Following Christ in baptism

Today was a special day for us as we were able to see seven of the children from the home be baptized along with our son Garrett. Kevin had the great privilege of baptizing him and being able to baptize Yadira who is one of the kids who lives with us in our house.

Many gathered around the pool at Greg and Eva's house (the casona). What a blessing to have that! It was great to see the enthusiasm of those who were being baptized and all who witnessed this step of faith taken by those being baptized.

It's always a joy to see new believers showing their love to the Lord by following him in this important symbol of dedication to Him. We look forward in seeing more of the children at the home grow closer to Christ in their relationship with him.

Disciplining the children

One of the important tasks we have here at the home is spending time punishing the children who have done wrong. Lately we have had many teens and children misbehaving which has been quite trying on Kevin who has been helping Greg in this challenging task. We are reminded of God's word in Proverbs 22:6 "Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it." Each child is different and unique which requires us to make wise decisions on how they should be punished. Please pray for us as we deal with this issue almost daily. From kids fighting with each other, stealing, lying, or disrespecting their Tias or in some cases us and Greg and Eva.

This 11 year old boy is being punished for fighting at school.

We have the kids do extra physical work besides their normal chores as a form of punishment for their bad behavior. Lately our house has been a great place to put many of these kids to work doing things like picking up the rocks out of the yard helping cleaning out the ditches and recently mixing up cement for our driveway entry.

In most cases for the older kids we make them write Bible verses or passages that pertain to what they did wrong. They have to write them up to 25 or 50 times each and are asked to explain what the verses teach them.

You can probably agree with approx. 200 kids at the home this can be quite demanding keeping up with all that goes on when the children misbehave. Thank you for lifting us up in this area of our ministry as we attempt to redirect them on the right path.

New additions to our family.

In the last two weeks we have had some additions to our family. We currently have five children from the home that are living with us in our house. We feel certain that God has selected these kids for a purpose. They are all unique and special in there own ways. On May 9th (from left to right below photo) Eleana -17, Yadira -16, Norbin -17, Oscar -13, and Anyi -11 are now a part of our family!

All of them have only been at the home for approx. 2 years. Eleana was a rebellious teenager who was heading down a disastrous road spending her time with gang member friends. Her mother turned to GSCH for help in placing her uncontrolable teen at the home. She continues to blossom in her new life with Christ and is now one of the more spiritually motivated mature youth at the home. Yadira, a timid girl whose mother died three years ago was placed in another home temporarily while her younger brothers were adopted out, she was left out, and there have been no known relatives to come forward to claim her. She like many children at the home does not know who her father is. She is a sweet girl who seeks to know Christ more.

Norbin was discovered to be living in one of the large garbage dumps in the nearby capital city Tegucigalpa. He would rummage through the garbage for food and had set up a temporary shelter there. He deals with a form of muscular dystrophe which has limited the use of his right arm and leg. He is a strong willed boy who doesn't let this limitation keep him from enjoying life.

Oscar is here with 6 of his siblings who come from extremely poor and mentally challenged parents. His mother and dad could not provide for his physical needs in which they turned to GSCH for help.

Anyi is here with her older 13 year old sister whose mother left for the U.S. to seek work leaving Anyi in the care with some of her older teenage sisters who of course were not capable of caring for her. She has become a good playmate and friend to our daughter Molly Ruth.

We enjoy caring for these kids and look forward in having a special part in their lives. At the end of this month (May) we will have 5 more children to live with us from the home. We look forward in sharing with you more about the above five and the new children as well. Please pray for them and for us as we seek the Lord for wisdom in helping raise them for His glory.