Tuesday, December 15, 2009, Brazil
Dear Prayer Warrior,
CLM TURVO:
CLM Turvo is full of exciting news
this week. On Saturday, two new children arrived. They are from a city called
Boa Vista which is north of Turvo. Their mother died and they were with an aunt
who already was taking care of 8 children and could not handle any more.
Adriana, 13 years old and her brother, Manuel, 11 years old were becoming
mal-nutritioned and abandoned. Both of them will be entering the 4th grade next
year. They are a little behind, but not so bad considering the situation they
are coming from. Manuel is especially very skinny and is enjoying the freedom
to eat and take away all his hunger. He has been fascinated to play with a
little car that Luiz gave him. He played for hours. They are both really happy
to be in their new home and safe and taken care of. For now, they are both very
calm and helpful. Please pray for their adjustment and total
healing.
Another amazing event is that Luiz
was contacted by a TV show out of São Paulo called "Ratinho". On this program,
they often have situations of people who through their help get reunited with
lost family members. It appears that Luiz has 2 sisters that he has never met,
who are looking for him. Luiz and Aninha are to have their expenses paid to go
to São Paulo to be able to meet up with his sisters. Of course, it will be all
televised. We are excited to be able to watch the program when it will be
televised. Pray for God´s preparation of Luiz for this encounter and for what
it will mean in the future.
Allan has been called for an
interview with a lumber company near them called Ibema. He has been seeking a
chance to get into the work field. Pray that the Lord would open the doors for
this opportunity.
We rejoice that all of the elementary
students have been declared passed onto the next grade. The older student still
have not gotten the results. Luana, Paulo, Jhonatan, and Suelen are definites
for passing. Romualdo has the possibility to not pass. May God help all of
the CLM students to close this year and prepare for the next school year to be
one of dedication and success.
PRAYER REQUESTS:
1) Adriana and Manuel - for their
adjustment to the CLM family, that all of the necessary exams and evaluations
can be done within the time frame that the Judge has established, for their
physical healing, for emotional cleansing, and for spiritual awakening, that the
other children will accept them with love and warmth.
2) Luiz - for God´s preparation
for their trip to São Paulo and his encounter with his sisters, that God would
use this situation to work in Luiz´s heart in relationship to his pass and
family, that the Lord would witness through Luiz and Aninha to his sisters of
His love, for whatever future contact they will be able to
maintain.
3) Allan - that the Lord would open
the door of opportunity for him to enter the work field, that the Lord would
direct him to further education opportunities, God´s blessings on his life for
all of the voluntary help his continually offers to CLM.
4) CLM Students - praise to God for
an almost totally successful year, for Romualdo and his difficulties in his
studies that next year can be stronger and that he can be more
motivated.
5)
End of the Year Activities - may God help with all of the preparations, may the
children be blessed and catch the spirit of the season, may Christ be glorified,
may all visitors experience the special love of God.
6) Fabio and Edit - for them as they
adjust to the ministry, children, and staff, that God would renew them,
encourage them, and guide them everyday, for a clear schedule and
responsibilities.
CLM ENTRE
RIOS:
Mike and Mary took Lucilene to
Curitiba to see the doctor once more. They waited for 5 hours to have him say
the exact same thing he said when Marilda took her last time. Although, we were
expecting the surgery to be marked for January, there is only an opening on
April 8th. If there would be a cancellation, it could be sooner. He reassured
them that this surgery has a very high success rate and that she definitely
needs the surgery. So we ask for your continued prayers for her. She is also
to have surgery to remove a tooth hidden in the roof of her mouth and have
braces put on her teeth.
Mariane continues to go to the doctor
frequently to change her bandages. He is waiting for the dead skin to remove
itself to be able to determine how to proceed. He asked Mariane to move her
finger today and she really couldn´t get much movement out of it. The doctor
just said that we will deal with the movement part when everything else is
resolved. Although there was an opening today, it looked clean. She is to
continue on antibiotics. Please keep praying for complete healing. Mariane was
to have the last visit with her parents today before their rights are taken
away. They did not show up for the visit. I was glad that I hadn´t told
Mariane why we were going to the courthouse. I assume that they will proceed
with the removal of rights process. Pray that God would choose a wonderful
Christian mother and father for her.
On Friday morning, Nicole was
interned in the hospital. She started vomiting in the middle of the night and
had a fever. She had started to dehydrate. After 3 bags of IV, she perked up
and was able to eat some. Her blood tests showed a profound anemia. That
seemed like it came out of no where, for no reason. She came home from the
hospital the next morning and has been recuperating. She was scheduled for a
heart examination in Curitiba on Wednesday, but that was postponed. Once again,
even with the high fever, she did not have a convulsion. I believe that if she
is 2 years convulsion free, she will be removed from the medication. Nicole
will start Kindergarten next year. We ask for your prayers for her further
development during the summer and for preparation for this new
experience.
We are making three trips to the city
to shop for our Secret Pal for the gift exchange. Every year gets more
challenging to buy something the other person would like for the $2.00 we have
to spend. It is lots of fun though. We met up with João Nelson (brother of
Susana and Gelson) last night. He left CLM about 5 years ago, when the Judge
allowed him to go back with his mother. His desire for that was for sure the
biggest mistake he ever made. He has suffered tremendously at the hands of a
mother who does not know how to love or appreciate her son. He was sharing last
night of how many things he has saved which are perfectly preserved that he got
while at CLM. He said that he has a little card that I sent him when I was on
furlough in the U.S. He is probably 6´3" or 6´4" with a heart of gold. Please
pray for João Nelson, especially for his safety and that he would give his life
to the Lord.
We are slowly receiving information
about our students. Aline Nascimento has failed second grade mainly because of
her difficulty with reading. She has started using glasses to read. With some
evaluations and a lot more input, we have the confidence that she will do much
better next year. Lucão needs to repeat the fifth grade. His learning
disabilities makes it very hard to keep him motivated. Behavior becomes a
problem in the end. Cristiane did make it through and will be moving onto the
5th grade next year. We will get a better picture when we have all of the
report cards in our hands.
PRAYER REQUESTS:
1) Lucilene - for her future surgery
that it will indeed be in April if not before, for all of God´s preparation for
the surgery and the recovery, for resolving of the teeth issues, for a deep
commitment to the Lord as her Lord and Saviour, for spiritual
growth.
2) Mariane - continual prayers for
full recovery of her little finger, for God´s chosen couple to adopt her, for
preparing our hearts for that, preparation to enter Kindergarten next
year.
3) Nicole - thankfulness for her
recovery and for no seizures, pray for full recovery from the anemia,
preparation for her entering Kindergarten, that the school can make the
necessary adjustments for her special needs, God´s help and confidence for
Lobinho and Joanna to emotionally release her to go to school.
4) João Nelson - that the Lord would
give purpose and vision to his life, that he would experience the joy of living,
for inner healing of the damage that his mother´s rejection and abuse has
caused, for a deep relationship with the Lord, for more contact with the CLM
family.
5) CLM students - God´s help for
Aline N. to understand that we are not disappointed in her and that we are here
to help her in every way possible to improve her reading, that Lucão would admit
and understand his limitations but his responsibilities too, thankfulness for
the ones who have greatly improved this year including Arivaldo, Raquel, Luana,
and Luquinho.
6) Manuelly (Marilda´s older
daughter) - has been facing some serious emotional problems and depression. May
God continue to protect her from her own desperateness, for growth and
understanding and reaching more maturity, for Marilda as she deals with her and
the situations she causes, that they can feel the support and love of the CLM
family.
7) Christmas Gifts from São Paulo -
that they would arrive safely in the next couple of days, for God´s special
blessings over all those who have contributed to provide these gifts for our
children, for preparation of all other Christmas gifts for visitors and CLM
Plus.
8) Kombis - for repairs of the
Kombis so that they can be safely operating, for the Kombi funds that are being
collected for providing new Kombis.
9) Jessica - for her safe arrival
home, for the Lord´s help to pull together and complete a promotional DVD for
CLM, that her experience at CLM can be life changing as she reflects on all she
saw and learned.
10) Lizena - that she can feel
direction and peace as to what she should do at the beginning of the year about
job, living situation, and her studies, for drawing closer to God, for openness
to the teachings and working of the Lord in her life, for all of her
relationships.
11) Visitors - especially for Ben
(Bethany´s brother) and Vivi and Amy (Bethany´s sister) and P.J. who will be
coming shortly before Christmas and for some other visitors like Bob and Zach
(my brother-in-law and nephew) who arrive on the 31st of December. Pray for
safe travels and a blessed time at CLM.
We celebrate with great joy the birth
of Jesus Christ and His tremendous blessings in our lives. May all who know us
and this ministry come to know our Mighty God and love Him as we
do.
truly in love,
Mary
