The Micah Project March 2011 Photos

In our March photo album, we would like to give you a glimpse into ten Micah moments that define us as a ministry. We hope that each one of these snapshots will help you to see what God is doing through the Micah Project...and that they will help you to pray!

Above: Becca Bell celebrated her seventh anniversary in Honduras in March! As director of operations, Becca is counselor, cheerleader, organizer, list-maker, and mom to all of our boys. She has a calm assurance of God's presence in her life, and this helps our boys find their own strength and confidence through their relationship with her. Here, she gets a hug from Hector and Yeison as she shows off her cake!

Axelito and Miguelito, both thirteen, celebrated their first anniversary with the Micah Project on March 21st. This is a huge accomplishment for both of them, considering the addiction and chaos that threatened to destroy them while living on the streets. After dinner and cake, Axelito wanted to sing a couple of their songs for our gathered community, but Miguelito suddenly became sad as he remembered his mom who passed away from cancer last June. After a few minutes of tears in our office and a lot of hugs, he regrouped, went back out to the patio and sang his songs with gusto!

These pictures expose the hardest part of our job. Above: Brian Wiggs tries to encourage Marvincito (red shirt) during our street kid soccer outreach. Marvincito has fallen hard back into street life over the last year. The glue bottle that he has hidden under his shirt (above) is rarely far away from his lips. Lately, he has taken up with a group of street youth that rob people at knifepoint in the outdoor market area. As we see the smart, funny, loving child (pictured below in 2008) turning into a hardened street youth, it literally breaks our hearts. Part of our calling as we continue to pray for young boys like Marvincito is to keep hope alive, even when his situation appears to be hopeless.

Above: Maycol has been in Guatemala since early February in a Discipleship Training School run by YWAM (Youth With A Mission). This first experience away from home has been an incredibly formative time for Maycol...and his relationship with his heavenly Father is growing and maturing day-by-day. Above: Maycol stands by a giant hunk of lava on a March trip to one of Guatemala's volcanoes.

Below: On March 28, Oscar found out that he had been accepted to Wheaton College! This has been a dream of his for several years, and he has worked hard for the last two years at Houston Community College to prepare for this moment. While in Houston, Oscar has been surrounded by a loving and supportive community that has encouraged him each step of the way. Here, he shows off his acceptance letters, while Katelyn and Jack Herbold, members of his Houston family, cheer him on!

Meanwhile, our younger boys continued to see the example of the ones that have gone before them and give it all they've got! Above, most advanced group of high-schoolers this year are Brian (who comes to Micah from our neighborhood to study) and Yeison, who are both in the ninth grade. Here, Jenna gives them an art lesson in our home-schooling program.

Below: Edwin has been an assistant teacher this year in Micah Tech, helping Brian Wiggs teach carpentry and welding. Here, he teaches Axel how to use the sander.

Helping our boys learn to use their talents to serve others is a key tenet of the Micah Project. Every Thursday, our boys and staff participate in a "Day of Light" to help each young man share his talents in a variety of outreach activities! Above: Luis (one of the twins) helps to serve refreshments to a group of kids at a large daycare facility in a poor neighborhood not far from the Micah House.

Above: 16-year-old Wilmer sings one of his songs at a Saturday evening musical event at the AFE school at the city dump. Writing and singing songs about what God has done in their lives is the boys' favorite ways of sharing the Light!

Below: Izzy gives Miguelito a boost up so that he can paint the top of the wall. Izzy (our Salvadoran missionary Israel Zaldana) took the guys to the poor public school in our neighborhood to paint one of their classrooms.

Above: Natasha Wiggs and Megan Scheumann are helping the Grupo Mama Jo move into the next phase of their ministry: microenterprise!!! These women, most of whom are moms of our boys, have been learning sewing skills in order to bring in some income for their families. Now, they are getting ready to launch a bagel-baking business! Based on successful models in Costa Rica and Guatemala, the moms are planning to market their bagels in Tegucigalpa's commercial district.

Below: Our Honduran missionaries Marlon Castellanos and Wendy Varela have started a new initiative this year called "Escuela para Padres"...Parenting school! Once a month, the parents of our boys join us for a day of meetings with the goal of restoring their relationships with their children and helping them to be better parents. Since Father's Day is in March, we dedicated the Escuela para Padres meeting to the dads that were there. Here: Marlon prays a blessing over Axelito's grandfather, Hector's dad, the twins' dad, and Yeison's dad.

In early March, the Wiggs family and John Bell packed into Brian's new Ford F250 with six of the Tech school students from our neighborhood. After spending the night in the Caribbean port town of La Ceiba, they crossed the water to the island of Roatan, where they spent a few days at the Turquoise Bay resort on a spiritual retreat! Here, Franklin, Fabian, and Cristian enjoy the sunny skies and blue waters on the ferry from the Honduran mainland to Roatan.

This is the view that they had at the Tech school retreat every evening! I don't know if there is any better way to reflect on the beauty of the Creator than through a tropical sunset! (And by the way, if you've never been to Roatan, you should really go!)

Snapshot #8: Moving Micah Forward!

On March 28, the Micah Project made an offer on a beautiful seven-acre property adjacent to the Villa Linda Miller community. Our plan is to build a new Micah House, a technical school and staff housing amidst lots of green areas and play space! We have been planning the new Micah campus for almost a year, and we are so excited to be close to acquiring the land! Here, the boys are already dreaming about expanding their horizons! At the time of publishing this, we have not yet heard back from the owners about our offer...pray with us!