We left the middle of November and prior to doing so had done some Christmas shopping for the 40+ children who come to the mission regularily. Upon returning back to the United States, we arranged for some additional funding for the Sanchez's and the Mission to be able to reach beyond the Mission children to many of the un-churched children in the surrounding villlages. Before doing so, we worked with the Distrct representatives to do a children census to get an accurate head count of all children up to 12 years old. These funds went farther than we had thought and although we never really did a census of the large village to our immediate north, el Olivos, we were also able to fund getting treats to all the children up there as well. So this Christmas, with a lot of participation, funds and the hand of God, we were able to reach up to 900 children within walking distance of the Mission. Thank you Julio, Yareni, Victor, Mirella, and many Awana volunteers ... but most of all, thank you Jesus!!
You can also see most of the photos (and a few more) in this video montage from Christmas as well.
