January 15, 2010
O Lord God Almighty, who is like you? You are mighty, O Lord, and your faithfulness surrounds you. Psalms 89:8
Dear friends,
A new year! We are busy this month preparing for another year full of ministry. We always take the first few weeks of the year to evaluate how last year went and make changes if necessary and then make our yearly work plans. It’s an exhausting time of tons of meetings, some exciting and others less so, as we focus on what this year will hold for our community and the youth we serve. Please pray for us as this year gets underway.
I will still be coordinating the women’s Bible study that I write about so often. I’m so thankful for the group of volunteers that work on this with me, and I’m hoping that this year they can take even more ownership. It was so good to have some of them teach last year (and it gives me a break!). The girls who attend the Bible study are continually changing; it is so exciting to see how God has used it in their lives. At our Christmas party, I asked them to write down some of the things they learned during the year, and I was blown away by how much they remembered. Some of them even remembered my lessons better than I did J I couldn’t have been more proud of the work they have put in this year to seek God in so many beautiful ways and to see them blossom as women, mothers, wives, daughters, and friends. This ministry has truly been a gift to me especially in moments when I struggle with living and doing ministry in Lima.
As we look ahead to this year, we see that it will be another year of transition. In a WMF community, few years aren’t full of changes, good and bad. We welcomed Mike Pastor as our newest local staff member as of last week. He will be focusing his efforts on building our presence among local churches, with other institutions, and other ways on a local level in addition to leading a Bible study for young men leaving the street. We also are in a stable financial place where it may be possible to hire more local staff this year. This is so exciting; pray for wisdom as we go forward with this. We will also be welcoming the Ingrum family (Geoff, Rachael, and their four kids) from the U.S. to serve with us within a couple months. Geoff finished his degree in counseling and has a huge heart to use this in service to the youth and staff here. Then later this year Amy Lahey will be joining us from the U.S. as well! She is a nurse with a huge heart for our friends on the street. As we look ahead we also are anticipating a couple of our staff leaving this year as well. These transitions will challenge our community in many ways; we appreciate your prayers for us.
Some of our staff are also struggling with lack of passion and motivation as we start this year. Please pray for us that God would renew our strength, our vision, and our love each day and that we would give ourselves grace and not take ourselves too seriously on hard days.
Thanks so much for your continued support, prayers, and love. I couldn’t do this without so many of you. I am grateful and look forward to the year ahead.
May we recognize God’s presence all around us,
Linsey