...La Vida Bendecida...

Hello! I realize that it has been almost an entire YEAR since my last blog post. where on earth have I been?!?!?

Well, here is a little bit of an update on the goings-on in the life of Jarilyn in Mexico...

**I am still serving at Door of Faith Orphanage, and LOVING it. This coming October will mark 3 years since I moved down here, originally committing to serve at DOFO for 3 months, and NEVER in a million years thinking that it would be possible to stay any longer than that.

But God has not only allowed me stay and continue and grow in the ministries going on here, but has provided for every need along the way, as He does. I am in His hands, and know that at any given time, He may call me to leave this place and serve elsewhere... but as of right now, I am ridiculously blessed to be able to call La Mision my home and I LOVE being here and serving here.

It's crazy to see how my role and responsibilities here at DOFO have continuously been changing and shifting, however slightly. Some of my responsibilities at the orphanage currently include the following...

** House Building Ministry: I am still heading up this aspect of ministry here at DOFO. There are many groups who come down to work with us and stay at the orphanage who focus mainly on building a home (or homeS) for families in our area. This coming summer alone will bring 4 different groups building a total of 8 houses! As I've shared before, my favorite part about this ministry is that through the application process and the screening/approval process with each family, I have the opportunity to really get to KNOW families in our town that I may not otherwise have the chance to know. Even before the groups come, we have the amazing opportunity to explain to these families, many of whom do not know Christ or His love, why a group of Americans would use their vacation time to drive or fly to this tiny obscure valley in Mexico just to build them a house. It is an incredible opportunity not only to tell people about the love of Jesus, but also to demonstrate God's provision and love for them. With every home built and family touched, I am humbled and awed that I get to be even a tiny part of God blessing, providing, moving & loving here in our valley.


This is one of the eight families who will be receiving a new house this summer. The 5 of them have been living in a tiny one room camping trailer.

** Weekly Grocery Giveaway: We are not only still giving away bags or grocery items to families in our town every Thursday, but we have increased the number of bags (to approx. 150 bags a week) and have also expanded the ministry to partner with another local ministry who help out the elderly in our valley. This ministry includes buying food in bulk once a week and bagging the items. It is something that DOFO children love to participate in, helping to bag the food each week, and then getting to see what their efforts are going towards when over 100 families line up outside our gates each Thursday morning tor their "despensa".

** Hosting visiting groups: The next couple of weeks will be the start of our summer rush here at DOFO. We are double and sometimes triple booked throughout all of summer with family groups, church groups, rotary clubs, etc... coming to serve here at DOFO and in the surrounding community. It is a time when we get little rest but the blessings are great as every week we have the opportunity to partner up with groups from all over the US, serving alongside new friends and brothers & sisters in Christ in and around our community of La Mision. I'm looking forward to a GREAT summer season!

I am incredibly thankful that as volunteers here, we have the liberty to pursue our own individual passions and callings... and while orphanage responsibilities are the priority and come first, I've been able to feel out, over the last 2.5 years and step into other various ministry opportunities in our area as well. I still work very closely with the Women's Rehab Center in Tijuana and try to get up there every couple of weeks at least, as time allows. I've been trying to get up to the Breakfast Club in the dump area of Tijuana more and more regularly as well. That ministry, where they serve now up to 300 hot meals a day, has continued to grow and flourish and I love going to see how God is moving and working up there in that community! I've also stayed busy with the worship group, prayer teams, etc at our local church. My church family here in La Mision is such a blessing and they make me feel at home.

Lastly, I have been working with some other missionary friends in our valley, Chad & Erin Fransen, to develop and prepare a new ministry here in La Mision... It is something very exciting and dear to my heart, which after months and months of preparing and praying and working should be up and running in the next few weeks, when I will dedicate an entire post to presenting it to everyone!

Thanks again for all of the prayers and support! As always, I welcome feedback, questions, comments, "HELLO!"s, etc... LOVE to all!

...aqui estoy...todavia... :)

Holaaaaaaaaaaa!

I realize that another 4 months has gone by since I last updated. I tend to get overwhelmed with everything that I'd like to share - about experiences and all I've been up to since my last update - that eventually I just give up trying. haha....

But I've received some reminders that people actually do WANT to know what's going on down here and in my life, and I am ridiculously thankful for all of the love and support and am going to just give a bit of a photo-update on some of the things that have been keeping me busy lately! :)

HOUSE BUILDING PROGRAM: As you may already know, we have a really rad program down here where visiting groups can come down, stay on site and build houses for families in our community. Since DJ & Lynette have been passing through various trials in their lives (keep them in your prayers!) I have been helping run this program, and since January of this year, we've had 7 houses built for families in our town!

While this is a huge responsibility, it has been an enormous blessing - Not only in watching the lives of these local families be blessed and touched in an incredible way, but also watching the visitors be transformed as they come down and live out the love of Christ in serving others. It's awesome to see relationships develop between the visiting groups and the families, and as a result, many of the local families have become Christians. I have made quite a few new friends in our community as well!


A group from Ohio/Kentucky building a house for a local family out of block


Jorge, Maricela and their 2 daughters received a new home this summer!


A DOFO group in front of a freshly-built house for a family in town. This group comes down for 2 weeks every summer and builds TWO homes while here!

ENGLISH CLASSES: In the beginning of this year, I began teaching free English classes twice a week for anyone wanting to learn in our community. They were originally meant for adults only, but I couldn't say no to the children who also wanted to learn English! We ended the first "semester" at the beginning of summer with about 15 students regularly attending, and I will soon be picking up with the classes again come September.
(If anyone has any pointers/resources for ESL classes, I could really use it! I've never done anything like this before and am just kinda feeling my way through. It's tough!)


Here I am teaching a class... We have them in our local church, an hour at a time, twice a week.


With 2 regular class attendees, Armando & Fernando

REHAB CENTER: As I've talked about before, I've always really had a heart for the Christian drug & alcohol rehabilitation centers in our community (we have 2 for men in our town) and try to help them out however/whenever possible. Last year, God lead me to a woman's rehab center in Tijuana, where I've been developing a relationship with the director, Maria, as well as consistently taking food, supplies and most importantly - the Word of God. I try to go once a week to give a Bible study, pray with the women, and just spend time talking with Maria. God has really challenged and blessed me through this ministry and I LOVE being able to be a small part of what He is doing in these homes!


Here's me with the director, Maria! I love her!


This is the outside of the home, in Tijuana. There are currently about 20 women living here.

VARIOUS OTHER MINISTRIES: Besides these regular things I've been involved with, we have a very busy schedule at the orphanage. As American volunteers, our primary responsibility is hosting visitors -both people just dropping by to see the place, and full on short-term missions trips, which are usually anywhere from a couple days to a couple weeks in length. We love having visitors, so I, as always, just want to throw out there that you all are more than welcome to come see us - just let me know!

I've also been keeping busy with our local church! It is my second family and from baby showers to birthday parties to weddings to youth group to regular services, there is always something going on at church, and I can usually be found there if I'm not here at DOFO. :)


Here's my roommate, Lauren and I with out Mexican parents, and the local Pastors, Gustavo & Elizabeth Pacheco!

I am also currently in the process of planning a quincenera (HUGE traditional birthday party for a young girl on her 15th b-day) and helping to plan and set up a really great youth event that will be happening at a church in Ensenada on October 2nd! Youth from churches from Tijuana all the way to Ensenada and beyond will be invited and Lauren and I have been asked to teach as well as help advertise the event! Please join us in prayer for that!

SO - there is a taste of what's been keeping me busy lately. I promise to try and update more frequently from here on out. :) I love you all and would LOVE to hear from each of you! (jarilyn.wilson@gmail.com) Thanks again for all of the continued prayers and support!

... Sigo adelante ...

WOW!
6 Months have gone by since my last post!!!!

I can't believe it has been so long, and yet I can. :)

This HUGE gap is partially due to the busy non-stop roller-coaster that has been my life for the past 6 months, and partially because I just feel like a gap this long deserves some major explaining and catching-up, and I've maybe been putting it off. :)

So - those being my only explanations, some updates:

* I moved back to Orange County from Mexico in December 2009 into my old apartment. I was really praying over whether this move would be permanent or not, due to my financial situation in Mexico (I'd saved enough $ to get through my initial 6 months at the orphanage, and the last half of the year, God miraculously had been providing for those needs each month, but the funds had run dry at that point) But a series of circumstances lead me back to the OC and God hadn't yet revelaed to me whether or not it was a permanent move.
BUT - over the course of that month, doors just kept opening for me to return to Mexico, which was SWEET cuz I knew my heart was still there, and that's where I wanted to be. So - I worked for a couple weeks, spent some quality time with friends and family then officially moved all my stuff down to Mexico Christmas day 2009.

* January brought us intense flooding in our tiny town of La Mision. It rained for what seemed like weeks on end and our little river valley was overwhelmed by all that water!
The orphanage itself was not affected, besides transportation becoming a bit difficult, but our local church and many local families were under water for some time.
It was a difficult time for many, but it was amazing to see the response of our community in coming together to help friends and neighbors in a crisis!


The La Mision valley, covered in water


Our church, Templo Elim. At one point it had 3 feet of water running through it.


The church dining hall literally all filled up.


Erin and I working to clean all the mud out of the medical clinic at the church.

* Easter weekend was, as always, full of church services and celebration over the life, death and RESURRECTION of Jesus! We had special services where some of our children performed an amazing, heart-wrenching drama over the death and resurrection of Christ (which I was blessed by being able to sing in!) and then had a 5AM sunrise service on Sunday morning. Sunday Afternoon we packed up our kids and staff and joined our church family along with 3 other local churches at a nearby swimming pool for baptisms and a picnic!
2 of our older girls were baptised, along with many other people from our community and afterwards, we had an amazing time of swimming, eating and hanging out in a GREAT community of people.
Most of us were still at the pool when the 7.2 earthquake struck Mexicali, and we all were stunned to feel and SEE the ground move so strongly and for so long! Thankfully, there was no damage or major freaking out (besides that of myself - because we all know I am deathly afraid of earthquakes) and our kids had a blast when the water started waving about because of the shaking!


The only picture I have of the kids in their drama at church. The costumes and set were amazing!


My boss DJ and our pastor Gustavo baptizing someone in our church family.


Having fun swimming after baptisms!

Besides all the natural disasters, we have been super busy with hosting visiting groups, working alongside other local ministries, and day to day life in the orphanage.

The next few posts will update you on things that I personally have been involved with since returning to Mexico and I promise that they will come sooner than in another 6 months!

As always, thank you all for your love and support and I'd love to hear from you: Jarilyn.wilson@gmail.com
Financial support or packages (:)) can be sent to me at:
P.O. Box 6434, Chula Vista, CA 91909 OR at the paypal link to the left.

Paz y Amor!!

... ... ...

love is not a victory march - its a cold and its a broken hallelujah

...buena vida...

It has been a long time. I want to try to put up a few smaller blogs that might encompass a large part of the last couple months.

So - one thing that has kept me pretty busy of late is helping to get the new dorm building at Buena Vida (the other orphanage in our town) ready for the kids to move in.



I've been talking things over with Norma, the new AWESOME American volunteer at Buena Vida, about all her decorating/fund raising/activity planning ideas for the orphanage and it has been exciting to be able to brain-storm with her. Multiple visiting groups have had a part in getting this dorm built and painted and tiled, etc. and it has been fun to see it come together. It is cool because with this new dorm, the orphanage will be able to care for more children, both boys and girls, and of all ages.

Well, last weekend I spent 2 entire days painting Bible Verses and decorative things on the freshly painted walls, as well as helping the girls get all their stuff moved over. The girls spent their first night in the new dorm Friday night and then Saturday we had a dedication service to pray over the new dorm building with some of our church family.

Pray for these kids and that their lives would be blessed by Norma and the new dorm building and that God would protect them all and provide for this orphanage always.

Here are some photos of the new dorm and also some of my painting project.

Hallway in the entrance to the dorm:


Me, in action:


My finished "textos":



Finished dorm:


Everyone who attended the dedication service:

...We heart visitors...

The last few weeks have been full of non-stop groups, construction projects, craft projects, bonfires, beach/pool trips, etc. and it has been entirely exhausting and entirely wonderful at the same time. Here are a few pictures of groups and some of the things groups do while here...

They build houses for poor families in the community who need homes:

This house was for a single mother and her 4 kids who previously had been living in an old school bus.


Praying over a newly built house before handing over the keys to the family.

Groups do fun crafts and activities with the kids:


They make bottle rockets.


They play fun games.


They make yummy meals for the kids & staff.

It has been so good to have visitors here, both for the well-being of the orphanage, and for the sake of the kids!

...a bed and a blender...

It often surprises me here how much poverty there is in an area soooooo close to one of the richest states in one of the richest countries in the world. I say it is a surprise, not because I forget that I am living and working in a very poor area, especially in a recession, but mainly because here, there is not often stark, immediately-slammed-in-your-face-at-first-sight poverty, and when you do find it hidden there, right under the surface, it kinda punches you in the stomach a little bit.

The thing is, Mexico (or at least, Baja California) is pretty good at hiding its poverty. No matter how poor a person is, they will almost always have their hair done nicely, wearing nice, clean clothing. Maybe I am a bit jaded after having done some work in Africa, where the immensity of the poverty is evident everywhere you turn, but still sometimes I forget where I am and about the poverty that surrounds me. I mean, we have Starbucks, Home Depot, Wal-Mart and Applebees in the closest city to us - it is easy to forget the economic situation in which we live.

I recently had an experience where I was invited to someone's "Home" and was struck, to the point of tears, by the humility of their living situation. I justify putting "home" in quotations because it is indeed a family's home - where they live and sleep and eat - but it is also a place where no one should ever have to call home.

After allowing my eyes to adjust to the dusty darkness of the inside, I could see that this was a little worse than I had been expecting. We occasionally bring groups to do grocery dispenses in an area where migrant farm workers live in tiny shacks with their entire families. Even those homes did not prepare me for this 7x10 cold concrete shell, where the graffiti-covered cinder block walls enclosed nothing but a tiny propane cook stove and a piece of particle board lifted up on bricks to make a bed.

It had been my experience up until this point, that even in the humblest of living situations - like the nearby migrant camps - people still are able to find things like beds, fans, tables, lamps, etc... basic home necessities to make even a shack somewhat livable. But this particular place is home to a newly married young couple with a 9 month old daughter, who have no nearby family, and have been out of work for months. There is no water, no table, no bed, no bathroom and electricity borrowed from a neighbor via an extension cord, which sustains a lukewarm mini-fridge and bare light bulb hanging on a hook in the wall. And they pay $80 a month rent for this place!

The young mother, Olivia recently landed a cooking job at the orphanage where I live and work, and that is how they walked into my life. I have somewhat adopted this family and am attempting to help them in any way that I can - God has really placed them on my heart. My boss is fully supporting this endeavor however he can, but keeps asking what it is about family that has fully grabbed my heart and attention - when there are 50 people a day at least who ask us for help and food and clothing for their families. I think that what grabbed me was the fact that they did not ask. Olivia and I had been fast friends for a couple of weeks before I heard about her small family's situation from a mutual friend. And even when she invited me to her home to meet her baby, the humility in both Olivia and her husband Noe was touching. They've never asked for anything, and they are happy - together as a family, and that one of them has finally found some work in our town. Olivia told me "Tengo mi esposo, y mi familia, y tenomos salud y trabajo... todo esta bien..." Basically that she has her family and they are healthy and she is working - what more could she need?

I think this is what always strikes me - here and in Africa too - that some of the most content people I have ever met in my life are the ones who have nothing. There is not the luxury to gripe or complain here - and when you're at the bottom, every blessing is noticed and appreciated.

When I asked Olivia if she would mind if I found them some things to make their home more comfortable, she was already overwhelmed with appreciation. She said to me "Jay (no one here can say my full name) I would be perfectly happy if you could find us a bed and a blender - so that I can make salsa." A bed and a blender - all she needs to feel comfortable. My.Heart.Broke.

I have since found her a bed and clothing and food for all in the family, but am still looking for a blender, and dining room table, a crib for the baby, pots and pans, a lamp, etc. etc. etc... And maybe even a better living situation all together.

She has also started making appearances in our church services, which is awesome since the family are not Christians. I do not like to push my faith on people - to make them feel like I have in-your-face ulterior motives in provding what little help I can (I know many of you disagree on this - but I believe that God is big and will/can water any seed planted). But I want to always attempt to live out my faith and follow in the footsteps of Jesus - and hopefully seeds will be planted and people will see that. If people ask (and they almost always do) why we do what we do - why we would help people we barely even know - then I tell them, without holding back. And I always pray for the opportunity to do so.

So I tell you all this asking that you join me in this prayer. And also maybe hoping that some of you might want to help me in this endeavor. If anyone wants to donate or sponsor any of the items listed above, OR anything else to this family, let me know. I love you all! :)