A new life of love at New Life Children's Home

New Life Children's Home International - Guatemala

Continuing to share information about children, 

but expanding from children 

with ideas to serve others.....

 to others with great ideas to serve children.

I have several friends in Lubbock, Texas that are preparing for their annual one week trip to Guatemala to work for New Life Children's Home in Villa Nueva, near Guatemala City.  NLCH falls under the umbrella of an oversight organization based in Houston.  New Life Advance International is a faith based interdenominational international mission organization that equips leaders to work in ministry and to serve children in crisis.  Their tag line is "Advancing the Kingdom of God through New Life in Christ".  For information about all the organizations and missionaries they support, go to:
www.nlai.org

When I was on staff as the mission coordinator at our church I learned a lot about NLCH and other organizations that are dedicated to improving the lives of children and adults that live in deplorable conditions.  In May of last year I wrote in this blog about Servant's Hearts Ministries which is another favorite ministry of mine that also lives and works in Guatemala.www.servantsheartsministries.com

There are orphanages and children's schools all over Guatemala (an unfortunate need) but I am very proud to know the NLCH directors and some of their missionaries.  They are from the Texas South Plains area.  You will be hard pressed to find a more passionate group of people dedicated to caring for and educating children.  

There is an amazing amount of poverty in Guatemala. Children come to NLCH for a number of reasons, but often it boils down to parents not being able to properly care for their children because of poverty and lack of education.  New Life Children's Home literally offers these children a new life ....always plenty of food, clean clothing, private and Christian education, fun and friends, and most importantly, constant love.
From their site:NEW LIFE CHILDREN'S HOME

Orphaned, abandoned, and abused children have found a refuge and safe haven at New Life Children's Home in Villa Nueva, Guatemala. NLCH is truly a “home” where the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of children are addressed.  

Special attention is given to introducing them to Jesus Christ, nurturing and discipling them in a relationship with Him, and providing each child with a sound academic Christian education.

Since 1976, NLCH has been blessed with the opportunity to help turn children in crisis to children in Christ!

God is in his holy Temple. 

He is a father to orphans.
He defends the widows.
God gives the lonely a home.
-Ps. 68:5-6a (Intl Children’s Bible)

The school not only educates the 55 children from the children's home, but because of the excellent quality of instruction 400 children of all ages from the local community attend the school.

Mission teams from around the U.S. visit during the year and help with general maintenance of the facilities and small project construction.  Medical care is provided to the children, and a dentist and assistants from Lubbock provide much-needed dental care for the children and staff.  A highlight of all the trips is interacting with the children at evening meals.

A small part of their Statement of Faith is to work for social justice and relieve human suffering. 

"Our ends:

Children at risk will be rescued,

Leaders will be equipped,

Communities will be transformed...."

Bee a Sweetie

I heard about this little girl in Austin, Tx that fascinates me.  Her name is Mikaela and at the age of four she was encouraged by her family to get involved in Lemonade Day. 

Lemonade Day is an annual event held in many cities that empowers youth to become tomorrow's entrepreneurs by teaching them how to start, own and operate their own businesses using a lemonade stand.  They learn the fundamentals of operating a business as well as lessons in success. 

As the web site says, two major things happened to Mikaela during this process:  She was stung by a bee, twice, and her Great Granny Helen in South Carolina sent the family a 1940's-era cookbook with a special recipe for flaxseed lemonade, sweetened with honey instead of sugar or artificial sweeteners.

She became fascinated with bees and learned how important they are to our ecosystem. BeeSweet Lemonade was born when she realized a great lemonade recipe could help the bees she has come to love.  It's sweetened with local honey and her mantra is "Buy a Bottle, Save a Bee".
www.beesweetlemonade.com

Every year Mikaela's honey-sweetened lemonade sells out during youth entrepreneurial events where a portion of sales is donated to organizations fighting to save honeybees.  Mikaela is 10 years old now, and besides selling her lemonade she leads workshops on the plight of honeybees and educates others, especially children, of their importance.

Even the business experts on the TV show Shark Tank recognized Mikaela's potential with SweetBee Lemonade. Daymond John invested $60,000 to help her take the business to the next level.

The original flavor BeeSweet Lemonade with Mint is sold at Whole Foods Market, an Austin-based natural and organic foods vendor, as well as at a number of other retail businesses and restaurants, food trailers and other healthy food locations all over Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Oklahoma.  Her product line also includes other varieties: Lemonade with Ginger, Lemonade with Iced Tea, and Lemonade with Prickly Pear.

The BeeSweet site states that this young business person is "Mikaela Ulmer: A social entrepreneur, bee ambassador, educator and student."  There's a video where Mikaela talks about the importance of being passionate about what you believe in.  We could all learn this lesson from 10-year-olds, I think. 

God has given each of us a gift that can be used to serve.  The gifts he gives aren't necessarily a passion to go to the food bank and work; it may be the passion and skills to start a business that repairs tires, provides legal advice, design couture clothing, or save honey bees.  He gives talents for a bigger purpose that all fit into his plan.  

He just asks us to follow him. 

 And be passionate.