"Blessed is he who considers the poor (helpless or powerless); the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble.  The Lord will preserve him and keep him alive, and he will be blessed on the earth; You will not deliver him to the will of his enemies" (Psalm 41:1-2). I read this verse the other day and thought of the 10 people that will be making their way down to Bachiniva, starting this weekend, to help with the orphanage building.  I have always been on the other side of missions teams...leading them from the states.  However, already being down here, I'm all the more excited to receive the team and watch the Lord radically work in their lives over the next 2-3 weeks.

Tomorrow, after church, Pastor Luis and I will head to Chihuahua to pick up our friend Chris, from Calvary Chapel Mountain View, in Utah.  This is Chris' first missions trip and he will be coming 5 days ahead of the team from Puyallup WA, to begin work on the plumbing.  Please pray for Chris as he begins his adventure tomorrow morning.  Pray for safe travels, protection for his wife and kids while he is away, and that his life will be greatly impacted and his relationship with Jesus strengthened and deepened all the more!

On Monday, we will begin the paperwork process for obtaining a "Civil Association" (AC) for the orphanage.  Basically and AC is like a "non-profit" organization in the states.  This will allow us to legally minister and care for orphans.  We have already begun conversations with a lawyer and seems like the process isn't too difficult.  However, we would love your prayers on Monday and throughout this administrative process!

Kim, Pastor Jose and myself with head back up to the states on Friday, to pick up the missions team that will be coming from South Hill Calvary Chapel in Puyallup WA.  I'm extra excited about this because my dad (Pastor Ron) and his wife Jenny are coming, which is a bonus.  Actually I think Ayantu is more excited.  Everyday she talks about Pa and Damma (gramma), coming on an airplane to her new house.  She has a countdown calendar which she marks off each day.  The missions team will join our construction crew who have been working NON-STOP on the project the past 7 weeks.  We will be focusing on framing the inside of the orphanage and installing the windows and doors.  They will be here for 10 days.  Please be praying for them as well, Pastor Ron, Jenny, Phil, Judah, Doug, Gary, Gabe, Mark B and Mark J.

The Lord totally blessed us with the 34 windows needed for the orphanage.  The initial cost for the windows down here was around $4800.00.  One of the brothers in our church, works for a window company to decided to give us the windows to us at cost...which will be saving us $1800.  Thank you Jesus for that!  We will also be picking up the windows when we pick up the team next weekend.  Extra prayers for the drive down on Saturday, crossing the border and that everything FITS...would be greatly appreciated!

I know I have said this a million times before, but every time I write a new update, I'm reminded of how thankful and blessed it is to have each and everyone of you, supporting the orphanage project.  Through your daily prayers, financial giving and other means, you have played a tremendous and vital role the past 2 months.  I look forward to the next few months and coming year, to see all that God will do!  So thank you again!

Here are some updated pictures...