Vida Nueva Ministries

24 December 2009

Merry Christmas From Vida Nueva

Posted by Chad under: Chad's .

Hello Everyone,

We hope and pray that everyone is having a wonderful holiday season.  Praise God we are all healthy, and ready for Christmas.  The Children at the home are all finished with school and are at home with their families.  Alise and I continue to be in Texas getting very close to becoming parents.  As many of you know a few weeks ago, I lead a small team down to Mexico to bring presents for the children and have our Christmas celebration.  The first part of this post will be about that, the end part about Alise and I and our current plans for the immediate future. 

First of all, it was a very quick trip.  I picked up three ladies from Seattle who accompanied and helped out on this trip from the IAH Houston Airport on Monday Dec 7th.  On Tuesday we met here in Buna with a TX man who drove down with us.  We recruited Clint from Church on the Rock Vidor, to help us transport the overwhelming amount of gifts that we received this year.  We left Buna around 5:30 AM and met Henny, a woman who has been visiting Parras for years, and started the 12+ hour drive to Parras.  The trip went very well.  We arrived at the home about 9PM exhausted, but excited to be out of the car. 

Wednesday was super busy as we drove the 1 1/2 hours to the Sam’s in Saltillo to buy all of the food items for the Christmas celebration.  We were able to find everything and so upon our return we were set.  In the evening we wrapped/rewrapped the presents that still needed wrapping and ones that we had torn during our transport down.  So at the end of Wednesday night we were ready.  Thursday was our celebration day.  We woke up and cooked Cinnamon Roles for breakfast, always a hit!  Then waited for the various families joining us to arrive. 

Around 11AM we were ready for the presents.  We were so blessed this year to have three different churches donating for Christmas.  Fletcher Emmanuel Church Alive blessed every child and staff member with a shoebox stuffed full of gifts.  Praise Christian Center also donated gifts for every child that we had.  Every child submitted a list and I believe that every child received everything on their list.  First Baptist Church Nederland also donated enough shoes to give every child and staff member shoes and we had a huge container full after everyone had what they needed.  We will be able to bless many children in the community with new shoes.  Praise God for your help and the churches willingness to be involved. 

So here are some pictures from the gift time.  Months and weeks of preparation for 10 minutes of paper flurry! 

the pile of gifts waiting to be handed out		Charrito and the girls opening gifts
Carla, Luz, and Eliza		Juan Roque, Servando, and Mauricio
Beto with his new Bible		Betin with his goalie gloves
the girls wearing new yellow box sandals		Fernanda with a whole new outfit
yellow box sandals…		Girls proud of their new clothes and shoes
Jenrri showing off his new jeans		Elias and David (Pastor’s son) opening their gifts

It was an awesome time.  The rest of the day was filled with food, toys, looking for new batteries, and other great events.  In the afternoon our whole group went to visit an old folks home in Parras to give them gifts as well.  It was a great time.  The kids sang Christmas songs and worship chorus’s and I believe truly blessed the seniors citizens at the home.  Below are a few pictures of that, and some pictures of our chapel time later that night.  Pastor Jose shared that the Christmas Story cost Jesus so much, and that Jesus’ life and death, were the greatest of all gifts that have ever been given.  It was a very nice time. 

Daniel a cerebral palsey patient with his new toy gorilla		Wonderful woman who thanked us many times for our visit
Three of the more mobile patients		Our group singing songs.  The older man on the left started to dance while the kids sang
Pastor Jose speaking		Chapel Time
Pastor Jose and family		Benjamin and family
Karina & Lourdes and family		Our team: Clint, Henny, Alicia, Sheena, Carly, Jacob, and Chad (me)

Thank you, thank you, thank you!  So many people donated and helped to make this Christmas time a possibility.  It was a wonderful time for the Children and staff of Vida Nueva.  Muchas Gracias!

Quick update about the 2nd home project.  Please pray for the owner of the property that we have been considering.  She finally told us that she doesn’t have the legal authority to sell the property.  Technically she is the president of the association that owns it.  She needs the signatures of the other officers, and for some reason they are being hesitant to sign.  Pray that it will work out in God’s timing, and that he will help us continue to plan and prepare for that.  We are still raising funds, maybe we can pay for it outright when she is ready.  At this time she is still asking $40K and we have raised just over $17K. 

Finally thank you all for your prayers for Alise and the baby.  They are doing great.  The baby is due Jan 17th so we are now three weeks away from the due date and expecting a baby anytime.  :)  Please keep us in your prayers.  Pray for Alise and her comfort during these last few weeks of the pregnancy, and pray for the baby’s health.  As soon as we know more we will let you know.  Thank you again for all of your support.  God Bless!  Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. 

- Chad & Alise

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