I had a real treat in July, I was given the opportunity to escort Juan Francisco and Silvia on a short visit to the USA. Although they had a lot going on at La Familia, they accepted an invitation to sing at the wedding of one of our donors and veteran missioners who lives just outside Chicago in Downers Grove, IL.
En route to Illinois, they stopped off in Fort Worth, TX to appear at a fundraiser at Lighthouse United Methodist Church. During the normal time Lighthouse would have held their worship service, the pastor interviewed Juan Francisco and Silvia with questions about their work with the children of La Familia. Marshall Sansbury, one of my mentors in the mission field, also shared with the audience his experiences working in the La Familia ministry.
The fundraiser was a tremendous success in that over $30,000 was donated.
Next, my fellow missioners, Brian and Liz Walter, from The Federated Church in Kingfisher, OK, met us in Branson, MO to give Juan Francisco and Silvia a few days of R&R. These two servants in the Lord’s work serve the children of La Familia 24/7 and we felt that they could use some “down time” enjoying the entertainment provided in Branson.
The highlight of the time we spent in Branson was attending the JESUS SHOW, a stage production put on by Sight and Sound at their theater in Branson. I highly recommend it. The play was made up of the highlights of Jesus’ life and the production included not only two story tall props, but live animals that had been trained to exit the stage through the audience. Seeing camels, sheep, goats, etc. live on stage was remarkable. I could go on and on.
The JESUS SHOW is available on DVD from Amazon for $11.99 with free shipping. Target and Google also offer the DVD of the JESUS SHOW. This is terrific for showing at your church for a special family night.
On Thursday evening, July 15 we arrived on the last leg of our trip in Downers Grove, IL. On Saturday, July 17, Juan Francisco and Silvia sang at a most beautiful wedding and also participated in a fundraiser at Saint Andrews Episcopal Church following the worship service on Sunday.
GREAT NEWS: At La Familia, all of the children are getting ready to return to school.
As you can imagine after ten months with 32 children quarantined in the casa, the staff is exhausted. Through a special fundraiser at one of our donor churches we received enough money to transport eight older girls on the 15-hour bus ride from a casa hogar in Colima to Palmarito to help with the children. It was a win-win because most of the girls had never before traveled that far away from their casa.
University News
Fernanda has moved to Colima and is attending university there.
Jazmin has been offered an opportunity to begin an internship at a hospital in Colima and after two years to accept a job in Puerto Rico working as a nurse in her speciality, which is anesthesiology.
Josué and Rodolfo are moving to the City of Puebla and attending a university there. They will be renting a room in Puebla.
Daniel continues to study at the university in Colima.
I feel sure all of you who have been involved with the children of La Familia are as excited as I am to see our children do well in high school, graduate and excel in a university setting. Please keep these young people in your prayers.
We have been blessed to have had only two cases of Covid in the casa. Pray that we can continue to avoid having to deal with more infected children.
MISSION TEAMS
Two mission teams have set firm dates to travel to La Familia in 2022, the first in February and the second in June. The Directors are extremely happy to know that mission teams will soon be returning.