Victory in the Park!

The day began with pancakes and ended with churros, but much progress was made on Hope House and the group was instrumental in reclaiming the neighborhood park for the families, at least for one night! We have been able to introduce many of the group to different cultural experiences, including the tortilleria (where they make the corn tortillas), an open-air market bustling with activity (where I buy most of our produce), the churros maker (ok, I think Bob visited them almost every night), the local neighborhood store (where my kids buy snacks and bolis), the regular grocery store, the water place (where we buy all our drinking water) and many other places.
The walls have all been finished, the bathrooms are well underway. There are only finishing touches to be put on the house today and everyone has had a chance to work hard, play hard and be a light in San Luis. I can't wait to show you the "after" pictures with all the furniture in place, walls painted, bedding and kitchen stuff and all the great things that Southwinds brought for Hope House!! I don't know if I can even express how exciting it is to see Hope House actually come into being after three years of vision and hoping, planning and waiting. There are tears flowing from my eyes as I think about how cool this is to see happen! These guys and gals may never get to see the lives that will be changed because of Hope House, but they are as integral a part of this ministry for the work they have done here as anyone else. And God is going to richly bless them for giving of their time, their strength, their love, themselves to help change lives here in Mexico.

Last night was our main outreach and we took about 160 hotdogs, buns, chips and sodas to a park that is only a block from Hope House. (I apologize that the photos are not good - still trying to learn how to take nighttime photos) When we arrived around 7pm, the park was already full of families. We didn't realize what a miracle this was until we talked to some of the people who live right around there. They said that the gangs (and "wanna-be gangs") had taken over the park and families just didn't come here anymore. Well, last night you would never have known it! We fed over 120 children and their moms and God kept multiplying the food!! The girls in charge of the hotdogs said that everytime they looked into the pot after giving out 20 or more hotdogs, there were the same amount of hotdogs left! The students from Southwinds fed these kids and decided they would not eat a hotdog because these kids needed them more. So after spending some time playing with the kids, we all went to Chipilon Tacos (the BEST in town!!), had a grilled jalapeno-eating contest (I think a few guys will be paying for that this morning:-), and stopped on a corner to buy the best churros in town.God is at work in the lives of these folks from Southwinds, and He is using them to touch a little part of San Luis!