January 2009

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Psalm 51:10

Every January brings new hope to each of us as we are blessed to move into another year. It is a time of reflection for how we did last year and what we hope to change for the future. It's a perfect picture of God's grace to us as He continues to forgive us, have mercy on us as undeserving as we are, and mold us into the people He has designed us to be. It makes me humble and proud to be called His child.

The month of January has been a calm month at the Bridge House. Praise God! We have a great group of youth in the house right now who encourage each other and work well together. We are thankful for that. Let us take this opportunity to update you on each of the youth and what they are doing.

Franklin Hernandez is our last high school student in the house. He is starting his senior year in high school, earning a double degree in general education and computer. He is involved in his church, keeps busy tutoring children in the neighborhood, and is planning to start taking some seminary classes while finishing high school. He is also translating with WGO brigades.


Franklin Canales is in his second year of university studying Industrial Engineering. His grades are great and he works really hard at each class. He spends most of his time studying and offers tutoring to classmates as a way to serve others and learn more at the same time. He is a great example of setting a difficult goal such as engineering and then consistantly working hard at each step in order to reach that goal.

Oscar is our newest arrival in the house. He is working full-time with WGO bridgades as a translater while studing psychology at a local university at nights. He will be super busy doing both but will really enjoy the experience. So many of us worked and went to school at the same time and can look back on the experience with pride, knowing it was hard work but a great learning process. The others in our house will really be watching him to see how things go, gaining courage to push themselves at greater levels too.

Miriam is also starting college and is beginning to study law. She spent her Christmas break working at a local shoe store and volunteered a little bit at a local center for cancer patients. She has been fun to watch grow and mature as she finds new ways to improve her life and to seek to honor God.

Cintia is finishing her last year of college studying tourism. She is learning aspects of many areas of tourism from restaurant operations and cooking to hotel management. She has plans to perhaps work in tourism throughout Central America when she graduates. Aside from her own personal studies, she has also tutored and taught English to children and adults in our neighborhood.

Nilsy is starting college and studying psychology. Her desire is to use her degree someday to work with children in need. She spent her Christmas break creating an ESL eight-week program for a local church. She also helped that church with various service projects such as painting a home, serving breakfast, and mentoring childen in a poor neighborhood.

Thank you all so much for your faithful giving to and prayer for our work in Honduras!! We all really appreciate it. May this new year be a time for all of us to grow closer to the Lord, find ways to serve others, and make us better in all we put our hands to do. Blessings and thanks for everything you do to help our work in Honduras.