June 2003 Update |
| Dear friends,
Lately at the Micah House, I have been learning something
of the bittersweet joy that a father feels when his son
or daughter turns eighteen. The little guys that I
met several years ago and who have formed part of the
Micah family for three years are quickly becoming men.
When Danilo turned eighteen on May 9, he was the fifth
Micah boy to do so!
Occasionally, I feel like pushing the pause button on
time and letting our boys stay young for a couple more
years. I guess there are two reasons for this.
The first is that our boys, because of their years on the
streets, got to live very little of their childhood.
Having to dig through the trash to find your daily bread
as Darwin often did or shining shoes to feed your five
younger siblings like Jose was forced to do tend to
initiate kids into a harsh world of adult responsibility.
Their years at the Micah house have really been their
only chance to be children--and now, how quickly they are
men and ready to head back out into the world again!
Secondly, most parents have eighteen years to “train
a child in the way he should go.” We have only
had three years with the boys! While we have tried
to pour all of our energy into discipling the boys and
training them to become successful citizens of God’s
kingdom, sometimes we hear the clock ticking and think of
all there is yet to teach them!
At the same time, we praise God for how He is faithfully
transforming our boys into His men. Just a couple
of years ago, David was so quiet and withdrawn that he
seemed almost invisible. Now, he walks with a new
confidence in his steps. When he is out at Villa
Linda Miller, the kids run up to him shouting,
“David, David!” He wraps them in his arms
and looks very much like the loving parent and teacher
that he may one day become. Danilo was quite
the fighter on the streets; now, he is capable of showing
such tenderness and empathy that it is obvious that there
is a pastoral role in his future. Marvin was
infamous as a child for hitting a crisis and escaping
onto the streets. In the orphanage he used to live in, he
escaped over the wall in the middle of the night at least
five different times when things got rough for him.
Now, he talks about becoming a counselor and how he loves
to listen to other people and try to help them.
Yes, while we would want to hold onto the “kid”
that is in each of these young men, we must celebrate the
ways that God is molding them as they approach adulthood.
The transition may be a scary one, but it is definitely
in God’s hands! Ever since first
envisioning the Micah Project, we knew that the boys
would one day reach this stage. And, since that
time, we have understood that we must continue to support
them in these exciting years of early adulthood.
We feel that the Leadership House is where that
transition will take place. This new home will
offer our older boys a place to live as they finish their
studies. It will eventually have space for twenty
young men who want to pursue their higher education. A
Christian mentor will live at the Leadership House to
provide counseling, academic support, discipleship and
career planning. This mentor will help each young man
move through a process in which he will achieve
increasing independence and adult responsibility, until
they can become fully-equipped Christian adults and
servant-leaders.
In late May, we found a home that we think would be ideal
for the Leadership House. It is just four
blocks from our current home. We are very excited
about the potential of this property! It has a
first floor apartment which would be perfect for the
residential director who will live there. On the
second floor, there are four bedrooms, three bathrooms, a
living room, dining room and kitchen. Behind the
house is an open garage for two cars. There is also
a cement flooring built above the garage which could be
used in the future to build more bedrooms. On the
front of the house, there is a second floor patio and a
rooftop terrace which both have a great view of downtown
Tegucigalpa! You can view the house on our
website, www.micahcentral.org.
The asking price for the house is approximately
$46,500 (not bad for a house of this size!).
Additionally, we will need another $20,000 to remodel the
house, furnish it and prepare it for habitation. As
of June 1, we have raised $22,000 towards the purchase of
the house--almost half of the purchase price! We
hope to purchase the house in the next few months in
order to do the “fixin’-up” necessary to
move the boys in next January.
You all have been so instrumental in providing the means
for these boys to begin to dream and to work toward those
dreams. I hope the amazing work that God has done
in their lives fills your heart with as much joy as it
does mine. Also, I ask that you prayerfully
consider supporting the boys in this next stage of their
lives, the Leadership House. To make a
special donation towards the purchase of the Leadership
House, you may write a check made out to “The Micah
Project” and write “Leadership House” on
the memo line. Please send all donations to the
following address: Mr. Randy Mayfield, Micah
Project Board of Directors, 7700 Davis Dr., Clayton, MO
63105.
As we raise funds for the Leadership House, we must also
continue to raise funds to support our current programs.
God has continued to bless the Micah House, our ministry
out in Villa Linda Miller and our work among the street
children of Tegucigalpa. Your support for these
continuing programs is vital. Currently, we have
operational funds through September; we are seeking new
funds through the end of the year! A couple of months ago, Jarvin, one of our eighteen year olds said, “The Leadership House will be something new for all of us. We know that we will have a lot more responsibility with both our own lives and with the other boys. Living there in the house, we will learn to think more about the future, to make goals and achieve them.” I have little doubt that, with your support, these boys will accomplish the goals that God has laid before them! Your brother
in Christ, Michael Miller
(prayer requests follow) P.S. So that
you may know how to pray for our older boys, I have
placed here a short update about each one: * Marvin, 18: After his tenth grade classes, Marvin spends his afternoons in soccer practice for the “University” soccer club. He is also continuing his guitar classes and is in our men’s chorale. He is talking about becoming a Christian counselor. * Jarvin, 18: Also in the tenth grade, Jarvin teaches a home-schooling program every afternoon at a soup kitchen for street kids. He also desires to continue his acting classes. * David, 18: David is also a tenth grader. In the afternoons, three days a week, he runs our Bible club for children out at Villa Madrid, a housing project that is next door to Villa Linda Miller. Two days a week, he helps Jarvin at the soup kitchen. *Cristino, 18: Another 10th grader! Tino takes advanced computing classes at a technical school downtown every afternoon. Currently, he is learning computer maintenance and repair. He is also taking piano lessons. *Danilo, 18: He
is in the ninth grade. He runs our Bible clubs out
at Villa Linda Miller three afternoons a week. He
also has an outreach to the children who live in the city
trash dump on those same three afternoons. He is
also taking piano lessons. To learn more about the Leadership house, click here: Leadership House |