They Are Teens Now!!

Please pray for all you see in these old photos they are teens now and need your prayers! 

Yesterday I was talking to Marcos one of our junior high students and it just reminded me that this world is a hard place to live! 

A friend gave reminded me of the verse the other day that the poor you will have with you always. Well I am poor so I guess I will always be here lol. 

I do not care about peoples financial status I care about the poverty of heart. The other day we had a class at our house and the instructor asked me why we do it and then another person asked me how we do it. Both of my responses were Jesus! 

Thank you to all of those who give so that we can see lives changed daily! I know God will bless you because His word says it! Paulino and I laughed the other day when I told him the question HOW it truly is amazing all that we do. Yes we may seem to choose to be poor but it is not our choice but our desire to serve Jesus where ever He sends us. 

2 Corinthians 9 10 Now He who provides seed for the sower and bread for food will provide and multiply your seed for sowing [that is, your resources] and increase the harvest of your righteousness [which shows itself in active goodness, kindness, and love]. 11 You will be enriched in every way so that you may be generous, and this [generosity, administered] through us is producing thanksgiving to God [from those who benefit]. 12 For the ministry of this service (offering) is not only supplying the needs of the saints (God’s people), but is also overflowing through many expressions of thanksgiving to God.

HE IS DEAD!

It has been a week and I have not seen a news story or a post about his death! Yes it happened right where the highway in Camalu is so bad! If you are heading south on the right there is a big tree and sometimes people live under there. The day after the rain there were police and yellow tape and many people watching wondering who was it!
Rumors of who it was or why he died have been said.Some say he was sleeping, others say he had epilepsy!   Who was he really! Someone son! Someone who came to Baja for a better life, leaving his state far behind!
If you have parked anywhere on the highway in Camalu or driven down the highway he was hard to miss. Always had a rag in his hand cleaning cars, the whole car not just windows. He did not talk, he was never dressed nice, and he was always there! NOW HE IS NOT THERE, so I am pretty sure it is true it was him that tall skinny man whose name I do not know.
There are so many others like him or just kids trying to make a few dollars! Will it hurt us to give 5 or 10 pesos. If you do not want them touching your car just say Animo! and hand them the money.
trust me it would take at least 200 people a day giving 5 pesos to each person before they could get rich from washing your windows. The children in Camalu still remember when we brought them burritos on December 1, 2011! How sad is that! They were so thankful to have something to eat! If you do not want to give money keep some extra water bottles in your car or some snack bars or a piece of fruit!
How do I know they will not use it for drugs, most will actually. But what about the one that may change!!! Like my husband, that man could have been him 10 years ago! Before he accepted the love of Jesus, he was that man! He always tells me when we see people like that, I was one step from being that mental! BUT he is not that man today and why is that!
Because people loved him, encouraged him and gave him work, even if it was burying a dead dog, or living in a shack at the Pemex in San Quintin! I always love to see people's faces when they see Paulino for the first time since he was on the streets! Usually it is a double take, then a stop and think, then oh my Chapo is that you! Yesterday a woman told him I am so glad God gave you a second chance! I have heard stories not just from Pemex workers but from the addicts themselves as my husband loves them faithfully everyday. Because of my sons illness my husband can not work, but he is always willing to find the time to give a hand up and not a hand out! He cooks and takes food to the men who live in the trash dump and around our area. He teaches them to lay blocks and make real money so they can leave the lifestyle behind. This week he has been taking clothes to those in Camalu that have been flooded and yesterday he took clothes to those in Zapata, today he will take rice and beans and what ever else he can to Zapata where no one is going!
Do I say this to brag! NO!!! Because usually I do not even brag on my husband since we got married on Nov. 13,2011 it is just what he does, It is who he is!!!!
All of this to say if you on the road or at a gas station and someone wants to wash your windows let them, or just keep some change in your dash and say ANIMO! Remember 20 pesos currently is only $1US! Could it change a life! It did my husbands and now he is changing lives!

Jose's Story

So many people have asked me to write Jose's true story. It would be too long to write in one blog but I will try to post the basics and later let him write his own book.

Jose was born to Sonia and Paulino on April 12,1999 two months early, while Sonia was out working in the fields picking strawberries. After about a month she and Paulino were both using drugs and Paulino thought Jose would be better cared for by his mom Maria. Sonia went to her little adobe rental room and passed Jose through the window. Unknown to Paulino, Sonia had already abandoned her three children. About a year later Sonia had moved to a different town and become pregnant this time she decided to move back to her home state far away.
Paulino would go and visit Jose and bring diapers and such as he was working in the fields also. He would also come to the outreaches near his mom's so he could see Jose there they would hear about Jesus and he could spend time with Jose.  After a while the drugs started to gain more and more power Paulino turned to living on the streets and washing windows or scavenging at the trash dumps to make money to buy drugs.
Jose never went to kindergarten or anything else because his grandma thinks school is a waste of time. Sadly she did not know that around 8 years old Jose would start to fall and not be able to walk. Around this time Paulino was taking to jail for annoying the cops with his presence on the streets. In that very stinky cell he promised God if He got him out he would serve God forever!
Well the week was almost over and Rancho de Cristo said they would receive him!!!! In his time at the rehab center he was able to start the reconciliation process with his mom and his son! Jose had just stopped walking and they took him to the clinic at Cristo Por Su Mundo FFHM, and the doctor examined Jose. On the ride back David asked Paulino, Jose's mother's name, and when he told him, David informed him that he has two half brothers in Mefiboset the special needs school and they all have DMD! Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy is usually passed genetically from the mom to her male children. So the boys have an older sister who does not have the symptoms of DMD, however she can be a carrier.
Jose was blessed to be able to join his brothers at Mefiboset! Papa Kate would pick them up each morning in his big bus and give them the love of Jesus all week long. While they also learned practical things they truly learned about Jesus, prayer, and worshiping! They even danced in their chairs! They were all given little red wheelchairs and pushed around wherever they went.
This is where I met them when I came as a visitor for a week in May of 2010. I moved to the orphanage in August of 2010 I was blessed to be able to spend the whole week going out at 6am on the bus to get them and then taking the home in the evenings! Usually you are sent to do different tasks around the orphanage each day but since my heart fell in love with these boys as soon as I met them and no one else asked for Mefiboset, I was able to go. But that is another blog.
After about a year of living at Rancho, Paulino was giving the opportunity to serve in construction at the orphanage, there he also seen the people that would come near his moms and do outreach!

Paulino would begin to bring Jose to stay with him on the weekends. They would go out and do odd jobs to make money until Paulino was able to buy a truck to take Jose around and get work on the weekends to help to take care of Jose. 

By this time Jose was frequently sick, his family did not feed him much so they did not need to carry him to the bathroom. Also he was looked at as the child of the addict, while his cousins were going to school he would just sit home with his grandma as she babysat kids and washed clothes for a living. Patty and Jenny wanted to help Paulino out during the week until he was finished with his construction duties at 5pm. So Jose was able to live with his dad full time at the orphanage. 

During this same time all the boys had been sick, Javier 16, Feliciano 14 and Jose 12. However Javier got pneumonia and went into hospice care at Dirk and Marys house. He was loved and cared for until he walked into the arms of Jesus! Feliciano had been home for a while saying he did not feel good but everyone thought he just missed his brother! However 4 days after Feliciano was walking into the arms of Jesus and most said Jose was soon to follow. 

On the day of Feliciano's funeral Jose was given his first electric wheelchair! Patty knew all of the boys wanted to drive! Wow this was the saddest day and the happiest day of Jose life! 

Although he was so terrified of the speed and power he quickly got over it!  He became a teenager and a real person. Not dependant on waiting for someone to come and push him where he needed to go. Or understanding him, None of the brothers spoke clearly but Jose still today battles with people understanding him. Especially me!!!  When we moved to Camalu we were not sure we liked him having all that independence, we would look for him and he would be out with his friends playing soccer or over at the ranch looking at the animals. Yep he is a teenager.
When my friends started to bless Jose with vitamins he became healthier and now is able to take multiple supplements and knows what each is for and how many to take. Although he has lost all strength in his body he can take his own vitamins and feed himself, it takes him about an hour to eat one plate of food! We praise God that in this cold wet weather Jose is healthy! He has a cough assist and a Bipap and lots of blankets! 

Jose is very creative and has decided to build a robot to push his wheelchair since it will not run. I am not sure how he is going to do it but Gianna wants to play with her brother and I am sure the two of them together will figure something out.

Poverty Kills

I wish I could put photos of all those I have met who are sick or dying because of poverty! Poverty is a generational disease passed down to many and it is killing people.
During the last few months I have seen it in our own lives and the lives of so many others who fill the waiting rooms of hospitals and laboratories!
We just received a gift in the bank when Paulino started getting sick! He wanted to roof Jose new bedroom he is building! I wanted to buy a new water pump and bigger water tank maybe some warm clothes for Gianna! However we bought lab tests, two ultrasounds, medicine and gas to get us to all these places.
In December my brother in law sent my mother in law money and that week we found out she needed an echocardiogram!
We then found out she needed a pacemaker that would cost one year salary because the insurance we have does not cover major things! However we later found out we could put her onto my sister in law's insurance that would cover the whole thing minus the gas!  Friday we signed her up for insurance and Tuesday she was in an ambulance on the way to Ensenada. Layed in emergency for 4 days waiting for a bed! Then another 4 days waiting to see the cardioligist! Thursday afternoon they put in the pacemaker and Friday afternoon we were home. In Mexico a family member stays with the patient or in the waiting room usually 24-7. So between my sister in law and I we were able to stay with her the entire time. One of us would sleep in the emergency waiting room and the other on the floor near her bed. You are required to take care of the patient except for putting in IVs and such, what the nurses would do in the western world, we did.
We met so many people there in our same situation. I actually have a new friend, Sanjuana, please pray for her and her family! They have been there for about a month with her mom. Instead of her being helped into the gurney she had no strength, so she fell to her knees and had a sore on her back, which they did not realize until they took her home a week after she entered! They brought her back that same day.
Omar a 37 year old had been 2 months in a diabetic coma and was at home doing fine when he had a heart attack! On a Sunday there was no one in the insurance hospital to help him, so his mom drove around until she found a hospital to help! Every credit card was used with every neighbor helping and money came to pay the value of at least 3 years salary, if not paid up front they would not operate. He never got better so his mom brought him back to the insurance hospital where she was told half of his heart is dead and there is no hope! Please pray for the entire family, his mom was an amazing woman so concerned with helping Jose! Omar is home on meds and I know God did not take him out of a coma for nothing!
So all of this to say!!!
What about the others! What about those who do not have amazing supporters to bless them with the cash they need! What about those who do not have someone to put them under their medical care and are stuck with the government insurance. What if Paulino would have had stones and we could not do the ultrasound! What if....
Please pray for those families that we have met but please pray for so many others who are dying because of lack of money. Eternal life is a free gift and will cost them nothing!

Gas Strikes!

My heart is just breaking I am not sure if I can handle any more so forgive me if I am dumping but I need to get it out NOW!
Please forgive me if I offend someone it is not meant to, just to inform you!
Many have commented about the gas price it is not about that it is about the fact that it takes 6 hours of work for one gallon! For the fact that the field workers strike resulted in very little! And that many feel they should be paid a fair wage for back breaking work. I was recently in the states for 6 weeks and during that time of grocery shopping I did not see that many things were priced differently than groceries  here in Mexico. However the hourly minimum rate in the states and other countries is our daily rate for 10 hour days and actually the peso is less now. I am finding it hard to understand why people who do not even own cars are out protesting and losing money for work when those of us with cars are inside the house saving the gas for when this is all over!
Why are so few people out on the streets protesting and the roads are blocked with things not protestors!
Paulino needed to go to emergency this morning and I needed to take my mom in law to the doctor in Ensenada but since our truck looks similar to a federal police truck I did not want to tempt those who are mad at the government!
It is getting easeir for me to understand why people do things like take to the streets to get better wages, Cesar Chavez was made famous for it! However there is not much publication or press internationally around here! There is not many people saying we stand with Mexico!
We are here to change hearts and pray that as they follow Jesus and He provides their every need! They will leave poverty and have plenty to share with others while sharing Jesus with them.
Yesterday we had no rice for ourselves and I received a phone call from a friend saying are you going to be home later I am passing by your part of town! She brought tons of stuff! She seems to show up unexpected and unknowing of our needs! Paulino spent the rest of the day making up bags of food for the seniors who really need food in this cold time!
So no life is not about gas and the fact that it costs some 15 minutes of work a gallon and some 6 hours of work a gallon! IT IS ABOUT BREAKING THE CYCLE OF POVERTY!
IT IS ABOUT LOVING THEM WITH THE LOVE OF JESUS AND DOING WHAT WE CAN TO CHANGE ONE LIFE AT A TIME!

Water rising to welcome in the King!

This was how it looked the first day looking at our house from across the street! It is going to rain all week! 

One of many Paulino had to pull out of the mud! 

We care for the baby that lives in the lil brown house on the left and the pink building is our church! 

These photos are from the first day of rain! We are on our second day and it is supposed to rain for a week! Camalu has opened shelters for those that want to get out! We have a power wheelchair and breathing machines! Not so easy for Jose to live in a shelter! However we are thankful that our community has that option, if you remember in January the flood was a huge surprise and most of our town was taken out by marines! 

December 24 is Christmas here in Mexico! A huge dinner usually cooked all day over firewood, family and friends gathering at midnight to set off fireworks and enjoy the birth of Jesus! However this year was welcomed in by a flood and our neighbors are afraid! 

We are here to offer the peace of Jesus Christ the real reason for this day of celebration! We also try to help with rice, beans, clothes and blankets! Paulino loves pulling people out of the mud however he needs to go and finishing moving the women's shelter to its new home! So the fun may be mine. Yesterday I had to walk to the salon social and I seen that truly our part of town is the worst when it rains. We live in a very poor part of town and the people here own their land for the most part and do not want to leave because others may come and take their belongings! 

PLEASE PRAY FOR US AND OUR COMMUNITY! 

More of Jose Story

This morning I woke up and my devotion was on Deuteronomy 31 6! How perfect since we are always living in fear of bad health, not being able to provide for Jose and worst of all that his sister will not remember him! Although Jose loves us there is no one he loves more than Gianna! She is not yet two and she already understands that she has to reach up to him and she also knows how to help him when he can not sit himself up! 

There is a fine line separating Jose from professionals who know about Duchenne and the medicines he needs to give him a better life quality! This line also separates him from knowing his aunts and grandparents in te USA. From playing with his crazy cousins who would love him!  We took him here to this line so he could see the ocean and tried to get his dad to swim across but no go. We just wanted to see what would the immigration man do sitting in his car on the other side. This line separates people who were brought over and raised as americans all their lives and even have kids and families just an hour away. But most of all it separates my son from a better life. I would love to adopt Jose and get him to Children's hospital! However that cost starts at over $5000! And that does not mean the USA would say yes! 

Our town flooded in January and God has been doing some amazing things through that however it has also left a land very bumpy and hard for Jose to get around. His body strength pretty much does not exist so please pray we can get our land level soon and that the winds will calm and he can go outside more. He loves to play football and chase with his friends but when he had his heart attack the doctor said no activities! 

Jose new pet! No just kidding it is dead now! On our first night in TJ I was feeding Gianna around 230 am and I felt something crawling on me when I grabbed it, it grabbed me back! As I realized it was not a spider I threw it across the room hitting the wall and waking us all up. We played hide and seek and God finally put him on the floor in front of us! This is a small reminder that Luke 10 19 is true! It is also a reminder that the enemy is always looking to get us! Gianna and I finally fell asleep at 5am and had to wake up at 6am to get Jose to CRIT! The boys had no trouble falling asleep again! 

Our day was filled with specialists visits. Each asking why Jose wears a face mask and why he does not do more things like school or go to therapies near home! There was a social and financial meeting a psych and a pediatric panel of doctors. 

Although we left feeling a little discouraged we were also encouraged that two of the doctors seemed to know Duchenne! One saying he needs a new wheelchair now! The other saying he needs Heart and lung specialists! Yes and when we told them what kind of insurance we had they all frowned! Yes but God will provide we tell them and they looked at us the same the lady in the financial meeting looked at us when she says your income is less than your outcome! YES we responded but how! GOD! 

We told her our lodging was paid for by a birthday gift for Jose and it even came with amazing food! And our gas and other expenses a friend deposited cash into our bank! 

They want us to go up a few times a month but we also explained to them that Jose body can not take up to 14 hours in a car round trip and it is expensive. We will get the exams they want from the specialists and see what therapies he can do. However we also explained to them as much as we would love to live in TJ so he could be there weekly, he can not live without his family. His gramma and aunt were his mom for 11 years and his cousins his siblings. They seem to understand. It is hard to say to each doctor in front of your son that his life is too short and that the choices you make need to be in reason for him to enjoy his last days. One doctor got the learning disability problem but the others did not. 

Somedays God wakes me with a heavy heart for what my son has to hear during this time but then I am reminded that He will call Jose home one day healed and pain free.