Merry Christmas from Back2Back Ministries!

Ephesians 4:4-7 says, “We are all one body, we have the same Spirit, and we have all been called to the same glorious future.” This Christmas season, we are grateful for you and your commitment to joining us in providing care for today and hope for tomorrow to orphans around the world. We rejoice that we serve a God who is in passionate pursuit of the orphan child. As you gather with family and friends to celebrate, thank you for continuing to remember the orphans we serve. On behalf of all of us at Back2Back, thank you for being a part of the Back2Back family and for serving alongside us!

 

Give a gift of hope this Christmas!

This Christmas, give a gift of hope 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 bring hope to an orphan this Christmas.

View it here.

Give a gift of hope this Christmas!

This Christmas, give a gift of hope 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 bring hope to an orphan this Christmas.

Look for the gift catalog in the mail this month or you can view it here.

High, Low, Thankful, by The Whited Family, Back2Back Mexico Staff

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  This Christmas was very interesting.  We had never realized how dependant we were on the mental stimulus for the holidays that comes from the weather, fireplaces, stores playing music (in English) and the constant reminder from the upcoming ABC Family Christmas shows.   But rest assured with all of those things gone we still had four amazing and very real reminders of exactly what time of year it was!

Most of the kids we work with have somewhere to go for Christmas:  mom or dad, aunt or uncle, grandparent, someone that will step in and at least help them avoid the pain of waking up alone in a children’s home on Christmas morning; but a few don’t.

We had the opportunity to have a family of four at our house for the Christmas Holiday.   In the midst of our very limited Spanish and their non existent English, these 14, 12, 11, and 10 year olds gave us a crash course on what Christmas was all about. We had such a great time.  We played Wii, fed them sugar cereal, and took them out for hamburgers. (All of which was a first for them) There was money donated from a few people that had been on mission trips to Back2Back for their Christmas gifts.  It was a real joy watching them open their gifts and have stockings with their names on them.  One of the boys loves music and playing the guitar.  A B2B supporter from the United States bought him a used acoustic guitar and sent it down, he was ecstatic when he saw it!

For those of you that know us well or have had dinner with us as a family, you have probably experienced the Whited mealtime tradition of “High, Low, and Thankful”.  The point is to create conversation, purposeful rabbit trails, and a structured format to share your day with the others around the table.  A day or two before Christmas a good friend of mine named Rodolfo was also a guest for dinner and since he is fluent in five languages I thought this would be the perfect night for high low and thankful.

As we went around the table I was completely shocked and caught off guard by what these kids had to say.  I thought for sure the rare break from beans and tortillas would be a big hit.  Maybe the Carmel corn and amazing line up of movies we picked out would be on the list. Based on the kind of “lows” I have some days, I was even a little nervous to include that part of the game knowing it could get ugly or negative pretty quick.  After all was said and done there was one common theme with each one of these kids.  Each and everyone, above all else, were thankful to have a family to be with for Christmas!  No gifts, no snacks, no movie, just time and attention…love.  The part that really threw me off was that in spite of being asked the same question in different ways not even one of the four could come up with a single “low”.

I have had a lot of Christmas’s, but even with no snow and no TV, I have never felt like I was more in the center of what the season is all about than at that table looking at four lonely kids loving being loved.

Thank you for all of your prayers and support, we miss you all!

The Whited Family

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from all of us at Back2Back!  May the peace and joy of the holiday season be yours today and always!

Click on the video below to enjoy a special Christmas greeting, Deck the Halls, performed by some of the children at Del Norte, a children’s home that Back2Back serves.

Send a message of hope this Christmas season!

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 Friday between 9am and 3pm 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.

Crossing Cultures, by Ruby Moyer & Kathy Couch, Back2Back Mexico Staff

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.

Christmas in Galeana, by Jim Betscher, Back2Back Mexico Staff

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

 

 

Worshiping 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.

The Heart of Jesus, by Jessica Biondo, Back2Back Mexico Staff

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!

Merry Christmas!

A Rio Christmas, by Hope Maglich, Back2Back Mexico

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.

All in All, by Jessica Biondo, Back2Back Mexico Staff

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

Back2Back Christmas Gift Catalog: Give a Gift to a Child in Need

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.

Back2Back Christmas Cards

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.

Christmas Cards from Back2Back are now available! All proceeds to benefit the children we serve!

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.