{"id":1878,"date":"2014-11-02T14:07:00","date_gmt":"2014-11-02T20:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/school-of-champions\/"},"modified":"2019-02-18T10:01:39","modified_gmt":"2019-02-18T16:01:39","slug":"school-of-champions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/?p=1878","title":{"rendered":"School of Champions"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Our 2nd day was still in progress as we made our way to the School of Champions. The School originated for \u201cthe Children of the Dump\u201d to bring relief and hope to needy children and families living in and around the garbage dump areas of Puerto Vallarta. The adults and children picked through the garbage each day for food and to find items they could sell. With no water or electricity, they were forced to move their flimsy shacks every few days as the garbage was bulldozed towards them. It was a low level of existence for them. While the parents and older children worked, other children had to take care of the babies. The children didn\u2019t attend school and without an education, were destined to repeat the cycle of poverty as their parents before them had.<\/p>\n

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Unless you can see it with your own eyes, it is unimaginable \u2013 mainly because we are people of so much \u201cplenty\u201d. It\u2019s easy to say, \u201cWhat a shame\u201d, and go on our way. But, God shows up with His people and organizations that go the distance in making a difference. Perdon y Amistad Church supplies volunteers and vehicles for the program. Now, with the feeding program to help the children to concentrate and learn, getting the children into school, and keeping them there, is a major priority.<\/p>\n

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Funds were raised to build a community center by the dump. Thus, the School of Champions was born. The School, just two blocks from the entrance to the dump, is where students from primary schools in the area are taught Math, English and Computer skills in an after-school program. The School of Champions was created to raise the hope and expectancy for a better future for these children.<\/p>\n

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And, in this place, they can hear the good news of Christ, so it was where Staci Wallace and Tony Bouie spoke into their precious lives. Alexia Wallace sang, Payton Wallace & Joshua Sinclair gave their testimonies. Our hearts were so touched when the kids responded to Staci\u2019s question \u201cWhat is your biggest prayer request?\u201d One child said, \u201cFor my dad to get out of jail\u201d. Another, \u201cfor money for food\u201d. Another, “for my mom to get well”. But the one that touched us the most, was one precious boy\u2019s reply, \u201cfor you not to forget us!\u201d Then Staci asked them to write down their prayers and what they wanted to do in their future. And to our joy and delight, they wrote true hopes and dreams: \u201cto be a professional soccer player\u201d; \u201cto be a veterinarian\u201d, \u201cto be a doctor\u201d, \u201cto be an artist\u201d. What once represented hopelessness to them, through the dedication of difference-makers, these children now see themselves as winners and achievers. After the service, we fed the children.<\/p>\n

At the conclusion of this day, we made our way back to our hotel — drenched and exhausted from the heat, and weary from the long day\u2026\u2026but we could not have been more inspired and exhilarated from having seen these precious children\u2019s faces \u2013 aglow with love and thanksgiving \u2013 energized with a place that they felt love, respect and protection. “Being a miracle” is not only a blessing to the ones we’re giving to, but somehow, the satisfaction of having helped someone, brings rewards that money can’t buy and no one can ever take it away from us. What could ever compare to “being a miracle” in someone’s world? <\/p>\n

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Our 2nd day was still in progress as we made our way to the School of Champions. The School originated for \u201cthe Children of the Dump\u201d to bring relief and hope to needy children and families living in and around the garbage dump areas of Puerto Vallarta. The adults and children picked through the garbage…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[11182,11183,11184,11185,11186,11172,11187,11188,11173],"class_list":["post-1878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-being-a-miracle","tag-children-of-the-dump","tag-community-center","tag-cycle-of-poverty","tag-garbage","tag-garbage-dump","tag-puerto-vallarta","tag-relief-and-hope","tag-school-of-champions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1878"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1878\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2899,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1878\/revisions\/2899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}