Presentations!!!

Most of you knew that I was blessed to present what God has been doing through me at Hogar de Espernanza at 3 different churches! Even though I was a little nervous, it went well! On Sunday, May 18th, I went to Rayville Christian Union Church in the morning, and the evening I went to Mt. Calvary Baptist. I can't express how much it means to me that I got to speak at the churches who has supported me throughout the journeys God has led me on. Just to hear how Mt. Calvary started with Grandma being an answer to their prayer, and how she has been an example in my life......teaching me to go into all the world telling the good news of Jesus Christ! And then getting an opportunity to carry out her seed and tell the ones who was with the starting of Mt. Calvary....it was so exciting!! I really enjoyed sharing to RCUC, for they have been there every step of the way since 2004 when I went to India with YWAM! Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to share what God has been doing through me over the past few months! Also my neighbor mentioned to the leaders of his church, First Christian Church of Kearney, MO, that I was coming home and what God has been doing through me over the past years, and asked if I could speak at their church. On May 25th, I shared at their 8AM service, which was a blessing! I knew a few of the people there because Kearney is my hometown. Thank you so much for those who gave to the kids by buying jewelry, and to the orphanage by buying cards! They were really blessed! I did give a short informal presentation to some of Mom's coworkers while I was home! They have been such a blessing to these kids here from providing clothes for the garage sale, to buying them Christmas presents, and then providing them an opportunity to learn to play piano by buying a keyboard.....and of course helping them by buying jewelry and cards! If anyone is interested in more jewelry or cards, please let me know because I can send some back with a group that is coming in July! Thanks again! May God bless you abundantly!!!! Here are a few pictures of the presentations:

Amy at Grandma's church,
Mt. Calvary Baptist Church in Richmond, MO

Amy speaking at Grandma's church

HOME!!!

Dear family and Friends,
I am home for 3 weeks and while here I will be spending time with family and friends and doing 3 presentations at 3 churches. I am excited for this and blessed to be given the opportunity to share what God is doing through me at Hogar de Esperanza. I will TRY and keep up on my blog, and will be adding more about what has happened and such! Have a great day and God's blessings to you!!

Serving Him in Perú,

Amy Elizabeth Pitchford

Alisson

Alisson is 4 years old. She is really smart and loves to learn. Right now she knows all of her colors in Spanish and English. She knows most of her shapes, including drawing a circle and square. She writes her name a lot, which she is very proud of. She can count to at least 50 in Spanish, and 20 in English. She knows how to write and recognize 15 or more letters of the alphabet. Her favorite part of the day is her "cuaderno", which is a notebook that they do all of their studying in. She is wanting to have homework just like all the girls in her house do. In the afternoons while the other girls do their homework, I have her work with me on different things so she thinks she is doing her homework while they are! She knows sequences of shapes and different things.

Alisson does like to sing also! She knows "Jesus Loves Me", "Deep and Wide", "Zaccheus", "The B-I-B-L-E", "This Little Light of Mine"(aka...Let it Shine...according to her!), and "If You're Happy and You Know It" all in English. We do sing a lot of songs in Spanish too, but she really likes to learn them in English. I don't know all the songs that they sing in English, but if I do, then we learn them in English also.......as they teach me in Spanish sometimes!!

As some people here know....like Erin and Hayley....Alisson LOVES to tell stories. She is known for cute phrases such as:

"Jesus died on the wall" because that is where the picture is!
"Jesus died for the fish" because pescado is fish in Spanish and PECADO is sin.
"You can't go to Heaven because you are too big," said to Tia Erin because she is tall(?)...not sure where she got that idea.

But, Alisson is also understands a lot about the Bible. She knows that Jesus came to earth as a baby, grew up here, lived a life with no sin, died on the cross for our sins, was buried, rose again, and will come back to earth someday. This is A LOT for a little 4 year old, but she understands that. She knows that when she lies or does something wrong that her heart is dirty. She knows that she needs to "talk with God" and say "I'm sorry" and "forgive me for my sin". She knows that afterwards her heart is clean. She knows that God still loves her even though she sins too! What a blessing and example she is to the other kids!

Alisson has a brother, Davis. He is older and is here at the Albergue also. Her mother comes to visit them every Saturday. She isn't adoptable. This is just a little bit about an awesome 4 year old learning about the love of Jesus. I am glad that God has her here at the orphanage! If it weren't for her being here, I am not sure where she would be right now! Keep praying for her and that she will come to know Jesus at a young age and serve Him with all her heart!

Our Schedule

Well this past week has gone pretty good. Here is my schedule with the kids:

8:30-8:45 - Come to class, pray, and have a time of greeting in Spanish and English.
8:45-9:00 - Music
9:00-9:15 - Story and Bible Verse
9:15-9:45 - Cuadernos/craft time (using scissors, drawing, coloring, writing names, etc.)
9:45-10:00 - Clean up
10:00-10:30 - Pray/Snacktime/Bathroom (After they are finished with snack, they sit with a puzzle.)
10:30-10:40 - Clean up
10:40-11:10 - Playground or with the older kids
11:10-11:40 - Counting/educational toys/colors (I have 2 kids at a table while the others are playing. We rotate ever 10 minutes where I can spend time with 3 sets of kids a day)
11:40-11:55 - Letters of their names/Stickers for their behavior/Pray
11:55-12:00 - To the Casitas

In the afternoons we also have a time with educational toys and learning activities one-on-one with me. They are learning so much, and they LOVE it! Over the next few blogs I will tell you a little bit about each kid. I did have 8 kids, but on Friday Jesusito left the orphanage with a new family! It is similar to the foster-care system at home before they can be officially adopted...at least this is how they do it with the Peruvians here. We are sad that we won't see him on an everyday basis, but glad that he has a family to love on him and give him the home that each child is in need of! Today was a little hard because they didn't understand why Jesusito isn't coming back, but they do know that he is with a new family and that is what is best for him. We pray for him though.

My New Kinder Class!!

My Kinder Class!

From left to right: Jhonatan, Jesusito, Paul, Erika, Alisson, Zuleika, Jose David, Edwin, and Amy in the back!

What a blessing it is to have 8 kids in my class now! It has been a challenge to take on 4 more kids, but I am loving it! We have a schedule, which the kids are getting used to. They love to sing, work in their "cuadernos"(which are notebooks), put puzzles together, play with educational toys, and EAT! They are learning how to pray also, which is awesome! I love it when we come into class and I forget to pray....I know that sounds crazy, but here is why I love it. Our first thing we do is pray, then I greet them, they greet me, and we introduce ourselves. This is all in Spanish first, then English. But I don't have to get to "My name is...." before they say, "Tia Amy we need to pray!" It is great to see them grow to know God more and more. This past week we were reading the story of Jonah. They love to tell the story, but they know that I read it to them, then they tell me the story along with naming things that are on those pages. Alisson amazes me sometimes. She is 4 years old and can tell me everything that happens in the story. She tells me why Jonah ran away from God, why he was thrown overboard, what he did inside the big fish's stomach, and what he did after going to Ninevah. Well that is a portion of what I see on a daily basis. Yes we have days where we don't want to come to class and learn, and we spend time in the corner, but I hope that those days become fewer and fewer as time goes on! I love to hear them recite Bible verses too! I am going to try and put a video up of them singing "Jesus Loves Me" in English. I hope you enjoy the pictures!

Here I am with all my kids! Aren't they cute???

A day of painting with Tio Steve! Our story this week was Noah's Ark! We made the sea!

Alisson, Jhonatan, Jose David, Zuleika, Edwin, Erika, and Jesusito. Paul hadn't arrived yet!

Can you find the octopus?? Can you fine the fish??

Edwin and Tio Steve.....Steve came with the Coast Guard, but stayed an extra week along with 5 other volunteers. They all go to the same church though!

Alisson, she is so photogenic!

We are in our "fila"(line) headed back home! We take turns leading and the person in front goes to the back the next day. From their houses to class and class to their houses we sing "Jesus Loves Me" in Spanish and English.
From front to back: Jesusito, Jose David, Zuleika, Erika, Alisson, Paul, Edwin, and Jhonatan

Paul with one of the educational toys!

Yes, Zuleika is STILL eating her crakers! She takes the longest to eat.....and she is the first one to get snack and the last one to finish it!!

Jhonatan putting a puzzle together.

Erika and her "galletas"(crakers/cookies).

Jose David singing, "I like swinging on the swings. I like swinging with you!" Thanks to Hayley and Erin! He swings high now!

Edwin swinging.....his favorite thing to do outside!

Alisson on a huge fruit or vegetable....maybe a squash??

The New Playground!!

What a week! 30 people from the Coast Guard and a church came and built a whole new playground in 4 days! What a blessing! The following week 2 others came along with the 4 that stayed behind.....and of course Hayley and Erin.....they painted the playground! It is beautiful now!! Here are some pictures of the new playground! Here is an article that was written about the Coasties time here!!

Erika, Junior, and Alisson helping paint the tires!!

And look at Robyn enjoying the playground! Well she was climbing to take the picture you will see next!!!!

Amy and the Kinder class! From top to bottom: Amy, Jhonatan, Edwin, Alisson, Paul, Erika, Jesusito, Jose David, and Zuleika! The group put fresh paint on the see-saws and fixed one of the handles!

Jesusito in the new dolphin swing.....he loves it so much!!!

Milagros on the tires!

The Monkey Bars!!!!......not yet painted, but they love them!

Alisson going down the slide of doom!!!

This slide is steep as you can see, and is painted now too!

Rocio on the slide!

Paul, Jhonatan, Alisson, Jose David, and Erika....swinging away!!!

Jhonatan, Alisson, Jose David, Erika, and Paul on the tire swing! ALL the kids LOVE this new piece of equipment!!!

One of my favorite pictures of Jesusito! He is just relaxing in the dolphin swing!

Paul, what a sweetheart!

And the finished product!!!! Thanks USCGA and those who came with them!

Trip to Ecuador!

Well, now to talk about the trip to Ecuador! It was a great time, even though we had a lot of challenges along the way. It all started with Cristian and I waiting for the bus, which arrived at 2AM. We were supposed to leave around 11:45PM. We watched a movie though. After getting to Tumbes, we met up with Violeta and her husband. We took their car to their house, but stopped at the border, and then for lunch. I didn't know that they put the amount of days you can stay in the country in your passport! So I was overdue my stay by 18 days. In the end I had to pay $20, which wasn't too bad, and ask for 90 days the next time. We got there safe and sound even though the road was a little rough....haha! I will put up a video of it! It was HOT....but it rained almost the whole time. It was great though. I mean down-pouring rain! We went to an island our first day there....Jambeli. We took a boat across the water....30 min....and during it, it started to rain! It was a pretty beach, but we didn't get in the water. Cristian is an artist, and he drew a picture in the sand with his feet, which was awesome to watch! We went to a big mall that night, which the things were more expensive there than at home....well most things! We saw a movie that night, and went back and hung out with Violeta and her family! We had to walk part of the way back, in the pouring down rain though!!! The next day we decided to take a trip to Guayaquil, which was interesting! It should have taken 2-3 hours, but due to the rain and a bridge partially collapsing, it took us 9.5 hours roundtrip! We drove through a flooded town, which was really sad. While we were there, we had McDonalds......couldn't find the Taco Bell!!! We visited a history museum, art museum, and walked the river, which was beautiful. They had need things along the way. We also visited the Iguana Park....which was cool! While on the way home, there was a bus in front of us. Right in front of the bus lightening hit a tree and fell right in front of it! It was really interesting. There was a truck that came and pushed it out of the way....which took an hour or so. Finally making it back to our place, we packed and got ready to leave the next day. Due to Violeta working and her husband doing surgeries, we took a bus back, which was fairly decent. We were the only ones to go all the way to Tumbes! All the others got off along the way, which was cool. It was really safe though! We got back to Tumbes, and stayed at a resort for the afternoon....which was $7 for both of us. I did get sick on the bus ride home....which was NO FUN! It was a great trip over all. I hope you enjoy a few pictures that I am posting! Sorry that this is SOOO late! I did go back in February.

Leaving Peru and going into Ecuador!

The ride in the car.....for at least 1.5-2 hours!

Flooded streets in Machala

Cristian...what a goober...on the way to Jambeli!

A boat similar to the one we took to Jambeli

Amy....me....at the beach in Jambeli

On the road to Guayaquil

The bridge they were fixing!

The flooded town we drove through!

Amy at the Iguana Park

Cristian and Amy at the Iguana Park....no we aren't a couple, just friends!

The lighthouse in Guayaquil

Look at the storm a comin'!!

It was a beautiful sight.

The tree that fell in front of the bus in front of us....make sense? I hope so!