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"Christ has no body now on earth but yours, no hands, but yours, no feet but yours. Yours are the eyes through which Christ's compassion is to look out to the earth, yours are the feet by which He is to go about doing good, and yours are the hands by which He is to bless us now."
- St Teresa of Avila
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Serving those who are serving others


Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. James 1:27

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Little ones to Him belong...


"If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how cant the love of God be in him?" 1 John 3:17


"Don't fail to do something just
 because you can't
 do everything."
-Bob Pierce, founder of World Vision.

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Quote of the Week

"I've never had to use shampoo on my eyebrows before!" 


Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person."
-Mother Teresa

If anyone is poor among your brothers in any of the towns of the land the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward them. Rather, be openhanded and freely lend them whatever they need. Deut. 15:7-11
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Seniors complete insulating & sheetrocking... YOU ROCK!


And if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.
Isaiah 58:10



 

Click here for more fun photos!


 


 

Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, "Go in peace; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.  James 2:15-17

 
 

Diary of a Blessed Mission Team in Mission, Texas!

 

I have traveled to many places in my lifetime and seen many of the incredible wonders of God's world, but in the past few days I have seen and experienced beauty and wonder that far surpasses any of my travels. Who knew that it would be found in the hearts and spirit of my teenage travel companions in a dismal Colonia near Mission, Texas.  Our prayer has been that God would make it clear what He has ordained for us to do while we are here. He has done "exceedingly and abundantly more than we could ask or imagine." Words will not be sufficient, but I am going to make the attempt to tell you what has happened in diary form.

 

Wednesday

After an 11 hour bus ride, 41 students, 11 adults and one bus driver arrived in Mission on a Mission!  Buckner Ministries learned last year

that our students work very hard and very fast, so they were prepared for us! We have prayed that every project we work on would be God ordained, God directed, and God blessed; and I think we all agree that He has answered that prayer in a mighty way! It started before we left Rockwall with the incredible generosity of our school family.
All of our projects were fully funded! Thank you HCA families!
 

 
Thursday

We hit the ground running this morning with four big projects.

Our students began insulating and sheet-rocking one house, putting siding on two houses, roofing and shingling one house, and building a bathroom from the ground up. They painted, caulked, and even put in a window. Others picked up trash and kept the workplaces clean. Everyone built relationships with the kids and families while they served. The need is so great here, so we are praying that God will direct us to the families that He wants us to serve.

 

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Click here to see more pictures of the roofing crew!


 

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Click here to see more pictures of the bathroom crew!

 

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Click here to see more pictures of the siding crew!


 

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Click here to see more pictures of the

Sheet-rocking and insulation crew!


 

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       Click here for more                    Building Relationships
"Trash management" pictures            Click here for more!


 

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 A big thank you to our fabulous cooking crew, directed by Iron-Chef Higdon. They worked tirelessly to keep us well fed with good home-cooking! Click here for more pictures .

 
 Friday
  Gabriel, our Buckner missions coordinator, told us today about a family of 12 (nine daughters and one son), whose house burned down Tuesday night. We did not know what we could do to help, but our construction savvy sponsors went over to take a look. The family was is living in the shell of their burned home (only because they didn't have anywhere else to go). We were miraculously $900 under budget from our other projects and wanted to use that surplus to help them; but to build them a room (15x15) that would be livable would cost $3000. Gabriel went to his construction supply company and they said if we were willing to do the labor, they would provide the additional supplies. God is Good!  Our different teams continued the projects they started yesterday and began a second bathroom for another family today. They will try to finish those projects today, then tomorrow they will "break ground" on the new house.  Please pray that we are able to finish in two days!


 

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The Ruiz family was living in the burned out home. The feet of the children were black with soot.
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 Saturday

 

Normally, on our winter mission trips, Saturday night is designated as "fun night." It usually includes a nice meal out and a movie. This morning in our devotional our kids proposed that we forgo the nice meal and movie and spend that money on providing necessities for the family who lost their home. Before they left for the day the students pulled together and sacrificially gave over $1900.  Needless to say we had a very fun trip to Wal-mart. It seemed as if our money kept multiplying as we spent it (instead of the loaves and fishes it was clothes and dishes)! 

 

The night the home burned, the family barely escaped the flames. They were left with no shoes, and only one jacket to share between the children. After our team visited their home yesterday, they couldn't shake the devastating picture of the children running around barefoot in the soot and ashes. But God has definitely taken care of the details every step of the way on this trip. It "just so happens" that there is another ministry group staying at the same place we are staying called Soles for Orphan Souls. They have a warehouse full of new shoes in all sizes, blankets, and toys...less than a mile down the road. They told us to go and get anything we needed. This allowed us to use the money we raised to purchase most of the immediate needs of the family-- from clothing and toiletries to kitchenware, small appliances, and bedding. We were even able to throw in Christmas gifts as well! God is so good!!

While some of the girls shopped, the building crew cleared the burned house and began construction of the new house on the same slab. By the end of the day they had finished framing it. However, they only have one more day to finish and they have a long way to go! Look out Extreme Makeover: Home Edition...HCA might put you out of a job!

 
 

Featured Reading

Sunday 

This morning in our devotional we read from Luke 14:1-5
One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, he was being carefully watched. There in front of him was a man suffering from abnormal swelling of his body. Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in the law, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?" But they remained silent. So taking hold of the man, he healed him and sent him on his way. Then he asked them, "If one of you has a child or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull it out?" And they had nothing to say.

So we continue...

While the building crew worked fast and furiously to finish before we had to leave, some of the girls stayed back to sort and box up our purchases. The girls had already wrapped a ton of gifts to deliver to the children who live on the sight of our original projects. So we loaded up both sets of gifts and headed out on the bus to deliver them.

 
 

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delivery
 

 Click here to see more pictures of the wrapping and delivery of the toys.

After delivering the first set of gifts we joined the workers and the family at the new house to deliver everything we purchased for them. It didn't take long to realize that every moment was ordained and orchestrated by God.


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A few of the highlights...

  • Watching our students wash the feet of each child before they put their new socks and shoes on them.
  • The construction team worked as fast as possible to finish before they ran out of daylight. When the sun went down, our bus driver pulled up and turned on his lights to try to help...moments later construction lights and a generator appeared and lit up the whole place (still no one knows where they came from)!
  • Praying (without much hope) that Family Christian Book Store would be open on a Sunday...at 6:30 so we could purchase a Spanish Bible for the family. They were...and it was the only Sunday all year that they were open...'til 7:00!
  • Seeing the sincere joy on the mom and oldest daughter's faces when we gave her the Bible and told her that it was because of Christ that we were there and that He had, without a doubt, called us to her aid, and provided for her needs.
  • Knowing that the kingdom of God grew as a result of our students' willingness to love and witness to this family as they served them.  One student was able to lead one of the daughter's to Christ. Another student was able to share the Christmas story with the one of the other girls. It was her first time to hear it.   
  • Circling the home with the family when we were done and praying for them. What a glorious night!
     
  • Witnessing one of the most impacting sermons ever preached. Who delivered it?  41 HCA students and 11 sponsors who were amazing ambassadors for Christ as they worked, loved, showed compassion and never stopped serving.
     
    Click here to watch the day unfold in pictures.

 

Monday Morning

Today we head back to Rockwall feeling blessed and grateful that God, in His glorious grace, allowed us to be a very small part of His big picture this week!

 
The adults have been humbled by the Christ-like spirit that has been pervasive in our students. It is evident in their diligence, their compassion, their sacrificial giving, their selfless attitudes, and their unity.  They have truly been His hands, His feet, and His heart to this community!  Christ has been glorified through His HCA ambassadors!
For more information contact:
Mandy Huckabee
469-338-1401
mhuckabee@heritagechristianacademy.org