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After the Storm: Hope in the Midst of Brokeness

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After the Storm

 

Community Development, Food Kitchen, and Hope in the Midst of Brokenness
 

We believe God when He tells us that "in all things, He works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28).  We believe, but sometimes it's hard to understand.  It's hard to watch our friends lose their homes and their small jobs because of the hurricane. It's hard to live with the fact that the colonias where we work are "back to normal", but "normal" is a lack of adequate housing, food instability, and tenuous jobs that barely cover the necessities of life. It's hard to sit with someone who is very materially poor and believe God when he says, "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God" (Luke 6:20).  Our hearts break for families of children living together with unstable parents who cannot take care of the children because of their own brokenness.  But we believe.  We believe that God has a plan, that He loves all of us, no matter where we live or how we are broken, and so we continue to share about His love and redemption and promises in the midst of brokenness. 

One of the most encouraging developments that is directly tied to the hurricane is that a group of ladies in the neighborhood of Villas de Guadalupe united together to work in the mobile food kitchen that we set up in the days following the hurricane.  They are still cooking food, finding donations on their own from people in the city and government, and taking breakfast to the children in the neighborhood school each morning.  One of the ladies uses her own small home.  Her original home was completely destroyed in the hurricane, and the community rebuilt her a small room from the remnants of the plywood and cardboard of her previous home.  She divided her room with a curtain, put a bed on one side for herself, her husband, and three children, and the stove in the other half where the women cook and store all their donated food.  Despite the lack of running water, electricity, or adequate housing, these women are serving, using their considerable talents for making delicious meals from a small number of ingredients!  They also all came to the Ranch and cooked for a youth leader training event we had at the beginning of this month.  They have asked to continue to come cook for any event we have at the Ranch!  One of these ladies is a believer (the one who opened up her home to the food kitchen), and she and I have had many chances to talk with the other ladies and share what we believe. 

While the food kitchen likely will not continue exactly as it is currently functioning, the women are committed to uniting together for the good of their community.  We are now discussing with them various project ideas for community development (taking into consideration the assets and needs of their specific neighborhood) and praying about how best to change the kitchen into a longer term, sustainable, and beneficial project for all the people in the area.  Please pray for continued wisdom for us as we continue to support these women and their gifts, and pray that God would direct our steps as a team, working together to develop a project that would bless the area and be a redemptive project, both spiritually and physically.  Pray that God would powerfully change the hearts of people in the neighborhood; there are a lot of arguments, opposition, and brokenness from drugs and alcohol.  Projects are made more complex due to the politics of the neighborhood.  We cannot do this on our own...only as God moves can we see lasting change, and your prayers are an incredibly important part of the work we are doing here!

Ranch News

Ranch continues to bustle
after Hurricane Odile



 
We had to reschedule several retreats in September and early October due to the hurricane, but beginning in mid-October and continuing through mid-December, we have had and will have an event at the Ranch every weekend!  It's a blessing to be able to serve the local churches by offering a place for retreats and trainings.  One of the more recent events was a training for youth workers.  The Mexican directors of Youth Specialties Mexico came to the Ranch and provided a workshop to which we invited all the local youth workers.  It was a blessing and we received a lot of good feedback from the youth pastors and volunteers who attended.  As a result of the workshop, we have also been asked to help with a number of local youth groups by providing some more dynamic activities and talk ideas.  As I write this update, Pete is leading a youth group on a hike at the Ranch and helping the young youth pastor lead a talk along the hike, helping his youth encounter the presence of God.  A group coming in December asked us to help with a workshop entitled "The Love of God."  We are blessed to be able to help youth pastors minister to youth.
Family Update

The girls and Pete and I have been thanking God for the arrival of cooler temperatures these past few weeks.  Although, Pete and I are still trying to convince our girls that 85 degrees is NOT cold!  (They don't believe us yet.)  Ali is in 1st grade this year, still continuing with ballet and swimming and diving class.  Ava is in kindergarten and recently started gymnastics.  She is amazing and really enjoying her classes.  Kylah is in preschool and started ballet this year.  We really don't think anything can be cuter than preschool ballet class.  It is a blessing that all our girls have developed good friendships here and receive more than their fair share of birthday party invites, playdates, and outings with friends.  It keeps us busy, but also gives us many opportunities to meet people and share life with new friends for us, too.  We are looking forward to inviting many of these friends to our Thanksgiving celebration (which we plan on hosting at the Ranch this year)!
 
Blog Post of the Month

First, let me say that it is difficult to pull an adequate quote from an entire book, because of course, the quote comes from an entire book, and the book expounds and explains and develops full ideas.  If you are interested, challenged, agree or disagree with a single quote…I always recommend you read the entire book (or at least longer excerpts) in order to be able to more fully interact with the ideas put forth in a book…but of course, quotes are also useful discussion starters…such a quandary, but a good one.  I don’t think it’s a surprise to any of you that Pete and I love reading…more reading is a good problem to have!

I have been going back and re-reading some of the books that we read before coming to Mexico, and I am finding them so much more helpful at this point in my life than they previously were!  Toxic Charity, When Helping Hurts, Walking with the Poor, Forgotten Ways, among others…

Read the full post by clicking HERE or on the picture above.

 
Prayer Requests

1. Praise God for the way the youth training event at the Ranch earlier this month blessed and encouraged us, our staff, and a number of local area youth pastors and churches.

2. Praise God for the multiple retreats and events that have happened at the Ranch in October and November.  Despite the damage sustained by Hurricane Odile, we have been able to continue to use the Ranch for ministry!

3. Pray for us as we continue to serve as interim directors of Rancho el Camino.  We have a lot of responsibilities on our plates and have had some moments of discouragement in the past few months.  We openly acknowledge that in our own strength, this is an impossible task, but trusting in God, we are optimistically overwhelmed, as we like to say.  Your support and prayers are invaluable.  Seriously!  Thank you for joining with us in this work.

4. Please continue to pray for all the work in the colonias: we continue with our kids' club, helping children with homework, bringing them to the Ranch, Bible studies with interested adults, and encouragement of the ladies operating the food kitchen as they seek to further develop their project.
 
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