As we continue to grow in our relationship with this family, we have witnessed some residual evidence of fear and shame.  This year Juan did not do as well as we had hoped in school and we had difficulty trying to meet with him to discuss his struggles.  We believe he felt like he let us down and was avoiding the confrontation.  Eventually, we were able to connect with him but he didn’t have many answers about what went wrong.  We encouraged him to go to the school and talk with his teachers to find out why he failed and how he can improve next year.  That way, we would have a better idea of how we can tutor and support him in his studies.  By the time he went to talk to his teachers, the school had closed for the year.  We plan to look into it next year and see how we can better help him.  It was surprising to us because his director told us throughout the year that he was doing very well and was always showing up for class and putting forth his best effort.

Maribel’s tortilla business is going very well.  Even though tortilla sales normally decrease during the holidays (because people make and sell tamales) they have continued to sell the same amount every day and sometimes more!  We are grateful to God for helping their business so they can sustain themselves.

We just recently heard that two of Juan’s nieces moved in to live with them and have been essentially abandoned by their mother who is now living with someone else in another town.  Paola will be entering her final year of high school and the family is asking if there is a possibility for us to help her with this.  Please pray for wisdom and provision as we work as a team to see if this is possible in the coming weeks.