65 ARE YOU KIDDING ME????

  They say that life begins at 65. Whew, I made it! I don't think of it as an age to retire, we'll maybe I do, I just put 4 new ones on my van that has taken us on over 100 thousand miles of missions adventures throughout Mexico 🇲🇽. 

   Paula's sewing class threw me a surprise birthday party along with Andres and his family, and a few other friends. They decorated and cooked some of my favorites. Chicken and Mole, Passole, Tres Leches, Chocolate Flan, and coffee. Andres and his family gave me a ⌚️ watch to keep me from always asking" Que Hora Es? 

  Thanks for the birthday wishes and texts. We met a brother in Christ the other day who wants to exchange a pallet of beans for a pallet of bibles. An answer to Prayers for sure. We've crossed lots of beans and rice to help with the rising food costs. The poor suffer the most during these times. 

   I would be remiss if I failed to wish all the Moms, a Happy Belated Mother's Day. Thank you for choosing life!

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GIVE, AND IT SHALL BE GIVEN TO YOU

  That's what Luke 6 vs 38 says! But is it true? Of course it is. And it's not just taking about money, shocker! It's talking about everything you and I give. Time, talents, advice, service and yes money. But the opposite holds true as well. The passages before speak about all kinds of things, like judging others,  condemning others, and forgiving others. Everything will be measured back to us in increasing measure. 

  Paula and I live to give into the lives of the people that God has brought into our life's. And by so doing, God has given us people who give to us, so that we can give more. Last week we received another truck load of beans, bought by someone else who loves to give beans to people who give beans. It's crazy, but now we have almost 60 thousand pounds of beans to give, so that when we do, God will give us more. We had to pay $3900.00 to get them here, but people have given to us, so that we had enough money to pay the trucking company. That's how it works!!!!

   We know that God will provide a new place for Melodys Orphanage and we are confident that our prayers 🙏 will be answered. God knows the need.

    Starting this month, I'm officially 🤪 on Medicare. No more Obama care, but I must say. Ambetter insurance has been good to me, between my heart attack and eye care, they have paid a lot of $ to keep me going. 

   We have lots of doctors appointments over the next month or so, so heading north will be on hold until June sometime. I had more dental surgery 😫 and need a long time to heal before they can install the implants. 

   We held our monthly food outreach last Saturday and it happened to be the Day of the Child celebration in Mexico 🇲🇽. Every child got some gifts, and Paula made up gifts for the women for Mothers Day and gifts for the Father's as well. Jaime came and preached and led in a few 🎵  songs. 

   We really want to thank our faithful supporters and prayer warriors for all your support for the ministry.  Gracias

LIONS, TIGERS AND BEARS, OH MY!

  Remember that scene from the Wizard of Oz? They were freaking out as they walked down the road, allowing thier fear to take over thier emotions.  With the nut bags running and ruining our country, we too can be susceptible to fear. But take heart my friends, God is not freaking out about it.  In fact, He promises that all things are in His plans and ultimately Righteousness and Justice will prevail in a lost and dying world. I'm sure His heart is grieved at the way the unbelieving majority of people are acting. Lawlessness is what is going on and it is indeed 🤪 crazy. 

   On a joyous note, our daughter Kristin was baptized on Palm Sunday. A step of faith spontaneously moved her while at church. Since then her whole family is turning towards God, a answer to our prayers. We can't wait to get to Illinois and spend some time with together. 

   Paula and I drive to Melodys Orphanage once or twice a week and today was the day. We stopped at Way of the Cross ministry in Harlingen TX on the way and much to our delight a couple of guys from Illinois were there. Woody and Mike were loading up a van with food, to take to Mexico and preach the Gospel. We left and headed to Melodys for lunch and a quick visit. It's always a joy to hug and kiss everyone there. 

   As some may know, Melodys is looking for a permanent place to live. A few places have been offered, but at a cost way to expensive. Paula and I have offered the community center and the house we have there, if God doesn't provide some place else. We could build on and make it work for them, so stay tuned!!!

   Thanks for the prayers and support 🙏 that keep us busy. Another load of beans has been donated to us, this time from Michigan. We haven't got a trucking quote yet, but I'm sure it's over$4000.00. God always provides so we're not walking around freaking out,  but we are those who trust in God's goodness and provision. 

   We've been taking lots of beans and rice to Mexico lately and next Saturday we have another outreach to give out food as well as gifts for the kids for the Day of the Child, Mothers Day gifts for the women and Father's Day gifts for the men. We'll celebrate everyone that day.

THE MINISTRY CONTINUES

  Sometimes we think of scaling back, slowing down, and doing something different.  But God doesn't seem to show us what that would look like. Even though we aren't building houses, we would like to think that we are still building the Kingdom through our lives. Distribution of food, bibles and other important products to people in need in Reynosa, the Texas border and throughout 🇲🇽. I guess that's what God has for us in this new season. 

   Our beans arrived from South Dakota last week and we've already distributed almost half of them. The cost of transportation was $3700.00 for a half of a load. Another ministry needed to transport 13 pallets of Christian Literature to the border from Minnesota and we let them fill out the truck and it was delivered to Laredo TX.

   Paula had a garage sale to raise money for Melodys Orphanage. Carol, Herb and China joined the effort and it was a lot of work getting things together and placed in our carport, and driveway. We raised $1000.00 and gave it to the Orphanage the other day. Lots of stuff was sold, and I cleared out old golf clubs,  generators. Some tools and lots of household items are gone. 

   Phil and Marianne Chain came last week and spent a few days here. We headed to Melodys Orphanage to take the van seats that Phil brought from Oklahoma and the garage sale $. While there, after lunch, a fire started in the field behind the orphanage.  High winds spread it through the tall grass. Jaime and all the older kids started a bucket brigade and much to my surprise they extinguished the 🔥  thru a lot of hard work.

    A search for a permanent solution for the orphanage is moving forward. A new connection that Jaime made, may be the solution but the facility will need some work, but it is huge. Please keep praying for the future of the orphanage. 

   ONLY ONE LIFE, WILL SOON BE PASSED, ONLY WHAT'S DONE FOR CHRIST WILL LAST.!!!!!

CELEBRATING BIRTHDAYS

  Last Saturday was Raquenells birthday party at Melodys Orphanage. She turned 12. A great feast of her favorite food, boneless chicken wings, vegetables and 🎂 cake. She has come a long way emotionally since rescued from an abusive situation. 

  Paula and Kelly shared a birthday on Tuesday. Kelly is on an adventure in AZ while Paula and I celebrated at our favorite Pizza 🍕 place with Herb and Carol. The 3 men staying with us for a few days as they hunt Turkeys north of here.

  Today we'll go to Melodys Orphanage to celebrate Jaimes birthday and probably Paula's again.

  I had dental surgery yesterday 😫. Evidently I broke a few teeth last year when I fell getting up face planting on the tile floor. Much of the work I had done in 2020 and 2021 has to be redone. Bummer!

YOU SHALL RECEIVE POWER, WHEN THE HOLY SPIRIT COMES UPON YOU

Last week I joined the Power Ministry for thier first trip since Covid-19 crushed missions around the world. They usually have 80 men but reduced the trip to 40 men two weeks in a row. We started building a house for a Pastor along the Rio Grande River in Reynosa next to a new immigrant housing being built to hold 500 people. 

  Another team painted the houses at Children's Haven Orphanage in Reynosa. Another team made preparations for the carnival on Saturday. Our morning worship and devotional was a breath of fresh air to me and a lot of the guys. After 3 days in Reynosa we drove 7 hours to Del Rio Texas and bunked at Faith Mission. 

   The entire team went to Casa Hogar Esperansa in Acuna Mexico where 4 projects were started. A storage shed, a room addition, a porch roof and making of several bunk beds.

   Our trip ends with every member sharing with the group a highlight or two. It was a rich time. It's time for the church to get over thier fear and re-engage in missions. 

   Upon our return to South Texas I received 3 pallets of rice from Power. I also got a call from Joe Warner in South Dakota. He has 24 thousand pounds of beans for us. Another call from Ken in Chicago donating 44 thousand pounds of beans. The Lord is preparing us for something special. The costs of transportation has gone through the roof. The two loads will cost about $8000.00. Ouch!!!. 

  Thanks for the prayers and support. Together we can do all things through Christ.

1900 MILE ROAD TRIP THROUGH MEXICO

  Last Saturday Phil and Marianne Chain joined Paula and me on our first road trip to Puebla Mexico in a couple years. We headed to the community center in the colonia and met Jaime, Ricky and James there to load the two vans headed in two different directions. 

  Phil, Marianne Paula and I headed to Mas Agua north of Mexico city while the other van went to Garcia Mexico outside of Monterrey and met up with Pastor Joel and Celebrated 10 students graduating from bible school. 

  We thought it best to not join in large groups since I was recovering from Covid and didn't want to infect anyone. We stopped in Ramos Arizpe and had lunch with Gator before driving to San Louis Potosi for the night. We drove to Jorge and Selena church in Masahua and unloaded backpacks, blankets, coats and soccer balls for them to give out.

  We had lunch with them and headed to the state of Micheocan to catch a glimpse of the Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary 🦋.  We met a man who takes people to see the butterflies. Renaldo said there wasn't enough time to make the trip up the mountain before dark so he took us to town where we found a nice little hotel with a restaurant.  We gave out bibles, and backpacks to all the employees. 

  Renaldo came back in the morning and we headed back up the mountain and decided to take the horse back tour instead of walking.  A great decision 👏. It was cloudy and chilly and the Butterflys weren't very active.  We saw some flying around but most were still in thier huge nests clinging to each other to stay warm. Oh well, at least we saw them.

  On the way back, we stopped to rest and while resting, Renaldo wanted to pray to accept Christ as savior. Paula had been sharing the gospel with him and the Holy Spirit moved in his heart ❤️. A divine appointment was created by God. We dropped Renaldo off and headed towards Puebla. 

  We arrived in Puebla just before dark and the hotel made us supper.  The next day Pastor Jose came to the hotel and took us downtown where we bought another 100 soccer balls and 100 dolls for April's outreach in Chiapas. We loaded those into Joses car along with 100 bibles, hundreds of beanie baby's, socks, and other things. We said goodbye to Jose and headed to the town where onyx is mined, and made into awesome things. Phil bought a bunch of bowls and Paula bought a couple lamps. We met Nano and Marriel for supper in downtown Puebla. They are getting married in July and Phil and Marianne wanted to pay for the wedding 💑.  They were in tears as Phil handed them the money. 

  We arrived back at the hotel and all the employees were called together to come to our van and we gave them all bibles and blankets and coats and toys fir thier kids.

  We headed towards home the next morning.  Phil and Paula were both feeling a little sick and tested positive the next day. Mild symptoms were all they had. We made it home Thursday afternoon. Phil and Marianne headed back to Oklahoma. 

   We had a good quick trip and it was good to see the Pastors after such a long time.