Back in the States...

"O God, You are more awesome than Your holy places.  The God of Israel is He who gives strength and power to His people.  Blessed be God" (Psalm 68:35). We have been back in the states for the past 6 days and already we are missing Mexico. Its a bit strange adjusting back to food and especially the weather (going from 75 degrees to 38 and snowing in Utah)..however we are enjoying our time with family, friends and sharing about the orphanage.

The last 2 weeks of our time there was incredibly busy with our missions team from Washington and Utah.  In a period of 5 working days, we were absolutely amazed at what was accomplished.  As I reflect on what the Lord did...and read what the Psalmist proclaimed...truly we have an "awesome" God.  During the trip, we were able to pour the rest of the concrete floor, frame the inside of the orphanage, install all the plumbing, dig and put in 1/2 the septic tank system, tile the 400 square foot room the summer team added onto the church...AND...have lots of time for fellowship, study through 1st Timothy, and serve over 100 kids at the Fall Festival.  The Lord was faithful to give the team strength, power, good health and a blessed trip.

On Monday, we headed up to El Paso and put the team on a plane back to WA and Utah.  Jackie, Ayantu and I, along with my dad and Jenny stayed a few extra days in El Paso.  Monday night and Tuesday morning were dedicated to our first “Board of Advisors” meeting.  I spent 8 hours with 4 brothers that I highly respect and appreciate their love for the Lord and passion for the orphanage.  I must admit there were moments throughout our time together that I felt like, “what in the world am I doing? I’m not qualified or skilled or ready for this...”  However, the Lord reminded me of the uneducated and untrained men the book of Acts talks about...

“Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled.  And they realized that they had been with Jesus” (Acts 4:13).

That is my desire...and I know it is the boards desire as well...spend more time with Jesus, meditate on Him, love and serve Him and all other things will fall into place.

On Wednesday, we flew from El Paso to Salt Lake City.  My brother and his family have been living their the past 8 years and are very involved in a great church, Calvary Mountain View.  I had the honor of sharing at the college group, Regeneration, last night. It was a sweet time of worship, fellowship and watching the Lord move on the hearts of young people in the area of missions and taking steps of faith.  The Lord has also opened the doors for me to lead worship and teach tomorrow morning as well.  Please be praying for me...I’d love that!

Finally, on Monday, we will make our trek back home to WA.  After being gone for 3 1/2 months, it will be great to be reunited with our family and church again.  For the next 2 months, I will be focusing solely on the orphanage...logistics, administration, missions trip planning and speaking at different churches.  I know the time will go by fast so we are praying that God will help us get everything done before we move back down, permanently in January.

This new chapter in our lives has been one of the biggest blessings, and yet biggest challenges.  We know now more then every before that this is what God has for us and we can’t wait to see it all unfold before us.  We cannot thank you enough for all your prayers and support thus far...it has ministered to our hearts and family greatly!

The team from WA, Utah and our brothers in Bachiniva...

We left one brother behind, Doug (El Capitan) who installed all the electrical work...

Chris, Judah, Jose and Jesse inside on our of water tanks for the septic system...these tanks are massive...

The roof is red to put the "rustic red" tin on...

"Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who ONLY does wondrous things!  And blessed be His glorious name forever!  And let the whole earth be filled with His glory.  Amen and Amen" (Psalm 72:18-19).

Missions Team Update...

Its hard to believe that the fall construction trip has reached the halfway point.  Seems like just yesterday we were up in the states picking up the 8 brothers and 1 sister from Puyallup WA.  They arrived safely in El Paso on Friday and we spent Friday and Saturday shopping, purchasing equipment and preparing to head into Mexico.  The original plan was to pick up 34 windows and bring them down.  However, as the bible says, "a man's heart plans his ways, but the LORD directs his steps" (Prov 16:9).  The Lord had a different plan for us.  The windows which were suppose to arrive on Friday, didn't come in until Sunday.  This was a bit of a bummer, however, "no hay problema".  PLUS...it actually worked out for the good.  This enabled us to purchase all of the plumbing stuff as well as the bulk of the electrical as well.  We were fully prepared and ready to pay the 16% tax to cross good into Mexico.  The gal we talked to was very nice, very helpful and in fact gave us some VERY valuable information.  She shared that with a letter from the church, to the mayor of Bachiniva...stating that we would like to donate items to the orphanage, we can then bring that signed letter from the mayor and cross items TAX free.  What a blessing this was to hear, as this will save additional money.  So truly, the Lord always works things out for good. Here's the team trying to figure out how to fill our their visa forms...

Pastor Ron shared the word on Sunday.  He is teaching us through the book of 1st Timothy.  The Church was packed and what a blessing it was to see hearts encouraged and strengthened in the Lord.  After church, we all headed to the orphanage for fellowship, food, games and seeing all that God has done so far.  This was the first time the team saw the orphanage as well as a lot of people from the church.  As I saw kids running around, laughing, smiling, enjoying the facility...God gave me a glimpse of whats to come with the orphans He will bring...

Come breakfast time Monday morning, the team was ready and eager to work.  We started with our time of prayer and a Psalm at the orphanage at 7:30 AM.

After prayer, we split the team up into 4 groups...framing, plumbing/septic, cement floor and welding/roofing.  By the end of the first 2 days of work, it was amazing to see all that had taken place...

Judah and Chris, leading the plumbing crew...

El Capitan give direction to the framing crew...

The two Marks...

After 1 day of framing...one side almost finished...

Judah weaving his web of plumbing...

2 of our 4, 6,000 liter septic tanks that will be buried 8 feet underground...WOW!

Hanging the 12 foot high trusses...

As we only have a few more work days left, we are trusting and praying for the strength and time to get all the necessary things done.  The team is staying healthy, loving Jesus, loving each other, working great with our Mexican brothers...and plain just having a blast down here.  Thanks for your continued support and prayers!

The Work Continues...

Thank you for your prayers this past weekend.  We had a safe trip to Chihuahua on Sunday, to pick up our friend Chris.  We got some things done there before heading back to Bachiniva on Monday.  Chris has been such a blessing so far, not just with his knowledge for construction, plumbing and a million other things, but also just as a friend and brother in Christ.  It will be great having him apart of the team the next few weeks. Tomorrow morning at 6:30 AM, Kim, Jose and I head to the states to pick up the team of 9 from Puyallup WA.  They are very eager to get down here just as much as we are ready to receive them.  This week has been a bit crazy, trying to finish projects at the orphanage, start the plumbing and getting the dorms, food, and church ready to receive the team.  Fortunately, everything seems to be coming together...thank you Jesus.  We will be staying the night in El Paso, picking up supplies and our windows on Saturday and then making the trek home.  We have all the documents needed to cross the windows at the border, nevertheless, you never know what could happen...so please be praying with us!

As I mentioned, the main focus of the trip will be framing the orphanage, installing windows and doors and working on the electrical.  We also have a brother coming down who knows how to lay tile, so he will be doing that in the addition the summer team put in.  Already that room is being used and filled on a weekly business.  What a blessing it was to see some 30 people crammed in their for soup kitchen last night.

Here are some pics from the past few days.  Looking forward to sharing with you pics of the construction next week as well as the Fall Festival on Wednesday.  We are anticipating  100 kids that will hear the gospel, little worship, lots of fun, games and candy!

Starbucks with Chris and Pastor Luis...

Trenches dug and waiting to be filled with pipe...

Chris, frantically looking for his contact lens....just kidding!

"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor;  He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound" (Isaiah 61:).