Update

 We want to let you all know how much we appreciate you, and how precious you are to the children of Isla Mujeres for all your help and support. We have found it necessary to return to the U.S., and will no longer be distributing shoes on la Isla. We thank God for His guidance, and for allowing us to spend so many wonderful years on Isla Mujeres. Our love for the people of Isla Mujeres will be forever in our hearts. We will miss you every day. Until we meet again, may God's blessings fill your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

BLESSINGS FROM CANADA

Greetings from the Island of Isla Mujeres:

Once again 6 months slipped by and here we are trying to catch you up to date.   Many shoes have gone out to the kids here since March with one special family standing out.  They are our friends from Canada and such a blessing to us as friends and to the ministry as well.  The Holdens come to the Island on a regular basis and never visit empty handed.  This past trip they came with 30+ pairs of new soccer shoes and enough jerseys to give 7 teams matching tops.  They do not have sponsors for the teams here so they just show up in anything they have that might resemble a soccer uniform and have fun.  Soccer shoes, tennis shoes, barefoot, long pants, shorts pants.  Nobody cares because they have come to play soccer and have fun.  No fashion statements to be made, so when the Holden family handed out the jerseys on this night, smiles from both kids and parents were plentiful.  They all look like Professionals running around chasing one another and sometimes the ball as well.  We are blessed beyond measure and continue to reach out to these wonderful folks that allow us to live on this Island of beauty.  Along with the soccer shoes, we have handed out over 400 pairs of shoes since March and more keep showing up from folks visiting the Island on vacation and dropping off their donations.  We do not get to meet a lot of these kind donors but are so grateful for them to keep supplying the

shoes that allow us to go and love on these precious kids.  Thanks to all of you.

Off and Running for 2014

March is half over and that also makes 2014 almost 1/4 of the way done.  Time sure seems to be moving along at a very fast pace these days as we get ready to celebrate our Granddaughters 1st birthday next month.   Watching your Grand kids grow up from abroad really hits you every once in awhile but we continue to trust in our heavenly Father to guide us and take care of us here on Isla Mujeres.  Since our big Christmas party, we have gone and handed out shoes with some very loving folks in a different area on the Island at some friends house. One of the photos shows a Mother with her 6 kids.  5 boys plus her baby girl and was she ever thankful for us being able to give all of them a new pair of shoes. Trying to get buy on 7-10 dollars a day as a family, that was a big load off of Mom and Dad and their budget.  It is so great to see people get right in their and love on these little kids in a genuine fashion and they can't wait to come back next year and do it again.  We just had some folks contact us here that are getting ready to head back up North for the summer and wanted us to come by and meet some other couples.  Once there, they blessed us with money to go buy boys shoes and one of our new friends had done a painting of a place here on the Island which was bought and she gave us the money from the proceeds.  Her desire is to paint and then take all the proceeds and donate it to charitable groups.  Pretty neat stuff that is happening out their in this world and God keeps guiding folks our way to bless our efforts in His grand plan.  Hoping everyone is ready for some warm springtime weather and that your year is starting off with a bang.  Thanks to all

who are praying for us here and all who have supported our desire to love on these kids in the name of Jesus.  Blessings from Greg and Natalie.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Greetings, as we head off into 2014 looking for new opportunities to love on the kids here and provide shoes for them.  Our annual Christmas party was over the top this year for the kids as God brought to us some pretty amazing donors to bless them with a party they are still talking about.   From folks that gave 1 pair, to the biggest of over 100 pairs, all of you totally rocked the hearts of the children we got to bless this year.  We were encouraged by a dear friend to plan and pray since we were not sure if we were going to have the party as of the 1st of December.  Usually we have plenty by then but our bank was almost empty of shoes and gifts.  Natalie shared on the internet and God did the rest.   Folks from all over started showing up with goodies for the party and by the time we got ready to go........ well the photos speak for themselves.  Our little house was wall to wall with gifts and shoes.   Riding back on the ferry yesterday, I saw a lady we know and chatted for awhile to get caught up with her life and events.  She shared that folks were talking about the party on the Island and the one thing that stood out to her was, for the first time, kids thought it was pretty cool to live in Guadalapana.  Cool to live in a tar paper shack community with no electricity and running water?  It brought tears to our eyes to think that a gift, a pair of shoes, and a hot meal would impact someone like that.  Skateboards,dolls,action figures, soccer balls, and a whole lot more were handed out to over 400 kids this year and you all made it possible by going the extra mile and supporting our ministry.  We returned from the party with many extra shoes and two days later were able to sit in our doorway and hand out shoes for 2.5 hours to the kids that are living here in our new neighborhood where we are renting now on Isla Mujeres.  We are praying already for next December and planning our next shoe drop soon.  God has been so good to us over the last 6 years and we are ready to jump into 2014 as He leads us to new feet and opportunities to share His greatness.  Thanks everyone for giving and helping us put a smile on so many faces over the years.  Blessings and may you go impact your world in 2014.

Christmas Shoes and Party 2013

Christmas Shoes and Party!    

We are counting down the days to our Christmas Party! Last year every child who came to the party received a pair of shoes, a meal, a small gift, and lots of love from all the Helpers!
We are collecting shoes now for our December 24th fiesta grande!
Thank you for all your support and prayers. It seems like an impossible thing to collect enough shoes so that each child will get a pair for Christmas, but we serve a God who loves to prove that nothing is too difficult for Him. Christmas is such a blessed reminder of Gods greatest gift to us. He gave big, He gave with purpose, He gave in love. He gave it all in Jesus!
Again, as you give, we gather and go in His name, celebrating the One who gives the soul worth.

O holy night! The stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of our dear Saviour’s birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
‘Til He appear’d and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees! O hear the angel voices!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born;
O night divine, O night, O night Divine.

A little bit goes a long way

Greetings from the land of sunshine and sunshine. We are grateful today for the cloud cover and North winds here on Isla Mujeres that is keeping the temperature down a few degrees. As we have stated in previous posts, 2-3 degrees here on the Island is a huge swing for us. It has been very warm for October with inside temperatures hanging around 90 in the afternoons and cooling off to 86 at night. Today we woke up to a pleasant 81 and it is holding at 82. Our past month has been a busy one with us moving once again and we have settled in for a long winters nap as to say. We have moved into the Colonials and it is amazing how many sounds we get to hear each day and recognize the services rendered with each blast of a horn, banging of wrenches on propane tanks, speakers blaring, or a whistle letting you know the knife sharpening man is coming down the street. We did not get to experience these wonderful events out in our other home and we are enjoying it on a daily basis. We have posted before about a blind woman who has two young daughters we met years ago named Jenny. We have taken a special likening to them and have tried to help out as much as possible without getting in the way. In Septembers post, little Candi and Nancy are seen getting new school shoes and on this day, Nancy informed us that Candi had been in the hospital in CanCun due to the living conditions in their home. Dirt floor+animals+rain+humidity+???= not a good situation. She told us they would really like a new floor so Candi would not get sick anymore. So off we went and we prayed about how we could be of service to them. Well, God placed a couple in our path a few months ago that have a ministry called "Keys 4 Life". Knowing what they stood for and their hearts desire, we contacted them about praying for Jenny and the girls. I told them around $300.00usd would give them a new floor and a gift of this magnitude would forever change their lives. Two days later Ken and Debbie contacted us and said, "It is a go." Praise God for giving hearts and a ministry answering this prayer request. Without the two of us being involved in the actual organizing or work, we contacted others folks on the Island and they got a new floor. The joy in their faces speaks for itself and we give God the glory in seeing how He brings it all together as we seek out His will and ask for His covering. We continue to be simple servants for His Kingdom and conduits of His provisions as we make new friends around our new home and pray that they see Jesus in all we do. $300.00usd is not a lot by our standards but for these folks, it is a huge chunk of money that seems impossible to come up with at one time. Jenny's dad wanted to delay the project so he could help. He has a bad knee and he takes medicine that costs him $50 pesos (about $4.00usd) a week so he can get around pain free. He had not been able to afford the medicine for the last 2 weeks and thought if we waited for another week or so, he would be able to get $50 pesos together so he could help. Our friend that spearheaded the project gave him the $50 pesos and dad got to help out plus he got to be blessed by helping out his daughter. Yes, a little bit does go a long way for these folks here and we are so thankful to God for allowing us to see this and keep life in perspective. Lend a hand when you can, bless the socks off of someone out there, and do it for the glory of God. Remember, a little bit does go a long way for someone.

SIMPLY AMAZED

We continue to be amazed at the speed of time as we love on the kids here on Isla Mujeres. We get up with good intentions to update our blog and then the next thing we know, 4 months have passed. Life is that way no matter where you live we believe and it is a simple reminder to us to complete the tasks before us as God lays them on our hearts each day. Do we tend to say "Tomorrow" with so many little events (Not that our Blog is a little event) that come before us throughout the day and then realize that it has slipped away for a month or more? Since our last post, we have handed out 100's of shoes to the kids here and are always so humbled and blessed by the support of so many. Every pair is given in the name of Jesus and every foot loved on as we enter into the lives of so many here. Friends from Canada brought down 65+ pairs of soccer shoes for the kids and another family just left after handing out over 100 pairs of shoes while here. A soccer Co-op donated the shoes and the Holden families church group cleaned them all up for the journey down. The Leonard triplets sold cookies and lemonade for a year to be able to buy shoes and what a blessing to see 12 year old triplets wanting to serve kids who are less fortunate than them. We are in the process of getting school shoes for special kids that we have come to know throughout the 6+ years we have been here. Yesterday, we started out just to see if the shoe store was open, to see if they were having school, and to maybe buy a few pair. God moved in a mighty way as we ended up buying shoes, finding the kids that are scattered around the Island and also coming upon the man that sells shoes from his V.W. van for a living. When we got home we sat in amazement how it had all come together for us and thanked God for every piece of the puzzle. When we sat back and relived the day, 20 seconds either way in our journey would of meant missing the kids as they were walking home from school, standing on a corner,riding their bikes, etc.. What a treat to be able to come driving down the road and see Dyna just standing there looking around in the middle of the Colonias and to pull up and hand her a pair of school shoes. Off we went down the road to get a new toilet seat, (yes a toilet seat was our agenda during this leg of the journey), and then to have Isleni come walking across the street playing with her top. Joy filled our hearts as she went running towards her home as fast as she could go with her new shoes. Another prayer answered as we had not seen her for a couple of months not knowing

if she had moved from the Island or to a new house. Blessed for sure since where we saw her she was not close to her home but praise be to God, because He knew where she was and placed us there at the exact time needed. We love seeing God work this way as we asked for directions in our day and He answered them above and beyond our wildest imaginations. We will try to do better in keeping the blog updated in the future so that those of you that read it can be blessed along with us as God moves here on Isla through us. Blessings wherever you are and however God is using you for His glory.