Good to Know The Weather Man

We've had quite a bit of downpour and wind in the last few days. It was predicted rain on Saturday. This was going to be terribly inconvenient with a few groups coming to the orphanage this weekend to play and do activities with our kids. Amazing how God arranged the weather around the much needed visit with our kids. Amazing how God's plans can not be thwarted. I love watching Him prioritize the day. It's so obvious that God's heart is toward the widow, the orphan and the poor.

Today was just as amazing. We were able to reach our destination without any trouble at all. Some people predicted that I might not be able to get to the river colony today because of the rain we've had. In Mexico, the rain can really keep a person from getting around. Between mudslides, rivers to cross and pot holes to dodge, it can delay your plans at the least.

My favorite part of today was bringing Johnathan his own mattress. A few weeks ago Johnathon's mother approached about finding a mattress for her son because with the new addition of their baby girl, they no longer could fit all together on their one mattress. When she asked us, she also mentioned that she was embarrassed that she had to ask for it. I told her to always ask because we take all of the requests to God and then we would give what He provided. She was also the first person to ask me if we were going to build a church in the colony that the people could go to. "We need a place to go and be refreshed." she said. I hope I never forget those words. Even this lady who didn't know Jesus (yet) was reminding me of the one of the blessings of fellowship. It's refreshing.

I was confident that we would be able to get to Ensenada. I was a little less confident that our recently purchased property wouldn't be a giant mud hole. I really wasn't quite sure that people would even come out in the cold damp weather to get their dispensas. Much to my surprise, there were many people waiting for us at our new location and....the ground was plenty dry not only to use for distributing dispensas, but it was great for the kids to play games on the corner lot that we're purchasing.

Today could have been a very quiet, seemingly non productive day. Instead, there was so much laughter coming from the children that we had a hard time talking over them to call people for picking up their dispensas. By the way, we gave out all 100 bags of groceries (dispensas) today. We were about 20 short. When we ran out of food, we opened up the bags of gently used clothes that had been sent to us and let people that had waited for so long in line have 3 articles of clothing. They were thrilled. We even had two little boys that wanted beanies or gloves so badly that they picked up trash for a place in line for beanies or gloves.

Yes, today could have been a quite, non productive day. But God had other plans. So glad we went forward instead of retreating because of the rain. God is, was and will be our Way Maker.

Never Felt Safer!

Many unwarranted fears have been keeping people from visiting Door of Faith. It's sad to know that people both in the states and in the orphanage are missing out because of an isolated incident far from us keeps people from coming. The children here at the orphanage are sad because of the huge change in numbers of visitors and the visitors miss out on a life changing adventure. Hopefully, the following will help ease your fears about coming down.

When I came down here to Door of Faith Orphanage with my two sons about a year and a half ago, a never would have imagined how fulfilling it would be. I knew it was a step of faith. I knew it would be very different, but I also knew that it was going to be life changing. Boy, has it been life changing.

I've always wanted God's best for my boys. I've always wanted to pass on to them the rich spiritual heritage that I grew up with. Being a single parent really presented an obstacle for me to do that very easily. How was I going to model a life of service to God like my parents did for me? I was working most of the time and wanted to be with my boys. I wanted so desperately for my boys to grow up strong in character, far more than any other thing. More importantly, I wanted a way for them to store up treasures in heaven and not in this world. I wanted them to grow up understanding that relationships are what matter in life. All of these things have all been possible here.

Something that might surprise you is how safe I feel living here. I have felt safe everywhere I've been in Mexico. In fact, I feel safer here than I do in the states. The culture is very relational. Everywhere I've been people stop whatever they're doing just see how I'm doing . Whatever they were doing gets put on hold because they feel I'm more important.

One of the greatest blessing as a parent has been all the opportunity my boys have had to serve. It makes this mom so proud to see her children growing up learning that helping the poor, the widow and the orphan is "normal" Christianity in practice. Learning to give instead of learning how to get, discovering God-given abilities to serve others and the joy of knowing that they can contribute towards the needs of others, makes the sacrifice of "things" a welcomed change as far as this mom is concerned.

If you ever have the opportunity to visit Door of Faith Orphanage, don't miss out! You have no idea what great things God can do in the life of your child, you or your entire family. One day you just might find yourself living a completely different life and loving every minute of it!

New Property Purchase

We purchased the property in the river colony! It's not huge, but it was big enough for us to pull up two cars full of dispensas for families living in the colony. If you see the pictures, you'll see Hector and Maribel's car and my car opened up to dispense food and clothing.

God is moving a little fast by my standards, but apparently He's fine with it. After purchasing the property, Hector, his family and some of the people in the colony helped to put a ramp for easy access for our cars. The families seem very excited about us coming, but you can also see that the enemy of our souls is not. If you look around, there are people that are are there roof tops checking us out. Many of them, I would guess are in trapped in a life of addictions. Some may not like us being there, but we believe that Jesus is going to reach out to them as well.

We gave out 90 large dispensas on Sunday. The average dispensa contained a small bottle of cooking oil, a bag of beans, a bag of pasta, 6 tomatoes, 1 or 2 onions, 6 tomatios and 8 potatoes. A few had tomato sauce packets and all of them had some drink mix to add a little flavor to their water. All of this was possible because of your prayers for donations to come in. Thank you so much for your generosity.

People were already waiting for us at our new location and children we waving to us as we drove through the neighborhood yesterday. We had a great team with us too. My friends Lynette and Becky helped get information and made sure that people got beanies or clothes if we had what they needed. Mike, Becky's husband, and Tyler handed out the dispensas. Hector addressed the crowd and helped fit people with shoes that had brought. Maribel and her son played games with the children on the lot next to ours, while Maydean registered people. While all of this was happening, I was able to take numerous pictures of kids and their families. Taking pictures has been a great way for me to build relationship with the families. I know enough Spanish to ask if they'd like a free photo to take home in 2 weeks when we return with food. Some are reluctant to have their pictures taken until they see others loving the idea of a free picture. On all the pictures I print in Spanish, "God sees me." Through this simple act of kindness, I hope to open the families' hearts to the idea that they haven't been forgotten, but that God sees them, their need and most of all He wants them to be reconciled to Himself.

As much as I love all of what God is allowing us to do, my favorite part usually comes toward the end when someone comes and asks for prayer. Never have I had requests anything close to these. Yesterday, to ladies (Maria and Laura) asked Maribel and I to pray for them because they were scared. Their house had been broken into and robbed and they were receiving threats against them and threats of the kidnapping of their children. On top of all of this, Maria said that she owed the money that was stolen to the bank and that she was told if she didn't pay up that she would be sent to jail. I thought to myself, "And if poverty wasn't enough, now these ladies were living in fear." Maribel translated for me as I began to pray for the protection and peace that these ladies needed.

It is becoming more and more apparent to me the different strongholds that are over this colony. Poverty is the obvious one, but fear has a hold of the families as well. Whether they are afraid that the government will be coming to take away their home, that drug dealers are going to harm them in some way, or the fear of not being able to feed their families, all of them seem to have fears

I want to say thank you for your prayers. Thank you for your support financially which enables us to afford the gas to travel back and forth to this colony of people in Ensenada. Thanks most of all to our awesome God that makes all things possible.

If you or someone you know would like to send donations to this new ministry to "the river people", please send your donations to:

Robin Schmidt
PO Box 6434
Chula Vista, CA 91909

Mark the donation for Dios Me Ve (God Sees Me) and 100% of your donation will go towards feeding and clothing the poor living in the river colony.