Hello Find Your Path Mission Friends! I am so excited to share what your prayers, donations and volunteer work are helping us do here this summer! 

Our incredible interns this year are named Kate and Brenley. They arrived 1 day after we did have been working on the yard to make it look beautiful, clearing the branches at the ropes course so we can start taking groups through again, cleaning and organizing inside our home, being awesome big sisters to my little kids. 

One example of the kind of people they are is when I left one Sunday to visit a family who has been having some health problems. I told them I’d be back in like 30 minutes. I got back 2 hours later and they were finishing cleaning out the fridge just because they saw it needed it. 

 They have also been busy preparing and teaching english/self-leadership classes to the adults and youth in the community.

One of the biggest lessons I am learning this time here is that we have limited time, energy and resources and we need to conserve them for people who are wanting to learn and grow. I am such a hopeful person that I have a hard time letting go of someone who has no desire to change, I keep hoping that I could say the right thing and inspire them to give up drugs or alcohol and instead learn and grow. But I am learning that timing is important. People have their own process to move through and we are here for those ready to grow into new opportunities. 

This is part of the reason I am excited to do English/Self-leadership classes. The students who come are the kind of people who want to grow and learn and who can help us grow a community that inspires change. 

We have also enjoyed spending time with the kids at our little school. One of them invited us to her house the other day to see her new baby ducks and baby parrot.

One of our projects this summer is to plant an agrosintropic garden. A friend from Costa Rica and another friend from Valladolid designed one for us and came out to show us how. This type of planting allows for a very high yield in a small space and will help us feed our family, school, guests and create entrepreneurial experiences.

I am also working with business owners in the community to bring more ecotourism into our little town so we can create more jobs and grow the economy. I created a website with our businesses and we are now brainstorming ways to market it. We plan on putting up billboards on the mian roadand information flyers at the information booths. We hope the ropes course will not only help the inspire the youth who come learn here, but also help us earn the money we need to create the refuge and school for youth we are working to create here. 

There is so much to do. We invite you to be a part of it. You can be involved by being a monthly donor.. Monthly donors are what keep this work afloat. We need 60 more monthly donors at $25 per month to have enough to hire the help we need to maintain the school and continue to slowly build the refuge we came here to create.  

Or if you’d like to donate to a specific project, just let me know which project you want your donation to go to.

Because of your donations we have started building a palapa to hold youth camps, classes, and activities. We have the structure up and just need to fundraise to finish the roof, build a bathroom and and put in a floor. 

To keep our tools safe, we started building a shed and are also saving money to build a gate into our yard to keep our home safe as well. We also want to build a fence around the 12 acres, also for safety and to keep people from taking trees or material from our property. 

We would also love for you to come visit!

Our interns have been busy organizing, cleaning, gardening, and teaching but they have also had some time to enjoy the beautiful culture and environment here. 

On our first Saturday here, we went to El Cuyo.

The next Saturday we celebrated Kate’s birthday by visiting her first ever cenote.

The next Wednesday was Joshua’s birthday and he wanted to go see Mission Impossible so we drove 2 hours to Cancun to watch it with his friends. 

Last Saturday we went out to a friends orchard to pick fruit and then to a nearby lagoon to play in the water for a bit.

On the week nights we play games, watch movies or go into town to see the flowers, birds, people, and try different food. We sometimes go watch Joshua play basketball or go to one of James’s soccer games or to different community or church events.

Without these amazing interns here with us, we would be drowining. I am so thankful Heavenly Father is aware of this work and sends us who we need in order to move forward.

Anyway, I know there are so many good things to donate to so I just want to thank you for trusting us with your donations. A little goes such a long way here and since we are just getting started, every prayer, donation, and volunteer hour helps so so much.

Thank you also for watching and for sharing this video and work with your friends. We appreciate you all so much.