{"id":1720,"date":"2022-12-31T10:29:57","date_gmt":"2022-12-31T16:29:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pottershome.org\/?p=1720"},"modified":"2022-12-31T10:31:05","modified_gmt":"2022-12-31T16:31:05","slug":"december-ministry-update-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.pottershome.org\/?p=1720","title":{"rendered":"December Ministry Update"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Potters-Home-December-2022<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In November we were happy to celebrate with Nathaly as she graduated from high school. Her mom was able to come to her graduation, and Nathaly has gone to live with her mother full-time and is working near their apartment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We concluded our various ministries with Christmas parties, and the first was for the Monday night Bible study. A clown came and played games with the kids, we had a devotion and time of prayer, and enjoyed a special meal around a fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The breakfast ministry finished with 150 tamales for all the street vendors, shoe shiners, homeless and alcoholics in the central park of our town. I shared about difference in the reactions the wise men and King Herod had when they learned about the birth of Jesus. The wise men sought Jesus, worshipped Him and protected Him, while King Herod acted outwardly happy while secretly desiring to kill Jesus because he had no room in his heart for any other king. There was a good response and a great time of prayer afterwards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Then we had a Christmas party with the children of the Casa Shalom orphanage last week. We had a lunch of tamales and flan, had a great game of soccer, fellowship, prayer and ice cream. Most of our girls grew up there, and we had a great group of alumni visit the orphanage with us. In fact, they paid for all the food! It was wonderful to spend time with and love on the kids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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On Christmas Eve we made tamales and then stayed up all night eating, goofing off, and shooting fireworks. On Christmas Day we went hiking in the mountains nearby to watch the sunset. (I\u2019m sorry for all of you who have really cold weather\u2026 it\u2019s wonderful here!) New Year\u2019s Eve will be very similar with lots of kids arriving to stay with us, and we\u2019ll stay up super late all over again!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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When I was growing up we knew a lady who would foster care for many children. My family would go over to her house to help with lawn work and house repair projects. So we knew them well. 
When I was about a senior in high school, my parents had all of them over to our house for Thanksgiving. I distinctly remember not<\/em> being happy about it because I wanted family time as my brother was back from college, and I wanted a relaxing time of eating and watching football. But I was a good Christian boy, so I didn\u2019t complain or share my discontent, and I remember the chaos of the meal with her trying to keep all the kids seated and not fighting.
Now I am so grateful for experiences like this which taught me to love even when I don\u2019t want to, and taught me that Christ followers are called to serve in all times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ministry Highlights for 2022<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n