MISSING MEXICO AND PAULA

This week, I am in Chicago and Paula had to go to her Moms in central Mx. She fell and broke her hip the day before we were going to leave for Chicago. It's not fun being apart for so long. but it's been good to visit with friends and family while I'm here. I miss my sweetie and the people in the colonia. Pray for Paulas Mom and the family, as they take care of her. I'll be here until the 5th of July and head home to pick up Paula on the 8th.

BACKPACKS AND BACK BREAKING WORK

Sunday, some missionary friends from Cancun drove their 40 foot R.V. and trailer loaded with packpacks stuffed to the rim with with gifts for the children in Mx. They gave us over 200 of them to share with the kids in the colonia, and we plan on having a big summer childrens day after school gets out. The Mexican Govnmt cancelled all activities and public gatherings in April because of Swine Flu, oh I'm sorry H1N1. Phil and Marilyn along with Lloyd and Raygena are all part of Mexico Missions and have been serving in Mx. for over 15 years. We spent a few hours sharing our recent heartaches over all the work that has been cancelled because of the teams from the US cancelling. Their ministry has no teams all summer like us and they say it's going to take a while to bring them back. But we all agree that the work of the Lord will continue, and he will continue to supply for all of our needs. Their web site is MexicoMissions.org. Tuesday Wed. Thur. had me laying in bed with a temperature spiking at 104.8!!! No swine Flu just a weird bug, or heat exhaustion, anyhow, Paula nursed me thru and today we went to the colonia to help Naphtalie with a few things for tommorrows youth outreach. 300 young adults and 850 tamales and 400 cans of pop. We purchased enough oil , beans rice, sugar, salt to last until we get back july 6th. The wall on the back of our lot will be done and the huge pile of dirt should be gone when we return. Catarino and Pastor Victor have worked very hard on it. I almost wished we waited, but we need to expand the storage capacity in the colonia as the food distribution grows every day. Families come every day needing food, shoes and clothes. Pray for us as we travel to Chicago,and the Kincaids also, as they travel to Florida to visit Scotts Mom and Dad. We'll be at Moraine on the 28th and the 5th so look us up. A good friend bought me a ticket in the church golf outing so I'll be playing on the 27th, IF THOSE OF YOU IN CHICAGO HAVE ANY UMBRELLAS, I WANT THEM!!! YOU CAN BRING THEM TO MORAINE VALLEY CHURCH IN PALOS HEIGHTS

THEY WILL SEE YOUR GOOD WORKS AND GLORIFY GOD

As the week unfolded my brother Bill and my nephew Billy drove down from Chicago and arrived last Saturday. After spending Sat and Sunday at our house catching up, we went to the colonia on Monday so we could show them where we have been building houses and ministering to the needs of the people there. They were amazed at the conditions these wonderful people live in. We road thru the colonia and handed out some rice, beans and other food products. We took them to the foundations we had built for Christ Community Church near San Antonio that was coming down on Wed to build the houses. We had a great lunch at Ruth and Carmelos' and did some work around our house in the colonia building a wall on the back of the lot so we can back fill and build more storage on the back of the lot. The next morning Billy accepted Christ as His Savior as Paula and I shared with him about his need for salvation and to experience the ressurected life he so desperatley needed. We spent a couple days in San Antonio with them before they headed back home. We golfed once and spent the afternoon floating down a river on tubes. Yesterday it was 112 degrees heat index and we mixed a lot of concrete by hand to continue on the wall. Today we bought and delivered 4 beds to the families the team from Adkins Tx came to build. They were going to have their dedication this morning, but we met the group on the way out and they were going to dedicate at 5pm instead so we'll miss that, but the houses look great and two more families are off the dirt and are extremely grateful. We are glad to have been able to help them with the foundations.

FIRM FOUNDATIONS

As Paula held down the fort at Melody Lane Christian Retreat Center, Raul and I, along with Pastor Victor, Carmelo and Beto started the two foundations that Christ Community Church in Adkins Texas asked us to build for their team coming down next week. Their team leader Mike, has been down here several times and built many houses, is fighting the good fight against cancer and needs our prayers. Since Mike won't be joining the team this time, his Pastor asked if we could handle building the foundations, and it has been a joy getting to know these two precious families. The first family is Arnulfo, his wife Estella and their son Lois Alberto. They have helped us a lot, filling the foundations with dirt and packing it all down before we pour the floor on Friday. The second family is Felipe', Heidi and their kids Lipsy, Daisy, Brittany, Fernando, and Guerrmo. We had to remove the existing house to make room for the new one. Raul spent most of the time there teaching the kids many different praise songs and the kids wrote down every word in their notebook. Today we started another foundation for Reyna in the colonia Flores De Mayo. This is another faith foundation that we build without the money for the house and then pray, and watch God provide. Reyna has an adult daughter that is handicapped and has been staying with a friend in Reynosa until God provides a house where she can live with her mom. It's been 100 degrees every day this week with no wind so it has been pretty hot in the colonia. We've been giving out a lot of food lately and will continue to expand the food outreaches as the needs are growing with a lot of factories closing their doors because of the auto industry. Most of the plants are connected to auto parts production and have closed, leaving many unemployed.Since we're done serving at the retreat center Paula is looking forward to coming to the colonia tommorrow. My brother Bill and my nephew are on their way here and we are looking forward to their visit.