bible Study at 8:00 p.m. I am going to start going to that to improve my spanish. It is on the book "The Purpose Driven Life" good book and all, but let me tell you after five hours of constantly being surround by kids it is hard to concentrate. I will not think it is so hard to pay attention late at night again when I am back in the States! At least then it will be in English! :-) Ah, well, it should help me. The Bible study is on Tuesdays and Fridays and tomorrow they are expecting me to read some of the chapter aloud. That should be interesting. Well, on Saturday I went to a baby shower. In Mexico they have a baby shower for every baby that you have. This was for a 24 year old lady named Ophelia. She comes to the Bible Study with her husband. It was nothing like I had ever been to before.

Well, I will keep you updated, but I best go to bed. Tomorrow is a party day, because it is Mexico's Independence Day.

Good Night!

Love,

Elizabeth"

Reg. LWY @ Dominguez Home

The LWY will be gathering back at the Dominguez home this Wednesday (8-3-2008) @ 6:15 PM.

We'll see you there!