Arbolito Update!

Greetings from Arbolito! Things are moving along, especially the time, and it seems that all of us are keeping quite busy in all of our various work sites.
Semillas is going well, and it has been very inspiring to see how much ¨Semillas pride¨has been worked up over the past month or so. It has been commented by Conor, one of its main coordinators that we are beginning ¨to feel like a family.¨ This includes many dedicated Ecuadorian helpers. We are also trying to slowly but surely empower some of the older kids to take leadership roles within the program. We had the first Semillas parent´s meeting a couple of weeks ago, and it created a great opportunity for us to directly communicate with families about what our goals are in the program, and how they can reinforce the same values in the home as well. Watch out for many more future happenings in Semillas this year!!
Teaching reading at Victor Murillo (the local public elementary school) has been quite an experience. I find myself getting frustrated at times, especially as it is not always easy to deal with all the discipline issues that present themselves in the classroom. The way that the students are use to learning in a class of 60-70 kids truly shows through in the form that they approach education. By God´s grace, I somehow find something that keeps me going back, trusting in a process that I cannot even fully see or imagine at this point.
All the women in the Arbolito house had the beginnings of an Arbolito women´s group begin this weekend. Some women from the community and us volunteers met with a woman from Antonio Jose de Sucre who has a women´s center over there. She was able to provide us with some great foundational information into getting such a group started. The women that we had present seem very committed to it, as there is a great need for it in this community. I am really excited to see how this group will take form this year.
We will be retreating this weekend so that we can re-center ourselves as to what our mission and purpose is here in this place...especially as the Face of Christ. For me personally, I think it comes at a perfect timing.

Please keep us in your prayers...that we might continue to discern and seek God´s greater glory in all of our experiences here in this year.

Much Duran Love,
Elena