Week of February 15th - 21st

3/2/09: My apologies...I actually had hoped to have this entry posted last week, but I had some computer problems and things have been a bit hectic...

Please note my new email address: ritakthomas@gmail.com

This was a busy week for me. A team of 21 from Noel UMC (Shreveport, Louisiana) arrived on Sunday afternoon, February 15th and what a delightful group they were! I may have laughed more in the four days that I worked with them than I have in years! We built three cinder block homes (special thanks to St. Johns Episcopal Church in Deer Park, Maryland for supporting Mike Hoffeditz by providing a financial donation toward the building supplies for one of the homes). Several of the men from the Louisiana team held a baseball camp for the local children during the week. They brought baseball gloves, hats, shirts, tees, balls, bats, etc. for the kids too! The kids loved learning about the game of baseball and they all had a blast!




Wed. afternoon, some of the team and I went to downtown Juarez to do a little shopping at the market. Most of the day on Thursday was spent working on the church building in Loma Blanca. We made significant progress! We even had a wonderful musician in our midst (Jonathan Andrews) and we sang lots of Beatles songs at the worksite. I was very sad to see this new group of friends leave on Thursday evening, but I know that I will see them again very soon!





Eva and the puppies are doing great. The pups started eating dry puppy food on Valentine's Day (which I soaked in warm water so it is soft enough for them to eat). Eva decided that she is finished nursing the babies since they have sharp teeth now -bless her heart!!!! It is so cute when I would walk up to feed them, they all ran out of the dog house and start jumping and crying!

One morning before 7:00 a.m., I was awakened by my 'grandpuppies' whining and crying very LOUDLY for their breakfast. They were just the tiniest bit spoiled!! ha ha

On the night before I left to come back to Texas, I went to see a movie with my 'kids away from home' - Jesus, Peluso, Jorge, and Luis Antonio. Lucky me... they wanted to see the movie Inframundo 3 (Underworld 3 - Rise of the Lycans). Most of my friends and family know that I HATE vampire movies, so what do you imagine the movie was about? Yes, vampires! I think the boys just wanted to see if I would actually scream during the movie, but I wasn't really scared much (only a couple times!!). We enjoyed our movie popcorn with plenty of butter and sliced jalapenos!!! Yum!

After a two week visit at home in Allen, I will be headed back to Mexico the second week of March. There are several teams scheduled to build houses over Spring Break, including a team from Suncreek UMC. Then, at the end of March, the 100 men from The Woodlands UMC in Houston are coming to build more homes. We are looking forward to being very busy in the month of March!

Thank you for your continued prayers for this ministry. Until the next time, Dios te bendiga!

What a Birthday Present!

Hola my friends! After spending the past ten weeks at my home in Texas, I was so happy to return to Juarez last Thursday on my birthday (thus the title for this post). I have missed being here so badly and it was truly a joy to see all of my friends and their smiling faces! There are several new additions to my Mexican family - My dear companion, Eva, gave birth to 12 adorable puppies on January 15th. They are all healthy and just last week starting walking around. My daughter, Kelly, wishes she was on a break from college and could be here to play with all of them!

While home for the holidays, I am very grateful to have been able to visit with my senior pastor and friend, Rev. Kathleen Baskin-Ball before she lost her two year battle with cancer (December 2nd). Kathleen was such an inspiration to me. I will forever remember the encouragement she gave to me with regard to my mission work in Juarez. The last thing she said to me was "You are supposed to be there and you have to go back." Then she said, "I'll be watching over you!" and I know in my heart that she is doing just that!

This past weekend I had the privilege of working with a wonderful team from my home church, Suncreek UMC. The weather was absolutely beautiful with highs in the upper 70's and lows in the upper 30's. We were able to finish two cinder block homes in just a day and a half. In addition to building these homes, we visited the market in downtown Juarez for a little shopping and stopped for dinner at Peter Piper Pizza. There were few people shopping at the market, but we felt very safe there. It was no different than other visits we've made to the market over the past six years. On the way to the airport on Monday morning, we stopped at Lydia Patterson Institute (LPI) for a quick tour. Several of the Suncreek team members have sponsored a student from Juarez to attend school at LPI.

There was also a team of men from Foundry UMC in Houston here over the weekend. They built three cinder block homes. We are thankful to have been the first two teams to build homes in 2009!

Yesterday a strong cold front blew through and we experienced wind gusts from 45 to 60 mph and snow! None of the snow stuck to the ground, but it certainly was beautiful to see! After lows in the mid 20's last night, we are happy to have blue skies and warmer temps today (highs in the 50s).

There is a team arriving from Louisiana next Saturday, Feb. 14th. They plan to build three homes and will be here until Feb. 21st. I will fly back to Dallas on the 21st as well. The good news is that I won't have to wait long to return to Juarez. I will be back here in mid-March with another team from Suncreek. Hallelujah!!!

I appreciate the support and prayers from all of my friends and family. I ask that you keep the ministry of Proyecto Abrigo and especially Rev. Jose Luis Portillo and his family in your prayers as they continue to work faithfully to help the less fortunate in this area. We pray that 2009 will be a year where many teams from the U.S. will also take a leap of faith and make a trip to Juarez to help those in need!

I thank God every day for the opportunity to be His hands and feet here in Mexico. Until the next time, Dios te bendiga!

Rita