“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” James 1:27 (NIV)

I thought of this verse often throughout our day today. Along with our host missionaries we teamed up again with the marvelous Misteco family, a local family (3 generations) that tirelessly serves their community in multiple ministries in the name of Jesus.  I learned today that the father and the three grown sons get up at 4 am to work their farm, wearing headlamps to light their journey halfway up a mountain to their farm land that is only reached via foot then return to town to begin their busy ministering day.  This is not easy but they meet it with joy and smiles…and they are really fun too!

We started the day preparing for a 12 o’clock (noon) soup kitchen where the community in need come to collect enough food to feed the children and widows.  We cleaned and chopped veggies, cooked chicken and noodles, swept up and mopped up, bumped elbows and laughed, shared our stories and practiced Spanish and English. Then came the people with their bowls to fill. The local people, without exception, have been so kind, welcoming, grateful and sincerely interested in each of us.  It is pure joy to be among them!

The afternoon was filled with home visits to 2 families and 1 elderly women, sprinkled with journeying through the village (and ice cream) and ended with a bible study at the local police station.  Seriously, eleven gun toting bulletproof proof vest wearing men and women who gathered in the break room around Fernando (Misteco) who shared from the Bible a message that God is always in control.

I am grateful to be here! It is so beautiful! We are surrounded by lush volcanos and mountains!  What an amazing blessing to be here and to see God in all of it!  No matter how poor or how tragic the story…there is hope, hope that God will see you through it. Experiencing the things we have experienced this week has helped me to see how important it is to honor the human journey…loving it, living it, loving God, and loving others in all its wonder and tragedy.

Thank you for your love and support!

We are well!

Much love and blessing!