Hola from
It is hard to believe that we have already been here for almost four months! Time is flying by and yet in other ways it seems as though we have always lived here. Since our last letter we have continued on our Spanish lessons each morning and our whole family has become far more proficient. Every day we learn more useful phrases. Thanks for your prayers! We all desperately want to know the language. Pray for our patience to grow as well as our knowledge of the language!*
Guadalupe Victoria (the Rancho)
Things have begun to really take off at the Rancho! I guess by now we should expect great things of God, but when and how He shows up continues to amaze us! In the beginning of the year all we could see were needs and hardly knew where to begin. We pray on Monday nights as a team for God’s guidance and provision. Both always arrive in God’s usually unexpected ways.
In January and February we went with local teams from Iglesia de Gracia to do Sunday school classes and distribute yogurt and cheese that had been donated by a local dairy company here in San Luis. Lisa had the opportunity to give her testimony and share with the women her heart for getting to know them better.* We really want to establish relationship and not just be a “gimme program”. The ladies were delighted and some of them spoke out and shared a little about themselves with us. The fact that they talked much at all was a miracle in itself! Poverty and timidity seem to go hand in hand.
In February we distributed nearly 100+ pairs of used shoes that had been donated some time ago but has been stored in a lady’s house here. We were told that there had been no one who had time to organize them, so we took the Suburban over, got the shoes and made them ready for the next trip to the “rancho”. It was such a simple task but what a blessing to be a part of it! Shoes are always an issue out there. The children are growing fast and the rough terrain is tough on shoes. They walk everywhere so sturdy shoes are really needed. Many of the little girls wear dress shoes that have been donated but they are really not appropriate for their feet in such rough terrain. They asked me over and over for tennis shoes but there were not enough of the right sizes to go around. We are going to measure everyone’s feet next week and add that info to the data base we are establishing. This will give us an idea of how many of each size we need to go around. Our hearts break when we don’t have enough. We are gathering info about every person there in an attempt to get a true reading on the needs as well as have enough information about them so that we can start to really know them.
A major breakthrough also took place this past weekend. Consistent with the Latin culture, teenage boys and men at the rancho tend to stay outside of the meetings, classes and even aid especially when “God” could be a topic. To them “It‘s not macho to be godly.’
Jim has had a heart for these boys since he first saw them. No one has been able to reach them .They never went to classes or participated in any of the activities in all of the years teams have been coming here. They would just stand around the perimeter of the activity with a little “macho’tude”! Then along came Jim and his American football. Wow! It was awesome to watch them as he just casually passed them the ball and talked with them. They not only played ball but came inside for Bible class when he asked them to! They came in, sat through a 30 minute teaching about Jesus and all of them listened intently and responded with questions! They said they would be looking forward to us coming back for more lessons about Jesus and of course in passing, catching, punting! This is huge! God is working! We know this is an answer to prayer.
The family is so important to God. We believe that winning these young men to the Lord and discipling them to become godly men and fathers could cause a tremendous change in the culture at the rancho.*
The well:
As we told you in or last letter the well has been upgraded with a wind driven pump and storage tank .As of a few weeks ago it is now fully functioning. However, when the wind doesn’t blow they still have to pull the water by hand and with the falling water table it is always a big job. We are approaching several organizations that dig wells and are hoping to get some help with the water situation.* We have also contacted a group called Heifer International who sets up farm like settings in impoverished areas around the world by training people to raise farm animals for profit and food. We are “in the process” to see if the rancho meets their criteria for assistance. Please Pray!*we’ll keep you posted.
The facilities:
The power lines are pulled to the two buildings on site and we recently received $1000 from a lake Norman business man to help with the purchase of a switch box and fixtures and other electrical needs.* A church in Massachusetts has sent $1000 to get acrylic windows for the classrooms. These are much needed as the wind blows sand and dirt in the rooms and makes it difficult to use the rooms .The windows will also help with security. This church is also sending a team in July to help with the painting and sealing of the roof. PTL! But, there are still many more things to be done.*
They could have danced all night!.... (and they did!)
THANK YOU ! to… Kim Donaldson’s girl’s life group @GCC for the dance-a–thon they did to support Guadalupe Victoria!! What a blessing! It thrills us to know that God is raising-up such awesome young women who are “sold out to Jesus”! Thank you so very much for the funds for the rancho and especially for your heartfelt prayers.
We so appreciate you all standing with us in our ministry here. God has always been on time to meet every need and we are sure that your intercession on our behalf is a big part of it all! You are awesome friends and we love you all!
May God bless you richly in every way!
Sincerely His,
Jim, Lisa and Patrick
(* indicates prayer request)
Other prayer requests:
1. We are in the beginning of setting up a 501c3 non-profit corporation called MICA (Missions in
2. Jim’s health he has been fighting his high blood pressure.
3. Jim’s work with stateside clients would continue so we can continue to have money to live here. This is important since we are self supported.
4. Missions Imports we are setting up a web site and we are almost read to launch it. We’ll send more info on this next month
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