Christmas and Graduation Update

Dear Friends,

Happy New Year! I pray that God will bless you and your family this year!

Trip to the US

I’m excited to update you on all that is happening with Youth for Christ in Honduras. As many of you know, I had the opportunity to go to the Youth for Christ International General Assembly in Denver, Colorado at the end of September. It was a great time of prayer and fellowship with brothers and sisters from all over the world. For me I felt a little taste of heaven, having 80 nations in one place, all worshiping our God! After leaving Denver I visited many families and churches all over the States. Thank you to everyone that welcomed me into your home and church. I visited lots of old supporters and met new ones along the way.

Christmas at La Roca
Upon returning home, I was welcomed by many packages of school supplies, clothes, and gifts for the church and school. I am thankful for all your support. Thanks to you, every person at the church and every child at the school received a wrapped Christmas present. Santa even came to deliver the gifts!

Graduation from La Roca

The highlight of 2011 was the first graduation from the school, La Roca! The Honduran school year goes from February to November. We had 13 kids graduate from sixth grade and 18 kids graduate from kindergarten. Here in Honduras, only 1/3 of children are educated past 6^th grade. According to Honduras’ National Statistics Institute (INE) only 58% of school age children reach the 5^th grade; on average, Honduran children complete 5.4 years of schooling.

Another sad statistic for this year is that because of teacher strikes in the public schools, out of 200 scheduled days, the schools were only open for 90 days this past school year. At our school we work through a home school program. So, these kids that could not even go to public school are receiving more education because we did not have to close for the strikes. The graduation was a great accomplishment for these children, their parents, and this poor community. We helped each family with the graduation clothes and prepared a meal for the celebration afterward.

One of the mothers told me proudly, “My son has never been dressed so nice in his whole life; I am so proud of him, and he is so happy.” To be able to provide hope to these families through education, a pair of khaki pants and a nice shirt really blessed my heart. Thank you for helping us through prayer, finances, and supplies this year.

Dump Ministry
The city dump ministry continues to go well. We had the opportunity to work together with a local tv program to bring gifts to the people living and working at the city dump. Through this, we got to share on tv what YFC is doing at the dump and how to contact us to be involved in serving with us.

Prayer Requests

Please continue to be in prayer for the lives of everyone involved in this ministry. Please pray for the families, the community, the school, the church, and the city dump. God has done great things this past year and we want to thank you for being part of the ministry. It could not have happened without your obedience and discernment to God’s voice. The needs for this year include:

• teachers’ salary
• food for the school lunch
• school supplies
• food for the city dump ministry
• transportation (I need a reliable car)

The school has been a huge blessing to all these families, but without the funding to pay the teachers and provide the food, it is hard to continue. We live each month by faith, and God has provided. Please be in prayer for these crucial aspects of the school.


How to Support

• By check: YFCI, PO Box 4555, Englewood, CO 80155(write the Honduras fund number #528.02 or Aben Claros in the memo line)
• Go to www.yfci.org. At the top of the page click on donate. Write 'Aben Claros' in the box marked 'other.' Click 'Add Donation' and then 'Donate Now'
• Email: aben.claros@jpclatam.org

Thank you for loving and serving these youth in Honduras. We are grateful for your prayers and support.

God bless you,
Aben

YFC City Dump Honduras

July/ August Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Today July 12 when I was in the church this afternoon, dropping off material for us to work on a small construction project this week, I met with a new student. Olga is 13 years old and does not know how to read or write, so we accepted her into the school. But after listening to the story of her life, I left with a very heavy heart. She is a very pretty girl that the mom sends out into the streets to beg. She lives in a small wooden house with a very large family that abuses her constantly. More than this, her sister brought her to San Pedro Sula (abig city5 hours from home) to sell her to a depraved old man who raped her, and now he has AIDS. We still don’t know if this girl was contaminated, but my prayer is that she has not.Today I left church with a huge weight and I asked myself what could I do to help this beautiful young girl who is living hell on earth. Never in my life have I shed tears writing a letter, but as I write this I really want to do something to changethis society, but how can I do it, how can I help. At least in this moment she will receive a free education and will soon be able to read and write like the other children in school; and I hope and pray that she will come to know our Lord Jesus Christ as her Lord andSavior.

This picture is of two sisters, Deicy and Fernanda Figueroa, 8 and 5 years old, playing. Its an incredible sight to see these two playing because when they are not with us in the school they are out in the streets alone. How great it is to be able to see them in this photo playing teacher and student. This day made me feel very proud that I had the ability to put dreams in these little girls hearts. This never could have happened if they girls did not have the school in their lives; and now they dream to be teachers. This is something that has really given me energy to continue doing what I do. Thank you God for these beautiful gifts.

Another story I want to tell you about the Figueroa sisters is about Cinthia who is 11 years old. She has just learned to read, since the school started in September. The other day in church, when the pastor was preaching, not only was she able to read the passages, she was excited to look them up herself. This brought great satisfaction because it has been a short time since she has learned to read and she is excited about her ability.

Another day of victory was when we went to the public high school. It was a great day where many youth came to the feet of Christ in surrender. Below you can see the picture of how many commitments were made in just one day!

June 19 was another incredible Sunday. It was a day of celebration at the Rock church. We went on an excursion to baptize 9 people from the church in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. We also had a time of fellowship with the members of the church that strengthened our ties more than ever before. It was a wonderful day in the body of Christ.

The ministry at the dump still continues, but we have had some financial problems making as often as we used to go. It is still a ministry God has placed on my heart, and I pray for finances to make this a regular part of ministry every week. It costs $250 each time we go, covering the cost of food, water and transportation. There are always new people at the dump and a lot of people with wounded hearts to hear the good news and see God’s love.

The street ministry has been really hard to do in the rainy season. Many street people run to find shelter in the rain and it is hard to find them to give them food, clothes and the Gospel. We don’t see as many people as we used to see, but there are still many young pregnant prostitutes with AIDS that need a hug, a hot meal, and a spiritual meal, God’s love for them.

Please pray about being part of God’s ministry in Honduras. We are looking for sponsors for the kids in the school, if you are interested please contact me.

God bless you,

Aben

Ways to support:

• By check: YFCI, PO Box 4555, Englewood, CO 80155. (write the Honduras fund number #528, Aben Claros)

• Go to www.yfci.org At the top of the page click on 'donate' and follow the steps. On the 'designation' box select 'Other’ and write Aben Claros on the box below

• Automatic withdraw: contact Jenny Wraight jenny.wraight@yfci.net or phone the office [303-843 9000]

• Email: aben.claros@jpclatam.org

Mother's Day at the Rock

We celebrated Mother's Day at the Rock with cake and soda. Here are some pictures from the day!

April Updates

Here is a little update about things that are going on here with Youth for Christ in Tegucigalpa. This past month we had the pleasure to have visitors from the States. We got to go the dump with them, building a bathroom for one of our families, sharing food at the school and they were such a blessing for me personally.

Also we have had a good evangelism program at the public schools. It will be something we plan to do 4 times a month, and we have already gone a few times and seen great responses. At one school we had 26 youth accept Christ as their Savior! Many others renewed their lives to Christ.

We have also been faithfully teaching English classes on Saturday. We have about 30 kids regularly attending. I am grateful to inform you that we have a new teacher! With two teachers it makes it easier and the kids have a better opportunity to learn.

The kids from the school are doing well. We had a field trip to downtown to the ex-presidents house, the art gallery, a museum, and to the congress to see other areas of the city. Many of them did not even know these places existed.

Outside Tegucigalpa, we had the opportunity to go to the Youth for Christ Central America last weekend. All the leaders from all over Central America met to share time together of planning, encouragement and share ideas of how to strengthen our ministries.

Have a blessed and awesome day!

Under Construction

The last time I posted something on my blog I mentioned the school I started and the teachers. Things are going well with the school and we are finally building 3 classrooms for the students to be in separate spaces, instead of 3 corners in the same big room! God has provided the money to put up wall, the roof, and the floor; as well as a group that came down to help start the construction! The next part of the project is the dividing walls for each room, putting in doors and windows and electricity. It’s been exciting to see God provide for all of these projects.

Another area of growth is in the mentoring group. I am building relationships with these kids and spend lots of time getting to know them and hear their stories. The cool thing about mentoring youth is that it spreads out to friends and family. When youth are on fire for God, they have more energy and passion. I had the opportunity to take some of them to the Youth for Christ camp a few weeks ago, 5 hours away. It was an awesome experience for all of us!

Since December I have had an intern, Christ den Hollander, here working with me in all my ministries. Chris has helped with the construction, teaching English, and been involved in the mentoring and dump ministries. His help has made it easier to get things done; two people are better than one. I’m blessed to have him here for these 3 months.

The dump ministry is also taking place a few times a week. Recently we have seen a growth in the number of people because of the organized crime in the city. More homeless people are leaving the center of the city to avoid the gangs. We still go to the center city on Sunday nights to do a feeding program and share the Gospel, but now there are more people in the city dump.

I plan to send out a newsletter this next month with more updates. Thank you for your prayers and support of Youth for Christ in Tegucigalpa.

New Visions!

It has been a long time since I have posted and a lot has happened in the ministry!!

I have been spending a lot of time doing ministry with Pastor Jonny and the Rock. I met a few

kids that have stolen my heart and have had the opportunity to start a school in the morning, at the Rock, for these kids. We started school last week! Its amazing to see the church community helping out. The teachers are from the Rock and are excited to help the kids.

I have also been helping with English classes and carpentry classes in the Rock as well. But my biggest ministry currently is the school. I am praying about raising support to provide pay for the teachers and supplies for the students.

These are some pictures from Children's Day that we celebrated at the Rock on September 11. There was music, candy, food, and lots of piñatas!

I have also been involved in helping create the Association of Pastors and Ministries for Los Pinos and Villanueva (the area where I have been doing most of my ministry). About 60 pastors from churches in these neighborhoods meet regularly and I have been very involved.

On Sunday's I have been joining with one of the young men from the Pastors Association to go out into the streets near downtown and in one of the rough neighborhoods to invite the homeless, prostitutes and poor to come meet for a devotion and food. I have a video from this, that I am trying to upload to youtube. I do this every other Sunday and mentor the group of young men on the other Sundays.

Please pray for Honduras and the rains. Please pray that God will provide a truck or vehicle tall enough to make it up the dirt roads that are washing away, so that I can do more ministry. I still have vision to bring food and the Gospel to the city dump, but it is more difficult to do without the proper vehicle and funding.

I am excited what God is doing and will do!!