Thank you for praying for me over the last couple months as they were very hectic. I had 3 trips and during my first trip I caught the flu. 🙁 Which created a huge disruption to my work. However, God was faithful and had other people in place to take care of my responsibilities as well as help take care of me. Then, God granted me flexibility with my second trip, incredible recovery from the flu, time management and help from my husband to get everything ready for my literacy training seminar.

Enjoy some pictures and brief description of each.

Costa Rica

In Costa Rica I joined a wonderful team of women from Crossroads American Baptist Church from Colorado and colleagues Barbara Bolick, Sue Hegarty & former colleague Ruth Mooney. It was a joy to  welcome them to Costa Rica and help get the materials organized for the weekend camp they hosted for the girls of the Talita Cumi Girls’ Clubs of Costa Rica. Sadly, I came down with the flu a couple days into the trip. The team had an impactful time visiting each club in their meeting spaces (most of which are churches) and then spent the weekend with the girls and mentors at an overnight camp.

I also delivered two mini libraries, the first distribution!!! The mentors were overjoyed to receive the mini libraries. And the girls are excited to have books to read.

Tijuana, Mexico

A little over a week after returning home early from Costa Rica (due to getting sick) I traveled to Tijuana, Mexico. There, I joined colleagues Ray Schellinger, Adalia Gutierrez-Lee, Jae Stockton, Deliris & Moises Carrion-Joseph, Tim & Patty Long, Mercy Gonzales-Barnes and Jeremy (photographer & videographer for the week) & Natalie Brassinga (Marketing & Communications Director for International Ministries). During this trip we visited ministry sites and did filming for the upcoming World Mission Offering videos.

During this trip I continued to build relationship with Didaque School. Plus, we (Adalia, Jae & I) enrolled the first student in the hybrid tutoring program that my project (Deborah’s House Tutoring) is supporting! Which is currently 10% funded. And aims to provide a hybrid tutoring and schooling programming for the children who are staying at Deborah’s House in Tijuana, Mexico.

Deborah’s House is a house of refuge for women and children who are escaping domestic violence situations. While at Deborah’s House the women and children have their physical, spiritual, mental, and emotional needs attended to. This temporary home provides shelter for families. Before this project, the children did not have access to any formal education. However, this is changing with this project. The children will attend classes by connecting virtually to a local private Baptist grade school. Plus, they will have access to tutoring services.

Dominican Republic

After finishing in Tijuana, I flew directly to the Dominican Republic where I joined colleagues Barbara Bolick and Ketly Pierre for a week of visiting TCGC clubs.

At the end of the week, I taught my literacy seminar to the mentors of the TCGC clubs. It was a blessed time of teaching, learning and fellowshipping together. Each mentor was excited to take the newly learned information and resources to help the girls improve their reading skills.

They each also received a partial mini library to take with them for use in their clubs. I brought two full mini libraries with me. Since there are 7 club,s we decided to divide the mini libraries into smaller libraries. They will rotate the partial libraries every couple of months until I can bring more books.

Visiting a TCGC club

Barbara, Ketly and I were joined by the TCGC country coordinator, Leydi, and we spent the week visiting the Talita Cumi Girls’ Clubs in the Dominican Republic. Leydi also co-taught the Literacy Training Seminar with me.

At each visit we spent time talking with the girls and the mentors. Each girl shared with us what she’s learning in club and what she hopes to become when she grows up. It is inspiring to hear their hopes & dreams.

The TCGC mini library project is currently 60% funded!

Thank you for your support!