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Dear friends,
2019 is the year of graduations at Love and Hope! This year we will have SEVEN high school graduates! In June, Justin and I got to go on a little tour of the west coast to see our first two international high school grads! First, we visited Brenda who graduated in beautiful Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, British Columbia and then we flew to Los Angeles to attend Michell’s graduation in Mission Viejo, California! This fall Brenda will be attending Johnson and Wales University in Miami and Michell has already begun her college career playing soccer for the women’s team at Lakeland Community College in Ohio. Both of these opportunities are thanks to amazing, generous people who believe in these girls and have decided to invest in their futures! If you are in Ohio and would like to watch Michell play, send me an email and I can give you her game schedule! In November and December we will get to see Jacobo, Esau, Jefferson, Isaac and Linda graduate in El Salvador from their respective high schools. They are all busy making plans for next year as well!
At Love and Hope we value education so much and encourage the kids to pursue their interests and dreams and to be well rounded, hardworking young people. In April, Esau and Moises each won a scholarship to take intensive English classes at an English academy in San Salvador. The boys chose to apply for the scholarship even though the classes take place during their free time. They are both excited for the opportunity to improve their English skills. Another interest that Esau has shown is in graphic design and photography. We asked him to take photos of our kids for this mailing, so the photo you are holding in your hand was taken and edited entirely by Esau! Over her summer break Erika is doing a short internship at a hair salon and she’s also had the opportunity to spend more time on one of her greatest passions, skating! Just last week she won a first place and a second place medal at her skate meet! Jocelyn, who started an internship at the Inter Continental Hotel four years ago, was offered a job at the hotel last year and because of her hard work and English speaking skills was given a promotion in June!
Because of your support, all of our kids are able to speak English. They all attend bilingual or semi-bilingual schools and have been able to practice their English a lot at home with our volunteers and missionaries. We wanted to give each of our kids the opportunity to show you how your support has paid off. I asked each of them to write a letter in English to catch you up on their lives. These letters are purposely unedited. Some mistakes will make you laugh and others might cause you to scratch your head a bit. We hope that prompts you to either write back, send them an email or even come down and visit and ask them, “What did you mean when you said…?” One of the letters said, “One day I want to throw myself on a plane with a life preserver.” I could have edited it to say, “I want to go skydiving,” but what’s the fun in that!?
Thank you so much for continuing to support the young people at Love and Hope. We believe that as we continue to invest in each one of them, they will go on to impact and shape the future of El Salvador.
Follow us on Instagram (loveandhopechildrenshome) and Facebook (Love and Hope Children’s Home)! We hope you had a wonderful summer!
With Love and Hope,
Rachel Sanson