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