Email from Stacy

Here is an email from Stacy who also lives in the neighborhood. Stacy and her husband Robbie moved into the Farm Drive hood this past fall to join us in this mission field. We asked her if we could post this and she said yes.

Here's a glimpse of what goes on at the other end of the street:

Robbie and I had a bunch of kids over tonight. It started with Robbie giving Saul his weekly guitar lesson (which he is doing really well at, he's practicing!) and then Lesley came over to bake cupcakes.

After that we had all of the Barajas kids (including Anthony), Breseida, Omar, Jasmin, Alex, and for a short time Christina, Melissa, and their cousin. We had so much fun. We were all playing Jenga and Sorry while the cupcakes baked and then everyone frosted and decorated their own.

Eventually all the kids left and I walked Jasmin home. I got the chance to say hi to Elizabeth, Dariella, and Lupe; the cool part of that was that the girls gave me big hellos and talked to me in front of Herra (sorry I butchered that name). He didn't say much but I had the chance to talk to him.

The best part of the night was when I came back home. The Barajas kids hadn't left yet. Marcus and Lesley were cleaning up the kitchen, Maria was picking up the games, and Erick was getting homework help from Robbie. It was so sweet to see Robbie help him figure things out. Robbie's small group began to arrive so I had the opportunity to help Erick with his homework. The other kids left and Erick and I went into the office to finish his homework and it was so neat to be able to help him and encourage him throughout his homework. He's really good at math and he's a pretty good reader too.

I write this to you two because you know how rewarding this feeling is. I can't imagine living anywhere else right now; it is so cool to see how God works when you are where He wants you to be.

Before we left for vacation I was starting to get into a routine of working a lot because I like my job and it makes a pretty good living, but I've realized that it doesn't matter how many hours I work because when I'm doing what God wants me to do, He IS going to provide. I was starting to sacrifice my time here for work and I'm realizing that I can't do that because I will miss out on moments like tonight. Tonight was so precious and I don't want to give that up for anything, ANYTHING.

Let's love these kids, Stacy