Mexico Mission 2009

To find out what's up for 2009, please go visit our new blog at http://bhmm09.blogspot.com/.

Check out the Video from our Trip!

Some Pics

¡Somos de casa, y Dios está Bien!

We are Home, and God is good!

Our trip to Jaurez was a testament to the incredible Joy found in serving those in need, and we pulled it off with the support of so many people! We can't thank you enough, and we pray God's many blessings for your continued support.

Hopefully in this short blog I can give you a little glimpse into what your prayers and financial support helped accomplish in Mexico this summer. We ended up with 28 team members ranging from 15 to 53 years in age. Two families went along as well as many college students. We split into two building teams and built two homes. The first team built for a family that lived on the edge of a garbage dump in an existing home made from junk itself. The name of the game on both sites this year was, close quarters! We had quite a challenge building with such tight site constraints, but with some ingenuity made two beautiful homes. The family was incredibly grateful, in fact the mother was heard saying, "it will be such a blessing now to get a good night's sleep knowing we won't wake up in standing water." During the monsoon season rain is particularly problematic in a land of sand floors!

I know a little more of the second family's story because that was the team I led and worked with all week. This family, Casi (the Husband) Maria (the wife) and their 3 children lived in a nice home for a Mexican family making 53 dollars a week. Even still this single bedroom home was at most 400 square feet! They have been praying diligently for and upgrade! This family applied for a house early this year and a church group was slated to build back in April. The materials were delivered to the site, but no church! After watching some of the news lately, I can understand why many groups feared the increasing danger of serving in Juarez Mexico. This year alone, more than 2,000 murders have occurred in drug related conflict. So without a church to build, the materials were taken away and the application was resubmitted. Without losing hope the family once again prayed. A church was then slated to arrive in May, but for whatever reason did not make the trip. The materials were once again taken away. The application was resubmitted, but this time Blackhawk church was to build the home and despite the danger, we made the 30 hour trip to Juarez. We had the privilege of meeting this family and building a friendship with them while we were there building their new home! They admitted worrying the materials would once again be taken away, but as evidence by the tears on their faces at the final dedication of the new home, they were blessed in a major way by God. If that isn't a cool story already, get this! Turns out this family is members at the church Blackhawk built 2 years ago!!

Casie is trained to be a pastor and is just waiting to pastor a church with his wife (trained to be a teacher). We are so thankful that their prayers were answered, and that we were to be a part in God's larger plan for them. With this new home, their family is better equipped to begin their new ministry as they prepare to spread the gospel through Juarez. Praise the Lord!

With so much hardship and hurt in the world, it can be easy to want to shrink back and say, "What can I do about it all!" The truth be known the problems in our world are God sized problems. But hopefully you can see that it is a few faithful people from a place like Wisconsin who said, "I will Go," who made a huge difference in two families lives forever! We are all part of a bigger plan, which is for God to restore His people. I look forward to working out that plan again soon with all of you one family at a time!

For Christ and His reputation,

The Mexico Team

We're Off!

Pictured for the first time the entire team!

We leave tomorrow morning at 5:15 am... and 30 hours later we should be off the bus in El Paso. We plan to stretch our legs by visiting a local public pool and a tram that takes us 900 feet above El Paso where we can see 3 states and 2 countries! We head across the border bright and early Monday morning. We are all very excited! We will try and keep you all posted when we are down there depending on if we can get Internet. Please be in prayer for our team and those we will be serving. God's blessings - The Mexico Team!

The Sending Off!

Today at church was our "sending off"...as of today only five days until we leave! It is hard to believe it is this close... all the planning and preparations this summer are soon going to come to life.

Led by Fred we prayed for:

God to change our lives on this trip,

for our safety in travel and during the mission,

for Casas por Cristo (our host missionaries),

the people of Jaurez and particularly the two families and their churches that we will be building for,

that God would receive all the Glory.

We really appreciate these prayers. Some supporters came to pray and send us off who aren't going but showed there support at the church. We realized we desperately need your prayers back home as we leave Saturday morning and encourage you to be in prayer for:

the long trip there... this is generally a good time for us to continue to get to know each other. For safety on that bus trip.

If you have been watching the news there are serious problems with drug trafficking over the border... over 500 police officers have been murdered in Juarez. Please be in prayer for this. Although these attacks are directed between the drug cartel and the authorities and does not seem to pose any threat to our saftey, it is still something to be in prayer for.

We ask your prayer when we are down there for strength and health... it will be in the 90s and heat stroke is our worst enemy.

We are also holding a VBS each day on the job sites... please pray for these children, that God would speak through us and reach out to them and their families.

And above all pray that we would be a blessing to the mission down there, a light in Juarez, and that all of the honor and Glory would be given to our Lord!!

Thank you again for your support... if it werent for you and our faithful God we wouldnt be on this trip! I am going to try and update the blog a few times while we are down there so stay tuned!

The Unvailing!

We finally have information on the families we will be serving in Jaurez! The first family is Casimiro and his wife Maria and their three children Maria (15), Jonathan (12), and Joel (6). It turns out this family attends the church we will be staying at this year! So we hope to get to know them even better. The second family we will be building a new home for is Humberto and his wife Mariantonia and their four children: Jose (2), Husiel (1), Diana (7), and Anjelica (9). Please be praying for these families. Especially that they would further know God's love through this mission!