Home Sweet Home

We received our mission assignment!  We will be spending next year in General Cepeda, Mexico at FMC's mission house!  FMC has been spreading the word of God in this area of Mexico off and on for about 30 years.  Some time ago an old house (actually older than the united states) came up for sale for a really good price; Frank and Genie summers purchased the building for use as a mission house.  It is called the Casa de Missiones (mission house in spanish :-) )  There are several established ministries at the house.  Many people in need in this community will come to the door if they need food, medicine, help with their houses, or anything that they can't find help for normally.  I have attached a couple pictures here:

Front

 Courtyard

Plaza Across the Street

One of the projects we have been working on while we are here is building a new chapel for a rancho about 20 minutes out of town.  David helped lay some of the cinder block and pour the concrete in the corners.  They have installed the concrete floor and the roof since.  The roofs are wood with plastic laid on top and then about 4" of dirt on top of that.  

Mixing Concrete for Steps

Pouring Step

Shoveling dirt in buckets to life to the roof

 The main focus of our mission is to bring Jesus to the Ranchos.  The ways we accomplish this is through communion services, bible studies, teachings on Jesus, and providing retreats.  Usually we will visit several ranchos on Sunday as well as several during the week in the evenings.  Here are a couple photos of what these look like:

 This chapel had no light so we finished the service with a phone light!

We need to learn Spanish ASAP!

For desert day yesterday we went to a mountain rancho call La Casita.  It was a beautiful place!  They actually had grass.  We had to take a winding mountain road to get there.  I tried to provide a glimpse of the place:

We're in Mexico!!!

We left Big Woods on Thursday night about 7:15, after an 20 hour journey we arrived at the mission house in General Cepeda Friday afternoon.  After unloading, Dave took a nap (he was awake 32 hours straight with only a brief 10 min nap at the border).  Andrea and the Girls went down the street to check out the city park.  They have a huge concrete slide!

The following morning we walked around General Cepeda to check out the town.  About 5,000 people live in the town proper and another 6,000 live in the 50 some surrounding "Ranchos".  Ranchos are very small communities that are anywhere from a few minutes to an hour and a half from town.  They are usually about 10 to 20 small houses grouped together surrounded by desert. 
Here are a couple pictures from our walk.

 We met some children and attempted to communicate with them.  They laughed at us a lot with our broken Spanish.  One of the little girls ran to her house and brought back a puppy that is only a month old.  Eliza loved it!  She kept trying to get everyone to let her hold it more.

We then went to the little girls house and her mother invited us inside.  The house was 2 rooms, which is more than many people have here.  Eliza kept asking the little girl if she could see her room.  It broke our hearts.  The people's life here is so simple.  Everyone will sleep in one room, that may or may not be the only room in the house.  There were no lights in the house and they cooked in the corner where the lit a fire with cactus wood. The mother knew the missionaries and asked us to pray over her.

Walking back to the mission house, a woman stopped us and invited us in to pray over her mother.  She explained that her husband was absent and her brother can't find work.  The local government won't help them, so they often come by the mission house for assistance.  Her mother couldn't hear well, but loved playing with Lucy.  Her face lit up and it blessed us to see Lucy bring joy to this woman.  She is already an awesome little missionary. 

Dave is learning some Mexican praise songs on the guitar.  Almost every night we travel out to one of the Ranchos and provide a communion service.  We pray with the people, share testimonies, and bring them Jesus in the Eucharist.  Many of these people are unable to travel into town to go to mass or receive the sacraments.  The Rancho David visited tonight went 11 months without seeing a priest last year.  There is only 1 priest assigned to all 50 Ranchos.  The Catholic person the Priest ratio is worse in Mexico than in the worst diocese in the United States.  LosAngeles has about 1 priest for every 1,700 Catholics.  This state we are in has 1 priest for every 8,000 Catholics.  The need here is so great for missions!

We are super excited to be here and so blessed that God has called us to this life!  Please continue to pray for us and pray for the people we are serving here. 
Love,
The Quinns

Happy Holyween!!!

We had a great time tonight at our Holyween party! It was full of games, learning about Saints, and TONS of candy!

Lu and two of her many favorite people- Emily and Olivia

Seth and I were very excited about Holyween

Lu and Maggie...she always threatens to steal Lucy:)

Breanna and I

E wouldn't let Thomas get too close. Haha.

Trust and Act

I have been discovering something new lately in regards to the Holy Spirit and how he works in our lives.  Often times we pray for the Holy Spirit to give us things.  It could be anything from a car, to a house, to a pure heart to knowing how to pray, and so on.  I have realized in my life lately that when we ask for things that are inherently good for us the Holy Spirit is Johnny on the spot!  I also think we spend too much time asking for things which are superfluous and will not really aid our journey to heaven.  Let me throw out a couple scenarios.

When we ask for things that are external to ourselves, usually a material good (or evil), the Holy Spirit may or may not grant the request.  And, Usually the answer will be no.  Not because He doesn't want to bestow on us good things, but because He knows that those things are not what is going to lead us closer to Christ.  We see this sometimes with parents who buy their kids anything and everything they ask for.  The result is a spoiled child and a miserable parent child relationship.  There is one thing for sure, the Holy Spirit will not spoil us. 

Other times we ask for things internal to ourselves.  For example, the ability to love, or forgive, or knowledge of God, or knowledge in how to pray and when.  All these things we know through faith are good for us.  The Holy Spirit will answer these kinds of prayers for He has been working inside your life to give you the wisdom to ask for these things anyway.  He will not waste His time either.  When I recently started adopting this type of prayer a realized real fast how quickly the Holy Spirit will begin to work.  I remember having a desire a few months back to read the bible more.  One night I was sitting on the couch and deciding whether I was going to watch Netflix or read the bible.  I knew I wanted to read the bible, but Netflix was calling my name all the harder.  Right there I decided I would have a moment of prayer, short and sweet.  "Dear Lord, please give me a heart that would rather read the bible than watch Netflix."  I most likely went on to watch Netflix, I can't remember, but what I do remember is about a few night later coming down the stairs after putting the kids to sleep and having the same debate in my head: Netflix or Bible.  Bible started to win!  Not just in my head, but in my heart.  My desire was for the word of God!  Ever since that night I have read the bible prior to watching Netflix, and in all honesty, Netflix only lasted a couple more weeks.  I have since put it aside altogether.  I find more enjoyment in read God's word than I ever had numbing my brain in front of the TV.

Since this experience I have asked the Holy Spirit for other similar things, and received similar results.  A heart to love everyone I meet, A heart to have zeal for spreading the Gospel, a courageous heart to say the things people need to hear...etc.  I have yet to be disappointed! Sometime the answer comes in ways we don't expect.  For example, in asking for courage to speak the words that need to be said, I didn't just wake up one day and have a new found courage.  The Holy Spirit lead me to a situation where we were going to be helping a local parish with some outreach.  The goal was to knock on doors in a neighborhood and see if there were any fallen away Catholics in the home.  I was with someone who had done this many times and he lead the way for the first few houses.  He had to take a call and said, "you guys go ahead, I'll catch up."  Uh Oh! I thought.  This is game time.  I knocked on the next door, introduced myself and asked, "are there any baptized Catholics in the home?" (we were told to say this, and it really works!)  The gentleman admitted that he used to be a Catholic and that his son is a member of the parish we were representing.  I briefly explained that we had some information about the Catholic church if he was interested (he was not), and then we talked a little bit about what Andrea and I are doing in regards to foreign missions.  We had a nice little discussion and went about our way.  I was really nervous, but the fact that I knocked on the door was a miracle.  The only thing I wished I would have done is asked, "would you mind sharing why you felt the need to leave the church?"  Maybe the Holy Spirit could have led that discussion somewhere of real conversion...we will never know.  I suppose there will always be "next times."  As a result though, I found a courage in myself I never knew I had....or rather I found what the Holy Spirit can do with a person's heart, but we require faith and trust that He will carry through with his promise.  "Ask and you shall receive, knock and the door will be opened"  The Holy Spirit will put the words on our lips, but we need to act in faith and get to the point where the words need to be put there.  He doesn't come down from on high, give us a script of where to go and what to say, and then say everything is going to be alright.  We need to ask, and expect, that if we go forward in His name, He will deliver.  The end of the story is that the person I was with had to leave early and he said I could finish the last four houses or just go back to the parish early.  I found myself, filled with the grace of the Holy Spirit, volunteering to do the last four houses without him.  Thank you, Jesus!  The Holy Spirit still has much work to do with my courage, but that was a start I never saw coming. 

Let's all start throwing our anchor to heaven, stop asking for things we really don't need and start asking for things that will give us eternal glory with our heavenly Father! Amen?

In Christ,
Dave

Missionaries in Training....

Things are very exciting down here at Big Woods Mission Post south of Abbeville, LA.  Big Woods is what Family Missions Company calls their headquarters.  The founders, Frank and Genie Summers, inherited some land from their family and used it to start FMC.  There are a collection of donated houses here for people to live in while they are training and  are in between missionary posts.  We have been here now for 4 1/2 weeks for training, which is called "intake".  If you would like to know more about intake, Melissa Seilhan posted a detailed description on her blog at this address:  http://forbetterrworse.blogspot.com 

 One of the documents we have been studying is called "Mission of the Redeemer" by John Paul II.  We just read today that JPII stated that the missionary activity of the church was in its infancy!  What and incredible statement!  2000 years after the Church was founded the act of bringing the Gospel to those who have never heard it is only beginning!  The statistics are really staggering.  2/3 of the world's population has yet to learn of Jesus Christ and His saving power.  That's over 4 billion people!  The letter calls for a renewed missionary zeal and teaches that missionary activity is the life blood of the Church!

God is stretching and molding us in ways we never knew we could before coming here.  We have really dove right in to proclaiming the word of God!  There are a few mission activities that we perform right here in Abbeville.  On Thursday mornings we visit a nursing home.  There we say a rosary, provide a communion service, and visit with the people there.  Thursday afternoons we visit Cecil, who is the director's grandfather.  He is homebound and lives with his caretakers.  When we visit we pray with him and read from scripture as well as just spending time with him.  It is such a rewarding experience!

On Saturday, October 5, we aided a parish outreach in Lafayette and knocked door to door on every house in a neighborhood.  We would introduce ourselves and politely ask if there were any baptized Catholics who lived here.  Most will volunteer if they are or were a Catholic.  We would then offer them some information about the Church and invite them to come back or see if the local priest could assist them in any way.  I met a man, who was active in Church, but just lost his wife of 46 years only 6 months prior.  Just the visit from us and praying with him really lifted his spirits.  I also met a couple people who had left the Church.  I offered them some information, but they refused.  Let us all pray for their conversion! 

Just tonight we hosted a potluck dinner in a trailer park near Big Woods.  It was a real success.  Many of the people who lived in the community attended.  We provided some jambalaya and drinks.  We sang some songs, prayed, and another missionary provided a teaching on God's love.  The people were extremely grateful and commented on how we made them feel like part of a greater community, which is the community of God.  One of the people as a result started telling his brothers and sisters in the community that they needed to become more active in spreading the word.  It continues to amaze me how God can take our small actions and gestures and do so many great things with them. 

God is reaffirming for us every day our call from Him to serve Him in missions.  We grow in courage all the time and continue to ask the Lord for his continued help and guidance.  Please keep us in your prayers!

Love,
The Quinns