So What IS This Mission You Keep Talking About?

Hey everybody, it's Erin! Well, we have officially survived the Polar Vortex of 2019 with -50 degree wind chill today! This weekend will feel like summer compared to today! Aaaaaaannnnnnyway, you may or may not know that I am returning to Monterrey, Mexico in just 26 days now and I am looking to offer some babysitting services in exchange for financial support.  So, I thought I would give you a little more detail about what I will be doing in Monterrey during this visit as well as what my family will be doing this summer!

This past spring (2018), I attended three conferences for very different purposes.  The first, for children's ministry, the second, for worship ministry, and the third, for my Young Living convention.  At the worship conference, I started to feel some sort of tug on my heart that God was putting missions back on my heart.  But I didn't really think too much about it at the time because that wasn't the reason I was attending the conference.  Well.....the very next month, I traveled to Utah for the Young Living convention.  Since most of us that were there attended because we're interested in business, there was a session on goals.  Specifically, what's one BIG thing that you will accomplish before returning to Utah next June?

Immediately, I felt that tug again but this time, I got a much clearer vision of this being a family venture. Fast forward to November, I was blessed with the opportunity to reconnect with some people in Monterrey that I had met when I first visited in 2007.  I felt so loved and welcomed in just those few days and left there feeling like God was not done with me in this way yet.  So I planned my return without knowing many details at all.

Part of our group to Monterrey in 2007

Parque Fundidora 2018

But the one detail that I knew is that I wanted to go back to Refugio 121 Casa Hogar which is the children's home housed inside the old mission connected to a local church where our groups used to serve each year during spring break.  These boys are so sweet and just regular ol' kids who love to have fun! When I was there in November, the boys were so eager to ask me a bunch of questions about English and the U.S. and whether I knew the President! My Spanish was not very good and it was hard to communicate with them so I told them I would work on it so that it would be better when I came back! (So, please help me with that, friends! LOL)

In 26 days, I am returning to teach the boys a couple of worship songs in both Spanish and English for them to sing at their church on the Sunday that I am there. I will be teaching them the songs, playing piano, singing with them and giving them cues, so please pray that I can do all of those things and have a bit of fun with them! We will also play some large group games, pulling from my children's ministry experience, which I hope will be fun for them (and me - I mean, I AM just a big kid really!)

Friday night, we will host a fundraising pasta dinner to support the children's home.  They are currently trying to raise money so that they can remodel their dorms in order to accommodate girls into the children's home as well as the boys.  So any of the proceeds from this fundraising dinner will go towards their project.  I am seeking prayer and financial support to help me provide the food for the dinner.  Since I can't pack all of the food in my suitcase :-D, I will be going to Sam's Club in Monterrey to get all the food supplies and then a small team of volunteers will make and serve the food to anyone who attends the dinner.  

"How can I help?"

*If you need babysitting anytime in February, please call me! Accepting donations of any size!
*Pray for my travels, the dinner, support for the children's home, and the people I will get to serve with that God will continue to use them to love on these kids for His purpose.
*I am also looking for suggestions for small treat/fun type items that I can bring with me that would be loved by a boy aged 7-14, so give me your best ideas!
*You are also able to give financially through venmo/paypal or by check. 

Any financial support given will go to purchasing supplies for the dinner and anything leftover will go to the start of our fundraising efforts for our family's trip back to Monterrey this summer.  More on that trip as more details become available, so stay tuned for that and feel free to message me or comment here with any questions you have about this post!