28June2009
Posted by Chad under: Chad's.
Hello Everyone,
I just wanted to write a quick note to let the families of the Team from WA know that we all arrived here at Vida Nueva safely. We got in to the house here at about mid-night after what seemed a very long ride from Laredo.
We were very blessed when Alise called and invited us to stop by the Ranch San Francisco where Lourdes and her family were celebrating Sandy’s 15th Birthday. Lourdes had cooked meat and prepared Gringas for the entire team. Gringas are this great taco made with a flavored pork and cheese. It is one of my favorite Mexican foods. So at 11PM we stopped at the ranch and had a late dinner. It was fantastic.
Everyone slept in today; most getting up around 10AM. The are doing there personal devotions right now, then we are going to go to the Tank (pictured in the heading of the website) and then get ready for the special night tonight.
Tonight the church is having baptisms. This is going to be very special. We have almost half of our kids signed up to be baptized tonight. We are very excited especially since many of these kids come from very Catholic homes. This will be a very big event in their lives. Please pray for them and for us. Hopefully we will be able to put some pictures on line early this week.
Chad & Alise
26June2009
Posted by Chad under: Chad's.
Hey Everyone,
I pray that this note finds you doing well. As you can imagine things are quite busy for us at the moment with teams coming and going, the school year wrapping up, and Alise and I preparing to head back to the states for the next 4-5 weeks.
I want to thank you all for your prayers and encouragement though-out Juan’s sickness and passing. It was such a difficult time for the family and knowing that there were many people praying for them lifting their needs before the Lord was a powerful thing. The family is recovering well, praise God, and things are getting back to normal. We as a ministry spent close to $2500 USD to provide for the funeral expenses and many other family needs during the past 2 months. If you feel called to give towards that it would be greatly appreciated.
Last week the entire family took the week off and stayed together in San Francisco (the small ranch/town they live in). This week they all returned to work and the kids to school and we have been very happy to have them back. Of course there are still the moments when they are quiet and more pensive than they used to be, but all in all they are doing great. Yesterday, Glenda, Juan’s youngest child, graduated from HS. It was a difficult time, but we are very proud of her. I have included some pictures below. Please continue to lift them up in Prayer.
Wednesday a small team arrived from a church in Texas. It has been a lot of fun with them. Yesterday they hosted all of the kids and staff at the house to a new local water park. It was fun despite the cooler and rainier day than usual here. One of the ladies, named Mary, is a trained hair stylist. Last night she cut almost every girl in the house’s hair. Today most of the boys got their hair cut.
Tomorrow we pick up the 16 person team from Seattle. It will begin a crazy, fun-filled week. One of the highlights will be the baptism that we will attend this coming Sunday Night. Almost half of the kids signed up for baptism when our church here offered it. It will be a wonderful time with a worship service followed by the baptism and then a party with the church at Vida Nueva afterwards. We are very excited.
When we gave the invitation for baptism we walked through a quick course about what it is and what statement it makes. The kids listened and asked questions, I believe that the ones that are being baptized completely understand what it says. Being that many are from Catholic homes, this could be difficult for some of them and their families. Please pray for them.
Finally, Alise had her second Ultrasound here in Mexico this last week. We were very excited to have an ultrasound picture that shows the face and even the limbs of our growing child. The baby is due Jan 11, and we are excited. With that said, our hearts were again pricked this week when a pregnant woman came to the house asking us to adopt her future baby. She asked if we knew anyone who wanted a baby and were willing to help her through out her pregnancy.
What a world when people will approach total strangers and ask them to take their children. Praise God for His love evident in our lives that would make such things possible. At this time we have no way to help this woman. She is probably the 3rd or 4th woman to ask for this since we moved here last June.
God Bless! We look forward to seeing many of you over then next 5-6 weeks. Thank you for all that you do. - Chad & Alise
 |
|
 |
| Glenda Herrera |
|
Glenda & Lourdes (Her mother) |
 |
|
 |
| Karina, Glenda, and Lourdes |
|
Glenda & Alise |
 |
|
 |
| Glenda receiving her diploma |
|
Our baby :) Isn’t he/she cute!!!! |
14June2009
Posted by Chad under: Chad's.
Hey Everyone,
I just wanted to let you all know that last night around 2AM Juan Manuel passed away. It has been a very difficult time for the family. Please be praying for Lourdes (Juan’s wife), and of course the rest of his family. We and the kids here at Vida Nueva will be attending the funeral at 10AM Monday morning.
I will write more in the next few days. Thank for your prayers, please continue praying!
God Bless! - Chad & Alise
10June2009
Posted by Chad under: Chad's.
Hey Everybody,
I pray all is well for you and your families. For the past several weeks we have been operating in a constant state of extreme flexibility. With Juan’s sickness, a new boy in the house, a construction project and normal life we are paddling hard to keep up.
Ok first update on Juan. They finally were able to diagnose the infection. He has Fournier Gangrene. It is the definition of “flesh eating” disease. It is a terrible bacteria that can kill healthy tissue at a very rapid rate, and is very difficult to stop. There is lots you can read online about it and very little is encouraging. The good part is we now know what he has. The bad part is that the Social Security Hospitals here in Mexico are terrible.
Last Friday the Doctor here in Parras decided to send Juan to the “bigger, nicer” specialists hospital in Torreon. Torreon is a very large city about 1 1/2 hours west of us. He arrived there on Sat and by Sunday afternoon the Torreon Doctors were saying that he would be in Torreon for a very long time to recover from this. Sunday and Monday we were working with his family to set up some sort of long-term solution for them to stay in Torreon, rather than having to make daily trips to and from Torreon.
Monday afternoon the Doctors changed their minds and said that they had done all that they could and that they could send him back to Parras and they could send all of the test results. This was both good and bad news. First they said it was a good thing that Juan would be able to recover and that the Doctor’s in Parras would now be equipped with the right treatment. Then it became more clear that the reason was more along the lines of, “we don’t know how to treat this, it is better for him to be closer to his family and friends.”
Juan wanted to be back in Parras! So Monday they said that Juan would come in an Ambulance that night. Then they said that the Ambulance was needed for an emergency transport so we needed to bring a car to transport Juan. So we prepared to drive over to get him. Then the Doctor said he could only leave in an ambulance. So yesterday we talked to the Ambulance here in Parras and they assured us that he would be leaving in the afternoon around 5 to return to Parras.
At around 4:30 we talked to the driver of the Parras Ambulance in Torreon and he had direction to pick up two people neither of them was Juan. So after much frustration and seemingly no one with authority to talk to. We called the Red Cross and rented their ambulance to bring Juan back to Parras. It cost just over $150 USD, and was well worth it.
Juan is back here in Parras and very happy to be here. The entire last 5 days has been a huge waste of time and effort. Juan is no better, and still is not eating. Slowly he is getting worse and at this point seems far from any type of improvement. Please pray for his healing, his patience, and his ability to rest. Pray for his family that they will be able to enjoy this time with Juan, and that there will not be resentment and frustration at the ridiculous medical care.
As far as the house is concerned, things are crazy. With Lourdes (our cook and Juan’s wife) and Karina (our Director and Juan’s Daughter) being overwhelmed with caring for Juan, much more responsibility has fallen on Alise and I’s shoulders. We have a woman helping with the cooking, and some of the older kids have really stepped in to help with the younger kids.
We have accepted a new 16 year old boy. His name is Axel Emmanuel and he is over 6 ft tall. He seems to be fitting in very well. He is a very good student and we are glad that he is with us.
Finally we started doing a small work project this week. Plastering the outside of the boys bedroom. The concrete block needed to be covered because it was starting to become brittle. But as always little projects often become big projects. We had to borrow scaffolding, and already have mixed two large batches of concrete. It has made a busy week that much crazier.
Please keep us in your prayers. We have 4 weeks left with the kids here before they leave for their summer school break. God Bless!
PS Alise had an ultrasound and we are the proud parents of what looks like a fish 
- Chad & Alise
