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...."

I Love Bob and Georgette Kornegay.

Not LOOOVVE them, but love their work. And love their heart and soul and dedication to Jesus' call on their lives and how they have obediently lived that out.

A very humble couple from Snyder, Texas, (pop. 11,000)  they serve an area in and around Guatemala City, Guatemala.  The area is full of several things.....beautiful greenery, bubbling streams, bright colored hand-loomed fabric made into clothing worn by friendly Guatemalans.  But most notably it is full of poverty.  And not full of running water in most of the small villages.

Source: http://www.servantsheartsministries.com

From their website, www.servantsheartsministries.com:

"We felt the call to the mission field from a few years back when we went on some short term mission trips.

Then we went to Guatemala in November of 2006 and fell in love with the people there and Charlie and Pat Reynolds with His Appointed Time Ministries who have been there for 11 years. We felt that we are to go and help with the work in the private Christian school they have up and running and also help with the restoration center that is under construction and also to help with the distribution of good clean drinking water to the poor and needy as a part of the water ministry that Charlie has started. Other needs include Ministry work to widows and orphans. Helping with Casa Shalom Orphanage,and a feeding center in Rio Bravo." 

With the help of missionary teams that visit they have changed the lives of thousands.  Bob and Georgette work alongside the village clergy and other leaders to dig water wells and install water purifications systems.  The villagers agree in advance to help with the project and to learn to maintain the equipment.  Them buying in to the project helps assure success.  Bob and Georgette don't "dig and run";  they develop a relationship with the villagers and minister to them.  They stay in touch and help with maintenance issues.  Consequently, the villagers have better health through water free of disease.  Children are able to attend school consistently, not only because they are healthier but also because it isn't necessary for them to haul water every day.  It's life changing.

Over the years, they decided they could also impact people's health by installing properly ventilated wood burning stoves in people's home.  Poor ventilation of cooking and heating stoves or cooking on an open fire within the home is a huge problem.  Children especially suffer and are ill a good part of the time due to smoke backing into their houses.  The somewhat simple and inexpensive task of installing these clean burning stoves is another life changing act.

For several years Bob and Georgette have helped provide food for the children at Santa Maria de Jesus feeding center.  They regularly assure that 400 children have at least one nutritious meal.   They also minister in this village.  For example along with a mission group from Snyder, Tx. they built a home for a family with five children who had been living in a one-room very simple home.  Their new home has a kitchen and  a new stove.  

Servants Hearts is funded totally by donations from churches and individuals.  They operate through the First Baptist Church in Snyder, TX and I personally think they are a great "bang for the buck" investment of your donation dollar.  They can build or install quality houses, water wells, purification systems, and cook stoves, and feed a child very, very economically!  This is a great group of folks to volunteer with, too.  People come from all over the U.S. to help them impact the poor in the name of Jesus.  Contact Bob and Georgette through their website. (see above)

Quoting some comments from a mission team on the Servants Hearts web site....."We came to bless these people, but we are the ones that got blessed."  "I would have never thought that someone with so little could be so happy."  "They work so very hard just to survive, but have great joy."