Well, it seems impossible, but my time here in Juarez is drawing to a rapid close.In some ways it seems like I just arrived here, with all those butterflies in my stomach, uncertain but knowing God had something beautiful in store for me.And in some ways it feels like I've lived here for years?and that these people I've grown to love so much have always been a part of my life.The strange and wonderful thing I can embrace right now is that they always will be a part of my life, whether Juarez is where the Lord has me in the future or not.Sometimes I just pause and breathe, so thankful and in awe of the privilege it's been to be His ambassador here.

Last Friday we were having our weekly school devotional, as usual.For about an hour all the kids of the school gather together, we sing a few songs, and one of the teachers or Gilbert shares a lesson with them from the Word.This past Friday, Gilbert asked me to do something that humbled me to be able to do: to share my testimony with the kids of how the Lord brought me to Juarez.Being able to tell them now, nine months after I first got here, knowing them so well and feeling like they are family, meant the world to me.It dawned on me that maybe some of them really didn't know.A local missionary named Juan, also gave his testimony, and Maestro Camilo gave a moving talk to the kids from the Word.They gave their rapt attention, more than I had ever seen them.It was something special and before I stood up to speak to them, I just gazed at their sweet faces and the love of Christ washed over me as He showed me His perspective.

In James R. Ganley School, a miracle is taking place if you really think about it.I was overwhelmed with certainty of this fact as I stopped to think on the eighty kids there in the devotional.Three years ago this school, a place that God is using to teach children who Jesus Christ is and what it means to find life in Him, did not exist.There are few churches in the immediate area of the Felipe Angeles Colonia where people can hear the pure gospel being preached.Drugs and teenage pregnancy are rampant.Economical poverty is the norm, and few people aspire to change the world around them for the better.Yet the children who God has brought to James R. Ganley are doing just that.I was speaking to two of my fellow teachers about this just yesterday, as we were reflecting on the changes in behavior and heart of specific children over the year.I am convinced that it is the presence of the Lord in that place and nothing else that has changed them.And as they change, the Lord will use them to change their immediate families.As their families change, so will other relatives and friends.I don't know exactly how God will choose to work, but I do know He is working.He is working a miracle through those kids and through that place.Through Maria and Gilbert, through all the teachers there, and through me.He is changing the colonia from the inside-out, beginning with the precious children there.Eighty little lives that will spread to affect twice that many, four times, eight times that many, until thousands are affected for years to come.That day, in that room with my kiddos, it's like I could feel the grandeur of it all.There's so much more to reality than what we see with our eyes.Aren't you glad?

It's like with this little boy Alfredo that I know.He doesn't even come to James R. Ganley.But his sister Samantha does.Well, a couple of months ago, Samantha and Alfredo and their two younger brothers showed up at our Sunday church meeting at the school.Though their mom hasn't yet come, I've been thankful she brings them each week.Most families in the area that are Catholic would refuse to let their kids come (though they're being taught the Word all week at school!).Already, through Samantha, her older brother has come to hear the Word.There's one extra life affected.And I am praying for Alfredo, because at nine young years of age, he is hungry for the Word of God.He asks so many questions?really tough theological ones?during Sunday School while I'm teaching the kids, and it both delights me and freaks me out!How do I explain in Spanish concepts like the answers to How does God hear everyone's prayers at one time?Who is the devil?Is it true he was once an angel?What about the Virgin Mary?Is she still the mother of Jesus?Does the Bible say God will only forgive us one time? And innumerable others.I love this kid.Today I gave him his very own Bible and he spent the next twenty minutes copying the Lord's prayer from the book of Matthew.Is there anything more beautiful than a child who wants to know more of Jesus?Pray for him, that nothing will quench the fire that is burning in him so young.Pray that it continues to grow.Who knows how many lives can be touched through him.

The cool thing is that it's so like God and He does it everywhere.You never know what He'll do with one seed planted?how much fruit He'll choose to bear from it.The important thing is that the seed is planted?that the Word of God is preached to all nations.I just continually thank Him to be a part of His work, here or wherever I go.

What's next for me?What a good question!God alone knows the full answer!For now He's leading me back to Colorado, and that's really all I know!I may end up with a new teaching job, or I may do some subbing, and in His time I may be right back here in Juarez.I want His perfect plan for me, and right now I see the step in front of me.Yet that's all I need to know, because not knowing the full plan causes me to lean on Him even more.

One thing is for sure.He has used these precious children to change me?so I count myself as one more recipient of the miracle He's working.Every person who has come to visit me has said similar things about these kids?they are something very special.You have to meet them to truly understand.But I know what it is that makes them so special?they are living proof of the fact that the Father is at work in this world.He caused the school to be there, He caused children to come, He is causing their lives to change.And to think it's only the school's second year!Only He knows the miracles to come.