New Life

House of Hope is located in the poorest neighborhood of the poorest comuna (county) of Santiago.  We have a 3 story building that started out as a church about a decade ago.  The church planted the ministry of House of Hope and it was staffed and supported by its members.  When the church died, the ministry survived.  We often joke that House of Hope is "the ministry you just can't kill off," because it has survived through drastic losses of both personnel and finances.  

When I first got there a little over 2 years ago, I remember the building feeling creepily empty.  There were 3 floors, but our House of Hope kids used only one room on the first floor, the kitchen, and one on the second.  There was a huge gym that was super run down and always had trash, broken glasses, and junkyard type things laying around everywhere.  The only "working" bathroom had a toilet that didn't really flush, with a door that didn't really close.  The front gate didn't really close either, and there was always trash from the neighborhood blowing in under the fence.  The rooms were painted, but everything was dirty.  Upstairs was even worse - parts of walls were just missing, dust and dirt covered the floors, and there were water stains in the ceilings that had already started sinking in.  

Even though I watched our kids playing in those places, the building just looked completely deserted.  

The Tias (teachers and women that work with the kids) were overflowing with love for the kids, but incredibly under supported and alone in the work.  Since there was no church (including for them personally,) there weren't many other people involved in the ministry.  

Here we are now, 2 years later...  and so much has changed!

One of the many physical improvements of the building - Doors for our classroom! 

A few weeks ago we had our "Kids Day" party and invited kids and families from around the neighborhood.  I don't know how to describe it other than it felt like New Life was in this place.  I talked to different women from the neighborhood as we watched our kids play soccer in the gym.  One told me she started coming to our church services, another to the Tuesday prayer meetings, another to the biweekly Zumba classes that bring about 80 women from the community into our gym.  

The church restarted this past March, meeting every Saturday night.  They recently began meeting to pray every Tuesday night. 

Prayer Meeting

The building is opened up to the community throughout the week - Zumba classes for women in the mornings, a safe place for kids and teens to come skate every week night, and a computer lab that will hopefully provide skills and basic computer teaching for community members wanting to learn.

                                                    A schedule for weekly events

Future skater

With the continued support of churches and individuals here and in the States, House of Hope has not only been able to continue its daily ministry, but we've been able to give the kids some really cool first experiences:

First time playing in the snow

First trip to the movie theater 

We are also planning a "Reading Corner" (bestill my heart!) so the kids have a cozy place to sit on a bean bag and read an age-appropriate book that interests them.

Even the Tias have enjoyed some of our new books :)

All of these dramatic changes remind me that we serve a God that longs to give New Life to his kids, the ones he gave life to in the first place. He can take any deserted church, any struggling marriage, any burnt out worker, any broken family, any person that thinks he or she has drifted too far from God, and He can breathe new life into us again.  And not just that he can, but that he longs to! 

Alejandro with David, the elder of the church

Becoming a mother has made me understand that longing in a way I never did before.  Of course we love Coen through disciplining him, giving him things he doesn't always want (aka shampooing his hair) and withholding things he does want but shouldn't have (aka Coke, electrical outlets, and playing with dog poop)... but man I just want to give him the world.  Then to imagine that God's love for me doesn't even compare is just really hard to grasp.

All House of Hope photo credit goes to Alejandro and Dulcy: 2 dear friends that have been serving here for a year and have really helped make all these dramatic changes to El Faro Church and House of Hope a reality.  And are also exponentially better at taking pictures than I am!

          

And, last but not least, speaking of New Life...

We will be meeting our Lil' Man/Lady in February!  

So thankful for our God that brings new life to us in every aspect...