Adolescentes Unidos (Teens United) happened!! This was our teen summer camp that we did for thirteen teens. Although there weren't many of them, God still impacted them in a huge way. Thank you all who supported this vision through prayer and/or donations. Things like this can't happen without you!!We also had our Vacation Bible School, which helped us add four new kids to our regular Saturday attendance, and we also were asked to lead the kids' church for a city-wide conference, which opened the door to do another Kids Crusade!! Unfortunately, I have no pictures of either one, but God did some great things through us in these kids' lives at both events!!
Here's five prayer requests that I would like you all to join in prayer with me:
1. For Alexis. I've posted about him on Facebook, but I can't ask for enough prayer for him. He's been to the doctor/hospital more times than I can count this month. He's been told that he possibly has diabetes, needs heart surgery, and he's been sick and not been able to keep his food down on several occasions. At seven years old, I can't imagine how hard this is on him and his family. Please keep him in your daily prayers.
2. For Danny and Antony. These two just recently arrived at the children's home, and I can tell that things aren't too comfortable for them. I mean, I don't think it would be for any kid who's lived a normal life to being away from their parents. I'm not too sure about their situation, but they might be going back with their mom to Puebla soon. Please keep them in your prayers.
3. For Luis. I asked for prayer for him in my last update, but he still needs prayer. The devil seems to be attacking him hard. He's had an unusually bad attitude lately, and it's not like some normal bad attitude. God has huge, I mean HUGE, plans for this kid, and I won't let Satan try and change any of that.
4. For my health. I've been pretty exhausted these past weeks, and I'm guessing it has to do with overworking myself this summer. I did a LOT. This was the busiest summer of my life, and I never really took some time to recuperate from it. Not only exhaustion, but I've had a weird pain in the middle of my chest for a couple weeks, too. I've been doing more and more to rest, and it seems to be helping a bit. This has probably been the first time in my life that I've actually wanted to rest, which leads into my next and final prayer request,
5. For peace for myself. I've realized that it's not just this past summer, but my weekly schedule is way too busy and exhausting. I'm always working on my rest day, and that's not ok. Due to this, I've decided to remove something else from my weekly schedule: helping the kids at the Tecate garbage dump. This has been a hard decision for me, as I have prolonged this since April, but I feel that now is the time to say goodbye for now. A lot of new kids have arrived there, and I have good friendships with almost all of them, and I want to help them, but there's a family there that's from the church in Centro that I sometimes help, and the wife does an excellent job with the kids. I don't necessarily need to be there to help them. Before, there was no one, so it was necessary. Now, the place has been filled. With that in mind, it's a little easier for me to go, but I'm going to miss those kids a whole lot. I'm huge on relationships, and it's hard for me to separate from those relationships, but I need to if I want to continue living next month. Removing this from my schedule will help me a lot, but I feel that I'll be doing less. I know I'm not, but the feeling lingers there. That's where I need peace. Not only in this, but peace for what's to come. Many things are on my mind for the remainder of this year, and I need to be able to have a sound mind to do it all.
Sorry for the length of that last one. Here are my five financial needs:
1. Saturday Kids' Program: arts and crafts, snacks for the kids.
2. Special Events: Kids' Crusade in November, possible two missions trips with the teens, outreaches every month
3. Soccer Team: Cleats, shin guards, soccer balls, equipment bag, ref/league fees
4. Vehicle: repairs (unfortunately), insurance
5. (last, but definitely not least) Alexis: I want to be able to help his mom with his medical bills. There's been a LOT of bills, and Alexis's mom has had to pawn off a bunch of stuff that she owns to pay them. If any of you are able to donate to help Alexis out, please contact me asap.
Thank you all so much for taking the time to read this, and may God bless you all over-abundantly, and then some.
- Daniel Ratz
