April 2007 in Juarez

Construction

• 7 homes were built for 7 families! Our largest construction team of the year, a team from Cherry Hills Christian School, brought 69 students in 7th grade and 31 adults and built 4 houses in 2 days! Please see our website for detailed information on all families at www.missionsministries.org.
• A team from Menlo Park built a wonderful stage in Pastor Miguel's church, as well as building a new home for a family. Pastor Martin is also praying for a stage in his new church.
• Material finally arrived for the 5,000 square foot youth center at Pastor Jesus' Church and framing started in early May.

 Medical

• Tharyn and Marsha's medical and dental team from Oklahoma completed the installation of dental compressed air (special volume) and suction to the dental offices, and teeth were repaired for the first time ever in the care center.  Around 270 medical and dental patients were seen the first week in April.
• Little Poncho is recovering perfectly from the surgery on his hand and feet. All the skin grafts were successful. It was expected that his deformed ear would be operated on this month, but the plastic surgeon wanted to wait 12 months and implant a synthetic ear so Poncho will look completely normal.  This was way beyond expectations!
• Ruth is a single mom that we built a house for the last week of March. She was over 9 months pregnant at the time of her home construction. She had no money for a clinic birth and had planned to deliver her baby at home. One family on a team wanted her to be able to have a clinic birth and provided the financial resources. Ruth was taken to a local government women's hospital, but they weren't accepting new patients and refused to deliver her baby. Jeff and Jenny took her to a private clinic in Juarez where they found the umbilical cord under the baby's head and partially out of the cervix. A c-section was required and both mom and her first born son are doing well. The sponsor family was given the honor of naming Ruth's son!
• Maria was about 25 weeks pregnant, suffering from severe malnutrition and dehydration. She required hospitalization in Juarez to save her baby.  A church in Denver made the hospital stay possible.
• Juan Carlos fell and broke his shoulder and had successful surgery in Juarez.
• Rico, our senior Mexican staff person in the kitchen, had a minor stroke. Jenny identified the stroke at the onset and took her immediately for treatment. Only part of her face has been affected so far.

 Outreach

• Jenny wanted this year's Children's Day to be very special. Most children don't celebrate birthdays or Christmas, so it seemed like a great idea. The 7th graders included the parade and festivities as part of their trip after completing the 4 houses. Jenny had much preparation and was assisted by other teams in April.  Around 800 adults and children participated.  The parade route was from the mission center to the church, and all those attending were fed, entertained, heard the gospel message in a puppet show, and received door prizes and a "goodie bag" when they left. Little Poncho and his family walked 6 miles to participate in the event!  The surgery on his feet was just 6 weeks before!
• Jeff anointed a newborn baby with oil at the family's request.  This was the first time he was ever asked to do this.

 Jenny

Jenny completed her EMT (emergency medical technician) training and graduated May 11, 2007, second in her class! A 10-year veteran 911 phone operator classmate was trailing behind Jenny the entire semester. He managed to pass her in points right at the end and took first place in the class. This will be Jenny's first cap and gown graduation of her life and she was very excited. Over thirty students started the class and only 12 completed the requirements and graduated.  Congratulations Jenny!

 Juarez, brief overview 2007 YTD

• 29 new homes have been built.
• 640 team members have blessed and been blessed in our mission outreach center.
• 6 medical teams have come, prayed for and treated the sick in the care center.
• Church attendance continues to grow as many teams offer food and VBS outreaches to the community at the local churches.