Things We Take For Granted

Today we celebrated our 32nd anniversary at Templo Christiano Elim. The service was packed. There was great fellowship during and after the service. It was a great time of sharing what God had done and is continuing to do in LaMision. We were also reminded about the privilege it is to be able to gather in large numbers when many of our brothers in sister in Christ living in other countries are being persecuted for gathering such as we did today. I was reminded not to take the assembling of ourselves in the name of Christ for granted.

Later this afternoon, one of the children in the orphanage asked me to please teach him how to read. I assumed that since he was bright, happy, clothed, fed and safe that he naturally could read too. I gathered some simple books and sat with him. We went over sounds and words together. In just a few minutes I had 4 or 5 other boys wanting to learn to read. The boys that had come to the orphanage as older kids probably had not gone to school and were at the same level as the 5 year old kids that had come to the orphanage as babies and had started school this year. Never had I encountered so much eagerness to learn.

I am learning that I take more for granted than I ever thought I had. I am also learning that most of us have more to give than we ever thought. If we sat down and wrote out everything we know how to do and try to pin point when and how we learned how to do it maybe our eyes would be opened to the great need to pass on what we have learned. A simple thing like the ability to write, read, tie a shoe, to show love and kindness, are things that have been taught. Taught by actions for some, but nevertheless they were taught.

God has blessed us to bless others. Give it all away and watch how quickly you are blessed again.

Another Week

This week flew by, in Mexico time none the less. Tonight we had our 3rd evening of celebrating our 32nd anniversary of Templo Christiano Elim. This is the church that we attend. Tonight we had lots of music and the children put on a play about the story "The Tale of Three Trees". It was very well done. There's some very talented people in this church.

I'm also told today that we set our clocks back an hour tonight. This means for 2 weeks the U.S. and Mexico will be off an hour. Then when the U.S. changes their time we'll be the same again. Crazy how it all works.

Starting to feel more at home here. Love the people and the children. Feeling connected after feeling like there are so many I don't know.

Everyone at church calls me Sister. I kind of like it. It makes me feel a part of the family down here. We had our second of 4 services tonight. We are celebrating 32 years of this present church being in existence.

The Ministry of Presence

Saturday, was an interesting day. Many children and staff have been sick and DJ was visiting our home church in the states. It was time for the Schmidt family to jump in and "take it up a notch" as my friend Mary likes to say.

David helped one of the groups with putting in a sidewalk for one of staff to have better wheelchair accessibility. Tyler was busy retrieving things for various adults and running messages and I tried to fill in wherever needed.

By the evening I had to decide whether to stay at the orphanage or go to the church service. I was torn. I emailed my sister to pray for direction with me. I made the decision to go to the service and leave the boys to help Lynette back at the orphanage. She still was feeling ill and usually would be on the worship team at church.

When I got to the service, I really enjoyed it. There was a teaching given by a guest speaker and at the end I was asked to play my sax with the Pastor's daughter, Sophia, at the piano/ keyboard. There I was playing a song I hadn't ever heard before, making myself available and asking God to use me. A call to receive Christ as Savior was given. Many came, but one person in particular caught my attention. Her name is Heidi.

The previous week I had gone to a baby shower for Heidi that was given by the missionary Physician that has a clinic at the local church. Sarah (the missionary) had invited the ladies on staff at the orphanage and the ladies at church to help her throw a surprise baby shower for Heidi. Heidi had absolutely nothing to care for a baby and no family. I went mostly to keep myself involved and open to how God might use me even though I had no way of really sharing my faith by "words". God had another plan.

I attended with no gift. Sarah brought extra and told Heidi that one of her extra gifts were from me. That was very humbling, but I had no money to purchase a gift. But that wasn't important to Sarah. She just wanted Heidi to have a good representation of people who loved God and wanted Heidi to see the love of God showed to her through us.

Heidi was very moved that we would throw her a baby shower. She received more gifts than I have ever seen at one baby shower. Once again I was struck by the generosity and hospitality of the people of Baja. It was all about helping Heidi.

Getting back to Saturday night's church service. Heidi was one of the people who came forward to receive Christ. Though I was not able to communicate with my words the love of God to her, I was able to attend a baby shower, smile and write a note of encouragement to her that someone else would later interpret.

Maybe Heidi would have come to know Jesus even if I had not been at the baby shower. But I learned that God works through relationship, smiles and presence. Because Jesus lives in me, Jesus attended a baby shower last Saturday night. He speaks the universal language of love.

Good Day Shared by All

There's a wonderful group down here serving for a few days. They've come with eyes to see needs and laborers and money to meet the needs. They are very other focused. They realize that when we are blessed it is so God can use us to bless others.

Yesterday, I made my first run to Rosarito as the driver. I went with a few young people that new how to get there and back. I was asked to buy food for the orphanage. I was given a list of things to buy and the money to purchase it with. What I didn't realize was some of the items that I was purchasing was due to the orphanage being completely out. Beans, sugar and a few items needed to be purchased right away. Yet, I sensed no panic when asked to make the trip

The group that's staying here right now, happened to call yesterday to find out what we might need. When they arrived today, they brought an abundance of things we needed. They brought it to meet our needs and not to make them look good or feel good. It was clear they were sent by the Lord once again showing His faithfulness to provide.

It's been a good day. I've seen my boys serving and getting involved with the groups that are down here. I am amazed at God's goodness at surrounding my boys with men who are full of the love of God and the word of God.

My Spanish is getting better. The boys are loving their Spanish class that they just started in school. Hopefully we'll keep improving until we're all fluent.

The one funny thing that did happen today was that David was mistaken for an orphane by one the guys of the group that's visiting. They asked him a question and he pretended not to understand English. It was hilarious to see.

Things I've Learned in Mexico So Far

• The Holy Spirit speaks every language.
• The saxophone can be played in every language.
• God is faithful to bring numerous godly men into the lives of my young men.
• You haven't failed if you're willing, available, and a little adventurous.
• Fellowship is extremely important, even if you can't speak the language, there's much to be said about the ministry of presence.
• Jello and a good Bible story in Spanish is a great way to a little boys heart.
• Kids go on Face Book that are not 13 years old yet.
• "Tu tienes permiso?" are important words to know if you're going to live at an orphanage.
• Not all roads lead to heaven, but the main one will take you to Tijuana.
• When making purchases at the flea market make sure that the sellers use a calculator to make correct conversions of pesos and dollars.
• You can purchase major dangerous explosive fireworks.
• Tile floors are much more suitable for raising boys and having pets.
• "No" to a kid at the orphanage many times translates as "Well if you keep asking like a 100 times more, smile, and say please then yes."
• I do not get cell phone service when my phone is in my house, but it works just fine inside the church building during services.
• You can find strawberry jam at Walmart in Rosarito.
• Lots of people from my home church like to Face Book.
• Some people give out of seeing a need in others. Others give because of their own need to give.
• Cats here are very determined to get inside your house despite the fact that you have a dog.
• Conejo is rabbitt in Spanish.

Most of all, I've learned that if you value a child, show them love and invest in them, they will smile, grow and have much joy despite some terrible circumstances that my have placed them in an orphanage.

A Sunday at Door of Faith

Today, I was up early, 6:00 am in the kitchen. We were hosting a group from Anaheim Vineyard and they were preparing breakfast for the kids in the orphanage. I was there to observe how that is done. I'm learning where things are kept in the kitchen and how to set a the tables for 100 kids of various ages. I'm loving the learning of it all. I have to grab every opportunity that presents itself because it could be a while between groups coming down. Experience is my best teacher.

After we finished breakfast I went back home to get ready for our church service. Now that I've started playing my sax on the worship team I come to church at 9am and the service starts at 10am. When the service started, the pastor wasn't being interpreted. As the service went on it seemed that more Americans started entering the service. A few American guests came late and the pastor stopped and graciously welcomed them. Then he asked DJ to come and interpret what he was preaching. That made it nice for David and me. Tyler went to help out with the little kids. We're thinking it will help him pick up Spanish and also be way for Ty to help out on Sundays.

After the service I typed a questionaire for the kids in the orphanage. Lynette is trying to meet a deadline with needed info. on each kid in the orphanage so I told her I would start interviewing the kids for her to help get her a running start. It was fun for me and good for me to practice my Spanish and it helped me get better acquainted with the kids.

After interviewing about 25 kids, I came in and took a little nap. The early morning was catching up with me and I wanted to be rested before I went back to the church for another worship rehearsal. We're averaging 2 or 3 rehearsals a week right now because we're preparing for a big celebration of the church's anniversary.

God's Smuggler

Yesterday, I volunteered to go into the states to pick up some milk and a few things. I knew I needed to jump in as soon as possible and take advantage of the of the experience of some of the volunteers while I have the chance. Turned out to be very adventurous. I thought I would be going to Costco and picking up some milk and a few food items. No, no, no. I followed my neighbor at the orphanage,Jarilyn in my van. With me was a gal named Jennifer that 's a nurse and volunteers at clinic down here. Anyway, first we go to a restaurant. We knocked on the back door, walked into their walk in refrigerator and picked up 15 gallons of milk. Next, we drove to a park where some Christians met us and filled our vehicles with huge bags of rice, beans, powdered milk, and boxes of potatoes. We picked up supplies for two other orphanages besides. Then a lady comes up to me and ask if I would find the house in the picture she is showing me. She says that is located on the same road as the orphanage. She asked if we could go to this house and tell them that a team of people bringing them food on November 7th. They have no address or phone so this was the only way to get word to them. (Very missionary:) Next we drive all of our food to the storage unit in Chula Vista because we're told to bring just a few items back over into Mexico. Then two guys from the orphanage show up at the storage unit to tell us that they came from two different border crossings to find out which would be the best one for us to cross. One border was only allowing very few items to come over with a single lane to wait in. The other border seems to have many lanes open and letting more items through. Then the guys from the orphanage proceed to tell us that we can take lots of things over because we are Americans and they were confident that we wouldn't get pulled over. They did however, tell us to get our cars washed so that the border wouldn't be suspicious of us coming from Mexico. They told us that we need to go in through Tecate which one of us had ever gone before. We called DJ after we stop for lunch and he says he would feel better if I went back to the storage unit and lightened my load for traveling. They were very concerned about me getting pulled over in my van for bringing so much food over. Apparently, the rules change, but as we understood it today, we should only be bringing $50 worth of food per person in the vehicle. So after we got the van load made lighter, we got gas for the cars and did not get them washed as suggested. We headed towards Tecate and crossed over with no problems whatsoever,except that we lost the friend that we were following and her cell phone quit working. So, Jennifer in my car said just keep going south and west until we find something familiar. We did and we made it back. When we got back our friend that was lost was already back too! I felt like God's smuggler.

No Regrets

Today marks the end of our 2nd week here at Door of Faith. Our Spanish is coming. David is learning important things like how to say "Sponge Bob Square Pants" is Spanish. He's very popular with the kids and the little ones love to hitch a ride on his back or play soccer with him. Tyler's newest phrase is "No mas por favor". He does better one on one with different kids. Sometimes he enjoys playing cars or today it was marbles.

I walked through my 2nd tour today with DJ. He's showing me how to give a tour when groups come down for a visit. I've been asked a few times about how we like being here as a family. I tell them that we're enjoying it very much. My hope is that others will see what were doing and see that it's not impossible. If God asks you to do something He will always make a way. We just have to be willing.

This evening we attended our 2nd quincenera. It was held down the road at a place called Eve's Garden. It's a beautiful place with gardens, gazebos, ponds, and tropical plants. On the propery there's about 6 to 8 houses for rent. Neat place for kids to explore.

After we arrived home, my new amigo Leonardo came and hugged me and said "Buenas noches. Hasta manana." As he started to leave he ran back, gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek and said again "Hasta manana." That moment made me feel great. If I can touch the heart of these kids down here, then I have had success. What a great way for me to end a day. No regrets.