Library Update

Last year I shared about the library that was being built at Del Norte. Well this year I am excited to be able to show you pictures of the finished product!

Del Norte has a library!! And it sure looks great...

To read my first post introducing the library, click here (and scroll down).

Adios Amigos!

Jess

Fun at Del Norte

Such precious kiddos!

Hope Program

"As you may know, the mission of Back2Back is to provide "Care for Today and Hope for Tomorrow" to the abandoned and neglected children of Monterrey, Mexico. As I write this blog, I hope to give you tastes of what that looks like in our day-to-day activities. Everyday is different depending on the needs of the various homes that we work with. However, one thing that remains constant is that we have about 40 teens that live on our campus.

These teens grew up in the homes that we work with, but at age 15 they can no longer live in the homes. Due to this, many of the teens are back out on the streets and end up in the black market or prostitution because they believe that they have no other options. In order to put a stop to this cycle and provide hope for these young students, B2B started the Hope Program. When the students turn 15 they are invited to come and live on our campus in one of the teen homes with house parents.

While they are here, B2B pays for them to complete high school and go to college to prusue the degree of their choice. They are given hope through education and opportunities for success, but more importantly, our constant prayer is that we are able to show them a greater hope. A hope that does not depend on circumstance, education or opportunity. A hope that is only found in Christ. It breaks my heart to think of the lives that many of these students have lived. They have suffered through constant abandonment, abuse, neglect, lonliness... and many more things that I cannot even imagine. Yet we know that we serve a God who can bring healing, redemption, identity and hope."

Except from Blog Post on Feb. 1, 2010.

Here is a photo of all the teens who are currently living on campus. What a great looking group! As my Spanish improves I am getting to know them more and it is so much fun to see each of their unique personalities. They are all so talented and have so much potential. I pray that God will use this time in their lives to prepare them for the amazing things that he has in store for each of their futures. Please pray that they will continue to grow and mature into the young men and women that God desires for them to be.

With Joy,

Jessica

Cookie Time!

Today was just a half day of school, so in the afternoon we had the youngest dorm of girls from Casa Hogar Douglas (CHD) over for a cookie making extravaganza!

Rolling pin... check! Cookie cutters... check!

Sprinkles... check! Decorations... check!

Sweet girls to make cookies... check!

Let the fun begin!

Here I am (below) helping sisters Wendy and Lydia cut out some cookie shapes. I have a special spot in my heart for Lydia (on the right) and I have been really trying to pour into her whenever I can.

Doing some painting while we wait for the cookies to bake...

Time to decorate!!

And finally... Enjoy!

Lydia is licking her fingers clean from all the frosting! I'd say that the cookie making was a success!

What a delicious and fun afternoon! I hope the girls had a fun time and felt extremely loved. Pray for these girls, that as they lay in their beds tonight they will feel joy and fall asleep with smiles on their beautiful little faces.

Joyfully,

Jessica

A Weekend Away

For Fall Break, Ruby and I had the opportunity to visit the newest site of Back2Back... Cancun! The Cooper family moved there earlier this year to establish relationships with the numerous children's homes in that area. There is a huge need in Cancun and it is our prayer that B2B will be able to partner with the homes and help provide care, education and hope for so many precious kids.

Speaking of precious kiddos, one of the highlights of my trip was getting to spend time with the Copper kids! They are greatly missed at SMCA and I loved being able to spend time with them again!

Ruby and I picking the kids up from School.

While we were there we spent time in 3 different children's homes. The B2B staff here is just beginning to develop relationships with the caregivers and the children. It was such a blessing to get to be a part of it and see the ways that God is opening doors for B2B to love on these kids.

Here are some pictures of the three different homes. Our role at each home was different depending on the various needs of the home. For instance, at the DIF home we were invited to organize games for the kids! When we first arrived, the kids seemed a bit timid and shy, but before long they were all laughing and engrossed in the games. Most of these kids have very tough backgrounds and heartbreaking stories of how they ended up in the home, so it was so wonderful to see them forget their troubles for an afternoon and just be able to play games and be kids!

The next home that we went to was a smaller home and we spent the morning working on homework with the younger kids and then coloring. It was such a relaxing time and so great to be able to give the kids 1-on-1 attention.

The third home that we went to is the smallest one that B2B is currently working with. When we arrived most of the kids were at school, but the living room was piled high with clean laundry that needed to be folded, so we set to work. An hour later we had neatly folded laundry and a caregiver who got a small break from all that folding.

A few of our piles... I do love clean laundry!

Look at those sweet eyes! So beautiful!

I sure loved seeing the ministry of the Cancun staff! While we spent we also left some time for a bit of exploring! One evening after we picked the kids up from school we all piled into the car and drove out into the jungle to a Cenote, which is a sink hole that opens up into underground caves to go swimming in!

Here are the stairs that we took down into the cave.

At different points the caves would open up to another cenote and yo

u could climb out and cliff jump back into the water. Very cool!

The whole group after a fun evening of swimming around in caves!

On the last day we all piled in the car once again and drove down to the Mayan Rivera! While I loved seeing the ministry in Cancun, I thought it would be a shame to miss out on a beach while I was there! :) So after living in Mexico for 1 1/2 years, I finally made it to a beach, and let me tell you, it was well worth the wait!

Look at how clear the water is!

Some snaps of the Cooper kids! I know I've already said this once, but I do miss them terribly!

What a view!

So there is our trip to Cancun... believe it or not we were only there for 3 days! I loved seeing the ministry, reconnecting with the Coopers, and of course relaxing at the beach! It sure is a good thing that there is no beach in Monterrey, because I would never get any work done! :)

Happy Thursday!

Jessica

ps- if you would like to read more about the ministry that Matt and Julie are doing in Cancun, check out their blog!

Praying for Mexico

The other weekend, 8 teens from our campus, and 4 staff (including Ruby and myself) went downtown for a prayer rally in the heart of the city. The purpose of the night was to lift up the city of Monterrey, the state of Nuevo Leon and the entire country of Mexico in prayer. It was such a powerful time of prayer and a huge encouragement to see believers from all over the city coming together without fear. When we arrived downtown I did know what to expect, but I was amazed to see over 25,000 people come out to pray! The governor was on stage, along with many other important political officials, and all of them received prayer. It was incredible to see the leaders of the city up on stage with their faces on the ground praising and crying out to God.

Please continue to pray for Mexico. Pray that Mexico's leaders will have wisdom and that God will protect the people from any violence that may try to rise up. I praise God for the unity that comes through prayer and that for one night in the city, 25,000 believers where united as their prayers echoed throughout the city and rose to the Heavens.