Thank you!

Thank You all for your fast response to the need for the children's camp. All of the children and staff are now sponsored and we have pledges that covers everyone. Thank You all and may God abundantly bless you and your families.

This is how excited all our kids are to be able to go to camp this year!

In His Love Chici & Victor, Staff and Children.

Would you like to sponsor a child?

The camp that we go to every year now has a new owner and they have raised the prices. We also have more kids to pay for. 

Camp and climbing a volcano are usually the highlights of their school vacation. The cost for each child is Q200. or $25.00. We also have to pay for the staff to accompany them. 

Please pray to see if you are able to help with this need. May God bless you abundantly.

In His love, Chici Barbella and gang. :)

Construction Update on the Transition Home

The kitchen and the storage

The tiles of the kitchen are finished

Now the house is almost done, it really looks very nice with all the tiles, the sink and the toilet. I think Samuel, Jose, and Edgar really did a very good job with the tiles and everything. The next thing to do is painting, and to put in the furniture.

The floor makes the house to look  brighter !

Also very nice color

We are very happy that the house is almost done, and  I know the the boys that are going to live in this house are more happy than us, because they really need more privacy.

Miguel.

This post is pure bragging about one of our boys. Miguel came to us when he was 8 years old and is now 19 years old. His history before coming to us had been a hard one full of abuse.  Some people never learn how to overcome that kind of history and learn to succeed in this life.

He attended regular school until 3 years ago when a private school opened up here in Parramos. It is run by an American and there is a greater emphasis on learning and especially in Math. When Miguel started attending this school, due to poor education in the past, he was behind in most subjects. Within the first bi-mester he had improved a lot and by the end of the second bi-mester, he was in the top group of students in the school. That doesn't just happen. Miguel worked hard and studied and worked towards his goal.

For 2 years he studied at that school and when he graduated last year he was at the top. He had won 3rd place in a math olympics that included thousands of kids. He won 2 other medals for achievements I don't remember. But he was obviously an accomplished young man and I took pride watching him make the good-bye speech for his class.
Here in Guatemala they finish to the end of grade 9 (which Miguel did) and then have to choose a career path to work towards for the next 3 years. Then they can continue another 3 years in a university. Miguel won a scholarship and then was sponsored by someone in the U.S. so that he could attend a good school in the field that he chose.

He wanted to do digital electronics. He has done well this last year. He has struggled a little with the new math that has come up but he fights on. He studies and has brought his marks up. He has top marks in english. Literally. He came home with a 99% this last bi-mester. He is doing very well in physical chemistry as well.

He is taking his final exams this week. Two days ago he wanted to show me his project. He had put together a clap on/clap off light. By himself! He just had a diagram to go by and he had to weld the little wires together (of course there is much  more it is than that!) and make sure it was working. He was the first student in his class to do it successfully. And as of a couple of days ago there were still 4 out of 10 in the class that didn't have it functioning.

 We are so proud of him!