It has been a while since our last update, so we have a lot to share! We’ll try and keep it simple and save some for the next update as well. We have been blessed by so many teams! From February to April we hosted ten teams! Take a look at what we’ve been up to through these photos:
Team from LCPC (La Crescenta Presbyterian Church) working on a retaining wall at the new children’s home – Casa de Los Angeles.
A team from Calvary Chapel South Bay came to host a children’s ministry training conference at our church. They also blessed the children of our 10:14 Kids’ Club with a day at the park which included a devotion, games, barbecue lunch, songs, and more!
Foothill Church from Glendora, CA also served at Casa de Los Angeles by working on the retaining wall.
A team from The Crossing in Costa Mesa, CA came to bless the girls at Casa Estrella (Star House) children’s home.
This team certainly broke the record on the farthest distance for a team we’ve worked with so far. They came all the way from Norway to work on the children’s home.
We took a whale-watching field trip in March to Ensenada, thanks to a financial Christmas gift we had received.
While on the boat, they let some of us catch some fish off the back of the boat. Britt was a natural!
Calvary Chapel Saving Grace came to spend time with the children at Casa Alexander children’s home. They shared God’s word, served hamburgers, played games & soccer, did crafts, and just loved on these wonderful children.
We took our superstars on a little side trip to nearby Hollywood before going to the screening of the new movie.
In March we had the opportunity to go to a screening of the movie that Brittany & Will were extras in – Little Boy. We also had a Q&A and meet & greet with the director, as well as the “Little Boy”, Jakob Salvati. The movie is excellent. If you haven’t seen it yet, visit www.littleboymovie.com and find out if it’s still playing near you.
A huge team from Calvary Chapel Santa Barbara came to bless our church by repairing and painting our church’s playground.
They also visited and spent time with the children at Door of Faith children’s home in La Misión, about 30 min. away. This was also our first visit there, and it gave us some really good ideas for the new children’s home being built.
We hope you enjoyed our update through photos! This only brings us through March, so we will update you again soon. It is such a joy and privilege to be able to see time and again how God moves through short-term missions teams. Thank you so much to all of you for your prayers and support. Without it, this work would not be possible.
Before We Go…
Just a quick update on the new children’s home, Casa de Los Angeles. We have spent many hours meeting with our friends that currently work at or with different orphanages in the area to get different ideas, especially regarding the layout of the building. The architects did an amazing job at designing the building, however it was essential to gather information and tweak the design. We have also had several meetings with Andy from LCPC (La Cresenta) who is on the board and working hard to get things moving. The home is situated on two lots, and Casa de Los Angeles has been promised the gift of five surrounding lots. Andy is working hard to get all the paperwork finalized and put into the name of organization. The existing plans for the home depend on those lots for almost all of its outdoor space. Please pray as the new building layout is being finalized and sent back to the architects. We are also looking to build a small home next door on one of the new lots for a caretaker to live in during construction of the orphanage. We have had some problems with theft of the rebar sticking out of the retaining wall. We will most likely need to have someone living on site before we will continue working on the home.