Christmas fiestas

We just got back from Reynosa where the mustard seed kids had their Christmas fiesta. Last Saturday was the Matamoros fiesta. The children and their families where truly blessed! Thanks to all of you who already sponsor a child here in Mexico.

We are getting ready to expend the program and we were glad to be able to see both fiesta and appreciate the difference between the smaller group (20 children) and the larger one (63).

One of the major difference between the sponsorship program Phil and Karen started here, as opposed to what world vision does, is that they make it "up close and personal"!

Each child is placed in a Church (if they don't already attend one) where they receive biblical teaching. The parents of the sponsored child are required to attend a parenting class on a regular basis. The children participate in a special program at least once a month and they also receive the visit of the area coordinator at least once a month to ensure their basic needs are met and that the child is well adjusted at school.

The coordinators are the ones making sure the family has enough food, enough beds and make note of families who need a house. They also attend to the child specific needs regarding schooling : materiel needs but also academic needs. Some children may need tutoring.

This program has for objective to be as complete as possible. Therefore the model one the smaller group seems to best meet that objective. Even if 63 children doesn't seem that big, we could definitely see the advantages of keeping the groups small. Rather then enlarging the group, in Reynosa for exemple, multiplying the number of small groups, seems to be the way to go.

Your prayers for this ministry are greatly appreciated! It is a big step for Phil and Karen to take the ministry to the next level. We praise God for the team He is building here to help with that process and we believe there are more workers that will be joining us in the next few years.

May God bless you and may you have a Blessed Christmas.

"how is it we got heat in our house in Winnipeg?"

Jesse was asking this morning. It is cold! It's only 6 right now. We have a couple heaters going and still we have 2 or 3 sweaters on! The cold weather doesn't last here, thankfully! It's suppose to go back up to 23 by Sunday.

Thank you for praying for the children. We are adjusting to home schooling. Pray with us for a Helper for the little ones. Someone energetic and with creative ideas!

Looks like we may have 2 groups of winter texans coming to build in January. Plus two groups in February, one in March and one in April so far.

More later...

family extortion resolution

Sorry it took so long in coming. The family ended up giving them 5000 pesos to be left alone. A few days later, our neighbours got a phone call as well, several in fact. Everyone who received calls, changed their numbers. We don't know anyone else who gave them money. We heard different stories about it. One being that the people calling are making the calls from a prison cell!

Also that they were told not to extort money from foreigners (us!) or people higher up the manufactures because it brings money in the country.

For awhile now we haven't heard anymore stories.

A few people have requested an address to send cards. I decided I should just post it.

Phil and Sophie Ramer
1294 Turtle Creek Drive
Brownsville, Texas
78520

This is the head office's address. To send stuff directly to Mexico is not advisable.

Thank you for your prayers. We really feel God has answered your prayers for our language skills. This last week Sophie has been speaking Spanish a lot more. Before it was all head knowledge! She even feels comfortable speaking it on the phone!
It's amazing considering we've only been here 3 months and haven't had much teaching.

We also appreciate your prayers about the children. We felt God leading us to remove them from school to get back to home schooling. They have too much value to be left to chance and to abuse. Some children were really unkind to them. Jeremie was saying that he would go to school only after all the other kids had left. It didn't matter if the school was closed then, he would just climb the fence! He really wish he could go. He really likes his teacher but can't stand the abuse from the other kids. It was the same with Abbie and Jesse.

It'll be challenging in some ways but we believe God will help. You may pray for this area of our daily lives. We could use a helper for teaching and with children care (for the little ones).

We also want to Praise God for his faithful provision. We feel the reality of the difficult choice we made coming here but we also truly feel God's hand and blessing.

Thank you for reading and sharing this journey with us!

Winter has come to Mexico!

Well Winter is here! Today it was raining and we had a maximum of 12 degrees celcius. We could actually see our breath! It's seems to me 12 degrees wouldn't be cold enough in WPG to see your breath, but maybe I don't remember or maybe it's the humidity factor that makes a difference.

It rained all day and night and in the morning our house was flooded! A drain got plugged so we stood in cold water mopping and drying the floor with towels. It also rained all day.

It made me feel for the people who don't have windows on their houses and no source of heat what so ever. Even though it's not that cold, it can be pretty miserable! The low for Friday is suppose to be only 4 degrees at night. Humidity is what makes this weather miserable.

This Saturday we will be wrapping Christmas gifts for the Mustard Seed kids. It should be a lot of fun! The fallowing Saturday, December 12th, is the Christmas program.

We have been helping a couple Churches here with music. We are hoping to be able to do more and maybe do some teaching. John and Julie Drieger are coming down soon to help. Pray for their safety on the road. We are very happy to have them come. We know God has great plans for the ministry here in Mexico and we know that John and Julie have much to offer! We thank God for their willingness to come inspite of some difficulties.

The doors Phil taught the men to build are installed now. The Pastor of Templo Ebenezer, who has just celebrated their 5th year, was showing them off proudly the night of the anniversary. They still are in need of windows.

Phil went on a trip with Miguel to the interior in Tamazuchale, San Luis Potosi and following are some pictures he took there. They were visiting Bible school and doing prep work for an upcoming group at the beggining of February. The pictures are of a church that has been meeting for some years now. Situated on the side of a mountain in Xilitla, Mexico. They are wanting to build the new church here. The pastor of this church has 15 students in the Bible School.