Xenos Trip

We started the New Year off great with a group of 20 from Columbus, Ohio. They are from a church called Xenos. 

They have been partners with us in Monterrey for many years and members from their church are now faithfully serving in Jos, Nigeria with us. 

This was their first time serving with us here in Mazatlan. Serving in every way from doing cement projects, working in the garden, playing with purpose, to taking the girls shoe shopping for new gym shoes and cookouts. 

This group was such an encouragement to our staff. I personally loved how verbal they are about their love for our Savior and for life. I was thinking back on the week and every person i was privileged to have a conversation with was so open and real. That is what i LOVED about this group. It challenged me to be more "in the moment" with things. It also challenged me in a way that if  i feel appreciative of someone, then to not just tell my husband or God how thankful i am, but to tell the person that i feel appreciative of. 

I also now have a special place in my heart for this church because my cousin just moved to Columbus and started attending Xenos. She is living in one of the ministry houses along with 10 other girls. YIKES i say. 
God brought people in this group here to Mazatlan as a sign for me to know my cousin is being taken care of. She literally moved the week before this group came down. What a blessing to get to know some of her new community:) It made me thankful knowing those are the kinds of Christians my cousin will be around. 

Thank you Xenos for how real you each were. Thank you for serving alongside us here to bring healing and restoration to the children we serve. Thank you for the prayers for our staff, the children, and this town. What a blessing every single one of you were! 



I hope that in the near future there will be more Xenos Groups coming. 

Parents

What a blessing it was for us to host my PARENTS here in Mazatlan for Christmas. I haven't seen them in a year! 

This was their first time visiting us since we have been on the mission field(4 1/2 years) . It was so surreal to me that they were here and we were FINALLY showing them a little bit of what we do. 

One of my favorite moments when they were here, was at Rancho. 

Here is what happened: 

At rancho most of the kids can't speak clearly. So, most of the time you pretend like you know what they are saying. 
Well on the day that Rancho children met my parents there was no confusion as to what they were saying. Carlitos (1st picture) ran up to my dad and said " HO HO HO" 
Then all the kids started asking if my dad was SANTA CLAUS! It was hilarious. Carlitos would not let my dad put him down. He wanted ALL of his attention. And my sweet dad gave him all the attention he wanted. 
Angeles  wanted my moms attention the entire time too:) It was so sweet watching them interact with the children we are serving here in Mazatlan. My dad keeps saying he wishes he would have brought a big red bag with presents for the kids. I told him the attention he gave them is all they need and want:) 

The Salvation Army kids came and caroled as a little surprise for us one night! So, my parents got to interact with them for a little bit. 

Floreser had a Christmas Party that we were all able to attend. My parents danced the night aways with us and all the girls. 


Like i said earlier, there are so many sweet moments from this trip.  My parents getting to see what we are doing first hand was amazing. Interacting with the kids at the homes was incredible. Getting to take them to our favorite spots and letting them be tourists was great too! We had such a wonderful time with them while they were here. It was hard to say good-bye because I am not sure the next time that we will see them. But, with all the stuff we did while they were here, after they left, we slept almost an entire day:) 

A trip I hope will turn into more:)