Bacaville

Christmas giving

Well, today I went into El Paso and met with Johnson Control who is a twin plant both on the El Paso side and the Juarez side.  I believe they are in other countries also. However, each year they call me and ask to find those who are in need for Christmas giving.   Throughout the year they have raffles, fund raisers and other things that raises money so that they can sponsor many families for Christmas.   Tom McKee is the man who started this tradition with the company since he is a Christian and so no purpose in buying gifts for each other.  Tom is a fellow classmate of Georgia Baca.   He gets others involved in the program and they purchase gifts, food and also a gift card from Walmart for each family that they are giving to.  This year we were able to give to six families.  One family, the mother and father were put into jail and the grandmother had the three grandchildren in her home.  The mother, Guadalupe, was released from jail but they don't even have a car.  They rely on others to get them around, or they walk.   The grandmother just moved into a new apartment in east El Paso along with another son and does not have any money for Christmas.  Guadalupe and her three boys were making tamales when we arrived, a Christmas tradition in this area.  Irene, whose husband was put into jail after he and Irene ran to the store for 20 minutes and their 10 yr old son Angel started a fire that burned their trailer down.   Irene's husband went to jail for that and Angel has a lot of anger and feels responsible for his father being in jail.   His older sister, Cassandra, has begun to translate for the IFM groups that come down.  She has a sweet sweet spirit and she loves the Lord.  She has a little sister Vanessa, and a miracle sister Celeste.  Celeste has many problems and attends therapy but is a miracle baby.  Irene has been walking with the Lord for about a year and she attends many IFM functions on campus at House of Cornelius.  She cannot work fulltime because of the therapy sessions, so she cleans a restaurant in the evenings and does other things to make ends meet.   Another family, whose dad has been out of work for a time was blessed with food, gifts and a gift card also.  The father just lost his mother this week, which adds to the pressure during this time of year.  Another woman, Maria, who lives in San Elizario in a small, small trailer, has two children.  She lives on $140 a month and anything extra she can make.  She picks pecans, and does anything she can to keep her family together.  She has fled an abusive husband and is trying to help her family.  Her 15 yr old son, Ismael, is a talented guitar player and occassionally plays with Praise and Worship at Shalom Christian Church.  All of the ones who received gifts where appreciative and it helps the true meaning of Christmas.

When I had the home with all the children, we would teach that when it is your birthday, you are set apart and it is a day that you receive gifts and celebrate. So when it is the Lord Jesus Christ's birthday, why should you receive a gift.  You need to give a gift to the Lord.  How can you do that!  Can you wrap a gift and throw it in the air and the Lord will catch it... no, so the best thing you can do is to do something for someone else.  That is your gift to the Lord.  We never bought a Christmas present for any of the children at the home.  They were however, greatly blessed by others who gave presents to them.  As they have all become older, they now realize how much they were blessed and what a joy it was.  Praise God!