Israel: Listening to God's Will

Last year, some of our church members joined a trip to Israel that was very successful and inspirational.  There is something about visiting the sights were our Lord Jesus Christ walked and preached that is difficult to put into words.  The trip was such a blessing to all those that participated, that we decide to organize our own trip this year.  However, as most of you probably know from watching the news, the troubles between Israel and Hamas has thrown a wrench in our plans.

The trip has not been yet officially cancelled.  A few travelers have cancelled their plans and understandably so.   However, the bulk of the participants, who are all prayer warriors and strong in the faith, are still determined to go despite the turmoil in the region.  We will be taking the time this week to ask God to make it clear what His will is regarding our trip to Israel.  If it is His will we ask that He will clearly show us our purpose in going to such a volatile region at this time.  If it is not His will, that he will shut the doors and make it clear that we should not go.

We ask that you pray for us as we make this very important decision.  It could very well be that the Lord wants our prayer warriors there in Israel to pray for peace.  On the other hand, He may very well want us here in Laredo.  We do not yet know, but pray that the Lord will show us soon.

The Bubble Home Project: The Rodriguez Story

The Bubble Home Project is a community based program designed to match needy families with fully furnished and decorated mobile homes.  The Rodrguez family was one of the first families accepted by the Bubble Home Program.  In January, they will have lived in their home for three years.

Several years ago Sonia Rodriguez and her family had purchased a trailer as a temporary residence while they saved to buy a home.  As her family grew and the bills piled up, the trailer became permanent and the dream of buying a home became less and less of a possibility.  The trailer could only fit three beds and that was clearly not enough for her and her husband and their four children.  Even though their trailer had two bathrooms, the second bathroom had to be used as storage so all six had to share a bathroom.  In a country where many children have their own bedroom, the four Rodriguez children all shared one room.  The family's bills kept growing and her husband's salary could not meet them all.  Things in the trailer kept breaking down and water started leaking into the trailer.  She considered herself and her family to be in a very desperate situation.

At that point is when she started hearing in the news of a program called the Bubble Home Project that would help poor families find homes.  She struggled with the decision to apply or not.  She felt that there were far needier families, but at the same time she knew their living conditions had to change.  She spoke with Pastora Lucy who encouraged her to apply and leave it in God's hands.  To their surprise, they were approved having met the programs requirements.

The new mobile home was an answer to her prayers.  Every day she would recite Psalm 23.

[[A Psalm of David.]] The LORD [is] my shepherd; I shall not want.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. 

He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou [art] with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. 

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou [art] with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

God certainly did provide.  The new trailer was better equipped to fit their family's needs, particularly for the children who now had more space.  It was also nice to move into a home that was furnished, clean, and unencumbered by things.  The trailer even came with new appliances.

Community service was a requirement for the home recipients and Sonia was happy to volunteer.   The idea had come up about baking bread and selling it at the farmers market to raise funds for the project so she threw herself into that effort.  She really enjoyed it and worked hard in preparation for the market once a month.  It allowed her to use her creativity and she was able to develop her own recipes for the bread.  Her Pina Colada bread was one of the crowd favorites.

Once at the market, she noticed that many of the customers initially were hesitant to buy the breads because of certain ingredients such as zuchinni.  She therefore started offering samples to help people get a taste for the breads and telling them "las pruebas no se cobran."  Now, customers seek them out and the baking project has been very successful.  Other Bubble Home Project women have now taken the torch.

The idea of pay it forward is an important concept behind the Bubble Home Project and it resonated with Sonia.  Some of the furniture in her old trailer was still in good condition.  The new mobile homes, however, came completely furnished.  Sonia and her family therefore donated it for the church garage sales to raise money for the project to help other families.

Sonia and her family have fulfilled their community hours.  She is currently taking a break from the baking to meet the demands of her family.  However, at times when they have needed a little bit of extra cash, she has baked breads and gone out and sold them around town.  She says that she has felt proud of herself for being able to raise $100 here or a $100 there to help cover some of the bills. The Bubble Home Project didn't just give this family a home, it helped spark an entrepreneurial spirit.

Teaching Laredo's Poor Self-Sufficiency Through Farming

We are very excited about the En Gedi Ranch and the potential for it to be such a great program.  We are already seeing the fruit from this labor of love.

WHAT IS THE EN GEDI RANCH?
The En Gedi Ranch is part of the second phase of The Bubble Home Project.  Some of the last few mobile homes were placed on the outskirts of the city where there is little to no community help.  For example, they do not even have a fire department.  The area is rural in nature and its inhabitants are some of the poorest in Laredo and its surrounding regions.

Even though the residents of this community may live in a trailer or shack, it is common for them to own their own lots.  When the Bubble Homes were placed in this community, we got the idea of helping those families maximize that resource which they do have, land.  By teaching the families the skills they need in farming and husbandry they could make the best use of their land.  

At En Gedi, the families are being taught how to plant and nurture their own produce.  This is a way for families to cut some of their costs by growing their own food, but it also connects them back to the land.  These are skills that have been forgotten, but essential for self-sufficiency, and skills they can put to use on their own lots.

At the ranch we are growing squash, cucumbers, onions, zucchini, cucumbers, for example.  We also have fruit trees and livestock.  The produce is then sold at the Farmer's market.  Earnings from the farmer's market are used back at the ranch to cover expenses.  Families that contribute and volunteer at the ranch also collect their share of the produce.

Watch the clip from a local news station on our Ranch. 

AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAM
The ranch also offers an after-school program for the children.  Many of the adults in this community work late so the children were spending a lot of time just roaming around the streets on their own.  We have built a center with a computer lab where the kids will be able to do their homework and have a place to hang out.  As part of the after school program, the children will also be taught to care for farm animals to keep them occupied while their parents are at work, but also as a way to help their families.  They are being taught how to take care of rabbits, chickens and quails as part of their daily chores.

Once again, just like in the Bubble Home Project, this is a community effort with volunteers from different agencies and organizations.  A family with agricultural experience has left the comforts of their home to live in a trailer on the ranch and supervise and help with ranch activities.  Others will be coming to give classes for the children and adults at the ranch.  The Bubble Home Families themselves have contributed through their fundraising activities. And we always have he help of missionaries that come and lend a hand however they can.

YOUR HELP
We are making a concerted effort to grow the produce organically.  However, we have found that some of the pests here in Texas are making this difficult.  We would be interested in anyone that could provide their expertise in this area to minimize and/or eliminate the use of pesticides.  If you are interested in volunteering/donating to help us with the ranch in anyway, please contact Pastora Lucy. 

Medical Brigade Coming on Saturday, Sept 22

Here are New Vision we understand how expensive medical care can be and how expensive medical insurance is.  Therefore,  we are once again proud to offer a medical clinic for those individuals that do not have insurance.  Forty doctors from the University of Texas at Galveston will be here at New Vision Community Church to provide care in the areas of internal medicine, ophthalmology, and physical therapy.  The clinic will be opened from 9AM-4PM on Saturday, September 22, 2012.

Thanks again to the volunteers that make this happen. 

Community Outreach at its Best

Praying for a home before handing it over to the new residents.

The Bubble Home Project is one of our most successful community outreach programs here in Laredo, TX.  In short, through this project 41 poor families received a mobile home remodeled to meet their needs.  This, however, was not a hand-me-down freebie for these families.  We like to call this a hand-me-up opportunity.

The Vision
The project was the brain-child of local congressman Henry Cuellar of the 28th District of Texas.  When Congressman Cuellar heard that the government mobile homes used for Hurricanes Ike and Rita were being sold for offices, he thought of a better use.  He believed these homes could house some of Laredo's poorest.  In Cuellar's search for an agency to administer this project, he did not find any takers because whoever took on the task would have to come up with their own funding.  It was local Christian churches and organizations that actually stepped up to the plate.

New Vision Community Church brought this idea to life along with Laredo Stepping Stone Ministries and Christ Church Episcopal.  The only guarantee we had from the Congressman was that if we could cover the transportation costs and pay the required fees to the government, the ownership of the mobile homes would be transferred over to the recipients.  All those fees came to approximately $7000 per trailer.  When the project began we had $0.  By project's end, we would raise over $287,000!!  All this was made possible through prayer, dedication of all the volunteers, the belief that God would provide, and the giving hearts of all those people that donated. We took used, unwanted mobile homes and transformed them into new homes for needy families.

The Congressman's vision was not misplaced.  Poverty in some parts of Laredo resembles third world conditions.  There are families living in places without basic needs where sometimes a family of four or five will live in a single room.  A mobile home presents a new start for families who live in these deplorable conditions.  That is why we at New Vision knew it was a worthwhile and godly endeavor although there would be many mountains to move. 

The Application Process
Once we took ownership of the Bubble Home Project, then began the process of developing a way that families could apply to receive a home.  We knew that we did not want to give "freebies" to families.  We wanted these families to be held accountable and for them to take responsibility for making this happen.  Townhall meetings were set up to inform potential applicants of the requirements for application.  It was not surprising many dropped out once they understood what it would entail.

Sample of the Decorations Inside

Some of the requirements made of each family included US citizenship and/or legal residency, random drug testing, criminal background checks, mandatory training sessions, community hours to include fundraising, and help in transforming the mobile homes.  Upon receiving the homes, they would be under a 24 month probationary period before the deed would be officially transferred into their name.  In the end, 44 families were chosen.  Three ended up losing their homes by not meeting the requirements of the probationary period.  And although it saddened us, we knew these homes needed to go to individuals that were willing to put forth the effort to begin a new life. All in all, 41 families received homes.

The Homes
When we received the homes they were not in the best conditions.  These homes had to be thoroughly cleaned and we made plans to provide the homes completely furnished.  A lot of thought went into how to decorate the home for each family. A professional photograph was also taken of each family upon acceptance of their application and the photograph would then be framed and placed in the home.

Sewing Class

  Where We Are Today
As of today, 17 families have completed probationary period and met their requirements and we are in the process of transferring the deeds.  We are extremely proud of their accomplishments and all that they have learned through the process.  As part of the program and part of the mandatory training they needed to receive was instruction in specific trades to give them skills that they could use to economically support themselves.  The men received classes in welding and plumbing while the women received classes, in sewing, cooking and baking.  Not only they did receive these classes, they also got the opportunity to put these skills to use.  Many of the women sewed and baked and sold their items at the Laredo farmers market as a way to fund raise.  The head of households also received money management courses and we are proud to say that as of today 50% of our families are now debt free!!

Paying it Forward
Our motto was "hand-me-up" which was a pay-it-forward attitude.  Every family that received a home would then help with the next family's home.  That help would include cleaning and putting to use the skills they learned in their classes (i.e. plumbing, welding, sewing, etc).  The families as a whole were also responsible for forming a group and through their own elections picked a president, vice-president, and treasurer.  The group was made responsible for planning and executing fundraisers.  We felt that getting the families involved in this way would not only help them understand civic duty, but also give them a sense of ownership for making this happen.

There are two Bible verses at work here:  

 II Thessalonians 3:10  "For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat."

Luke 6:38 "Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you."

This project began on November 9, 2009 the date of our first fundraiser.  Almost three years later, we were able to get 41 families into homes.  At the beginning, we would have never thought we would be able to raise enough money to get these many homes.  Yet, through God's grace, hard work, and the belief that in the end God would provide, we did it!

Thanks to everyone that made this happen:  Randy Leyendecker at Stepping Stone Ministries, Pastor Paul Frey at Christ Episcopal Church,  Jaime Arizpe at Health and Human Services Commission Offices and Roger Creery at the Laredo Developmental Foundation.  Also thank you to all the Christian artists who donated their time and CDs in the fundraising efforts; local foundations, ministries and churches that donated money; and to our mission teams that worked hard to clean and decorate the mobile homes.  This was truly a community effort. 

Watch our Video to see the impact this effort made.

Look for our future blogs for the stories of the individual families and their growth through this process.

Our First Blog

New Vision is an outreach ministry in Laredo, TX.  We are excited to finally join the blogging world!  In future blogs we hope to bring you pictures and testimonies on the work our church is doing here in Laredo, TX.  We conduct the work of a regular Christian church with weekly services, prayer nights, and ministering to all of God's people.  However, we are also very involved in our community helping the people of Laredo not only rely on God, but showing them how to use their God-given talents to build their self-confidence and help them become economically self-sufficient.