Rosi's Story - Introduction

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Published: Sunday, 04 September 2016 14:30

Written by Corina Clements Soria

Could you imagine for a minute how you would feel if you were a single mom with four daughters, always struggling to find a safe place to live… renting a small room in sketchy places overflowing with rooms to rent and one bathroom to share… or building rooms out of wood, tin and plastic in the corner of a relatives´ house but then having to put up being surrounded by their bad examples?? What if you were overwhelmed with needs of school supplies or medicines… or sometimes having to your girls to bed with hungry stomachs? How would you feel if someone offered you help???

…but then always took away more than what was given??? How would you feel about yourself, if you knew the price, but kept going back because there seemed to be no other way out???

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Rosi's Story

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Published: Sunday, 04 September 2016 14:00

Written by Heidi Gladman

Rosali is one of our single moms, raising 4 daughters (Isamara(17), Tamara (14), Lizandra (11), and Luciana (2))… She works hard and is learning so much about what it is to live a life honoring to God… In the past, Rosi would go to men seeking comfort, help, love and anything else she felt needing in her life… but after 4 daughters and years of feeling used/discarded she is learning that God is her heavenly father who hears all and the great God of comfort… trusting in Jesus, knowing His promises are the only things that are true in life…

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The Birthday Present

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Published: Wednesday, 24 August 2016 14:30

Written by Corina Clements Soria

In Bolivia, the 15th birthday for girls competes with a wedding in its style, cake and dresses… for boys, they don´t celebrate on the same level… but it is still SPECIAL…

Today at the workshops, I was asked to talk with Everth… Today was his 15th birthday… At the shops they celebrated with a special cake and Coca Cola… and were making him a special chicken dinner… but no one had been able to evoke even the smallest smile from him…

We sat on bricks out back… I acknowledged that his deepest and maybe only desire for his birthday was something no one had the power to fulfill but that we wanted to encourage him… that we couldn´t replace “family”… but we wanted to be like “uncles and aunts” who looked out for him… who in his 15 years had probably carried more burdens than people double his age…

Was there anything that he needed?  …wanted?  …shoes? …books for school? …clothes?

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God's Love On the Streets

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Published: Sunday, 24 July 2016 14:30

Written by Corina Clements Soria

PART ONE:  (I started writing this over a week ago… “Friendship on the Streets” was from July 11 to 15)

We just came out of our week-long “trial” of “Friendship on the Streets”… overall, it went well… and it was neat to see it all come together… and witness, once again, God´s hand in big and small things… like someone returning my purse (with El Jordán´s money and my documents) after I lost it on an early morning shopping trip to the vegetable market… and in finding the right place to buy the hygiene products for our gifts… and more…

When I priced the hygiene products for our gifts, vendor after vendor would turn away, ignore me, say “no” or say they´d tell me when I came back with money when they realized I wasn´t actually buying!!! At the last stall, I was bracing myself for the same reaction when the lady offered me a chair… and the best prices…  In the end, on top of great prices, the lady gave boxes of stuff to give away to our girls or other centers that needed them!  On Saturday, she gave me a call to see how “Friendship on the Streets” had gone… So, it worked out that it was good that I ran into so many rude people that first day!

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