March 2014 - Armando's story, part 2

To pick up where we left off last month, Armando Enrique and his family live in the run-down house pictured below, along with two of their sons and their families (it’s not uncommon for several generations to live together out of necessity.) They were on our list of people needing house repairs, and Armando’s wife Gloria, who volunteers at the Food Bank, kept asking, “When are you coming to my house? We really need a new roof.”

Armando, Gloria, and two of their granddaughters.

Finally their turn came and we sent one of our building teams to check out the situation. They came back telling us, “Their house is falling apart. We cannot put a new roof on that house because it wouldn’t sustain it.” Ramona, who is in charge of the Food Bank, said, “Okay, I’m going to go see it.” When she went, she couldn’t believe the state of disrepair it was in.

She told me later, “They have been on the list for a long, long time. When I got there, Armando was so excited, saying, ‘I pray every morning before I go to work, and this morning I read on a calendar that we have hanging on the wall, “Today blessing has come to this house.” (Luke 19:9) I felt very happy, knowing that this was a word from the Lord for me. Ten minutes later your men showed up to check out the house.’”

After looking around, Ramona told Armando, “We’re not going to just fix your roof, we are going to build you a new house.” He and his family are thrilled. There are three adjoining rooms and a shared kitchen, so while the workers pull down one room, the families will squeeze into the other two rooms. That way they will still have shelter while the construction is going on. Finally, we will replace the kitchen and add an indoor bathroom.

“Praise God! I can never thank my Father God enough!” Armando told us. “He has made my life new and now He is giving me and my family a new house. Blessed be God!”

And we say “Amen!” to that.

February 2014 - Armando Enrique

You may remember us telling you about Armando Enrique a few years ago (February 2011 newsletter), how the police had arrested him for selling drugs and threw him in jail. On the way to jail Armando prayed, “Lord Jesus, please help me. Help me.” He also asked Father Thomas to intercede for him, “Father Thomas, you were my teacher. You taught me to believe. Please help me now.” 

Armando Enrique, freed from drug addiction

 Armando was put in a cell, trembling and shaking from the cold, so he started making the sign of the Cross saying, “I belong to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,” over and over again. He felt someone touch his back, but no one was around. Suddenly all the cold left him and warmth flooded his body.

They transferred him to the federal prison, a rough and scary place, but Armando kept singing praises to God. His cellmates said, “You know a lot of songs. Teach us some.” So they all sang songs of praise to God from their jail cells. One song they sang repeatedly was, “I have decided to follow Jesus…no turning back, no turning back.” Tears streamed down Armando’s face as he sang and begged God in his heart, “Help me not go back to drugs. Free me from my drug addiction.”

When he got released from prison, Armando returned to the Food Bank and shared with the community, “I confess I was a drug addict, smoking marijuana often. But I say to all of you – no more. God has healed me, and with His grace I will stay free from drugs. I don’t want to return to the life I was living.”

Many people were cynical of his conversion at the time since he had lived such a bad and wild life. But we are happy to report that Armando remains free from drugs, has gotten a job and shares his story with whomever will listen.

“My life is so different since I stopped using marijuana,” he recently told us. “I give my testimony to many people. When I got out of jail, my old friends, who I used to do drugs with, asked me, ‘What happened to you?’ I told them, ‘I quit, with God’s help – and He can help you too if you ask Him.’ Two of those friends did that, and they quit doing drugs also. Glory to God!”

Next month we are going to share with you about how God answered Armando’s prayer for a new roof for his house. It’s another wonderful testimony of the Lord’s faithfulness. 

Armando’s house where 3 families live crowded together.

 Stay tuned….

January 2014 - Soccer Team Victory

The boys, pictured here with their coaches, proudly display their trophy.

 

Cheers and excited yells filled the air as the boys from our little soccer team at Las Alitas poured out of the van. They had won third place in the area’s soccer tournament, and they wanted everyone to know it!

This is a big victory for a team that hasn’t been playing together for very long. As you may remember, Mando (pictured standing at the far right) came up with the idea of starting a soccer team to reach out to these boys who are so vulnerable to getting involved with gangs, drugs or violence. Being a part of an athletic team, learning good sportsmanship, and having an outlet for their boisterous energy has really boosted the self-confidence of these young men. They are excited to come to our center knowing that they have a place where they belong. Their camaraderie and joy is great to see, and we are thrilled with the changes that have taken place in their lives.

Thanks to a very generous donor who gifted us with a field of artificial turf, we hope to soon have our own soccer field where the teams can practice. We are just waiting for the red tape and paperwork to clear so that we can cross the turf into Mexico.  The kids are anxiously looking forward to a field of their own and to (hopefully) many more victories like this one.

December 2013 - Thank you!

This picture was taken at our ministry center called “Las Alitas” on the east side of Juarez. 

Fr. Jack Vessels, S.J., our chaplain, is shown with the children who dressed up as saints and angels.

Recently I read an answer that Fr. Rick Thomas gave to an interviewer when asked, “Where do you begin to help in such a sea of misery?” Father Thomas replied, “I used to really concern myself about that. My view now is that you do what you can with the resources you have. God indicates what He wants you to do by the resources He gives you.” 

As this year comes to a close, we look back with gratitude on all that we have been able to do with the resources you have given us. Thank you so much for making it possible for us to reach out to our brothers and sisters in need on both sides of the border.

We pray that you and your loved ones be blessed this New Year with the joy and peace Jesus came to bring.

November 2013 - healing of Monserat

When baby Monserat was born, the doctor told her parents, “The baby’s hips are dislocated. Her bones are not in the right place and if left untreated, she will be crippled for life.” Unable to afford more medical care, Crystal came to us for help. We gave her the funds so she could take Monserat to a specialist. The doctor gave them a brace to put on the baby, telling them, “She has to wear this day and night, day and night, for a whole year. You have to make sure you keep it on her all the time.”

Baby Monserat hated the device. She cried and cried with it on, and Crystal’s tender heart was broken at seeing her daughter in that state. “God, please help us!” Crystal pleaded. She couldn’t bear to put the brace back on, even though she knew she should, and she stopped using it.

Soon afterward Crystal had a dream. In the dream she saw Father Thomas, whom she had never met but recognized from his prayer card that her mother-in-law had. Father Thomas was pointing to the baby, saying, “Look at the little girl. She’s walking. She’s going to walk. Look at her, look at her!” Crystal awoke with hope renewed in her heart.

When she went back for the next appointment, the doctor said, “Wow! This brace really worked fast! It’s only been 2 months and it fixed the little girl’s hips already. She doesn’t need it anymore. She’s completely well.”

At 10 months old now, Monserat hasn’t started walking yet but she’s crawling around with great speed and skill. Crystal is so happy and can’t wait to see her baby take her first steps, knowing that what Father Thomas told her will come to pass: “Look at her — she’s walking!” 

Crystal and her baby, Monserat

October 2013 - flooding

As I write this, we are just drying out from a lot of rain and flooding that hit our area. Several inches of rain fell in the course of a three day storm that hovered over El Paso and Juarez. Normally we get around 4 to 7 inches of rain a year, but in this storm we got 3 to 5 inches in less than a week. For this semi-arid part of the country, that much rain means major flooding. 

View from the van — water completely floods the streets

near our Las Alitas ministry center.

One of the locations hardest hit was on the eastside of Juarez where our ministry center called Las Alitas is. Our team almost didn’t make it back on day 2 of the storm (see picture at right). When they returned a few days later, many of the homes, which are built of odd assortments of cinder block, wooden pallets and cardboard, were heavily damaged. Sinkholes had opened up in the saturated ground, sometimes running right through someone’s living quarters, since the houses are constructed on the dirt with no foundation poured underneath them.

Lupita, pictured here with her 3 girls, is a single mom whose home was one of the most damaged in the neighborhood. Right now we are working with a local hardware store nearby to supply the families with the materials they need to rebuild and repair their damaged houses and rooms. Everyone in the community is banding together and assisting those affected by the storm. With great enthusiasm and hope, and beautiful sunny weather that the Lord is providing, the reconstruction has already begun.

September 2013 - Wheelchair Accessible Van

Last year we wrote to you about our growing concern of helping people with disabilities in the neighborhoods around the Lord’s Food Bank in Juarez, Mexico. One of the immediate needs we had was to purchase a wheelchair-accessible van so we could pick people up and bring them to the Lord’s Clinic for medical care. We’re happy to announce that we were finally able to get that van, thanks to you. 

Our new (used) van equipped with an automated lift for wheelchairs.

It is a used van but in good condition and with an almost-new wheelchair lift that the previous owners had installed. We are now equipped to pick up as many as 3 patients in their wheelchairs and bring them to the clinic so that they can receive medical care.

Like Jose, who has an ulcerated wound on his hip. We can now bring him to the clinic every week for the medical staff to clean and attend his wound. There are others in wheelchairs who don’t need medical attention each week, but they still ask us to pick them up on Tuesdays (our clinic day) so that they can come to the Food Bank for the hot meal we serve. Eating their chicken soup or burrito, they enjoy the social time and the chance to get out of their houses for a few hours once a week. Priority goes to those needing medical help, but if we can we bring the others along too.

Jose arriving at the Food Bank so he can go to the Lord’s Clinic.

This van is such a blessing and has allowed us to help those with physical disabilities in a greater way.