First I want to apologize for how overdue this newsletter is and therefore how long it is! There has been so much going on but it is no excuse for not keeping you all updated. I am so excited to fill you in on some of the praise reports God has done from this last season. (I know it’s long! So if you only read one thing, read the last bit)
Mommy store news: A big thank you to those in the states who have donated items for me to take over in my suitcase to fill the mommy store we have here! We also purchased baskets from the ladies who make them in the village we go to every week and passed them out to the local pastors here to take back to their churches to fill up. We have had a great response from them and it’s been great to watch the body of Christ work together to get these shelves full! We have also been able to hand out several baby baskets to some of our clients who have already had their baby (that’s how I know I’ve been here a while haha). They have loved receiving this precious gift complete with a little baby bible tucked inside.
Promotional things: After printing out around 1000 flyers, I was able to go to a local market with 100s of people several times around January and February and start handing them out. I was also able to head out to a couple of hospitals in town with a translator and speak to their directors about us and leave flyers with them. Your faithful donations and prayers helped make all this possible!
Massive answer to prayer: I was also able to extend an invitation to the pregnancy clinic down the road (abortions are performed there) to come and see who we are and what we do. After the tour the director said she was really impressed with what we are doing and was excited to know there was a place like ours she could refer women to. She said many women might be afraid to speak to a doctor or a psychiatrist, but here in our building they would feel safer and more at home and that we would also be able to offer the spiritual side to things which they were not allowed to do. She said she would start referring the clients she wasn’t sure what to do with to us which is a huge answer to prayer!
Making an impact on teenage girls: I was able to host a “girl’s evening” in CREO with a handful of lovely teenage girls who were new believers. It was such a blessing to get to pour into them on topics like: Gods love for them, their worth/value, why we should save sex for marriage, signs of abuse, being equally yoked, and abortion awareness. They had so many questions and were excited to see the center and even wanted ultrasounds. I was thrilled to have this time where God could lavish on his daughters and make them feel special and loved. Please pray we get to have more opportunities like this. Your donations helped me get them tasty treats and make goodie bags for them.
Our first Abortion healing story: An older man came to CREO one day with a group of people and was listening intently to what we do here. He came up to me afterwards with tears in his eyes saying how incredibly important this work was. He said he wished there was a place like this when he was younger because it might have saved him lifelong suffering and he hoped those coming here could be spared his pain. He went on to share his story of how when he was younger his girlfriend had an abortion despite him begging her not to. As he was speaking I quickly realized that the enemy had him firmly in his web of lies and he had yet to receive God’s grace, love, and freedom from this. For over 25 years the enemy had been beating him continually with lies of shame, guilt, condemnation, and telling him he needed to be punished for this. So I started praying.
When he had finished speaking I looked him in the eye and said “God had this center put here not only for women but for you. It is your time for freedom.” I started to speak into his life the things I felt God wanted me to share with him and I could see God lifting that weight off his shoulders as God revealed His truth to him. When we were finished talking and praying together it was like he was a different man. In his tear filled eyes I could now see hope of what God could do for him rather than despair and regret.
Church news: There is a home church I go to that outgrew the home they were meeting in. Well, I had this huge space that I didn’t use Sunday evenings so I offered it up to them. Calvary Fellowship has been meeting in the pregnancy center Sunday evenings since January and it has been such a blessing for them and us. Not only is many of their congregation helping as volunteers, but it also gives us a church to refer clients to that they would be more familiar with. They have already been an impact on the community as well. Please be continuing to pray over this amazing connection and that their church would be blessed and therefore the neighborhood would start to be saturated with Jesus.
Volunteers for CREO: We were able to host our first ever volunteer banquet in April! We had about 20 show up who were either volunteers, board members, financial supporters, or pastors. It was a lovely evening and we were so grateful to your support that made it possible to put this on!
Heartbeat International Conference: We (two volunteers and myself) were able to attend this conference virtually and learned so much about working in a pregnancy help center! I also had the privilege of being one of the speakers and did a lesson on "Hearing God's Voice".
What has been happening in the back ground: Ever since God first told me about this project in January 2020, I have always felt He told me that I wouldn’t be in Mexico for a long time. That my job was to go get this up and running and then find someone local with a heart for this ministry to “pass the baton onto”. Around November 2021, during my prayer times, I was really starting to feel that my job was done (there are still many little details and things I have needed to do) and that I was to start really searching for the person God had for this.
Early on in the search, it was very clear that it would be good to offer some kind of part time pay to a full time director because many women here need to work to help support their families. I was starting to stress wondering where the money would come from and if this really was the right thing to do but as soon as I started stressing God brought a “random stranger” to our doors (nothing is random with God) who was interested in hearing more about Brilla Life and the pregnancy center. He asked what my needs were and I told him we were looking for a director and would like to offer a small payment to them. He left and we didn’t hear from him again for a few weeks but when we did he said that his company would like to finance the first year of a director for us! I was blown away and shocked (when will I stop being surprised by God? When will I ever learn?). Before we even had a director in place, God provided the funds. Tune into the next newsletter to see what God did next :)
