outreach ministry to Rancho Viejo

Well... today we went to Rancho Viejo, the providence of Isla Mujeres over on the main land back of Cancun. We took Rance, Bender, and Andrew, the three young men from the States that came down to do missions work. Alfonso, the minister from a church in cancun picked us up, took us out to his church where he dropped us off, left. We were in the midst of strangers for the next 4 hours. What a treat is was to come along side of fellow believers who were there in the little church to serve food and share Jesus with the 30 plus kids that we gathered outside of the school and walked them over. We made friends on the way, even though the Spanish is not happening from my perspective, but God is a God of universal languages and love. He broke down the barriers, we loved on them none the less and had a great time watching and helping. The photos speak for themselves as we sat and listened, danced and sang with them, and then ate. Afterwards we went out and played soccer in the street, since we were pretty much in the middle of a jungle but the street was a wonderful soccer field. Lots of laughs today and warm smiles from all. The staff there are true servants of the Lord as they ushered in the kids, taught the word with the felt board, fed the hungy little tummies, and then off they went after a little bit of legos and soccer. They even had Vegie Tales in Spanish for them. Sweet stuff since it has been many years since we have watched Larry boy go for it. God is so amazing as we see new things, meet new brothers and sisters in our walk down here. Enjoy and talk with you soon.

Evelyn Gidalti Colli... Her Grandpa works down at the beach club here in front of our Casa. He wells up with tears each time we talk about her over his excitement that she is getting the opportunity to learn English at the La Gloria English School. (www.folges.org) I was able to get her a sponsor so that she can go free. What a blessing to see her blossom as she learns new words and grows in confidence when using them. Another chance to see how God is using us to touch and reach these precious kids on Isla.

Pinatas and Faith

We went to a birthday party yesterday. Karen was turning 3! We had the great blessing of bringing a pinata filled with candy! Although we mumbled our way through the social event, played with the children, and smiled a lot, we were constantly aware of the struggle to fit in! (Natalie, perhaps more than Greg, as many of the men speak a bit of English, while the women seldom understand a word!)It's a little awkward at times and helps us understand why, at the tower of Babel, the people who spoke French moved to France together, the Spanish speakers headed toward Spain, and the English huddled trying to figure out how to make their language a universal one!
However, when it came time to put up the pinata, although we could only sing a few lines of the pinata song, we felt like part of the family. As we all joined together in celebrating the life of a sweet little girl, we felt an overwhelming sense of God's faithfulness in allowing us to connect with this precious group of people.
And, we really felt like we fit in!
God has reminded us once again that we need to take one step at a time, trusting Him to make "all things beautiful in His time", and rejoice in the little treasures He provides along the way. It was so good to feel like we fit in, when most of the time we know we don't!
It was a reminder of how God tells us that, by faith, we can move mountains. Our "outsider" status is like a mountain that we long to move! I remember asking the Lord about that scripture once. It seems that there are so many mountains we have wanted to move. And in his still small voice, He spoke these words of courage and hope.
"Yes, faith does move mountains, but sometimes those mountains are moved one bucket at a time. Grab a bucket."
God is so good! Today is filled with hope for our future here as we grab our buckets and walk by faith.

Loving My New Shoes

Sojourning In Mexico

One thing we have noticed, while sojourning in Mexico, is that when we have visitors our normal life routine stops in its tracks. We still have to take care of “business”, but guests in our humble home cause us to relax, and re-enjoy the beauty of our island home. There was some guilt feelings about not doing more shoe ministry, while enjoying Blaine and Bethany Franger’s company from Hood River, and in taking that before the Lord, He reminded us, in the sweet way that He does, that life doesn’t need to be constantly busily engaged in “outward ministry” to be lived right in His sight. We have the privilege to host people that come from busy lives in the states, and if we can supply them with time to relax, re-energize, re-new, re-commit, be re-stored, re-focus on the precious treasures of life in Christ, then we need to realize that we are fulfilling His plan His way.

That said, we have been doing outreach into new areas of the island in our spare time. While driving by a mini-super store, we noticed several children playing on a small hillside covered with glass, metal, rocks, and other unmentionable items. Of course the first thing we want to check out is their feet! No shoes! So we pull over the moto to call to them. Shy at first, they slowly make their way to us as we introduce ourselves the best we can. Greg is great at making them feel comfortable as his antics make them laugh. When we get their names, we let them know we would like to give them some shoes, and ask if we can trace their feet on a piece of paper. It seems like a game, and they always laugh at the sight of their foot outlined on the paper. (They probably have no idea what the crazy gringos are up to, but they do understand us when we say we will return soon.)

After getting “feet” measured, and names written down, we make the trip to town to peruse the shops in hopes of finding the right sizes for the little adorable feet we traced.

This requires prayer as shops may or may not have shoes and we can wander for hours just trying to find them. (Plus, when they give us shoe sizes, if it is Mexican 17, how does that convert to European or USA sizes?! And, was that children or adult? These three different measuring systems are not even close to each other.) We have no Wal Mart, Costco, or PayLess Shoe outlet promising shoes, only little mom and pop stores that stock up now and then. As we make our way around town, people wonder why we are buying so many shoes, and it’s a wonderful opportunity to share Zapatos Para Los Ninos!

Once we have managed to “score” our shoes, we then return to find many happy and anxious faces awaiting us, usually accompanied now by moms and dads.

As we put feet into shoes we tell them that as God has given to us, we give to them, from our hearts, because of Jesus.

Just another day in the life!

Thank you, as always, for your love, prayers, and support. We go because you give.

Love “mucho”!

Greg and Natalie

Happy Birthday Gregorio!