Mission Groups and Visitors

We are happy that more groups are learning about the ministry of Casa MAMi and want to visit. In a recent trip, Bruce & Martha Jamison measured the rooms of the second floor and prepared floor plans. Bruce is not an ARCHITECT, but evidently he is not only musically talented, but not too bad at the fine arts either!!
We are excited to be able to offer measurements and drawings of all of the upstair rooms. Now, we can turn a room over to a mission group with lists of needs and your team can plan to provide as God leads and enables you! With regard to travelling across the border, Sister Elma has in the past taken care of paper work in advance, to make the delivery of special items rather smooth and easy.

When you visit this link, look at the bottom right hand corner and select DAY 2. This shows the visit by Christ United Methodist Church Sugarland, TX to bring a dental clinic to Casa MAMi. Also, this link gives additional pictures of their trip. They took some wonderful pictures that are very helpful for anyone who is not familiar with Reynosa. Another recent visitor to Casa MAMi was Cherry from Michigan. She was there last Spring and was also happy to find the home much cleaner, better mangaged, and the girls at peace and happy. She asked Sister Elma if she could take them to Burger King! The girls were so excited to get 'dressed up' for an outing!

Cherry brought two ceiling fans to donate for the dining room! GRACIAS!! They are not as available for purchase on the MX side of the border. Sister Elma doesn't want any in the bedrooms where there are bunk beds, but she very much appreciated these... as did everyone! A friend of Casa MAMi for many years, Linda Parker of New Way Missions in Florida, is making a trip this month to visit. Once a friend, always a friend in the Lord of Sister Elma and the residents of Casa MAMi!
When Bruce (Brother Bruce from Houston) learned in July that Fernanda was playing the recorder so beautifully, he carried along his flute to show it to her in Oct. She was excited! Then, he found ten more recorders for sale on EBAY, bought them for the girls, and Sister Elma is very excited, hoping that they can learn to play something for Christmas!! As you may have wondered, they were sharing two recorders among several girls, and now will have their own to play!THE LORD LEADS IN WONDERFUL AND CREATIVE WAYS THAT OFTEN MAKE US LAUGH BUT ALWAYS BRING US JOY! I actually have a quicktime file of Fernanda playing "Ode to Joy" that I will post when I figure out how to do that!

Speaking of our talented girls (doesn't it just bless you to hear about their successes and opportunities!?) The art contest that HSBC Mexico sponsored among casa hogares (homes for children throughout the country) honored a WINNER from Casa MAMi!! Erika won a trip for two to Mexico City. (I am not sure how this will work?!) Her piece is one of the five designs featured in the Christmas card packs (10 cards for $10).

It is our hope that as you plan a visit, you may contact us and we can answer as many questions as possible!! We appreciate your support and love for the families who are helped by Casa MAMi MX.
Also, there are rooms on the first floor in need of help! For example, all of the equipment in the kitchen has been donated and we are 'making do'. As the number of residents grows, this approach is less than optimum. For example, this red stove is used for counter space and storage. It does not operate! All cooking is accomplished on two griddles. The freezers are used for counter space and do work. Redesiging and re-equiping the kitchen would be a wonderful project!

Regarding the financing of the second floor. Donors are coming forward, Praise the Lord! Given that there was a fire in the laundry room, board members recommended to Sister Elma that there be two stair cases for the second floor. This will, of course, increase the cost considerably, since cement and block is the preferred material. The first floor laundry room will have one washer and one dryer. The second floor laundry room, we hope, will have three washers and three dryers. We are preparing a list of capital needs and hope to publish that soon. Thank you for your prayers!! Let us know if we can send you some Christmas cards! God bless you! WISH LIST TODAY: WE NEED A VAN FOR 15 PEOPLE!