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. When I write for this blog, I hope to give you tastes of what that looks like in our day-to-day activities. Every day 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 forty teens that live on our campus.
These teens grew up in the children’s homes that we work with, but at age fifteen 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, Back2Back started the Hope Program. When the students turn fifteen they are invited to come and live on our campus in one of the teen homes with house parents.
While they are here, Back2Back pays for them to complete high school and go to college to pursue 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, loneliness… 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.
A few weekends ago, we took the teens to a youth conference of 400 students from all over Monterrey at one of the churches in the area. The theme of the event was “Alza el Vuelo”, which means “Take Flight”. It was a powerful weekend of worship and speaking. It also opened a lot of doors for great conversations with some of our teens who are really seeking right now. But the thing I am most excited to share is that one of the teens accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior!! Praise the Lord!!! My heart fills with such excitement as I see the things that God is doing on our campus. He is pursing the young people who most of the world had written off and cast aside. Yet he is pursing them, capturing their hearts and preparing them for mighty things in the future! What a loving God he is! He will not give up on them, and we must not either. Please pray for each precious teen on our campus. That each one will come to know Christ and experience joy, peace and hope!
Read more about the event from Back2Back staff member Hope Maglich here.
A few Back2Back staff members with some of the girls at the conference
One of the ministries that our ministry tries to support is Gidan Bege. It is basically a ministry that teaches and trains widows how to sew. They undergo a year of discipleship that teaches them the Word and trains them and gives them and their children a place to stay. After that year, they are given the gift of a sewing machine and encouraged to go back to their village to start their own shop. It is amazing what these women can do. Now, realize this is coming from a woman who can BARELY sew on a button. But, we all play our part in the bigger picture.
We take short-term mission groups to Gidan Bege when they arrive to buy skirts, aprons, purses and bags, journals, etc… And they also make whatever you want if you come in with an idea. These ladies have personally made all of our curtains in our home and our throw pillows and whatever Nigerian clothes we have, they have made. We are blessed by their friendship, as well as their giftings and talents.
The pictures are of their working area (you will notice nothing is done with power), the shop where they sell their items, and their “office” where they store extra material and items that are ready for pick up. One thing that I find interesting is that the location where they are currently living, in the past, was once a brothel. How cool is that this ministry bought it and has now redeemed what was once used as evil and is now being used for good. I love the idea that God can even redeem land. I look forward to when you come visit us, that you too, can buy something in this little shop.
The Flying Pig Marathon is a city-wide race held annually in Cincinnati, Ohio. This year, the race is scheduled for May 2, 2010 at 6:30 a.m. and this year, for the first time ever, Back2Back Ministries is organizing a team of runners to raise funds for the needs in our three ministry sites by asking people to sponsor, or “adopt” a runner! To date, the team consists of Todd & Beth Guckenberger, Matt & Julie Cooper, Tim Couch, Kurt Kersey, and Antonio Garcia Espinosa. Click here to find out how to join the team and become a Back2Back Pig! Not a runner? Sign-up to sponsor a runner here.
A bus of American high schoolers pulls up to a church in one the darkest most impoverished neighborhoods of Monterrey, Mexico. Boys playing fútbol pause, well-worked women drop their conversation to observe, and little girls holding hands skip to find new friends. But beyond the many people standing all around us-some with shy smiles, others with hard stares- are shacks built from boxes. Packaging material for various foods I eat on a regular basis is the shelter that these people call home. We huddle into the sunlight, our knees shaking beneath our many layers of clothes, and see children dressed in well-used jackets and pants filled with holes. They are the very people behind the statistics I have heard for so many years. The poorest of the poor. Here was my chance to answer the call I had felt God so firmly press on my heart- a chance to spread his love to those society does not love, to bring freedom to those in bondage, and to feed the hungry and clothe the needy.
With some of my new friends in Mexico
After handing out hamburgers in a church packed with babies, children, older sisters, mothers, and grandmothers, and trying to use my limited Spanish to create an instant relationship with several of them, I was feeling a little awkward and extremely inadequate. Just then, a little girl, who I hadn’t seen yet, came and grabbed my hand. She said a few things really fast and then led me outside. She took me down, into an unfinished/barely started cinderblock building. I asked her what the building was and she said “una casa.” I asked whose house it was and she replied “No se.” For anyone reading this who doesn’t speak Spanish, this means “I don’t know.” Although this was a little unsettling, she seemed sure of herself, so I continued to follow her up onto the roof, which was lined with re-bar, and completely empty, other than an old wooden bench. She led me to it, and I took out a pack of UNO cards- which ended up being the most valuable thing I packed. Kids kept coming as I taught her how to play it, circles of kids around us, just watching, and hoping to get in on the game.
Later, I found out that this building was the new addition the church was building, with the help of organizations like Back2Back. The vision of the pastor and the dozens of women who volunteer at the church is amazing. They truly understand how God intended that the church should function- as a light in a dark world. Our decision to follow Christ is not a selfish one. It has great implications for us and our lives, but it takes a great deal of sacrifice. We must count the cost of being His disciple before we follow Him, because we can’t have an amazing relationship with Him if we continue to live our life as we wish. We have to surrender our own agenda, and pick up the lifestyle of the kingdom. We are the church. We should be living for God and others- feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, caring for the sick- bringing the riches of our compassionate God to the ones He longs to hold, talk to, and provide for. The pastor who planted this church in the Rio could have easily planted a church in a nice neighborhood, with an economically stable congregation, and a nice thick tithe. But he didn’t, he laid down all worldly desires in order to follow His whispers, and meet God where He has always been, and come along side Him in the workings and desires of His heart.
During the Christmas holidays this year, we had the opportunity to take a few of the Hope Program teens to the United States. We thought it would give them great insight on what it’s like to live in a foreign country with a foreign language surrounding you at all times. It put a face to the Hope Program for some of our supporters. What a great way to merge two cultures.
Ruby loaded up Jazmin and Evelyn for a long day of travel. We took two buses, two flights, and a car ride to finally arrive in Indiana. We were greeted with snow to the girls delight.
Our two weeks were filled with the girls meeting people, eating in restaurants, shopping, being cold, and visiting Chicago – all of which were new experiences. It gave us a chance to deepen our relationship and for them to see what life is like in the United States. They got to spend time with their previous house parents, Bill and Heather Merrill, who they still have a relationship with, and one of the highlights was a day in Chicago that the Merrills blessed us with. We stayed in a 5–star hotel and felt like queens for the day.
Tim and Kathy sent Antonio to visit a supporter in Austin, Texas. He experienced his first border crossing and a bus ride in the US, alone, and lived to tell about it. A few days later, we loaded up Cheko and headed to Austin to pick up Antonio and then on to Oklahoma. The young men who had never seen snow before were able to experience a blizzard on Christmas Eve. During the week, they encountered lots of opportunities to push people out of the snow and to shovel driveways. They even built a snowman and their comment was, “It’s a lot harder than it looks!”
When you grow up in a childrens’ home all your life, you are constantly surrounded by people. One thing we noticed on this trip was that being in a completely different environment, their personalities were able to shine through and we saw a side of them we had never seen before. You could see on their faces that they felt loved, valued, and important.
I love the complexity of God. I may have charged into the city of Monterrey with great passion for changing the lives of orphans but I keep seeing God doing His work on me as well! Right now it’s grammar lessons.
I am always fascinated with the word love. We love to be “in love”, to feel loved, even feel love for another but that’s just one sense of the word. I am fascinated at our preoccupation with love as a noun. It’s this wonderful, sometimes elusive thing we are constantly seeking. But what about when love is a verb? What about when it’s all about our actions and not our feelings? What about when loving someone hurts? But we do it anyways but God calls us to love. While I am sure He would be pleased if it felt good to us I believe He calls us to action with love. He wants us to pour it out on others and pour it out and pour it out and our it out. Regardless of how it feels.
God has called me to a complexity of love. Parenting is love. It about actions for sure but often we can carry those out because we FEEL so much love for our children. We fall in love with them often early & fast and that fuels our ability to love in action. We serve & sacrifice because we feel love for them. We tolerate a complete loss of control of our personal time, TV choices, dining choices, even sleeping arrangements in order to love/serve/parent our kiddos. It’s hard but our feelings for them keep us going.
So this I am experiencing this new level of love with my foster sons. I do feel love for them for sure but it’s not the same. We haven’t bonded the same as my little ones. They aren’t always wiling and open to be loved unlike my little ones. They come with other family attachments that can make it hard for them to figure out where we, their house parents, fit for them emotionally. So it’s this new level of love for me. I get a lot less back emotionally from my sons. So I have to dig deeper into Jesus and into that sense of unconditional love … action love. Sometimes I don’t want to love them like they are mine. I want to guard my heart. They can be hurtful at times. I could lose one of them at any moment (should they decide to leave the program etc.) It’s so hard to love them with as much of me as I can when it doesn’t feel the same. It doesn’t always come back to me. This is where I am learning to lean in more to Jesus for His strength to LOVE (verb) them the best I can.
Now we are fostering a toddler son as well. And I find this grammar lesson digging to new depths. Again I want to guard my heart. I don’t want to “fall in love” with him, to bond too deeply because I can only imagine how much it will hurt when he leaves. But he needs it. He needs my love in action. So I am learning to lean in, to press harder into Jesus for the strength I need to love. Learning how to rely on Jesus to give me what I need to love this boy like he is mine, to love with all I’ve got…because that’s what God wants for Him. That’s a way God will show himself to this sweet boy. And for me it’s a hard but important grammar lesson. Isn’t God a God of action? Doesn’t His immense love for us play out with His son dying on a cross? If that isn’t love in action, I don’t know what is.
This past week I had a conversation that entirely blessed me. Lalo is a pastor and the director of a children’s home we work with called Imperio de Amor (IDA). I was at IDA with a group of Americans playing with the near fifty kids who were at the home that day. In the midst of the play I got a moment to talk to Lalo and to hear some of his story. IDA got a call and is expecting to receive five more kids within the next two weeks. Already IDA has an average of eighty kids. I couldn’t even imagine the weight of responsibility Lalo must feel for these kids. I asked him how he was doing and if he ever felt the pressure or burden of caring for so many hurting children. He said that the only time it really becomes hard is when there is not enough food nor money to pay bills. Then, he said, he feels the pressure. Lalo continued to tell me about a time he felt that pressure in the first few months that he started IDA and the amazing way the Lord came through for them. This is his story:
“Two years ago, when IDA was just a few months old, we ran into a bit of a crisis. There was one day when the money just ran out. The kids were hungry and asking me for food but there was none to give them. We had already borrowed $2000.00 pesos to pay bills and more bills were due. I was scared and not sure where the money or food was going to come from. I prayed and prayed. ‘This isn’t the character of God to abandon His children’, I thought to myself. That night I went to sleep praying and troubled. During the night I had a dream. In my dream I saw a Back2Back staff member come to the kitchen in the casa hogar (children’s home) with a carpenter. He said that the carpenter was there to fix something in the kitchen. I watched as the men went into the kitchen to work. Slowly the carpenter turned and I saw His face… it was Jesus! I woke up and went to the kitchen in the morning to see if there was food. There was none there. Just then one of the boys ran in saying “Hermano! hermano! There is a man out on the road with a truck full of bread and milk.” I went outside to find this to be true. This man had no idea we were in need of food and he was there to provide breakfast for the children. Later that day an American man came to visit the children’s home. He brought with him a gift of $700.00 dollars! Enough to pay our debts, the bills, and to buy more food! God was so faithful to provide for his children.”
I was in amazement of our wonderful Savior as I heard this story! I asked Lalo if the kids at the home knew this story. He said that they all knew it! He wants the Children to know how their Father in Heaven takes care of them on a personal level! He shares with them every time God provides.
I love that our God loves these children so much more than we ever could. He provides for them even when we can’t. Jesus is the one who is watching out for them, loving them, feeding them… thank you Jesus for your mercy! Thank you, Lord, for surrounding these kids with caretakers who love you and reflect your presence. Thank you for being our good Abba Father…
Cincinnati’s Kelley Financial Group, a network office of Northwestern Mutual, is the recipient of the Northwestern Mutual Foundation 2010 Community Impact Award for their ongoing support of Back2Back Ministries (B2B). Northwestern’s employees and clients have funded and built a teen home on our campus for the Hope Education Program students. The $50,000 award was given to Back2Back to use toward scholarships and educational expenses of the Back2Back Hope Program students. Thank you to Northwestern Mutual for your continued commitment to joining with Back2Back Ministries by providing “care for today and hope for tomorrow” to children in need.
We continue to receive lots of emails of people praying for us, the community and the city. Thank you so much. We are confident that they are being heard. Things have quieted down tremendously and we are learning that as quickly as conflict rises, it settles just as fast. Yesterday as the curfew was lifted to a half day, our family walked in our neighborhood to our director’s home and everyone was out in the street, greeting each other and smiling and glad to be out again. There was a strange feeling of community within our own little area. We knew we were all coming out of the conflict okay and no harm was done. People were genuinely kind and spirited.
I am aware that even though that is what we are experiencing that is not what the greater Jos area is experiencing. Although the streets may be quiet, people are scrambling looking for their loved ones. Their minds are trying to figure out why again did this happen. Families are trying to piece together damage that may have been done to their area. Hearts are concerned for where do we go from here. Some families have been displaced from their homes, experienced injury and in a few instances, even faced loss of life. It is at this point, that the real work begins. This is the time for ministry. We have already heard of people coming to hand out blankets, water, mats and food. We don’t want to miss out! We have been hearing from the sites we serve, that as far as people know, no one has been harmed. We praise God for that alone! Continue to pray with us for wisdom and discernment and how best to use our time and resources. The need is great and there is work to be done.
The pictures posted are of some of the common scenes that we are seeing within a mile of our home. The one of the armed forced gentleman is Mr. Fire. We talked with him and he is stationed at his post, two minutes away from our home. He is a kind man who prays to our same Lord Jesus Christ and we are glad he is here keeping our streets safe. The other is just a common road block. These are currently all over the city of Jos for random check points for the comings and goings of all. We are thankful for the measures being taken to assure the safety of the people.
Several months ago we shared how the Christian teen band, PureNRG served alongside us in Monterrey, Mexico. Since then, they have continued to bless the children we serve in practical ways, such as through a recent fundraiser, New Soles for Tender Souls. With the money that was raised through pre-purchases of their new album, The Real Thing, over 2,000 shoes were purchased for impoverished children in the Dominican Republic as well as orphans that Back2Back serves in Monterrey, Mexico. A big thank you to PureNRG, Family Christian Stores and the James Fund!
We have been getting lots of questions being asked of us about the crisis here in Jos, Nigeria. Here is what is going on around us personally and in the city.
First, our family is good and safe and so are the Munafos. We are grateful for the close proximity in which we live to them. (We live right behind them.) There is currently a 24-hour curfew in place that started yesterday and at this point, we don’t know how long it will last. (I am guessing for the next couple of days.) Usually after the initial 24-hour curfew, there will be in place a twelve hour curfew from 6pm to 6am.
On Sunday, there was a disagreement between a man and a hired worker on receiving pay. The worker did not receive his money; therefore, hired men to come and beat the other man up. All of that to say, is it led to other rivalry and havoc. There has been rumors (that I do believe at this moment) that men were brought in from the North to cause riots within our city. This is becoming more of a religious issue at this point. The Muslims are attacking and the Christians are defending. There have been deaths and injuries (we are receiving mixed reports on this at this time). It appears that a group of men made their way from central Jos toward the southern part of Jos (where we live) during the last few days. Yesterday morning is when it hit our specific area. We were never in danger (we live in locked/gated little neighborhood with security guards) but our neighbors down the street were. There was some burning of buildings and yelling going on. Right now, at 8:45am, it is quiet all around. At this point, no one in the Jos missionary community has been harmed. We are grateful.
Please know that as a ministry, we have plans in place for times of crisis that allow us to take the appropriate measures of safety for our staff and for any visitors that may be here. The greater Jos mission community also has a great communication pattern to communicate with all missionaries in the area that help us all be able to communicate in a way that is productive and helpful.
Please do pray for healing in this area. As we all know who live under Christ, that crisis can be such a tool for redemption. We believe, fully, that there is work to be done and we want to be ready in and out of season. The battle between Muslim/Christian has gone for generations and generations. We know this, and our heart is to not only be able to serve those who need serving in Christ (on both sides), but to protect the Fatherless who get caught in these crossfires. At the end of the day, there will be more orphans because of this crisis and we need wisdom and discernment on how to care for them.
Thank you again for all of your prayers and questions. I do hope this can help some of you better pray for us personally, for our ministry and for this area. God Bless.
I have some random reflective thoughts as we begin not only a new year, but a new decade. I’ll confess that I have thought a lot lately about the injustices that I witness in this world. I have prayed for God to show up and change people or circumstances that I know are not part of His will. It has been difficult to accept that all is not going to be perfect in this world. I can’t just “work at something hard enough” that it changes. I believe God is calling us to be faithful even when things don’t ALL go right. I’m reminded of the numerous times in the Bible when God’s people were called to be faithful, even when things were not going their way.
I also am reminded that I am not perfect…not even close. My friends aren’t perfect; my family isn’t perfect; my co-workers aren’t perfect. The only one who is perfect is God. Then why do I question Him? Is it part of my imperfection that I think I am wiser than Him? I am messed up! We all are! The best that we can hope for is that we can work for improvement in our lives. And, in the end, be forgiven of our failures by the grace that is available through God’s only son, Jesus. We all need it!
So, as I start this New Year, I want to keep praying and working for the injustices that I witness, to be made right. But I want to also remember, that everything will never be completely perfect. I must learn to be faithful to God’s calling in my life, even when it seems my efforts are futile. I also want to remember that we are all imperfect beings and that the same blood of Jesus that is needed to wash away others’ sins is needed to wash away my sins.
Many times, I take comfort in situations when I can think of scripture that brings me peace in the middle of a storm. I want to take the time to reflect more on God’s word. I also want to pray more. Instead of worrying or being frustrated over things that I can’t change, I want to just share my heart with God and rest knowing that He is in control of everything!
Happy New Year everyone! I really believe “greater things are yet to be done!”
Recently, Back2Back India partnered with a Feeding Center to provide clean drinking water to poor children. The Feeding Center is run by a husband and wife who live near a slum in Hyderabad. During the day, some children attend school and receive a hot meal provided by the government. However, many of the children in the slum do not attend school during the day but instead work menial jobs or help care for younger children while their parents are working. So after they come home from their jobs, this couple opens their home to about 150 children to come have a meal and study.
Several days a week, the Feeding Center purchases drinking water pumped from large tanker trucks. They fill various vessels with the water and carry them from the street to the house.
When a group from our church visited the Feeding Center, they learned of the need for tanks to store the water in a clean and hygienic manner. Back2Back India committed to this project. The day we went to install the tanks, we had several construction challenges. The plan was to stack pre-made concrete rings together as a base for the water tanks. However, as the video demonstrates, the quality of the concrete was not very good.
So, we went to plan B – cement blocks, arranged and mortared together. Our pastor, the director of the Feeding Center and several volunteers worked together to build the project. For several of the men, this was their first hands-on experience with a small construction project.
They caught on quickly and enjoyed working toward a goal. We worked hard all day, finishing by the light of cell phones. When we were done, there were two new water tanks and multiple faucets for the children to draw clean drinking water.
Shortly after the installation, we received this encouraging email message from the directors of the Feeding Center:
Dear sister and brother,
Greetings to you in the matchless name of our lord and savior Jesus Christ. We appreciate your hard work and dedication in donating the water tanks to our children in the center. They are really very helpful to the children. We don’t have to carry drums of water everyday. A big thank you to both of you and may God bless you.
We were very much encouraged seeing you working and doing things on your own, putting in the tanks. After seeing you, we are trying to do small repairs in our home without anybody’s help.
We would like to send some pictures of our center. We have conducted competitions for children on Children’s Day on 14 November. We gave them certificates and medals for the winners. It was an exciting moment for the kids. We also had our Christmas eve on 22 December. We gave kids yummy plum cake and the children enjoyed Christmas meal.
Once again, we thank you both for all the support you have done to our feeding center
On Tuesday night, the strongest earthquake in more than 240 years struck ten miles southwest of Haiti’s capital, Port–au-Prince, destroying buildings and taking many lives. Millions of people are displaced on the streets, lacking shelter, basic necessities and facing the loss of loved ones. Back2Back’s heart is pierced for the many children and families who are impacted by this tragedy. Please join with us in praying for the people of Haiti.
Please also consider coming alongside us as we donate funds to relief organizations such as World Vision. World Vision and Back2Back have a common goal of meeting the orphan need. World Vision currently has 370 individuals working on the scene in Haiti. They have extensive experience in providing disaster relief and are committed to offering care for at least 10,000 people. Feel free to visit their website directly to donate funds (www.worldvision.com) or send a check to Back2Back with “Haitian Relief” in the memo and we will direct the funds to World Vision. For more giving opportunities and a list of additional reputable organizations providing aid to Haiti, please visit the Christian Alliance for Orphans website.
If you are in the Cincinnati area and would like to partner locally, Matthew 25 Ministries is sending shipments of supplies to Haiti and are in need of volunteers to sort donations. They are also collecting donations to help finance the expense of shipping the supplies to Haiti. Visit the Matthew 25 website for more details (www.m25m.org).
Thank you for partnering with us in our commitment to “provide care for today and hope for tomorrow.”
I just posted on my Facebook page (yeah, I do FB!) that it is “cold- not so much outside as inside.” I just returned from visiting family and friends in Cincinnati where the temperature was in the teens with wind chills at who knows what, but at least in Cincinnati there was good heat inside. A few minutes by the fireplace with a warm blanket wrapped around my legs and I was snug as a bug in a rug! Not so here. We have cinder block buildings and space heaters here and there. And for someone like me, who always argues with his wife about wanting things cooler inside, I am always a bit surprised that it gets too cold inside our home even for me.
In seasons like this, my thoughts more often than not are about the people in Meme’s Rio or in the Cadereyta (two of the impoverished shanytowns that Back2Back works with). My mind drifts to the 70% of the population of Mexico that live in poverty. It considers that the majority of the world lives more like someone at Cadereyta than say someone living in the suburbs of Chicago or Cincinnati (where I grew up). What do they do on nights like tonight when the temperature is supposed to get down around freezing? How many blankets can they throw on to keep themselves warm throughout the night? Do they ever feel snug as a bug in a rug? Somehow, I doubt it.
The past two winters, I’ve been able to work at Cadereyta with a group of men from Columbus. Each time we’ve gone, not only has it been cold but it has also been rainy, leaving the dirt roads nothing more than a sloppy mess. Several times, just walking through the six-inch deep slop, my shoe has almost been pulled from my feet. As we get on the bus and head to the Back2Back campus and relative warmth, the hour-long bus ride home is often more quiet as we think of the people I am leaving behind in the elements: the little kid with a runny nose and hacking cough or the grandmother who is nothing but skin and bones. How will they fare over the night as the temperature drops even more?
I think in America we tend to think that because we have warm homes and comfy beds that we are experiencing the shelter of God. So, if that is true, then what does that say about the people at Meme’s Rio? Do they experience the shelter of God any less because they have a tin roof over their heads? Or let’s turn it around. If the person at Meme’s Rio that is fortunate enough to have a space heater (that runs off pirated electricity) is experiencing God’s shelter, does that mean that we experience it more because we have a thermostat we can set to a comfortable temperature?
I am coming to believe more and more that God’s shelter has little or nothing at all to do with this kind of thing. I’m not so sure He cares how comfortable I am – He just promises to give me comfort through the Comforter. I don’t think that God is pulling for me to have lots of money, but He is desperate that I would be rich in faith.
God does bless people materially. We see that in the Scriptures, but not as much as some people may think or want. What we see more is the promise that we will struggle and have trouble in this world. God’s shelter comes to us regardless of where we live, or how we live (economically, comfortably, etc). God’s shelter is ours because we believe in Him and follow Him and trust HIM- not what He may have given us.
Are we prepared to accept that God’s shelter may not keep us warm? It may not help me purchase those extra Christmas presents for the kiddos. It doesn’t mean that I can finally sell that heap of metal I’ve been driving and nursing along for three years and get a new car like the guy across the street.
But it does mean that as I stand on the side of the road because that bucket of bolts has finally died, I have the assurance of knowing that Someone is standing next to me. It does mean that there may be fewer presents under the tree, but a deeper understanding of Christmas than ever before. It does mean that there is peace in my heart as my bones shiver when the sun goes down, because the truth of the matter is that sometimes, it can be bitter cold in God’s Shelter.
On December 22, the kids of Casa Hogar Douglas had an opportunity to serve kids that had very little materially. One of the caregivers in the children’s home, is from a small mountain town about four hours from here, called Galeana. The people from this town are very poor when it comes to material possessions. When the kids of Casa Hogar Douglas, a children’s home that Back2Back serves, found out about these kids from the hometown of their caregiver, they wanted to share their blessings with them. They got a list of seventy-four kids from a church in Galeana and each one of them chose a toy of their own to wrap and give to the kids of this town.
Not all of the kids were able to make the four-hour trip to Galeana with us on December 22nd. We took with us about fifteen kids and prepared a meal, worshiped together, had a pinata to open and passed out all of the gifts to the children.
Some of the children on a stop during our drive to Galeana
Enjoying a meal together with the families of Galeana
Worshipping with the families of Galeana
The children had fun playing with the pinata
Passing out gifts to the children
The children of Galeana were so blessed by the generosity of the kids at Casa Hogar Douglas. For many this gift was their only Christmas present.
I witnessed something that day in the faces of the kids from Casa Hogar Douglas. I’ve seen their faces on the receiving end many times, but it was a blessing to watch them as they had an opportunity to serve others in the same way that they have been served by American mission trip groups.
When I need moments of peace and quiet without the constant yelling of “Kathy” that goes on in my house, I head to a park here in Monterrey. This particular park has a creek that runs through it. The creek is never really full so it is easy to park my sling chair in part of the creek bed and just listen to the water running by. One day I was sitting there just listening and watching the water. There was this big rock that was half way in the water and half way out. The top was very dark and dirty and the part under the water (the water was clear) was a completely different color. The under water part was many shades lighter and much cleaner. I could feel God wanting to teach me something with this observation and I heard that quiet voice in my mind say, “Look at that rock. That is how the washing of the Word works on your heart. It is slow and constant. It is not necessarily painful but consistent. It will, over time, change you. But you have to allow the Word to work and you have to spend time reading it to get the benefit.” So as I sat and looked at that rock I let this settle in my heart. I want my life to look different. I want to be bright and clean in my spirit. So it is up to me to spend time in the Word and to allow God to wash me clean. I am so grateful that God is willing to do this.
I can’t believe it’s been a year already. January 1, 2009 our family moved into the John House (part of the Hope Program) here on the Monterrey, Mexico campus. Just a few short days later, five boys who had been living in children’s homes moved in as well. At the start of 2010 there is so much to look forward to. We have lots of challenges ahead in this new year, but I can’t help but be hopeful when I remember how faithful God has been in 2009. We have come a long way as a family.
Just a month or so ago one of the boys and I were talking about scissors. He needed to use some and we couldn’t find any around.
Of course the mom in me starts asking “What happened to the pair I bought you for school?”
He tells me he used to keep them in a spot above his bed (he sleeps on the bottom of the bunk bed) but can’t find them now.
I am thinking and ask, “Why did you keep them there?”
After a short and rather cryptic conversation I begin to understand. He kept them there for protection, in case he needed to protect himself at night. He tells me that the childrens home, he slept with a stick under his bed for the same reason. It’s sinking in, I am beginning to understand. And then I innocently ask, “But you don’t need them anymore?” And he answers “No.”
We have lots of challenges to face with our boys this year. A hard start to high school, an ongoing court case, and the always present chores, homework, GIRLS, etc. But my boys feel safer than they did last year. My foster son no longer sleeps with a weapon for protection. That is a blessing I cannot deny. And with that in mind, I look forward to what God has in store for 2010!
After completing their one-year commitment to serve in Hyderabad, India with Back2Back, Brent and Lisa are transitioning back to the US to fulfill obligations at their businesses in Ohio. A national ministry partner will be managing the day-to-day operations of Back2Back India.
Brent and Lisa have seen incredible fruit from their time in India, as God has opened new doors for ministry at local children’s homes. A few highlights from the year include:
Clean Water: We built a clean water system at an area feeding center that provides meals and free education to a local slum community. The families and children that benefit from this center can now access clean drinking water. Back2Back also provided them with storage capabilities for the water.
Children’s Home Renovations: We completed renovations at the MHH Children’s Home, including an overhaul of their dilapidated bathrooms and the construction of a new kitchen/dining hall. The children had been eating outside on the ground, but will soon be enjoying their meals indoors.
Nutritional Assistance to Children’s Homes: In addition to providing ongoing financial support for the children’s homes, we have also established a new nutrition program and developed opportunities for spiritual development for the children. Thanks to the generosity of US donors, Back2Back will continue to support the children’s homes through regular food donations in 2010.
New Partnership: We have begun a partnership with EJH Children’s Home, as the directors of this home share Back2Back’s vision to show love and provide care to children in need. This particular home cares for children with disabilities, a ministry that is desperately needed in India, a country where those that have a handicap are marginalized by society.
Although Brent and Lisa are returning to the US, they will still be heavily involved with the ministry in India, providing oversight and direction for current and future projects, ensuring that Back2Back India will continue to maintain a strong presence in Hyderabad. They will also continue to serve with Back2Back as mission trip leaders and ministry advocates, traveling to India several times a year and offering ongoing support to the local Back2Back India staff.
Back2Back Ministries is grateful to Brent and Lisa for their service in India this past year and thankful for their continued partnership with us, as we pursue the heart of the orphan.
Brent and Lisa with children from EJH
If you are interested in learning more about joining our staff team in India, please contact Chris Ramos at ramos@back2backministries.org.
Hyderabad is located in the Deccan Plateau region of India where there are ancient granite stones shaped into spectacular sometimes bizarre formations of rock, reminiscent of southwest United States like Arizona.
These are awesome and enormous rocks. Entire neighborhoods exist in these rocky areas. First the rocks must be cleared to allow construction of these homes and buildings. When out for my morning walks, I often see a group of laborers working on a job site. They chisel all the rocks by hand.
A huge sheet of granite is slowly and patiently split into smaller and smaller pieces until there is room for a foundation. Then the small square bricks of granite are used in building the walls of the home. What a huge job for these workers and what terrible carpal tunnel syndrome symptoms they must have!
Many days, I feel like one of those workers. Back2Back is here to help provide for orphans in India. And this is an enormous task. There are over 1 billion people in India including 400 million children. India has more children than the entire US population and it is estimated that 9% of them are orphans which mean that there are about 35 million orphan children in this country. There are many ministries and organizations here trying to help these children. Some of these organizations focus on street children; some on abolishing child labor; others support education or vocational training for girls. With so many needs and so many children, sometimes it is difficult to know where to start. So, we take each day and each opportunity to chip away at this gigantic challenge.
Thank you for you prayers and support of the Back2Back India program. Together we can break the hard challenges into building blocks for the future of the needy children in India.
During our time serving with Back2Back in Monterrey, Mexico, my son, Christopher (15-years old) was inspired by Back2Back Director, Beth Guckenberger’s story about another boy doing a fundraiser for the ministry through an XBOX Tournament. After we returned, Christopher decided to organize a similar XBOX 360 Halo 3 tournament as a fundraiser. With our help, he organized the game rules, rented a place, collected prize donations from local stores and business owners and invited his friends and classmates to attend.
After two months of preparation and planning, we had over thirty kids signed up for the tournament and many more just came to watch and cheer for the players. We had fun and raised a total of $540 through the event. It was a lot of hard work putting it together but it was definitely a successful fundraiser. Watching my son’s face with eyes full of excitement throughout the whole event was priceless. I am sure that it will be a long-lasting memory for him and a wonderful experience for his spiritual growth.
What a wonderful season Christmas is! I love that after thousands of years, the birth of Christ still brings healing, restoration and peace. People often talk about the “Spirit of Christmas” and in reality, the spirit of Christmas shows the heart of Christ and the things that he desires for us all year long.
The month of December has been a whirlwind of spreading Christmas cheer and showing Christ’s love on the precious kids that we serve. The month started off with the women’s group coming down with suitcases filled with presents, decorations, crafts and all things Christmas. Over the course of the week we have the privilege to visit each Casa Hogar that we work with and set up a tree and make ornaments and give each child their own Christmas gift! What a blessing it was to see the joy and excitement in the children’s faces as they opened up their gifts and worked together to decorate their trees.
I will never forget one sweet little boy, Santiago, opening up his present of a huge dog stuffed animal and coloring books and markers, but the thing he was most excited about was the small tube of travel toothpaste. When he saw the toothpaste his eyes got wide and he gasped and he held it like it was a priceless treasure. The rest of the day he carried that tube with him where ever he went. This made me really sit back and think about how much I take things for granted, especially around Christmas, when there is an abundance of blessings everywhere I look.
It requires a lot of Christmas cookies to feed 500 kids!
The presents are wrapped and ready to go!
Children from the children's homes were so excited to receive Christmas gifts!
Decorating the tree at the children's home
Danny loved my candycane ears! When I bent down to give him a hug he pulled them right off my head and tried to eat them! He thought they were real candycanes!
Christmas is truly a time of joy, generosity, peace and restoration. Praise the Lord for the hope that he provides for these children who have so little. I am honored to be able to love on them and help them understand the reason behind the gifts, crafts, cookies and parties.
I pray that you are resting in the hands of the One who came 2,000 years ago so that we could experience a love unlike any the world had ever known!
Fifty rubber balls, eighteen yo-yos, twenty-six dolls, ten baby blankets, 400 tamales, and a partridge in a pear tree!!! Last weekend, we hosted a Christmas party for the people in the Rio and I felt a little like the “true love” in the Twelve Days of Christmas! We were blessed with a generous donation to be able to bring Christmas to the children who live in the Rio community, an impoverished neighborhood that Back2Back serves.
Days before several of us staff when shopping to purchase gifts for the kids. Because new things are a rare treat for these kids, we really wanted to bless each and every person who came with something new for Christmas. I have never before bought three cart loads of rubber balls plus various other toys and games! Several of us staff spent days buying gifts, wrapping, organizing donations, prepping crafts, and cooking champorado (Mexican hot chocolate) for about 100 people in the Rio.
On Saturday we left bright and early loaded down with gifts, food, and extra hands to help out. We had our normal church service in the soup kitchen with worship and teaching. After the service we served the people hot tamales and champorado. Then the festivities began! On a typical Saturday we will have anywhere from eighteen to twenty-five kids. This day we had well over eighty kids and sixty adults!
We pulled the tables close together, called for attention, and shared the Christmas story. If any of you have ever worked with children, you know that lots of young kids together, excited for gifts and candy are not always the best listeners. As we began teaching, I prayed for focus. While gifts and piñatas are fun, the best part of Christmas is our Savior’s birth. We wanted this to be the focus of the celebration. I marveled at how quiet the soup kitchen became. All seventy pairs of eyes were focused on the speaker and the pictures she showed of the stable and the manger… these images not too far from the kids’ own dwellings. They were captivated by the story…. a little baby born into poverty, but with an eternal destiny. At the close of the lesson we shared with the kids the purpose of that baby born so long ago, and his love and purposes for each and every one of them… it was beautiful.
Then we decorated ornaments, ate candy canes, smashed two piñatas, and handed out gifts to each person. It was a great day, a great adventure, and a great time to show these people how much they are loved. While the fifty rubber balls, the eighteen yo-yos, and the 400 tamales brought many smiles, our prayer is that the real Gift of Jesus brought eternal joy to some hearts that day….that is what our True Love has truly given us.
Days like today, when I have had a lot of time for reflection, I feel a pull in my spirit to do more. The need is so great and there are so many kids out there that need to be loved- showered with the love of their Heavenly Father! While I feel confident that I am where the Lord wants me to be right now, I also believe that he is using this time in mighty ways to prepare my heart for what is yet to come.
I sit here in the glow of my Christmas tree and sip a glass of punche (a delightfully warm and delicious Mexican holiday drink) and I am struck by how gentle God is with me! He knows my struggle of a love for creature comforts and he is ever so gently pruning me of the selfish desires of my heart. Even as I sit here in a time of prayer, I am being changed. Strengthened. Prepared. The things of this world are losing their shine and my heart feels like it could burst with joy as my vision becomes free of worldly distractions. As much as I love the soft flicker of a candle and my cozy down comforter and my colorful mixing bowls, I am no longer afraid to live without these kinds of things.
How kind God is to give me this time to learn these lessons before I am living in a situation where creature comforts are not even an option. How kind God is to draw me to him and show me that without the things of this world I still have strength, courage, hope, joy and peace. But that without Him I would have nothing, I would be nothing. Without the things of this world I am still the woman that I was created to be, I still have a purpose, a passion and a calling. Without God I would have nothing. No passion. No purpose greater than myself. No joy. No hope. Praise God for teaching me this! This is one of those lessons that my mind has always known, but my heart has finally understood the depth of meaning behind these words. The song “All in All” has come to my mind…
You were my strength when I was weak
You are the treasure that I seek
You are my all in all
When I am down you pick me up
When I am dry you fill my cup
You are my all in all
Seeking you as a precious jewel
Lord to give up I’d be a fool
You are my ALL IN ALL
I have sung those words hundreds of times and yet today I am struck anew by the meaning of them. These words define me because God defines me. People and things will come and go in my life but that will never chance who God is and who I am in Him!
I came here to try and change the world one orphan at a time and I am the one who is being changed. Praise the Lord!
With a few of the children we serve in the Rio community
A few weeks ago the ECWA church (Evangelical Church of West Africa) in the Kisayhip Village celebrated the Harvest Season with a special Harvest Sunday celebration. It was the Sunday following our American Thanksgiving holiday. As I walked up to the church doors, I could see buckets, sacks and trays that were full of grains lined up against the building. Each portion of grain represented a family’s hard season of planting, cultivating, protecting, watering, and harvesting. For many of them it is their way of living. Without this harvest they wouldn’t be able to provide for their family. I felt like I was back in Biblical times. Maybe I am too much of a city girl, but in our church we usually only bring forward our monetary gifts, and even then when we bring them, we bring them to a box, near the back wall at our own convenience.
In the Nigerian church, I have always noticed that the time for offering, whether with naira or with crops, is a time of worship. There is music playing, singing, dancing, even a little bit of shouting. It always makes me ask myself, am I giving my offerings to the Lord as an act of worship, or do I just do it out of obedience? It also made me think of what things I would be willing to bring as an offering, if I wasn’t told to bring money but something that represented my hard labor. Maybe my time, my home, or my desires for my family would be on that list. What about you? What would you bring as an offering? I’ve been sorting out what God is teaching me through my Harvest Sunday experience – it’s been a few weeks and I am still thinking about it!
The slideshow below shows an outreach that we did after church on Harvest Sunday. Only the pastor knew what we had planned. We enjoyed passing out bags of goodies that included lotion, sugar for Christmas baking, spices, and noodle packets to those who faithfully come to church on Sunday.
As the three girls celebrating their quinceneras walked into the room, the words of Connie (a director at their children’s home, Manatial de Amor) rang in my ears.
“These three girls have been with us for a long time. They grew up in this children’s home. As I was praying today God reminded me that we all are daughter’s of the KING. He wants us to know that. In a very special way, God is showing that to these three girls tonight,” Cony shared.
Cony’s words are true for all of us. And in a very tangible way God was showing these girls what they mean to Him. This December we had another opportunity to provide a quincenera for three girls Back2Back serves at a local children’s home, girls who don’t have families to make this special event happen.
Shirley, Karely and Selene all have little to no family involvement. Usually, we (Back2Back) are able to provide a dress, a few humble gifts, a few flowers and a meal for their children’s home and any family that can attend. But, with the help of a group of women that came to serve with Back2Back, we provided a nice meal, cake and symbolic presents that are traditional for this special birthday signifying the maturing of a girl in Mexican culture.
Thanks to the women’s group, the quincenera was held in a warm reception room. They all wore the gown of their dreams. The girls received free hair styling and makeup by a relative of a Back2Back staff member and donations from folks through a Facebook and email petition allowed the girls to receive royal treatment.
Selene, Karely, and Shirley
Thursday night was in the low 50’s/high 40’s and rainy. So, the room inside a Mexican buffet restaurant was a huge blessing. Edgar, another Manatial de Amor director, gave the message and the woman’s group that was serving with us that week shared in the ceremony giving the symbolic gifts a girl receives (like a watch, bible, ring and pillow). Dancing and dinner followed the ceremony to round out a perfect evening.
Edgar sharing a message during the quincenera
On behalf of these girls and the Back2Back staff, thank you to all those who gave to give them the night of their lives.
One of the most powerful and exciting things to behold is the testimony of a changed life in the hands of Jesus Christ. As Christians, we talk a great deal about how Jesus is in the business of changing people, but we all know it is one thing to say that we are changed and quite another to demonstrate change with the actions of our lives.
In all of the homes we serve, we trust that God is changing the lives of the children we work with, even when it is not easily visible. But every once in a while, we are blessed with a glimpse of the divine work that is taking place and we see a clear manifestation of Jesus-induced change! At the Manantial de Amor (MDA) girl’s home, I saw one of these changes that Jesus is making in the lives of one of the girls that live there. (In the following story I’ve changed the names of the girls to protect their identity.)
Not too long ago, a girl named Laura came from a government-run children’s home to live at the MDA girl’s home. She found herself sharing a bedroom with eight other teenage girls who already had developed sister-like bonds with one another- intimidating for sure! Laura, as many troubled teens do when they are uncomfortable, lashed out and much of her aggression was directed to one girl in particular, a girl named Susie. For several weeks, the two lived in tension with one another, with conflicts and arguments every day. Then, one day it all came to a head on Susie’s birthday!
Susie had received some money from supporters in the United States for her birthday with which she had purchased some gifts. Things had seemed to have improved between Laura and Susie for a couple weeks and the house was a much nicer place for all.
One day while Susie was away, Laura found where Susie had hidden the rest of her birthday money and stole it along with the gifts that Susie had already purchased. Then she ran away from the children’s home. She got into some minor trouble with a police officer and when he asked her where she lived so he could return her, she told him that she lived at the government run children’s home in the area, the very home from which she had come to MDA.
The caregivers were surprised to see her back there, but took her in and contacted Edgar, the director of MDA. As the story unfolded, I can only imagine the fear and hard-heartedness that must have been welling up inside Laura. The director for the government home sternly told Edgar that he needed to confront and discipline Laura with strong and severe consequences. This was all that would get through to a child like Laura.
Edgar replied, “No we don’t do that here. We have another approach. We are going to love her.”
Edgar brought Laura back to the MDA girl’s home that day. I wonder how slowly Laura walked from the car to the front door. What was she thinking? What was she feeling? What reaction would Susie show her when their eyes met? I guarantee that whatever she was expecting, it was nothing like what really happened.
Susie came to Laura and hugged her and told her that she was glad she was back. Clearly, she could see the fear and confusion in Laura’s eyes, wondering where the expected retribution was.
Susie took Laura aside and told her, “Laura, I don’t care about the gifts. I don’t care if I get those back or not. YOU are what is important! YOU are so much more important than all of those things combined!”
This is what excites me about Back2Back! I love seeing the change that is taking place before our very eyes in the lives of children like Susie. Sometimes it can be hard to see, but other times, heaven breaks through in glorious moments like these! It is through the love of Jesus that Edgar and others have shown Susie over the years at MDA, that she has changed. And hopefully, prayerfully, it is through the love and mercy of girls like Susie, that Laura and others like her will be changed as well!
Edgar & Conny (the directors of Manantial de Amor) with some of the girls from MDA Children's Home
Back2Back is partnering with Self-Sustaining Enterprises (SSE) in Nigeria. SSE has given Back2Back fifteen acres outside of Jos, Nigeria to develop as a Back2Back ministry site with a community center, enabling us to expand our ministry to local children and families in need. If you would like more information about our campaign to raise funds for the development of the land, please contact landofhope@back2backministries.org
It was so encouraging to see more than 100 people show up on a cold rainy evening to hear what God is doing through Back2Back in Jos, Nigeria. We had our first capital campaign on December 8th in Cincinnati and it felt a bit as if I was attending a family reunion. I think that is my favorite character trait about serving in this ministry. Thousands of people have gone to serve at different sites, different times, and for different purposes, but many came together that evening and there was an underlying reality that even if I haven’t met you, I know you and a sliver of your heart.
Corrie Guckenberger, relaying the vision for the Land of Hope Campaign at the Nigeria Open House
Beth & Todd Guckenberger, sharing their heart for Back2Back's ministry in Nigeria
John Guckenberger at the Nigeria Open House
I was just reminded that ten years ago, Todd and Beth had their first fundraiser for Back2Back’s Mexico ministry site at Snyder Farm, the same location where the Nigeria Open House was located. Back2Back has been on quite a journey since then, following the Lord’s calling. He has done so much that it can be overwhelming to think that He is still at work, moving and stirring and leading us now in Africa as well.
The vision of where we feel the Lord is asking us to go was shared by everyone and it was daunting seeing it unveiled to others. As we unfold the desire to develop relationships in the Kisayhip Village near Jos and build a host village next door for us as a staff to live, I am too aware that it is too big a project for mere man. For that reason, I get excited to see God work out the details in His time and in His way. Our desire is to just be obedient to Him. We are so grateful for everyone who came to the event, encouraging us, supporting us, and cheering us on. That is truly what family should feel like.
Back2Back Nigeria Property, "Land of Hope"
A few of the children we serve in Nigeria
Village children saying hello from the Back2Back Nigeria property to be developed
India has twenty-two official languages and thousands of dialects. Hindi and English are national languages. In Andra Pradesh, the state where Back2Back India operates, the most common language is Telugu. A child in India first learns their local language then studies that language plus Hindi when they get to school. By 5th grade when they start English, the children are learning three languages! Some schools called English Medium schools, teach in English from kindergarten onwards which gives the children a better exposure to this world language.
The children at Eternal Joy Home, one of the children’s homes served by Back2Back India speak Telugu. When we met them about a year ago, they knew only a few English phrases. Some of the children were given the opportunity to study at an English medium school this year. Although it has been difficult for them to jump into this new language, they are happy to be at that school. They have also received encouragement from American and British friends who came to visit, brought books and educational games and spent time interacting with the children.
Over time, we have seen an improvement in the English skills of the children. They are getting good marks (grades) at school and several received awards recently.
In this video, one of the young girls who spoke no English earlier this year, now sings “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star”.
We thank God for the opportunities He provides for these children. Please pray with us for their continued studies and the hope that Back2Back India can help break the cycle of poverty through education.
Last week, during Thanksgiving, 15-year old Hope Bertke served in Monterrey, Mexico with Back2Back, alongside her parents and several other families. Hope has been on several mission trips with Back2Back and is familiar with the communities that we minister to. In the weeks leading up to her trip last week, Hope began to think of the families in one such village that we work with in Monterrey, a squatters’ village called Rio III. She wondered how the families there would survive the cold winter months in homes that have no insulation, heating and even sometimes electricity. Her concern prompted her to take action by collecting money to purchase blankets for those in the community, since most families there don’t have very limited blankets or bedding.
Hope’s goal was to raise $1,000 to purchase 100 blankets. She began calling friends and family and spreading the word. Her efforts paid off. In just a few weeks, she had more than tripled her goal by raising $3,500 – enough to purchase a blanket for every family in Rio III! Last week, Hope saw her dream realized. She, along with the rest of her mission trip group, personally delivered a truck-full of blankets to hundreds of families in desperate need.
Reflecting on the experience, Hope said, “While giving out the blankets, the children had huge smiles on their faces. They were so excited to get something new! Although many of the kids weren’t big enough to carry their blankets, you could tell that they really appreciated them. Many of the kids wrapped the blankets around themselves. Many people don’t realize how cold it gets at night in Mexico. When we were on our trip, it was getting down to 45 degrees at night and none of the makeshift homes have any heat. We had just enough blankets for everyone who came to get one. My original goal was 100 blankets, but God had bigger and better plans for the families in Rio III…we raised enough money for 350 blankets!”
Families began lining up early to receive a new blanket
Hope Bertke, helping to unload the 350 blankets that were purchased as a result of her fundraising efforts
These little boys were very excited to receive their blankets
Hope, helping to distribute the blankets
The Grouzard family (left) pictured with the Bertke family (right) helped by collecting money from friends and family in Chicago to purchase blankets.
Two girls walk home after receiving their blankets
To me, Thanksgiving is about being with family and giving thanks. I was unable to be with family from the States and even my own family here in Monterrey because I was scheduled to work. In a way I was able to be with “family” as the people of the Rio (a squatter’s village that I serve with Back2Back) have become my second family.
Hope Maglich, another Back2Back staff member, had a great idea to celebrate our Thanksgiving with them by sharing a meal and doing an activity to reflect on the meaning of the day.
Sharing a meal from Pollo Loco with a few families at the Rio
I tried with my Spanish to explain about the first Thanksgiving and that in addition to joining together for a meal, the pilgrims and Native Americans also took time out to give thanks for all that God had given them. Hope then asked everyone to participate in a Thanksgiving tree activity. Everyone was asked to take a leaf and write what they were thankful for. I’d love to share a few with you. One said, “I give you thanks for creating me.”
Another one read, “I give thanks to God for this life.”
As each leaf went on the tree, Meme, a local who partners with us in serving at the Rio, read them off. With each leaf, I was reminded how big God is and how much He cares for us. Lord, I thank you for my family, the food you give us each day, for the sunsets and all the beauty in your creation. I think I need to make a Thanksgiving tree every day.
As Thanksgiving approaches, we cannot help but celebrate the many ways in which God has been faithful and blessed Back2Back Ministries. We would like to take this opportunity to share just a few highlights from 2009 for which we’re thankful!
InMexico: As a result of the Back2Back Hope Education Program, six children who we met when the ministry first began have now graduated from college, forever breaking the cycle of generational poverty in their families.
Junior, one of the six Back2Back Hope Program students who graduated from college this year (pictured with B2B Directors, Todd & Beth Guckenberger)
In Nigeria: We have expanded our full-time staff to include John and Corrie Guckenberger and Will and Theresa Reed. Through the generous land donation of Self-Sustaining Enterprises, we are beginning to develop a permanent Back2Back campus with staff and group housing. We are also launching the Hope Education Program in Nigeria and building an education center on this land, allowing us to provide more opportunities to the children that we serve.
Will & Theresa Reed will soon be joining the Back2Back Nigeria team
John & Corrie Guckenberger joined the Back2Back Nigeria staff this year
In India: We have begun a partnership with EJH Children’s Home, as the directors of this home share Back2Back’s vision to show love and provide care to children in need. This particular home cares for children with disabilities, a ministry that is desperately needed in India, a country where those that have a handicap are marginalized by society.
A few of the children from EJH
In theU.S. Office: We have increased our staff in the US, allowing us to expand and improve our communications and have a greater impact in meeting the need of orphans. We also have begun a child sponsorship program, the Back2Back Shelter Program, which enables us to better meet the physical, spiritual and educational needs of the children we serve.
Beatriz, the first child to receive a sponsor through our new child sponsorship program
We truly cannot praise God enough for the ways in which He has blessed and provided for our ministry this year. These successes would not be possible without your commitment to partner with us. As we look toward the future, we are excited about how God is working through Back2Back Ministries. Please know that you are a part of our Back2Back family and we truly appreciate your love and support of the orphan child.
Please keep the children we serve in your thoughts and prayers this holiday season.
El Limon Children’s Home is five hours south of the Back2Back Mexico campus in Monterrey. Since 2000, Back2Back has partnered with El Limon by helping to provide resources for the children, meeting their needs through service teams and ongoing care. At a recent anniversary event to celebrate the faithful service of the directors of El Limon Children’s Home, several of the children from the home read letters to them, as a tribute to express their love and gratitude. The common theme among the children’s letters was one of thankfulness for the way God had provided for them by placing Fernando and Yadira, the directors of the home, in their lives. This heartwarming moment caused us to reflect on the things that we’re thankful for, but it also acted as a powerful reminder of the way in which God is faithfully caring for the children we serve. In honor of Thanksgiving, we wanted to take a moment to share one particular child’s speech with you:
Real Parents, by Alejandra
A real mom and a real dad are not those who give you money to buy Sabritas (chips). They are someone who give you advice when you have problems and help you when you are in need and if you are in trouble they will help you and pray for you because they are good parents.
Mom, Yadira, Dad Fernando and Mom, Nancy, are some of the best parents I’ve had in my life because God gave them to me and He has a plan for my life. Thank God I’ve been set free and I´m happy. So, thank you Lord for giving me such beautiful parents who know how to care for me and do not leave me in hard times and pay attention to me when I tell them I need to talk. So, I want to tell them they are the best parents I’ve had in my life.
Thank you Lord for taking care of me and loving me so much. Thank you mom and dad – I love you.
A student from Horizon Community Church plays with a child at El Limon
Some of the children from El Limon pose for a picture with students from Horizon Community Church
A few children at El Limon playing with Back2Back mission trip guests from North Cincinnati Community Church
Back2Back India recently sponsored a concert at one of the children’s homes. The worship band from our urban Indian church is comprised of young people of different ethnic backgrounds. They sing and dance, play drums, guitars and keyboards and the sound system is loud. This is not the typical musical performance in rural Indian villages. About 250 children served by Back2back India gathered for the concert. The songs were sung in their native language, Telugu, with the words to the songs projected on a big screen behind the band. This was a great opportunity for the children to see a modern worship band and learn new songs including some action songs.
For several weeks, the children have been talking about the concert. Madhuri, one of the children who attended the concert, is severely mentally challenged. She is living at the children’s home because her father died and her mother was unable to care for her. Maduhuri, who is now about six years old, has some behavioral issues and does not speak. However, she loves music. During a visit several weeks after the event, we asked the children about the concert. They quickly pointed out that Madhuri had learned one of the action songs. It was a joy to see her singing and dancing to the Lord!
Check out the video below of Madhuri singing the song:
Celebrate the true spirit of Christmas by giving a life-changing gift to an orphan in need. Choose from dozens of items in our gift catalog to help the children that Back2Back serves in Mexico, Nigeria and India! Your gift will make a listing impact in the life of a child this Christmas!
View the gift catalog online and choose an item by clicking here.
Last year, Steve Harney, president of Quality Printing of Anderson, Indiana joined us at our Mexico campus for a mission trip. Serving with us at the children’s homes sparked a passion in him that ultimately led him to seek to find a way to use his resources to support the ministry. Shortly after, he partnered with Back2Back by offering us high-quality printing at a significant discount, only charging for materials. This partnership has been a tremendous blessing to our ministry, allowing us to expand communications, such as our magazine and our Christmas gift catalog.
A few days ago, we (Beth & Todd Guckenberger, Kristine Hall, Brian Bertke and I) had the opportunity to have lunch with Steve Harney and his staff. Beforehand, we were given a tour of the facilities, catching a glimpse of our Fall 2009 magazine during the printing process. If you’re on our mailing list, you can expect to receive it later this month.
Thanks to Steve Harney, Kay Cox and Beth Champ of Quality Printing for your support of the ministry!
Back2Back magazine pages ready to be bound
During the printing process of Back2Back's magazine
Some US Staff visiting Quality Printing (L to R: Claire Rogers, Brian Bertke, Steve Harney, Kristine Hall, Todd Guckenberger)
The sound of many little hands applauding echoed throughout the bus. The bus driver turned around in surprise. I too was taken back. The smiling faces kept grinning, the hands kept giving praise. Mama Connie, one of the caretakers at Casa Hogar Villa de Juarez, nodded her head saying, “Thank you God!”
The twenty children from the children’s home knew why they were giving thanks… Christopher especially was thankful that day… God had heard his specific prayer and sitting on the bus that day were a pair of brand new shoes just for him.
A church group from Cincinnati came to Monterrey with money specifically set-aside to buy new shoes for the children at Casa Hogar Villa de Juarez (VDJ), a children’s home that Back2Back serves. We loaded up twenty kids on a bus and headed to Wal-Mart. Each child was allowed to pick out a pair of gym shoes. We were pinching toes to make sure there was room to grow, searching for Barbie and Spiderman designs, helping the teen girls find something fashionable. Finally, we all loaded on the bus with shopping bags full of shoe boxes.
Back on the bus, Christopher tapped Mama Connie, a VDJ caretaker, on the shoulder. ”Look!” he said, pointing to his feet. The entire sole was falling off of his old shoe! Mama Connie looked Christopher in the face and said, “God has answered your prayers Christopher.”
She turned to me and explained that Christopher had been asking God for new shoes and that Jesus had heard that prayer and provided for him. Mama Connie stood up and told the rest of the children on the bus that God had met them and answered their prayers that day through these people who had heard God and come to take them shoe shopping. The kids smiled. Mama Connie asked the kids to applaud the Lord and thank Him for answering their prayers and providing for their needs. The bus echoed with the sound of grateful hearts that day, not just for the new shoes, but for the physical reminder that God cares for His children.
Lift Them Up Cards, by Back2Back Ministries, is pleased to offer Christmas cards that reflect God’s message of hope for orphans and His promise to hear their cry and lift them up from their distress. Proceeds from the purchase of this card will help Back2Back Ministries as they provide care for today and hope for tomorrow to orphans in need.
Three Ways to Place an Order
1. To pay by credit card call 513.754.0300 Monday through Thursday between 9am and 4 pm EST
2. Or, mail a check noting the desired number of sets in the memo line to: Christmas Cards, Back2Back Ministries, P.O. Box 70, Mason, OH 45040. Please add $4.95 shipping for one set or $10.35 shipping for 2-13 sets to your donation. Unless otherwise specified, cards will be shipped to the address listed on your check.
3. If you prefer, you can avoid shipping charges by picking up your cards from our office during regular business hours, at 8118 Corporate Way, Suite 201, Mason, OH, 45040. We recommend calling ahead (513.754.0300) to ensure someone will be available to assist you.
Back2Back recently received a donation to purchase new books for Casa Hogar Douglas, a children’s home in Mexico that we serve. I’d like to share with you a little of the story behind the donation.
Emily Taylor is a 14 year-old student at Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy. After participating in a mission trip here, earlier this year, she wanted to stay involved in the lives of the children she met in Monterrey. One of the needs that Emily noticed when she read with the kids in the children’s home, was the need they had to read better. As she thought about this, she had the desire to purchase books for their library. Once she knew what she wanted to do to stay involved with the children in Monterrey, she thought about how she could make this possible.
Emily decided that instead of asking for gifts for her birthday, she would ask people to give her money, that she could use to buy books for orphans. She collected $700! We used the money to purchase Christian books for all ages at a local Christian bookstore, here in Monterrey. The store gave us a 25% discount on our purchase so we were able to purchase $1,000 worth of Christian books with the money that Emily collected.
Before we put the books on the shelves, we prayed for them. We gave thanks for the 14 year-old girl who had a God sized dream to stay involved, from over 1,500 miles away. And we prayed that these books would help bring “hope for tomorrow” that these kids did not have before.
Back2Back supports the Christian Alliance for Orphans in their shared passion for caring for orphans. The Christian Alliance for Orphans unites orphan-serving organizations and churches to ignite passion and build excellence for Christ-honoring orphan care, foster youth and adoption ministry.
This Sunday, November 8th, is Orphan Sunday, a day created by the Christian Alliance for Orphans to honor the 148 million orphans in the world. Below are a few thoughts from the Christian Alliance for Orphans. For more information and resources, visit the Orphan Sunday website.
Thoughts on Orphan Sunday from the Christian Alliance for Orphans
Orphan Sunday is November 8th.
On November 8, 2009, Christians will do something we’ve never done before. We’ll stand with a united voice across America and beyond for the orphan. Our prayer is that this Orphan Sunday will be remembered as the day that launched a revolution. Building on the many ways God is already stirring, local events across the country will help catalyze heart change…and action. Already, we see hints of revolution in these numbers: over 50 excellent Christian organizations have united behind the movement; more than 75 volunteer coordinators are promoting efforts across the U.S. We anticipate hundreds of events that will touch thousands of lives. Clearly, God is calling many to a revolution in response to the Biblical mandate to care for His precious children. How will you be part of this historic day? An Orphan Sunday activity can be a Sunday morning sermon or prayer…the launch of an orphan initiative…a small group gathered to pray… a Sunday school class or youth group event.
- Tape a waiting child’s picture to your dashboard and pray for the child every time you’re in a car. Visit AdoptUsKids.org or RainbowKids.com. Organize an evening prayer vigil at your church and pray for children in foster care or an orphanage overseas.
2. SPEAK UP for them
-Carry a waiting child’s picture and show it to other believers. Ask if they, or someone they know, would give this child a home. Become a court appointed special advocate for a child in foster care. Visit NationalCASA.org for details.
3. PROVIDE for their needs
-Give sacrificially to a reputable orphanage. Financial gifts can be designated for specific items and aid needed by orphans. Visit HelpOrphans.org for more information. Organize a drive in your church to collect school supplies for children in foster care or shoes for orphans overseas. Visit GainUSA.org or ShoesForOrphanSouls.org.
4. SUPPORT those who support them
- Mow, baby sit, or organize meals for a week for foster parents. Pray with them and tell them you appreciate what they do. Encourage a family adopting an older child by hosting a shower for them. Partner with an orphan care organization or ministry.
5. PROTECT them from harm
-Become a foster parent or emergency foster parent. Raise money to build a children’s home to help remove children from the streets. Visit WorldOrphans.org for details. Support an existing children’s home. Contact Back2Back Ministries to find out how you can help (513-754-0300).
6. VISIT them where they are
-Go on a mission trip to an orphanage as an individual or family. Support reputable orphan care organizations on a regular basis.
7. GIVE sacrificially to them
-Contribute generously to an adoptive family to help offset their costs. Visit ShaohannahsHope.org or LifeSongForOrphans.org.
8. ENCOURAGE them to press on
- Sponsor a child, support them financially, and encourage them through your letters. Contact Back2Back Ministries (513-754-0300) if you are interested in sponsoring one of the children that we serve. Become a mentor or tutor to a teenager in a foster group-home.
9. ADOPT them into your family
-Give a child a home through international, domestic, or foster care adoption. Adopt a young adult who has aged out of the system.
10. MOBILIZE your church for them
-Be a catalyst in your church for starting a sustained orphans ministry. Visit HopeForOrphans.org for resources and to learn more about attending a Your Church and the Orphan™ workshop. Organize a church mission trip to serve at an orphange.
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Watch videos at Vodpod and other videos from this collection.
