Christmas in Mexico is much like Christmas in the USA. It is a time to spend with family, receive and give gifts, eat special food, and remember all the blessings we have. We have asked each house to tell us a little bit about their Christmas vacation and what occurred in their houses.

Genesis:
This Christmas season brought a season of change for the Genesis Home. The girls said good-bye to Antonio Soriano and Sarahi and their children, Gael and Ian. Daniel and Julie Rangel and their children came to join the Genesis family in lieu of their coming absence. But it was still a festive time, with shopping for just the “perfect” presents, wrapping them (Daniel Rangel did the honors), and planning the menu and shopping for a Christmas feast! On Christmas Eve our kitchen was transformed into a bakery as the girls made chocolate chip cookies, decorated sugar cookies, oreo ice cream pie, flan, jellos, and many other desserts. Everyone got a dusting of flour on their noses and cheeks before they could begin baking. We all had fun helping out…and then showing off our treats and of course testing them to make sure they tasted good! In the evening, Daniel Rangel led us in a short devotion time and he girls got to open one present in the Christmas exchange. Then we continued celebrating with Christmas dinner at Esperanza. Plenty of food, games, and smiles to go around! We were happy to have Antonio and Sarahi there to join in the celebration. On Christmas day we celebrated Christ’s birth with the local church and then returned home to open the rest of the presents. We celebrated Fatima’s birthday with games and activities with Esperanza in the evening as well!

Esperanza:
This Christmas we were very content with all the boys. They all acted well.
The older boys put all their money together to buy a 44 inch tv. The younger boys also helped and they received a few toys of their own.
This time of the year is very important for everyone. So we decided to pass time with the girls at the Genesis house.
The food we ate was incredible. They all ate so much! I don’t know where all the food went. We had piñatas, candies, and snacks inside of 2 out of 3 of them. We put candy and flour in the third one. Many of the boys ended up very white.

Bethel:
At the Bethel home we ate turkey, apple salad, spaghetti, mashed potatoes, and sweets. Before we ate our Christmas Eve dinner we decided to have some fun. We danced to different songs and laughed a lot. Daniel Gallegos dressed up in a Santa Clause outfit and encouraged all the boys to dance and laugh. A little bit after midnight we all opened our presents for Christmas morning. The older boys received a pool table to play on. The younger boys received various small toys. On Christmas we slept very late because we were up VERY late after opening presents. On Christmas day we played with toys and the pool table all day. It was a great time with the boys.

Agape:
We ate pork roast, apple salad, cake, BBQ, soup, and snacked on peanuts. We drank punch and soda.
We sang karaoke, danced, played, lit fireworks, said Merry Christmas to brother Daniel, ate and watched a movie.
We had a really good time, things went well.

Expanding the Gospel throughout Mexico with “Comunidad Cristiana Expansión”

“Niños De Mexico” is proud to announce the beginning of a new church plant. The ministry has been researching and exploring this newest outreach for several months. The desire of our hearts is continue to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ through this church plant. We have assembled a team of people who are excited about this effort: The entire children’s home!

Saul Flores will be leading the church as the lead pastor and Daniel Rangel along with Dr. Noe Flores will join him on the leadership team.

For the benefit of those of you who don’t know, Saul Flores arrived in September 2010 with a dream he had been holding onto for years. His dream: to plant a church in the metropolitan area of Mexico City. After months of research and planning to have the church in another area of the city, he realized God was pulling him to plant a church right where he was in Texcoco, Mexico.

After bringing the idea to the leaders of “Niños De Mexico” it wasn’t long before everyone was on board and excited about the potential of this outreach beginning with the entire “Niños De Mexico” Family.

“Comunidad Cristiana Expansión (Expansion Christian Community) is now well on its way. Our first Sunday service was held on January 8th, 2012 at Casa Bethel. Daniel Rangel delivered the first sermon and music, while Dr. Noe and Saul Flores led the prayers and communion. It was a Sunday that we believe will begin a long history of service and worship to our Lord and an expansion of the Christian community in this metropolitan area.

The plan is to continue meeting in Casa Bethel. Each family brings their own chairs, we set up and begin to worship our God together. The hope is to build a new level of unity within “Niños de Mexico” and then go forward into the greater Texcoco community the end of March. We will continue to meet in the Bethel house until we have exceeded our limits there. We realize the need for a Christian church in the area and believe that we will be able to grow quickly. We have researched several properties that we can rent when we need that larger facility and are seeking God’s direction in this matter.

Thank you so much for your support over the years to “Niños De Mexico”.  We will continue to participate with and support the Christian church in San Vicente.  The church is doing well and on our last Sunday we all bowed before God in prayer for our newest calling in Texcoco, Mexico.  We ask you now to join us in our excitement and continue to pray for us and support the new church plant “Comunidad Cristiana Expansión “.

On December 27th Niños de México had the pleasure of receiving a group of Bible Bowl students from the USA. We recently began a partnership with Bible Bowl and this was just one step towards a greater involvement between our two ministries. 11 players from Bible and 2 sponsors arrived to help for a week. The group was able to repair the roof at our Agape home and also painted 2 new school rooms at our IBAAN school as well as helping to remove a concrete type dirt buildup at the Genesis property. Though the group helped us in these tasks, we believe the greatest part of their trip was beyond the normal work they performed. Most evenings were spent at a specific house where the group could personally spend time and get to know our children. Not only were the Bible Bowl members able to meet and get to know our children personally but they grew closer to each other as well. We also were happy to share the Mexican culture with those who visited by going to a local hacienda, the pyramids at Teotihuacan, and visiting Mexico City. We asked the students and leaders if some of them would share their thoughts from the trip with us. We have decided to share those thoughts with you:

From Eric:
My time serving a STM trip at Ninos de Mexico was truly a life-changing experience! During the trip I had the opportunity to hang out and play with some awesome kids who live at Ninos, use my hands and my feet to serve the mission, and learn more about the Mexican culture. Not to mention the staff at Ninos were just amazing and super helpful during my stay. What I took away from my trip was a strong desire and commitment to stop living for me and spending my money only on me but to invest my time and and my money and my energy into the Kingdom of God in my own country and in Mexico!

From Hannah:
One word comes to mind when I think about Niños de Mexico. Life-changing. Not only do I mean life-changing for the kids safely housed and provided for, but for the groups visiting the homes and endeavoring to learn about the mission. God is using the Niños de Mexico organization to accomplish incredible things down in Mexico. His hands are helping through the staff, sponsors, supporters, and many others who have faithfully put into practice the command of James 1:27. Personally, my experience at Niños helped my re-align my priorities. It made me question the way I was using my money and sparked a definite change. When I think about the highlights of our eight-day trip, I am overwhelmed by all of the specific circumstances that come to mind. Daily meals with the smiling kids warmed my heart with their eager expressions and open friendliness. Soccer at night sparked a amicable competitive spirit in the group as we fought against each other for the win. However, I’m still not sure Mexicans vs. Americans was completely fair. haha. Spending the New Year with my new family in Mexico topped everything off. I am still in awe that God provided me with this awesome opportunity to serve and worship. My Mexico experience was truly life-changing and one day, I hope to be back.

From Victoria:
A couple weeks ago, I was blessed with the opportunity to go to Niños de Mexico with an awesome group of bible bowlers! I was really excited going into the trip, and couldn’t wait to see what God was going to do throughout the week! By the time we left, we had all built new friendships. Not only with each other, but with the kids at Niños. I love kids, so spending time with them was awesome! I was able to have conversations with them (and people at the markets) because I grew up learning some Spanish, so that was fun  It was so amazing to see what God is doing in Mexico, and I really look forward to going back someday!!