Dear friends,
As time is flying towards September, I realize that soon the summer will be over.
A new school year will start for the children from our community; and we are looking forward to walking with them as they discover new subjects and new challenges in their lives.
In June Vali graduated from university, receiving an A on her final comprehensive exam, and she is enjoying this last "holiday." She feels like now all her attention, mind and intellect can be focused on the call we have from God.
But even if we are only three weeks away from the first day of school there are still a lot of things that need to happen before then.
Next week we will go to camp!
This year we got a better deal from the camp administrators for the first week in September, so we are doing our camp a bit later that usual.
But still, everybody is exited to go to camp and we have one more week to work out the last details.
Please pray for us this week, so that we receive wisdom in planning everything.
Please pray also for next week, during the camp, to be a blessed time for the children and for us.
The camp is one of the best times we have together, still it is full of challenges. Spending one week together is a great experience, when the children can experience a different life, outside of their daily issues, difficulties and mistreatments.
At the same time of joy and excitement, a few children have still have some struggles to overcome before they can come to camp.
They have some exams left which determine whether they will past into next grade or, sadly, they will have to repeat same grade next year.
Please pray for them. They have been studying for last month or so and they want to continue school.
The fact that they want to take those exams is greatly encouraging, that they didn't just quit. Please pray for them so that no matter how those exams go they will still want to go to school, study, and have dreams for their lives.
As this school year starts, some of the teenagers will now be going to high school. This it is a great step for them; most people would not have believed they could do this. We pray for them to be strong, to know who they are, so that as they will have to face different crises, they will find their identity in God. As we are thinking of them, we are aware that they may still lack some knowledge just from not having a "perfect" childhood, but we want to walk with them, and teach them, and help them to learn.
Three more weeks until school starts: One week to prepare for camp (or to finish preparing), one week in camp, and one more week to prepare for a new school year. In that week, our staff will have two days set apart for refreshing our vision, for remembering our call, for remembering our responsibilities and our commitments, and to once again go through our methodology.
Even if it sounds overwhelming, we are happy to live our lives among these children. We are thankful to God for how He had provided for us until now. And with faith in His call, in His presence among us, we invite you to pray for the children, for their families, and for us. Pray that His love will be seen by everybody, His Kingdom will spread among those who are in need, and that a song of joy, a song of praise to Him will fill our mouths.
In Christ,
Lau & Vali