February 21, 2006
Pepe de Leon
posted by Randy
Our brother, friend, and pastor – Pepe de Leon:
God has blessed me/us so much with Pepe. He is a wonderful, godly servant of God who regularly and gladly gives literally everything he has to those around him. His faith is really amazing and wonderful to watch. Pepe’s focus is on ministering and giving the gospel to those with whom he comes in contact. God lead me to Pepe before we moved here. God had made it clear that I needed to find the Christian leader in our area with the exceptional integrity and good connections. After asking the local American missionaries and the local Mexican Christians, God made it abundantly and unanimously clear that Pepe was the man who would help guide us through many important decisions and help us with important contacts. Not only is Pepe our loving pastor, but he is the one who introduced me to and suggested the two godly managers of our door manufacturing plant. He continues to come 1-2 times per week and lead our daily devotions. He also shows up from time to time and visits with our employees. You can count on Pepe to look, listen (to the person and the Holy Spirit), and gently share Christ with them. He works tirelessly for our Lord. We praise God and are inspired by Pepe.
February 14, 2006
My Changed Life
posted by German
My name is German Antonio Castro de Leon and I am 17 years old.
Before I started working here I was the kind of person that did not like to hear any advice from others, and I did not care what I believed. But little by little and with help from the Word I have changed my life and it keeps on changing day by day.
Cuando ingrese aqui era totalmente inconverso me valia por lo que yo creia pero poco a poco y con ayuda de la palabra fui moldeundo mi vida y lo sigo haciendo dia a dia.
January 20, 2006
The Shop Over These Months
posted by David
It's interesting to see how things have changed around the office over the past six months. When I first arrived, in the heat of summer, the atmosphere was surprisingly relaxed. The four Mexican men we had at the time would come in early, but would take regular breaks at the local taqueria for "second breakfast," make a big spread in the back for lunch, and then maybe make another trip around the corner later for an afternoon snack. Errands, business or personal, were always being run, and there was a lot of fun to be had hanging out between the initial projects they received. In the office, we were pushing quite a bit harder but we'd still take off at 3 on an occasional afternoon to visit one of the local swimming holes or just to grab a Coke and talk.
As projects began to take on more form, we brought on Mere (pronounced meh'-day) as our Mexican supervisor and head carpenter. He had always held that position in our minds, but had asked to continue his own carpentry business until the big projects started coming in. His experienced wisdom and generous spirit immediately added a maturity to our team that has continued to bear fruit, enabling us to make big transitions easily—like shifting our focus to the solid wood door business in the last several months.
More structure is in place now than ever, and as we move increasingly into a production mindset we've seen the strengths of the guys rise to the occasion. We as emigrants have seen more similarities between ourselves and the guys in this time, but we've continued to see the basic differences in our mindsets and approaches as well. One major blessing for us in this area has been the addition of Erika and Edna, our office manager and translator, respectively. Erika brings to us Mexican corporate experience and an unusual mind for details (and a wonderful intensity). Edna, besides the obvious ability to communicate clearly, also shares with us insight into the Mexican psyche, which is significant as a highly educated and thoughtful Mexican woman who grew up in the Big City (Tampico) but who has always maintained the connection with her small-town roots, which is how she ended up with us in the first place.
We're continuing to adjust and strive to find healthy rhythms for ourselves and our guys, defining boundaries, learning the language, delegating responsibilities, especially as business is picking up on several fronts. There is still, and hopefully always will be, a lot fun to be had, a lot of warmth and a continually growing sense of community, for which we are all grateful. It could be a challenge to maintain the sense of family that's developed as we grow, but from what I can see now I think that the foundation that's been laid will serve us all well as we bring others into the most enjoyable place I've ever worked.
December 08, 2005
Our First Mexican Door Order
posted by Randy
We praise God as He has once again provided for us at just the right time. He gave us our first order for the carpentry department on Tue, December 6th.
Carlos and Jorge, two of our salesmen in Ciudad Victoria made contact (cold call) with Pedro Narváez the owner of Carpintería Cedre. Pedro came out immediately (the same day) to Jaumave to see our facility and check us out. Randy traveled to Ciudad Victoria later that afternoon and Pedro gave us the order and a 25,000 peso deposit to get things going. The order was 26 solid pine doors and 40 pieces of lumber. The Gandy family had been gone for three weeks and Tuesday was essentially Tim’s first day back. God knew that we needed Tim around to help jump on this order right away. Many prayers of thanksgiving went up to God for beginning December according to His plans and our prayers. God knew that it was critical that we begin being profitable right away. We eagerly await the other ways that God will provide for us in the coming days and weeks.
November 11, 2005
Success in the Field
posted by Tim
I must say that I never in a million years thought that I would have come to the mission field under the guise of doing business. I always believed that for a missionary to be in the field meant a life of privation and sacrifice to be a “successful” missionary.
To be sure whether you live with a large or small budget in a foreign country as a missionary you are definately an outsider, or feel like one anyway. Language barriers, different customs, and norms of living are only a few things that can give you that longing for a familiar surrounding. But praise be to God, going out in the field is a glorious endeavor!
He is providing for all the needs we have by using many of the believing brothers and sisters in the community. In a place like this as a foreigner, it is almost like a coming home because, as Jesus said when told his blood mother and brothers were looking for him, “ My mother and My brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it.” A place and time like this forces you to look past yourself and your own spiritual feeding, to be the Word you know as a witness to all those watching, and there are many.
We have seen two of our employees say Yes to the grace and life of Jesus! German is a young man who works as an assistant to the carpenters and our leather craftsman, and Erika is our very gifted administrative assistant. From our perspective, these came about largely through the ministry of our morning devotions, where we sing to the Lord and study scripture in a short lesson led by our pastor, Pepe, or myself or one of the other brothers who works here. Not only is it a great joy to see the salvation of Erika and German ourselves, but we have received confirmation from others, including unbelievers, the work is real...
German’s family are local business owners and somewhat critical about their son’s character and ability. His dad came to Armando, one of the Mexican men who works with us, and wanted to know what was going on here because his son is not the same kid he has known—he’s much more diligent, well-mannered, and respectful. Armando replied that it is nothing that we have done but simply the work of Jesus. Erika has found peace and comfort since her salvation, and the lift in her spirit is clear. She’s hungry for the Word and is being encouraged and instructed regularly, thanks be to God. I don’t remember ever working in such a place.
This is only a sampling of the blessings here. We remember regularly that our place is to do God's biding in this business. Many times His biding is contrary to "normal" business function and, by His grace, we have been successful to that end.