The second annual retreat of the U.S. and Mexican Boards of Welcome Home/Casa Hogar Bienvenidos was held in mid-April. Once again this year, the meeting took place at the very beautiful site of Las Gaviotas just south of Rosarito in Baja. It was a real treat this year to have the daycare staff present, joining with Board members from both sides of the border, as well as several spouses and family members.

The weekend agenda included working/teaching sessions, as well as times of worship together. A Saturday afternoon footwashing service was especially beautiful and truly captured the spirit of servanthood that we as staff and board members of Welcome Home hope to live out every day. We are grateful to special guest leaders, Pastor Manuel deLeon, Sr., Dr. Keith White, and Armando Gonzalez who led us in times of study, reflection and worship.

We also want to give special thanks and appreciation to Carlos and Coleen Cruz of Hope Community Church (Rosarito) for their topnotch help. Coleen cooked some fantastic meals for our group, and Carlos was a great help in so many ways, including translating during our Saturday evening banquet. A highlight of the banquet was having the opportunity to hear testimonies from each one of our daycare staff about their work at Bienvenidos. It was truly a joy for all to hear the heartwearming words from these dedicated servants: Brigida, Geno, Leo, Elda, Maribel and Cande. We are so blessed to serve alongside these women as they minister to the children of Bienvenidos.

We counted it a great privilege to welcome Pastor Manuel deLeon, Sr., and his wife Eva, from Dallas, TX. Pastor deLeon is father of U.S. Board President, Manny deLeon. Pastor deLeon has been serving in ministry for many, many years and even at the age of 84 is still going strong for the Lord. The good pastor shared a session with our daycare teaching staff, giving them great insight into teaching Bible stories to children. Following the Retreat, Manny brought his father and stepmother to Vicente Guerrero to visit at Welcome Home, as well as visit other ministries in the San Quintin valley. Manny kept his father on the go with preaching assignments, as well as meeting and ministering to people throughout the community. Praise God for this faithful servant!

Has your life ever been touched by a good samaritan? Have you ever been in distress and had help come to you from a stranger, an unexpected source?

We were traveling from San Diego to Vicente Guerrero towing a borrowed 14′ double-axle trailer, loaded with donated goods. We crossed the border at Otay Mesa without too much difficulty and headed south through the heart of Tijuana.  We joined the Thursday morning traffic, made more congested by various road projects along the way, inching toward Rosarito. It was kind of crazy, as driving in Mexico can be:  smooth open road suddenly and without warning becoming a potholed obstacle course; three lanes of traffic becoming four, then one. Aggressive patience is required! If you’ve been there, you know what I mean.

But Steve did a good job of maneuvering the pickup and trailer through the mess. I even remember saying to him, “Well done” which is a change from my usual tense back-seat-driver style. And we made it onto the cuota (toll road) at Rosarito without incident. Whew!

And on to Ensenada, everything going well.  Just south of Ensenada is the suburb of Maneadero where there are numerous stop lights and stop signs. Just as Steve pulled away from one of the last stop signs, we heard and felt a jolt. Steve looked in the rear view mirror and calmly said, “I’ve lost an axle.” What?!? 

He pulled over onto the shoulder as soon as he could and parked in front of the many storefronts along the roadside. We got out to assess the damage. What we saw was the second of the two trailer axles broken away on the right side, with the tire now sitting under the tailgate of the trailer at a 90-degree angle. Wow. It looked bad and we could only say, “What now, Lord?”

Steve was squatted down surveying the damage when a young man came over to us on a bicycle. He and two amigos had been talking in front of a nearby business. The first young man summoned the other two, one of whom spoke English. They took a look at the damage and immediately started to offer assistance.

The men could see that the spring on the axle had been broken for some time and had, just then, decided to break away completely. And it was determined that the trailer could travel on just the one remaining axle for the rest of the journey. So our new friends (whose names, unfortunately, we did not get!) jumped right in to help us. They borrowed a heavy duty jack from a farm equipment store two doors down. They got down in the dirt, jacked up the trailer, and proceeded to remove the offending axle.  The removed tires and axle were hoisted into the back of our pickup and we were ready to roll again.

But here’s the point:  God is good! He protected us from true disaster by allowing this to happen where it did. We could have been in that horrific Tijuana traffic. Or we could have been just beyond Maneadero in the mountains where there are no shoulders to pull onto, and where there would likely have been no help. And God provided the help we needed. Those three young men, so willingly giving themselves to the task, were strangers to us. They did not have to help, but they quickly came to our rescue. They were willing to get their hands and knees dirty, and use their muscles, to give us a helping hand. What a blessing to see and feel God’s hand of protection and provision.

And I want to go on record as saying that I love the Mexican people. We’ve seen and experienced this kind of neighbor-helping-neighbor time and again. The gracious people of Mexico are quick to offer help to a friend or a stranger. They are hard-working and resourceful and, to tell the truth, if I’m going to have a problem, a break-down, or be in distress, I think I would rather be in Mexico than in the U.S. where people often turn their eyes and hearts away from the plight of their neighbor.

Thanks be to God, our provider and protector!

It is always a treat to welcome returning friends to Welcome Home. The Life Prep Academy team from Newport, WA, has been coming to Vicente Guerrero for a number of years. Under the capable (and sometimes crazy) leadership of Rory Axel, a crackerjack team visited once again this February. While the winter weather in eastern Washington was milder this year than normal, these northerners were still anxious for some of our good Baja sunshine.

The team brought project money that enabled them to contribute substantially to a house build for a single woman named Victoria in the community of Lazaro Cardenas. The team’s money was pooled with funds provided by Victoria’s sister and brother-in-law to provide a somewhat larger and better equipped home than our normal 16′x24′ house.

Collaborating with an individual Mexican family for a house build is new for us, and it is refreshing to be able to have our volunteer team labor assist in this project. The Life Prep team was not able to see the project to completion, but later this month another team will provide labor for completion of the roof. Truly a Mexican-American team effort!

The Life Prep group (with the addition of Amy Axel from Brookings, OR) also visited and provided food for the community of San Simon. And a small team did a second coat of paint on screen doors installed by the Calvary Chapel East Anaheim team earlier in February at the Casa del Buen Samaritano — the elder care facility operated by Juan and Lupita Vazquez.

How good it is when Christian brothers and sisters can serve and support each other in the Lord’s work! Muchas gracias a todos!

Maybe you no longer want to tow a trailer. Maybe you’ve upgraded to something bigger and better. Or perhaps your camping days are over. Well, we have an idea for you! If you have an older travel trailer sitting around that you would like to “unload,” consider donating it to a needy family here in the Baja. There are families here who could live very comfortably, either permanently or semi-permanently, in a travel trailer. It certainly would be better than many of the living situations we encounter.

The trailer needs to be road-ready, in good enough condition to be towed to Mexico. While Welcome Home is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, this gift would not be directly benefiting Welcome Home — so we advise checking with your tax consultant regarding deductibility of such a donation.

If you’d like more information, contact Steve Scott by email (steve_jackie_scott@yahoo.com) or call our U.S. phone 503-616-3751.

Welcome Home played host in February to a group of Saskatchewans who were looking not only for an escape from their frozen winter landscape, but a way to serve and share the love and blessings of God with folks here in Mexico.  A group of forty-six hearty souls from the East Side Church of God of Swift Current, SK, made the 3-day bus journey to Vicente Guerrero. Many were taking their first-ever missions trip, some where old hands; but all were blessed through their ministry here.

The group was based at Welcome Home but worked with Canadian missionary Erma Fennell on a project in the community of Diaz Ordaz. In their four work days, the group erected a community center that will be used in a variety of ways for the needy people of that area. The Saskatchewan group was extremely well organized and worked like a well-oiled machine to complete the project. 

Tremendous thanks to team leaders Earl and Trish Braun for orchestrating the travel and project logistics. And thanks, as well, to Pastor Kevin and Joyce Snyder for joining the team and modeling servant leadership.

We at Welcome Home are blessed to have made these new friends, and we anticipate future partnership together with the fine folks of East Side Church of God!

God continues to hear and answer prayer — in so many ways, right?  We want to give Him thanks and praise for some special answers sent our way in recent months.

Early last Fall, director Steve Scott began praying  about the need for a pick-up truck for the Welcome  Home ministry. Much of the work Steve does outside the Welcome  Home walls involves hauling and distributing donated goods, and he sought the Lord in prayer about expanding this part of the ministry.  Specifically, he prayed that if it was God’s will for him to do more outreach like this, he needed a diesel 3/4 ton pick-up that could haul a heavy trailer, a 4×4 if possible.

Steve wasn’t really surprised, then, when he got a call from Randy Murieen of Horse Creek, CA.  Randy had visited Welcome Home last June with a team of 4 other men. When he called Steve in November, Randy said something to the effect of, “Steve, could you use a pick-up?”  Well, of course, you know Steve’s response! It was a direct answer from God.  Randy and his wife, Beverly, wanted to donate their 1994 Chevrolet 3/4 ton pick-up, with a rebuilt engine, to us. We made plans to receive the pick-up as we returned from Portland, Oregon, to Vicente Guerrero in late January. 

Not too many weeks after Randy’s initial contact with him, Steve said to Jackie, “It would sure be nice if we had a canopy for that pick-up.” Hmm.  You guessed it — the very next day, Randy called again and said, “I’ve got a canopy for the pick-up. It has a couple of broken windows, but could you use it?”  Wow. God is good!

We also have to give thanks to God for the generosity of the First Church of God of Tulare, CA.  These long-time friends of Welcome Home, who eagerly return to Vicente Guerrero each year to build a house, donated a 15-passenger van to Welcome Home in January. A new van for transporting our daycare children has topped our “wish list” for a long time.  Now, thanks to our amigos in Tulare, we have a wonderful new (to us) vehicle for transporting children and so many other errands.  It was put to use immediately and, many days, is packed beyond capacity with as many as 45 children traveling to and from the Welcome Home daycare!

Just so you know, we’ve chosen to pay forward our blessings… the old white van has been donated to another local ministry headed by our friend Cesar. He operates a transition house for men coming out of rehabilitation, as well as a Saturday morning breakfast ministry to as many as 100 children and Bible studies for adults.

Thank you, Lord, for the blessings we receive when your saints are sensitive to your leading.  Gracias a Dios!

As January rain storms pummeled the U.S. West Coast, the media virtually ignored the plight of the Baja peninsula where the same storm was doing severe damage. Most of you, our Welcome Home “faithful,” probably don’t realize the severity of the storm’s effects on the Vicente Guerrero vicinity. The following eye-witness account is penned by Linda Molatore who, along with her husband Nick, have been guest hosts at Welcome Home this winter.

For a visual of the Vicente Guerrero bridge collapse and rushing river footage, check this YouTube video: Click here.

Linda writes…
In mid-January Vicente Guerrero had a couple of rain days, interspersed with sun, an answer to many weeks of prayer by the congregations of this agricultural San Quintin valley. Being from Portland, Oregon, we found it comical that schools were closed on these “rain days;” but really, any road not paved (about 99% of all roads here) becomes difficult to navigate, with the sloppy mud and small lakes.

Tuesday, January 19, was one such showery day. Due to road conditions, there were no children here at Welcome Home, except for those of the staff. Our three guests that week, Yesenia, Heather, and Logan (from Riverside, CA) threw themselves into helping by washing all the children’s chairs, and deep-cleaning the kitchen and the bodega with Cande.

The next day was bright and sunny per usual, and it was reported that water was actually flowing under Vicente Guerrero’s Santo Domingo bridge! We and the whole staff were very excited by this news, so by mid-afternoon we were all at the edge of the usually-dry Santo Domingo arroyo, along with many other people — all taking photos, touching and doing the obligatory throwing of stones into the small river…a fiesta in the January sunshine, complete with vendors selling elote (corn) and churros from their carts. That evening in the church service at La Mision Iglesia the congregants applauded and praised God for the rain, and fervently sang “Yo quiero nadar en el rio de Dios” during which we heard rain starting up again on the roof.

Strong winds and rain were buffeting our little casita (the 5th wheel RV) here at Welcome Home before dawn the next morning, January 21, and I noticed that even the daily morning bells of the Catholic church were not rung… a very somber morning indeed. By mid-day our Santo Domingo bridge over the arroyo-now-river just north of Vicente Guerrero was closed due to high water and the storm. We went to the bridge to take photos, and quickly got soaked in the blowing rain. The rushing, churning roar of the now-huge muddy river was unforgettable. People were scrambling to get to their chosen side of the river before the noon bridge closing.

Ruben of the taqueria El Pollo Loco reminded us to be aware of our gasoline needs, and so we waited for an hour in the storm at the Padre Kino Pemex to fill our tank, the line at the closer Vicente Guerrero Pemex being already too long. Of course there was a run on the propane gas, too, and that quickly ran out. No sense to worry about the bank ATMs as no computers were functioning.

Calling a Zapata friend, she cried, “Now we won’t see each other for many, many days!” I found this unbelievable. After all, the bridge was just being closed as a precaution… but her voice spoke from other experience. The last time this bridge had gone out was in 1993.

Returning from our gasoline run to Vicente Guerrero, we nervously passed through several rushing muddy washes filled with bushes and rocks, crossing the highway. Back at Welcome Home, thankfully, we only had a couple of small roof leaks. We never lost electricity beyond a rare flicker.

On Friday we heard confirmed news, and then saw for ourselves, that our bridge was out — the large earthen landfill between the two bridge spans had been washed away. The town was eerily quiet, without any of the sounds of Mexico’s commerce traveling through town on Highway 1 — the semi-truck traffic having ground to a halt. We had no land or cellular phones so no internet, and no radio that whole day… a very surreal, strange feeling when it is not known how long that situation will last. We heard through community word that two other bridges to the north and a couple much farther south had also been damaged, our bridge receiving the worst damage.

The importance of these bridges cannot be stressed enough! They are on Mexico’s Highway 1, the only paved connector from the North through the one thousand plus miles of the Baja. With bridges out to the north and south, each area became an isolated pocket of people, with supplies quickly running out. We later learned that the smaller areas away from the bigger towns were desperate for every food staple.

We walked to Mi Kazza Cafe several times during those days, connecting with other adventurers, like the group of 70 who walked from IDT, through several miles of mud and rain, out of curiousity and boredom. We met many groups of people, in various degrees of northbound desperation. (One hopeful group leader asked us just HOW collapsed the bridge was, if it would be fixed by the next day so they could leave.)

Saturday we got cell phone and internet service AND local radio again! But of course phone minutes had to be guarded as there was no way to purchase minutes. The day was bright with sunshine, and on our walks we saw with astonishment the brilliant SNOW covering the highest peaks of the San Pedro Martir range! Locals reported that it was the most snow to their memory.

We saw small airplanes and even an Ultralight overhead .. a rare sight for this region. They were all heading north. People could fly to Ensenada or San Diego in the 4 and 5-seater planes for about $100 US, and many did so, including our guest, Logan. Thank God for the small San Quintin airstrip.

At the bridge, a hanging basket was rigged to carry one person and supplies across, over the rushing river. Persons with extremely serious medical needs were brought from the north side of the river across to Vicente Guerrero hospitals, and food supplies were sent back north.

We walked everywhere as we sensed from all the locals around us a real sense of urgency to conserve due to the unknown time frame for the bridge repair. People began helping each other where they could. For a couple nights, Welcome Home even hosted a stranded local friend (Noemi Baeza) who had not made it across the river to her home in Zapata before the bridge closing.

On Tuesday, our Zapata friend Abraham walked across the bridge on a special dirt path to come to his job, but to cross back over on Tuesday evening, he was forced to wade across at the lowest point of the river, still thigh-deep, carrying some foods and diapers, with Steve and Jackie’s half-filled propane tank on his shoulder. Many people were wading across. Scenes of such survivalist determination amazed us each day.

We made friends with the many traileros (truckers) who walked the streets in boredom and then hunger. We watched one take diesel out of his tanks and put it into his running refrigeration unit to keep frozen his load of Baja fish. By Tuesday, as southern bridges were passable, the northbound semi trucks were double- and triple-parked throughout the town, and we hastily counted at least 120 rigs.

Road repair continued for the provisional (dirt) road through the river bed. There was no night-and-day repair as one would expect up North for this MOST important Highway in the Baja. But finally, with many people cheering and honking horns from both river sides, the crossing road was opened for Southbound traffic at 7:50 p.m. on Tuesday, January 26. We were with our northbound trailero friends when, an hour later, they were allowed to begin crossing. A beautiful scene of rejoicing, like the Exodus scene of crossing the Red Sea, and then life returned to normal, more or less, here at Welcome Home.

Update:  The Governor and other top officials made several tours of the fallen bridge, with promises for a bridge that will withstand future washouts. Constant two-way traffic now travels the precarious provisional road through the river bed. Work has been done in changing the still-flowing river’s course so as to force it through a narrow space under a recently made dirt road. The road is to divert traffic in order to begin actually work on the bridge segments themselves, now being partially used. However, in crossing the road  today (February 28) we noted the new unopened road is now in need of repair due to heavy rains yet again this past weekend.

Today our Baja sun is shining once again. The crops are nourished and the waters are receding. Yet, many families have suffered severe damage to their homes and as we’ve experienced smaller amounts of rain since the big storm, we think often of those families still in need of dry shelter. We will not soon forget the storm of 2010 that raged through this area, yet brought people together in unique ways. God is our Rock, our Shelter, our Provider! Gloria a Dios! [Editor]

Considering the pros and cons of making a short-term missions trip? Beware! Don’t plan anything until you’ve prayerfully considered these consequences of exposing yourself to cross-cultural missions.

1. It will distort your perception of the world! Seeing it through the plastic lenses of our society is sufficient. They may be distorted, but you are used to them! Don’t needlessly mess yourself up.
2. You could get sick or robbed! It’s dangerous out there! Some places have a crime rate almost as high as American cities.
3. It will make you harder to live with! The way you view life and even your likes and dislikes are likely to change. Your friends and family probably won’t understand or appreciate your sudden changes.
4. Afterwards you will feel awkward at some of the jokes and comments you currently enjoy. They will not seem as funny when you have seen life from the other side.
5. You will experience sadness you haven’t felt before. After you see real suffering, you won’t pay much attention to your complaining about how hard you’ve got it. You are even likely to feel guilty and uncomfortable about the nice things in your house and the food on your table. Stay home and stay comfortable!
6. You might lead someone to the Lord. I know that is a laudable goal, but it tends to cause excitement and further interest in Christian service.
7. You could feel a pull toward going overseas again—for the adventure, of course. The problem is that you could slowly, subtly get sucked into thinking about being a missionary!

> 7 Reasons Courtesy of David Armstrong (www.shorttermmissions.com)

One of Welcome Home’s wonderful Partner churches, First Reformed of Lansing, IL, sent a short-term missions team to work with us in Vicente Guerrero at the end of October. Long-time friends of Welcome Home, Jerry Cassity, Ken Vanderhye, John Van Drunen, and Kristen Smit, were among the twelve team members we welcomed.

In preparation for First Reformed’s week in Vicente Guerrero, we talked with team leader Jerry Cassity about the scope of their work. They wanted to build a house, as well as supply food bags for a farm workers’ camp and and other needy families. And, as always, they planned to touch base with and assist some of the medical personnel with whom they have established long-term relationships.

Welcome Home staff identified the family for which the First Reformed team would build, and relayed this information to the team leader. The house would be for a young widow named Claudia and her four children: Myra (14), Laura (11), Modesto (9), and Juan (6). Claudia was widowed six years ago, at the age of 23, just after the birth of her youngest child. She and her oldest daughter, Myra, work in the strawberry fields as much as possible, sometimes even seven days a week. The family was living with Claudia’s brother and his family of five, plus grandma, in a tiny windowless shack comprised of pallets and plastic. Claudia had made an attempt to build a shelter on her own lot in Zapata, but the pallet- and scrap-wood-structure, was without floor or roof.

Claudia’s two boys, Modesto and Juan, were enrolled in school, but she had not yet been able to pay their school fees or buy the required school uniforms. The girls, Myra and Laura, had never been to school.

The Sunday before leaving for Mexico, team leader Jerry shared with the First Reformed congregation about the family the team would be helping. Funds for the house build and other ministry projects were already in hand but, without even making a plea for more funds, Jerry walked away from church that day with another $1,100 earmarked for Claudia’s children’s educational needs!

What a great week it was! In preparation for the team’s arrival, Welcome Home staff had already poured the foundation and floor, and the corners had been laid. The team, with its seasoned block layers, came in and tore into the house. By Wednesday the walls were up and roof was begun.

Also on Wednesday, we visited with the director of the small community school where Modesto and Juan were enrolled. The director was gracious in giving us her time and answering our questions about what was needed for the boys, as well as how to enroll Laura as a first-time student.

We were thrilled to be able to take the boys and Laura shopping for uniforms, buying two sets for each child, plus two pairs of shoes, backpacks, school supplies and so on. Money was paid for the school fees and we even paid for a full year of the desayuno (special breakfast program) for each child. What fun!

On Thursday the children proudly went to school in their new uniforms. For Laura, at age 11, it was her first school day ever — imagine her joy! She and her brothers are all in the same first-level class but each will be advanced as their progress indicates.

On Friday, final touches were put on the house, and the team presented the keys to Claudia and dedicated the house with the reading of Scripture and a prayer of blessing.

Thank you, First Reformed, for your hearts of love and hands of service. You are a great blessing to the people of the San Quintin valley!

At this time of celebration, this season of giving and receiving, those of us who live and serve at Welcome Home (Casa Hogar Bienvenidos) humbly and prayerfully ask you to consider making a year-end financial contribution to this ministry.

Week in and week out, all year ’round, the staff of the Bienvenidos guardaria (daycare) receive the 50+ children who are in our care. Our staff members model and teach the love of Christ to these youngsters, and to their families, as well. The guardaria is a free service to these very needy families. But without the support of good-hearted people like you, we would not be able to keep the doors of the guardaria open.

To those of you who are faithfully supporting this ministry, WE THANK YOU! Each and every donation, no matter how large or small, is vitally important to us. May God bless you even more abundantly for your faithfulness and obedience!

But perhaps you have not yet been a financial contributor to Welcome Home. This ministry depends totally on contributions from churches and individuals for our day-to-day operations. Remember that the Bible teaches that “we are blessed to be a blessing.” As you recognize God’s abundant blessings in your life, won’t you please consider making a year-end donation to the Welcome Home ministry?

Welcome Home is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. All donations are tax deductible. Donations may be made by check to: Welcome Home Outreach, P.O. Box 1471, San Clemente, CA 92674; or via PayPal using our website.

Thank you for caring!