What's the Plan?

Watching our oldest kids get married and then coming to Texas with only half of our kids has made us really ponder on what we want for our family's future and what we want our kids to understand about what is important.

We have had to do some painful digging into our souls about life and what is most important to us.

There are so many good things to do in life.

Why go to Mexico?

When we were contemplating selling everything and moving to Mexico, we knew we could stay in the US and continue visiting orphanages and sending supplies and donations.

Those things were all needed and helpful.

But what tugged most at our hearts was the desire for these amazing youth to understand who they were, to be heard, and to be motivated to develop their talents to make their unique difference for good in the world.

We wanted to see them break the generational patterns of abuse, addiction, and poverty and create their own healthy families and successful futures.

This is what we want for our own children too... an education that was about the gifts they had to offer to help with the suffering around them and to share love with others.

We moved to Mexico to create a place where these outcomes would be the focus.

How do we plan to do this?

1. The Find Your Path Program will:

   1. Teach them to recognize themselves as beloved children of God

   2. Help them make inspired goals in the following areas: Gifts/talents, mental/physical health, relationships with others, and relationship with God. 

   3. Guide them through establishing systems and habits in their lives that lead them to reach their goals.

   2. Prepare them for Higher Education by:

   1. Tutoring in math, Spanish, writing, science, art, music, history, theater, and English.

   2. Reading and Discussing classics, and

   3. Activities, games, and simulations to learn to apply what they learn to their daily lives.

   3, Practice principles of growth through:

   1. Study Skills in finding and applying principles in everything they read with an emphasis on classic literature,

   2. Permaculture systems they will learn as they care for plants and animals,

   3. Entrepreneurship classes and opportunities that teach them to grow resources for themselves and others, and

   4. Challenge Activities to learn to step out of their comfort zone to grow into their potential

   
   4. Help them enroll in Higher Education opportunities and mentor them as needed. Such as:

   1. The BYU Pathways program,

   2. Internship Opportunities,

   3. Attending local Universities, or

   4. Other online or local options for the career or trade they want to learn.

   For youth who live on campus:

   Model healthy families through:

   1. Daily devotionals,

   2. Structured home systems where there is a desire to understand and follow the rules.

   3. Healthy communication and conflict resolution patterns

   4. A loving environment that listens to, respects, and values the unique personality of each individual

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To help us get back to Mexico and move forward with this work, please consider becoming a monthly donor ❤️

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Mission

We are working on updating our mission statement. Those of you who like to play with words to create something beautiful, how would you improve the following?

"Providing a loving environment and an inspiring education for at-risk youth in Mexico."

or maybe something like...

"Empowering at-risk youth in Mexico with an inspiring education and a caring community."

We want you all to be a part of that caring community. We want the mission statement to show that we came out here to show these kids that they are loved, valued, and that their gifts and interests matter. Also to show them how to be guided on their unique path. This is the biggest need that we felt inspired to fill.

A Message about Waiting

Our family is in a season of waiting and preparing (see last post for some things we need to do before heading back to Mexico). As you know, it is hard to wait for answers, healing, or peace in life.

When we moved to Mexico, we planted 30+ trees that we had to water with buckets. We were so relieved when the rain finally came, but we were not prepared for what the rain would bring...

Thank you!

We are so thankful for your reading our updates and staying involved.

It helps so much to have a network of friends who are supporting us by staying updated and sharing what we are trying to do.

We thank you who are donating to make this all possible! We love and appreciate you.

With lots of love,

Karen Bates