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gonzalez family newsletters
March 2003
What happened in February?
On February 19, 52 participants from Illinios came to Matamoros,
Mexico to share the Gospel of Jesus with the Mexican people in two colonias:
1) Colonia Reforma, and 2) Colonia Las Flores. This group worked with
two pastors. Pastor Carlos Gonzalez and pastor Ruben Rubio. Thank you so much
for praying for this trip. The rehabilitation center and the Women's shelter
made a lasting impression on the participants. The group built a small house
for two different families. See the picture of house 1 below. They also build
a small church building for a new church that pastor Ruben Rubio is planting.
See the before and after pictures below. The whole family was able to go on this
trip which was so great! It was so fun for me (Jennifer) to watch how they did
their VBS. They did a fantastic job. One neat thing that this group did was
bringing quilts down for the people. It does get quite cold here and they have
little protection with their homes. During VBS they had the children make little
quilting squares which the Americans will take home, make into a quilt and bring
back next year. Katie and Hannah got to make a few of these squares. What a neat
project. This team also brought lots of Polaroid Cameras and took lots of pictures
of the people to give them. Most of the Mexicans in that Colonia do not have family
pictures. It was a great way to bond with them. Thank you again for praying for
this trip.
What happened in March?
110 college students from Austin, Texas came down Matamoros Mexico for a
week of ministry during their spring break. This group shared the gospel,dug
trenches for the foundation of the new church building at one site and painted
the inside of Marco Antonio's house at another site. They fed kids and mothers in
a poor part of Matamoros, visited the rehabilitation center, and ministered at
a local women's shelter. This group was especially excited, responsible, and full
of great ideas. Cesar and I focused on helping with VBS. It is so fun to watch
Cesar there. He just loves moving around doing caricatures, music, games, and
whatever. It really is a toss up between which of us is more focused on the VBS
ministry. As much as we try to focus on generally making sure everything happens
that needs to, we really make an effort to focus on kids individually. One little
girl I was with was Victoria. She and I sang together, did crafts together, and
just hung out. After the invitation I asked her to make sure she knew Jesus.
She said she did. I then asked her if she had a Bible at her house and she said no.
We got one for her and explained that she should read a chapter of John each day.
She promised she would. Later Cesar drew a Caricature of her and she was so excited.
I walked her to her house and she gave the drawing and Bible to her mom. Please
pray that this family would read the Bible and that they would understand it's
message.
Another thing that was great on this trip was just watching people's
reactions when they found out that I was Cesar's wife. It was just priceless.
They would just get these eyes as big as saucers and grin. They just see him as
someone who can do anything. Sometimes it's just good for a wife to see that look.
I think he's amazing too!
Tidbits you don't need to know:
This trip we discovered the true benefit of playing jenga. The kids were so
excited and said, "I saw this on TV!!" They played for a long time!!!
This trip gets my prize for worst outhouse. Just one trip was enough to
make you realize that you could hold it for quite a while.
If you want to see pictures from this trip go here:
http://www.adventures.org/a/reports/r3ph.asp?id=592
What's up in April?
210 participants will be coming to Matamoros, Mexico from Georgia. This is our
biggest project of the year!!! Can you even just imagine the amount of cereal
needed to feed that many teenagers. WOW!!! Our biggest need though is for 33
translators. Finding translators for each trip is such a big deal. Most of the
people talented enough to do it are usually working or in school. Right now we
have about 10 committed to translating. Please pray for this and for all of those
who will be ministering and being ministered to. It is quite a BIG WEEK and we
so need your prayers!!!
Thank You for All Your Prayers and Support!!!
Cesar, Jennifer, Katie and Hannah
1049 E. Matz Ave.
Harlingen, TX 78550
(956) 425-6440
cesargonzalez@adventures.org
jennifergonzalez@adventures.org
www.adventures.org
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