February, the shortest month, or the longest month? This month our staff has been diligently working to have everything ready to start Happy Tummies and Abuelitos in person on March 1st. We have been praying for a long time for this time to come. Now, our prayer is that we can stay open from here on out. The children and the Abuelitos are all so excited to be back again. It’s been almost exactly two years since we first had to shut down. Our staff and workers are eager to give it our all as we minister face-to-face to the children and Abuelitos again.
As we prepare to continue with activities, we cannot help but feel deep sadness in our heart for all those dealing with war and oppression. Please join us as we kneel in prayer before the Lord our God for peace and protection for all. In times like these, we need to come together and rally in prayer for our brothers and sisters in Christ. During this time we pray that the world would look to the King of Kings and His army of angels to fight with us and for us, our incessant prayers are with all those being hurt by this invasion.
Love is patient, love is kind.
1 Corinthians 13:4a
TRUE LOVE
This morning I asked my wife if she had a definition of true love. In our conversation, we concluded that no one would have all the sufficient words to describe exactly the full definition of love. On this last day of February where we celebrate love and friendship, I would like to share with you a Bible passage where it talks about love. It gives us the exact definition of what love is. As you read it, ask yourself if any these attributions exist in you. When we put into practice any or all these attributions, we will be practicing the true love. True love is not the most expensive diamond ring or gift, but it’s told in the words of God through Paul in this passage.
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres Love never fails.” 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a
God bless you,
Pastor Luis
MINISTRY UPDATES
MEGA VBS - In our last newsletter we shared with you our plans for a Mega VBS. We realized we didn’t share how to send donations for this event. To donate for the November Mega VBS, you can send a check and on the memo line write "VBS" so we’ll know where you want the funds to go. You can donate by personal check, money order, BillPay (most banks offer this as a free service for account holders), or online using PayPal DONATE button on our website . If you use PayPal on our website, you’ll need to click on GENERAL FUND and in the notes section write VBS.
HAPPY TUMMIES LIBRARY - Do you like to shop online? Would you like to pick out a book for our Happy Tummies children to read? At our San Juan Happy Tummies, we have a library available for our kids that depends completely on donations. Our good friend Julie, from Maine, has set up an account with Scholastic where you can purchase books to help grow our library ministry. Julie will travel to Guatemala to serve with us in July and will bring the new books along with her. We ask that you make sure to search under the heading "Spanish/Bilingual" books, please! Your donation helps support the literacy and education of our Happy Tummies children.
Instructions:
Shop Julie’s class page at: https://orders.scholastic.com/VVTXZ
With a $25 order, you can pick a FREE $5 book (use code: READS)
JULIE WILLIAMS
Class Code: VVTXZ
You may be required to create an account in order to complete you purchase. At checkout. you can ship your order for free to Julie at Sanford Middle School. Please feel free to share the class page link with your friends and family.
