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. 

A BELATED MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A ON TIME HAPPY NEW YEAR 😊

   We were so busy getting the shoe box gifts and backpacks across the border I totally forgot to post a Merry Christmas. 

   The last 3 days we had our first large group stay with us and go across the border to give out over two thousand gifts to the kids and adults in Mexico. Ricky and Theresa Carroll have headed up this ministry for years and years. Thier ministry is Hanfull of Purpose Ministries and they have churches from Alabama, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Georgia, and Mississippi buy and fill backpacks and shoe boxes to give out. The gifts reach kids all over Mexico 🇲🇽. The 19 people that come, traveled across every day with scheduled events in 3 locations including Nopalera and 23 de Marzo, the squatter village near Nopalera, and a church where over 500 gifts were given. 

   I know many churches that collect shoe boxes for Samaritans Purse, but this ministry is hands on from collection to distribution of the gifts. They unpack and repack every gift adding even more things including a Bible or a children's book with the gospel shared.

   Mexico Missions has been doing the same thing for many years as well, traveling as far as Chiapas Mexico to distribute gifts, and Paula and I have joined on many of these outreaches. These are the most joyful times we are involved in, and we Thank everyone for all your support and prayers to make this all possible. 

   As this group leaves today and tomorrow, Rick and Diane Balmer arrive to spend a month here doing a few projects on the U.S. side. They have a team coming on the 24th of January to join in the fun on the border.

    Many year end gifts have come to us and along with other donations to Let Them Come Ministries in Tinley Park Illinois Melodys Orphanage will have some much needed support. They currently have 16 children in thier care, so if you feel led to donate to the Orphanage, funds go to Let Them Come Ministries 17600 Pecan Ln, Tinley Park, Illinois 60487. Gracias and enjoy 2022. Keep your eyes on things above not on the things of this world..

OH WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES

  Sometimes we need a good slap in the face!! Not literally of course. Maybe I should call it a good Holy Ghost wake up call. Yeah, that sounds so much more spiritual. My last post, just the other day, had a few people call me and question my motive for posting a scathing accusation about people not caring for or supporting Melodys Orphanage.  Well, I had a crisis of faith. A temporary removal of trusting God, who is the Sourse,to trusting people who are the "resourse" that God uses. So if you felt that I was trying to lay some guilt trip on you or manipulate anyone it was not my motive. 

   When we take our eyes off of the source, God, and place them on people, the resource, than we set ourselves up for disappointment and frustration and even a judgmental attitude. I'm glad God is the source, is now and always will be!! So I'm sorry if you felt I was attacking you or your heart for kids. We all have a purpose and a calling to fulfill and they are all different from each other. So I'm going to enjoy the provision for my purpose and let everyone else enjoy thier provision for thier purpose, and let God be God because He knows how to provide for everything. 

NOW WHAT????

  I know that we are not supposed to carry any burdens. Jesus said to "come unto me, and I will give you rest". 7 years ago a man came here, upon the invitation of others to build a house for a very poor family in Mexico. God changed his heart and he developed a passion to help the poor on a much larger scale. He got saved and so did his wallet, 😆.  He wanted to build and fund an Orphanage.  He fell in love with Jaime and his family and through his efforts, we raised enough money to build Melodys Orphanage. Every quarter he would send enough money to support the orphanage. He shared his passion with others and many started supporting the orphanage. Providing for the orphanage on a continuous basis is a life long commitment so he set up a non profit charity Let Them Come Ministries.

   Just when everything was complete in building the orphanage and there were 8 kids in thier care along with 4 of thier own, The financier died suddenly while running on his treadmill. His family raised enough money to carry the orphanage through this past October. No support has been raised and Paula and I are left carrying the burden of supporting the orphanage. 

   The support we receive monthly for Mexico Missions is mostly going toward the orphanage, along with a few others that are sending support exclusively for the orphanage. There are now 16 kids and they have moved into a new facility in the country. We have given them a credit card to purchase food and clothes for the kids, gas for vehicles, and whatever else they need.

   Why am I telling this? Why am I venting? I guess I'm frustrated 😠, by what I perceive as not caring about these kids. But God who is rich in mercy will not let these little children suffer. They have no idea what is going on behind the scenes. They just love Jaime and Rosalba and the family they enjoy. Through some generous people we received some donations that will help the orphanage for a while. I sent Let Them Come Ministries a check for 10 Thousand dollars with this challenge.  If they can get matching funds to our 10K the check will clear, if not, it won't.  So my question is ?  Will you let The Holy Spirit show you how you can help? Maybe you can match what a couple missionaries can give? Maybe you can join us in supporting the orphanage.  

   In 15 years of ministry helping the poor, the orphan, the widow, I have never asked for $ for us. Just for others. And people have been gracious and generous. 

   So as we prepare to give out Christmas gifts 🎁 to thousands of kids and adults in Mexico, I'm getting free from the frustration because God knows that giving is so much better than receiving, in fact He guarantees that.  Merry Christmas if I don't post another time before Christmas. 

  

CHRISTMAS IS HERE ALREADY??

  Is it just me, or has this year gone by soo fast that you wonder " where has time gone"? Thanksgiving has come and gone. We celebrated the Monday before Thanksgiving out at Angel's of God Orphanage after an anointed prayer walk around the orphanage, asking God to pour out His Spirit on Jaime, Rosalba and the 29 kids in thier care. A 4 turkey feast was enjoyed by over 50 people in attendance. A  great time indeed!!

   We continue to take the truckload of Christmas Shoe box gifts and backpacks and bibles and beans and rice across that we have. Ricky and James are going to be here Saturday with another load. Travis Caywood will be here tomorrow afternoon with 9 pallets of beans that were donated and 6 pallets of rice that I purchased and 2 pallets of donated water. 

   Thanksgiving night, we attended the graduation from medical school of two of Jaimes and Rosalbas kids. Kayla and Fernando received thier diplomas along with 20 other young adults at a beautiful venue in Reynosa. Congratulations to all!

   We continue to thank God for all of our partners that allow us to share God's love for His creation through gifts of food, medicine, and many other things. The support we receive makes it all possible. 

   We ask you all to pray for Jaime, Rosalba and the kids. Joining two orphanages into one is not without challenges as the kids and staff are adjusting to the new life together. 

    The Jennings family stopped by for a visit before they head back into the mission field to serve in Belize. They served in Africa for many years and now God has called them to Belize with thier 4 kids. Pray for them as they obey God's leading.