A Beautiful Sight to Behold

Yesterday, was our first "hotdog lunch" event for Dios Me Ve.  Anthony Pallante from Apple Valley brought a group of about 50 people from 5 different churches to La Mision.  Close to 23 of that group came with Anthony to Dios Me Ve to serve hotdogs, jump rope, paint faces, blow bubbles, paint over graffiti and anything else we could think of to convey to the people of the river colony that God sees them.  It was a beautiful sight to behold.

Five churches came together from Apple Valley, Big Bear and even Canada to serve in Mexico.  All of them had a heart to serve.  All of them served with joy and with smiles on their faces.  They jumped in where ever they could help and asking often if there was anything else they could do to serve.  My heart was touched as I'm sure the heart of God was also moved.  It was a beautiful sight to watch brothers and sisters in Christ preferring each other over themselves.  No one was demanding.  Everyone was flexible.  

We were blessed in many ways yesterday.  Before we ever arrived at the colony, we stopped close to the colony and got out of our cars for a minute or two.  I talked with two of the men that had come down in the group.  They asked me the story of how I became involved.  They asked me about the property and how much more did we need to finalize the purchase of the land.  I told them $337 dollars.  The smiled and said that they were pretty sure that the land would be payed off before they left, if not it would be coming.  As I continued to share what God was doing with the people here, one of the gentlemen excused himself.  When he returned he put a hand of cash in my hand.  With tears in his eyes he said that I didn't need to raise anymore money to pay off the property.  At that moment, the property had become PAID IN FULL.

When we arrived at the colony, everyone quickly started setting up for the even and I took about 10 people with me and my guide Mario to pass out tracks and fliers to remind people to come and get their lunch at Dios Me Ve.  Many of the people along the way recognized me and came out to great me with a hug.  The group with me were so great about smiling as they handed out fliers to people.  I could tell that God was touching their hearts as we walked around the colony inviting people to come for lunch.

When we returned, one of the people that was on the walk with me came and put $100 cash in my hand and said he really liked what he saw happening and wanted to contribute to the work that God was doing at the colony.  Throughout the day I had others coming up to me asking me if I had the property payed off yet.  They all were concerned that it was taken care of before they left.  

While we were preparing the hotdogs for lunch, Anthony and a couple that had come with him went for a walk and found the local school.  By the grace of God they talked with the principal of the school and asked if they could pray for the teachers.  The principal gave them permission!  They asked what the school needed and were told a roof and paint.  They continued to talk and by the time they left, the principal had agreed to let Anthony bring "the Jesus" movie and show it the school when he returned in June!!!  (That doesn't happen in Mexico; unless you have an AWESOME God working on your behalf.)

During the event I watched how well everyone worked together.  We had four churches from southern California, one church from Canada, two people from Hector's church in Ensenada, and three or so people from the colony all serving together. It made me so happy it was hard fighting the happy tears that kept coming to my eyes.

Another blessing we enjoyed during the event was the weather.  Once again we had rain predicted for the day and once again the weather was beautiful.  We started to have a few sprinkles as we were putting things away.  It was like God was reminding us that He controls the weather.

On our way back to La Mision, some of us in the group needed to stop at Costco to purchase some things.  Hector and Maribel took us there.  When we arrived, I told them I might as well start purchasing supplies for our next grocery/dispensa give away.  As I went to pay for the vegetable oil we were purchasing for dispensas, one of the people asked me how much it cost.  When I told him that it came to $57.00, he put cash in my hand.  God's goodness was almost more than I could stand and still there was more to come.

Once in the parking lot, another person came up to Hector and I.  They said they could leave with out contributing to the work God was doing through Dios Me Ve.  Again, a hand full of cash was put in Hector's hand while saying it was for the ministry we were doing down here.  

In closing, I'd like to end with a song I grew up singing as a little girl in church....
"I keep falling in love with Him, over and over and over and over again.  I keep falling in love with Him, over and over and over and over again.  He gets sweeter and sweeter as the days go by.  Oh what a love between my LORD and I.  I keep falling in love with Him, over and over and over and over again."