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CHILDREN'S MINISTRY Dear friends, Merry Christmas. I have intended to write to you many times before, but am always so busy that I have not had time. As I mentioned in my last letter, I am not just teaching here. About a month after I arrived, another teacher from the States, Lianne Corbin, and myself were put in charge of running the entire orphanage. This has greatly increased the demand on my time and I apologize that my letters have been infrequent. I thought you might be interested in knowing a little about what our daily life is like here. Besides Lianne and I, there are five other adults on staff at the orphanage. Joel is our translator for those times when our Spanish is to limited to communicate what we need to (though it is improving every day). He also helps a great deal with the boys and generally helping to keep an eye on the children. The general staff includes one lady who cleans, another who just does laundry, a man who takes care of the grounds, and a cook. At the moment all the children are out of school since the school year here is opposite of ours. They are out of school for December, January, and February. This means we are busier than ever, though fortunately they are good about playing and keeping themselves entertained. One thing we are doing with them to make there vacation fun is taking them to Managua, the capital city, for a few days. We plan to take them to the movies and McDonald’s and do a few other fun outing with them while we are there. We will, however, be spending most of the vacation here at the orphanage. The weekday schedule for the children is as follows: wake up at 7:00a.m., breakfast at 7:30 followed by devotions and then free time. Lunch is at 1:00p.m., and then the children rest in their rooms for about thirty minutes. They have study time from 2-4 even though there is no school, because some are so far behind in school that they need the vacation time to catch up some. During this time Lianne and I pull them out in small groups for computer and English lessons. At 4:00p.m., they have an hour of chores, then an hour of free time, and then supper is at 6:00p.m. The two and a half hours after supper are free time, but we also use it as a time to reward all those who do not get in trouble during the day with a movie or time on the computer to play games. Most days only one or two do not get the daily privilege. As you can imagine this does not leave us much time for ourselves. I usually get up between 5:30 and 6:00 in the morning. This gives me some time for devotions. I also rest during the thirty minutes of rest time after lunch and, if the children have outdoor chores at 4:00, I take an hour then to relax. Other than that, I do not get much time to myself, but that is part of being a parent to 21 children. I mentioned in the last newsletter that the menu was basically beans and rice everyday, for at least two meals a day, and meat only about once a week. We changed that immediately after taking over. One of my duties is to write the menu and shop for the food. I put meat on the menu at least once a day, and varied the other meals so that it was not the same thing every day. We still have some form of beans and rice for at least one meal a day because the children like it, but they also like the variety we have now. I hope you enjoyed reading about what our day-to-day life is like here. One thing that I would like to mention before I close is the decision that I have made in the last month. When I originally came, I planed to stay for a year, and I am still intending to return to the States next August, but only for a few months. I plan to return to Nicaragua and continue working with the orphanage and children’s outreach here. As you know, I have long desired to work with abandoned children on the mission field. I am learning so much here and know that God has so much more to teach me. He has put me here and I will stay until it is His time for me to go somewhere else. Please pray for me, as this was a big decision. Also pray that he will continue to give me supernatural energy. I have never had this much energy in my life, and I know it is God working in me. Merry Christmas, and God bless you all. Joy Pulsifer Joy Pulsifer
Merry Christmas from Maranatha
Contact Information Please feel free to contact us with prayer needs or for more information. Telephone (228) 255-9251 Postal address: You can send Joy an email at |
