Casa Hogar La Familia

Arriving in Tecamachalco on Tuesday, February 28 and departing on Monday, March 6, a mission team from Kingfisher, Oklahoma visited La Familia. Joining this team were Ardita Roci currently living in Downers Grove, IL and Bill Lee from Greenville, SC.

This team was greeted by 12 new residents of Casa Hogar La Familia, which included two infants: Hadasa who is eight months old and Alejandra, who is 11 months old.

During our visit, we learned that Jazmin is doing well in nursing school at the University of Colima. Her grades are excellent, as well.

Among the projects the Oklahoma team completed during their visit was to have two concrete columns built and construct and paint a gate to enclose the residential property of a new member of the Groupo Amor Church that holds worship services on the second floor of La Familia. The owner of the property has lost her sight due to diabetes.

Two of the men on the team also installed new screen wire in the old screen frames. This was a big job, but much needed to prevent flies from coming into the home.

We also took a trip to Puebla to purchase items to aid in the construction project that were unavailable in the city of Tecamachalco.

On another evening, Ardita Roci prepared for all of the staff, children and mission team members, an Italian dish of Italian cheese pasta served with tomato and cucumber brochette.

The buzz in the air during this visit to La Familia was the upcoming April 15th wedding of the directors’ daughter, Damaly Hernandez Arias, and Jesus GuzmanBeristain (Chuy). On our trip to the City of Puebla, the team donated money for the directors to purchase wedding clothes for the children of La Familia.

There are currently a grand total of 26 children, five volunteers and two directors at Casa Hogar La Familia.

On November 29, Marshall Sansbury led a team from Lighthouse Fellowship in Fort Worth, TX to La Familia. The primary work project for the Lighthouse Mission Team was to repair the homes of members of the church Juan Francisco and Silvia founded. This particular family in Palmarito really needed help with their home. This type work is designed to help both the missioners and the La Familia organization to do a better job of serving the local community.

While the Lighthouse Fellowship team was on site, the long-awaited new industrial grade washing machine was installed. A 220 electrical line had to be installed for this new “lavadora” that has the ability to handled eight to ten loads a day without breaking down or wearing out. This was a very expensive washing machine that we had to go all the way to Mexico City to purchase, but we believe it will be a good investment since the less expensive washing machines were having to be replaced every year or so. (See photographs below)

2017 Mission Trip Dates: Please email me at LeeResourcesInc@Gmail.com when you have your 2017 dates nailed down for your church’s mission trip. I will make sure there are no conflicts and double-check with Silvia to ensure that your dates are confirmed.

Arriving June 1 and departing June 8, an 11-member mission team from Church of the Good Shepherd – Episcopal of York, SC visited Casa Hogar La Familia for the first time, but according to several members of the team, “It won’t be our last.”

Led by Spanish-speaking team leader, Tanya Whitehead, this mission team spent much of their project time working in one of the local schools. Actually, it was the school attended by Lalo and Suri. They helped out with various cleaning chores and interacted with the students.

Team member, Kevin Duncan, built three sturdy wooden tables for the casa hogar. After locating a truck loaded with bamboo, Paul Mishoe purchased enough bamboo to build what looks a lot like a Native American teepee. The children loved playing on the teepee, climbing, swinging and doing flips on the bamboo structure.

While at the casa, several of the youth taught the children how to apply makeup while others washed down the walls leading up to the second floor church area.

On Sunday, one of the families attending church invited the 11-member team to participate in the “presentation” of their daughter to the life of the church with the beautifully decorated cakes you’ll see in the photographs that accompany this newsletter.

The final day of the York Team’s visit to Mexico included touring the pyramid in Cholula and going on a privately guided tour of some of the attractions in the beautiful City of Puebla.

Don’t forget to take time to look over the photos the York-team took on their visit to Mexico.