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.
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