WEBVTT 00:00:07.810 --> 00:00:10.169 Thank you for listening to this message from 00:00:10.169 --> 00:00:17.829 Lifehouse Church. All right, well, good morning, 00:00:17.850 --> 00:00:22.710 Lifehouse. Hasn't God been good? All right, well, 00:00:22.809 --> 00:00:24.910 it's good to have each one of you here. This 00:00:24.910 --> 00:00:26.949 is a special day. I'm going to ask Jessica to 00:00:26.949 --> 00:00:29.910 come out. She's here. Jessica Hansen's with her. 00:00:29.969 --> 00:00:35.490 Would you give her a hand as she comes out? We 00:00:35.490 --> 00:00:37.390 got chatting back there, and I missed my cue 00:00:37.390 --> 00:00:40.689 to come out, so that's why I was late to the 00:00:40.689 --> 00:00:43.649 party here. But we're so glad to have Jessica, 00:00:43.829 --> 00:00:46.490 her husband, back home in Minnesota, where it 00:00:46.490 --> 00:00:49.109 gets slightly cooler than it does here in Pennsylvania. 00:00:50.130 --> 00:00:53.009 But we love this couple. We know their family. 00:00:53.390 --> 00:00:55.189 They're an amazing couple who have done a work 00:00:55.189 --> 00:00:58.149 for a long time, 18 years now. I said they look 00:00:58.149 --> 00:01:01.009 way too young to be in Guatemala for 18 years. 00:01:01.689 --> 00:01:02.990 But I'm sure she'll give you a little bit of 00:01:02.990 --> 00:01:05.450 the history. And we want you just to listen and 00:01:05.450 --> 00:01:08.670 open your hearts and your minds to the work that 00:01:08.670 --> 00:01:10.870 God's doing across this globe and particularly 00:01:10.870 --> 00:01:15.469 in Guatemala. Thank you, Pastor. Good morning, 00:01:15.510 --> 00:01:19.459 church. What a blessing it is to gather here 00:01:19.459 --> 00:01:22.980 together on a beautiful Sunday morning in this 00:01:22.980 --> 00:01:26.439 beautiful congregation. It's my first time getting 00:01:26.439 --> 00:01:29.340 to be with you and I walked into this building 00:01:29.340 --> 00:01:32.980 this morning and I was absolutely blown away 00:01:32.980 --> 00:01:36.000 by the beauty of this place. I'm blessed to speak 00:01:36.000 --> 00:01:38.000 in churches all around the United States and 00:01:38.000 --> 00:01:40.530 I can say... Without a doubt, this is the prettiest 00:01:40.530 --> 00:01:43.510 sanctuary I've ever been privileged to speak 00:01:43.510 --> 00:01:46.230 in. So you all are very blessed with this space. 00:01:46.890 --> 00:01:52.439 Praise the Lord. Amen. Like Pastor said, my name 00:01:52.439 --> 00:01:54.980 is Jessica Hansen. My husband, Josh, and I are 00:01:54.980 --> 00:01:57.780 the directors of Casa Shalom Orphanage in San 00:01:57.780 --> 00:02:01.299 Lucas, Guatemala. We have been missionaries with 00:02:01.299 --> 00:02:04.939 Church of God World Missions for 18 years. I've 00:02:04.939 --> 00:02:06.939 been on the field, mission field for 18 years. 00:02:07.060 --> 00:02:10.259 And this photo that you see behind me is a family 00:02:10.259 --> 00:02:13.199 portrait. Now, all of us have gone and gotten 00:02:13.199 --> 00:02:15.900 our family pictures taken. You know, we used 00:02:15.900 --> 00:02:18.180 to do it at like the JCPenney's or the Sears. 00:02:18.199 --> 00:02:20.460 And now you do it outside in the matching outfit. 00:02:20.680 --> 00:02:24.080 But this is our family picture, and it looks 00:02:24.080 --> 00:02:26.240 a little different than other people's family 00:02:26.240 --> 00:02:29.460 pictures. This is our big, beautiful family at 00:02:29.460 --> 00:02:33.560 Casa Shalom. Our 65 children that call Casa Shalom 00:02:33.560 --> 00:02:37.159 home, as well as our two children that look just 00:02:37.159 --> 00:02:39.479 like us, our two biological children. Sophie 00:02:39.479 --> 00:02:43.900 is 15, and Judah is 12 years old. And the family 00:02:43.900 --> 00:02:46.500 of Casa Shalom sends their greetings. They are 00:02:46.500 --> 00:02:50.080 worshiping right now as we speak at the orphanage. 00:02:49.900 --> 00:02:52.400 in our on -site chapel there, and they have been 00:02:52.400 --> 00:02:54.300 praying for you. They know that I am here, that 00:02:54.300 --> 00:02:56.319 I am speaking, and they have been praying in 00:02:56.319 --> 00:02:59.280 advance for this Sunday, for this congregation, 00:02:59.639 --> 00:03:02.620 for your pastors. And so I just share the love 00:03:02.620 --> 00:03:05.020 and the greetings of everyone at Casa Shalom. 00:03:05.780 --> 00:03:08.060 And on the next slide, I'll tell you just a little 00:03:08.060 --> 00:03:11.360 bit about the orphanage, a little bit of the 00:03:11.360 --> 00:03:13.599 history of Casa Shalom. So the orphanage was 00:03:13.599 --> 00:03:18.460 started in 1986 by a pair of North American missionaries 00:03:18.460 --> 00:03:21.180 that went from Tennessee to Guatemala. And they 00:03:21.180 --> 00:03:23.180 didn't go to Guatemala to start an orphanage. 00:03:23.199 --> 00:03:25.879 They went as church planters. But they ended 00:03:25.879 --> 00:03:28.300 up in Guatemala in the middle of Guatemala's 00:03:28.300 --> 00:03:31.419 civil war. I don't know if there's any students 00:03:31.419 --> 00:03:34.560 of history here, but Guatemala had a 36 -year 00:03:34.560 --> 00:03:39.039 -long, very violent civil war. And our founders, 00:03:39.080 --> 00:03:42.099 these missionaries, began to notice children 00:03:42.099 --> 00:03:45.099 in the streets of Guatemala, and they seemed 00:03:45.099 --> 00:03:47.080 to be living on the streets on their own. And 00:03:47.080 --> 00:03:49.479 so they would ask, who are these boys and girls, 00:03:49.560 --> 00:03:51.599 and what are they doing here? And they were told, 00:03:51.659 --> 00:03:54.759 these children have been orphaned by the war, 00:03:54.939 --> 00:03:57.020 and they have no place to go. Their family has 00:03:57.020 --> 00:03:59.479 been killed. They have no one to take them in. 00:03:59.560 --> 00:04:02.599 And so our founders took in a sibling group of 00:04:02.599 --> 00:04:05.479 three kids, three war orphans, off of the street, 00:04:05.680 --> 00:04:08.479 and then a couple more, and a couple more. And 00:04:08.479 --> 00:04:10.120 so we started with three boys and girls. and 00:04:10.120 --> 00:04:13.020 now we're home to 65 boys and girls from all 00:04:13.020 --> 00:04:15.419 over the country of Guatemala, all ages, from 00:04:15.419 --> 00:04:18.240 babies all the way up through young adults. And 00:04:18.240 --> 00:04:20.920 Casa Shalom was actually the very first Church 00:04:20.920 --> 00:04:23.879 of God orphanage started outside of the United 00:04:23.879 --> 00:04:26.379 States, which I think is an interesting little 00:04:26.379 --> 00:04:29.319 piece of history there. But you can see the picture 00:04:29.319 --> 00:04:32.060 there of our entryway there in Guatemala, the 00:04:32.060 --> 00:04:34.639 beautiful orphanage property. We've got 12 acres 00:04:34.639 --> 00:04:37.800 of just beautiful terrain that the children are 00:04:37.800 --> 00:04:40.759 all blessed to call home. And on the next slide 00:04:40.759 --> 00:04:42.540 I'll tell you just a little bit about how kids 00:04:42.540 --> 00:04:46.720 come to Casa Shalom. We have legal custody of 00:04:46.720 --> 00:04:49.300 all of our children who come to the orphanage. 00:04:49.300 --> 00:04:51.399 They come to us through the Guatemalan government. 00:04:51.879 --> 00:04:55.819 So my husband and I, legally, we are the parents 00:04:55.819 --> 00:05:04.970 of 67 children. The Bible says that children 00:05:04.970 --> 00:05:07.449 are a gift from the Lord. Well, we have been 00:05:07.449 --> 00:05:10.629 extra blessed. My husband calls me the old woman 00:05:10.629 --> 00:05:14.230 in the shoe because I have children everywhere, 00:05:14.589 --> 00:05:17.269 boys and girls everywhere. But Guatemala doesn't 00:05:17.269 --> 00:05:20.230 have a foster care system. So for the same reasons 00:05:20.230 --> 00:05:22.569 you would end up in foster care here in the States, 00:05:22.670 --> 00:05:25.370 in Guatemala, you end up in an orphanage. So 00:05:25.370 --> 00:05:27.509 we have many children who come to us who have 00:05:27.509 --> 00:05:29.610 been orphaned. Their parents have passed away. 00:05:30.399 --> 00:05:32.519 There's no grandmother, no aunt, no uncle, no 00:05:32.519 --> 00:05:34.980 one to care for them. We have children who come 00:05:34.980 --> 00:05:37.980 from cases of abandonment. Their parents have 00:05:37.980 --> 00:05:40.540 simply walked out on them. We take in a lot of 00:05:40.540 --> 00:05:44.139 abandoned babies who were born unwanted and found 00:05:44.139 --> 00:05:47.459 somewhere on the side of the road. We take in 00:05:47.459 --> 00:05:50.339 children from cases of severe neglect. The parents 00:05:50.339 --> 00:05:52.879 did not provide, could not provide what the children 00:05:52.879 --> 00:05:55.519 needed. And unfortunately, many cases of abuse 00:05:55.519 --> 00:05:58.199 as well. Many of our children have been abused 00:05:58.199 --> 00:06:00.949 in really horrible ways. most of the young ladies 00:06:00.949 --> 00:06:02.990 have been taken advantage of by a family member. 00:06:03.189 --> 00:06:06.009 And so all of these children come to us to find 00:06:06.009 --> 00:06:09.629 refuge and safety and love. And this picture 00:06:09.629 --> 00:06:12.490 that I have behind me is the largest sibling 00:06:12.490 --> 00:06:15.129 group that we have ever taken in in the history 00:06:15.129 --> 00:06:18.149 of Casa Shalom. So there's eight siblings there. 00:06:18.230 --> 00:06:22.800 That is the Mejia Lush family. The Mahia Lush 00:06:22.800 --> 00:06:27.720 parents had these eight children, and after the 00:06:27.720 --> 00:06:31.040 youngest were born, they were twins. the twin 00:06:31.040 --> 00:06:33.399 girls, after they had those children, they decided 00:06:33.399 --> 00:06:35.500 that they simply did not want to be parents anymore. 00:06:35.800 --> 00:06:38.180 And so they walked out on all of their eight 00:06:38.180 --> 00:06:40.480 children and left. The oldest girl there in that 00:06:40.480 --> 00:06:42.879 photo, her name is Maria. She was 12 years old 00:06:42.879 --> 00:06:46.480 when they came to us. And Maria was trying to 00:06:46.480 --> 00:06:48.980 keep the family together all on her own at 12 00:06:48.980 --> 00:06:51.639 years old. And the boys in the picture were six, 00:06:51.740 --> 00:06:53.519 seven, and eight. And they were working in local 00:06:53.519 --> 00:06:56.639 coffee fields for a dollar a day each, trying 00:06:56.639 --> 00:06:58.399 to get enough food to feed their family. And 00:06:58.399 --> 00:07:00.779 when the social workers found them, the children 00:07:00.779 --> 00:07:02.920 were sick and they were starving. And they were 00:07:02.920 --> 00:07:07.120 living in a one -room tin shack with dirt floors, 00:07:07.319 --> 00:07:12.120 no running water, no electricity. And it was 00:07:12.120 --> 00:07:17.399 desperate. It was hopeless. But God. And I think 00:07:17.399 --> 00:07:19.980 if we had a theme at Casa Shalom, it would be, 00:07:20.040 --> 00:07:24.279 but God. Because God's plan for the Mahia Lush 00:07:24.279 --> 00:07:28.649 siblings was not... hopelessness and starvation 00:07:28.649 --> 00:07:32.610 and never getting to attend school and being 00:07:32.610 --> 00:07:35.920 sick. And so these children were rescued out 00:07:35.920 --> 00:07:38.300 of that situation and brought to Casa Shalom, 00:07:38.399 --> 00:07:40.879 and God just worked a miracle in them. Physically, 00:07:40.879 --> 00:07:43.899 he healed their bodies. We put them in school, 00:07:43.980 --> 00:07:46.699 and they all began to learn to read and write, 00:07:46.759 --> 00:07:49.259 and they thrived, and they accepted Jesus as 00:07:49.259 --> 00:07:51.160 their Lord and Savior. And I'll never forget 00:07:51.160 --> 00:07:54.160 the first time I heard Maria, who when we got 00:07:54.160 --> 00:07:56.439 her, she was the oldest girl, 12 years old. She 00:07:56.439 --> 00:07:58.660 had never been to school a day in her life, couldn't 00:07:58.660 --> 00:08:00.720 identify any letters, couldn't read, couldn't 00:08:00.720 --> 00:08:03.560 write. And I'll never forget about six months 00:08:03.560 --> 00:08:07.180 after they had come to us, she stood up in our 00:08:07.180 --> 00:08:09.220 youth group service on a Wednesday night and 00:08:09.220 --> 00:08:11.759 picked up her very own copy of her Bible and 00:08:11.759 --> 00:08:14.939 began to read that week's verse out loud. And 00:08:14.939 --> 00:08:17.300 it was just such an amazing moment that will 00:08:17.300 --> 00:08:20.699 stick with me my whole life of an example of 00:08:20.699 --> 00:08:24.379 the future that God had for these children. And 00:08:24.379 --> 00:08:27.060 it wasn't for Maria to be all alone taking care 00:08:27.060 --> 00:08:30.660 of her siblings. It was hope and a future. And 00:08:30.660 --> 00:08:33.740 God used these siblings. He worked a miracle. 00:08:33.940 --> 00:08:36.840 We saw an actual miracle. You know, one of the 00:08:36.840 --> 00:08:38.700 praise and worship songs that we sang this morning 00:08:38.700 --> 00:08:41.899 talked about a God who heals, how he did heal, 00:08:42.000 --> 00:08:45.220 and he does heal. And I'm here to tell you that 00:08:45.220 --> 00:08:49.080 that is true. Some believers will tell you, no, 00:08:49.279 --> 00:08:51.559 that's just something from Bible times. God doesn't 00:08:51.559 --> 00:08:53.620 heal anymore. He doesn't do miracles anymore. 00:08:53.879 --> 00:08:55.620 But church, how many of us know that that is 00:08:55.620 --> 00:09:01.629 wrong? God still works today. Amen? Yes. And 00:09:01.629 --> 00:09:05.830 that same God who parted the Red Sea, that same 00:09:05.830 --> 00:09:08.590 God who turned water into wine, that same God 00:09:08.590 --> 00:09:11.850 who healed the lepers, the same God who brought 00:09:11.850 --> 00:09:14.330 Jesus back out of that grave after he should 00:09:14.330 --> 00:09:16.490 not have walked out of that grave, that power 00:09:16.490 --> 00:09:19.250 is available to us today. And God still works 00:09:19.250 --> 00:09:21.610 miracles today. And we saw it in this family. 00:09:21.750 --> 00:09:24.669 There was one night at the orphanage. We were 00:09:24.669 --> 00:09:26.529 in our house there on the orphanage property, 00:09:26.690 --> 00:09:30.250 and we heard a knock. on our door late at night 00:09:30.250 --> 00:09:34.509 as we were getting ready to go to bed. And we 00:09:34.509 --> 00:09:36.230 opened the door, and it was one of the housemothers 00:09:36.230 --> 00:09:39.029 for the babies and the toddlers. And she had 00:09:39.029 --> 00:09:41.649 in her arms one of the twin girls, actually the 00:09:41.649 --> 00:09:43.210 one that you see in that picture, the one that's 00:09:43.210 --> 00:09:47.110 in my arms. Magdalena is her name. And she had 00:09:47.110 --> 00:09:50.269 this little girl in her arms, and she said Magdalena, 00:09:50.269 --> 00:09:52.230 who had been toilet training at the time, potty 00:09:52.230 --> 00:09:54.250 training, had gotten up to use the bathroom and 00:09:54.250 --> 00:09:57.429 had accidentally... closed her finger in the 00:09:57.429 --> 00:10:00.090 bathroom door. And at that point, she pulled 00:10:00.090 --> 00:10:03.409 the blanket back off of Magdalena, and we saw 00:10:03.409 --> 00:10:06.309 that Magdalena was covered in blood. And we looked 00:10:06.309 --> 00:10:10.289 at Magdalena, and her thumb on one of her hands 00:10:10.289 --> 00:10:13.509 had been almost entirely severed by the door 00:10:13.509 --> 00:10:16.509 hinge. It was... held on by just a little teeny 00:10:16.509 --> 00:10:19.629 piece of skin. And so we wrapped up Magdalena 00:10:19.629 --> 00:10:22.750 and we jumped in the car. And I don't know if 00:10:22.750 --> 00:10:24.389 you know much about Guatemala, but it's not known 00:10:24.389 --> 00:10:26.590 for its medical care. The medical care is not 00:10:26.590 --> 00:10:29.350 excellent. So we drove to the closest hospital. 00:10:29.350 --> 00:10:31.370 It was about 45 minutes away. And we got to the 00:10:31.370 --> 00:10:35.049 ER and they triaged Magdalena, looked at her 00:10:35.049 --> 00:10:37.629 and said, there's nothing we can do for that. 00:10:38.720 --> 00:10:40.460 Here in the States, there probably would have 00:10:40.460 --> 00:10:43.139 been some sort of a surgeon who could have, you 00:10:43.139 --> 00:10:45.580 know, connected everything back together and, 00:10:45.639 --> 00:10:48.259 you know, performed all of these special procedures. 00:10:49.139 --> 00:10:51.940 And they said, we don't have anything like that. 00:10:52.000 --> 00:10:53.679 We're going to have to snip the skin, and she's 00:10:53.679 --> 00:10:55.340 going to lose her thumb. And we said, well, that 00:10:55.340 --> 00:10:58.580 can't be the answer. So we bundled her back up, 00:10:58.700 --> 00:11:00.980 got back in the car with her house mother, and 00:11:00.980 --> 00:11:03.080 we drove to the next furthest hospital about 00:11:03.080 --> 00:11:06.879 30 minutes away, went into the ER. And they said, 00:11:06.940 --> 00:11:09.279 well, we also don't think there's anything we 00:11:09.279 --> 00:11:11.159 can do about that. We don't have a surgeon that 00:11:11.159 --> 00:11:14.279 can address that sort of problem. He said, well, 00:11:14.379 --> 00:11:17.220 what we can do is we can put her thumb back where 00:11:17.220 --> 00:11:19.299 it should be and we'll stitch the skin together 00:11:19.299 --> 00:11:21.519 all the way around the thumb. He said, but we 00:11:21.519 --> 00:11:24.259 can't do anything about the blood vessels. So 00:11:24.259 --> 00:11:26.039 what's going to happen is in a couple of days, 00:11:26.120 --> 00:11:28.419 that tissue is just going to die and we'll have 00:11:28.419 --> 00:11:30.779 to cut the dead tissue off and she'll lose her 00:11:30.779 --> 00:11:33.450 thumb. We said, well, that's still better than 00:11:33.450 --> 00:11:36.860 the first hospital gave us that option. We checked 00:11:36.860 --> 00:11:39.559 her into the hospital. They stitched her thumb 00:11:39.559 --> 00:11:41.720 back on. We left her there in the hospital overnight 00:11:41.720 --> 00:11:43.779 in the care of the doctors and her house mother. 00:11:44.159 --> 00:11:47.440 And we drove back to the orphanage. And that's 00:11:47.440 --> 00:11:50.600 when we began to call the U .S. and call our 00:11:50.600 --> 00:11:52.659 prayer partners and the people that we knew we 00:11:52.659 --> 00:11:55.500 had in our corner and say, please pray. Pray 00:11:55.500 --> 00:11:58.620 for Magdalena. We need the Lord to work. And 00:11:58.620 --> 00:12:01.919 we'll never forget this. My husband made a call 00:12:01.919 --> 00:12:04.840 to a good friend of his who has since gone on 00:12:04.840 --> 00:12:07.620 to be with the Lord. man named Jay. And Josh 00:12:07.620 --> 00:12:10.519 told him the situation and Jay said, well, we're 00:12:10.519 --> 00:12:13.639 going to pray and we believe that the Lord can 00:12:13.639 --> 00:12:15.779 heal Magdalena. And we're going to pray and we're 00:12:15.779 --> 00:12:18.740 going to ask the Lord to heal Magdalena and believe 00:12:18.740 --> 00:12:21.720 in faith that he can and he will. And Josh replied, 00:12:21.919 --> 00:12:24.580 well, but the doctor says she's going to lose 00:12:24.580 --> 00:12:28.220 her thumb. And Jay replied, it doesn't matter 00:12:28.220 --> 00:12:31.879 what that doctor says. It matters what the Lord 00:12:31.879 --> 00:12:38.090 says. And that has stuck with us ever since that 00:12:38.090 --> 00:12:40.070 night. It doesn't matter what the doctor says. 00:12:40.149 --> 00:12:43.090 It matters what the Lord says. And we said, yeah, 00:12:43.210 --> 00:12:45.210 that's right. And so we spent the night in prayer. 00:12:45.429 --> 00:12:48.690 And the next morning we got up, we drove down 00:12:48.690 --> 00:12:51.909 to the hospital and we went on visitation hours. 00:12:51.990 --> 00:12:55.409 And Magdalena had her arm all wrapped up and 00:12:55.409 --> 00:12:58.029 basically like equivalent of an ace bandage. 00:12:58.759 --> 00:13:01.659 And we asked her doctor there, we said, can we 00:13:01.659 --> 00:13:04.139 see her thumb? And he said, that's going to be 00:13:04.139 --> 00:13:06.159 pretty gross. I don't think you want to see that. 00:13:06.299 --> 00:13:08.580 And we said, no, we want to see it. And so he 00:13:08.580 --> 00:13:10.940 started to unwrap this bandage off of her little 00:13:10.940 --> 00:13:13.419 arm. And when he got down to her thumb, there 00:13:13.419 --> 00:13:17.419 was not a single mark on that little girl's thumb. 00:13:20.879 --> 00:13:24.460 The Lord supernaturally healed that little girl's 00:13:24.460 --> 00:13:27.960 thumb, reattached it. She had no scar, no mark. 00:13:28.639 --> 00:13:33.200 And that ER doctor's jaw just, it dropped. He 00:13:33.200 --> 00:13:35.500 said, I don't know how that happened. And we 00:13:35.500 --> 00:13:37.679 said, we know how that happened. Like, let us 00:13:37.679 --> 00:13:41.139 tell you about our God who heals. And so I just 00:13:41.139 --> 00:13:43.720 want to share with you church today that the 00:13:43.720 --> 00:13:46.679 Lord is powerful and he is bigger than whatever 00:13:46.679 --> 00:13:51.169 it is that we are facing today. Maybe the doctor 00:13:51.169 --> 00:13:54.389 has given you news or the lawyer or the accountant 00:13:54.389 --> 00:13:57.090 or your teacher, but I'm here to tell you that 00:13:57.090 --> 00:13:59.970 they do not have the final word over the situation. 00:14:00.610 --> 00:14:03.610 Young people to you, especially your friends 00:14:03.610 --> 00:14:06.970 do not have the final word over the situation 00:14:06.970 --> 00:14:09.950 or even your family who has the final word over 00:14:09.950 --> 00:14:12.929 the situation is our heavenly father. And he 00:14:12.929 --> 00:14:16.429 is the one who decides. So that is why we put 00:14:16.429 --> 00:14:19.450 our faith and our trust in our heavenly father. 00:14:19.629 --> 00:14:23.149 and we lean on him, and we believe his word over 00:14:23.149 --> 00:14:26.669 us. Amen? Amen. All right, on the next slide, 00:14:26.730 --> 00:14:28.429 I'll tell you a little bit about our goals of 00:14:28.429 --> 00:14:31.870 Casa Shalom. Our very first goal is to provide 00:14:31.870 --> 00:14:34.789 for the educational needs of the kids. Guatemala 00:14:34.789 --> 00:14:39.100 has one of the highest rates of illiteracy. I'm 00:14:39.100 --> 00:14:41.000 sorry, I skipped a slide, so I apologize. That'll 00:14:41.000 --> 00:14:42.820 be in a minute. First goal is to provide for 00:14:42.820 --> 00:14:46.059 the basic needs, food. So Guatemala has the fourth 00:14:46.059 --> 00:14:48.919 highest rate of chronic malnutrition in the whole 00:14:48.919 --> 00:14:50.960 world. So out of all of the countries of the 00:14:50.960 --> 00:14:53.299 world, Guatemala is the fourth highest. So we 00:14:53.299 --> 00:14:55.740 take in children, and many times they are literally 00:14:55.740 --> 00:14:58.659 starving. They've been surviving on just tortillas. 00:14:58.940 --> 00:15:01.799 And so we provide for all of their needs, three 00:15:01.799 --> 00:15:04.519 nutritious meals a day at the orphanage from 00:15:04.519 --> 00:15:08.139 a menu designed by a nutritionist. have our medical 00:15:08.139 --> 00:15:10.679 care right on site at the orphanage, also dental 00:15:10.679 --> 00:15:13.860 care. So dental care is basically nonexistent 00:15:13.860 --> 00:15:16.539 in Guatemala. Most of our kids that we take in 00:15:16.539 --> 00:15:20.470 have never brushed their teeth. Ever. Now, I 00:15:20.470 --> 00:15:23.009 know some of you kids in here, maybe that sounds 00:15:23.009 --> 00:15:25.529 good. Like, hey, I don't have to brush my teeth 00:15:25.529 --> 00:15:28.450 anymore. That lady from Guatemala said it. That 00:15:28.450 --> 00:15:31.669 is not what I'm saying. Brush your teeth. Because 00:15:31.669 --> 00:15:34.350 you can imagine if you're 12 years old and you've 00:15:34.350 --> 00:15:37.250 never brushed your teeth before, the state that 00:15:37.250 --> 00:15:39.590 your poor teeth are in. So we have to do extensive 00:15:39.590 --> 00:15:42.929 dental and medical work on all of our kids. We 00:15:42.929 --> 00:15:44.889 have all of our clothing provided by short -term 00:15:44.889 --> 00:15:47.950 missions teams. And we have a safe family environment. 00:15:48.460 --> 00:15:50.340 For many of our children, this is the very first 00:15:50.340 --> 00:15:53.580 time that they have ever been safe. We have children 00:15:53.580 --> 00:15:55.620 who have come in directly off of the street. 00:15:55.700 --> 00:15:58.159 They've been homeless. They've never had electricity. 00:15:58.539 --> 00:16:01.860 They've never had hot water. For many of them, 00:16:01.919 --> 00:16:03.600 this is the first time they've ever been free 00:16:03.600 --> 00:16:06.000 from abuse or the first time they haven't had 00:16:06.000 --> 00:16:09.240 to work. I remember we took in two siblings. 00:16:09.399 --> 00:16:11.379 Their names were Margarita. She was the older 00:16:11.379 --> 00:16:13.120 sister and then Jose was the little brother. 00:16:13.659 --> 00:16:16.779 And I took them in and we were... Cleaning them 00:16:16.779 --> 00:16:18.679 up, and we picked the lice out of their hair, 00:16:18.740 --> 00:16:21.399 and they got showers, and I was going to take 00:16:21.399 --> 00:16:23.980 them to get some clean clothes. And Margarita 00:16:23.980 --> 00:16:27.159 stopped me, and she said, Sister Jessica, do 00:16:27.159 --> 00:16:29.620 you have any work I could do? And I said, Margarita? 00:16:29.620 --> 00:16:32.000 This little girl was about nine. I said, Margarita, 00:16:32.000 --> 00:16:33.879 why do you want to work? And she said, well, 00:16:34.019 --> 00:16:37.799 Jose is hungry, so I need to do some work so 00:16:37.799 --> 00:16:40.039 I can earn some food for my little brother because 00:16:40.039 --> 00:16:43.330 he's hungry. And I said, Margarita, here, you 00:16:43.330 --> 00:16:45.309 don't have to work for your food. You get to 00:16:45.309 --> 00:16:47.850 be a kid and you get to go to school. And she 00:16:47.850 --> 00:16:51.409 said, I get to go to school? And she was so excited. 00:16:51.429 --> 00:16:54.789 And just to see the realization wash over her 00:16:54.789 --> 00:16:57.029 that for the first time in her life, she was 00:16:57.029 --> 00:16:59.649 going to be given. what she needed. And more 00:16:59.649 --> 00:17:02.149 importantly to her, her little brother was going 00:17:02.149 --> 00:17:04.829 to be given what he needed. And for most of our 00:17:04.829 --> 00:17:06.829 kids, this is the first time that they have ever 00:17:06.829 --> 00:17:11.390 been able to really just truly be children. And 00:17:11.390 --> 00:17:14.509 on the next slide. This is the educational part, 00:17:14.589 --> 00:17:16.930 the school part. So most of our kids before they 00:17:16.930 --> 00:17:20.369 come to us have never gone to school, ever. A 00:17:20.369 --> 00:17:22.329 lot of them work before they come to us. Our 00:17:22.329 --> 00:17:24.869 youngest child that we've ever taken in that 00:17:24.869 --> 00:17:27.170 had a job instead of going to school was five 00:17:27.170 --> 00:17:30.450 years old. And instead of going to kindergarten, 00:17:30.609 --> 00:17:34.269 he was working in the sugar cane fields. And 00:17:34.269 --> 00:17:37.690 how you harvest sugar cane is with a machete. 00:17:38.029 --> 00:17:41.630 You chop it. So he had his own machete and he 00:17:41.630 --> 00:17:44.400 would chop sugar cane. every single day instead 00:17:44.400 --> 00:17:46.920 of going to kindergarten. And so we bring the 00:17:46.920 --> 00:17:49.980 kids in and we put them in school. We have a 00:17:49.980 --> 00:17:52.160 tutor right on site. We help the kids catch up 00:17:52.160 --> 00:17:54.019 to grade level. So we send them to school from 00:17:54.019 --> 00:17:56.299 kindergarten through high school. And then whenever 00:17:56.299 --> 00:17:59.240 possible, we send them to university or trade 00:17:59.240 --> 00:18:01.420 school. And I'll talk a little bit more about 00:18:01.420 --> 00:18:04.339 that in a minute. But on the next slide, the 00:18:04.339 --> 00:18:06.900 third and most important goal of Casa Shalom 00:18:06.900 --> 00:18:10.519 is to raise Christ followers. We tell our kids 00:18:10.519 --> 00:18:13.500 about Jesus Christ from day one. one. Because 00:18:13.500 --> 00:18:15.839 of course we believe it's important to take kids 00:18:15.839 --> 00:18:18.180 in off of the street and give them a bed and 00:18:18.180 --> 00:18:20.559 warm clothing and food and medical care and school. 00:18:20.640 --> 00:18:22.980 All those things are great. But if we're not 00:18:22.980 --> 00:18:25.759 teaching them about Jesus Christ, we are doing 00:18:25.759 --> 00:18:29.059 them the biggest disservice possible. So Christ 00:18:29.059 --> 00:18:32.359 is at the center of everything we do at Casa 00:18:32.359 --> 00:18:34.779 Shalom. We have Wednesday night church services. 00:18:34.920 --> 00:18:37.420 We have Sunday morning church services. Like 00:18:37.420 --> 00:18:40.359 I said, our kids are in church right now. We 00:18:40.359 --> 00:18:42.380 have daily devotions in all the kids' houses. 00:18:42.680 --> 00:18:45.519 And we also teach our kids to be missional. And 00:18:45.519 --> 00:18:48.759 that sounds a little bit funny to some people 00:18:48.759 --> 00:18:52.859 of how can orphans in a third world country be 00:18:52.859 --> 00:18:55.960 missional? How is that possible? What my husband 00:18:55.960 --> 00:18:59.019 and I don't want to do is teach our kids to just 00:18:59.019 --> 00:19:01.680 stand there with their hand out, just waiting. 00:19:02.619 --> 00:19:05.519 We are a missions project. The kids at the orphanage 00:19:05.519 --> 00:19:07.579 know that. So we get no money from the Guatemalan 00:19:07.579 --> 00:19:11.759 government. 100 % of the funds needed to run 00:19:11.759 --> 00:19:13.880 the orphanage, to feed the kids and clothe them 00:19:13.880 --> 00:19:16.640 and send them to school. is all privately donated. 00:19:16.819 --> 00:19:18.500 So my husband and I travel around to churches 00:19:18.500 --> 00:19:21.500 just like this to raise support. But we don't 00:19:21.500 --> 00:19:23.400 want to teach our kids that they have nothing 00:19:23.400 --> 00:19:25.859 to contribute to the kingdom of God because they 00:19:25.859 --> 00:19:28.519 do. We believe that every believer has something 00:19:28.519 --> 00:19:30.940 that they can give to the kingdom of God. So 00:19:30.940 --> 00:19:32.920 during our kids' school break every year, we 00:19:32.920 --> 00:19:35.559 choose a missions project somewhere all around 00:19:35.559 --> 00:19:37.940 the world, and our children raise money for that. 00:19:38.240 --> 00:19:40.579 Now, kids in an orphanage in Guatemala maybe 00:19:40.579 --> 00:19:42.420 don't have a lot of options for fundraising, 00:19:42.619 --> 00:19:44.680 but they get real creative. So if they have... 00:19:44.720 --> 00:19:48.259 extra toys. They'll have a garage sale or we 00:19:48.259 --> 00:19:50.380 have an on -site bakery at the orphanage and 00:19:50.380 --> 00:19:53.079 the kids will bake bread and sell it. Has anybody 00:19:53.079 --> 00:19:57.240 here had the blessing of trying a tamale? Anybody? 00:19:57.259 --> 00:19:59.400 There's a couple. Yeah. Well, we make the best 00:19:59.400 --> 00:20:03.339 tamales in the world at Casa Shalom in giant 00:20:03.339 --> 00:20:06.079 pots. So our kids make them and they go door 00:20:06.079 --> 00:20:08.960 to door selling tamales. And they take all of 00:20:08.960 --> 00:20:10.920 that money that they've raised and put it towards 00:20:10.920 --> 00:20:13.460 a missions project. So they raise on average 00:20:13.460 --> 00:20:17.920 about $1 ,000 every single year to send to missions. 00:20:18.140 --> 00:20:24.190 Amen? Yeah. I think that's pretty cool that kids 00:20:24.190 --> 00:20:27.329 in an orphanage in Guatemala are passionate about 00:20:27.329 --> 00:20:29.670 missions, and we try to choose projects that 00:20:29.670 --> 00:20:32.789 are close to their hearts. Like one year we raised 00:20:32.789 --> 00:20:36.289 money for beds in a drug rehab center in the 00:20:36.289 --> 00:20:38.950 Dominican Republic because a lot of our kids 00:20:38.950 --> 00:20:41.170 know what it's like to have parents that struggle 00:20:41.170 --> 00:20:44.849 with addiction. One year we raised money to build 00:20:44.849 --> 00:20:47.369 a house in Cambodia because a lot of our children 00:20:47.369 --> 00:20:50.930 know what it's like to not have a home, a place 00:20:50.930 --> 00:20:53.710 to live. And our kids get really excited and 00:20:53.710 --> 00:20:55.849 they get on board with these missions projects. 00:20:56.049 --> 00:20:58.150 And they love knowing that even though they may 00:20:58.150 --> 00:21:00.490 be kids growing up in an orphanage in Guatemala, 00:21:00.589 --> 00:21:03.130 that they have something that they can contribute 00:21:03.130 --> 00:21:06.779 to the kingdom of God as well. And on the next 00:21:06.779 --> 00:21:08.380 slide, I'm going to start telling you just a 00:21:08.380 --> 00:21:10.180 couple of stories about some of our children 00:21:10.180 --> 00:21:13.460 at Casa Shalom. So this young man, his name is 00:21:13.460 --> 00:21:17.700 Tony. And Tony has been with us since he was 00:21:17.700 --> 00:21:21.519 a little tiny baby. About 18 years ago, there 00:21:21.519 --> 00:21:25.140 was a police officer in a local village who was 00:21:25.140 --> 00:21:28.019 walking to work down the cobblestone road. And 00:21:28.019 --> 00:21:30.880 he left his house, walked to the police station 00:21:30.880 --> 00:21:34.250 nearby, and about halfway there, he heard what 00:21:34.250 --> 00:21:36.269 he thought was the sound of a kitten crying. 00:21:36.910 --> 00:21:39.470 So he stopped and he listened to see if he could 00:21:39.470 --> 00:21:42.529 hear this cat, and he realized that it sounded 00:21:42.529 --> 00:21:45.650 a little bit more like a baby. So he went down 00:21:45.650 --> 00:21:48.609 and looked down the steep embankment on the side 00:21:48.609 --> 00:21:51.970 of the road, and he saw a suitcase. And this 00:21:51.970 --> 00:21:54.150 was one of those old -fashioned suitcases that 00:21:54.150 --> 00:21:56.369 you had to carry before they had wheels on them. 00:21:57.799 --> 00:22:00.839 So it sounded like it was coming from there. 00:22:00.980 --> 00:22:04.740 So he crawled down that embankment and unzipped 00:22:04.740 --> 00:22:09.380 that suitcase, and inside was baby Tony. Baby 00:22:09.380 --> 00:22:12.339 Tony had obviously been recently born, still 00:22:12.339 --> 00:22:16.559 had his umbilical cord attached. And we don't 00:22:16.559 --> 00:22:19.039 know baby Tony's mother. We don't know what her 00:22:19.039 --> 00:22:21.599 circumstances were. We know that she must have 00:22:21.599 --> 00:22:23.500 been very desperate to make the choice that she 00:22:23.500 --> 00:22:26.460 did. But in that moment, the police officer grabbed 00:22:26.460 --> 00:22:29.220 up baby Tony. He unbuttoned his uniform shirt, 00:22:29.359 --> 00:22:32.380 took it off, and wrapped baby Tony in it, scooped 00:22:32.380 --> 00:22:34.240 him up in his arms, and ran the rest of the way 00:22:34.240 --> 00:22:36.559 to his police station where they were able to 00:22:36.559 --> 00:22:39.339 warm him up, get a hold of some formula, and 00:22:39.339 --> 00:22:42.740 then transfer him to a local hospital. And the 00:22:42.740 --> 00:22:45.980 very next day, Tony came to Casa Shalom. And 00:22:45.980 --> 00:22:49.059 he grew up with us his entire life. And Tony 00:22:49.059 --> 00:22:51.920 is such a joy and such a blessing. And he would 00:22:51.920 --> 00:22:55.029 tell... Anybody who would listen his testimony 00:22:55.029 --> 00:22:58.150 about how the Lord saved him, about how the Lord 00:22:58.150 --> 00:23:01.390 has a plan for his life. And as Tony got to be 00:23:01.390 --> 00:23:03.890 a little bit older, he got really interested 00:23:03.890 --> 00:23:06.430 in technological things. I don't know if any 00:23:06.430 --> 00:23:09.210 of you parents or grandparents, did anybody ever 00:23:09.210 --> 00:23:11.529 have one of those kids who liked to take stuff 00:23:11.529 --> 00:23:15.230 apart? You know, like they'd find the radio and 00:23:15.230 --> 00:23:17.329 take it apart and try to put it back together. 00:23:17.430 --> 00:23:20.549 But there was four screws and a clasp at the 00:23:20.549 --> 00:23:22.839 end and it didn't work right. Well, it was Tony. 00:23:22.940 --> 00:23:26.140 He was always taking electronics and taking them 00:23:26.140 --> 00:23:28.299 apart to see what it looked like inside and then 00:23:28.299 --> 00:23:30.900 trying to put it back together. So when it came 00:23:30.900 --> 00:23:32.779 time to decide what Tony was going to do with 00:23:32.779 --> 00:23:36.039 his life, we decided to send Tony to technical 00:23:36.039 --> 00:23:39.599 college. So he went to school to become a small 00:23:39.599 --> 00:23:42.519 appliance repairman. Because in Guatemala, if 00:23:42.519 --> 00:23:45.039 something breaks, you don't have money to buy 00:23:45.039 --> 00:23:47.180 a new one. What you do is you take it to a repair 00:23:47.180 --> 00:23:49.880 person and they repair it for you. And then you 00:23:49.880 --> 00:23:53.660 can continue using that. him so Tony has thrived 00:23:53.660 --> 00:23:56.480 in this career and it's a wonderful career for 00:23:56.480 --> 00:23:59.000 him where he can make a good living and he uses 00:23:59.000 --> 00:24:01.460 that everybody he meets he tells his testimony 00:24:01.460 --> 00:24:04.299 and we think it is so awesome that Tony has gone 00:24:04.299 --> 00:24:06.839 from a suitcase because that was not the plan 00:24:06.839 --> 00:24:09.819 the Lord had for Tony all the way to trade school 00:24:09.819 --> 00:24:13.700 and sharing his testimony and on the next slide 00:24:13.700 --> 00:24:15.559 I'll tell you the story of a young man named 00:24:15.559 --> 00:24:19.390 Marcos Marcos came to us the oldest of three 00:24:19.390 --> 00:24:22.829 siblings. Those are his sisters, Salome and Patricia, 00:24:23.049 --> 00:24:26.950 that you see in the photo. And their kid's mother 00:24:26.950 --> 00:24:31.769 is mentally disabled, and their father is a very 00:24:31.769 --> 00:24:35.579 violent alcoholic, a mean, mean man. And he would 00:24:35.579 --> 00:24:38.460 abuse the little girls in ways that I can't even 00:24:38.460 --> 00:24:41.220 get into. And Marcos would try to protect his 00:24:41.220 --> 00:24:44.299 sisters from their father. And then when he would 00:24:44.299 --> 00:24:46.859 try to step in and protect them, the father would 00:24:46.859 --> 00:24:50.299 physically abuse Marcos. And we took in the children. 00:24:50.359 --> 00:24:52.980 And in 18 years of doing this job, I've never 00:24:52.980 --> 00:24:57.160 seen a child so closed off as Marcos was. Understandably, 00:24:57.160 --> 00:24:59.900 he had been through the worst that life has to 00:24:59.900 --> 00:25:04.980 offer. And he was completely shut down. We started 00:25:04.980 --> 00:25:08.660 to talk to Marcos about the Lord, about his heavenly 00:25:08.660 --> 00:25:12.279 father. And Marcos' response was, don't talk 00:25:12.279 --> 00:25:14.660 to me about a father. I don't want to know about 00:25:14.660 --> 00:25:17.180 any kind of father because I know what fathers 00:25:17.180 --> 00:25:21.119 are. And that was heartbreaking to us to know 00:25:21.119 --> 00:25:23.420 that his image of a father was somebody who was 00:25:23.420 --> 00:25:26.019 so cruel and heartless and someone who had hurt 00:25:26.019 --> 00:25:31.480 his children. But God. But God. And this but 00:25:31.480 --> 00:25:34.910 God was not a quick. but God. This was a years 00:25:34.910 --> 00:25:39.230 long process, but slowly Marcos began to thaw. 00:25:39.289 --> 00:25:41.990 And we noticed that during the devotions in his 00:25:41.990 --> 00:25:45.650 house, after six months, he was sitting a little 00:25:45.650 --> 00:25:48.619 bit closer. And then a couple months later, his 00:25:48.619 --> 00:25:52.039 back wasn't turned anymore. And then the next 00:25:52.039 --> 00:25:54.779 year, he actually brought his Bible with him. 00:25:54.859 --> 00:25:57.920 And eventually, Marcos accepted Jesus as his 00:25:57.920 --> 00:26:00.940 Lord and Savior. And we just praise the Lord 00:26:00.940 --> 00:26:04.319 for working that miracle in Marcos' heart and 00:26:04.319 --> 00:26:09.240 his life. And Marcos is a brilliant, warm, kind 00:26:09.240 --> 00:26:10.940 -hearted young man. And it's something that only 00:26:10.940 --> 00:26:14.960 the Lord can accomplish. Man cannot do what the 00:26:14.960 --> 00:26:17.390 Lord has done in Marcos' life. life and on the 00:26:17.390 --> 00:26:20.849 next slide I'll show you so Marcos was recently 00:26:20.849 --> 00:26:25.190 valedictorian of his school before us he never 00:26:25.190 --> 00:26:27.750 went to school before and now he's valedictorian 00:26:27.750 --> 00:26:30.470 and he loves the Lord and he's such an awesome 00:26:30.470 --> 00:26:33.670 and warm young person and that's something only 00:26:33.670 --> 00:26:36.809 our heavenly father can accomplish and on the 00:26:36.809 --> 00:26:40.879 next slide I'll tell you Dominica's story Dominica, 00:26:40.879 --> 00:26:43.599 she lived in a one -room shack with her mom who 00:26:43.599 --> 00:26:46.599 would work entertaining various men in her house. 00:26:47.339 --> 00:26:49.539 And it was understood that Dominica was going 00:26:49.539 --> 00:26:51.920 to go into her line of work. And her mom would 00:26:51.920 --> 00:26:54.000 tell her, Dominica, you're next. This is what 00:26:54.000 --> 00:26:56.240 you're going to do too. And that was the future 00:26:56.240 --> 00:27:00.200 that this little girl had ahead of her. But God, 00:27:00.400 --> 00:27:03.039 because that wasn't God's plan for Dominica. 00:27:03.859 --> 00:27:06.079 Dominica's mother got herself a steady boyfriend. 00:27:06.619 --> 00:27:09.660 And the boyfriend... told her, you need to pick 00:27:09.660 --> 00:27:12.799 between me and your daughter because I'm not 00:27:12.799 --> 00:27:15.359 raising somebody else's kid. And so her mother 00:27:15.359 --> 00:27:18.309 made the unimaginable choice. to choose the boyfriend. 00:27:18.470 --> 00:27:20.589 She kicked Dominica at six years old out onto 00:27:20.589 --> 00:27:23.190 the street where she was living all on her own. 00:27:23.269 --> 00:27:25.609 Dominica got picked up by social services and 00:27:25.609 --> 00:27:28.410 brought to us. And this little girl's faith, 00:27:28.609 --> 00:27:30.990 this picture with her praying, that was a couple 00:27:30.990 --> 00:27:34.049 of days after she came to Casa Shalom. And her 00:27:34.049 --> 00:27:38.410 faith, it's just like she embraced the Lord wholeheartedly. 00:27:38.490 --> 00:27:42.049 She's like, this God, I love this God. And it 00:27:42.049 --> 00:27:45.009 was amazing to see her faith just absolutely 00:27:45.009 --> 00:27:48.089 blossom. And this little girl, is a prayer warrior. 00:27:48.309 --> 00:27:50.410 Well, now she's a young lady, not a little girl, 00:27:50.470 --> 00:27:52.849 but she's been a prayer warrior her whole life. 00:27:53.490 --> 00:27:56.910 And as Dominica began to grow up, she began to 00:27:56.910 --> 00:27:59.490 talk about what she wanted to do. And she said, 00:27:59.509 --> 00:28:01.970 I feel called to go to nursing school. She said, 00:28:01.990 --> 00:28:05.130 I never had anybody to take care of me. I never 00:28:05.130 --> 00:28:07.250 got to go to the doctor. I never got to, when 00:28:07.250 --> 00:28:09.930 I was sick, I was just on my own. And so she 00:28:09.930 --> 00:28:12.170 feels called to be a pediatric nurse. And so 00:28:12.170 --> 00:28:15.869 Dominica is in nursing school and she loves using 00:28:15.869 --> 00:28:18.869 her gift that the Lord has given her for medicine 00:28:18.869 --> 00:28:22.509 to minister to others and to share her testimony 00:28:22.509 --> 00:28:26.150 while she does it. And on the next slide is the 00:28:26.150 --> 00:28:29.730 story of a young man named Javier. Javier came 00:28:29.730 --> 00:28:32.549 to Casa Shalom, the oldest of four siblings. 00:28:33.009 --> 00:28:36.089 And Javier and his siblings came from a village 00:28:36.089 --> 00:28:41.019 pretty far away. Both of their parents had struggled 00:28:41.019 --> 00:28:43.839 with addiction, and they passed away. And after 00:28:43.839 --> 00:28:46.039 they passed away, the siblings were sent to us. 00:28:46.220 --> 00:28:49.119 And Javier and his siblings had never heard of 00:28:49.119 --> 00:28:51.539 Jesus before they came to Casa Shalom. They had 00:28:51.539 --> 00:28:53.720 never heard of the Bible. No one had told them 00:28:53.720 --> 00:28:56.579 about Christ. Because Javier and his siblings 00:28:56.579 --> 00:29:00.099 come from a Mayan village, so they are Mayan 00:29:00.099 --> 00:29:03.099 people. And in many of these remote Mayan villages, 00:29:03.240 --> 00:29:05.980 they still practice their traditional Mayan religion, 00:29:06.119 --> 00:29:09.130 which... Some people here in the U .S. think 00:29:09.130 --> 00:29:11.009 this may not exist, but I'm here to tell you 00:29:11.009 --> 00:29:13.390 it very much does. That traditional religion 00:29:13.390 --> 00:29:16.910 is idol worship. So they have a plethora, many, 00:29:17.029 --> 00:29:20.390 many gods, and they are made out of wood or stone 00:29:20.390 --> 00:29:23.130 or it's a drawing. And people will come and leave 00:29:23.130 --> 00:29:25.910 offerings, and they will worship these idols. 00:29:26.190 --> 00:29:28.750 And so that's what Javier and his family grew 00:29:28.750 --> 00:29:31.730 up doing. He came to Casa Shalom, started going 00:29:31.730 --> 00:29:34.150 to school, heard about Jesus Christ for the very 00:29:34.150 --> 00:29:36.490 first time, accepted him as his Lord and Savior, 00:29:36.690 --> 00:29:39.589 and he decided he wanted to be an electrician. 00:29:40.009 --> 00:29:44.029 Fantastic career. So we enrolled Javier in electrician 00:29:44.029 --> 00:29:46.849 school. But then he came to us. He said, Brother 00:29:46.849 --> 00:29:50.349 Josh, Sister Jessica, I think I feel called to 00:29:50.349 --> 00:29:52.470 do something else. I said, well, what do you 00:29:52.470 --> 00:29:55.509 feel called to do, Javier? He said, I think I'm 00:29:55.509 --> 00:29:58.599 supposed to go into ministry. I said, okay, well, 00:29:58.619 --> 00:30:00.839 this is new. Like, what kind of ministry are 00:30:00.839 --> 00:30:03.539 you thinking? He said, I think I'm supposed to 00:30:03.539 --> 00:30:07.299 be a church planter. He said, I think the Lord 00:30:07.299 --> 00:30:10.900 is calling me to plant a church in my village. 00:30:13.180 --> 00:30:17.799 And we were blown away by that because my husband 00:30:17.799 --> 00:30:20.579 and I would not be welcome in Javier's village 00:30:20.579 --> 00:30:23.079 to bring the gospel. They would not welcome our 00:30:23.079 --> 00:30:25.359 presence. They would not want to hear about Jesus 00:30:25.359 --> 00:30:28.940 Christ from us. But you know who can bring Jesus 00:30:28.940 --> 00:30:32.920 to them? Javier. They will listen to Javier. 00:30:33.099 --> 00:30:35.960 And so Javier will, in January, he's going to 00:30:35.960 --> 00:30:38.619 be starting a seminary. The Church of God has 00:30:38.619 --> 00:30:41.019 a wonderful seminary right there in Guatemala, 00:30:41.240 --> 00:30:43.640 a couple hours from us. And Javier is going to 00:30:43.640 --> 00:30:47.759 be starting seminary to get his degree as a church 00:30:47.759 --> 00:30:50.539 planter. In the meantime, he's finishing electrician 00:30:50.539 --> 00:30:52.460 school, but he's going to go be a church planter 00:30:52.460 --> 00:30:55.539 and bring the gospel of Jesus Christ. back to 00:30:55.539 --> 00:30:58.700 his own people for the very first time. And we 00:30:58.700 --> 00:31:00.859 praise the Lord for that, that he is raising 00:31:00.859 --> 00:31:04.160 up this generation of children from Casa Shalom 00:31:04.160 --> 00:31:07.579 to go out and reach their own people for Jesus 00:31:07.579 --> 00:31:11.680 Christ and change their country. This last testimony 00:31:11.680 --> 00:31:14.640 that I'm going to share is different, but I think 00:31:14.640 --> 00:31:17.140 it's really cool. It's really special. It's a 00:31:17.140 --> 00:31:21.079 young man named Edwin. And Edwin came to us when 00:31:21.079 --> 00:31:23.740 he was four years old. He's from a village about 00:31:23.740 --> 00:31:27.859 four hours north in Guatemala. And when Edwin 00:31:27.859 --> 00:31:30.799 was four, his dad put him on a bus, a public 00:31:30.799 --> 00:31:33.819 bus to Guatemala City, which is a city of about... 00:31:34.000 --> 00:31:36.539 5 million people, put him on the bus alone and 00:31:36.539 --> 00:31:38.720 said, go to Guatemala City. Your uncle is going 00:31:38.720 --> 00:31:40.680 to be waiting for you there at the bus station. 00:31:41.180 --> 00:31:43.720 Well, four -year -old Edwin takes that long bus 00:31:43.720 --> 00:31:47.119 ride on his own. gets off the bus, and there 00:31:47.119 --> 00:31:49.299 is no uncle. Well, there never was any uncle. 00:31:49.400 --> 00:31:51.400 It was Edwin's father's way of getting rid of 00:31:51.400 --> 00:31:53.220 him because he didn't want to take care of Edwin. 00:31:53.380 --> 00:31:56.319 So Edwin stayed in that bus terminal in Guatemala 00:31:56.319 --> 00:31:59.160 City for three days by himself as a four -year 00:31:59.160 --> 00:32:01.799 -old, sleeping under benches and digging through 00:32:01.799 --> 00:32:04.319 the garbage to try to get food and try to survive. 00:32:04.759 --> 00:32:07.000 He was picked up and brought to Casa Shalom, 00:32:07.140 --> 00:32:10.240 and he grew up with us, just the best older brother 00:32:10.240 --> 00:32:13.519 possible to everyone at the orphanage. Somebody 00:32:13.519 --> 00:32:15.380 on a missions team had... brought one of those 00:32:15.380 --> 00:32:18.759 real nice fancy cameras and he introduced Edwin 00:32:18.759 --> 00:32:22.039 to photography. And Edwin was able to save up 00:32:22.039 --> 00:32:23.960 a little money from his job and bought a very 00:32:23.960 --> 00:32:28.180 basic digital camera. And when it came time for 00:32:28.180 --> 00:32:31.500 Edwin to go to college, we sat down with him 00:32:31.500 --> 00:32:33.740 and said, Edwin, what is it that you want to 00:32:33.740 --> 00:32:35.740 do with your life? What are you interested in? 00:32:36.180 --> 00:32:38.480 And he looked me dead in the eyes and said, Sister 00:32:38.480 --> 00:32:46.410 Jessica, I want to be a DJ. And I looked back 00:32:46.410 --> 00:32:51.670 at him, and I said, no. I was like, that is not 00:32:51.670 --> 00:32:54.329 a practical career, young man. But what we did 00:32:54.329 --> 00:32:57.289 find was a local university that had a communications 00:32:57.289 --> 00:33:01.009 degree. It had a radio component, a video component, 00:33:01.269 --> 00:33:04.230 a photography component. So we sent Edwin to 00:33:04.230 --> 00:33:07.349 school for communications, and he graduated with 00:33:07.349 --> 00:33:10.190 his degree and started his own photography company. 00:33:10.289 --> 00:33:13.299 And he started again just... a little bit of 00:33:13.299 --> 00:33:15.960 notoriety in our area. He took this picture of 00:33:15.960 --> 00:33:18.539 this elderly woman in a local village, and I 00:33:18.539 --> 00:33:20.900 think it's a really cool shot. He started to 00:33:20.900 --> 00:33:23.220 get, you know, just a little bit of a name for 00:33:23.220 --> 00:33:25.819 himself in our area. Well, right around that 00:33:25.819 --> 00:33:29.420 same time, there was a pop star here in the United 00:33:29.420 --> 00:33:33.119 States, and this pop star did what pop stars 00:33:33.119 --> 00:33:35.839 do, and he got himself into a little bit of trouble, 00:33:36.039 --> 00:33:39.680 did some things he wasn't supposed to do. did 00:33:39.680 --> 00:33:42.640 some drugs, some various things, and his reputation 00:33:42.640 --> 00:33:46.279 wasn't as good as it had once been. So this pop 00:33:46.279 --> 00:33:49.059 star decided that to try to rehabilitate his 00:33:49.059 --> 00:33:52.000 image, he needed to do a goodwill tour. So he 00:33:52.000 --> 00:33:54.579 decided to go to Guatemala to do a goodwill tour, 00:33:54.660 --> 00:33:57.220 and he was going to go around and pass out food 00:33:57.220 --> 00:34:00.619 and do a free concert and visit a hospital and 00:34:00.619 --> 00:34:04.380 some schools. But in order to do that, he needed 00:34:04.380 --> 00:34:07.039 a photographer and videographer to follow him 00:34:07.039 --> 00:34:09.139 around and document all these good works that 00:34:09.139 --> 00:34:11.739 he was doing so he could publish it and get his 00:34:11.739 --> 00:34:16.659 good image back. So this pop star said to his 00:34:16.659 --> 00:34:19.980 manager, find me a local photographer and videographer 00:34:19.980 --> 00:34:23.619 in Guatemala who can follow me around and record 00:34:23.619 --> 00:34:26.000 all of this and then I can publish it and people 00:34:26.000 --> 00:34:29.679 can see what a good person I am. So the manager 00:34:29.679 --> 00:34:32.280 started looking around in Guatemala in our area 00:34:32.280 --> 00:34:37.519 and found Edwin. And that is how Edwin became 00:34:37.519 --> 00:34:42.099 Justin Bieber's photographer and videographer 00:34:42.099 --> 00:34:47.719 for his Guatemala Goodwill Tour. If any of you 00:34:47.719 --> 00:34:49.679 young people don't know who that is, ask your 00:34:49.679 --> 00:34:53.420 parents. He was pretty famous when I was young. 00:34:55.360 --> 00:34:59.079 But God. Because man cannot orchestrate that. 00:34:59.139 --> 00:35:01.659 There is no reason that a child from a Guatemalan 00:35:01.659 --> 00:35:06.900 orphanage should rise to that sort of level. 00:35:07.139 --> 00:35:10.380 So he followed Justin Bieber all around Guatemala, 00:35:10.559 --> 00:35:14.389 did his videos, his pictures. And once that was 00:35:14.389 --> 00:35:17.789 done, Edwin's business exploded. He was able 00:35:17.789 --> 00:35:20.469 to take that notoriety that he got from being 00:35:20.469 --> 00:35:24.090 Justin Bieber's photographer and expand his business 00:35:24.090 --> 00:35:27.030 tenfold. And now Edwin travels all over Latin 00:35:27.030 --> 00:35:30.309 America, primarily working with nonprofits. He 00:35:30.309 --> 00:35:33.769 works with Christian nonprofits doing their videography, 00:35:33.909 --> 00:35:36.030 their promotions, their marketing, their photos, 00:35:36.190 --> 00:35:38.710 their social media, and helping them spread the 00:35:38.710 --> 00:35:41.110 word about what Jesus Christ is doing in their 00:35:41.110 --> 00:35:44.780 ministry. That is just the coolest testimony. 00:35:45.460 --> 00:35:48.460 And that is just a huge but God moment because 00:35:48.460 --> 00:35:51.420 man cannot orchestrate that scenario. In a million 00:35:51.420 --> 00:35:54.260 years, I could not have dreamt up that scenario. 00:35:54.659 --> 00:35:57.360 But that is what God does with the children of 00:35:57.360 --> 00:36:02.500 Casa Shalom. And on the next slide, this little 00:36:02.500 --> 00:36:04.340 girl that you're going to see, her name is Eleni. 00:36:04.480 --> 00:36:07.480 And Eleni's story is not written yet. I don't 00:36:07.480 --> 00:36:11.320 have a cool testimony. to share about her. She 00:36:11.320 --> 00:36:13.800 is relatively new with us. She's only been with 00:36:13.800 --> 00:36:15.920 us about a year and a half. She's still just 00:36:15.920 --> 00:36:20.539 a little one. Her story isn't done. But Eleni, 00:36:20.679 --> 00:36:23.139 before she came to us, she was living with her 00:36:23.139 --> 00:36:25.260 mother on the streets of Guatemala City, and 00:36:25.260 --> 00:36:27.940 her mother struggles with addiction. And when 00:36:27.940 --> 00:36:30.539 she was found, I don't know if you can see it 00:36:30.539 --> 00:36:32.960 in this picture here on this side, on your left, 00:36:33.099 --> 00:36:36.920 Eleni... was found in a dumpster with her mother. 00:36:37.000 --> 00:36:39.719 Her mother, in that photo, is there laying down 00:36:39.719 --> 00:36:42.980 in the dumpster next to her, passed out, drunk. 00:36:43.320 --> 00:36:45.920 And in the photo, Eleni is doing what little 00:36:45.920 --> 00:36:48.039 girls like to do with their mom's hair, just 00:36:48.039 --> 00:36:52.059 playing with her hair. And Eleni literally was 00:36:52.059 --> 00:36:54.800 scooped up out of the trash and brought to Casa 00:36:54.800 --> 00:36:58.079 Shalom. But what we teach Eleni is what we teach 00:36:58.079 --> 00:37:01.619 all of the kids at the orphanage. That may have 00:37:01.619 --> 00:37:04.429 been your past. But that is not what the Lord 00:37:04.429 --> 00:37:08.090 has for you. Because these children are not trash. 00:37:08.429 --> 00:37:10.889 They are gifts from God. And we teach Eleni that 00:37:10.889 --> 00:37:13.869 she is a daughter of the Most High King. That 00:37:13.869 --> 00:37:17.530 she is not trash. So every child that walks through 00:37:17.530 --> 00:37:19.750 our doors, they all go to Christ -centered therapy. 00:37:19.769 --> 00:37:22.670 And we work with them through their trauma. But 00:37:22.670 --> 00:37:26.099 we teach them. That the abuse, the neglect, the 00:37:26.099 --> 00:37:28.920 abandonment, the literal dumpster, that's their 00:37:28.920 --> 00:37:31.840 past, but it's not their future. That's not what 00:37:31.840 --> 00:37:35.559 the Lord has for them. He has hope and a future 00:37:35.559 --> 00:37:37.480 for them. And I just want to encourage anybody 00:37:37.480 --> 00:37:40.500 here today that may be struggling, things from 00:37:40.500 --> 00:37:42.820 their past, abuse, abandonment. Someone took 00:37:42.820 --> 00:37:45.500 advantage of you. You were neglected. You were 00:37:45.500 --> 00:37:48.650 beat down. That may be your past, but it is not 00:37:48.650 --> 00:37:51.969 the future that the Lord has for you. You are 00:37:51.969 --> 00:37:55.230 not trash. You are a son and a daughter of the 00:37:55.230 --> 00:37:58.250 Most High King. And so that is the mentality 00:37:58.250 --> 00:38:00.909 we foster at Casa Shalom, and that is what the 00:38:00.909 --> 00:38:04.579 Lord does in all of these children. He does a 00:38:04.579 --> 00:38:06.460 work in them. And those of you who have been 00:38:06.460 --> 00:38:09.480 to the orphanage can testify. I'm not saying 00:38:09.480 --> 00:38:11.420 these children don't have problems. They absolutely 00:38:11.420 --> 00:38:14.119 do. But the Lord does a miracle in them. And 00:38:14.119 --> 00:38:16.199 he transforms them. And people who visit, they 00:38:16.199 --> 00:38:19.119 say. I expected the children to be closed off 00:38:19.119 --> 00:38:22.860 and bitter and maybe a little angry, but they're 00:38:22.860 --> 00:38:25.659 not. They're warm and they're welcoming and they're 00:38:25.659 --> 00:38:28.579 funny and they're open. And that's something 00:38:28.579 --> 00:38:31.940 that only the Lord and his Holy Spirit can accomplish 00:38:31.940 --> 00:38:36.800 in these kids. And on the very last slide, how 00:38:36.800 --> 00:38:39.559 can you help? Well, we have options. The first 00:38:39.559 --> 00:38:43.659 thing is we need prayer. Like our brother said 00:38:43.659 --> 00:38:46.519 at the beginning, parenting is one of the greatest 00:38:46.519 --> 00:38:50.300 gifts and greatest challenges. Please pray. I 00:38:50.300 --> 00:38:57.579 have 67 kids to parent. A third of them are teenagers, 00:38:57.900 --> 00:39:02.039 so pray extra. No, please pray for all of our 00:39:02.039 --> 00:39:03.940 children. They all need a touch from the Lord. 00:39:04.000 --> 00:39:06.420 Some of them, it's physical. All of them, it's 00:39:06.420 --> 00:39:09.380 mental and spiritual. Pray for our staff as well, 00:39:09.460 --> 00:39:12.199 our Guatemalan staff, house parents, cooks, security, 00:39:12.460 --> 00:39:15.340 drivers. They are all absolute heroes, and they 00:39:15.340 --> 00:39:17.920 need prayer as well. Consider giving the Casa 00:39:17.920 --> 00:39:20.619 Shalom financially. I know the church is impressed. 00:39:20.889 --> 00:39:23.889 progress of raising funds for a new roof for 00:39:23.889 --> 00:39:26.789 some buildings at Casa Shalom and that is a massive 00:39:26.789 --> 00:39:31.070 massive blessing for the orphanage consider coming 00:39:31.070 --> 00:39:34.550 on a missions trip I see many faces who've already 00:39:34.550 --> 00:39:39.010 been to visit us and I hope to see more Come 00:39:39.010 --> 00:39:41.469 to the meeting after church. This is not a commitment. 00:39:41.550 --> 00:39:43.929 You are not signing on the dotted line. But if 00:39:43.929 --> 00:39:47.150 the Lord has spoken to your heart at all, I would 00:39:47.150 --> 00:39:49.829 love to just chat with you and answer any questions 00:39:49.829 --> 00:39:52.130 you may have. You may say, well, I don't speak 00:39:52.130 --> 00:39:54.389 Spanish. That does not matter. First of all, 00:39:54.409 --> 00:39:56.969 my husband and I speak Spanish, and we'll be 00:39:56.969 --> 00:39:59.989 happy to interpret for you. Second of all, the 00:39:59.989 --> 00:40:02.809 kids don't care. What they know is somebody has 00:40:02.809 --> 00:40:06.239 come. all the way from the United States to play 00:40:06.239 --> 00:40:09.400 a soccer game with them or to color in a coloring 00:40:09.400 --> 00:40:12.460 page or for the toddlers to get down on the floor 00:40:12.460 --> 00:40:16.340 and do some Legos, to love on them, to pray for 00:40:16.340 --> 00:40:18.860 them, to sing worship songs with them. And you 00:40:18.860 --> 00:40:21.960 do not have to speak Spanish to do that. So just 00:40:21.960 --> 00:40:25.400 come, pray about it. If the Lord is putting something, 00:40:25.440 --> 00:40:27.559 a little something in your heart. Come to the 00:40:27.559 --> 00:40:30.420 meeting and find out more. You can also follow 00:40:30.420 --> 00:40:33.639 us on social media. If you've got your phone, 00:40:33.739 --> 00:40:35.659 you can just take a picture of that page. Follow 00:40:35.659 --> 00:40:38.900 us on Facebook and Instagram. I try to update 00:40:38.900 --> 00:40:40.719 those frequently. You can see what the Lord is 00:40:40.719 --> 00:40:42.840 doing at the orphanage. And come talk to me. 00:40:42.900 --> 00:40:46.460 I will be out in the foyer after service. Come 00:40:46.460 --> 00:40:48.679 talk to me. Find out more. I have some info cards. 00:40:48.900 --> 00:40:51.380 I also have a little plug here. I have some Casa 00:40:51.380 --> 00:40:55.239 Shalom cookbooks for sale. They are $20 each. 00:40:56.460 --> 00:40:59.800 to cook come get one of these cookbooks we do 00:40:59.800 --> 00:41:02.420 cash card venmo got lots of options but it's 00:41:02.420 --> 00:41:06.159 full of authentic very accessible guatemalan 00:41:06.159 --> 00:41:08.260 recipes that you can make right at home and that's 00:41:08.260 --> 00:41:10.340 a great way to support the orphanage as well 00:41:10.340 --> 00:41:12.760 so i just want to thank you guys so much for 00:41:12.760 --> 00:41:15.579 listening thank you so much to your pastors for 00:41:15.579 --> 00:41:18.380 this opportunity to be here with you all god 00:41:18.380 --> 00:41:29.949 bless you in to this message from Lifehouse Church. 00:41:30.530 --> 00:41:33.289 We pray that you were impacted powerfully by 00:41:33.289 --> 00:41:36.150 this message. If you have been personally affected 00:41:36.150 --> 00:41:38.670 by our ministry and you would like to partner 00:41:38.670 --> 00:41:41.969 with us as we love God, love people every day, 00:41:42.070 --> 00:41:43.610 visit our website at