Rosalinda Moreno Cera
12 years old
Rosalinda, which means “beautiful rose”, exemplifies her name. Although timid, she is a beautiful twelve-year-old who is loving to her teachers and always is ready with a smile. Rosalinda has been in LightShine as soon as she become old enough at four years old.
She comes from a traditional, very closed Tarahumara family in Colonia Tarahumara. Her mother doesn’t believe that education is necessary, so Rosalinda hasn’t been permitted to attend school. In LightShine we’ve done our best to help kids in Rosalinda’s position by offering tutoring classes in reading and writing. Rosalinda has a great desire to learn to read and write, and after much effort now knows how to write her name. Unfortunately, she is not encouraged at home to continue in these things. Her home is an incredibly challenging environment. Rosalinda does not experience love at home, and oftentimes experiences a lack of care and lack of food. Rosalinda loves LightShine, as it is a refuge for her where she experiences the love of Christ.
Unfortunately, she is frequently not allowed to attend LightShine because her grandma forces her to the streets to beg.
The Colonia Tarahumara staff have cried many tears over Rosalinda and her family.
Rosalinda loves basketball, soccer, and is a very gifted runner. Perhaps the most poignant way to know Rosalinda is through her own words, written shortly before last year’s Go! Ultramarathon, while the families were quarantined in their houses.
This September I was invited to go with the Joshua Program in LightShine to run in the Ultramarathon. It was so fun to go to the mountains and see so many pine trees and smell the fresh air. It was my first time ever to go to the mountains. It rained a lot, but it was still so beautiful. It was difficult to run in the rain, but we did it anyway.
Please pray for my family. … Sometimes we fight and do not always have enough food to eat. My dad does not always have work. I wish he did not drink and get angry so often. Please pray for my sisters Lupita and Valentina because they use drugs.
I miss going to LightShine, but I am thankful that they come to my house each week to check on us, pray with us and bring us food. Recently they have been bringing homework for us to complete together as a family. I have been learning about how we are chosen by God and how even though so many people say we are terrible people because we are Tarahumara, God says we are all equal and made in His image. We made a craft mirror and when I look at it, I am supposed to say, “I am chosen by God.”
Rosalinda is running in the Go! Ultramarathon to raise funds for the Tarahumara church El Alfarero in her colonia, for her LightShine building so that she has a great learning environment, and for Tarahumara Maranatha so that many more of her people can experience the refuge that she experiences in Christ. Please consider helping Rosalinda to transform not just her life, but the lives of many other Tarahumaras.
Tom & Peter: Rosalinda is outgoing. She loves to tell jokes and giggle and goof around. She’s been faithfully attending LightShine in the teens program and has been fitting in. It seems like she has friends. She seems to pull the other girls into it. She’s embarrassed about reading out loud.
Lizbeth: She is timid, but she can be agreeable and nice with her teaches, she is influenced a bit by who she is around, she likes basketball and soccer, she always has a smile, she is also obedient.
Claudia: Her family is very traditional Tarahumara. Her mom never let her go to school because she says she doesn’t need it. She struggles to write her own name, but she’s worked hard in Claudia’s class to learn how to do it. She’s taking classes through LightShine, she was advancing much in reading, but her family is not encouraging her to continue and learn. She has much desire to study…
Her older siblings are in drugs. Her grandma always takes her to beg on the streets for money or food, sometimes she misses for this reason. When she’s in LightShine, it is a refuge for her. She can learn and enjoys it. Maybe she feels like she needs to be like her sisters.
There is a lack of love and care in her family, and at times a lack of food. But she is happy, and the ultramarathon was great for her, her smiles, and her desire to run. God used it to open her worldview.
