At the beginning of February, we re-launched our vocational training center in Colonia Santa Fe. We have partnered a local school for many years to provide computer training and spiritual formation to children in the community. Many come from extremely impoverished backgrounds and broken families.
Prof. Eduardo, the 5th and 6th grade teacher from the school, who works for us in the afternoons teaching the computer classes and giving devotionals to the students who attend, helped me fix up the classroom. We painted murals on the walls, built desks and refurbished our computers, many of which are quite old and require a lot of love and attention to keep them functioning.
One change this year was to open up the classes to the local community. The response was incredible and our classroom was filled to overflowing for the orientation.
Many parents took time off from work to come enroll their children. Besides sharing with them the benefits computer skills can provide their children, we shared the higher calling we were there for, that of sharing the Gospel that Christ has come to liberate the captives, bring sight to the blind and cure the broken hearted.
We believe that God has called us to a holistic work, James 2:14-16 says “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled”, without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?”
Is our primary calling as missionaries spiritual? Yes, but we must also remember what Jesus tells us in John 10:17 “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” So when Jesus’ sheep come to us to hear his voice, and they have other needs that we can meet, are we not then called to serve them in that way too? I think so.
So far our classes have been amazing; we have four groups of 15 children each. Every day they show up on times, have prayer, read a Bible verse and then receive their computer class.
Thanks to a donor paying the rent for 10 months, we had the extra funds to get internet service for the classroom. This will help us to improve the quality of our classes.
Students are learning touch typing, MS Office, Word and Windows.
Please keep us in your prayers, from what we can see there is a real need for what we are doing and we believe it can grow into something so much greater.