It’s been 3 years!
Hi everyone, the ministry continues to keep us very busy thank God for that, and thank you for your constant prayers for our family. It’s been more than a year since we sent our last letter, but we don’t want to stop letting you know what the Lord has done in our lives. A few days ago we just celebrated 3 years in the camp.
1 year as the director!
Ivan has been the director of Living Waters Bible Camp for over a year. Everything has gone very well, thank God. Ivan is enjoying serving God in this position. The staff, board, volunteers, and campers appreciate his work and energy. One of the biggest challenges of the position is being able to balance work, unexpected situations, family, personal rest, and friendships well. You can’t always take care of everything at the same time, but God provides the wisdom and energy needed, sometimes through coffee 😉
Ivan enjoying his morning coffee
The family
Laura has continued to meet with the women of the camp once a month she has been a great blessing to all the women. She also continues to serve at AWANA every week. Also during the summer, she had the opportunity to be the director of the TST (Teens Serving Team) program, a program created for youth ages 13-15 in which we provide them with the opportunity to serve at camp. The program was created due to the desire of these young people to serve, and the few opportunities there are for them. The program is 4 weeks long in total and it was a great blessing to see how the Lord worked in the lives of each person who had the opportunity to be part of the program, from the youth and their families to the Living Waters staff who had the opportunity to share a class with them and benefit from the hard work of these young people.
The TST program
Jeremias decided to be part of a Bible Quiz team, and he also participated in the TST program at camp during the summer. The rest of our children David, Noemi, Lidia, Samuel, and Miriam continue to attend AWANA and in the summer they also attend their respective camps. With all the activity we had we ended up spending more than 4 full weeks at camp during the summer.
This past year we again decided to have a garden that provided fresh fruits and vegetables for the house. The children also help out at camp when they have the opportunity.
Green tomatoes from our garden
Sammy, Miriam, Lidia and Noemi serving at Camp
In the summer we had a full house thanks to the pleasant visit of the Perez family (Laura’s sister). They visited for almost 4 months, During their time here they had the opportunity to learn about the camp ministry, and they helped and served during the entire time they were here. Thanks to the visit of the Perez we were able to make some improvements to the house, among them were the walls for our second bathroom in the house that has been of great use.
The Perez family at Camp
Immigration Situation
The extension of the visa for Laura and the children took a long time to arrive, but thanks to God’s mercy it arrived in October, the Lord remains faithful to us in the immigration process. It’s a long process. We are starting the process of getting a green card. But this process seems to be longer than we thought. There are days when this process seems very complicated, but the Lord continues to show us His great power, let us pray that He will move mountains regarding our situation.
Financial Support
This past year the Lord provided 79% of our yearly ministry support. Praise the Lord for His provision! Looking into 2024, we are in need of an extra 21% to reach 100% of our ministry support to help Living Waters keep camper fees low (2 Cor 11:9). Would you prayerfully consider a financial contribution for our family to serve in this ministry? We would appreciate monthly donations of $25, $50, and $100 or one-time yearly donations. If you would like to join our ministry support team, click the button below.
Unexpected Christmas
News of sadness and joy at the same time. This year my parents (Laura) applied for their visas hoping to come visit us sometime during the spring, but sadly their visas were denied. At the same time, Ivan’s parents renewed their visas and had the opportunity to visit us and spend Christmas, together with Ivan’s sister.
Visit from Ivan’s family and sister
Prayer request
Thank you all for your prayers and we ask that you continue to pray for:
- The migratory process and the long process.
- So that Ivan will continue to have the energy and wisdom he needs to guide the camp and the house.
- For the growth and development, both physical and spiritual, of our 6 children.
With Love in Christ
Ivan and Laura + Family