I am happy to announce that a new water filtration system has been installed at La Familia and is now in use. Silvia reports that after the water flows through the new filtration system, it is calcium free, clean and soft.
The water filtration system was made possible thanks to a donation from a parishioner at Saint Andrews Episcopal Church in Downers Grove, IL.
Bill Lee
Those of you who have never witnessed a Mexican birthday party have missed a real treat. The birthday boy or girl blows out the candles just like in the States except for one small difference: the birthday boy or girl willingly allows his/her face to be smashed into the icing on the cake. So, here is a photograph of what you have missed.
I know everyone is eager to know what is going on with Jazmin and the exam she was scheduled to take on July 2.
Jazmin and her advisors have decided to postpone the premed exam until July 2016 to give her more time for extensive preparation for the exam.
Please continue to pray for Jazmin. She will do her preparation at La Familia.
Bill Lee
A team of 13 missioners from Saint Andrews Episcopal Church visited La Familia in mid June. The team made up of half youth and half adults got a lot accomplished in between highly competitive soccer, volley ball and basketball games with the children of La Familia.
Several projects were completed during this visit:
Everything on the kitchen shelves and the storage above the shelves was completely removed for cleaning.
While the shelves were empty, the youth on the trip painted them while the adults painted the walls surrounding the shelves.
One missioner in particular — Mark Spitalli — with bucket of concrete in hand, roamed all over the house and outside the house looking for sections of concrete that needed repair.
The area where the garbage is kept had become full of scraps of wood from the construction of the main home, so three of the missioners — Steve DePeder, Mike Maher and Mike Spitalli — built a huge bonfire behind some old concrete block and burned the debris.
A member of the Saint Andrews’ team — Mary Jane Haley — is a professional story teller. In her normal workweek, Mary Jane travels to schools in the midwest telling stories. Below is a photograph of her telling the Three Little Pigs nursery rhyme to the children of La Familia.
Because virtually everything the children eat at La Familia is fresh, there is a huge need for missioners to help out with the chopping of vegetables. See below a photo of some of our missioners — Vera Martin, Mary Jane Haley and Jordan DePeder — helping out with the chopping.
On our final night at La Familia, the children put on a show for us and afterward posed with the mission team for a group photograph.
We are extremely pleased to announce that Juan Francisco and Silvia had a safe bus ride from Tecamachalco up to the border where they picked up the new 15-passenger van delivered by Marshall Sansbury of Lighthouse Fellowship Church in Fort Worth.
As you can see from the photographs the van is in excellent condition both inside and out. While we paid more for this van than we had budgeted, we believe we now have transportation that will be both comfortable and reliable for mission teams to use when they visit La Familia.
Our thanks to Marshall Sansbury for the countless hours he invested in locating the new van, having it checked out mechanically and then driving it down to Laredo to cross the border.