Connecting, connecting, connecting!

These photographs are all about connecting!
One of our connections has been Benito and his family.
As we go into the communities here, our constant prayer is that we will connect with people on a more consistent and long term basis. God blessed us with one such connection in Benito.
As we handed out shoes with the "New Jersey Girls" , one man approached us and asked in very limited English if I (Natalie) was a Christian. After a brief and hilariously stunted conversation, we said goodbye to our New Jersey friends, and Benito led us through a maze of houses. (Well, houses is a relative term here. They were more like little tiny rooms sprinkled all over with maybe a wall or two and a hammock!)
Anyway, we visited Benito's "dwelling" and as the smoke from their cooking pit kept the pests away, he proudly showed us his sons certificate of baptism and explained he and his wife are recent Christians. He also showed us a family photo album, minus a cover, and his prize possession, a Bible. Benito's shoes were barely staying on his feet, and although we usually just supply shoes for children, we promised to return with shoes for their whole family.
One sweet connection!
Another picture shows Miquel. We had no shoes for Miquel, but he gave us gifts of little shells he collected and glued together in the shape of small animals. We returned to bring Miquel shoes, and he gave Gregorio a prized stuffed animal. How can we out give a heart like that? He is another sweet connection.
Finally, there are two photos of Ajani, one with his sister Maria. We have supplied shoes to them several times over the last year and a half and never met their parents... until last week! We finally met their mother who was so very thankful that Jesus came to send the gift of shoes to her children through a couple wacky gringo's. Another sweet connection.
One foot, one shoe, one word, one heart at a time... we keep connecting! Thank you so much for your prayers and giving.

"And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me;" Matthew 18:5

Blessings from another Country

Greetings from Isla.

As we enter another season on the Island, God keeps blessing us with shoes from all around the country. We had three ladies from New Jersey come down with 60 pairs and also clothing for a special family. It is always fun to watch others bless the community here and take photos of them. We get to interact with the recipients rather than have your head down and fitting shoes. Another donation came in from Oregon that allowed us to buy from the local merchants around 120 pairs of shoes. That was such a neat evening as Elly usually sees us line up 25-35 pairs of shoes in one buying spree, but this night we just kept lining them up and she thought we were joking with her. We finally ran out of the types of shoes we feel are the most durable for the kids and told her we needed more. She was almost dancing in the street as we handed her the pesos and told her we would be back when she got more in. With this approach, we have found that it is a double blessing as we bless the shop owners by spurring on the economy here and then give them away around the Island. Our one purchase paid her rent for the month and then some.

We were blessed this past weekend with a visit from our dear brother and sister in the Lord from Truckee, CA. They have moved to Belize and are ministering to the locals and helping out in the school. Jim and Anna encouraged us more than they will know with thier fellowship and worship over the weekend. They went and did a shoe drop with us on Saturday night and then had church here in our casa. Thanks you guys and we hope we can come to Belize and bless you half as much as you did us. A few more tourists are starting to show up but is is really slow here. We keep noticing the beach vendors are disappearing one by one as they return to thier home towns since the trade is almost at a standstill. We pray that they will be able to come back and reconnect with us as we have made some neat friendships and miss seeing them coming down the beach from day to day. We continue to keep our eyes fixed on the Lord and do what He asks of us each day, which is to LOVE these people. This is what we want to do as we keep trusting in Him for our provisions.

Awesome video!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hq8lBgIO9o

We Can't Do It All But We Do What We Can

This is a difficult time for the people of Isla Mujeres. Between August and November, the people struggle daily with earning enough money just to feed their families. They never complain, but they share their hopes that perhaps "tomorrow will be better", and they will ALWAYS say, "It is a good day, I have my family." Family means everything to the people here, who don't have many material things. They believe that their family ties make them rich! And to watch them, we know that it's true! They cherish each other in beautiful ways, and spend most of their spare time together playing and hanging out. They do, however, share their concerns that they may not be able to keep their kids in school during the "slow season" here. School is not free, and they must have uniforms and shoes to go. That is where we come in! We were blessed, not only to bring a load of practical shoes to a new community last week, but we also found out about 6 kids who needed shoes for school. What a treasure to be able to provide that basic need. The kids were THRILLED with their new shoes, and we want to thank all of you who have made it possible for us to go and do shoe ministry. Your donations enable us to reach out into the heart of the communities and the people. The parents are also mightily blessed when their children benefit from shoes. The close family ties make them want to provide for their children, and although giving them a pair of shoes may seem like a small thing, in the end it frees them up from one more financial burden. Giving shoes to the children says to the precious people here that we care, and your regular giving enables us to maintain a constant presence. We can't thank you enough for your prayers and support. The children always look forward to seeing Gregorio and Natalia drive up on their moto with new shoes for little feet.
Like the title says, "We can't do it all, but we do what we can." Helping people get one more day down the road of life.
Sending Love From Mexico,
Gregorio y Natalia

Time Management

Well, another month has almost passed and new adventures keep coming our way. Since the passing of my father in June, we have had some down time to look at life with a different view. Thinking about the things that weren't said, the things that should have been said, or just the things that seemed important to get done with my father that did not happen. The final week that we spent with him was remarkable to say the least. Nothing really mattered anymore except to love on him and to enjoy every passing minute we had together, knowing that his final days were near. Now that we are back in the groove of things here on Isla Mujeres, we find ourselves approaching life in a whole new way.

Removing anxiety from our lives is a big one, as Mathew says in Chapter 6:25, "Do not be anxious for your life." Mathew 6:34 says"Do not be anxious for tomorrow." In Luke 12:25 the scriptures ask, "And which of you by being anxious can add a single cubit to his life's span?" I feel that Philippians 4:6 says it best, "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God."

We worry about a lot of trivial things during our life span, and to no avail, it usually comes out differently than we had assumed, predicted, or desired after we mulled it around for hours, days, even weeks at a time, and for what? Hoping for a better, easier way of life here on earth? Desiring our walk be a bed of roses all the time? Maybe a truck load of money will be dumped into my garage today and everthing will be OK. Our children will never do anything that might rock my pride among the community members.

Philippians 4:7 gives us the support we need from being anxious, so read verse 6 again from above and then meditate on this one for awhile. It says in verse 7, "And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehesion, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." That is a promise we can dwell upon until we see Jesus face to face, yet one thing is still required of us to have this truth dominate in our life. We must apply verse 6 day in and day out. We take those anxious thoughts and turn them towards heaven in our prayers daily, with thanksgiving. Life might not get any easier, but we sure can enjoy Gods peace through it all.

Time Mangement you might be asking? We all have the exact same number of hours per day to try and achieve our goals, missions, fulfill our dreams, etc. Are we doing it with Gods peace each step of the way or are we striving in our own strength, abilities, or desires? The two of us have taken the approach of starting the day saturated in Gods word each morning, praying, and then deciding between the two of us, what is the most important things we have on our plate today. Natalies job is always on the front burner so that we can continue to reach out in the name of Jesus to the the locals here. After that 4 hours is set aside, we get to ask God to bring us ministry each day, large or small. He has shown us that all we need to do is simply step out the door and be a conduit for His love to flow through. I know that everyone does not have the same work loads as we do, yet we wonder if we are all willing to allow Gods' love to simply flow through us no matter where we are? Can it flow freely if we are anxious, stressed out, burdened with the worlds problems, struggling in our marriages? That can only be answered by each of us as we take it before Him and ask him to fill us with His peace that surpasses all comprehension so that it will guards our hearts. Time Management, lets see, if I can remove 2, maybe 3 things from my plate today that are not pressing, and they each might be a 1 hour job, oh my goodness, I have an extra 3 hours to spread out and use for the other tasks at hand. I might be able to stop and show "The Toms and Sarahs of my life" a peace that dwells inside of me by actually taking a few minutes to talk and love on them.

Time management here on the Island to truly different than anywhere we have lived. We still face the struggles of life, just on a different level. No matter the level, Gods word still stands firm for us in these trying times we face. Finding time to observe the drag races they held last weekend on the air strip. Time to hold Natalie's hand and stroll along the beach with her to hear her thoughts and in the midst of that, still take the time to say hello to each person we meet as we walk.

It is a special time for Natalie and I here on the Island as we continue to seek out His will in our time management. We don't want to miss the wonderful things He has for us due to our trying to keep up the "JUST GET 'ER DONE" mentality that is so easily slipped into during our walks of life.

Here are a few photos from this last weeks TIME MANAGEMENT we got to experience. Hoping your time is being managed in a wonderful way as the days continue to slide into the FALL SEASON of 2009. Oh no, did I say Fall? Yes another year is headed for the history books and we hope is has been a good one.

You are now my true Mayan sister

Oh what a treat to have gotten invited over to Alex and Cecilias' home for an evening of sharing and giving. We brought back some very basic gifts from the States for them as a gift of love and as usual, we are the ones that walked away blessed. As we were giving them the shoes, a basketball, necklace, and other little things we brought them, they were filled with anticipation for something that blew us away. As soon as the opportunity arose, I looked up and saw Cecilia , with her older sister dressing Natalie in an authentic Mayan outfit. They took such pleasure in wrapping her all up from head to toe and then stepping back and saying,"Now you are my true Maya sister." They are a Maya family that believe in Jesus and attend the Assembly of God church here on the Island, so this was a very special moment for us to be a part of. We have birthday parties to attend in the days ahead, had Samuel and his precious family over for pizza and gave his two daughters new shoes the other night. These connections continue to provide us with avenues to learn more about this wonderful culture as well to love on them in the name of Jesus. Little Thomas.. the young boy who we had reached out to many times just down the road from our home has left the Island along with his family. They sold seashells along the road at this end of the island and we always looked forward to waving to them everytime we rode pass. One day, they were not there... no biggie, we will see them tomorrow... well some 14 tomorrows have passed and we have seen a new elderly man there selling shells in their place. They have had to move on to who knows where to make ends meet, and we are once again reminded that we need to make every opportuniy count because we might never get that chance again in Gods economy. We pray for the seeds we planted and that they are well. We are finally getting back to the Island pace of life after being in the U.S.A. for almost a month, between the two trips made in June and July. Life is very slow here and we realized how precious it is once we were gone from it. It was great to see so many faces of the past and we look forward to the future that is held in the palm of Gods hand for us, when we will all be reunited for the final call to sit and worship Him for eternity. Thanks for your prayers and support.

Images of Isla

We are in the states today, catching up with friends and family, but ever mindful of the friends on the island. Cecilia, on the far left, is a Mayan woman we have the joy of knowing. She has 3 children and is married to Alex. Thanks to God and His precious people, we have been able to provide her children with shoes. She walks the beach all day selling handcrafted goods from Chiapas, and some days goes home without a sale! But... she believes in Jesus and that He is a rewarder of those that seek Him. Her attitude is one of love and joy and trust. A true gift to our hearts. The little boy with the blue shoes just wanted to hug his new sandalias!

You can see video games, la isla style, on the left, and our new friend Enrique. Enrique has been a recipient of the shoe ministry and, as a result, the door to connect with his grandmother has been opened to us. We pray for connections with people every day. People are all that matter, and so we continue to go because you continue to give. We thank God for you all everyday!
We thank God for the brilliant Blaine and Bethany Franger, who supplied us with a few of these photos!
Please pray for us as we sojourn in the midst of Mexico, and travel for a short time in the states.
Hebrews 13:20-21