Visit to the US: Jack's Family

We've had such a busy couple of weeks so far!  We have traveled across North Carolina to visit Jack's mom, brother, grandmother, father and grandfather.  In that order!  

Jack and his brother, Andy

Beautiful weather in Wilmington, NC!  Great day at the park with Grandma Karen.

This is our family with Jack's Father and Grandmother, who we haven't seen in 7 years because she's been living in Alaska.  We had such a lovely visit in Franklin, NC and wish we could have spent more time with them.

Jack's brother, Andy, Jack and Grandpa Bert.  We are so grateful to be back and able to visit with family.

It's cold now!

The next two weeks are jam packed with visits to friends and family, as well as more church visits. We are enjoying every minute!  If you would like to get together, please send us a message at townsendguat@gmail.com.

Visit to the US: Susie's Family

We had a wonderful Christmas with Susie's family!  Her brother and sister and their families all came to spend the holiday together.  19 people in one house!  We had a blast!

Annual picture of the cousins on the steps Christmas morning.

Ava Mae enjoying Uncle Ricky's dog, Potcake.  Now she's begging for a dog!  ;)

Our oldest, Sophie, tells us she misses family the most when living in Guatemala.  This was a very special Christmas for her.

Jude is happy because he received a "real tool kit like daddy's" for Christmas!  He's ready to help around the house!

Joseph loves his Mozart Music Toy.  It's the second one he has had because he uses it so much!

Pearl will bring many books back in her suitcase!  

Annabelle enjoyed riding bikes with her cousins all week long!  

Betty and Jude are here getting ready to sing Christmas carols around the neighborhood!  Another tradition!

Grandmom enjoying quality time with Joseph!

Ava being silly on New Year's Eve!

Pop-Pop and Jude looking at beautiful Christmas lights!

2015 Winter Newsletter

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Winter Newsletter

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And the House is Up!

I wrote about Mardoqueo's family here and here last week.  They had a desperate need for a home.   Only one week passed from pre-visit to funding to house build!  Everything happened very quickly.

This particular house build was very special to me.  I won't go into details on social media out of respect for the family but everyone was extremely emotional and life changes were made.  God is so good.

Last home build of 2015!

I had a sweet little helper.  :)

We don't have any teams visiting so it was just us four guys building this home.

Handing the keys over!  What a blessing to be a part of this ministry.

I am already looking forward to visiting this family when we get back in January.

This family is eager to celebrate Christmas in their new home! Amen!


Merry Christmas,
Jack

Quick Run to El Salvador!

Jack came home last Tuesday and told me he had to make a quick run to El Salvador two days later, on Thursday.  Our Salvadoran friends, Patsy and Joaquin, needed to go back for a visa renewal. Unfortunately, they have been having car issues for a while now and they asked Jack to drive them. 

The next day, I was talking to Patsy and she TOLD me we were all going!  Like our entire family!  She wanted to show us her birth country and share her culture with us for one full day.  We left at 3:00 am for a tumultuous drive to El Salvador and didn't return until 1:00 am the next morning!  What a long, long day with lots of driving hours in the car.  As you can see in the pictures below, El Salvador is absolutely stunning.  

Do you remember the blog post here where I mentioned Patsy's pupusas?  Well, we ate pupusas, not once but twice when we were in El Salvador.  And they were so YUMMO!  

Patsy and Joaquin have really welcomed us into their family over the past year.  We've developed a very special friendship and I thank God for these precious friends.  

Well that was QUICK!

So within an hour of posting the blog about a family in need of a house in Santa Maria de Jesus - a house was sponsored for them!

Luis (36 years old), Maria (33 years old), Hector (17 years old), Rosalinda (15 years old), Edgar (13 years old), Jose (11 years old), Maira (3 years old), and Oscar (6 months old) will have a home next week!

In my blog post I mentioned hoping they would have a home by the end of 2016.  This is a whole year sooner than I anticipated.  Praise God!

Their kitchen has an open fire and a single pot.

Living area for their family of eight.

 Their dirt floor floods every time it rains.  The raised concrete pad will be a tremendous help!

Luis will take down the old house to make room for the new home.

I know they are happy rainy season is almost over!  We sure are at our house.  Susie is ready to be able to hang up our laundry without worrying about the afternoon rain each day!

Here are five (one on Rosalinda's back) of the family members.  They're so happy to be receiving a home.

Jude was my happy helper for the visit.  He wanted to stay and play.

What an amazing Christmas present they are receiving this year.  My wife always says it's a gift to live and serve here.  I completely agree.