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Rancho Maranatha Children's Home
"A Partial Family Portrait"
Our God often puts desires in our hearts that only He can fulfill. One of those that was put in mine was to work with children in Mexico. I thank Him that He finally made that come true as only He could. I would have been doing this a long time ago but the "orphanages" that I had seen in Mexico seemed to be creating a need instead of fulfilling one. After a visit to Nicaragua four years ago, I found a way that we could be involved and meet a need at the same time. So, He has made a way in the desert and now we have all of the paper work that the government requires and have been in operation since June of 1999.
Now to introduce you to
some of the children.
One of our first little girls that is still with us is
Lolita. She is a joy to us and it is a pleasure to see Christ in her!
Here's Lolita in the new addition for the girls.
One of our favorite ladies from Jusibampo came to help us out while her daughter was away at the school of evangelism in Querétaro. She took care of a lot of children for us and one of the saddest beginnings and happiest endings was with baby Moses. He came to us at three months of age severely malnourished and close to death. Irma nursed baby Moses back to health. Baby Moses is gone now and Irma still weeps for him and prays for him. We can only trust that the Lord has something special for his life since He allowed this baby to be a part of our lives for a short time.
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| This is baby Moses when he came to us, 3 months old with severe malnourishment and scales over all his body. He also had no name. | This is baby Moses 2 months later with a new lease on life and a name! |
One of Roshon and Rochelle's favorites, (that is if they had
favorites) was Tanya Maria. She is also a very quick thinker and so we are
helping develop that with chess!
She has me in two more moves!
Update on Tanya: Tanya has been gone for some time now. We worked a lot with her mom and dad and then helped to get Tanya back to her parents. Most of the time we fear that it wasn't for the best. Her mom disappeared with Tanya for fear of losing her once again. Please keep Tanya in your prayers as well as her brother Stephen and her mom and dad.
One of the neatest things to get to watch is how fast the Lord changes these little guys when they arrive here. Some are very introverted and some are just brats. They have all seen way too much for their tender years. But like I said, we get to see the Lord change them! Normally it takes them about 30 minutes to adjust to a different lifestyle. It's amazing how the Lord has made us to be able to adapt to changing circumstances and the ones that are the most adaptable are usually the ones who have had the hardest lives. Of course, adapting to a different lifestyle isn't the same as being a disciple of Christ. But that's where we start.
One of the little boys that was here at the first but is no longer with us is has the most interesting story. Luis Alberto had run away from
home at the tender age of five. He alluded everyone for three months while
living in a garbage can behind a supermarket. When he came here, he was whining
and promising that if he was left here that he would run away again. The psychologist
who brought him here said that we would be very good to him and that we would
give him candy, etc. She looked at us and said, "Isn't that so?" Ana
and I both laughed and told him and her that the only thing besides love that we
were going to give him was a good spanking! (We were just trying to build up his
confidence.) Then I looked down at his shoes and couldn't believe how huge they
were. I made the mistake of remarking that, "Hey, those shoes are big enough to fit me!" and he dashed behind the couch thinking that I wasn't only going to spank him, but that I was going to take his shoes as well. Then the psychologist asked us to take him to another room so that she could slip away. Little Luis could tell that she was getting ready to leave him behind when she said to him, "I'm just going to the store and I'll be right back, isn't that so?" looking at us for backup. "No, it's not" I answered. She's going to leave you here but you will be fine. She commented that it's probably better not to lie to them to which we agreed. Anyway, within 30 minutes of her departure, Luis Alberto was a new boy. He brought us much joy and it was a heartbreak when they took him away.
Our prayer is that he will never forget about Jesus.
Paul & Ruth with several of the children.
Lots of love is needed and given.
We're aware that heart breaks are part of the territory here. You can never prepare for them and we don't want to make the mistake of not putting ourselves in the position of going through the heartaches at the expense of the children not getting inside of our hearts. One of the comforts is that we have asked the Lord to never let any child be taken here without it being His direct will. It still hurts, but it's a comfort to trust that He will never leave them.
Another Benefit
One of the blessings that has come as a result of the
children's home is that the "DIF" is now sending the parents of the
children that want to have their children returned, to us for counseling. Where
can they go for counseling? Well they send them to the new Bible study that we
have in Navojoa. The result has been several people making commitments to follow
Christ. The jury is still out on long term results but there are a lot of people
that are being exposed to Jesus Christ by this means.
The "DIF" is the organization that is in place for protecting children and for helping families that have low incomes. It's a totally secular institution so we are very blessed to be in good favor with them. Please pray that we would be able to continue to do so. Your prayers do make a difference.