Cancun in a Nutshell... Well Coconut-sized Shell!

During the first week of December I was privileged to fly to Cancun with 6 other B2B staff ladies to help out with one of the first groups to our new B2B site in Cancun. Matt and Julie Cooper and Mau and Lizy Davila are the on-site staff for Cancun and have been doing a fantastic job making connections and getting involved with the 3 children’s homes after only a few months of being there.  During this first week of December we had 17 women, mostly from the Cincinnati area, and good friend Craig Aven fly down to Cancun to serve and deliver Christmas to the Children. To say it was an amazing trip is an understatement! The Lord did so many AWESOME things that week!!! I have been forever impacted by some of the people that I crossed paths with, as well as from the God-experiences that we had. So here is the “nutshell” account of our trip and some of the many ways we saw the Lord moving in Cancun... He is up to somethings there! To HIM be the glory! 

Our awesome group of staff and women on the beach for small group time. 

 Above is a picture of our group... few but furious! These ladies are awesome women of the Lord who helped the kids in Cancun see Jesus.

Teen moms at a program offered by the government to aid and educate them. 

 The day after the group of ladies got to Cancun we went to the DIF (government run children's home) to throw a Christmas party for a number of teen moms. There are 200 registered moms between the ages of 12 and 17 in Cancun, however there are only 33 who attend a class offered by the DIF once each week. These young girls come with their babies, drop the kids off in child care and then participate in a class ranging from a variety of topics like parenting, baby health, pregnancy, etc. This day our group of ladies threw a Christmas party for the girls and blessed each young mom with a box of baby clothes, formula, diapers, etc.

 Working with teen moms is something that the Lord seems to keep bringing across my path! I have had  several experiences with teen moms in the Rio and now here in Cancun I found myself surrounded again by young moms and precious babies... I was in seventh heaven! I had a chance to talk to a social worker about the program details and was super encouraged by what they offered. I'm excited about seeing if this program is offered in Monterrey and if I can get my friend from the Rio hooked up with it there.

Teen moms at the program. The girl in the blue is 12 and was about to give birth any day. 

Our skit team ready to perform for the young moms. 

 You may think the above picture is out of order, but it's not. The day before Priscilla (B2B staff) and myself felt burdened by the Lord to not just give a Christmas party to these moms, but to communicate to them the Lord's heart for them as well... this was a little difficult considering we were working in a government facility and not technically allowed to preach Christ. However, God gave us the inspiration for a skit all about a princess who gets stripped of her identity by evil in the world, but then is rescued by a prince who knows who she truly is and what she is truly worth. The message went across beautifully and the girls cheered as the prince saved the princess and restored her crown back to her. We were then able to explain how the Lord sees each of those girls as a princess, no matter what the world says, or what has been done to them, or what choices they have made. He knows who they are and desires to rescue them... it was powerful!

I love working with teen moms and babies because for me, this is the heart of orphan prevention. Young moms are at high risk of one day dropping off their children at a children's home. If we can intervene before they become desperate we can truly save children from becoming orphans, and teach the entire family about our Heavenly Father.

Me and a baby :)

 While the Christmas party was going on I was recruited to watch the babies.... yay! There were about 30 babies in this room and a good 20 of us watching them. At one point I had two infants, one in each arm! Usually there are only 4 social workers to take care of all the babies!! They were glad to see us women... many of which were experienced moms and grandmas.

Okay, this picture does not do it justice... there were so many more babies yet to arrive! 

Writing prayers on the drywall, claiming the pregnancy counseling center for Christ. 

 After ministering to the teen moms and babies in the morning, Matt and Julie took us to the new pregnancy counseling center a few blocks away. Currently there are about 20 offices in one very small room in which the social workers and counselors do their jobs. This does not give the girls much privacy as they are sharing some rather heart wrenching stories with the case workers. B2B is helping the DIF to construct cubicles in the new building that will give the girls and social workers more privacy as they work. We went over to the new facility to pray and dedicate the space to the Lord. It was really powerful to write prayers and scripture on the back of the drywall that is being put up in the offices. It is cool to know that hidden in the walls of the government counseling facility are scriptures, prayers, and truth. Our prayer is that God would put His people into this building, His counselors, that they would speak His words and His truth to these young moms and babies.

Writing prayers and scripture on the walls 

Oti and 7 of her 8 children

 After the pregnancy center we loaded up in white vans and drove to visit a women by the name of Oti. Oti lives in a middle-class neighborhood, but is far from middle-class. She has 8 children 14 and under and her husband recently passed away. Her living conditions reminded me of some of the families I work with in the Rio... very impoverished. About a week before we came, Matt and Julie received a call from the DIF director asking if they could help Oti out. Upon arrival they learned that she had 8 children and only one had ever been to school, and he had only attended through the first grade. They did not have sufficient food nor sufficient clothes or beds. Matt and Julie brought our group to pray for the family and deliver Christmas gifts to the children. The kids were sooo excited! Oti told us that they never have extra money to spend on gifts, so the kids did not have many toys. The girls almost didn't know how to contain themselves! The oldest, a boy, at first seemed like he was too embarrassed to even leave the little room they all shared. Eventually he came out but hid behind his sisters, not expecting anything for himself. We got the impression that a lot of attention is  given to the girls or to his baby brother, while he is leaned on by his mother to help provide for the family. When we pulled out a gift for this boy his grin was uncontainable! We were told later that the kids stayed up till 2am that night pulling all the gifts out of their bags and arranging the items they had gotten, then putting them back in and doing it over again... really makes us think twice about the gifts we are so accustomed to getting at Christmas, huh?

Cancun in a Nutshell... Well, Coconut-sized Shell! (Part 2)

Here is the second part about Cancun! What an amazing time!

 Below is a picture of Craig and Sherri acting in a play for the kids at the government children's home that we worked at. This was by far my favorite day of the trip (see the posts on Jaime and Virginia to see why!). The play told the story of Jesus' lowly birth then about His calling here on earth. In this picture Jesus has triumphed over the evil in the world. Because we are not able to directly share the gospel at the government children's home we focused in on the point that even though Jesus was born in a lowly place, God had amazing and wonderful plans for Him. God also has wonderful plans for each child in that home despite their background or family situation and Jesus is here to help each child accomplish what is is God has called him to do and to defeat the lies of the enemy in the process. It was a powerful message. 

Jesus conquers evil!

Priscila explaining to the kids that God has a purpose for their lives. 

Christmas Parties!

During our time in Cancun we helped the ladies from the group host Christmas parties at each children's home. The kids loved it! They were able to decorate a tree, make ornaments to hang on it, frost cookies, and receive a personalized gift. What a blessing for these kids. At Casa Hogar Esperanza the men grilled out arrachera (a Monterrey favorite) for the kids while us ladies participated in an on-the-spot ladies conference. The director of this home has battled cancer for several years. In our group were 4 cancer survivors who shared their testimonies with the director to encourage her. What a powerful time of giving God the glory He deserves for healing our diseases... believe me there was hardly a dry eye. 

Mauricio and Matt (Cancun B2B staff) grilling out with a boy from Casa Hogar Esperanza. 

Pretty scene from Casa Hogar San Jose

The day after spending time at Casa Hogar Esperanza we all set out for Casa Hogar San Jose. This children's home is Catholic run and has all girls except for one little boy named Jorge. At this home the ladies in the group prepared a "room makeover" for the kids. Below is a picture of the girl's dorm before and the next picture is after the makeover. I wish you could have been with us when we showed the girls their new room! They were literally jumping with excitement outside the door then ran in and began jumping on their beds! So fun! Later another caretaker came in who had not been their for the unveiling of the room. The girls made him close his eyes and led him into the room just as we had done for them... precious. We had a Christmas party for the San Jose kids has well and gave each one a present.

Girls' dorm before the make over

Me and Diane in the girls room after the makeover!! Que bonita!!! Each girl had a pillow with her name embroidered on it. 

The twins excitedly snuggling on their new blankets. 

A friend and I putting together hew new toy at San Jose. 

After our party at San Jose we headed with the ladies to the pregnancy counseling center where we working on painting the rooms that will soon be offices.

Fellow B2B staff helping to paint a room. 

What a great week! Thanks to all of you for your prayers and blessings. The Lord did amazing things and I know that I will never be the same! Keep reading for more specific stories of what God did in one week in Cancun :)

Okay, I had to add just one picture of the beach! Us staff ladies got a few hours at the beach before our flight back to Monterrey. This picture is deceiving because really the sun was hardly out and it was pretty cold... but still beautiful! Here I am greatly enjoying the Lord's creation :) 

Jaime- God heals the most hurt heart

A friend (Craig) helping Jaime make an ornament. 

This is the story of a blind boy I met in Cancun. For his protection he will be referred to as Jamie in this entry.

Jamie is 17 and has been blind since the day he was born. He is tall with a chubby face and black curly hair. I ran into Jaime on a tour of the orphanage during my first day in Cancun. He was alone in his dorm room talking with Mau a fellow B2B staff member when I first laid eyes on him.  The compassion that gripped my heart when I first saw him is hard to describe. All I know is that with one glimpse I felt like I saw into the depths of his pain and sorrow and knew that he was so hurt. I left the dorm room without saying a word to Jamie and began another conversation with two teenage girls right outside the door.

Virginia looked very mature for her age and at first I was unsure of whether she was a worker or a teen at the home.  When I asked her she said she was living at the home and then proceeded to tell me how much she hated being in the children’s home and how much she wanted to leave. Her friend next to her chimed in that she too didn’t like being there, but admitted that it was better than her home with her family. I was shocked at the openness of these girls in our first conversation and at the same time my heart was overwhelmed with the hurt gushing forth from them. The word, “lastimada” kept running through my head… “Hurt. So hurt. These girls are so hurt.”  I felt urged to bring something positive into the conversation. I looked at Virginia and told her that I wasn’t sure why God had her at that children’s home, but that that I knew that He had a purpose for her life and that we could praise God that she was in a safe place. In two days I would realize how prophetic those words actually were… (See post on Virginia)

Mau left Jaime’s dorm room just as I was finishing my conversation with Virginia and began to fill me in on the details of Jamie’s life. Jamie had arrived at the home about a week earlier. He had been battered and bruised by his father. His story revealed that he had grown up familiar with such abuse from his dad. His real mom died when he was little and his step mother stepped into the picture.  About a week earlier Jamie’s stepmother had too much of him and his needs. She loaded blind Jamie up on a bus, paid a ticket to who knows where, and said she never wanted to see him again. Jamie arrived in the middle of Cancun, hours from his home, knowing no one, and seeing nothing. Government officials picked him up and took him to the children’s home where we met him a few days later.

My heart broke as Mau told me Jamie’s story. Jamie said that he had heard about Mau from the other boys at the home and wondered if Mau would take him out to talk and hang out as he had with the others. He also asked Mau if he would find him some music. “I’m bored,” Jamie commented, “music makes me relax.”

 At the end of the conversation Mau felt prompted by the Holy Spirit to give Jamie a hug. As he pulled away Jamie calmly told Mau that that was the first hug he can ever remember receiving. … As Mau told me this story, I cried.

Both Mau and I wept in the courtyard of the children’s home, as God let us feel the pain and hurt in these lives. God began speaking to me that while I cover up my heart and numb it from the pain in this world and the pain that I see in the Rio every week, His heart is never numb. His heart feels every hurt. His heart cries with every child. He feels every pain and it hurts his heart to the core. The compassion of the Lord is amazing. I went to bed that night with these things still on my heart and mind.

Two days later our team of ladies returned to this same children’s home to throw a Christmas party. Part of the festivities included a skit put on by our team. At this particular children’s home we are not able to openly share the gospel, so in a metaphorical way we portrayed Christ conquering evil in the world. At one point in the skit “the evil” was whispering lies in the ear of a child. Things like, “no one loves you,” “you are stupid,” “they are laughing at you.”  During this part of the skit Jamie leaned over to a fellow staff member and said, “I’ve heard those things before. I hear those lies every day.” When I heard this I knew that I wanted to pray for Jamie.

 After the skit, I sat down next to Jamie with some other ladies from our team and began to talk with him. Another lady also felt the urge to pray so we asked Jamie if we could. He readily agreed. About halfway through our prayer Jamie started grabbing at his chest. “My heart hurts. My heart hurts,” he repeated.  We clarified that it was a spiritual pain that he was feeling. We finished praying and I went to find Mau. I knew in my spirit that today was the day of salvation for Jamie. I have never been so sure of something in my life! I found Mau and told him that he needed to explain the gospel to Jamie. Jamie was so ready, but my Spanish couldn’t do it justice and Mau is the one who is going to be there long term with Jamie. After the activities of the Christmas party calmed down a bit, Mau went over and sat next to Jamie. I knew that he was sharing the gospel with Jamie, so I began to pray. The next thing I know Jamie is crying and hugging Mau. He prayed that day and met Jesus as his Savior and the Healer of his heart!

Later, I gave Jamie a hug to welcome him into the family.  He told me that when we had prayed earlier he had felt so much peace, but that now he felt so happy. “This is the best day of my life!” said an excited Jamie, “I will never forget this day as long as I live.” I know that I too will never forget this day. Praise Jesus who is able to heal the most hurt of hearts. Nothing is impossible for God! Please continue to keep Jamie in your prayers. Pray for this growth in Christ and for his physical sight to be restored! Amen!

Jamie decorating a Christmas tree

Jamie learning how to work his new Ipod that someone donated to him for Christmas.

Virginia- God heals the hardest heart

This is a post about a teen whose story impacted my life while I was in Cancun. For her security she will be referred to as Virginia in this entry.

Virginia looks to be about twice her actual age. She acts very mature and her body suggests maturity as well. I met her on the first day that I met Jamie. She was wearing a tight tank top with the casa hogar button-up shirt placed provocatively over the top.  I have never really understood what a face of stone looked like until I met Virginia. Her face was beautiful, but ice cold, her jaw set in a clench like I have never seen before, her eyes icy.  It was clear that she took out her pain in sarcasm and in disgust of those around her. Even with the hard shell it was apparent that this was a very hurt young lady.

In the first conversation I had with Virginia she made it very clear that she hated her life and hated the children’s home she was temporarily staying at. All I could think was how hurt she must be.

Two days after I first met Virginia our team of ladies returned to the children’s home to host a Christmas party. When we entered the home, my good friend and fellow staff member, Priscila, was encouraged to go up and talk with Virginia. “You have got to be kidding,” was Priscila’s reply. “Look at her, she wants nothing to do with us, let alone me! ”  However, the Holy Spirit kept prompting Priscila until she went over to introduce herself to Virginia. Priscila found out that Virginia was 15 years old. “My fifteenth year was very impacting,” Pris shared. “That year God placed many Christians in my life who spoke to me about Jesus. It was when I was fifteen that I had an experience with God and I have never been the same.”

Virginia stared at Priscila in surprise. “That is weird that you say that,” she said. “Just last night someone told me that I needed to have an experience with God.” Virginia then went on to share about how the night before her mom had come to get her and bring her home. When Virginia arrived home she began arguing with her mom, started uncontrollably freaking out, and tried to commit suicide. At this point her mom got scared and called the police to come and take Virginia back to the children’s home. As Virginia and the police officer were sitting in the squad car outside the children’s home, the officer turned to Virginia and said, “Virginia, have you not had an encounter with God? You need to have an experience with God.” Virginia was startled that now Priscila was also talking with her about having an encounter with God.

Priscila came up to me after this conversation with Virginia and told me what happened. As Pris was talking, I knew beyond the shadow of a doubt, that God wanted Virginia to experience Himself that day. I told Priscila that she needed to go back and share the truth of the Gospel with Virginia. Today was the day of her salvation, I was sure of it.

A little later Pris found Virginia and asked if they could finish their conversation. I saw them sit down on a stone wall and begin to talk. I knew that Priscila was sharing the gospel with Virginia, so I began to pray. Virginia was sitting very straight with a face of stone as Pris began to share.  I kept praying that the Lord would break through. That he would soften her heart so she could hear and receive what Pris was sharing. Suddenly as I was watching, and it was as if the stone mask on Virginia’s face began to crack and slide off. I have never physically seen such a change happen in a person. One moment she was sitting erect hard as stone, the next second she had tears streaming down her cheeks and a wide smile spreading across her face. That day Virginia’s name was written in the Lamb’s book of Life.  With tears streaming down her face, Virginia was laughing and smiling. Her countenance was completely changed! I went up to her and gave her a huge hug. I told her I knew that God had a plan and purpose for her life and for her being at that home. She hugged me back and through her tears said, “I feel so happy!”

It was apparent the moment Christ entered Virginia that she was completely changed. She had an experience with God that had been prophesied to her the night before. She was a new creation! Virginia was supposed to leave the children’s home that night to go back with her mom. God was so purposeful and strategic in his timing of things! There is not a doubt in my mind that He divinely ordained the events of that day to bring Virginia into his kingdom. Through this I saw that God can heal and soften the hardest of hearts.  Please keep Virginia in your prayers.  Her family has been involved with drugs in Cancun which can get pretty serious. Pray for her protection and for her continued growth in Christ. Praise Jesus for this salvation!  

Virginia and her friends at the casa hogar.

Thanksgiving at El Retiro Juvenil

I was privileged to go with a group out to ERJ children’s home the day before Thanksgiving. After a day of work and ropes course events, we came up to the cafeteria to see these friendly faces!!! 

A turkey :)

Pilgrims and a turkey

A pilgrim, or as Luis told me, "a north American"... I tried to explain to him that he was dressed as a north American from a LONG time ago and that most of us, don't really look like that anymore.... I'm not sure he totally got it! 

Some of the children were involved in a Thanksgiving play that night. I was touched to see all the hard work put into their costumes. Literally there were at least 3 encargadas working all day on the costumes. I remember my mom spending days making Indian outfits, or pioneer costumes for me and my brothers and sisters.  It was beautiful to see these kids getting the same treatment from their caretakers.  One thing I love about ERJ is that the directors and caretakers really treat the kids as their own. The costumes were well-made and very detailed and the kids were having the time of their lives!

Thanksgiving in the Rio

Thanksgiving was a joyous time in the Rio this year! We were accompanied by a wonderful group of mothers and daughters from Columbus. We really wanted to talk to the people about giving thanks to God for the things that they DO have and the many things God has blessed them with. Often the focus of the people in the Rio is on their needs, their insufficiencies, or the things they are “faulta,” as we say in Spanish.  We wanted this day to be a day when the people we minister to put their sights on God and thank Him for the things they do have… life, health, family, friends, etc. … for in fact, He has given them many things!

To help the women and children count their blessings I designed a “Thanksgiving Tree.” Each person wrote on a leaf what they were thankful for that year and stuck it up on the tree. It was a great time to count our blessings together and focus our attention on God who fulfills all our needs.

The afternoon was spent playing with the kids and making fleece blankets with the women. What a great way to celebrate Thanksgiving. 

Putting up leaves on the tree

  

                                                   

                                           

   "Thanks God for B2B"

 " Thanks God for having guided me up till here and for giving me some brothers in Christ Jesus. Thank you for giving me wisdom and intelligence for everything or almost everything in life.
Thank you Father - Benny" 

 "Thank you God for... (a truck)"

Eating delicious Mole made from scratch. 

Making blankets with the ladies! 

Can we be Thankful for Poverty?

I remember as a child sitting around the Thanksgiving table with my family and all of us taking a turn to say what we were thankful for. The common things mentioned were family, friends, warm house, clothes, and it never failed that someone was thankful for turkey! We always mentioned the things that we had and gave thanks for those things. In my mind I would compare myself with someone who didn’t have the possession or positions I did, and sincerely thank God that He had chosen to give those things to me.

After working closely with the people in the Rio for over a year, my thoughts on giving thanks have changed a bit. It is easy to look at poverty and feel sympathy, pity, and guilt about what we have and what they don’t.  However, have we ever thought that poverty could be a thing to give thanks for in and of itself?

A family in the Rio.

Poverty is “the state of one with insufficient resources” (Merriam-Webster). It is the knowledge that you can’t take care of yourself and your family on your own. With poverty come dependence and humility and the deep realization that you need help, that you can’t satisfy your own needs. Many times we look on poverty through our self-sufficient lenses and are disgusted by it. However isn’t humility and dependence on God to satisfy our needs exactly what our Father in Heaven desires of us?

Often, when we have all the material possessions we need the thing we lack is dependence on God. We are able in many ways to provide for our own needs. We don’t really need Him. When we have too much we are tempted to disown our God, forget about Him and say “Who is the Lord?” (Prov. 30:9).

In Matthew 5 Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” ‘Blessed’ is a word that means so much more than happiness. It means a spiritual joy and well-being.  Oh how much eternal joy a person has whose spirit is dependent on God and humbled before Him!

 Recently I was talking to a Mexican friend who experienced a severe time of financial need before coming to serve with Back2Back. His told me stories of walking 4 miles to get to school because he couldn’t pay for a bus ticket and about how he and his sisters would go to bed early at night because it helped them forget about the pain in their gnawing stomachs. “That time was hard,” he said, “But I wouldn’t trade what I learned for anything. During those years I saw the Lord’s provision for me in ways I never could have dreamed.”  He then went on to tell story after story of the miraculous ways his Father in heaven provided him with food, clothing, school supplies, etc. Stories of people calling and inviting him and his sisters to eat the day they ran out of food, others dropping by with bags of groceries right when they weren’t sure what they would have for dinner, stories of finding the materials he needed for school laying on the side of the road. As a result of his poverty, the man’s faith in God is unlike any I have seen.

The Kingdom of God is about the least being the greatest, the last being first, and the weak being strong so that ultimately the Lord is glorified. We can praise God for weakness, humility, and poverty when it causes us to be dependent on Him and when it builds in us a testimony of His faithfulness.

Are there ways in which you can thank God for poverty this Thanksgiving?  

Welcome Home J.J. !!!!

On Saturday J.J. Lail was welcomed back to Monterrey, Mexico by this happy crowd of B2B staff and teens at the airport! J.J, a fellow staff member, has been fighting jaw cancer for the past few months and had to go back home to Ohio for surgery and radiation. Four months later he is back with us in Monterrey ready to continue the journey here! We praise God for J.J.'s return and continue to pray for whole recovery to his body!

A Thank You for our Rio Servants

Meme with her children (and spouses) and grandchildren at Santa Lucia. 

What a great day it was about a week ago, when Cathy Huffer and I took some of our Rio friends out for the day! Meme has been serving faithfully at the Rio soup kitchen for several years. She cooks, cleans, sings, preaches... does whatever she needs to to serve the Lord and love the people. About a year ago another woman from the area, Anita, began faithfully volunteering her time at the soup kitchen each week. Anita has been a huge blessing to Meme and to us! She arrives early every Saturday to help with the cooking which takes quite a load off of Meme's shoulders. 

We wanted to thank these ladies for their faithful service, so Cathy and I organized a trip for their families to a local park for a picnic and boat ride.  Santa Lucia is right in the downtown part of Monterrey. It is a beautiful river with parks and swing sets beside it. It is similar to the San Antonio river walk and passes right through the center of the city. Meme is forty-something and has lived most of her life in Monterrey. This would be her first time ever to Santa Lucia. 

So two Sundays ago we loaded up two suburbans with fried chicken, tortillas, and 16 people and headed out for the day! 

Anita and her children.

 The kids and adults loved the play sets in the park, the fountains, and boat ride. It was fun for me to see them enjoying themselves so much. .

Mariana playing on the swing set.

All of us before the boat ride!

Five fascinated girls on the boat.

We are truly thankful for the service these families give into their own community! It is hard work each week but both Anita and Meme faithfully show up to serve at the soup kitchen. It was a pleasure to bless these families with just a tiny taste of our gratitude, but we all know that the best reward will be when they hear their Heavenly Father say, "Well done good and faithful servants!"

Little Boys :)

I just had to put this picture up on the blog because it makes me chuckle! These are little boys from Rio3 having the time of their lives :)

Baby Development

Over the past several months the Lord has brought a young girl across my path named Lucero who lives in the Rio.  Lucero is 14 and two months ago gave birth to Jesus Calet. (I wrote an earlier post about her baby's birth.) During her pregnancy I was able to pray with Lucero and encourage her often. When Jesus Calet was close to two months old Lucero and her husband (16 years old) came to the soup kitchen for a birthday party and tried to feed their precious baby cake! As I talked to them I found out that they had tried feeding him rice and given him tastes of coffee as well!!! Don't get me wrong, these parents love their baby, just honestly have no idea about baby care and development. I arranged a time to meet with them and then went home to look up all sorts of information in Spanish on baby development. 

The next week I was able to sit down with mom and dad and talk about what 2 month old babies can and can't do, what they can and can't eat, etc. We talked through developmental stages for the first few months, healthy eating habits, how to prepare a bottle, and how to relieve gas and constipation in a little guy. Jesus Calet has been having constipation problems since he was born, so praise be to God, I was able to show them how to do different tummy massages, bicycle legs, and give the advice of a warm bath to help him. 

In my last semester of college I happened to take a class where I could shadow a Help Me Grow worker in order to skip the final. I shadowed the worker for 2 weeks. During those two weeks we went to homes of teenage moms and poverty stricken girls who had at risk babies to help educate them on child development and baby massage. I had NO idea how much this would come in handy! I LOVE the Lord!!! I love that He prepares us in advance for what He has for us to do. He can use EVERYTHING and I believe has a purpose for everything that happens in our lives. 

This past Saturday Lucero came up to me at the soup kitchen, very excited. She told me that she has been doing the things I taught her to help Jesus Calet with his tummy and that it had worked! Excitement and relief were written all over her face. 

Praise Jesus for His wisdom and understanding! I loved the time I got to spend with Lucero and her husband educating them about babies... it felt exactily like a hand in a glove for me. I'm praying about what other opportunites the Lord has for me in this arena. 

Brian, Lucero, and myself reading and talking about baby development. 

Good Times at Rio 3

I've been able to spend some more time recently out at Rio 3. There are many more kids and people who live out there than at Rio 1. Here are some pics from my time out there! 

Playing Twister with some of the girls

Watching a cement truck pour a load for a new floor in the church.
Boys are boys no matter where they live! 

Registering women and children to see a doctor.
 That day we had 130 patients seen by a medical team. 

Jorge, my little friend :)

A local doctor who joined the medical brigade that day!

A Little Boy and a Multi-Colored Pen

This is Ricardo and the multi-colored pen. 

A couple weeks ago I was praying before I went out for the day with a team from the states. In my prayer time I poured out the the Lord my desire to connect that day. It is easy for me to get into the "management mode". I can run and direct a group of people all day without really connecting with a single child that we are minsitering to. It is easy for me to slip into a  heart attitude of managing instead of a heart attitude of ministering. That morning I felt the Holy Spirit prompting me to submit my day to Him and to live the day conscious of the people he had placed around me.

In the afternoon we took the group to a children's home called Del Norte. As the Americans began playing soccer and jump rope with the kids, I noticed a little boy sitting off to the side of the soccer field, head down. I walked over and tried to initiate conversation with him, but he wanted none of me. So I sat down, rubbed his back, and watched the soccer match next to him. A few moments later a stray ball beaned the child right in the head. He started wailing! Trying to avoid any more stray balls, I scooped Ricardo up and walked with him around the corner of the children's home.

 If there is one thing I have learned from nannying and having younger siblings it is what my dad calls "the art of distraction". I knew Ricardo was not seriously hurt, just having a bad day and needed to be distracted from it all. What could I do? I had my backpack with me so for the time being I tried to interest Ricardo in the backpack... what could be inside? Was there something special? Would he like to see?... in the back of my mind I was thinking, "Dear Jesus, please let there be something cool in here. I didn't put anything cool in there this morning... but you do miracles, right?" We opened up the backpack and by the grace of God found one of those mulit-colored pens, the kind that has the little tabs at the top that you can push down to change the color. Ricardo was fascinated!

Soon Ricardo had colored up nearly 10 pages in a notebook I had! I began to see how creative this little boy was. Ricardo is about four years old I think. He has some developmental problems that effect his speech and his attention, however his creativity is out of this world. I wish I could show you the pictures that he drew! There were houses, pools, and, my favorite, a shark. Soon Ricardo found a jump rope one of the others had discarded. In moments we were rock stars singing into the handle as a microphone. Bored with the pages he had colored, and the "microphone" Ricardo, and another boy who had joined us, began making different styles of paper planes... super creative and super fun!

In no time I realized that we had been there playing together for well over an hour. Ricardo was happy, as were the other chidlren who had gathered around us. I was thankful that we had enough staff working that day that I could sit down and love on this little boy who was having a bad day. How many bad days go by for Ricardo, in which there is no one to sit down with and pull pens out of backpacks, color pictures of sharks, or sing into jump ropes? I was privileged to be Christ's hands and feet to this little 4 year old that day. To show him that he mattered and that he was worth investing in. I was also thankful for the Holy Spirit's prompting that morning to keep my eyes open for how He wanted to use me... never had I thought it would be through a little boy and a multi-colored pen.

Ricardo and myself

Playing with the camera, trying to get a self-portrait.

Ricardo and Elvis playing around.