..........................Short but really sweet!

Hello everyone...we're back! God did some great things through us this past week. Although, it was not a long trip God did place us in the right places at the right times!
On our way to the children's home to give the kids a guitar that was donated, Israel was able to help a man who had twisted his 18wheeler truck off the side of the road. He had been there since 2am when the accident happened. He had a big gash in his knee that Israel bandaged up good and also took the opportunity to witness to the man.
This trip was different than we were expecting..we were prepared to do village ministry and show movies, but God didnt lead us in that direction. We ministered along the way at restaurants, at motels and at the waterfalls in Tamasopo, San Luis Potosi. We also had divine appointments with people that made contacts in more specific areas. While in Tamasopo for the day, Israel had to get the suburban in to see a mechanic and get the break pads changed. He witnessed and gave bibles out to 2 or 3 men there and used the opportunity to share about the love of God.
Later that morning we went to the waterfalls that we had heard about, which weren't far from where we were driving into, west of Tampico towards the city San Luis Potosi.


Around lunch time an older woman had fallen like 8feet from a rocky spot near a waterfall and Israel saw that people started running in that direction and immediately joined the rush to see what had happened. He had another chance to be in the right place at the right time! She had hit her head and face in several places, there was NO one else that had supplies or medical skill around. Israel wrapped her head and kept her calm and they loaded her in the back of a truck on a back board.


The pictures tell the stories, unfortunately we werent able to get as many ministry pictures as it wasnt convenient in every situation.
We were blessed to bless some with Bibles and share the gospel on a more individual basis on this trip.
On our drive home we spent the night in Diez De Abril,(just a few hours south of the US border) a village where Israel's parents have a ministry house by the church there. We had a great time visiting and encouraging some of the believers there and the pastors fed us dinner in their home :)
I left some of my children's ministry materials with them for their children's Sunday school classes....




Thanks everyone for your prayers and support for this trip, it was a lot of driving, we're glad to be out of the car. We thank God for His protection over us that got us home safely.

until next time....blessings!

...................... READY, SET....GO!

Hey guys! We are so glad to tell you we are almost packed and ready to make our ministry-camping trip back into the Veracruz, Mexico area!

Here the girls are helping me get things organized for the village children. Things like tooth brushes, toothpaste, crayons, crafts and medical supplies have been donated to us! Again, the Lord has used some of His servants to help us minister the Good News of Jesus. We want to bless the people we touch as much as we can!


I also have coloring pages and enough items to cover over 100 children. We'll be reading them Bible stories and teaching them songs about Jesus.

We cant wait to let you know how its going, we'll update when - IF - we can while we're there. We may have to wait to access the internet until we come back into the USA.

Please keep us in your prayers...thank you so much for urging us on... You are apart of the bridge that fills the gap between us and the people in need. We appreciate you greatly!

Much love, the Baileys!

........................a word of encouragement and our next trip!

Salutations in the name of the Lord!

God is so good and His name, Jesus, is worthy of our meditations, our conversations, and our song! He wants your whole heart of devotion this day. May He be the center and focus of why we live and breathe.
As I think about how RICH we are in Him, oh how He loves us! He has blessed us with spiritual gifts beyond the imagination of those of the world. Riches with carnal eyes are of wealth with material things. Proverbs tells us to seek wisdom more than that and not to trust in our earthly riches that are soon to perish where the rust destroys.
Let this letter be to you an encouragement in good works, in which we were created for In Him. Ephesians 2:10 (i do love that verse! what joy i have to know we are created with a purpose, not to collect dust, not to die without the hope to see Jesus afterwards and hear his sweet voice say "well done my servant")
We may not leave some great legacy for those who will follow behind, like the great founders of our country, or those in the faith(Hebrews 11). We may not have books written about us, be caught on TV for the good things we've done, we may not ever be mentioned here on earth but - let us rejoice that our names are written in the book of life - and not forget Who knows your name.
For we were created with a great purpose (Jeremiah 29:11) To spread the gospel of Jesus Christ! We were commissioned to GO out into our world and make Him famous! Matthew 28:19

Mark 8:38 says this - If anyone is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels.

God tells us to ask Him for boldness and wisdom when sharing the gospel and being a witness for Him. The Holy Spirit will give you the words...share your faith in Christ!! - with the lost, the sick and hurting people around you in your mission field: your neighbors, your co-workers, the random people God places in your path and your family!

The mission is heavy laid on our hearts to go into Mexico again. We're making this trip early since we are ready and able!
We'll be camping out this time! Yes, we are equipped with a tent and all the necessities!

The agenda: we're going to scout out a few new villages in Veracruz, around the area of the children's home. In the new villages, we'll do ministry to the children as well as show movies to the people in the evenings.

I'm gathering small toys, toothbrushes, crayons, coloring pages, etc. we also have the salvation colored bracelets to give away. It comes with a card explaining each color. Black for sin which separates us from God, Red for the blood of Jesus which makes us clean, and so forth.. If you have never seen the salvation message explained by the colors, google that! Its a really easy way to share your faith. I'm planning small VBS type lessons with the children, pray for this to come easy since I'm not quite fluent with Spanish yet. Israel will be helping me and we're taking the guitar to teach them Spanish praise songs.

There is always a chance to face opposition in new areas, please pray for protection over us and our vehicle.

The movies we will show are the Nativity, the Jesus film and the Passion of the Christ with some movie equipment and a screen.

Our desire and hope is to find at least one village that has no church and has never received Christ, please pray for the Lord's direction and leading.

Isa. 55:12 - "For you shall go out with joy, And be led out with peace.." We pray the same for you who reads this!!!

We know that the Lord has us in the palm of His hand...

Psalm 91:9 - Because you have made the Lord your dwelling place, no evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your tent.



May the grace of our Lord be with you...now and always. May we stay blameless til He comes.

Thank you for reading, for keeping us in your prayers and for your friendship. You are loved!

Blessings!

The Bailey 4

.....................Time in slow motion for a moment...

The future for us is like looking out into the ocean... The possibilities for ministry in Mexico are unending.
When we came home from Veracruz there were lots of things waiting on us to be done! Our Post Office box had lots of good stuff for us to catch up on, our travel trailer and our Suburban needed maintenance, and as of last week, we have sold our Chevy Lumina! A lot of things have been going on for us in a short time!

For this month we're focusing not only on what we'll be doing this summer in Mexico..but also spending lots of special time with our girls.

Here are some fun pictures I thought you would enjoy!

Cousins together! My niece Katie with the blue balloon just turned 3. Allison is her sister in the pink shirt.

Ministry update to come soon....

;)

...........................................................Blessings on the way out...to see whats behind the next door!

Well everyone I'm slightly behind on posting, I know!! Its WAY over due!

We've had lots of opportunity to bless the communities around us... here Israel is helping our base group build benches for a local church about an hour away in a city called Martinez. The kids love to help out with these projects!

After building the benches the people of the church prepared lunch for us, we had banana leaf tamales. They we're pretty yummy and a tad bit spicy but our girls ate them up too!



Moriah had a great little birthday, April 15th she turned 2 years old! I made two chocolate cakes to see that everyone got their fill!!



You will see two new children in this picture that have been added to the children's home. Nadin is 5 and his brother Fransisco is 10 years old. Fran is in the orange shirt and Nadin is here with Israel in this picture. Chicken Mole - prepared by Anna and Irene.


Later in the evening we celebrated our departure with a special Mexican meal called Chicken Mole!! It was also a wonderful time of getting everyone together. We ate, we cleaned the kitchen, then we sat and visited...the guys, I think, played soccer outside way into the dark evening hours and had a great time together...we left the next morning and headed home...

We've had a wonderful time at the children's home there in Veracruz, and we've fulfilled all that we set out to accomplish there...we will pop in and visit the kids and families from time to time.

....and now its time to look into what God has for us next...our hearts are set on the unreached people back in the mountains of Veracruz and Hidalgo, Mexico.

We're home in Lubbock, Texas now and preparing for our next trip!~
Getting all sorts of things together, we are currently working on a newsletter, doing maintenance on our traveling automobile, the Suburban, and taking care of business.

Thank you so much for all your prayers and your support! With your help, we'll be winning souls for Christ and doing the 'works' that He has created us for in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2:10
Let us all run with endurance the race set before each of us...

Please remain in prayer for us in this time for we are surely having our faith stretched to believe God for the provision for the journey ahead!

May God bless you in all that you do on your journey this summer....

Happy Birthday to Evey - she is 4 years old!

March 17th was Evey's birthday! So we baked a cake and celebrated with her ALL day! Here under the palapa we shared cake with the people and all the kids had some! What a wonderful time we all had. They made it extra special by singing lots of "birthday" songs to her and everyone came and gave her a great big hug! We got Evey a Mexican dress, from here in town, and she loves it! There is a picture below of her in the dress.







This is a man we were able to help get a PET - Personal Energy Transportation - like a wheel chair, but it can handle the terrain in Mexico better. We were blessed to bless this man!


Things are going well. Yet, there are prayer requests we would like to share with you about our endeavors.
First let me share with you some things that may stir you up to good works! (Heb. 10:24)
This week we met a pastor, Nicolas, from a town not an hour from our town, Flores Magon. Israel is meeting new pastors often and finding out there are TONS of villages all over the mountainous area here just a few hours away from where we live. These places speak several different dialects and it is very likely that some have never heard the Truth of Jesus Christ. This summer we are gearing up to get back into these villages, whatever it takes! We want to get a set of movie equipment and show the Jesus film and other movies like The Passion of the Christ. We also hope to get these movies in the languages of the people we go to.

Prayer requests:

1. Financial support -
We are more than willing to go and be the feet to take the gospel to the unreached of Veracruz Mexico, but we must have the bridge to fill this gap of finances. If you desire to participate with us and be the hand that gives a Bible to someone who has never owned one, please pray about what amount you are able to give.

2. The materials we need - the movie projector and screen, the movies ( in the different languages)
3. We also want to take things to the people like reading glasses and Bibles :)

Thanks for your prayer support!! With love, The Bailey 4

our puppet stage is up!

One day at a time...

Its been two weeks since my last update via the blog...I hope you, whoever reads this, is encouraged to keep the faith in the work God has set out for you, specifically. I also know that you too, have trials of your own that you are facing and giants that you are currently defeating in Jesus name! May we lift our eyes to the hills, from where does our help come from? The Lord, almighty to save, is with us to be our comfort, our refuge and also to fight our battles that we may be victorious in Him, that He receives all the glory! Amen!
You may think I wrote that for you alone, but no, I say it for me too! The bible tells us to encourage ourselves in the faith, to stir it up inside us! right?! and boy have I needed it this week!

We may think a 'battle' must be of certain size for it to be called that, and you may think my battle is a small concern and should not have been made bigger. But when mold starts to grow throughout your house, on your walls, on the shoes in the closet, all over the bathroom, this is no small fight! This is a battle we will most likely face as long as we are here but it will not be one to kick me while I'm down! Hah! It has been trying our patience and our stamina, but with Clorox we have it under control. Not to mention the fruits of the Spirit, amen! I've been leaning on Christ and His strength because my strength, due to allergies to the mold and life in general, has dwindled! My eye infection was most likely caused by the mold and Evey may have a slight allergy to it too. Its been a lot of work getting the mold cleared out and will take constant air movement with fans and open windows to keep it clean, not to mention the often scrub down in certain areas.

On a better note, God is moving in our hearts and with strategy we are moving out into the unknown places where people need to hear the good news of Jesus Christ and the redeeming love of God. A few days ago we traveled slowly, down a long and bumpy road for about an hour, until we came to a village finally, its called the 2nd of October, only 5 miles away! hah! and it doesnt have a church! We dont know anything about it but hopefully we will be able to go back soon, inquire, and make some friends...
In the meantime, life is happening here at the Children's Home. Day in and day out, we live as you do with laundry, meals to prepare, a house to clean, children to care for and the such. We are meeting new pastors in the area and continue to scope things our with purpose, seeking the Lord's will everyday.

The kids have been eager to sing and listen to us sing! So we taught them a song we know in Spanish and English and they are doing great with it! Some of you would know it...
"Hablemos de Christo/Let's talk about Jesus" is the name. Anyway, we will continue to teach English and try hard to make it fun and new for them every time we teach so they dont get too bored with it. So pray for our creativity to come alive as we teach them.

Thanks, love and God bless you all...

(if you read this, please leave a comment in the box below and let us know how things are going in your life too! Thanks!)
-okay there may not be a comment box click "comments" it should take you to a box! ;)

Surely goodness and mercy...

...is following us! Moriah is very well! Thank You Jesus! She has finished out her meds and has been her normal -eat everything edible- self! She is an explorer, loves the beach, love the children and the food!! Evey does also, even the spicy stuff! They are enjoying their time here, as long as we arent far they are so comfortable in their surroundings. I thank God they are not afraid but Evey already has such a wise spirit about her to keep a good watch over her little sister.

After a really exhausting and somewhat rough week with Moriah's illness and mine( Les- I came down with some sort of eye or sinus infection, but I'm much better now) we see the light growing at the end of a tunnel it seems! haha!
So yesterday we went to celebrate Irene's birthday about an hour away with all the kids, at her family's home...
Irene is here at the stove cooking and that is her Mom in the blue shirt.







God is so good to His children that when we seek Him we can find Him. When we call to Him, He answers.



Here we are in the kitchen in the children's home and I'm cooking with Irene. We are making black beans with chorizo!

Irene, Aby, Leslie and Vanessa

This is Mauricio, he is the director here, he and Irene(his wife) are the "Dad and Mom" to the children. They are wonderful people who really have a heart to teach these children about the Lord and His ways. They have a Bible devotional every morning with the kids before they go to school.

We havent had a chance to use the puppet stage just yet. Although, Israel did find a CD player that was on sale for a really good price.



Rosa, Moriah, and Angeles

Evey and Suri


We are encouraged in the Lord that He has us here for a reason and a purpose, to impact the lives around us for His Kingdom and be used for His glory to lead people to Jesus.

Continue to pray with us for appointments by God, dreams, ideas and provision for the work here.

We love you all and miss you already!
Please leave a comment in the box below the blog! Thanks a ton everyone! Your friendship and encouragement means a lot! Blessings to you all!

The work has begun! Ephesians 2:10

This picture was taken on the way to a city an hour north of us called Poza Rica. (We shop there sometimes!)


Well, this is late! I know! and I'm sorry! It has been a long week. Good, but long. Where shall we begin?
God is good! thats a great start! He has been faithful at His word that says.......

Because you have made the LORD, [who is] my refuge, [Even] the Most High, your dwelling place. No evil shall befall you, Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling; For He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you in all your ways. In [their] hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone. Psalm 91:9-12

You will understand why i put this verse later on in the blog!

This week we have not wasted much time! The children, who (I must say!) are wonderful, are also thrilled that we are teaching them more English. We have an English class once a day during the week and today they took their first test. It was rather easy and fun but they are learning already! Things like "where is the restroom?" "Hello, my name is ____." and some Bible verses in English too.
and talk about learning!! HAH! I am learning so much Spanish, in addition to the poquito i already knew, It blows my mind! Really! it does! Its given me a headache already! Haha, just have to learn to pace myself! Cant take in the whole enchilada in one week!

Here are some of our kids!



(Left to right)
Charlie, Chuy, Zuriel (middle) and Miguel











Our classroom!

(this is like our own fairy tale! someone pinch me, is this a dream?)












This is the dwelling place of the kiddos.

Did I mention we're helping out a children's home? Well, I know you knew that but the next guy might not have known, sorry!









Israel went fishing with a huge cast net and we played...







and Israel caught a fish, a Pompano! and it made a fantastic dinner! He fried it up and cooked it, it was so good! tasted like chicken!



Up there is an awesome view that overlooks the beach.



Well now, back to the ministry part! Israel built the puppet stage! Thats really exciting to me but the weather is pretty crumby to do puppet ministry yet. Although, I do hope to start working with the kids with some puppetry skills pretty soon! Yey!

Israel also had the opportunity to preach last week and he does again this week at the same church. One of the couples who live and work here are pastors of this little church.
This building has no roof, windows or doors. but it works!


This has been a great experience so far and for the first week of getting settled in and all that jazz it was pretty low key...until this morning.
Moriah became sick very quickly after breakfast... she had diarrhea on and off all week but something wasnt right with her today! After her yucky diaper, she started to poo some more...i know this is gross but bear with me! - but it wasnt poo anymore! it was bright red blood and mucus! Yikes and scary! She then became pretty lethargic and threw up her breakfast. Immediately we start to speak the Word over her and pray. She continued with the bloody diaper for about 30 minutes on and off every 2-8 minutes....and we prayed. and it all stopped and she became her normal self within an hour! Thank you Jesus! Within that hour, we went to the children's directors/caretakers and they took us to the kids' doctor down the road a few miles. He is a Christian and available to us 24/7 it sounds like! What a huge blessing!
And so he knew exactly what it was! Moriah has had an attack from an ugly amoeba, which is a parasite. Not good! but shes fine! He gave her some meds and all but we really believe that God has healed her of this!
Reality Check -
Yeah, this is a beautiful place but its still a third world country and we must wake up every day willing to lay down our lives for the work God has called us to do. Its a scary thing when all of sudden your normal baby flipflops from smiles to suffering. But its not the first time! When Evey was 18 months old we were back in an indian village in the state of Hidalgo, Mx. She over night, became very ill with a rash all over her and it grew worse with swelling. She was fine of course after getting her to a nearby doctor and God providing the very thing she needed. Zytec drops for babies. She had an allergic reaction to an antibiotic.

Life is so NOT in our control. Today we felt so helpless but knew that our God was with us. After the trip to the Doctor and everything...we were sitting in the car and Jason Upton was singing in the CD player. His songs Not Alone and In Your Presence ministered greatly to me....In your presence all fear is gone, in Your presence is where I belong, it says. I sat and cried as we drove, only to know we were not alone... Although, it can easily feel that way sometimes.

We are so very grateful for His work in us and through us down here. We are honored to be used by Him and for Him. To God be the glory!

Thank you guys for all your prayers and please continue to pray for Moriah's complete healing.

More pics to come!


much love, peace and grace, The Bailey 4