Early Christmas at Hope House

Just before leaving CA for Mexico we helped plant a new church in Mountain View, CA. As founders of that church it was our dream that they would join us in the work God has provided for us. As we became more deeply involved in Hope House we kept up contact with our CA church, Grace Bible Fellowship (GBF). Last summer they sent a team down when they conducted a sports camp for the boys. After returning to CA they were so enthused a decision was made to make Hope House there first and main mission outreach. To kick start this goal they decided to provide presents for all the boys at Christmas. This resulted in 25 large boxes filled by various members of the church. The challenge now was one of delivering the packages. With shipping costs to Mexico being high and getting through customs, it was decided that the most efficient and cost savings way was for one of the church members to fly with the boxes as additional luggage. All of this to say that this was a real learning experience for all of us and there are several things that we will now do to improve future generous donations of this sort. This past Tuesday evening, Bob Douglas, the assistant pastor, flew down. As we waited for Bob at customs, we could see him slowly move towards the final doors. Then the doors remained closed for almost an hour and we never saw Bob that whole time and we became quite concerned. Clearly one passenger with 25 extra pieces of luggage raised a few customs officials eyebrows. Bob eventually did come out but it was too late to deliver the packages and we decided to do it Wednesday evening. Wednesday morning we all met for breakfast with Rodney and Kina because of GBF’s desire to know how better they can help not only Hope House but the staff and especially Rodney and Kina. Breakfast lasted four hours during which a wide variety of constructive suggestions arose. As a result we are looking forward to a great relationship between Hope House and GBF. Already on the books is a return visit in July to conduct another sports camp. God is indeed more than good, in fact, He is awesome and we are so thankful that we can serve in the capacity He has so generously provided for us. The blessing for us is to see God at work. For Bob, the blessing was to see the look on the boy’s faces as they carried their individual boxes into the house. Now comes the anxious waiting for Christmas to open the boxes. Here are photos of this event.