"Roses and Lilies"

Susana  in class making an art project. Summer 2011

Summer is always an exciting time, and for the CROC community is a time of welcoming our family from the North. Even when we don’t share a family name, we share God’s love for each other and especially for this community. This year the excitement was reduced in quantity of teams we received, from eight to two teams, but enlarged in blessings received from these two teams, the love shown by the summer staff and the unending joy we see in the kids. The words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer come alive in our community during summer when he says, “communal life is the roses and lilies of the Christian life.”

The teams that visited us more than making the daily lives of the people living here more pleasant by doing paint jobs and even building a merry-go-round. They shared with us a new hope to continue doing ministry in this place by giving us words of encouragement and by showing us with their example that those who believe in God shall not fear when helping the neighbor. For me having the summer staff among us was a blast. It was like having four little brothers and one sister with whom I laughed, played, and learned. Even when they were

different in many ways all of them shared a servant heart. The way they used their gifts to bless this community has shaped they way I see ministry in a powerful way.

When I started my journey in ministry to God I never imagined that I would end loving kids the way I do. Even when my academic formation prepared me to work with and for them, God has taught me that He was not kidding when He said that we need to be like a child to enter His Kingdom. When I feel discouraged and ready to give up the smile of a kid changes everything. Suddenly all my tiredness vanishes. I can certainly say that the joy I have received while serving these kids is the best gift I have gotten from my heavenly Father.

The hope, the laughs and the joy I have experienced during this summer have become the roses and lilies of my life.

Susana Melissa Armendariz
Club 121 Director

First of all

We just came back from our yearly trip to the United States and now we are getting ready to start the school year.
It wasn´t just an important visit because of the work we were able to do there, but more than that this trip was important for the part of the journey that it represents as we walk together as a staff, as a community. It is amazing how the interactions we encounter ourselves in make us closer to each other and God.
To some of us, Croc is our home, our comfort zone, the place where we feel comfortable. So this trip along the mid-west, represents a challenge stepping out of our comfort zone. For some of us, is the language or being away from family and even for those who speak the language fluidly, there are some cultural information that is transmitted in language that we do not understand or know, so it still represents a challenge.
The beautiful thing about this uncomfortable position is that it makes us more willing, more sensitive, we listen and pay attention to the happenings in our surroundings. It is in this uncomfortable place that God shows himself to us, it is in this adventurous journey of faith that we become the body of Christ and the Kingdom of God is built on.

We want to thank all the people that hosted us in their homes and the Churches that invited us. You guys are a blessing to our ministry. It was a long exhausting trip, but we were bless by the relationships and community around us.

We are eager to see the kids in class again as we keep working on our new property that still has a lot of work left. There is some heat left this year before the rain brings the fall winds with it.

There are a few important changes this semester as Alain Olivo and Amber Booth, two of our staff members stay in Kansas City to spend some time with the YSF folks. they´ll be back next year with their strength renewed  and ready to keep working in Croc.

Pray for peace and safety for our country.