We hope you all had a great Christmas with friends and family and are enjoying the new year already. May 2009 be full of blessings and a great year of getting closer to God. We are all doing well and are excited about whatever is in store for us in the new year. November and December brought many blessings to us. We had 2 of our Bridge girls graduate from high school. Several of the Bridge youth are working during the 2-3 month Christmas break. Jennifer was able to travel to Arkansas for a few days. And Rodolfo enjoyed participating in his first school Christmas choir.
Nilsy, Oscar (who is moving into the Bridge House in January), and Miriam all celebrated their high school graduations. It is always neat to see our ministry youth accomplish this goal. So few Hondurans continue their education through high school. And then only about 3% of Hondurans ever get a college degree. So to see our guys strive for educational success in high school and then in college is really huge. We are proud as these three youth now prepare for college and mentally gear up for all the work ahead of them. They have enrolled together in a well known university in the city with plans to start classes at the beginning of January.
Work and volunteerism are emphasized in the Bridge House as the youth prepare for life on their own. As they begin their adult lives, they must learn some key skills for work such as dependability, promptness, hard work, leadership, ethics, etc. So during school breaks it is time to put into practice what they know by getting a full time job. All of them work or volunteer part time throughout the year but during their longer vacations they must find full-time jobs. This year 2 of our university students were in school without much of a break but our other 4 youth all found jobs quickly and are enjoying the experience. We even have one of the older girls from Rancho Ebenezer living with us during her Christmas break in order to work in the city. Franklin Hernandez is working at a local Christian book store, Nilsy is creating an 8-week curriculum for an ESL program (English as a Second Language) at a local church, Miriam is working at Payless Shoes, Wilmer is working at a hardware store, and Nancy (from Rancho Ebenezer who's photo is shown to the left) is working at a men's clothing store. We are proud of them all for finding their jobs and doing so well at their work. At the beginning of November Jennifer was able to visit her mom and try to be of assistance after Carol's double knee replacement surgery. The visit was short but it was nice to be with mom and to see some of the family as well as a great friend in Conway. Mom's surgery went really well and she is recuperating nicely. Robert held down the fort in Honduras and got to spend some good time with Rodolfo and the other Bridge
residents.
residents. During the Christmas holidays, most of the youth in our house traveled to be with family and friends while some stayed with us at the Bridge and enjoyed holiday activities in town. Rodolfo got to sing for the first time in his school choir. They practiced during the month of December and sang at 2 local malls and participated in a city-wide choir competition. He loves music and really enjoyed the experience.
