Pregnancy Center News for Aug. & Sept.

I hope and pray all of you are doing well and staying healthy. The first part of this is what August has been like, the middle is what September and October might look like, and the end is about the children’s book and random news like me joining a soccer team haha

The pregnancy center is officially called CREO (Centro de Recursos de Embarazo Olimpo) (this means: Olimpo pregnancy resource center, Olimpo is the name of the community that the center is located). CREO also means “I believe” in Spanish, so we think this worked out rather well!

Huge point of prayer: as of September 7, 2021 abortion is now legal (unpunishable) on demand across the ENTIRE country of Mexico. Before, abortion was only legal in a few states. I know that this grieves the heart of God tremendously and it grieves mine as well. We also found out there is a clinic right near ours that performs abortions and has been long before they made it legal. Please pray for us to be able to have a peaceful connection with that clinic, it would be amazing to see them start sending us the abortion minded women first so we can show them their baby before final decisions are made. With all that said, it is certainly clear that God had the timing and placement of CREO so perfectly planned.

I was able to get a website and face book page created for the center and also created a lot of the forms we will need. Alicia and a friend of mine came over one day to get it all translated. Alicia has been such a huge help with translation almost every day since I got back! She has done so many different documents for the center and translated for me in quite a few meetings with the doctor and midwife to get things set up. I’m so thankful God placed her here, not only for the translating help but also because she is a piece of my home and such a good friend who has known me for years.

We were able to open on August 23 as planned and so far “opening” entails of sitting at the door welcoming people who walk by to come help themselves to juice and cookies and offering free blood pressure checks. Once they are at our table we hand them flyers and tell them about CREO. Many have been so excited to hear about us and said that the work we are doing is much needed. We have already had one mom make an ultrasound appointment!

Thank you to those who faithfully support me financially. This month I have been doing a lot of shopping and buying; office supplies, boxes to organize the store, a big sign for the center, a phone for the center, a website, printing forms for clients to fill out and flyers, outfitting the kitchen with kitchen supplies, gas money to be able to drive to and from the center safely, and so much more! God has been so faithful through YOU so I can get everything CREO needs.

You can visit the CREO website (still "under construction") here: https://www.creolimpo.org/

Plodding onward….

This next month I hope to plan a pastors breakfast where we will hopefully hand out boxes that they can take back to their congregations to fill up with things for the mommy store we have. We are also hoping to get some volunteer interest this way as well! We are also thinking of asking several businesses in town if they would be willing to put a donation basket for diapers and wipes in their places of business. Please be praying for God to open the hearts of the business owners and pastors in this town.

Please continue to pray for the “business administration” side of this as there are still things that need to be done (there is still no one to fill this role) such as setting up finances and getting a laptop for the center so we can keep track of patients and such. I have a list a mile long of things to do and people to meet with on top of being at the center all the hours it is open, so it is a busy season for sure!

Side prayer: Someone broke into my car the other day and stole the battery so please be praying they don’t do that again…a friend I have here has had his stolen 4 times and now he takes it inside his house with him every night so it won’t get stolen. Car repairs may be cheap here but batteries for some reason are not.

Random news:

Meanwhile Brilla Life continues with its classes (we have a few new students now from the flyers Alicia and I handed out, thanks for praying for that!), soccer tournament (Ben and I are part of one of the teams and I have the bruises to prove it haha), and visiting the villages.

I had a really fun birthday; I threw a Christmas party where (per Mexican tradition) I got cake smashed in my face. We also took piñatas to the village to celebrate the August birthdays and so I had my very first birthday piñata!

Also, several friends of mine and Alicia went out the other day to just start sharing the gospel with people. We had some really cool God stories come from it and we hope to make this something we do on a regular basis.

Exciting news! The first copies of my childrens book were sent to my house for me to look over and approve before a major print. They actually arrived the same day the momma made her appointment for her ultrasound. God ask me to do these two things at the same time and I think it is really cool that they have been progressing at the same pace. Only God can plan the timing of the opening of the center with a physical printed copy of the childrens book. I am in awe of His faithfulness, provision, and plan every single day as it unravels before my eyes. CREO is His, the childrens book is His, and my life is His so I am excited to see what He is going to do with it all! Please pray that I would continue to remain faithful to Him and obedient in the face of sacrifices, trails, battles, and loneliness.