Update

The past couple weeks have found Scott busy working on filling and leveling the ground at Good Samaritan Church in Reynosa. The work is going slowly, but it is getting done.
Last Saturday, we had the opportunity to partner with another ministry in Reynosa and provide lunch for 50 kids who come each Saturday to learn more about Christ. They were so excited to eat as much hot dogs, chips, and sodas as their tummies could hold. It was a good day.
Today, we learned of the deaths of a little boy and a young man. The little boy was 9 yrs old and lived in Rio Bravo. He had been playing with some friends and somehow found a belt tightened around his neck to the point of death. All the circumstances aren't clear, but a family is hurting. The services will be held at Pastor Mario's church tonight.
I went across into Reynosa this afternoon to take some food and medicine to a family. It was then that I learned a boy that I had known for several years had been killed a few weeks ago. He was shot to death. He chose to follow into the "easy life" that the cartels offered him. It was that decision that caused his death. I was speechless when I heard. I thought I misunderstood the Spanish translation. I hoped I had misunderstood. I made her repeat it several times to be sure. It was true. He was killed. My heart broke and tears flowed down my face.
This is the reality in the lives of the people we serve. We have heard it said "it is better to live a "good" life and die at 20 than be poor and live to 60". This is why we work with Pastors to help reach out to these kids with the love and hope of our Savior. This is why we were called here.
The whole drive home, all I could think of were my many interactions with this young man. We shared the truth with him, but the choice to follow was his. My family will never forget him.

Update

Over the past couple weeks, Scott has been working on filling and leveling the ground for the new building at Good Samaritan Church. Once completed, the church will have a feeding center - which is really needed. This would allow the children in the area to be guaranteed a meal once a day. What a wonderful way for the church to be able to reach out into the community even more. This building is a work of faith. We are building block by block, dollar by dollar as the Lord provides. We aren't sure how long it will take, but we know that it will be in God's perfect time. The work over the past weeks has been rough and tiring. Scott enlisted Clay's help for several days. One day, the guys were just pulling into the church - still physically exhausted from the day before - they were so moved to find a couple adults and a bunch of children waiting for them. THEY WANTED TO HELP!! They had been watching Scott & Clay working so hard and wanted to help them. WHAT A HUGE BLESSING!!

PRAYER REQUESTS:
Please pray for continued safety as we travel in Mexico.

Please pray for God's hand of provision over our family and ministry. We are in need of additional monthly partners. We understand that the economy is bad right now - but we pray that people would consider coming alongside us.

Please pray for physical healing for Lisa. The last year has been filled with many "ups and downs". Please pray for her complete healing.

THANK YOU for your continued prayers and support. We are so grateful. God Bless!!

Christmas Party

This year we had an even larger group of kids come to the Christmas Party at Good Samaritan Church in Reynosa, Mexico...45+ kids. That means even MORE kids heard the gospel and were fed a meal. The evening started with a Christmas program, followed by a craft, dinner, games, dessert, and presents!! What a blast!! The kids had hot dogs, hot cheetos, soda, and cake to eat. As much as they wanted!! Not sure when the last time was that these kids felt FULL.

Each family represented was given a Christmas Bag. Each bag had enough beans and rice for a month, laundry detergent, bin of supplies (washcloths, shampoo, soap, toothbrushes, toothpaste, matches, razors, combs, candy, and more), blankets, and a child's toy. These families were so grateful for such needed gifts!!

This is the 3rd year we have hosted a Christmas Party at Good Samaritan. It has become an occasion that the kids start looking forward to months ahead of time. They are always so excited!!

Because of a generous donation, we were able to provide more food and Bags than we had originally planned. We were also able to bless two other churches in Rio Bravo with Christmas Bags and gifts for the Pastors.

THANK YOU to everyone who helped make this event a HUGE success!!

Update

Over the past few weeks, Scott has been working at Good Samaritan Church. He has completed one classroom - in which we used donated carpet squares and even repurposed bathroom dividers into new benches for the children- both items donated from our church in TX. Pastor Francisco and Lulu were so excited about this new classroom. This week, Scott is continuing work on another classroom. We pray that God will provide the funds needed to build the new sanctuary for this church. It is located in an area that has so much need for the hope that only our loving Savior can offer.

Last Wednesday we learned that Jaime, a young man that had helped Scott on projects at Good Samaritan Church over the past couple years, had died at the age of 26 the day before. Over the past year and a half, Pastor Francisco had noticed that Jaime had been associating with the "wrong crowd". The area that he lived in was known for drugs. Francisco would talk with him and encourage him to leave those people and come back to the church. Jaime always replied the same way...."Soon". On Wednesday night, Scott and Francisco stood at a cemetery in Reynosa - surrounded by men who were known for selling drugs in the area where Jaime lived. What a sad day. A young man who had been a blessing to us with his hard work - never found the time to turn away from what he knew was wrong.

FOR THOUGHT.....Each one of us is given a certain amount of days on this earth. We don't know how long God has planned for each of us - we hope we live to a ripe old age - but that isn't always the case. How easy it is to say "Soon". We want to change the things in our lives that we know don't please God, but not today...SOON. We want to reach out and make a difference in the world around us, but we're just so busy....we'll do something SOON. We want to spend time with our families and MAKE SURE they know how precious they are to us, but it's just too hard to get everyone together - maybe we will sometime SOON. So many things we want to do....we'll get to them SOON. Well, dear friend, you aren't guaranteed that you will even have tomorrow. Choose today to CHANGE, IMPACT, AND LOVE.

Update

Over the past few weeks, Scott has continued work at Pastor Mario's church. We are completing room by room. It is a slow process, but an encouraging one since Mario had no idea when he might be able to complete this building before Scott came alongside him. Last week, we were contacted by a church in TX that was replacing some carpet tiles in their church building. They gladly offered us the tiles - if we would remove them. So, Scott and the kids went and removed several hundreds of tiles and brought them home. We have taken a large load across the border already, and will continue to take pieces over the next weeks. This carpet will be a HUGE blessing to Pastor Francisco and his church.
We are just wrapping up a fundraiser and are excited to see God's provision for several months of food to be supplied for people in need. We will be dividing these funds between three of the churches we work alongside. The people will be so excited to be given this food from their Pastors. Thank you to everyone who helped with the fundraiser - YOU HAVE BEEN A BLESSING!!
Scott's dad and Aunt came for a visit. It is so nice to be able to spend time with them. We wish that the distance wasn't so far to be able to be together more often.

PRAISE!! Earlier this year, Scott was hit by a bus in Reynosa and it ripped his driver's side mirror off. We hadn't been able to find a replacement - so we duct taped a cosmetic mirror to the van so that he could see. (I know it sounds funny - doesn't it??) Well, Scott and his dad went to a local junk yard on Friday and they not only found a replacement mirror, but had it installed all for ONLY $40. We are so thankful that the expense wasn't too bad. Thank you Lord.

This is my encouragement for you today....look for God even in the small things. He's there and worthy of praise. We praised God for providing a mirror for our van. We acknowledged His hand. Instead of focusing on the things we are lacking in our lives, maybe we can try to take the time and see God's hand in all the little things. Maybe a change in our perspective in just what we need.....Your prayers of praise are such a sweet aroma to Him. ~God Bless You!!