Christmas in La Chureca…

Our end of the year Christmas party at Colegio Esperanza was a huge gathering of over 500 people.  It was a great time.  In the middle of all the commotion in the community with the big move (there were army trucks outside helping to move peoples houses), we celebrated Christmas inside the school with all of our students and their families.

We had a local chef come and create the huge meal, he started the night before!  Brinson and I decided to indulge and I can testify, it was really really really good!  Before the meal started our students put together a few different acts for their parents and then we had “present time present time open the present and see what’s inside” for every student.  Lots of smiles, lots of full bellies…a great way to celebrate Christmas!

We hope to have more Christmas celebrations in the future.  It is a fun thought to ponder how different everyone’s lives will be, come this time next year. With the new homes, with the new neighbors, with the new neighborhood…this is a time of lots of changes.  The needs in the lives of these children are still very evident when we all gather together.  That isn’t going to change just because every family has a new house.  Our hope and purpose with Club Esperanza is to stay involved in the lives of all of these students and keep ministering to them.  So, next year’s Christmas Party is fun to look forward too!