El Jordan ... the Weaving of a Tapestry

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Published: Wednesday, 16 April 2014 15:46

Written by Corina Clements Soria

Several times a year,  we close El Jordan down for one day a week for three consecutive weeks.  Instead of coming to El Jordan for their classes, our students wait for one of our volunteers or workers to come visit them at their “home”…   These visits are eye opening for volunteers… and trust building and encouraging for the students… On Friday morning, there wasn’t anywhere specific I needed to visit (I’m usually at home with Keiden and Marlee) so it was a perfect opportunity to visit Angela (who had been diagnosed with cancer 3 weeks before… ) On Wednesday night, her sister took Angela home from the hospital after the doctor advised them that there was nothing more that could be done… I wasn’t sure whether Angela was conscious or not when I arrived… Her sister told me about the curious neighbors coming to visit… offering to bring help - from a shaman, witchdoctor, voodoo priest to Catholic nuns who “healed people with mud”…  A man from a nearby church came to evangelize her… Angela was conscious enough to send him to @#% and to yell, “I don’t want to!!!!” …  He left saying, “This lady is with the devil!!! I’ll have to bring so-and-so tomorrow and she’ll HAVE to be saved!”  (I don’t think it’s something we can force!!!) My heart sank because I knew that everything that I had shared with Angela in the hospital had come to nothing… I knew that this might be my last visit with Angela…  I asked her family if I could read the Bible and pray before I left…  I talked to Angela as if she could hear…

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Second and Third Generations

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Published: Saturday, 29 March 2014 15:46

Written by Corina Clements Soria

Hi everyone!!! Please forgive the length of this missile but just read a bit every day so it doesn’t seem so long!

The “norm” for families we work is generally difficult…  Their “problems”are at another level… often leaving us feeling overwhelmed…  There is a daily tension within to understand what God would have us do in each situation… Obviously He wants us to guide people to CHRIST… but I don’t believe he wants us to just preach and teach without living/showing His love in practical ways… At El Jordan we try to “walk beside them”… sharing while we accompany them in their journey… It’s a walking and talking discipleship… In my interviews with the girls at the beginning of their “school year” at El Jordan I had the privilege of sitting down with them one on one… remembering where God had brought them from… getting them thinking about some personal goals for this year… mainly taking time to listen… and then pray for/with them… Carlais a third generation street person… 

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Christmas On the Streets - Reflections

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Published: Friday, 03 January 2014 15:46

Written by Corina Clements Soria

Christmas on the Streets” has come and gone for another year… With a few quieter days, the frantic activities of the last weeks fade in my mind… and thoughts like “reports”, “letters”, “planning” and “looking for a new administrator and shops people” start to overtake my thoughts… Thinking back to Christmas four things stick out in my mind… COMING HOME:  One of the things I love about “Christmas on the Streets” is seeing everyone who “comes home” to help…  Josué, one of “Marco’s kids” who hasn’t missed a Christmas even though he can’t come during the year because of work and studies (his dad died years ago and as the oldest son he carries a lot of the responsibility…)

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