Living Among Them Ministries: Two new additions at the orphanage!

Hello everyone,

Well I thought that it was about time that I send out another blog post seeing I have not sent one out for quite some time; please forgive me.
Sarita and I have been about our normal ministries down here in Teopisca over the last few weeks but I wanted to send this update out because we have received two more additions to the orphanage.

I want to introduce you to Beto and Luciano.

Beto is three years old and arrived at the orphanage about 7 weeks ago. He was born in prison and his first trip out of the prison was to come here to Teopisca. In Mexico, women are allowed to have their children in prison and then keep their little ones with them until the age of three. After the age of three, the mothers must send them to another facility; not always an orphanage. I will tell you more about this at the end of this blog but just recently we received permission to be “the facility” that the children in a certain prison near San Cristobal are sent to when they reach the age of three. Beto’s mother has a 27 year sentence and she has only done about five so it is very unlikely that she will see Beto out in the real world before he becomes an adult (although he will be taken to the prison periodically to see his mother). The first days outside of his normal four walls were very interesting for Beto. He continually looked at things that we take for granted and asked, “what are those big things”…speaking about trees or “what are those”…speaking about dogs and just think about how his first trip to the grocery store went!
Please keep Beto in your prayers.

Luciano is 12 years old and arrived at the orphanage about one week ago. He has lived in Teopisca all of his life but it has not been a very pleasant life to live until now. His mother is an alcoholic and can’t and won’t take care of her child. He was sent to us because it was known that she was beating Luciano and often he was not given much, if anything, to eat. In only one week he has shown himself to be very excited about living here and he is such a hard worker. He truly has been a big help to Sarita and me this week as we continue to care for the orphans 2 days a week…and we need that help now that there are nine orphans to take care of.
Please keep Luciano in your prayers.

More on the permission given to the orphanage by the prison.
About two months ago, the prison warden and two of his assistants came to the orphanage to observe the kids and take a look at their current living conditions, as well as check out the on-going construction of the new orphan facility. The pics show the warden (standing up to the right) and several other interested people looking at photos of various activities the kids are involved in. Pastor C told us that he has tried for years to get the prison warden to come here to Teopisca and take a look so that he might be able to start receiving the children that have to leave the prison; but none of the other warden’s would give him the time of day. That all changed with this new warden. He has shown interest in the children from the first time pastor C approach him about bringing the kids here. This is such an answer to prayer as the other place the kids were taken to was not a very good place at all.