The busyness of Christmas time settled down quickly after most of our house guests left shortly after the new year, leaving just Elias with us. And then the school year started up, with Yuli teaching second grade at a school nearby, and Elias beginning his senior year of high school. It felt strange to all of a sudden have so many less people in the house! The kids from Casa Shalom have also returned from their vacation and are now busy with the new school year. It's fun to be back with them working on homework and projects together.
Elias has now been with us for almost 2 months, and we've really enjoyed having him here in our home. We even got to celebrate his 21st birthday with him about three weeks ago. Yuli's family has also been incredibly welcoming and wonderful to Elias. They have been a great help and support to Yuli and I! Elias has now even started calling some of Yuli's sisters "tia". (which mean aunt)
We are incredibly grateful that God has brought us here to serve, and that He has brought Elias into our lives. We pray that we will do a good job raising him, and we ask that you pray that God continues to guide our ministry to Elias and for the guys who will come to live with us in the future.
Here are some prayer requests for February:
- Please pray for Elias. He's in his senior year of high school and works very hard at it. Because of long bus rides he leaves very early and is gone for 12 hours everyday. Pray pray for him as he lives and grows with us and as he decides what to do after graduation.
- Please pray for our land. We have not been able to start construction this month like we hoped. We're still waiting for the final land title to return from a government office. It's been frustrating to wait, as it's taken about 3 months longer than we anticipated. Sometimes it's hard to know exactly why it's been delayed so long, but it's mostly a mixture of the craziness of elections and new government officials taking office and slowdowns due to Christmas break. We were supposed to receive the final paperwork at the end of January, but our lawyer had mixed up some numbers. So we've resubmitted the paperwork and now are waiting for it to be accepted.
- Please pray for Yuli and me. Please pray that we get to spend sufficient time together, and that God continues to bind our hearts together. Pray that the busyness of the world would not distract us from growing together as spouses.
- Please pray James 1:2-4 for us: "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you." We are young and new at this, and we NEED God's wisdom in our lives. Please pray that He would always be our focus and our guide!
Thank you so much for your prayers for us!
As we've mentioned in the past, we've been trying to decide for the past few months what name to call the ministry. Many have recommended an obvious pun on our last name to call it "the Potter's House". The idea is from Jeremiah 18, where God says, "like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand". What we decided that we like even more is the name "the Potter's Home" because our desire is to create a loving home where God can form these guys into men. What do you think?
Thanks again for your support and prayers! The messages and emails that we receive are so encouraging to us. You are a great blessing to our lives!
Brent & Yuliza
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