Back to Haiti, July 25, 2009

Always an adventure when flying with Spirit. “Who?” you say, yep that says it all… el cheapo.

We meet at the Truth office at 3:00 and drove to Pensacola. This is the first time we have flown out of P’Cola and it saved us about $400.00 so that is very cool with me. The savings can go towards another effort in Haiti or Mexico. It is always a drawn out day and we arrived in PAP (Port Au Prince) around 5:00 pm. We made it but the luggage and supplies did not, another first. Can you say flexibility? I sure can, we have no other choice.

All we have is what we got off the plane with. Hope the stuff comes in tomorrow because we fly north on Monday morning. You know what though, what we have with us now is a lot more than most people in Haiti. We are still so blessed even in times when we may think we have it bad. GMSM is here in Haiti with Chuck Martindale, Will Tiller and his daughter Brittany. So cool that a 15 year old would choose to spend some of her summer vacation serving the Lord in a hot, desolate area of the world where most people have forgotten. Is that not what it is all about? Serve and not self serve.

We head to Z’Orange to spend the day in the village and visit pastor Fani before we take off up North. Look forward to seeing our friends in the village; I hope I see John Wesley.

Return to Haiti, July 25, 2009

Leave in the morning for Haiti at 6:00 am from Pcola. A new journey for the Lord. I talked to a very good bud of mine today and we talked about the journey. We always tend to look for the destination. The way we get there is really the most important part. In the beginning of the Bible God shows us his redemptive plan and at the end he helps us see the destination. How we get there, the journey is the real stuff.

Letter from Kenny to the Church

Dear Church,

I have recently returned from three weeks in Mexico where God continues to do beautiful things. GMSM was down in Mexico from the 12th of June through the 4th of July. The first week Give Me Shelter Ministries partnered up with FBC of Gulf Breeze FL, their youth group, youth pastor and adult leaders. This is an awesome group of really grounded students and adults; we were able to introduce them to the Colonias and the orphanage.

This group was an answer to a prayer that had been on my heart for a long time, they pioneered the first VBS out in the Colonias where we build the houses. That was so way cool and God was so all over it! They also did VBS at Casa Hogar Elim Orphanage. So many seeds were planted that allowed for a plentiful harvest.

The second week was spent realizing that another prayer had been answered. We had been praying and trying to get food down to several areas in Mexico. GMSM had been working with an organization called Feed My Starving Children. This organization ships food all over the entire globe. The food is free of charge; you just have to pay for the shipping. God is so gracious in that he allowed us to work with these guys. The food was shipped to Los Fresnos, Texas. I drove up from Nuevo Laredo with missionary Ray White to meet the truck. Before we even got to the church where the food was being delivered God had provided someone to pay the $640.00 shipping fee. How totally awesome was that! We really did not have all the funds to pay for the shipping we just knew that this was something God was putting together, so he provided, Amen! We worked half the food over to Matamoras and the rest we took back to Nuevo Laredo. After getting the food in the proper hands the rest of the week was spent preparing for the arrival of another church group.

FBC of Ft. Walton Bch. Fl also partnered up with GMSM to work in the Colonias and at the orphanage. We built one house in the Colonias, continued VBS at Pastor Felipes church, loved on kids in the orphanage and had a food distribution in Blanco Navidad, one of the poorest Colonias. Though it was tough at times God met all our concerns and needs. Please continue to pray for me and my family. I will be leaving for Haiti on the 25th of this month for a week. We will be pulling maintenance on a missionary’s house up in the North West part of the island.

Please pray that God will continue to provide for GMSM as we strive to seek Gods will in this ministry.

Hebrews 6:10

Kenny Phillips founder/director
Give Me Shelter Ministries, Inc.
www.givemeshelterministries.org
850-496-7398
PO Box 864
Shalimar. FL 32579

Mexico, July 1st and 2nd, 2009 – the last days of a long journey

I make no apologies but the last two days were difficult and crucial. I am just now tying up the loose ends. Sometimes I can be my worse obstacle. Wednesday the 1st proved to be a critical day for the new home that we were building. It has been so very hot that we had to take many breaks to cool off. We worked very late on this day and I new that Thursday the final day, we would be cutting it very close time wise.

Most times getting a task done may not be as important as building relationships but this was a situation that meant having a roof over ones head or not. I know what we all were going home, so this was and always will be a no-brainer for me. We will complete the job.

Wednesday night we lost two of our crew. They felt that they needed to leave early, so come Thursday morning they were gone. You could say that may have put us in a desperate situation but God did what He always does when we walk in his will. I prayed that God would stop the sun for a while and I am almost sure He did. It seemed as though time had stopped for a while.

This day went smoother than the rest, the work seemed light, the weather was cooler and with help from Jose who helped with the roof and many of the youths helping hands we actually got done early. This day is always the celebration day for this particular mission trip. We delivered about 250 food boxes to the colonia Blanco Navidad, finished up VBS, cooked lunch at Felipe’s church, finished the house and had the house dedication ceremony. It is always such a joy to see the keys handed over to the new owners. Raul and Tomasa were very stoked and so were we. After the house dedication we ate the fellowship meal with Felipe’s family at the sacred Polo Buenavista. Tomorrow we pack up and clean the host church and head towards Houston and then on to FWB, FL. It will be good to get home. It was good being with the family the last week down hear. What a great three weeks it has been. What an adventure. Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

Kenny
GMSM

Mexico, June 30, 2009

GUEST BLOGGERS: Emily, Mary and Mike!

Just a quick note to let everyone know what a true blessing it has been to be involved with Give Me Shelter Ministries and Kenny Phillips. But you know it’s not about Kenny Phillips it is about the mission that has been set on his life. We are working on a home for one family in the Columbian Colonials where people mostly are without power or running water. What little bit that we are doing for them and how appreciative they are for it, to see what and how the they live we are so blessed. But through all of the famish and despair there is Great Hope. This trip has touched my heart and through all the hard work and major heat I’m truly grateful God has put me here at this place at this time.
Mike

Well, this morning at breakfast I was sitting with about 6 kids shouting “hambre” about what seemed like 1000 times. I knew that meant hungry, so I couldn’t understand why they weren’t starting to eat. I tried in my best Spanish to communicate, but of course that didn’t work out. They just sat there for probably 10 minutes talking to each other until one stood up to say the blessing for the food. After that, I realized that as hungry as they were they waited to pray before they even touched their plates. That really spoke a lot to me and I was definitely blessed watching that happen.

It was a great start to an awesome day followed by a crazy water fight with everyone. It was just a water balloon toss, and then it turned into a water balloon fight. Since the craft today was water bottles, every little hand held a bottle filled up with water. It completely went downhill from there, but it was all worth it. I was soaked from my head down to my shoes. I could have very well been the wettest one today and also the one that took the longest to dry.

We got past the border easier today than yesterday, thank God for that! Today was for sure an experience, and I hope and pray we go back to the orphanage this week. I’m excited for the colonials tomorrow and Thursday especially the chicken place! Lights are out in 30 minutes and I am super overtired. Goodnight!
<3, Mary (G-Baby) Hellllloooooooooo bloggers. Today was an incredible day at the orphanage. We had to stop at the border and get off again, but God was watching out FOR SURE because it didn’t take long at all. thanks for all your prayers 🙂 we arrived at the orphanage, played with the kids, and started VBS after they had finished breakfast. My biggest blessing of the day came at breakfast. Gladys is a girl who is probably 15 years old and extremely disabled. before breakfast started, i helped mi amiga Juanita set the tables for the kids. then all the kids rushed in at the sound of the breakfast bell, and Brenda wheeled Gladys in on her wheelchair and put it in front of one of the air conditioning units. All the kids were scarfing down breakfast when i saw the look on Gladys’s face- she loves to eat and noone had brought her anything! She can’t really talk either, which makes it difficult. but i went to the kitchen and got a plate for Gladys and went over and just fed her breakfast….I’m not saying this for my own benefit at all- Gladys continued to show me true joy. She’s sitting in front of me, just two years younger, and spends every day of her life in the heat, sitting in a wheelchair, but she has more joy than anyone i know. She may not express it verbally, but the look on her face speaks louder than words ever could. And when she reached over and grabbed my hand (which is difficult because of her condition), my heart absolutely melted. We are so blessed….im speechless beyond that point. The rest of the day was awesome as well- we did a puppet show for the kids, they were muchhh more focused during the Bible story, and they loved making water bottles during arts & crafts. But perhaps the highlight of the day was what started as a water balloon toss. It ended up a full-fledged water war. and the kids definitely won. that occurred around 11 and my pants are still wet as I’m writing this right now. Combining water bottle crafts and water balloons on the same idea was a bad idea. A bunch of the kids left for school at once. we took some of the food boxes over to Felipe’s church, went back to the orphanage to pick up the rest of our gear & gang, and headed across the border. now im here, typing my note, while the others are showering because i stole the first shower yesterday 🙂 Mrs. Deindi is fixing Thai food for us tonight! and Leah is joining the fellowship and sleepover 🙂 lots of PTLs! But i better go get cleaned up for dinner and then worship. Hopefully tomorrow afternoon we’ll get to go feed the homeless with Randy!
Emily

Mexico, June 29, 2009

Today was brutally hot once again but praise God He allowed us to carry on and get some things accomplished. It is always so cool to see these little projects come together. It is also really neat to have the gentleman who will own the home hanging out and getting all excited at every board nailed.

The compressor really gave us a hard time and slowed us down quiet a bit. We had to hand drive a lot, kind of like the old Amish way. Everyone is working according to their abilities and all is falling into place. We got most of the walls together and stood up even with the setbacks. It will be hot for the entire time and fluids are a must. We will have to really stay on task if we are to complete the house by Thursday afternoon.

I love this. Besides being in the water I am in my elements and am grateful God has allowed me to be a part of what he is doing around the world.

Kenny
GMSM

GUEST BLOGGER: Sarah!

Finally back at the orphanage, it had been one longgggg day. haha, I don’t know what I’m going to do without seeing the kids almost everyday when I get back home. But hopefully I’ll be back in a month or so. Kenny’s planning something, and since Em and I are his new secretaries, we have to stick around and show him on track and updated. and of course teach him some more Lady GaGa. 😉

First thing this morning, we ate and then loaded all the VBS supplies and about 60 food boxes onto the bus. Group effffort. We headed to the border and made it through the US entrance, but stopped by the border guards of Mexico. Deja Vu? Anyway, they said we came down the wrong lane or something like that; the same lane we have been using every year, butttt with Philippians 2:14 in the back of our head, we followed the guard patiently into the “right” lane.

Once we were in the right lane, the bus was stopped, and alll of us had to get off with our bags to get them x-rayed. Of course, they were wondering why the heck we had 60 Styrofoam boxes all over the bus, so we had to explain the food that we would be delivering later this week. Thirty something minutes later, we arrived at Casa Hogar Elim. Seeing there smiles never gets old. We did VBS, where we played a hilarious game of pass the hula hoop, made cross necklaces, and put on a puppet show. One of the puppets was a dog from the orphanage. I guess Raul and Hector wanted to join in, so they got behind the stage and moved him around. Those boys are trouble 🙂

I have to say though, my favorite part of VBS was girl time. We painted the girls nails, and gave them manicures/pedicures. I got my nails painted about 9 different times, with about 25 different colors. Right now, I have my nails painted, four orange, and three green… only six done. I think that style might just catch on, eventually. We ran out of nail polish remover, so there is no possible way for me to take it off.

At about 4, we headed over to the Colombia bridge again to avoid waiting in bumper to bumper traffffic. PTL, there wasn’t a line. At all. But we got stopped, again. Philippians 2:14!!! This time we had to get off the bus and wait for it to get x-rayed. Yes, the bus. We were told it could take “between 5 minutes to a couple of hours.” So we waited in the familiar lounge, sprawled out over the floor, playing the name game, and reading old magazines for about an hour and a half. Good times.

After getting back on the bus, we headed straight to the church for showers and dinnnner. I’m amazed about how no one complained today, either times, about getting stopped. I mean, on the way back we were all hott, tired, and hungry, but not a single person complained or fussed. PTL.

At the church we ate dinner and then went into worship. We watched the infamous Looossss Sientoooo Tori video, and then Matt sang a few songs. After worship was desert, which then led me straight here. I’m past curfew already, once again. Anyway, we came up with a new game today… WAY better than the dart game. And if you know what the dart game is, trust me, this is so much better…

Much <3,
Gates

Mexico, June 28, 2009

The heat is brutal. Today we started the house out in the colonia for Tomasa and Raul Benitto. They are members of pastor Felipe’s church. We spent about 2 hours at Home depot gathering lumber and Chucks plumbing supplies before we headed off across the border. We did not get to the new home site till 11:00. We were making sure that the temp was at least 106 degrees before we got started. Real mission work ya know. It has been crazy hot. We got a fairly good start on the floor system with just a couple of small stretches, like trying to keep it square. As long as it’s in the bubble…..right. All is good though. God will take care of the details. Tomorrow we will stand up some walls and see some good progress. God has put together a great group for the house. A bud from home and some buds from Ponchatoula,La. The rest of the team stayed at the church today and will hit the orphanage hard in the morning. Gary and Chuck are heading up the plumbing duties at Casa Hogar Elim. Praise God, good day. Can not wait till tomorrow. Gonna be HOT!

Kenny
GMSM

GUEST BLOGGERS: Sarah and Emily!

Happy Sunday!
Today was awesome. I got a GREAT night’s sleep, even if it was on a flat air matress. i was with my gates so what difference does it make? 🙂 I woke up early and got ready and had a nice long quiet time before breakfast. Then i ate some cereal (special k! I’m so glad brandon let me pick out the cereal…) and a banana. you really wanted to know that. After breakfast I read philipians 2 to the group. each morning we have a different person lead a devotion for the day, and today was my day. after that we played hearts, speed and brushed our teeth. I was on the construction crew today, so we hung out awhile until Kenny and his helpers finished buying the lumber supplies. The rest of the group went to church in the sanctuary here at PIB and i honestly have no idea what they did all day after that. But as for the constuction crew, we went and got to work laying the floor at the house. In the meantime, Mr. Chuck and Mr. Gary started working on the plumbing. funn…hm. We got a lot of work done and headed back across the border around 5. Showered up for dinner while the rest of the group was at church; we got here too late to enter the service. Brisket for dinner….with a large salad 🙂 and then had some amazing worship time. Kenny talked about Jonah and Matthew Brown played my favorite worship songs ever. Our Lord is so amazing. this group is full of so many different individuals, but we share the one common thread that matters, and this unites us as one body. Can’t wait to see what God has in store for the rest of this week!
Night!
Emily

Oh Happy Day, I’ll never be the sameeeeeee, forever I am changed.

Feliz Domingo! Today was amazing, as usual. But I have a lot to do tonight with helping Kenny with the GMSM website. (Em did it last night, so it’s my turn!) Anyway, I’ll give you a run through of the day: woke up. got ready. breakfast. played card games. taught Lydia card tricks. church. more card games. lunchhhhhhhhh. worked on planning for tomorrow. changed. shot basketball. called kyle. siesta, on accident. saw abel! church again. dinner. hungout with abel. played drums, piano, and sang with em :). went exploring with the girls. played catch phrase. worship. hungout a little. now writing this noteeee, and listening to matt brown be amazing on the keyboard, again.

Tomorrrow we areeee going to the orphanage/ colonials again. I’ll probably be at the construction site later this week.

Mcuh<3,
Gates

Mexico, June 27, 2009

June 27, 2009

Praise God from whom all blessing flow, the new team from FBCFWB and Westside Baptist Church, Ponchatoula, La has arrived. Answered prayers for a safe travel. God is going to do some cool stuff this week as he stretches this team to glorify Him.

Major answered prayer and blessing is that my family is here due to the fact that the passports showed up on the door steps about 4 hours for departure. God has a tendency to know what He is doing. Another adventure in the Lord. After unloading the food boxes, luggage etc. I took Chuck, Kim, Jay and Mike across the border to check out the projects at the orphanage. We have lots to do!
Kenny
GMSM

GUEST BLOGGERS: Sarah and Emily!

HeLLo Americans! Today was another GREAT day. The Lord continues to amaze me….
We woke up early this morning, intending to set out early from the orphanage so we could come back across the border and buy the lumber & construction supplies and then deliver it and get lunch when the group from Fort Walton came in. Well, that was the plan at least.

Our bags were packed and we thought we were ready to go by 830. but there is so much activity at the orphanage that it didn’t happen. We had to talk to Mama Lupita again and pray with her, go through the orphanage and analyze the construction and plumbing needs, move the cars and vans around, etc. all with children screaming “amiga!!!”, hanging on you and trying to sneak into the truck. Don’t get me wrong: I LOVE THEM!, it was precious, and I’ll love on them any day even if it means getting a little off schedule.

Then hermano Ray showed up, so we had to go over everything and walk around with him to finalize plans for next week. After that, we finally headed our from the orphanage at about 1130. Maria gave me una carta (a letter) that she wrote for me and gave me a picture of herself with it. I still haven’t been able to read the whole thing, i just start crying every time because it’s so sweet! When we left the orphanage, we went straight to the boys dorm to pick up the trailer again. juan got us all hooked up, and we made a pit stop at the oxxo gas station to get something to drink and the most amazing mexican caramel cookie things ever. then we drove over to the colombia bridge, which is a different border crossing station that always has less traffic than the other bridge. Its about 30 minutes down the road but the short line makes up for the drive.

Crossing the border still took a little while because a car in front of us in line broke down. butttt we had fun with Kenny singing lady gaga the whole time. We drove to the traditional lunch place, jack-in-the-box/cicis/quiznos/mcdonalds all in one area and met up with the group with fort walton! PTL! they brought a little bit of home to us!

I thank God for my friends and brothers and sisters in Christ…every single one of them. They were done eating by the time we got there, so we got some quiznos to go and headed to the church. we unloaded the luggage and many many food boxes and i went with Brandon to buy food for the week. we had dinner around 8 and then an amazing time of worship together followed by ice cream and brownies! I have more stories but i need to go help Kenny on the GMSM website! check back later 🙂
Emily Bennett

John 16:33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Whaddup Gringos!? Hhaha, Woke up early early, with the intentions of leaving as soon as we had our bags in the truck. We needed to set out asap where we could get the lumber and supplies for the house we will be building this week and then meet up with First Baptist, FWB for lunch. But there was quite a bit of activity going on this morning. We had to talk with Mama Lupita and pray with her, analyze all the construction and plumbing needs, rearrange the parking of the vans etc, and meet up with Ray. This was all going on as each of us had about six kids hanging from us. But I’m not complaining.

Casa Hogar Elim is where my heart is, with Mama and of course these kids. I can’t even begin to explain how it is. How much I love these kids, and Mexico. It’s unbelievable. I’ve been at a loss of words a lot since I have been here. I’m honestly just amazed at everything. God is amazing. I took some photos with the film camera, and then had a dance party inside the truck with Enrique and some other beautiful children.

We finally left the orphanage at about 11:30. We then went back over to the boys dorm and got the trailer,and Juan got us hooked up again. We were all starving and thirsty, so we went to OXXO, a gas station, and got a drink and some amazing mexican cookies. No lie, they were SO GOOD. Traffic was backed up at the border bridge we have been going across everyday, so we drove to the Colombia border bridge, which is about 35 minutes away from the orphanage. When we got to the bridge, the line we were in, just happened to have a car that had broken down. But PTL, we got to listen to Kenny sing Lady Gaga.Pokerrrrrrrr Faceeeeeeee. Then we headed to Quiznos to meet up with FWB! I FINALLY SAW MY SISTERRR. I have missed her sooo much, not joking.

They were finished eating by the time we got there, so we got subs to go and went to Primera and unloaded the luggage. We alsooo unpacked about seventy million food boxes! I’m exxxaggeratting, but it was a lott. We had some downtime to relax, then played card, cleaned th e kitchen some, showered, ate lasagna, and then worship. Em and I talked to the group about the past two weeks, and Matt Brown sang and played guitar. He’s crazy good. Like really, really, good. Love himmmm. Anyway, then we ate some icreammm, and now im writing my notes. Lydia, Kenny’s youngest daughterr, is playing with my hair, and Matt is singing for us. Beautifullll. Lights were out 33 minutes ago. Oh welllllll, i still have to go help update the GMSM website.
Much <3,
Sarah Gates

“I want to set the world on fire, until it’s burning bright for you.”

Mexico, June 26, 2009

GUEST BLOGGERS: Sarah and Emily!

Hola. its late, but im helping Kenny with some website stuff for GMSM and talking to T-roy and Leah on the balcony…again. Today was great. after staying up so late, we slept in somehow until past 930! that was crazy since it was sooo hot, but PTL! We got up, got dressed, packed our backpacks, and headed with Kenny to the boys dorm. There the boys got the trailer turned around for us and hooked up to the truck. We headed across the border, and the line was long but it only took about an hour. PTL! First thing, we got some lunch at a Mexican place called Danny’s…yummy!

Then we went to Primera and met Ruben and got some nice, warm SHOWERS!! PTL. it was good to be fresh and clean again! The Reddy Ice man came and dropped off the cooler with loads upon loads upon loads of ice. We got online at the church and helped Kenny with the GMSM site and his new facebook! (if you know Kenny, friend him ASAP!) We called the closest local plumbing supply store and gave them a list of supplies we needed.

After finishing up at the church, we slowly made our way over to the plumbing store (got a little lost along the way…) and purchased the supplies. PTL, they had already pulled the list and helped us load it quickly! then, major PTL, we heard the ice cream truck. or so we thought! after chasing it down, we discovered that this “ice cream truck” was really more of a “chili, frijoles, and coke” truck. bummer! butttt they had snow cones so we all got one and we were satisfied 🙂

We headed back across the border and, being friday afternoon, there was a line. But PTL again, it didn’t take long at all. AND our saxophone buddy was back and he played La Cucaracha for us. We came to the orphanage, unloaded, and played with the kids for a couple hours. around 8, Kenny, Sarah, T-roy, Keith, Candy, Cynthia, Leah and I went to….yep. none other than Pollo Buenavista for dinner. yummy as always!

We came back to the orphanage and now my stomach is regretting eating so much today. but a breeze has finally started blowing and we’re almost done with the website…there’s talk about sleeping on the porch tonight because the bugs aren’t around! PTL! ha. there are just so many things to praise Him for each and every day; I am learning to appreciate all of God’s daily blessings- both great and small!

Tomorrow, the group from Fort Walton comes in. I’m so excited! Can’t wait to see all my buds and start phase 4 of the adventure! Pray for safe travels as they drive through the night tonight and during the day tomorrow.
Sweet dreams,
Emily Bennett

Once again, this is lateeeeeeeee. But I was so exhausted from staying up until about 4am I crashed last night early. We were helping Kenny with facebook, updating the GMSM website, and talking to T-ROY and Leah. Mama came in about 3, she had been in Victoria working with the government. She is planning on opening another orphanage for disabled children. PTL.

Anyway, it was so hard trying to sleep due to the heattt, but i wouldn’t have wanted to be anywhere else. After waking up pretty late (9:30) we headed to the boys dorm to pick up the trailor. Juan, one of the oldest boys, rounded up the others to turn it around, and hook it up. They are so resourcefulllll. We then headed across the border, which took about an hour, and then ate at Danny’s Mexican. Pretty gooood. We went to Primera to meet up with Ruben, take showers, and get the ice machine set up. My favorite part was the niceeeee longggggg shower. Way different from the water bottle shower 😉 Then we helped Kenny with the GMSM site and his new facebook. ADD HIM! ASAP.

We then texted google trying to find the closest plumbing warehouse. We needed to get supplies for the orphanage, so we headed straight over after leaving the church. After loading the supplies onto the trailor, we heard the icecream man, or what we thought was the icecream man, and basically chased it down. When he rolled up to us, we realized that he was more like the “fritos, hotsauce, and frijoles” man. We were a little bummed, but once we saw he had snowcones, we were right back to being, as Kenny would say it, STOKED. 🙂

We then headed back over the border, and for the first time, in alllll my times of going into Mexico, there was a line. I was a little surprised. But it didn’t take long, since the guards didn’t check us, even with the trailor! PTL. AND our saxophone friend played La Cucaracha again for us! I gave him a few dollars. When we got to the orphanage, we unloaded the supplies and Kenny took the trailor back to the boys dorm.

After hanging out with the kids for a couple h ours, Kenny, Em, T-roy, Keith, Candy, Cynthia, Leah, and I went to Pollo Buenavista, again. I swear, I could live off of that place. We rode in the bed of the pickup truck on the way there and back. On the way back we dropped off some food we got for Mama and then went to the boys dorm. We ended up picking up Raul who needed to come back to Casa Hogar Elim. He has such an attitude, but is one of the sweetest kids. Today was beautiful, God blesses me everyday.

Much<3,
Sarah Gates

Mexico, June 25, 2009

We arrived at the orphanage after 3 a.m. After about 3 hours of sleep we unloaded some of the Feed My Starving Children food at the orphanage. The kids were so stoked to know that at least for a short time there will be plenty of food to eat. We reloaded up the truck with FMSC food and headed to Mission Bautista Camino Nuevo.

We met Pastor Felipe at the feeding house by the church and explained the food preparation. After scripture and prayer we talked about how God will use this food to help reach the lost and continue to encourage the believers that God will provide. Staying at the orphanage is hot and there has been no water. So Emily, Sarah and I went across the border to get cleaned up and wash some clothes. What a blessed day.
Kenny GMSM

GUEST BLOGGER: EMILY!

WOW. So many feelings and no adequate words to describe them!
This morning we got up around 8 and had to move very quickly, shooting for leaving the house around 8:30. Well, we didn’t leave until 9:30, but that’s okay. We watched 7th heaven while I had raisin bran crunch and Sarah had Rice Krispies with chocolate soy milk. sounds gross but its yummy.

We left the house about 9:30 and headed across the border to meet hermano Kenny! PTL, coming across the border was easy. There was some morning traffic but not too bad. We made it to the orphanage and Enrique came up and ran to the van and opened my door…precious! The kids swarmed us! We loved on them for a while and talked to Hermano Ray. We met some people from Pensacola and talked to them too. Then all of us together unloaded Ray’s trailer and headed over to the boy’s dorm/tilapia farm.

This was really neat- all these years and I had never made it over to that site before. We met a teen boy named Samuel who had an awesome story. He’s been at the orphanage a few years and in the past has stuggled with alcohol at times. But PTL, his mom is on his way to get him and take him home again! She lives in Victoria, about 8 hours away, and they have both turned their lives to the Lord and are excited to be back together and grow in their faith and attend church together! Awesome.

We left the boys dorm and came back to the orphanage. Ray left for Dallas, he’s going to see his sister for a few days. We waited for a vehicle and then took food to Felipe at his church for him to distribute. We also took the tools for building the house next week. Ruben and the girls came with us over there, and we talked to Felipe awhile and talked and prayed with him about the food. Then…drumroll please….POLLOS BUENAVISTA! Sarah took me, Sarah, and our new friend Leah there. Leah is staying at the orphanage through the end of July and teaching English to the kids here.

After the chicken place, we dropped Leah off at Casa Hogar and headed back across the border. PTL, the line was short! it only took 20 minutes once we got to the line! We went to Ruben’s house and had a nice talk thanking him and the family for everything. We shared with him some of the things God is doing in our lives as a result of the trip and our passions, and he shared with us some of his passions and why he does what he does. It was great!

Then we packed our bags, said goodbyes and headed out with Kenny. Destination: Walmart. We bought a cooler, water, ice, snacks, laundry detergent, and gum…the essentials. Then we had an intense scavenger hunt and eventually found the laundromat. So much fun! Who knew. We did our laundry, got gas, grabbed dinner at Wendy’s and headed back across the border around 8:45.

We made it back to the orphanage soon and played with the kids and unloaded luggage. We took interesting “showers”….I got in, all ready, and went to turn the water on and all that came out was this weird hissing noise. No water at all. So we resorted to bathing ourselves with water bottles and bath wash. When in Mexico, do as best you can!

It’s so hot here, a shower only keeps you clean for so long anyway…it’s gross sounding but hey who cares? You wouldn’t if you were here and could see these kids.

I headed over to see what the kids were doing and found a broken window pane in the little girls dorm…so I found a broom, swept the floor and had to pick out a piece of glass out of Jasmin’s toe. Yikes! Had to tell all the girls to be careful, that we may not have got all the glass up, etc….all the things Mom always told me when i dropped a dish in the kitchen!

After the glass episode I waent to the little boys room and saw the cutest thing…all ten of the ones in the room were lying on the floor, cuddled up with each other, next to the only air conditioning unit in the room. there were plenty of beds, but it was hot and they love each other way too much to stay apart! This just…idk…brought so much joy to my heart I guess you could say. I plopped down on the couch behind them and just prayed…pray that these boys grow up to be the Godly men He created them to be!

I came dowstairs and found cuatro amigas writing a letter to Sarah in the kitchen. They told me about a boy named Max with funny hair that they have a crush on. Then Leah came and got me to come dance with some of the teenage girls. It was soooo much fun 🙂 Yolanda (16) and Jaunita (15) taught me how to dance their way to Hillsong United’s song “Take it All” in espanol. way cool. Then I got my ipod player and taught them the stanky legg in return! Ha. we had a great time laughing and dancing and playing together…..then i talked to Troy and Keith, the guys down here from Olive Baptist doing construction and electrical work.

Now, I’m sitting on the balcony at the orphanage with Kenny, Troy, Leah, and Sarah, writing this note, helping Kenny make a facebook, looking at the stars, and praising God every second for this amazing opportunity. There is no other place on Earth I would rather be than right here at this very moment, and I wouldn’t trade anything for this experience.

“Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.”

<3 Emily Bennett. on top of the world, filled with joy. GUEST BLOGGER: SARAH! As I’m writing this, I have about four girls around me, on me, and underneath my chair. This might take awhile. Em and I are spending the night at the orphanage and are completely loving life. This is exactly where I feel I should be. I don’t know if God is calling me into full time missions or not, but I know he has given me a heart for this place and Mexico. It’s unbelievable. Okay. So we went to the orphanage early in the am, to meet up with Kenny and Ray White. Ray is the US director of Casa Hogar Elim and he lived in Pensacola. We hungout with the kids and met a new friend. :) Her name is Leah and she is a student at Texas A&M. She is staying her for five weeks, and got here monday. She’s pretty cool. We unloaded the food boxes from Feed My Starving Children, and kept 12 to bring to Felipe’s church. Kenny wanted us to see the Tilapia farm at the boys dorm down the street. So we headed over there with Rose and Tom. They’re a couple here that are helping out with the farm and the orphanage. I don’t remember if I have mentioned them before but they are amazing people to just sit down and talk with. Emily almost got thrown in to the algae water by Felipe. Different Felipe, not the pastor. He’s a boy that lives at the dorm. They have goats there too. They are a little paranoid. They freak out over everything. Anyway, hungout there for a little bit, and then we nt back to the church, loaded tools to the truck, picked up Leah, and went to Felipe’s, the pastor this time, church. Unloaded the food boxes and tools, and put them in the shed. We prayed for the food and how it will be distributed. Felipe and Kenny talked as Ruben translated about how it should be handed out, etc. The church recently got pews. PTL. It was as usual, hottt hottt hottt. And by this time, we were all starving. So guess what? Kenny, Em, Leah, and I allll went to POLLLLO BUENAVISTA. Again. I could live off of that place. Awesome. Another PTL. hah. We dropped Leah off back at the orphanage and Kenny got some clothes that needed to be washed. So then there was three. We needed to get our luggage since we were staying in mehicooo tonight, so we headed over the border. It only took about 20 minutes. PTL. Didn’t get searched, so alll the more PTL. Went to Ruben’s, chatted for a little bit, said thanks to them for taking us in for the week, and then packkked up. We hit up walmart for water bottles, ice, and a fan for Leah. The rooms are really stuffy at night. BTW, Yurelis says “Whaddup World.” She stays by my side nearly every second when I’m here. I’ll have to type up the note she wrote me for everyone to see. We then had the bright idea to go to a coin laundry to do some much needed washing. It took about an hour and a half. We had to entertain ourselves. Emily set an alarm off on the coin machine, the same alarm that goes off when someone tries to break into it. Then she ran off into the bathroom, which left me standing five feet away, looking like the guilty one. I was laughing so hard, I was crying. Thennnnnnnn, Kenny got red bulls, which i’m drinking right now cause it willl be a long long night. We have to update the ministry site tonight. Actually in about five minutes. After the adventure at the laundry place we went through wendys to get a frosty for dinner because we were still stuffed from chicken. :) Border check was, once again, a breeze. Once we got to the orphanage tonight we hungout with the kids and then unloaded our suitcases etc. Shower time. What an experience. Sometimes the water works, sometimes it doesn’t. Well, tonight, it didn’t. I washed my hair and brushed my teeth with water bottles, and put hand sanitizer all over me. It was pretty hilarious since it was both Emily and I, crammed in a bathroom, that doesn’t smell the best, in our clothes washing our hair with water bottles. We shared the bathroom with two HUGE spiders. I mean like the size of my fist huge. Creeeeeeeepy. Hah, but honestly, it wasn’t bad. It just makes you realize that, people do live like this, and how truly blessed I am. Changed. And that leads up to right now. Leah is reading next to me and I am typing away at this. Today was great, and It isn’t even over with yet. PTL PTL PTL. off to help Kenny make a facebook, teach him T9, and update the site. Much<3,
Sarah Gates