A Great Partnership | The House of Blessing

Many of you have read about the House of Blessing (HOB) Orphanage either in posts from our past church missions trips, blogs from the orphanage director, Jason Sanchez, or in our e-bulletins. Redemption Church has worked closely with HOB since it was founded nearly 5 years ago. Jason and his wife, Jackie, moved to Bachiniva, Mexico with their daughter Ayantu in 2012 to build and start an orphanage in the mountains. They have been faithful to serve and care for up to 19 children at a time and have seen God do amazing things in the lives of these children, their families, and the community there. We have taken 3 missions trip as a church to visit and serve at the orphanage as well as sponsoring them monthly. To learn more about the House of Blessing Orphanage, CLICK HERE.

We are thrilled to be sending our first short-term missionary to serve at the House of Blessing orphanage for a 3-month internship beginning in June! Meet Julie Ruse!

Julie has been a part of Redemption Church since Summer of 2016, and she has had a desire to serve at an orphanage for some time. The Lord has been directing and leading Julie to commit to a short-term mission to serve the staff and children at the House of Blessing. She will serve as one of the female staff at the orphanage helping to care for the girls, help them with getting ready for school, homework, cleaning and laundry (which is a BIG job when there are so many children!), various special projects, and wherever else the Lord allows.

We would love you to join us in praying for Julie as she prepares to drive across the country in May to see her family in Colorado then heads south of the border in June! She would love to have your prayers for safety, health, spiritual protection and encouragement, and for the Lord to use her in wonderful ways while she is there!

Would you also consider donating to help provide the necessary funds for Julie to serve in this special way? This is a great opportunity to participate in what God wants to do at the House of Blessing through Julie’s time there, and we want as many people as possible to be able to take part in what God is doing!

You can CLICK HERE to make a one-time donation toward her living cost while she is in Mexico or send a check (with “Julie” in the Memo) to:

Redemption Church Delray Beach

PO Box 832039 335 East Linton Blvd.

Delray Beach, FL 33483

You can read an excerpt from Julie’s support letter below as well! 

Excerpt from Julie’s support letter:

    Through a series of miraculous events, God has paved a way for me to go to Mexico this summer (June, July and August) to live/ serve at the House of Blessing orphanage in Bachiniva. The orphanage was started by an American family almost five years ago, and today they (along with staff and volunteers) care for 15 children. You can learn more at thehouseofblessing.org. My wonderful church, Redemption Church of Delray Beach, has been helping support the orphanage financially and has sent short term mission teams, but I will be the first “intern” they’ve directly supported. Basically I’ll be joining everyday life there: helping kids get ready for school, doing hair, cleaning, laundry (they do about 20 loads per week), and generally loving on people in Jesus’ name. 

    Internet will be available so I’ll be keeping ya’ll updated on happenings and prayer requests through facebook. My mailing address will be 7101 N Mesa St #283, El Paso, TX 79912.  If interested in supporting me financially, you can give online or by mail. (SEE LINKS AND INFO IN BLOG ABOVE) Thanks for the impact each of you have already made on my life. I’m excited for what lies ahead and to witness God’s mighty hand. 

Peace and blessings,

Julie

An Update From The House of Blessing (August 2016)

Summer is drawing to a close here for the children of CDB as they prepare to start school this coming Monday.  I don’t think any of our kids would actually “admit” they are excited for school, however, you can tell that they are.  

The summer was fairly busy, though pretty relaxing as well.  Most of our children got to spend some of their vacation with family and relatives.  We only had a few missions teams serve with us this summer.  My wife was able to go on a missions trip to China with a church from El Paso.  Ayantu and I flew up to Seattle for our annual golf tournament in which we raised $6300 for the orphanage.  And then, we met up with Jackie as well as all my siblings and their families for our family reunion in Lincoln City, Oregon.  What a great time that was.

When school finished in July, we had 14 children in the home.  Now with school starting we have 18.  The Lord was faithful to bring us 4 more children to care for and minister to, 3 of those having come this past week.

Some of you might remember Valeria, the sweet little gal with a squeaky voice that lived with us last year for 6 months.  Her mom decided to pull her from the home after Christmas break.  Honestly, we were all heartbroken and missed this precious gal very much.  What made it even harder was the fact that Valeria wasn’t even staying with her mom.  She was living here in town with her grandparents in horrible living conditions. 

I hadn’t seen Valeria since she left until Jairo and Jessie’s wedding in June.  Valeria came with her grandparents and greeted me with the biggest hug ever.  Towards the end of the wedding, Valeria came up and whispered something in my ear.  I couldn’t understand at first but then realized what she was saying…”can I please come live with you guys again.”  My heart was overwhelmed with emotions and all I wanted to do was take this precious girl home with us.  Sure it was justified, right?  I mean, her mom was neglecting her again, her living environment was very unhealthy, it all made sense to me.

However the Lord quickly spoke and reminded me that as much as I wanted to intervene, I needed to “be still, and know that He is God.” He was in control and would work something out.

Well, the Lord was faithful (as always) to do that.  We received a call from Valeria’s mom asking us to please take her daughter back.  She realized she made a mistake taking her out of the orphanage in the first place and once again was not in a place to take care of her.  Of course we said yes and Valeria is as happy as she was when she left…if not a little bit more.  It is SO wonderful to have her with us again.  Valeria will be starting 1st grade on Monday.

We also received a little guy named Edgar.  Edgar is 5 years old and has a mom and dad.  They are actually a really neat family and we are so thankful the Lord brought them into our lives to help and minister to.  Their story goes like a lot of the other stories.  Both parents are working hard to survive and due to their long work days, 6, sometimes 7, days a week, they aren’t able to nor do they have anyone else to care for Edgar.  Edgar’s parents are thrilled that he will be able to get an education (starting 1st grade on Monday), learn about the Lord, be cared for in a healthy environment, and that they will be able to visit or spend time with him on weekends.

The 3rd child that came to us is a young lady named Carolina.  She is the younger sister of Erasmo and Maria Ana.  We have known her since our very first trip up to their little village in the mountains, 3 years ago.  Carolina finished elementary school in her town and her mom now wants her to continue her schooling along with Erasmo and Maria Ana.  Carolina is very shy, but is already coming out of her shell.  She is a huge help with things around the house and is excited to start school.  She will start 7th grade on Monday.

So, including our daughter Ayantu, we now have 19 children in the house.  WOW…sounds a little crazy even as I read and write it.   Yes, it seems a little overwhelming right now as we change up room arrangements, build new beds, buy more clothes, food, etc.  But what an absolute joy and honor to help care for God’s precious children.

Please, please, please, continue to pray for us, especially over the next week as we get all 19 children settled in school.  Please pray for Valeria, Edgar and Carolina as they adjust to their new home.  Also, please pray for continual finances.  With the additional children as well school supplies, uniforms, back to school clothes, etc. that need to be purchased, we are trusting and excited to see in which ways the Lord chooses to provide.

We are also in great need of sponsors for most of our children.  I will be sharing a bit more about that here in the next few weeks regarding ways that you can partner with us and a child here at the orphanage.

Thank you for your faithfulness in taking the time to read the things the Lord is doing here!

Blessings!

2015 Mexico Mission Trip (Video Recap)

We are back home from our missions trip to Bachiniva, Mexico! THANK YOU for your prayers and support! We had a wonderful trip—we had safe travels to and from Mexico, Daniel made new brochures and prayer cards for their ministry and sponsorship cards for each of the kids, Laura painted several murals in the orphanage, Travis and Mike worked on building a new shed on the property and poured concrete, and Alesha and Colleen helped Jackie and the staff with multiple cleaning projects! We were blessed abundantly by the opportunity to meet the kids and revisit the Sanchez family. We made a brief slideshow of the trip that we’d love for you to see. You can view it below. You can also listen or watch the service where the team shared about the trip and what they learned during our time in Bachiniva on our teaching page under topical messages. If you would like to learn more about the House of Blessing orphanage please visit www.thehouseofblessing.org.