Call for Missioners: July 9 - 16, 2009

The US New Media has dealt a solid blow to our mission trips to Mexico scheduled for this summer.

1. Swine Flu was blown completely out of proportion to sell newspapers, but in doing so the media did a good enough job of spreading fear of death for anyone traveling to Mexico that 100% of our mission teams were motivated to cancel for this summer.

FACT: My contacts in Mexico report that there's not been one case of Swine Flu in the State of Puebla where we travel to work at La Familia.

FACT: I have consulted with physicians in both the US and Canada and they have told me that they are not even testing for Swine Flu any more unless a person is really badly sick.

FACT: A physician from Greenville has volunteered to join our team in July.

FACT: 36,000 Americans die annually from the flu in the US.

2. The news media is also reporting widely that the drug cartels have taken over Mexico to the point that the Mexican Government is close to collapse.

FACT: While the border regions between the US and Mexico are definitely dangerous, the towns we travel to are as safe as towns in the US. I am in Mexico 6 to 8 times a year and have never once experienced any fear nor have any members of our teams.

Emergency Mission Team
July 9 - 16, 2009

The construction of the new casa hogar in Palmarito is on schedule for completion in late June and will ready for occupancy in early July. We desperately need to put together a team to travel to Palmarito on July 9 to assist with the move. We will spend evenings in a nice hotel in Tacamachalco, a 20-minute drive from Palmarito.

The decision has been made to add a second floor to the main building. There are two reasons for this decision:

First, it is more cost effective than building a second building which we don't have the funds for right now.

Secondly, the second floor will enable us to accept an additional 15 orphaned and abandoned children almost immediately after things settle down following the move.

*** We need additional capital funds for this unanticipated expense. If anyone has any money left in their giving account, please send a check to Embrace the Dream Foundation, Inc. and designate the funds for the La Familia Project. All donations are tax deductable.

PLEASE PRAYERFULLY CONSIDER JOINING US ON A MISSION TRIP DEPARTING ON JULY 9 AND RETURNING ON JULY 16.

Call Bill Lee at 864-303-8366 or send me an email.

In Christ,

Bill Lee

History of Casa Hogar La Familia

The purpose of this blog is to keep the donors, mission team members and friends of Casa Hogar La Familia up to date on what is happening at this home for orphaned and abandoned children.

Casa Hogar La Familia was founded by a Mennonite pastor in the early 1980s in Cd. Serdan, a small city in the State of Puebla about four hours east of Mexico City by bus. When the Mennonites pulled up stakes and left the area, they persuaded the Methodist Church of Mexico to take over the home, so the Mexican Methodists provided directors to oversee the home until 2007 when Amigos de La Familia, the group that had historically provided 100% of the financial support of the home, signed a lease with the Methodists to rent the facilities and provide its own directors.

In 2007, Amigos de La Familia reached an agreement with Robert Sawyer of Grupo de Amor Y Proteccion del Ninos in Colima to provide directors. Robert Sawyer chose Juan Francisco and Silvia Hernandez, directors who were trained at the orphanages Robert operates in Colima.

On June 30, 2008 our lease with the Methodists expired and we were asked to relocate the orphanage. The directors found temporary housing in Tehuacan, a city of approximately 250,000 about four hours southeast of the City of Puebla, but still in the State of Puebla. In the meantime, Grupo de Amor was gifted land in Palmarito, a much smaller city about one hour east of the City of Puebla, where a new casa hogar is currently under construction. Funds have been raised for the first phase of this new home, which will provide housing for the 30 children presently under the care of La Familia.

In July of 2009, we are scheduled to move into the new home in Palmarito. Once this home is fully built out, we will have capacity for 96 children. For this larger ministry to become a reality, however, we must raise another $200,000 which is challenging in the current state of the US economy.

Embrace the Dream Foundation along with Pennsylvania-based Caring Action for Children and several churches in Texas, Tennessee and Virginia provide both the operating funds and capital funds for La Familia.