Friday, January 31, 2014

Language School and Fun With The Girls

Please keep us in your prayers as we leave for language school tomorrow!  We are getting on a bus in Saltillo for an 8 hour trip to Guadalajara.  The school is for weeks long and 4 hours each day of intensive language learning.  Oh!...had I invested more time in high school Spanish! 

Eliza and Daddy built a tower today that was taller than her!

Bucket Bath!


A little taste of Home, in Mexico!

We have seen a couple of these Nebraska 24 water stores.  I think it is from the Otos Tribe word for Flat Water which is also where our home state gets its name.


Thursday, January 30, 2014

Don Pedro

Half way through our first week in Mexico we discovered a Man, Don Pedro, whose house started on fire and completely collapsed the roof in one of his rooms.  He had no door between this room and the one he was sleeping in and was basically sleeping outside for a few days.  The temps at night were nearing freezing.  He is 89 years old and has actually helped in the mission of this place in years past by going to the Ejidos and sharing his testimony. 

Praise God we were led to this man and were able to help him!

We managed to nail together a door to help keep out the cold, and brought him some food. We are also starting to rebuild his roof. 



 Here is the wood we used to cover the door openning.

 All the morillos burned and fell to the floor.

 You can see the smoke damage in the rest of his house.


There are many people here in need of roof repairs as well as other items on their houses as well.  If you would like to help out purchasing materials for these projects contact Family Missions Company (fmcmissions.com) and click on the "Give a Home Campaign" under the "Give" Tab

Friday, January 24, 2014

Life in Mexico

How have things been? Crazy, Hectic, Stressful, Blessed and Beautiful. These past two weeks, life here in Mexico has been a lot of things. We have been stolen from and lied to by people who have come to our door. I have felt used and abused, and totally unappreciated.

So why am I still here? Because when Christ called me to missions, I didn’t say “Yes….as long as everyone is always really nice to me, and it is always easy.” I simply said “Yes Father. YOUR will be done.”

Today as I was doing my daily Bible reading, I came across a passage in Sirach 2:1-6 which says “My son, when you come to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for trials. Be sincere of heart and steadfast, undisturbed in time of adversity. Cling to him, forsake him not; thus will your future be great. Accept whatever befalls you. In crushing misfortune be patient; for in fire gold is tested, and worthy men in the crucible of humiliation.”

God couldn’t speak to me any clearer.

Being in missions is hard; but it does not go without its blessings. Alongside the many hardships we’ve had these past few weeks, we have encountered so many beautiful things. Amazing 90 year old women whose faith inspires me. A beautiful 9 month pregnant woman who thanked us repeatedly for helping pay for a medication she simply could not afford on her husband’s humble salary. The people of Cuchillo del Indio, who are HUNGERING for the faith; who want to cook for us, spend time with us, and hear everything we have to say about Christ and what He has to offer them. In these moments I have felt loved, blessed and appreciated.

There will be many trials in life. Christ is calling us to cling to Him in these moments and to continue to trust in His will. During the trials, we MUST NOT forsake Him. We must continue on even when it feels impossible to do so. May Christ be our strength ALWAYS!

Love and Prayers from Mexico,

-Andrea

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Cuchillo De Indio

This past weekend we had the opportunity to provide a communion service for the people at Cuchillo de Indio.  It is an ejido about 45 minutes away from General Cepeda.  Jonathan and Theresa Kiehl (last years team stationed here) built a chapel at this location.  This was probably the second communion service to take place at this ejido!  After giving the communion service, we distributed several clothing items (sweaters, gloves, etc.), blankets, and cross necklaces to the people.
These blankets were purchased by the Life Teen group that came down a couple weeks ago.


The Life Teen group also brought the clothing with them.

Eric Martin gives a Florida sweater to this boy.


 The children with their new cross necklaces!


Sunday, January 12, 2014

First Mission Trip - First Work Project

We came to General Capeda with the first mission trip of the year.  It was an awesome group of Life Teen missionaries.  It was a great welcome to our new home being able to lead them in their service to the people of Mexico.  There were two work projects set up for the week.  Each was a new roof for houses that needed them.
Photo of group on Saltillo pilgrimage day


The area of General Capeda has been in a 30 year drought, however, this year the rain has been unusually high.  Many roofs in the area are now collapsing due to the added weight of the water. 

Here are the children of the family who received the new roof of the project David led.
The roofs here are made with logs called "Morillos"


On top of the Morillos, "tabletas" are installed.  The one we used were recycled boards taken off pallets.
 





 Gonzalo is the "Maestro" for our projects.  He has been working in construction for over 30 years.



After the Tabletas are installed, a piece of plastic is layed down and dirt thrown on top.
The final step will be adding a thin layer (approx. 3/4") of concrete over the dirt.


The family's pig in his house made from pallets.

It is incredibly rewarding being able to provide for people in need!  Thank you to all our supporters!

Friday, January 10, 2014

God's promise He would not be late!

As most of you probably know, we have a house we needed to sell in order to leave for missions.  If the house hadn't sold by January, we were going to move back to Louisiana and I would find work to make house payments till it sold.

I remember during our intake training in October the readings at Mass one day were from Habakkuk chapter 2, verse 3.  The last phrase reads as this: "If it delays, wait for it, it will surely come, it will not be late."  That phrase really made an impression and I knew the Holy Spirit was telling me that He would not be late in selling our house so we could go on Mission starting in January.

As the Lord would have it, we finished training December 11th and headed back to Hastings for a Holiday break with family.  Since discovering we would be headed to Mexico and not flying overseas we had been starting to look for a different (larger) vehicle than our Hyundai Sonata.  I found on Sid Dillon's website this sweet 1996 Ford Conversion Van!
It took some persuading, but I finally convinced Andrea this was the vehicle God had in mind for us.  Plenty of room, incredibly comfortable, durable, relatively low miles.  It was like a hand wrapped gift from the Lord!  We purchased the Van and were just about set to go....

We went into Christmas all ready to go as soon as our house sold....waiting and waiting.  As January 1st drew nearer and nearer we watched as our hope of leaving for Mexico with the rest of our team started to fade away.  Then on Thursday the 26th, we got a call.  A donor asked us how the house selling was going and I told him that I had a couple offers but they were pretty low.  To which he replies, "we have been praying about it, and we have $60,000 we want to give you to sell your house, so when you are dealing with offers, know that you have that available to cover any difference from what you need."  We were speechless.  God is so good!  On Sunday, December the 29th, we signed an offer.  And started packing everything as fast as we could to leave on Jan 1 for Houston, TX.  The rest of our team was meeting to head to Mexico that night!

God told us He would not be late and He sure wasn't!  

We moved into our new home Jan. 2nd.  I took a few more pictures for those of you who are interested. 







We are stationed here with one other family, the Martin's.  If you would like to read their story click here

We are also with three single ladies: Madison Dold (info), Abi Eckstine (info), Megan Behrens (info)

In other exciting new we were featured in the Southern Nebraska Register.  I have linked the article here
We were also interviewed for the Spirit Mornings program on Spirit Catholic Radio.  The interview will air on Tuesday Jan. 14th at about 8:30 A.M. It will also be available via podcast from their website after the air date.  I linked the page here

God has us on an incredible adventure and I can't wait to share it with you all!

God Bless!
In Christ, 
Dave