Merry Christmas and Thank You!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all!  We pray that God blesses all you this Christmas season and the coming year!

It has been the most incredible year for our family!  God has blessed us in more ways than we can count or remember.  We are continually humbled by all the prayer and financial support we have received from all of you.  During our time in Mexico we were able to do many things, and I have tried to summarize them into a list to share with all of you.

We helped prepare children in our two ejidos for the sacraments they were eligible to receive.  Some of them have been waiting for Confirmation and Communion for years!
16 - First Communion / First Confession
8 - Confirmation
1 - Baptism

We encouraged and helped prepare 2 couples to receive the sacrament of marriage.  In Mexico, a big problem is people getting married civilly and never getting married in the Church.  Through witness and encouragement (and financial support) we were able to see these two couples receive the grace of the sacrament!

We bought many bibles for people who requested them so they could start reading and building a relationship with Jesus.

We were able to provide financial assistance for a 3 year old girl to go to kindergarten.

For the work projects our team was able to perform $30,104 worth of work.  This includes the money we put forth, as well as the other family stationed with us and the short term mission trips that came down.

• Rewire 7 homes
• Install 10 new roofs
• Repair 2 roofs
• Install 3 concrete floors
• Install 1 new sewer line
• Construct 3 complete rooms
• Repair fire damage on the house of an elderly couple
• Construct 1 new bathroom
• Construct 1 new chapel 
• Repair 1 chapel which had a wall falling and install new window and door
• Place a tile floor in a chapel and install new electrical
• Provided full-time employment to three local men for almost the entire year
• Misc. small projects

We served people who came to the door by providing them with medications they needed or other financial assistance.  The total amount of this came to: $2,486

The Quinn Family was able to give a total amount of: $9,704

 Beyond the monetary aid we gave, it is so hard to describe the value of God sending us to the people of the Ejidos to minister to their spiritual need.  The two ejidos we ministered to all year were so very appreciative of our teaching them "many good things" about the faith, visiting them, and getting to know them.  Through our time together we were able to make so many valuable and long lasting friendships.  It was very hard to leave the people and see the tears run down their faces.  Please keep these communities in your prayers as well that they may continue in their walk with the Lord and that we may all be together in eternity!

We want to say THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts for all the ways in which you have supported us this year!

Click here to watch a thank you video put together by Family Missions Company with pictures from around the world in our mission locations.

Generosity: What it's really all about

Being a missionary can be hard. Some days it seems nearly impossible to continually be called to give all of yourself. Not only are we called to give of ourselves, but also our things. Sometimes I feel that as Americans we have this selfishness ingrained in us. We have this “mine” mentality. I have tried to spend this year undoing that mentality. And I have failed miserably over and over again. But the other day, I witnessed something that inspired and challenged me in a whole new way; something that has changed my outlook on generosity, forever.

I was giving my friend Francisca a ride home. She had just been grocery shopping (which needless to say is a treat for her.) Her husband has never held a steady job so they rarely if ever have money. Their family usually lives week to week from “dispensas”(a bag of groceries we give to the people here with just basic food items). But this week, she had sold some earrings and earned $100 pesos(about $8USD) and was able to go grocery shopping! She was very excited and came home with one bag full of food. As we were driving home, Lucy, who is perpetually hungry, kept trying to dig in the bag and steal some food. We laughed about it and I even joked that Lucy was trying to rob her. As we got out of the van, Francisca started to dig around in her grocery sack. I of course thought “Oh no, she’s checking to see if Lucy got into something” and went on to think about how I was going to apologize to this woman for my daughter stealing her food. She continued to dig, I began to sweat and feel terrible, and then she pulled out a banana. She handed it to Lucy. I was blown away.
Here this woman is who rarely has enough food to feed her family, and she just hands a banana to my daughter (who obviously isn’t going hungry) out of her precious bag of groceries. She could have easily thought “l am not going to give these people anything. They could go buy food anytime they wanted and I hardly have enough.” But no, she didn’t think anything of it. Here, one of the poorest of the poor gave away her own food to my baby.

“And He sat down opposite the treasury, and began observing how the people were putting money into the treasury; and many rich people were putting in large sums. A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which amount to a cent. Calling His disciples to Him, He said to them, “Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the contributors to the treasury; for they all put in out of their surplus, but she, out of her poverty, put in all she owned, all she had to live on.” Mark 12:41-44

In the past, I read this bible verse and knew that I have always given out of my excess, and at that, barely given. But Francisca showed me what Generosity truly is. It is opening your heart to every single person in every single situation. It is giving when it hurts and not thinking anything of it.  I am so grateful for these moments where God slaps me in the face and gives me a wakeup call. Today He is calling every one of us to give whether it is of our time, our finances, or our prayers. He is calling us to give ESPECIALLY when it hurts and we feel we have no more to give; to give out of our poverty, not our surplus. My prayer is that each of us will open our hearts to give everything for He who gave it all for us.

 

Authentic LOVE

Last Thursday, after 83 years of life, my Grandpa passed away. Thanks be to God, we were able to come back from Mexico for the funeral. Seeing my Grandma was heartbreaking.  I cannot even begin to imagine what it would be like to lose your husband, let alone a man who you have been married to for 63 years.  As she spoke to my sister the other night, she shared with tears streaming down her face, “I loved him. I really loved him.”

I am 100% certain that they were in fact, the love of each other’s lives. I remember growing up, always seeing them together and thinking “Wow, they really are in love”. My Grandpa would look at my Grandma like a young man looking at his bride on their wedding day.  They would always laugh and smile together. There was a “oneness” between them. You could see that they thought as one, lived as one, loved as one.

Seeing her sadness caused me to reflect on what marital love really is. What does a couple really vow to one another in marriage?  When they married, they vowed “for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part.”

I know that they had hard times. Having 4 kids aged 4,3,2, and 1 and later the addition of 3 more children, was beautiful and blessed. But I can also imagine sometimes that it was extremely difficult and maybe felt “for worse.” With only Grandpa working and many mouths to feed, I can guarantee that wasn't a time of “richer.” Over the years, both of them spent many times in a state of “sickness”; Grandma with breast cancer, and Grandpa with many heart surgeries, times in ICU, and his stroke. 

To me, my Grandma is a heroine. She is an example of what love really is. Because during what was most likely the most difficult times in their lives, she didn't give up. She continued to sacrifice and love her husband.  You see, for the past few years my Grandpa had been in the nursing home suffering from dementia following a stroke. Every day she went and sat with my Grandpa from breakfast to bed time. They laughed, talked, read the paper, watched TV. She didn't just put him in the nursing home and “move on”. She spent almost every moment of every day at his side. I know some days it was very difficult for her. The beauty of their relationship is that through all of these difficulties, they persevered. They continued to love. They continued to push forward and support one another; even when it seemed impossible. Even up until the last moment as Grandma held his hand and declared one last time, “I love you Bernard” he smiled, and breathed his last;  “until death do us  part”

Their love is a love that inspires me. In a time when the world tells us to take the easy way out, or do what feels right, a time where people believe that commitments and vows are null and void; it is in times like these that we should look to a love like theirs to understand and aspire to what loving another really means. It is a life full of many sacrifices and difficulties to authentically love another; but is most definitely possible and truly one of the most beautiful things a person can do. I love the quote from the movie Frozen, “Love is putting someone else’s needs before yours.”  Let us remember this and pray that we can learn to love in the same authentic way as my awesome grandparents!

-Andrea

We love you Grandpa!

Chapel Update #2

The chapel is coming along fantastic!  We have painted the ceiling, primed the walls, installed the lights and windows, and finished all the stucco.  We have gone as far as the money will take us for now, but with a little help from some donors we can put in floor tile, tile the altar, install some sidewalk outside, and paint the walls.

This is the tabernacle door that Gallo (one of the Mexican missionaries) and I made.

It was an honor as well to have the bishop at the Casa de Misiones for breakfast today.  He is in town for a couple days to help celebrate the feast of St. Francis (the patron of our parish).  He visited the chapel as well and blessed it.  It had to be a preliminary blessing because it isn't finished, but he still seemed pleased with what we had done.

Bonus Photo:  Another fun project I had this week was trying to repair this statue that was donated by the Schmidt family (new missionaries this year).  This statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus will be taken to Cuchilla del Indio where their chapel has the same patron.  The hand was damaged in transport.  Plaster of paris is a common building product here, so I used some to re-fashion the hand.

Seeing Christ in the face of tragedy

As many of you may already know, last Monday our dear friends, The Kiehl's, lost their 18 month old little boy, Ezekiel. All week, we have been heartbroken. We can not believe what happened. We have prayed for our friends and begged the Lord to send them comfort and peace.

Praise the Lord we are able to travel back to Mississippi to support our friends and attend Ezekiel's funeral. Tonight, the Kiehl's invited us over to Teresa's parents house for supper. On the drive over, I was so nervous. I kept imagining the sorrow and sadness we were going to walk into. I kept trying to think of what I should and should not say. I kept telling myself not to lose it the moment we saw them.

But to my surprise, I saw something I never expected. We didn't walk into a home full of sadness and sorrow. We walked into a home full of laughter, joy, and hope. Yes, Teresa cried, as we all did, when she walked us over to Ezekiel's urn on the mantel; and as she told us how hard today has been preparing for the funeral. But then her and Jonathan smiled. They shared that they literally could feel the prayers of everyone "lifting them up and holding them".

Jonathan shared about the beautiful things he witnessed. About how he ran with Ezekiel in his arms, barefoot, to the hospital and there a woman offered him her sandals. He talked about how a man who had been full of nothing but anger and some animosity toward them had sobbed and begged for forgiveness and offered his condolences. About the 100's of Mexican people who attended Ezekiel's prayer service and how beautiful that was. He shared that while they initially feared this could ruin their marriage, that it in fact has brought them closer together than ever.

Teresa shared that Christ is strengthening them and how now more than ever before she wants EVERY SINGLE PERSON she encounters to journey with her to heaven. About how all the things she used to think were important, in fact are not and she realizes now the things that are.

Today I learned what true hope is. I saw it in the faces of my two friends. Thank You Lord for the beautiful witness of the Kiehl family! I pray that someday I can be filled with the same hope and faith of this incredible family.              

St. Ezekiel, Pray for Us! 

Chapel Update!

I can't believe it has already been three weeks since I last updated you all on the progress of the Divine Mercy Chapel!  It has been so eventful and the chapel is coming along nicely!  The roof structure is on and the bell tower is installed.  Also, we are finishing the walls on the inside with really fine stucco.  

We had to form and pour two large concrete beams across the center part of the cross to support the roof.  

We decided, for both strength and beauty to install wood beams that measure 3" x 8"

The inside is really starting to pick up the final feel!

While the guys were starting the stucco on the inside a couple of us went up with the bell tower. 

Gonzalo, the master at stucco, is putting on the finish of the inside walls.

The parapet wall is going on around the perimeter of the roof and the bell tower structure is finished.

This project has been extremely rewarding for me to be a part of.  I pray that God will use this building to draw many people into his ocean of mercy.  While building this, I have become very interested in the devotion to the divine mercy and have started reading St. Faustina's diary.  It is an incredible book/devotion and hope many will read it and draw close to Jesus.  

Praise you Lord for drawing us to this life! 

Divine Mercy Chapel

As I promised, I have photos of the Divine Mercy Chapel we are currently building.  We are on the 3rd week of construction and the walls will be finished soon...probably early next week!

The footings are complete and we are ready to start the walls

We installed the floor now to make is easier to work on top of since the walls will be tall.

The first of two concrete beams that will help support the wall and bridge the windows and doors.

The second concrete beam is being formed that will support the roof joists.

Interesting:  These ants must have had a hole below our floor; and when we poured it, they dug a new hole through the soft concrete.  We found them about a week later!

Sergio Ruiz started working for us for this project as well. Happy Guy!

Part of the structure will be two large concrete beams to support to roof in the center.  To reinforce these we have to make these rebar rings.  They will make a cage of rebar that sits inside the beams.

 

Bonus Photo:  A family that lives in one of our ejidos had a baby boy recently.  When we asked him what they named him they hadn't yet.  So I suggested "David" was a good name...on a couple occasions :-).  I discovered a week later that they had decided to go with David!  So here is a picture of me and my namesake:

David in Spanish is pronounced "Daveeth".

Happy Birthday Dave!

Happy Birthday to an incredible father and husband. Everyday you bring so much happiness and joy into the lives of us 3 girls. You are our rock, our joy, our love. You are a perfect example of the love of Christ. Thank you for always taking care of us, loving us, and making us smile.

I had to share what Eliza and I made for Dave for his birthday. The most beautiful thing about it to me was how often she mentioned how happy her Dad is. How true that is! And how incredibly blessed are we? Thank you Dave for always putting us before yourself and serving the people here in such a beautiful way. Happy 31st, old man! We love you!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!

My Dad is 20 years old

His hair is huge and his eyes are blue

My Daddy weighs 6 pounds

My Dad makes me laugh when he giggles

I know that my daddy loves me because he’s special

It makes Daddy laugh when I smile

My Dad likes to wear pants

He loves to eat sandwiches

Daddy’s favorite food is macaroni and cheese

The special thing that Daddy does for Mommy is kiss her

Daddy’s favorite thing to do is to play soccer

He is smart because he knows everything

My Dad works hard at the work project

Daddy always tells me I love you

It makes Dad happy when it’s Easter Time

If Daddy could go on a trip he would go to the zoo and he would bring the pack &play

I really love it when my Daddy works

Dad’s best friend is me

Daddy’s favorite movie is Despicable Me 2

My favorite thing to do with Daddy is play tent

I have the best Daddy in the world because he’s my special Dad

If I could give my Daddy anything it would be me

My favorite thing about my Daddy is that he’s happy

Just For You

Last night, I was reading one of my favorite childhood books to Eliza. Mercer Mayer's "Just For You". The first time I reread it was about 6 months ago; I was in tears. Last night as I read it to Eliza, I was struck with so many thoughts and inspired to write a blog. So bear with me as I share what God spoke to me through my favorite children's book.
The book is about Little Critter. Throughout the book, he is trying to do all these nice things for his mom, but everything seems to fail miserably, until the end. The book reads like this:

      .
This morning I wanted to make breakfast just for you, but the eggs were too slippery.
I wanted to wash the floor just for you, but the soap was too bubbly.
I wanted to put away the dishes just for you, but the floor was too wet.
I wanted to carry the groceries just for you, but the bag broke.
I ate my sandwich just for you, but not my crusts.
I wanted to take a nap just for you, but the bed was too bouncy.

 I wanted to mow the lawn just for you, but I but I was too little.

I picked an apple just for you, but on the way home I got hungry.
I wanted to set the table just for you, but the TV was too loud.
I wanted to not splash in my bath just for you, but there was a storm.
I wanted to do something very special,just for you.(As he hugs his Mom)
And I did it! 

The first time I read this to Eliza, after many years, I literally cried. As a Mother, I couldn't help but think of Eliza and how many times she tries to do nice things for me; like wash the dishes, fix her own lunch, give Lucy a snack. All of which end up being a bigger mess than we started with. Sometimes I get frustrated and think I should have just done it myself. But when I read this book, I was taken aback just thinking about the innocence of children. It's amazing how much they simply want to please us, and how hard that can be for them sometimes. That no matter how many times they mess that up, they still keep trying. If only to see us smile and tell them "Good job!"  What a blessing it is to be a mother and to be a part of these little moments; at times messy and frustrating, but truly beautiful.

Yesterday as I read, I was struck in a different way. I thought of us, being like Little Critter. Always trying to do these little things to please God, Our Father. And usually failing miserably. And how many times, unlike Little Critter, we want to just give up. How we don't have the faith and perseverance of a child. How at times, we can be selfish  I picked an apple just for you, but on the way home I got hungry. How God must be frustrated with us so many times a day, but (like a parent with a child) loves us through it all. The greatest and most humbling part of this book is the very end where after several failed attempts at serving his mother, he does the simplest and greatest thing he can do. Love her. It's so simple! We will try to serve God in hundreds of ways. And most likely there will be times we will fail miserably. (If you're anything like me, several times a day!) But in the end, the greatest and most important thing we can do, is to give Him our Love!  ~Andrea

Overdue Update!

The past couple weeks have been really crazy here in Mexico!  While Andrea's parents were here I had the guys working in the ejido Narigua.  Their chapel had a wall that was almost falling apart.  Water and mud would flow in when it rained.  Also, Minerva, one of the ladies there, had a roof leaking.  We were able to repair that as well.  While I was there I put in new wiring in her house.  She has two refrigerators she uses to keep the cheese that she makes.  For who knows how long she was unplugging one and plugging in the other, alternating back and forth!  And the worst part is the outlet would shock her when she would do this!

 Back wall of their chapel

They had a new window ready to install, so we did that as well

 The repaired roof and the new wiring

Just before Andrea's parents arrived we found out that the single girls who were with us here were going to be returning back to the states for the rest of the year.  This came as quite a shock to us!  We are praying for them and for what God has next for them!

After Narigua, FMC hired my guys to reinstall a roof on one of the bunk houses in our house.  This particular room will fit about 20 people, and at the rate FMC is growing it will definitely be needed this year!

The Taylor & Katie Schmidt family stayed with us for a week as well.  They are going to be taking the training courses this fall, but since she is pregnant with twins and due at the end of November they will be unable to come to Mexico with the rest of the group.  As a workaround, they came a experienced missions with us early.  They were a blessing to have around and I am sure will make excellent missionaries!

Eliza playing with the Schmidt family kids in the rain!

Stay tuned!  Due to a generous donation from a prayer group in Wisconsin (friends of Taylor Schmidt), we are going to build a chapel here in General Cepeda.  It will be called the Divine Mercy Chapel.  The land was donated to the church over a decade ago, and they never had any money to do anything with it...until now!  I am guessing the project will take about six weeks.  We had a youth group from in town here stay with us this week for a retreat.  They helped lay the foundations and clean the property.  I am sure they will be helping out throughout the project.  

Bonus Photos:

Leave it to Eliza to find the cats and dogs

Are there words for how adorable this is?

Our beautiful little girls!

Blessed beyond Belief

  July 3rd we had our most beautiful day in missions. That day, after 2 months of preparation,  we watched 16 of the kids we love and serve receive their sacraments(a mix of Baptism, Confession, 1st Communion, Confirmation) and one couple, who had lived together for 18 years and have 4 kids, receive the sacrament of Marriage!

     

  Now I have to tell the story of Emilia(our bride). About 1-2 weeks before the wedding, I brought some dresses to her house to try on. She wanted something very simple. Out of the 4 I brought, she found one that she really liked. I told her that she should come to the house and look at the others, because I had a feeling she might find one she liked more. She stopped by our house a couple days later and tried on several other dresses. She found one that she REALLY liked. It fit well and looked beautiful on her. She took it home so she could show it to her daughter. Two days later, she shows back up at the house and tells me that the dress wont fit! I couldn't believe it. How weird, right? I told her, "We have one more. Let's see if it will fit". (My parents had arrived the day before and brought my dress). And believe it or not, it fit perfectly. Her face lit up and we knew this was the one. How amazing that this woman who I have grown to know and love was to wear MY dress! The funny thing is, about 3 weeks before, Dave said to me "I think your dress would be perfect for Emilia!" Haha. He didn't know how right he was! (Sidenote: Although they are not smiling in the photos, the couple truly was extremely happy. Here, it is normal not to smile in photos)

Ricardo, Emilia, and their family

The day of the fiesta was perfect. The weather was beautiful(not the usual stifling heat you encounter at 12 pm in the desert). The people were smiling and excited. You would have thought we had given them a million dollars. But in all reality, they received something that day so much better than money; the graces of the sacraments. You could feel the graces poured out as each person received their sacraments. In that moment, I knew that we were here for a reason. Of course I have always known God sent us here for a reason. But  in this moment, I realized that without God working through us, these people may have never received their sacraments. There in that moment, I knew we had in some small way fulfilled our purpose as missionaries. And to see Emilia walk down the "aisle" of the chapel, wearing my dress, was truly indescribable.What an incredible God we have who would not only allow me to be part of this day, but then to top it off, He would give me the blessing of seeing Emilia wear my wedding dress. Thank you Jesus for the gift it is to be missionaries! Everything we've given up and sacrificed is totally worth it and I wouldn't trade this life for anything!

Me and my "ahijados"(Godchildren). Here you have a Godparent for every sacrament.

Dave and his ahijados

My Mom and Dad got to place the lasso on the couple. They felt very honored and blessed to do this! Ricardo and Emilia were really happy that my parents were able to do it as well(Here during the wedding ceremony, they place a lasso around the couple which symbolizes their unity)

Throwing the bouquet.....the Brides daughter caught it:)

Throwback: Dave and I on our wedding day. 8 1/2 years ago!