TRADITIONAL THANKSGIVING FEAST IN MEXICO

What a wonderfull dinner prepared by some of the residence at the orphanage and a few house parents as well. All the food was fantastic and it was a real joy to meet the children that Scott and Lisa reach out to and teach as they give of themselves to serve these beautiful kids. They were all dressed up and all were thankfull of the family God provides for them at the orphanage. We had our fill and then headed home and had to wait at the border for over an hour, what a bummer! I wanted to watch a litttle football today but God had other plans. As you can see in the photos, the Kincaid kids have made some great friends at the orphanage and it's a blessing to see them all so happy serving the King. The other photos are of Beto and Lucys, all most finished house. We'll install the windows and door today, or maybe we'll paint everthing first, I'll have to ask the boss. As you can see Paula has become a cement maistro as she slings mortor at the cement block wall to give the house a nice finish. ADIOS

HAPPY THANKSGIVING !!!

Are we happy it's Thanksgiving or is it in Thanksgiving we become happy? The bible says to give thanks in all circumstances for this is the will of God for our lives. Well sometimes it is very hard to give thanks when things are not going very well. When you don't have the money to buy any food, or you don't have a job, or when someone dissapoints you and your hurt. But Gods word is true and I find that when I take the time to thank God for everything, the things that would normally not bring forth thanks gives me the opportunity to excercise my faith and do what God says to do and give thanks in all circumstances. When we look back and see Gods faithfullness to do that which He promised and that is to work all things out together for good even when they look bad. So take a minute and thank God for the fiery trail that you find yourself and thank God that he is in control and he is working it out for your good. A little girl names Gaby came to where we were working yesterday and handed us a note from her mom. It asked us for money to buy food and diapers for thier baby! My knee jerk reaction is to give them the money, but we decided to go and buy them the things they needed instead. So I thank God he put us in a position to be able to meet someone elses needs resulting in thanks toward God. Beto and Lucy spent all the money they had to feed the crew that is building thier house this week. I knew this when the coke salesman came by and Beto said he didn't have any money to buy a few cases of coke that they turn around and sell and make a few bucks. Well God provides!!! Scott and Lisa work with a girl named Sydney at the orphanage and she needs to have a fender replaced and some paint and body work done on her car so we picked it up yesterday at the orphanage and she paid the guys for the work before it's done. We are almost done with Beto and Lucys house and I'm sure they are already giving thanks!! Paula will post some new pictures, I'll have to learn how to do that someday! We are going to Rio Bravo Orphanage for Thanksgiving dinner today to join Scott, Lisa and the kids. So HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!!!

TWO CHURCH SERVICES IN TWO COUNTRIES IN ONE DAY

Sunday is our day of rest!! Even though I wanted to work on Beto and Lucys, we went to church and attended an ABF class for the 3rd or 4th time. It's nice to start connecting with some people at church. The name is Calvary Baptist in Mcallen. We have enjoyed atttending there and we plan on staying. We did go to Mexico in the afternoon to visit some friends from La. building a few houses. We also attended the service at Aqua Viva where Victor Pastors. It was only a 2 1/2 hour service so we stayed and then had a bite to eat at his house afterward. Today we painted and started putting up the rafters. We were kind of in Victors way as they try to get the skim coat on the inside of the house. We did what we could and will be able to do much more on Tues. Paula came after noon and spent the day cutting hair for many women and a few boys as well. Another bite to eat before we left the colonia at about 6pm.

IT ALL RESULTS IN PRAISE TO GOD

Each day brings the Sanchez family closer to sleeping and living in a dry warm house. They have been praying for a better house for quite some time, and to see the house going up block by block and to see the walls finished and to know that only a few more days and we'll gather around them and pray for them and Praise God for the gift that God has bestowed upon them. Beto and Lucy have been such good friends and are always helping us around the colonia. They have blessed us tremendously and it's a joy to see God provide like this. She has fed us all week and I think I gained 5 pounds. We'll put the rafters and roof on next week. Everything is cut and painted and ready to go. There are some friends from Louisianna here the next few days, and they are building a few houses down the road and doing a lot of street ministry. We just recieved a huge box of blankets from Edmond Ok. The First Pres. Church there was here this summer and built a house. Thanks guys if you read this, the blankets are a huge need here. Carmello and Ruth actually hang blankets around thier bed under the loft to keep the heat in. We just throw a switch and have instant heat they don't have that luxury. I think wood stoves would be a great gift to these families. It was real cold here yesterday. It never got above 50 all day and was very windy. I took a bunch of kids for a ride in the van just to warm them up. We mixed a couple thousand pounds of cement to pour the top plate and that warmed us up alot. ADIOS

POST GROUP DEPRESSION SYNDROME

It always happens after a great team joins us and then they are gone! We feel alone for a short time as we miss those that just left after a few days of awesome ministry. So I went back to the colonia to tear off the old roof on Sophias and put a new roof on as well as jack up the rafters and support the whole structure with some much needed cross braces. Her new paint job by the team from Lakewood along with the new roof, makes the house look like new. She cried as she prayed for Carmello, Beto and I for helping her. Pastor Victor, Carlos and a helper are making great progress on Beto and Lucy's house. We mixed some cement for them and built the frames for the windows and then had another fantastic meal that Paula, Lucy and Ruth made. Fried Chicken, sausage, beans, rice and jalepenos mmmm. Paula sorted out the left over gifts the group brought and gave half to Pastor Victor and the other half to his brother Nahum who pastors another church. Giving has always been Gods way to economic success and we are so grateful to those who give to Paula and I so we can continue to give to those in need. We just received word that 26 people are coming from our home church after Christmas and they received a gift to get Paula and I started on a building we need on our lot in the colonia to store things and use as a ministry center, currently we have things stored in three of our friends houses in the colonia. Pastor Victors family that has moved here from Vera Cruz, Mx are doing well and a few of them have found jobs in Reynosa. Tommorrow I'll need to buy the wood for the rafters and loft on Betos house and pick up the windows that we ordered last week. BUSY BUSY BUSY. No time to think about the economic collapse we're to busy spending money helping the poor and trusting Jesus to meet our needs. Try it and see if God will not throw open the window of heaven and pour out so much into your life you won't be able to contain it!!! ADIOS

ONE DAY IN THE COLONIA IS BETTER THAN THOUSANDS ELSEWHERE

When 43 people drive from Houston with the sole purpose of blessing the people in the coloinia Paula and I have had the privilage of serving for the last year, Jesus shows up big time and lives are changed. The lives of the people in the colonia were touched with the love of Jesus the group from Lakewood Church brought with them as well as material goods like blankets, clothes, toys, games and most of all willing hearts and hands to serve. We had scheduled many little work projects like painting a few houses, changing some rusty, leaking roofs, and also feeding the people over 500 hamburgers and 250 hot dogs and packaging up food for about a hundred families with beans, rice, oil and sugar. The strong winds prevented us from the roof work and made the grilling of the food a challenge but we managed to keep everyone engaged and busy and the day was a great blessing to those that served as well as those that were served. A group of us took a ride to another colonia that had some very needy people and we gave out a lot of food and hugs. One group went with a missionary friend to feed a couple hundred people in another colonia.We gave out the rest of the food and blankets on the way out of the colonia as the day gave way to night. A great day was followed by a great meal at the hotel and a time of sharing and getting to know each other a little better. We headed out in the morning to visit two orpahanages before the team left, Casa Mami and San Francisco. Face painting, toys and lots of hugs as well as some songs sung by the kids and a skit with the gospel necklace bead story. Many hands were raised to recieve Christ as thier Savior when the invitation was made. Our hearts were all touched as we prayed for them before we left. Getting all of the people out of the orphanage was the most difficult task of the weekend. God Bless all of you for joining Paula and me and the Sons of Salvation staff to do that which Jesus said to do to experience an abundant life and that is to feed the hungry, cloth the naked and to visit orphans. Thanks for a fantastic weekend and also for praying over us.