April – 2011

 Greetings!

 Happy Mother’s Day! It is so hard to believe that it is May already. We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of little Jack any day! Mary is 38 weeks along but the doctor here says that he should be here very soon. Please keep her and Jack in your prayers as they prepare for the big day. She is so ready to have him but at the same time she is a little aprehensive since everythng is new giving birth here in Mexico. She realized the other day when the temperature was in the 90’s that the hospital wouldn’t have A/C!

 

Things at the Children’s Home went much more smoothly in April! With the return of Mary’s parents we are back on a rotating schedule which allows us time off from the home to focus on language studies. We did receive a new girl at Home since our last update, Gaby. She came from a state run orphanage in the state of Durango that could no longer keep her because she was “too old” even though she is only 14! Please pray for her as she adjusts here at the Casa Betania. She has many emotional problems and is really struggling but above all she needs Christ.

 

Thanks to the generousity of the people at Glenwood Community Church in Glenwood, IA we were able to do several special things with the kids for Easter. Among other things they sent down a set of “Resurection Eggs” that we were able to use in the services leading up to Easter to tell the Easter story. Also they sent down enough Easter eggs a candy to do a HUGE Easter egg hunt which made the kids’ day! No kids should be allowed to have that much candy!!! To cap the day off after church we had a massive Easter dinner at the home with all the fixings, pork roast (no Ham in Mexico), gravy, mashed potatoes, rolls, greenbean casserole, and deviled eggs! Just what the doctor ordered after a few months of missing good American cooking!

 

Also in April, thanks to the generous gifts from the people at Bayou View Baptist Church in Gulfport, MS, the Home was able to make significant strides in completing the boy’s addition that the boys and I poured the footing for last year. It has been a long time coming but Lord willing boys will be ableto move in later this month! Jesus and I poured a new concrete floor and the his family finished out the walls, windows, and ceiling. Next on the agenda is painting and then Jesus and I will be laying the tile, Lord willing next week sometime! Please pray for the speedy completion of this addition so that we can accomadate more boys here at the Home.

 

The boys at the home have been begging me to take them camping again since we got here in January (Mary’s dad thinks he is too old or at least that is his excuse!) but they have been in school. In April they had their spring break and so they finally got to take their long awaited camping trip. We drove up into the mountains and found a beautiful little lake with a small island in the middle that we were able to camp on. The lake had a dam at one end to jump off of and we had to wade out to the island to set our stuff up. As you can magine we all had a blast! I cannot describe how beautiful the scenery was but I will attach a few pictures. It was a great time building relationships with the boys and letting them enjoy an activity most of them have never been able to do before coming here.

 

We would like to thank each and every one of you who have a hand in praying for us and supporting us financially! Each of you allow us to be here makng a difference in these kid’s lives and preparing for the Lord’s work in Oaxaca as we learn Spanish. Speakng of which our Spanish is coming along pretty well, but little Sam definitely has both Mary and I beat! He says most of his sentences twice, once in English and then in Spanish trying to figure out which one gets him what he’s wanting. We really appreciate your continued prayers for our languages skills!!!

 In Christ,

Nathan, Mary, lil Sam, and Baby Jack

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