T-Shirt Contest Winner!
by Editor - March 29th, 2011We are happy to announce the winner of our 2011 T-Shirt Design Contest. Congratulations to Stevie Lindsley for her winning entry!
Stevie served as an intern at Welcome Home from August to December 2010 and became an integral part of our team. During her stay with us, Stevie worked alongside visiting teams on construction projects, did mountains of dishes, and fell in love with our daycare ninos. Her winning shirt design was one of several she submitted. She recently returned to collect her reward: a free week’s stay at Welcome Home — plus a t-shirt, of course!
The front of the t-shirt displays the Casa Hogar Bienvenidos name and location in a creative cross-shaped design. A scripture passage, I John 3:18, graces the reverse side of the shirt.
T-shirts are available in adults sizes S, M, L, XL at $15 each. For those who can’t make it to Welcome Home this year, t-shirts may be ordered for mailing at a cost of $20 each. Contact Jackie Scott to order. (Email: steve_jackie_scott@yahoo.com)
Although the CCEA team was not able to do the roof project themselves, the money was left so that the job could be finished. The following weekend a group of students from Calvary Chapel’s Bible school in Ensenada came to join young people from Calvary Chapel Vicente Guerrero in completing the roof work, under the supervision of WHO crew members, Jose Luis (Colores) Santiago Bautista and Neri Maya. A great example of teamwork and unity in the body of Christ.
Okay, and IF we gave out prizes, our second prize for the most miles traveled would go to Cedars Christian School of Prince George, B.C., Canada who traveled just over 2,000 miles to reach Welcome Home in mid-March. This was a second visit of Cedars students and teachers to Welcome Home, and we are grateful to Shane Nelson and Dave Brown for leading this return trip. 
This group of students from Cedars Christian raised and provided funds to help start the new classroom building for the Casa Hogar Bienvenidos (Welcome Home) guardaria (daycare). They worked on the foundation and floor for the classroom project. Work on this project will continue as God supplies the funds and labor over the course of this year.
Giving a hug, a high five or a pound it, seems to put a smile on anyone’s face. The kids were so outgoing to us as strangers, they didn’t care about what we looked like, or what we were saying in English, they just wanted to be around us, to play, to go on the swings, to give piggy backs etc. They were so content to just be around us. I was very content to be around them as well. 
In late March, Jenny Redmond led a stalwart team of four to spend a week at Welcome Home, to build a house, to connect with old friends here in Vicente Guerrero, and to make new friends of the staff and children here at Welcome Home. Jenny has visited Vicente Guerrero on numerous occasions over the past years, so she has a lot of friends in the San Quintin valley – but this was her first visit to Welcome Home. It was great to connect with her, as well as with the other team members, Art & Lynn Zawicki and Sean Depner (a returnee to Welcome Home).
Even though the team was small in number, they were mighty in spirit and “heart” and were a great blessing to us and to many others in the area. The house they built was for a single mother of one of our daycare children, Josue Oliver. Josue, his mother Janel and her other children are now enjoying their brand new casa here in Vicente Guerrero. It should be noted that a team of four would have difficulty completing a block house during their week with us, but our WHO construction crew worked hard to have the job far enough along so that the Cornwall team could see the job completed and dedicated before they left. And it was done!
During their time in Vicente Guerrero, all of the doctors spend time serving in the clinic of Foundation for His Ministry under the supervision of clinic administrator Dr. Heber Avitia. In their three full days at the clinic, they saw several hundred patients.
We are abundantly blessed by visits from friends! If you would like a personal introduction to the work at Welcome Home, or if you just want to visit us in Mexico for a little R&R, feel free to contact us for more information. Email the Scotts at Steve_jackie_scott@yahoo.com. 
Over the past five seasons hosting short-term missions teams at Welcome Home — and assisted by the very generous hearts and hands of our visiting teams — we have been able to reach out to many, many individuals and families with food, clothing, shoes, and other gifts. Most importantly, we have shared the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Many of you will recall these blessed times of sharing with people of very little means. 
Our daycare enrollment is at 58 children. On any given day, we run between 48-55 children in attendance. Our “bebes” class can reach as high as fourteen! Teacher Genoveva (Geno) is super, but 14 two-year olds would tax any seasoned professional. In the U.S., a typical preschool teacher-to-student ratio 1:6. Obviously, we had a problem. So, as of this October, a new teacher has been added in this youngest classroom. We are happy to welcome Sinai (pronounced See-ny-ee) Ortiz Manzano now assisting in the babies’ class. 
Earlier this year, we said good-bye to Kinder teacher Elda, who was blessed with a healthy baby boy, and then moved with her family to mainland Mexico. Now, the Kinder II class, our oldest group, is under the guidance of teacher Elifeleth (Ellie) Hernandez Perez. We are grateful for these and all of our dedicated teaching staff. 
Just as important to the operation of Casa Hogar Bienvenidos as our staff here in Vicente Guerrero, are the men and women who give of themselves by serving on our Boards of Directors, on both sides of the border. We are excited to announce a recent addition the U.S. Board: Michael Green, of Issaquah, WA. Michael is a special friend of Welcome Home and we were very moved when he contacted us about the possibility of serving on the WHO Board. As a recent college graduate and newly married man, Michael has felt God’s tug on his heart to serve Welcome Home, and we are thrilled to have his youthful enthusiasm and fresh eyes on our team. Michael’s level of commitment was graphically evident as he and his wife Kristen flew to southern California for the October WHO Board meeting. Thanks and welcome, Michael and Kristin!
Oh – and we can’t forget another addition to the Welcome Home family! We now have a resident canine, Lucy, our golden retriever. She came to us courtesy of Pastor Ken and Rita Marr (pastors of Capilla Calvario Vicente Guerrero) and is a sweet – but shy – new profile in our compound. Come and meet Lucy!
Of course, the work and ministry of the guardaria (daycare) continues week in and week out, all year-round, visiting teams or not. Our maestras (teachers) remain faithful in their dedication to the care of our ninos, daily sharing the love of Jesus with these precious ones. 
If you know anything about the migration of the Pacific Ocean’s gray whales, you know that these whales migrate annually between the Bering Sea of Alaska and the warm waters of the Baja coast. The Laguna (lagoon) Ojo de Liebre near Guerrero Negro, Baja Sur, is where the mother whales give birth to their calves during the winter months of January-February-March, while the males remain out in the ocean.
Our good friends Rosalie and Bob Vierra once again brought a team of family and friends to Welcome Home during the first week of August. This team’s specialty and focus is presenting a four-day Vacation Bible School for the community of Santa Fe, just south of Vicente Guerrero. 
An added blessing during this week was the presence of the Pedro and Esther Yanez family of the Anaheim, CA area. Pedro had previously visited Welcome Home on weekend ministry trips out of Calvary Chapel East Anaheim. The Lord prompted him to bring his whole family to Mexico to experience short-term missions and service together. With their Spanish language skills, Pedro and Esther were wonderful assistants in the VBS as well as in other situations. We appreciated hosting all the Yanezes, including Jonas, Joshua and Isaiah (Izzy). 
When not prepping for or conducting the VBS, some of the Vierra group helped our Welcome Home staff get started on our shop extension project, and the team provided $1800 towards the project cost. We are so grateful for this project assistance.
The Kenmore team was with us at Welcome Home the same week as the Vierra group (above), but their focus project was very different. Maribel Merino Heras is our housekeeper at Welcome Home. She and her wonderful husband Miguel and their son Isaac have been building on their home for a number of years, but still had only a portion of the project finished to live in. With another baby on the way, Maribel and Miguel were in great need for more space completed. 
We were also able to use members of the Kenmore team to help in sprucing up the outdoor furniture at our Welcome Home compound. Some of the guys spent many hours scraping, sanding and painting wood patio furniture and benches to match our new exterior paint color scheme.
Along with the Vierra team, the Kenmore group did outreach ministry at the Padre Kino farm camp, sharing the Gospel and distributing food bags to families.
The majority of the Bethany team focused their energies on a house addition for a single mother, Carmina Rivera. Carmina’s 17-year old daughter has severe respiratory difficulties and she desperately needed a cleaner environment to live in. 
The Mountainbrook team has a long-standing relationship with a small church in the Santa Fe area south of Vicente Guerrero. They have worked with Pastor Pedro and his wife Marina in a number of projects in and around the church site. This year, Mountainbrook built a wood home for one of the church families.
It was a great treat to meet and welcome Edward Choo for his first visit to Welcome Home. Edward is youth pastor at Hallelujah Fellowship in Edmonton, Alberta, who became acquainted with Welcome Home when he met Meghan Scott while both were living and working in Seoul, Korea, a few years back. 
