OUR WESTERN ILLINOIS SWING

Thursday through Sunday, we spent the time with our friends and partners in LaHarpe, Il where they hosted an always awesome potluck supper. Most of The Carpenters Crew were in attendance along with the Junkin For Jesus ministry. Saturday was a quiet day of rest followed by a picnic supper on the Mississippi River, where God painted a beautiful sunset. Sunday we attended the Stronghurst Christian Church and were given the opportunity to share with the congregation about our ministry in Mexico. They were all so kind to us and we are grateful that the church has chosen to become our newest monthly partner. We followed the service with a most excellent buffet in Burlington Iowa, with Pastor Steve, his family, Pat and Janet Peterson and some of their family.

 

ALWAYS A BLESSING TO VISIT OUR FAMILY AND MINISTRY PARTNERS

It has finally warmed up and we've been able to get out and visit friends. Although we haven't been able to see everyone yet, that's the reason for the pizza party on June 1st. A chance to celebrate our partners accomplishments through our work in Mexico and around the world, and of course to thank them for their generous sacrifices and prayers.
   Some huge storms rolled through here the other night dropping golf ball sized hail and damaging houses and cars, including the cars that some friends let us borrow while we have been here SORRY!!! We are packing up to head to LaHarpe IL for the weekend to visit everyone from the Carpenters Crew hosting a potluck supper Friday night at the LaHarpe Christian Church and then we will be visiting our newest partner church Stronghurst Christian Church in Stronghurst Il on Sunday. Some of the Junkin for Jesus crew attend there and have been faithful partners for over a year. We look forward to our time with everyone this weekend.
    We will return to Chicago on Monday and spend our last week of our annual visit in a flurry of trying to visit as many partners as possible. It's been a great time spending most of our time with our daughter Kristin and connecting with her. God Bless you all and thanks for all you do for the Kingdom. We hope to see you on June first at Moraine Valley Church in Palos Heights IL at 1pm.

BURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

It was actually snowing in the north suburbs of Chicago this morning. Now I don't mind it in the 50's but this is too cold.
   If anyone is planning on coming to the pizza party on June first at 1pm at Moraine Valley Church in Palos Heights, Il please let us know. E- mail addresses and phone numbers on the front page of this blog.
  

SPEACIAL PRAYER REQUEST !!!!!

Before I go into what we're up to, please take a minute and pray for a good friend David Lara. He has cancer in his salivary gland, 11 precious children, and a wonderful wife Angie. They are in the trial of their lives and need our prayer support. THANKS!!
   We are staying at our daughter Kristins in Tinley and are busy trying to get caught up on some paperwork and stuff. We had the brakes fixed on the R.V. and that was an unexpected expense, but much needed. God has already blessed us with some donations to build yet another house in Mexico when we return home. We are not liking the cold temps here, we stopped at three re-sale stores and bought some warm clothes, to get us through. We will be in the area this week through next Wed. or Thursday, and then heading out to Western Il for a few days to attend a pot luck dinner held by the Carpenters Crew in Laharpe, Il on the 23rd  and then we will be attending Stronghurst Christian Church on the 25th.
    We will be back in the Chgo area on the 27th and will be hosting our annual pizza party on Sunday June 1st at 1:00 pm at Moraine Valley Church 6300 W. 127th St. Palos Heights Il 60463. All are welcome and please RSVP for head count on pizzas.
   

WE HAVE ARRIVED

We arrived Saturday morning and dropped the trailer at Alan and Lynneas and headed up to Batavia for my Cousin Barbs wedding. What a great time we had seeing all of the family we hadn't seen in over 15 years. The groom and groomsmen wore Scottish Kilts, I gotta get one! Spent yesterday golfing with Paula and Kristin and had to bale off the course as some big storms started blowing up.
    The brakes on the R.V. are grinding and I'm trying to find a place to fix them. We could use a car while in town, so if anyone has one, give us a call before we rent one.

A GREAT RIDE SO FAR AND ONLY 8 HOURS LEFT

We met Rick Caywood from Chihuahua Connection Ministries for supper in Waco Texas, Tuesday night. We love to spend time with Rick when we can and tell some current Jesus stories. Since we gave almost all of our rice away before we left, I told him we would need a load when we get back. He said he would work on that, in fact he has to take a load of rice up to Louis Davenports in Idaho next week and would get ours after that.
  We made it up to Phil and Marianne in Norman, Ok and took a nap and then played a round of golf. Some pretty big storms rolled through last night, and it brought back memories of spending several hours in a cooler in a restaurant almost a year ago in the same area when tornadoes ripped through this part of Oklahoma. This morning we went to see Dr Clark at his office in Edmond. He checked out our teeth and did a little work on Paula and will finish when we come back thru next month. We also dropped off the portable dental lab that Dr Clark used in Mexico last month to get a few things fixed on it. Traffic in OKC was pretty brutal this morning. We left about 11 am and drove to where we are now, somewhere half way across Missouri which will make for a short day tomorrow.
    I just read on Moraine Valley Churches monthly news letter that they are having the last mens breakfast on Saturday at 8 am and I think I'll go, which is followed up by a prayer meeting at ten. So anyone want steak and eggs Saturday morning  LETS GO. My cousins wedding is at 4 in Batavia and we just booked a room in St Charles where my cousins from Canada are staying. Looking forward to our visit.

GETTIN READY FOR THE ROAD TRIP

It's so hard to get ready to leave for a month. Stop the mail, check, line up people to water the flowers and cut the grass-check- bank-check-call several ministries that depend on us for food and tell em to come and stock up- check-gather up all the papers for last years taxes-check- Cohibas- check-wash the R. V and trailer -check-drop my only suit at the dry cleaners-check. Run Run Run spend time with the Lord today? OUCH!!!!!! Well I watched T. D. Jakes and Joyce Meyer. Did I spend time with my God? Not really. I listened to T.D and Joyce doesn't that count? A    NO! Facebook- check- E-mail-check-Blog- check-search for a golf resort in Indiana-check We sure are a busy people aren't we God? Sorry, I'll start tomorrow better than today. Love Bruce

OK, NOW WE ARE REALLY REALLY DONE BUILDING

I know I said that when we built Isais and Brendas house last week, that their house would be the last one for a while, and again I must say, BUT GOD. But God had another two families in desperate need of a house. Dalia and Fabiola were living with their parents with their 9 kids, Their parents have 5 young kids  plus the two parents and Dalia, Fabiola and their 9 made for a family of 18 people living in the same little house. Talk about stress! We had the opportunity to purchase a house that was in pretty bad shape and needed quite a bit of work. It was loaded with fleas, and filthy, no bathroom outside, broken windows, and an addition that was built on a floor 6 inches out of level. I tried to talk myself out of doing what it would take to make it livable, but Carmelo, Zacharias, Eliazar, Inocensio and I did what it took to get these girls and their kids a new home to live in. The two day transformation took place and we dedicated the house yesterday. We torn down the addition and built a new one, put a porch in front, built an outhouse, cleaned and painted the whole house. Paula and Ruth built shelves, hung curtains, supplied them with new dishes, pots, pans, new beds for everyone, clean sheets, pillows,clothes for the kids, enough food to last a while and of course shared the good news of the Gospel and gave everyone a bible. It's a new start for them with a new home and a renewed hope for the future.
    It's our partners in ministry that make these spur of the moment, no explanation but God, decisions to go the extra mile to be a blessing to those in need. Without the support from our partners, these families would still be living under one small roof, sleeping 5 people in a bed. So a BIG THANK YOU FOR BEING PART OF GODS PLAN TO HELP THE HURTING AND NEEDY PEOPLE IN MEXICO.
    Now we can start packing for our road trip to Chicago, with a couple of stops along the way. But not before one more trip over to Mexico today for Carla and Arturos daughters birthday party. Adi turns 5 and they are having a dedication ceremony at church followed by a party at the Community center. We will also celebrate Mimis' birthday with a pinata because we won't be there later in the month.