April 2012

Family and friends!

This is a letter youll want to soak in. If you normally browse, Id urge you to read the testimonies and be encouraged and challenged. If His Eye Is On the Sparrow This has got to be the most Jessica and I have ever been tested in our faith, ever. Never before have we faced this caliber of looking to God for provision, winning the mind battles to stay positive when there are no answers in sight and finding gratitude through times of adversity. I hope to look back on this and laugh as we continue to develop, grow, and learn on how to rest and trust. It doesnt matter what youre going through, his voice is all it takes to get you through it. His words are priceless in that they bring a calm and peace to what should feel like a train wreck. We feel like were walking in greater levels of authority than we ever have and as favor continues to pour out our ordeals seem to increase and challenge us. A couple things to remember: the Holy Spirit led Jesus into His ordeal with the tempter, and it wasnt for the purpose of punishment but rather an opportunity for growth and a display of strength. If God is for us, who can be against us? Favor With Government Recently, we have been developing relationships with government officials in Mexico. We weren't sure at first how this connection would benefit the cause, but now its all coming together. One of these officials is the head of prosecuting all the traffickers and criminals in their district. When the police bust a brothel they have intel and can make arrangements in advance as to what to do with the victims. So they were thrilled when they heard about what were doing and specializing in, since it is very uncommon in Mexico and especially in our region. They said that our facility is a perfectly strategic location for the rescued to be restored, for geographic and security reasons. We have a meeting next week to present our project to their team and co workers. In addition to all this, they have already began strategizing about developing conferences in the near future with all the high officials and people of power to not only raise awareness about child sex trafficking but to get them behind our project. Our team already planned on doing a conference anyways but now we will collaborate to make this event unforgettable. At this conference we intend to show an overview video of the facility and project as well as talk about our infrastructure and areas we need help with. We hope to further expand our connections and momentum in the political scene. So far our team has been working to develop relationships with a senator, a congresswoman, a district attorney, the head of DIF (child services) and several different lawyers. Almost all of these people are rolling up their sleeves and getting to work to help this become a success.

April 2012

First Team Meeting I know...meetings are boring! But this one wasnt!!! Last week we held a planning meeting here on the facility. Our goal was to get everyone on the same page and answer many of the questions that had left a lingering foothold of anxiety. Who is our team? Who is going to help us? Who is really committed? Who is going to pay for all this? What is the next step? What do we still need? We were very pleased with the turnout and those who took on roles of responsibility for every departmental category, not to mention those who want to be a part but couldnt make it to the meeting. We now stand more confidently having a organizational chart and knowing that our Mexican family is taking hold of the vision, bearing their load and resourcing their connections. This is perfectly on track with the initial dream of establishing a model that will be grafted and owned by the nationals for the purpose of allowing us to travel and open other houses in various parts of the world.

Interesting NEWS We have intel on a sting operation for a brothel in Mexico (location confidential) to rescue somewhere around 30 children and arrest and prosecute the traffickers. Needless to say those kids will either be thrown into an orphanage, most likely with staff who are underpaid and dont necessarily want to be there or they can be placed in our facility with psychological treatment and spiritual healing and guidance. One of the biggest things we would need for this, is full time staff on the facility. At this time we surmise we can only fit up to 20 kids total in this facility and even this number is based on whether or not we can afford that many staff. But at least we know where we will get our kids in the future, thanks to our connection with certain government officials.

Farmer John We were recently given 12 baby chicks. Six male and six female. We dont even remember telling anyone that this was part of the vision, they just showed up with them and a bag of food. It has been fun. So now we have rabbits, chickens, and I think next will be goats...Anyone know of someone trying to get rid of some Nigerian Dwarf goats??? Now we just need to build shelters for all these guys. Chicken coup is next, then some keyhole gardens. I love sustainability!!! We also just harvested a ton of coconuts from our property to stay hydrated for the summer, not to mention mangoes, plums, key limes (with two newly planted trees thanks to a technique called air layering) and dates soon to come. YUM!

April 2012

Birthdays!!!!! We have a number of birthdays coming up starting next Saturday and the following two week period are Lucas, Macy (27th, and 28th of July) followed by Dylans (August 5th) and then Daddys (30 years old!!!!) and Grandpas (August 8th same day!). We are going to have our first Mexican feliz cumpleaos fiesta here in Mexico! Gonna be a blast, well be sure to post pictures.

If you donate to us through Bethel church, please take note of these changes. Bethel has now changed their cut off date for donations to the 25th of every month. So anything you donate to us after the 25th- we will not receive until the following month. A lot of people have thought since we are from Bethel and sent from Bethel, that we are financially supported by Bethel. We are NOT financially supported by Bethel. We are living by donations from family, friends and churches. So keep us in prayer. Much love, The Freeborns