God's Awesome Surprises!!

It has been a very blessed beginning to the New Year. God is awesome! We have received donations left and right on behalf of Hocaba from friends and family this past 2010 Christmas! I’ll start at the beginning and catch you up.

The week before we headed home for Christmas break, we had a Christmas party in Hocaba! It was a huge success! There were over 40 kids and about 20 adults at the celebration! We had clowns, free food, and lots of game stations! There were lots of new faces and familiar faces alike! Erick delivered the Christmas message and then fun was had by all!

Now, for the background of the amazing blessing God poured out this Christmas: When Kari and I we’re getting ready to go to Mexico we sought to raise money for the adventure God was taking us one. We raised enough for plane tickets to and from and a little extra for health insurance. Our first Christmas I talked to my church, St. John Dublin, and filled them on what Kari and I have been doing in Mexico and again raised support for us personally. Kari’s church, Hilliard United Methodist, raised support for us there which was a blessing.

This past summer is when the blessings started to pour out. After we agreed to stay in Mexico for a second year Richard and Cheryl, Kari’s parents, decided to start supporting us financially and this again…has been a huge blessing. On top of that Kari’s friend Brittany, who had visited us last year, blessed Hocaba enough money to all but finish the palapa that was in dire need to be rebuilt.

Here is the where Hocaba is currently at. On the grounds there is currently a back building built with sticks concrete and tar paper. That building is a storage place for the on going construction at the church. There is concrete building that Kari recently painted with missionaries from Michigan. Then a new paplapa with a grass roof (thank you Brittany).
Next to the palapa stands a half built church, a project that has been in progress for many years. For the money coming in, that is where it is going. The other big project for the Hocaba church is a water purification plant.

The goal with each of the several missions of Calvary Chapel Merida is to make each of their mission churches self sustaining. One mission has a tortilla maker, Hocaba is going to be able to pull water from an underground river system, purify it, bottle it, and sell it within Hocaba. For now, this is on the back burner until the church gets built.

In the fall, Kari’s sister Laura and her husband Matt visited!! After Matt’s family saw the pictures and heard the stories of Hocaba, God moved them (the Todts) to donate generously to the mission in Hocaba!

When we returned after vacation we were very excited about what God was doing in Hocaba. Between summer and Christmas 2010 several things happened. Kari’s church’s youth group is coming down to Mexico in June to do a VBS/mission trip down here and focus on Hocaba. We are both very excited about that, for them to come down and work…but also for the opportunity to be on the receiving side of a mission trip and be able to plan the trip. Collectively Kari and I have been a part of about 20 mission trips, many of which inspired us to go abroad, we’re excited to pass that along! Also my aunt Laurie offered Hocaba as the destination of the funds raised at their Advent Night event. She gave a presentation to her church which included a Hocaba video that Kari and I made as well a speech about the vision of Hocaba. The result of the Advent Night was a huge blessing to Kari and me and to Hocaba.

Before we went home for Christmas 2010 we started to notice a pattern. People were catching the vision of Hocaba and the work that God is doing there. Each person that came was making a huge impact in that small mayan village. Needless to say Kari and I were stoked when people started to bless Hocaba in that capacity, little did we know these donations were just priming the pump for the blessings that would come during Christmas break. From summer 2010 to Christmas we raised $4,100 to go directly to Hocaba. Over Christmas break we received donations from the following awesome people; Richard and Cheryl, Mary Jo, Katie Wittwer, Britney Lambert, Laura and Matt, the Kirkpatricks, the Streges, King of Kings Lutheran church, and the Armstrongs. Thank you so much!

Also over Christmas break I was contacted by Susan Jacoby, leader of the Sunday school at St. John. We talked about where the tithes that were gathered in Sunday school could go within Hocaba. We are going to put them toward new tables and chairs for the preschool.

Needless to say God has blessed the people that have chosen to give to Hocaba, he has blessed Kari and me to be apart of Hocaba and finally the church of Hocaba! Thank you to each and every one of you. Thank you.

To date, all the money that has been given to us directly and through Go Ministries between spring 2010 till now has gone directly to Hocaba. The palapa has been finished. That includes the materials and also the manual labor to do it. The church building, which includes the concrete for the floor, blocks for the walls, concrete for the supports, roof beams, blocks for the roof, concrete for the roof, water proofing the walls and roof, windows, doors, and electricity will be nearly completed with the money that has already been given by you! Thank you!

Future projects include finishing the construction of the church and to finish the water purification plant.

There is still a big need in Hocaba and everyone can help. Please pray for the people in Hocaba and its continued growth. Keep praying for Kari and me as we continue our journey of faith. Thank you!

We have been blessed with God’s rich mercy and grace! Thank you for blessing others with what God has given you!!!!