Thursday, January 22, 2015

Look what I found from January 2014

I am cleaning up the lap top preparing for the kids to come and do their homework here on the internet and I came across this that I wrote this last year. I hope you can see it because each thing has been answered by God and the amazing team He is forming!
I can not stop crying. On Christmas day we were remembering how last Christmas we were freaking out on how we were going to make the payment on a land we were buying to help single mothers start a daycare and at the same place have a place to live. Also I had on my heart to start a sewing room and small business center for the women to make uniforms at low prices and be able to buy their own machines to work from home! Well Lord willing this will happen this summer.
The funniest part is we had no idea we would be living on this land! In January 2014 24th we moved here and we were going to celebrate however we will be at the open house of Eternal Anchor a new ministry providing a Christian home to children with severe disabilities and a daycare for other children with severe disabilities. This has been a dream of mine since I first went to Rancho Sordo Mudo before I was saved, and now to see it happening through some amazing young adults! God is moving in Camalu! God is bringing great things to this land that is so dry and so spiritually poor!
Yesterday Pipiloa brought Rodrigo, a man who used to live at the dump also, to our house to get some food and Paulino seen that he did not have a jacket and it was getting cold. Just an hour before our amazing partners at the dump ministry stopped by and had brought a jacket along with some other clothes! That is how our God works! We have seen so many more verses in Psalm 113 come to pass! Thank you so much for partnering with us and praying for us! It is not us you are partnering with but we can trully say it is God because in spite of who we are HE IS!

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Poor or Just Broke!

Last week we were able to drive up to Ensenada to have lunch with my niece and her son! It was amazing to have a good running vehicle to be able to have cash to put gas in and know that we would be able to spend time as a family! Finally Jennifer and Kainoa would be able to meet their cousin Jose and their uncle Paulino! 


We have spent the last year living in poverty learning to understand what those that we minister to feel like! How they struggle and how they have to make choices to feed their kids or have electricity! They work in the fields so the only fruits or vegetables on their tables are those they are picking or tortillas made from corn. Paulino kept saying 2015 bring new things! God is going to grow us and stretch us and it is so true. He has just added monthly supporters to our team and so many more that are praying for us. As the finances grow so do the needs. I just had a highschooler come by and give me the list of things she needs for school and they are so much cheaper in the states. We were just gifted an amazing truck however we need to import it before I can cross the border with it.
 So for now we have to buy things here more expensive and worse quality! But that is part of learning what the locals go through. I can not imagine one of our moms and her husband goes to work in the fields every day and make $10US each, trying to feed themselves and their 3 kids he also does drugs so how do they survive how does she stand by his side and how does she support her children. 
Rain came and went however the effects of rain are a long lasting thing here. It would be great if it rained in the mountains to go into the water system. When it rains here on the strawberries it causes many problems with the fruit itself. This means no crops which means no work which means no money for the local people. Some go to work 3 days out of 7 days and some go just to come back a few hours later. If you are really good you can get contracted to go to the states to pick strawberries there. I know not many people want to break their backs standing over these one foot piles of berries. I tried it for 10 minutes one day when the women's shelter was gleaning and my back was hurting and my hands too. I did not even have half of what the women or kids had! So you can see for someone to be able to leave their family behind for 3 months to go and make minimum wage which one hour is slightly less than what they make in one day! Is it worth it for a child to go without his parent for a few months to be able to survive during the year? Is it worth it to keep both parents together with their family and not be able to buy daily needs. 
I would like to say I have no idea! All we can do is pray and encourage each family or person God puts in our path. Helping them with what ever God has given us! 












Thursday, January 15, 2015

Hijacking the Blog :)

Hi Friends....
    This is Shannon (a friend of Christina and Paulino), they have no idea that I am hijacking their blog...surprise! We just spent time on New Year's Day at Paulino and Christina's house helping to serve at the dump and to throw a party for the neighborhood kids. Can I just tell you that it is SO amazing to see all that God has done and is doing through the steps of faith these amazing friends have taken? They are the REAL deal!


They pour out the love of Christ to everyone who passes by....and they have people stopping in constantly. People who are hungry, people who have needs, children who need help with homework....you name it and they are doing it!




The beautiful house that they serve from!!!




So I wanted to share some pictures of those that they are loving everyday!






Their beautiful daughter Gianna!!!













And this....

Is their dream. To purchase this field across the street from their house and turn it into a park where children can come and have a safe place to play....

Wanna help???? Contact Christina :)

Most importantly, here are ways you can continue to pray for this amazing family!

Most of all life and good health for Jose! Praising God we just got a truck so we can take hime and his gramma to see their family in Oaxaca! He loves it there and misses his cousins there!

Prosperity of souls! We want to win souls and see lives changed for Jesus!

Protection for our little town from the rain many homes or roofs are not in good shape.

Provision that God will continue to provide all of our needs so that we can be a blessing to others.

Pray for open hearts and changed lives. God has given Paulino the gift of Evangelism so ALL will hear the WORD at ALL hours.

Pride! That we would be proud to say we are children of the Most High God and that our witness would speak for itself.

Practice! That those around us would practice what they are learning from us. Especially as the kids start to bring over their parents to get to know us. These families would come to live for Jesus and share with their neighbors in need. Also those that Paulino teaches construction skills will be able to leave the field labor and be away from the fumigation.

Practically God is showing us that meeting practical needs and helping others to become dependant on Jesus and not us! Cutting hair or a bucket of water preaches for itself!


I have a TON more pictures so just might have to hijack this again :)







Sunday, January 11, 2015

Chains And Locks That Seem Impossible To Unlock!

This year has been kind of crazy! God is doing some interesting things I decided to blog about what God has been saying to me and maybe it will help someone else. Todays facebook reads

Friends! Yesterday was spent with friends that mean a lot to me. Sisters in Christ that I can counsel and pray for although I do not see them often I am blessed when I do! The only thing is after counseling and praying for them I am left with a huge thought of the Holy Spirit saying! This is for you too!
1 Where ever you are right now BE THERE! SERVE ME!
2 IT IS NOT ABOUT YOU! Who are you there for if just one person!
3 TRUST ME FOR TOMORROW! If you listen to my voice I will confirm it!

As I look around at half made houses, roofs that leak and cars that hardly run, I see my life. I see a person that needs to get her home in order and needs to seek God. If all I see is on the outside than how can I love me and receive the love God has for me. Someone told me they want to be spent like me! Well if I do not fill up the inside how can I spend myself! I can only give God to others nothing we have belongs to us we ae sojourners! Yes from outside of my neighbors houses I see poverty!

On the inside of those houses I see TRUE POVERTY! Spriitual poverty a need that only Jesus can get inside of that locked door and fill the need! However He is a gentleman and will not break the lock He waits patiently! Revelation 3 20! I ask God this morning to please use me, us, our family to help to remove the chains off the doors of these neighbors. Can our witness bring softening of hearts, can our love, our willingness to serve. OR will we just be too tired, too busy or to righteous to love them. The poor you will have with you always says Jesus. So if we can bring Jesus to them daily changing lives and changing families than it will all be worth it.

For you see inside those broken down cars are really good stereos that sound good and entertain like banging symbals! But inside those houses with the leaking roofs and garage door walls are families struggling to make ends meet. Kids left at home for 12 hours a day so the parents can go to the fields and pick fruits and vegetables to export to the states. Well the economy in the states is down so there is less buying, less planting, less work for the parents. This results in more hopelessness, more drug use, more alcohol, more money being spent on useless things and less money to buy food and survive!

Yes we give clothes and food and water but what we really give is JESUS! Please pray for us today that we would shine so that the chains would be broken and doors would be open to receive Jesus!
This is Eva her dad Adan is a widower and Gilberto caring Eva cares for the whole family! Please pray God would use us to open their hearts and also to get them a house built soon! We are taking Eva to the doctor this week she has CP sever! They live across town where we are trying to reach to the North, South and East. We have friends already reaching the West! 


Thursday, January 8, 2015

Christmas Day!

This is our title slogan! 

We are a family stepping out in faith to serve the families of Camalu, Mexico. We are being used by the Lord to bring healing to those hurting from drug addiction, those living in the trash dumps and all that the Lord brings across our path.


However what we did not know was that our being used by God would cause other believers to be used by God here and at their homes! Many have come and helped us go out to the dumps and also do evangelism around our little town of Camalu. The amazing thing is we did not realize how those teams would change our lives and how meeting the people we minister to would change their lives. 


Christmas presents! We are going to limit it to 50! Could you say no to little Gael, well December 25, we had 80 presents all hand picked by Alejandra (Paulino´s niece) who knows all the locals. Each childs name and age was read off and she filled up the pink back packs for the girls and filled up gift bags for the boys! Then we were also able to bless the mothers! Steve and Stella our new friends from New Beginnings Womens Association came to help with the kids and even stayed to go to the trash dump! Gianna slept through the whole program Jose loved watching the kids whose names were not on the list receive gifts of those who did not come that day. He always votes for the underdog!

Gael has the sweetest little personality! 


Paulino playing with the kids while we wait for everyone to show up!

Kids presents all passed out now it is the mothers turn to receive gifts! 

Ducks were cooking while we were sharing the love of Jesus to the children. Then Marlo and Jen (who we miss dearly) brought 3 more amazing people to help at the dump. We headed to Vicente Guerrero and the guys came to get their dinner, there was already someone serving them left over Pozole from their church the day before. I wanted to scream! These guys need to eat the other 364 days a year too! However what they need more is Jesus and the presence of Christians around them. I do not know how many believers go to the dump and dump stuff off the back of their trucks without even sharing Jesus with them! Handing them a sandwich or a glass of water! 

Someone commented that this was the best Christmas! I said sadly we live Christmas every day! There is never enough time in the day or year for that matter to reach all the poor and usually we try to do the kids a different day than the men however many days they come together. The best thing we can do is pray for all that we meet and tell them the truth! God has a plan for your life and this is not it! 


Please continue to pray for God to speak to these hearts! Also to speak to our heart! This year is bringing many new things! 





Autobiography Of An Illegal Alien

Available by request only! Email me at happycrosscamalu@gmail.com

Saturday, January 3, 2015

Read this non offensive post because the next one is sure to offend some!

Old friends in new places!
It has been awhile since Jose has gone to the trash dump but I think we we were all surprised at just how many shacks there are in Vicente Guerrero! In Camalu the residents are pretty poor and use or recycle everything possible so the dump does not have much to offer. However in VG there are many ministries and many residents and not everyone recycles this creates more opportunity for the addicts to find things to sale. This particular day we were at the VG Dump where Paulino has been ministering to these men but as with all addicts they have been wondering what is his motive? What does he really want, free food, free water, being treated like they really do matter? What gives? All of a sudden a man appears and starts glorifying for all he has done in Paulino's life. As he begins to share that he has been friends with Paulino since they were young, doing drugs together and scavenging for food at the Camalu dump and even going to rehabs together! Hearts and ears opened up after that!
We started taking food to both dumps right after we were married and praise God over the last 3 years we have never lacked food for these men and sometimes families. About two years ago someone asked what we thought was the biggest need at the dumps and instantly we both answered not realizing that their lives would really change after that. A few weeks later we were sent a 250 gallon water tank that added a whole new blessing to the guys lives.
In the Camalu dump We have seen many men leave and continue to witness their lives changing as we keep a friendship with them! On New Years day we had many men stop by in the morning and some senior citizens the afternoon. Around noon Paulino took a group from Hood River OR to the dump while others stayed ere and did an amazing job with our local kids and mothers!