Greetings, March, 2010

Years ago, every Monday night, I would go to a pizzeria here in San Diego and collect frozen pizzas people didn't pick up. Then I would take them down in the evening to a group of teen boys at an orphanage across the border. We never knew what kind of pizza we were going to get, but these boys were hungry! The orphanage never had much food and these growing teens devoured the old pizzas with gusto! These were heavy-duty nights for the small microwave!

The fifteen boys would crowd into their small room where they would sit on the triple bunk beds quietly munching their pizzas. Being teens and for a late night Bible session, they listened well. One of those teenagers was Felipe.

A week ago, at Emmanuel orphanage, a middle-aged man came to me smiling. He extended his hand, "I'm Felipe, Pastor von. Do you remember me?" he said in English. I hadn't seen him for more than thirty years, but yes. This was, however, a much older Felipe—not a dirty little boy any more and not a growing teen, but an adult.

He briefly shared with me his pilgrimage of forty years.

After leaving the orphanage, he drifted around and then fell into drugs, into jail and then for many years prison, followed by rehab. With a big smile he told me how his life has changed and how peaceful he is. His girlfriend had been a rough girl, too. Ultimately, they both found a Church and came back to God. They got married and raised a family. Felipe has his own small business in plumbing and electrical work—the name of the business proudly written on his truck. His wife is now the cook at Emmanuel orphanage that hosts about seventy little kids. The pizzas and Gospel seeds have paid off.

Often people ask me, in one way or another, about the fruit of our labor in Mexico through these years of teaching and sowing seeds. Only God knows; He alone keeps count. Every one of these stories (and I have many) confirm to me that God and His Word is the solution to a real changed life and that His seeds in time produce changed lives. Seeds planted in young lives.

Right now we're in regular contact with about 400 young Felipes. We're still sowing seeds, teaching and discipling.

He who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord, and God will pay back what has been given. ~ Proverbs 19:17

Thanks for your help this month in making this ministry possible. It's true most of our kids are on the bottom, considered by many as human jetsam ... Thank God you feel different about it.

Von, for all of us working the south side of the U. S. border.

Here's Eduardo at the critical age of thirteen sitting among the trash, but he isn't trash ... He's not jetsam, He's a little Mexican kid of thirteen. Because God loves Eduardo, we love him too. He's potential. Potential for good or potential for bad. Will he become a story of success like Felipe or end up on the streets of Zona. Thanks for your love, prayers and financial support. So appreciated!

I took this photo and worked it through photoshop to look more like a painting. ~ Von