Update February 14, 2008

Well, Hi! – to borrow a phrase from friend

Hope all is well with you and yours today.

I realized that we hadn’t sent out an update recently to fill you in on some of the “goings-on” here in Mexico.

To start off, the family – single mom and her children – that we had asked you to pray for disappeared on us. No one is sure where they went but the best guess is that the mom had a sister with whom she could stay. Unfortunately, too often women involved in abusive relationships end up going back with the abuser. We continue to pray for her.

Next, we have electricity at Hope House! Praise God! We just need to do some rewiring – grounding the entire system, adding breakers, running the correct gauge wires.

Also, I finished my first full week working for the new Wal-Mart in San Luis, AZ. It was an eight day week, setting up the displays and beginning to stock merchandise. Some of you may be aware that this winter the electric company in our town, which is a federal agency, quadrupled the rates for electricity, where we were paying $40-$60/month in the winter, our bills have been between $250 and $280 and we don’t even have central heat! Needless to say, that severely taxed our budget. With the new Wal-Mart opening in San Luis, AZ, just across the border, I saw an opportunity to provide for the family without overtaxing the ministry. I knocked on the door and it opened, so I walked through it. We are grateful for all of you who have been faithfully supporting us and ask that, as the Lord leads, you continue to do so in order to allow the work of the Father’s heart to be established here in Mexico.

And speaking of the work being established, we have confirmed a Short Term Missions Team from northern California for Easter week. The leaders whom we’ve met have great enthusiasm and a heart to see the work of Hope House established for the sake of the Kingdom.

We appreciate your prayers and would love to hear from you. BTW – Erica’s having great fun on the family blog – The Sojourner. Check it out if you haven’t already!

Requested List of Needs for HHI

Greetings to one and all and warm greetings to most of you with your first taste of winter!! Brrrrrr!

Recently, we had been asked to put together a list of needs, those items which we good use to get Hope House up and running now that we have a building.

Please find below just such a list. We are grateful to all who have been able to help and to everyone who has been praying for us and the work here in Mexico.

Hope House needs list:

1. Activate electricity at building:

a. $100 to pay off existing electric bill

b. Move electric pole after IFC (Mexican electric company) cuts wires

c. $100 reconnect fee

d. New meter box and breakers

2. Rewire existing breaker boxes and circuits

3. Sewing Machines

4. Sewing Machine and sewing accessories

a. thread, bobbins, machine needles, sewing needles, scissors, pins

5. Fabric

a. especially child print but all kinds

6. Tables and chairs for sewing, eating, etc.

7. Living room furniture

a. Sofas, end tables, lamps, coffee tables, area rugs, etc.

8. Refrigerator - only one at the house works

9. Freezer – chest or upright

10. Propane stove - the one at the house, aside from being electric, doesn't work

11. Microwave

12. Cooking utensils

a. Pots, pans, baking & casserole dishes, crock pots, spoons spatulas, etc.

13. Kitchen cabinets- There are only a couple of shelves on the walls in the kitchen. We need upper cabinets for storage.

14. Shelving for dry goods, clothing, etc.

15. Inside door for room

16. New green board for showers (2)

17. Install hot water tank (instant-on tank preferred) and inside connections

18. Tile showers and bathroom floors (2)

19. Window replacement

20.Perimeter walls built around property

With the acquisition of the building, our monthly expenses have increased and will continue as we seek to bring on additional staff and provide for the families in our care. We would ask you to prayfully consider investing in this work as the Lord might lead. Checks can be made out directly to Hope House International and mailed to our address.

We very much appreciate those of you who have been supporting us financially.

Hope House International has a tax-exempt status as a public charity under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Contributions are tax deductible under section 170 of that Code.

Thank you all for your prayers and your kindness.

Clean Up Day at Hope House!

This past Saturday, November 17, 2007, we had a few folks for the Home Educators of Yuma homeschool support group (H.E.Y.) come across the border to help us with a general clean up at the new building. Special thanks to the Adler family - Jim, Allison, Tyler, Jonathan and David and also to Irene Heinz for all their help in sweeping and scrubbing, mopping and organizing!

We had sent out a call for help with cleaning supplies - buckets, mops, brooms, etc. - to the homeschool group, asking them to bring the supplies to Friday's day in the park. We were humbled and excited at the same time by the abundance with which the families responded. We received enough supplies to not only clean on Saturday but also to keep the house clean for weeks to come! Thank you, H.E.Y.!!!







Allison mopping the kitchen.

Irene scrubs the walls.

Jim worked with Joe to check out all the electrical connections, breakers boxes, etc.













Even the boys got involved!

And, of course, there was lunch!

Thanks again for all your help!

A Look Forward to 2007

When Joe took his first trip to Mexico in the summer of 1978, he was overwhelmed by the needs that he saw on the bus ride from McAllen, TX to Uruapan, Michoacan. We have just had several nights of below freezing temperatures. They say it is the coldest it has been in 16 years. Our kitchen has been around 58° each morning. Joe turns on the oven to take off the chill while the coffee is brewing. (Decaf only!) It could easily be overwhelming to think of how cold it must be for most of the Mexicans whose houses have no insulation. We cannot keep everybody warm, so we do what we can. Legacy Church and Pastor Erik Rangel in Yuma collected some blankets the first cold spell we had. Acts Community Church and Pastor John Bennett send down jackets, sweaters and more blankets. We took them over to Ricardo and the guys at “Eliacim”, a rehab center for men. They were much appreciated.

San Luis is a paradox. There are some places that receive many times over what they can actually use while there are other areas and peoples that go virtually unnoticed. There is great abundance and yet incredible need. It was in recognizing one of these needs that gave birth to the vision for Hope House – a place of hope and refuge for single moms and teen girls. As an example of the needs, I would like to introduce you to a few folks.

Patti, age 20 and Carla, age 16 are the daughters of crystal meth addicts. They have both developed a skin disorder that is very common in Mexico where their skin loses its pigmentation. They were examined by a doctor from Mexico City this fall and told that the cause of their physical aliment was emotional stress – the stress of living in a house with methamphetamine-addicted parents. The doctor told them to get out of the house. We would like to invite them to Hope House!

Lupita was 15 years old when she got pregnant by a married man who was in his forties. Both she and the father of now her two children want to serve the Lord and do what is right but that would mean going back home to her parents (she ran away from home, originally) and being separated from her children's father until he can divorce his former wife (he has children older that Lupita) and legitimately marry Lupita and raise these two children. We hope that we can establish Hope House quickly enough so that Lupita and her children can come stay with us, receiving the help and training she needs.

These stories are repeated dozens if not hundreds of times throughout the city.

The Lord recently opened the door for us to one of the few remaining and functioning women's rehab centers. They can house up to 30 women and have a special room just for young girls and those who come to the center while pregnant. This is a wide open and ripe harvest field. It is our hope that some of these women and girls will join us at Hope House after they are clean and sober so that we can introduce them to He who sets the captives free.

Each Friday, Joe is up and in the line to cross the border by 5:30am to be at a food bank in Yuma by 8:00am. He has been carrying food across for Ricardo and the guys at the center, another program that feeds 100 kids breakfast every morning and now for the women's rehab center. This food opened the door to the women's center. Recently, he was turned back at the border and told by the Mexican officials that he could only bring a little bread and a few canned goods across and only on Saturday. However, God provided a contact in the Human Rights Agency in Mexico who spoke with the Aduana (Customs) and now Joe can bring as much as he can carry! Praise God!!

A Look Back at 2006

Our adventures and travels of 2006 were the seeds planted for what it is that the Lord has planned for our 2007 – a litany of the miraculous and examples of God's grace.

• We established a non-profit corporation in Arizona called “Hope House International.”

• God supplied the funds through the quick sale of some land by Erica's great aunt Rachel McKinney and her generosity for the purchase of a 34 ft motor home.

  

• Memphis, TN - 22 meetings in 14 days – renew friendships, relationships with pastors and churches.

• Pittsburgh, PA from mid-June to end of September – much grace is evidenced as we work with Joe's Dad and Mom to send them out from the church they've been pastoring for 20 years. We had a chance to renew old friendships, establish some new ones and visit with family. Two trips to Bedford, PA and the family of God at Acts Community church, sharing and encouraging.

• Myrtle Beach, SC – thanking God for the on going work with the Latino community and sharing with more old friends!

• Orlando, FL – meeting up with Erica's Uncle John and Aunt Marty at Disney World where they present us with 4 2-day passes to all the Disney Parks. Thanks Nikki for your help with the camp site!

• Memphis, TN - Four more weeks and the gracious hospitality of the Richard family – churches visited, communing with friends.

• Back in Mexico by mid-November after 6 months on the road, 18 states visited and 8,000 miles traveled.

We cannot say thank you enough to the pastors and churches who opened their doors and hearts to us allowing us to share about Hope House and the challenge for the bride to be prepared! Also, a big thank you to friends and family who took us in or simply fellowshipped with us over a meal! Thanks to all for your kindness and generosity.

Our Burden

Over the four past years in ministry in San Luis Rio Colorado, we have seen many things. We have seen Americans and Canadians by the hundreds flock to the city for missions trips, reaching out to a desperately needy people . We have seen three or four rehab centers for women open just this past year in SLRC but then close within several months.

There are many families in this city that are without fathers in the home or those men who are there are not the father of the children nor are they married to the mother. I know of one lady who has eleven children by five different men. Her youngest daughter is younger than her grand daughter. The daughters in these families have little hope of higher education. The street life is easy money but leads to a life of tragedy.

Many times, the father of the house travels across to “the other side”, as they refer to the United States, either legally or illegally to find work with the intention of sending home money to support the family. This works for a while, then the man finds the American lifestyle too appealing.

The money is under the table. He pays no taxes. He lives with 7 or 8 other Latinos in a dilapidated house trailer or crowded apartment or rented house, drinks heavily at night and soon forgets his “wife” and children in Mexico.

This leaves the mother with 2, 3 or more kids and no means of support. Her options are limited in that few Mexican women have any education above the junior high level. She can try to find a job in a store or in a factory but this pays an average of $50US per week. Too often she will have to supplement this income by working the street and bars or dancing in one of the clubs which operate in SLRC.

In each of these scenarios, the children are the ones lost in the chaos. The mothers and their children are paying an incredible price in San Luis Rio Colorado. Abandoned by their husbands and fathers, a single bare bulb burning overhead, huddled together to keep warm in their cardboard house on a cold winter’s night, or sweltering in the 100° heat of a desert night, these lost sheep are praying and hoping that tomorrow will be a better day.

You can help! You can go!

You can make a difference!

We are looking for people to live on site, full time, to teach and nurture. Short term missions teams are needed to help build the facilities and reach out to the community. Materials must be purchased. Staff must be paid. Food, clothing and utilities will need to be provided for.
Pray and ask the Father what is to be your part in saving these families!