Here I am.

For the past couple of weeks, I have been slowly going forward with the process of application to Christ for the City International. The whole time a little nervous about whether or not this is really want the Lord wants. through prayer and thought, i feel that the Lord is calling me back to Central America. From mid June until early August, I will be serving the Poor and ignored in San Salvador, El Salvador with Christ for the City international. I am pretty excited but a little nervous. I ask for your prayers at this time. I am excited to see the ways in which the Lord will shine.

Here is a copy of the letter that will be going out, to hopefully give a better idea:

February, 2010
Dearest Friends and Family,

I hope this finds you and your loved ones doing well, basking in the light of the Lord. I am excited to hear the stories of what He is doing in your life, and am excited to share my own.

The past few years have seen so much change, growth, hardship and wonder. I have been both blessed and molded by the Lord, stretching me and pushing me into the woman God has prepared me to be. He has placed a desire upon my heart to love people and to seek to be in relationship with them. I feel that my heart has been softened for people who are in need. More recently, I have gone through a period of rest and preparation. Running through my mind was a constant question of, “for what?” Daily, the Lord would reveal people and situations to grow me and challenge my faith. Now in this time, I feel that the Lord is calling me back to serve. Oh, what a wonderfully terrifying challenge. When I returned from Nicaragua, I felt like I had nothing more to give, I was dry, empty, and done.

However, recently I have regained a tiny spark that slowly grew into a new desire. I sense the Lord is calling me back to Latin America, and more specifically El Salvador. I have prayed about this a long time, I wanted to make sure it wasn’t my own selfish desires or alternative motives, but I truly feel this is where the Lord is leading me. This summer, I will be serving with Christ For the City International (CFCI) for 2 months as an individual Short-Term Missionary. I will work with an El Salvadorian couple and their church, serving with a part-time medical clinic and teaching ESL in a local school. I will be living with a local church family and working with the poor in San Salvador, El Salvador.

The Lord has blessed me with an awesome support system, you! I want to thank you again for all the support and love that I have received from you. Your prayer, encouragement and financial support propelled me and gave me such a drive to push harder. In this time, I ask that you continue to pray for me, and if you feel the Lord leading you in that direction, to give financial support. We, together, can bring light into darkness and show people the love of the Lord. I am excited to embark on this adventure and am thrilled that we can embark on it together.

In addition to prayer support, I will need to raise a total of $1,200. This will cover my room, board, in country transportation, and a few other costs. If you would like to join me as a prayer and/or financial partner, please send your donation to Christ For the City International; P.O. Box 390395; Omaha, NE 68139. Make checks payable to Christ For the City International, with a notation on a separate piece of paper that the donation is for “Support of Annie Valenziano”. Credit card donations can be made on the CFCI website, www.cfci.org, and click on “Donate now.”

If you would like more information, please contact me. Additionally, you can keep updated with what is going on in my life here, I will try hard to regularly blog.
May we live to serve the King,

Annie Valenziano.
anna_mv23@hotmail.com

stories.

So it has been a little bit, sorry about that. However, to make up for that, I am going to share two, mostly unrelated, stories.

Story 1.
One of the ways that I have started participating in ministry again is by volunteering at a local community resource center called Neighborhood house. This center is located in White Center, a part of Seattle that is one of the poorest and is heavily populated by immigrants. I have only been a few times, but I am learning SOO much from going. One afternoon a week, we go and we tutor elementary aged school kids with their homework. Or at least that is what it says on paper that we are SUPPOSED to do. One of the things that first got me interested in helping was the level of diversity that we would encounter. Normally, I spend my afternoon hanging out with two girls who are from Somalia. Now, these two girls are very bright, and they do not really need much help with their homework, I mostly just try and keep them focused. However, the part that I get such enjoyment from is the conversations we have. They frequently ask me why I am not married at the OLD age of 21, and that I should hurry up and start having babies, we talk about what we did in school that day, how people look different today, I receive a few Somalian lessons, and show them how my lip ring works. But, I think the thing I love to hear about the most is what they remember from Somalia. One girl told me about this ring she had received from her mother when she went to the most important Muslim temple in all of Somalia. For some reason, I felt so honored that she would tell me about this ring and how it was so important to her, she said it was one of the most important possessions she owned. I just love how God uses such strong, verbal, 3rd graders to teach me about importance.

Story 2.
I work at a day care, and one of the things that we encourage the children to do is independence. So for lunch we set out all the lunch boxes from the refrigerator and the children go and grab their own lunches. Now my little friend, being as observant as a hungry 4 year old can be, took what he thought was his lunch box and sat down and started eating. A bit later the newest teacher came in and asked if we had moved her lunch. She described the lunch box and we soon realized that she and the 4 year old had the same lunch box. We didnt know what to do, we explained to him that he had the wrong lunch box and that he had eaten all of teacher's food. I work with a great group of teachers, so not missing out on this opportunity, the teacher that I was working with asked the class what we should do. One of the little girls pipped up and said that we should share our food with her! So we took a plate and each child donated a small portion of their food. It was awesome. I love the way children choose the most obviously helpful thing. However, I thought, as adults would we be that willing to choose the easiest way to help, if it involved giving up something that was important to us?

I love these children, and I love working with them. I am excited to see how the relationships continue to grow and how these children explore their world.