Nothing Escapes My Hands

One of Back2Back's main purposes is to cover the five main areas of a child's development. Back2Back has coined this the Child Development Model and has broken it down into five areas of focus: Spiritual, Educational, Emotional, Social and Physical.

Specifically in Cancun we have been brainstorming ideas to make this a reality in the places where we serve. So let me share with you how God spoke to me (Anna) through this time of dreaming and envisioning what the lives of these precious kids would be like through God's eyes.

Andrew reading to Chave at San Jose

Teaching Mari and the other kids about compassion at San Jose

After our last staff meeting I went home very excited. We, as the Cancun team had a goal and I was ready to accomplish it.

The weeks before this I went through a journey with God. He became my personal trainer, teaching me the meaning of "Be still, and know that I am God." God showed me who he was in different ways, but the last day he showed me one particular truth that would help me later to understand what He wanted me to do in order to accomplish his plans for San Jose specifically (Andrew and I are captains in training for this children's home).

NOTHING ESCAPES FROM MY HANDS... not your life, not their lives.

I was READY, to start writing how God was going to develop the five areas in the 14 kids that live in Casa Hogar San Jose. He gave me a list of around 30 activities that would accomplish this but there were two that I didn't know how they were going to come about.

The first one was to take them to the VBS at the church that we attend and the second one was to start taking them to church on Sundays with us.

San Jose is a Catholic children's home and I thought that it may be difficult for the Mother Superior to let the kids go to church with us. But God kept reminding me "Nothing escapes from my hands." So I thought, "OK God, you are in charge." I asked the Mother Superior for permission to take the kids to the VBS at our church and without hesitation she said YES!

I am so happy because in the last day of the VBS they are going to present the plan of salvation. Which means that they are going to have the opportunity to give their lives to God!

Pray for the kids at San Jose, that nothing will keep them from going to the the VBS and that they will understand that they are cared for by their Heavenly Father and that He has a perfect plan for their lives.

Progress in Tres Reyes

Tres Reyes (Three Kings) is a community that we always look for different ways to support and get to know the people that we serve. Every time we go to server there, God opens our eyes to the needs that we sometimes can take for granted.

We have hosted doctors and had free medical clinics for the community to be able to receive medical care and the medicine they needed home.

We are helping finish the construction of the second story at pastor Victor's church for the community to have a shaded area  to gather and worship God as well as benches for them to sit.

One of the most resent projects that we have done at Tres Reyes that impacted the community in a great way was the Church Sale. This project was inspired by a little boy that came to one of our clinics. His shoes were ripping apart and he had a hard time walking. The roads in Tres Reyes are not paved and the dirt and rocks were hurting his feet. I looked around and many of the people that came to the clinic were in the same situation.

I thought to myself (Anna) "Next time we come to Tres Reyes we need to bring some shoes and clothes." I didn't want to only give hand outs, I wanted people to take exactly what they really needed, and that's when my wonderful days of garage sale-ing came in handy.

So during the next week I gathered all the shoes and clothes and toys that I could find in the Back2Back donations room. I was so excited but at the same time very nervous because I didn't know if anyone was going to come. But of course I should know by now with all my past experiences, that God was going to make everything work out according to His plan and that's exactly what happened.

We got everything set up and the people started showing up. There was a point when it was hard to keep up with all the people but the FCS group with their experience in retailing were life-savers. The prices were very affordable, between 5 and 15 pesos for everything from shoes to clothes, and the kids were able to take a free toy if their parents had purchased something.

Everyone looked happy and the best part was that they took pride in being able to purchase something themselves.

All proceeds from the sale went to Pastor Victor's church to be able to afford emergency medical care to those in his congregation if they needed it. (Health Insurance!)

Birthdays & Bears

 It was a great week here in Cancún. We were blessed to have a group from The James Fund come down and serve with us. The James Fund is Family Christian Stores' foundation that is dedicated to serving orphans and widows and allows their employees to take short term missions trips for free! So our group of 14 came from all over the country and were all employees of Family Christian Stores.

As part of their week with us, we spent an entire day at Casa Hogar San Jose, where Anna and I are "Captains In Training". We were able to introduce the kids to Back2Back's new Mobile Education Resource Center and the girls all got a couple of books to read on their own and then our staff was able to help them read through some books!

Another wonderful thing we were able to do this past week was celebrate four birthdays that have happened in the last month at San Jose! Ana, Jeny, and the twins, Chave and Sofia all had birthdays in April so we threw a big fiesta and even honored Hermana Polita who is in charge of San Jose.

In the picture above, you can see the little James Fund bears on the table. So the next time you are in a Family Christian Store, and you see the bears that people can buy for an orphan, you will know that those bears really do go directly to orphans all over the world, and sometimes, the FCS employees even get to give them to the kids directly, as they did at San Jose!

Below are the birthday girls, from left to right is Ana, Jeny, then the twins Chave and at the end is Sofia. All of them are eyeballing that chocolate cake!

Chave and Sofia loved their gifts! they got stuffed animals, princess stuff, coloring books, crayons and a few more goodies!

Jeny opening her gifts. It was a blast watching her open them. She is the one who is always wanting to play tickle monster!

And finally, Ana getting into her bag of goodies.

This whole party was able to happen because these girls have Back2Back sponsors. If you are interested in sponsoring a child with Back2Back, if you would like to help send a child to school, provide for their daily basic needs, and help make a real and lasting impact you can email us at aconrad@back2back.org for more info!

And, we are so thankful for you, our support team, that allows us to be here and work with these kids!