SMCA Christmas

Here are a few pics of what we have been doing in school this holiday season! We had a Christmas party with the kids and deorated candy trees while in our pjs, definitely fun for all involved (including teachers)! We also put on a Christmas presentation for the parents. Ruby's class read poems they had written, recited a poem about snowmen, and reinacted the Christmas story. My class recited all the scripture we have been memorizing this semester. I have to say that the amount they have memorized is pretty impressive! My class also memorized and performed a Christmas Medley that I created. They dramatized sections of Isaiah 9 , as well as portions of the Christmas story and the death and ressurection of Christ. They did a wonderful job!

My three wisemen!

Feliz Navidad!

This is my first Christmas season in Mexico! Honestly, it can kinda be hard to get into the Christmas spirit when I am still getting sun burned :) Despite the warmer weather, this past week has been crammed full of Christmas celebration!!! On Tuesday night myself and several other staff ladies had a beading party with some of the teen girls on the property who are unable to go home for the holidays. It was fun to be together and be girly!

On Wednesday night a group of us staff went to a children's home called Betesda to make Christmas ornaments and read stories around the Christmas tree. When we arrived the kids were bathed and in thier pjs and sooooo excited to see us. Even though the casa hogar forgot that we were coming, they welcomed up with opened arms. We helped the beautiful children create ornaments for thier Christmas tree, then we all gathered around to hear a Max Lucado story read aloud in Spanish. The kids ate candy canes, snuggled with us in thier pjs, and fell asleep. It was a bittersweet evening for me. It breaks my heart to see these 20 some young children growing up in a group home. They do not get tucked into bed each night. They do not get mommy or daddy time. They do not get the individual love and encouragement that they so desperately crave. My heart was quiet and saddened by this reality. However these children were eating up the attention we were able to give them that night. One girl of about 9 was sitting next to me at the start of the story. By the the third page she had wiggled her way onto my lap. By the end of the story she was pretending to be asleep so we would carry her to bed. I remember doing that with my dad....

I was glad to have been a small part of the Lord's love for these kids that night. Please remember all the kids we work with this Christmas...

A Graduation!

This past weekend we were pleased to celebrate the college graduation of one of our first Hope Program students! Junior grew up at Casa Hogar Douglas which is a children's home just down the street. He entered the teen program with B2B when he became elegable for highschool. He has lived on the B2B campus for all of his highschool and college education. This past Sunday we celebrated with him as he finished his degree in graphic design! Praise Jesus for what He has done in Junior's life! Not only does Junior now have a college diploma, but he has a living relationship with Christ!!! This is the goal! It is very exciting for us as staff to see the fruit we have all long awaited! Please keep Junior in your prayers as he seeks the next step in his life.

Beautiful faces

I wanted you to see a few faces that have completely captured my heart. Please pray for these beautiful children who live in shocking poverty.... love them, Jesus!

Family

A week ago my family was here to visit! We had soooo much fun spending time together in Monterrey. My family was able to join me and the rest of the staff for Thanksgiving dinner. They also stayed an extra two days to visit with me. It was wonderful! Here are a few pics of some of our adventures. We went to the Cola de Caballo waterfall, hiking at Heusteca canyon, and shopping in the seven mile market. My family was able to meet many of my good friends here that they have heard so much about. Praise Jesus for this visit. It was so refreshing and encouraging to get a taste of home! Thanksgiving dinner with the B2B Mexico staff- around 130 people!

At Cola de Caballo. Trying not to be blown away from the breeze at the bottom of the waterfall.

A big happy family

Mom in her element

OBF Week!

I was so completely blessed to have my home church, Oxford Bible Fellowship, and my family come to Monterrey for a week! The group was here for a week over Thanksgiving. It was so fun and refreshing for me to visit with people from home, hear all the news, and reconnect after being gone almost 4 months. During the week that OBF was here I had a few days off of school for our Thanskgiving break. I was able to serve with my church at a few of the children's homes. It was beautiful. Two of the many things we did that week were serve at a children's home called El Retiro Juvenil and in the Rio - one of my favorite places. ERJ is a casa hogar that OBF has had a relationship with for the past 7 to 8 years. I have been blessed to get to know the directors there, Martha and Carlos. They are some of my favorite people. It was great to see them and introduce them to the rest of my family. I also got to go with my church to serve in a soup kitchen in the Rio. It was so much fun for me to introduce people from home to my friends here in Mexico. I felt so supported as my home church served along side B2B! Thanks to all of you who came and thanks to all of you who sent them :)

My little brother lending a hand at ERJ. My mom and Icela from ERJ.

SMCA over the past month

Okay, it has been WAY to long since I have updated this blog! I am so sorry! Time flies when you are having fun!!!! Here are a few snapshots of what has been happen at school this fall. We have been keeping busy for sure :)

Here I am with my roomates and co-teacher at the SMCA fall festival! "Calabunga dude!" The kids had a great time dressing up (we did too), playing games, eating candy, and taking a hay ride in the back of Pearl, our work truck!

My class and I all dressed up at the Fall Festival. You can see that we have a lot of fun together in school :)

For a unit on the Colonial time period I had my students make lanterns out of tin cans. This was just one of the many hands-on projects we did as we learned the trades and crafts of the colonists.

In culmination of our unit on the 13 colonies we had a colonial school day. My students and I dressed as traditionally as we could and I held school outside. We sat on wooden benches, wrote on slates, used hornbooks, and did oral recitations just as children growning up in the first 13 colonies would have done. In the afternoon we made homemade candles, butter, and learned how to write with quill pens. My hope was that this living history day would bring all that we had studied about the colonies to life for my students.

Here are four of the kids making hommade rolls. Mmm....

My mom was here that week and helped the kdis dip candles!

The boys shaking butter... this project turned out a little differently. Not sure if it was the Mexican cream or our shaking skills...

Colonial group shot

Medical Mercy

Yesterday I was privileged to go back to Imperio de Amor (a casa hogar) with a team of doctors and pharmacists. In a few minutes we had the cafeteria turned into a medical clinic in which we could provide for sick children and give wellness checks. I love how God can use even the fewest and weakest and do great things! We had 4 doctors available, two people working as pharmacists, and two girls taking vitals. On top of that we had four translators and Ruby and myself checking children into the "clinic."



This day was definitely stretching for my Spanish! Ruby and I were the only females there able to translate. Between checking children in, trying to understand their full name (most Mexicans have between 4 and 5 names!) and what they symptoms had, I was translating between doctors and children, and children and pharmacists. While this was completely humbling for me and my basic Spanish, it was also a joy to see God (and need God) to work through my weakness... and He did! Praise Jesus for grace over my Spanish. Please keep praying for grace as I learn and attempt to translate.



By the grace of God we were able to see and treat over forty children and adults in the space of a few hours. There was a line out the door of sick kids waiting to come in and see a doctor. Some of these simply needed attention, care, and the feeling that they were important enough for a doctor to look at and care for. It was a blessing to serve these kids and give them the hug and tums that they needed :) Others, however, had serious problems that will hopefully continue to be looked after. It is almost overwhelming to see child after child who need medical attention that they are not able to receive on a consistent basis.


I checked one 12 year old boy into our makeshift clinic whose encargata told me that he kept soiling his pants without knowing it. He was able to see a doctor who had the heart to listen to his story. This boy was dropped off at the children's home only a few months ago. His mother was taken to a mental institution and he was living with his grandmother. A few months ago his grandmother passed away leaving this boy with no place to go. The Mexican government dropped him off at this children's home to live. According to the American doctor who saw him he has some major heart issues that need intensive care as well as an abundance of emotional and spiritual pain. While our team of doctors can do a little, he needs more. Please pray for him. Pray for his health needs to be met. Pray for his spiritual and physical heart needs to be met... pray for Him to be loved and comforted in a way that only our Heavenly Father can do.


I also checked a 13 year old girl into our clinic who told me that her heart often beats crazily and that it scares her. This girl recently arrived at the children's home after her parents were busted for drug involvement. This precious child was brought up on cocaine. Now at the children's home she is going through massive withdrawal. It makes me so mad and sad to see her hurt from her parent's poor decisions. Please pray for her. Pray also for the caretakers at the home as they work to love her and help her to recovery.

At the end of the day I looked at the masses of children that we had seen, diagnosed, and provided with medication... I admit that I felt satisfied. Then God brought my attention to one of the caretakers who had been standing near the medication table all day long. She had a bread bag stuffed full of medication and lists of children who now needed medication to be administered at various times throughout the day. She gratefully kept accepting the medicine as the pharmacists handed it to her and listened as they explained how to administer it. However, I knew by the look on her face, that she was overwhelmed. I can't imagine trying to remember who gets what meds and how much and when for nearly 40 children. We don't often think about the caretakers, just the children. However their job is intense, and unending. I was burdened to pray for her and others like her whose plates are so full. Please pray for Patti, that she would get the rest that she needs. That God would bless her and those like her who are giving of their lives to serve abandoned children... this is true sacrifice.


My day with the medical team has impacted me. It has made me so appreciate the skills that doctors have. It has made me want to get some sort of medical training as I see how abundant the needs are for medical treatment. Even today this same small medical team is out in an impoverished community serving. They are planning to see 100 plus patients today, and realize that they will probably have to turn some away. The needs are so great! But so is our God :) This experience has also caused me to cry out the Lord to see total and complete healing come to these people we serve. While the doctors can give some medication that may take the pain away for a little while, the pain in the hearts of these people goes deeper still. They are in need of the Great Physician. Please, please, pray for soul healing to come... for we know that this only is where true health and wholeness are found.

Jesus, break our hearts! Show us how your heart hurts for these, your children. Heal Father! Only You can restore what the enemy has sought to destroy... compel our hearts to pray. Keep our hearts burdened for these! Break our hearts as Yours is broken every day...

A day at El Rio...

Meme's soup kitchen at El Rio.

Today I was able to go one of my most favorite places in Monterrey... El Rio. El Rio (The River) is the home to many families who are destitute, impoverished, and in need of a Savior. The Rio is land that the government virtually uses as a garbage dump and where many squatters find a home. There are about 40 families who live in the particular Rio that I went to today.

In the picture above you can see some of the Rio homes in the background.

My friend Meme lives in the Rio with her family. She is a beautiful woman who loves Jesus and passionately shows Him to others. Every Saturday Meme holds a soup kitchen for her neighbors in the Rio. She buys, cooks, and serves food to nearly 40 people each week. The young and old, strong and weak, sick and old come to hear the Word of God preached and to fill their empty stomachs. Meme ministering God's Word to the people.

Worship at the Soup Kitchen

Today I was privileged to go serve along side Meme at the Rio. Over the past few years I have built some relationships with several Rio people. It was so good to visit these friends again! An American group was also serving with us at the Rio. Together we served at the soup kitchen and helped Meme with building projects around her house. We started construction on a bathroom, built a fence, and laid some wiring in her house. As Meme told us today, her house, the soup kitchen, all she has she views as on loan from God. She asked that we be praying for her and the people who live in the Rio. Spiritual warfare is great in that place. Satan does not like the fruit that is coming forth in the Rio. There are constant threats from the government to take away Meme's land. There are people who do not like the ministry that is going on there. There is so much destitution that many people turn to drugs and alcohol as a way out instead of to Jesus. Please keep Meme and the Rio in your prayers.
Me and my friend Juanito making crafts. Manuel y Juanito


Nadar en el Rio de Dios....

Katey and Rene's Wedding

Last night I went to the wedding of two of my friends here in Monterrey. Katey works as a B2B STINTER and has lived here for over a year. Rene is the son of the pastor of Nuevo Pacto Church where I attend. He leads worship there and disciples some of the teens who live on the B2B campus.

Katey and Rene's wedding was beautiful! It was held at a beautiful quinta out in the country. Several staff families participated in the wedding as "padrinos." Padrinos are couples the bride and groom think highly of and who participate in the ceremony by presenting the bride and groom with various symbolic gifts. Aside from the traditional wedding rings, the bride and groom were given silver coins to represent God's provision for their new family and Rene's vow to provide for his family. They were given Bibles to symbolize God's Word being the light unto their path and the place to turn to with questions. Last, a lasso was placed around the new couple to symbolize the joining together and creation of one family. I really loved the symbolism behind the gifts and how each pointed so clearly back to Jesus. The wedding was performed in English but translated into Spanish. Rene said his vows in English for Katey and Katey said hers in Spanish for him. It was so beautiful!

After the ceremony there was dancing and food until all hours of the night! Mexicans know how to party when it comes to weddings!!! I left the festivities around 1:00 am after many salsa dances, a Mariachi band, and the traditional Mexican wedding songs. The party was still going strong however! Enjoy the Pictures!

Tacos Fede!

One of my favorite taco stands in Monterrey is called Taco's Fede. It is pretty much fabuloso! This past weekend I went to Fede with some friends and there happened to be a small three man band from southern Mexico playing there. Here is a small taste of their music:

Native American Powwow!

This past Thursday my students and I hosted a Native American (and Mexican) Powwow as the culmination of our history unit on Native Americans. The night turned out to be so much fun! Each of my students came dressed as a native from a certain tribe that they had researched. We had representatives from the Sioux, Bella Coola, Mayan, Hopi, and Powhatan tribes. Each tribe was from a different region on the USA and Mexico that we had studied. Each student presented the report he/she had written or the diorama he/she had created about their specific tribe. Many of the parents came dressed like Native Americans as well! Throughout the evening we did Native American dancing, storytelling, and games. Each family also cooked and brought a traditional Native American treat such as Succotash, Navajo Fry Bread, and popcorn popped over the fire. One of the dads helped us construct a near 10 foot teepee the week leading up to the powwow. My students spent time after school painting symbols on sheets to cover the teepee with. The powwow turned out to be a huge success! Teachers, students, and parents alike had fun learning through living history!

Teepee painting! Dancing

Casa Hogars

Last week I had some time off from teaching and was able to visit some of the new Children's Homes (Casa Hogars) that Back2Back works with. Most of these children are not "true" orphans in the sense that both their parents are deceased. Rather, most of the children in the Casa Hogars in Mexico have a parent or relative who is still living but unable to care for them. Many of these children live with a promise from their parent that they will come back for them, but soon find that that promise is empty.
Two sweet girls from Empirio de Amor

I love the opportunities that I get to go to the children's homes and minister some of the Father's love to the kids there. One Casa Hogar I went to last week has over 50 children in it. I have never seen kids so starved for attention in my life! There were children I had never met hugging me, kissing me, and just wanting to be near me. Obviously when you have 50 kids and few workers it is hard for each child to get the individual attention that he needs. Please be praying for these kids at Empirio de Amor!
Me and some friends at Empirio!