An Unexpected Plan...

In the last post, I mentioned our tearful drive from Utah to Texas.

Tears were shed for a lot of reasons: the separation of our family (our four adult kids stayed in Utah or Idaho), the death of Joy's kitten, the loss of a dream that we would all be in Mexico together, the uncertainty about how to move forward...

We have talked a lot and prayed a lot and are seeing that this short stay in Texas isn't going to be all that short.

When we came to the US for our two oldest children's weddings last month, we thought we could be staying for 2-3 weeks and then going back home to Mexico.

But it seems God had a different plan.

Bill had been working in Texas since the end of May and when we regrouped as a family, we realized we had some things to set in order before heading back to Mexico.

Our kids are super sad about this, which I think is amazing because living in Mexico is not the easiest lifestyle.

They want to get back to their friends, pets, and home. I am so proud of them and hope to go back soon... before they get used to all the comforts here again and change their mind

I don't love that they keep having so many changes to get used to, but they are sure becoming resilient, patient, and kind individuals in the process.

But it doesn't stop my mama heart from hurting for them. It is hard seeing Joy's tears through the day as she tries to draw or read, or to console Coen each night as he cries for his dogs and his older sister. It is hard watching Josh play basketball alone when he used to be surrounded by friends. Even James (who had the hardest time when we decided to move to Mexico) will randomly ask, "So when do we get to go back to Mexico?"

Here are a few things we need to do before we head back (not in order of importance, but probably in relevance to you)...

Texas Task 1: Nonprofit Management

We must learn how to run a nonprofit organization and find people who want to help.

It is embarrassing to say this since we have been technically running one for over a year... but we have been doing it at a very basic level..

Short explanation of why we have a nonprofit:

• We have been using the nonprofit that CLAS Ropes set up for strengthening families through challenging experiences: Families-UP.

• We added our name "Find Your Path Mission" as a DBA (doing business as) and took over this nonprofit that they were no longer using.

• They mentioned they may want to use it in the future, so we are considering starting a nonprofit from scratch, but either way, we need to better understand the ins and outs of nonprofit structure, rules, and procedures.

What I am doing:

I have a little practice from being on boards for commonwealths and things, but there is so much I don't know.

I have been listening to a book about nonprofit leadership and also reading the book "Nonprofit Kit for Dummies.

Jessalyn is looking at podcasts or events I could speak at to help us get the word out. If you know of any, please let us know!

I have been talking to my friends who run nonprofits, or who help in nonprofits, to get their advice. They are amazing people!

Some valuable advice I have received:

1. Read and learn, but then always ask God, His ways are often different than the world's ways.

2. Create experiences that include excursions, immersion, and service in your volunteer trips [I would also add education]. Charge more for these and have the volunteers fundraise for the money for the project they will work on through a peer-to-peer campaign before the trip.

3. Focus on getting more monthly donors. If everyone on your email list donated even just $10 each month, you would have enough to sustain your work in Mexico. If each person donated $20, you would have enough to grow it.

4. Surround yourself with people of faith (this I have done, and it makes such a difference! Thank you!)

5. Move your fundraising platform to Zeffy because they don't take any fees. (I just did this, so if you've been thinking of becoming a monthly donor, please do! Like my friend said earlier, if everyone on this list donated $10 per month, we could continue this work... and now there are no fees!)

6. Rewrite your mission statement, now that you are a year in, you should have a better idea of why you are there.

   This is what I have so far for a refined mission statement... what do you think? Any ideas for refining it?

Our mission: "Creating safe places that empower at-risk or abandoned youth to become educated, faithful, and compassionate leaders."

Current donations:

We are not currently touching the monthly donations, but are saving them to fix the road to our campus and build a classroom with a library. When we have enough monthly donors (200-400 depending on monthly amounts), we can return to Mexico with enough to fund a school. You will be sponsoring the students who can't pay for books, supplies, food, housing (for abandoned youth) or tuition.

We have over 500 people on this email list, so I think it's within the range of possibility to get to this goal soon

Please share this goal with your friends who may be willing to help

Texas Task 2: Finish the Guided Journals.

I kept making goals to work on rewriting these journals while I was in Mexico, but there was always too much to do.

Now that we are out of the thick of things for a bit, I want to finish. I am close.

They are a series of 7 journals that take you through a journey to discovering your personal path here on earth.

I want to go speak to groups about them and also about what we are doing.

If you have a group you would like me to speak to after September, please let me know!

These will be the foundational program we use at our leadership school in Mexico.

Texas Task 3: Nurture Our Relationships

We need to have a super strong marriage and family to be able to do this work. Bill has had to work in the US a lot this last year for our family to have what we needed in Mexico.

Being apart so long and not having the best communication patterns makes things harder.

We need to nurture our relationships right now so we can move forward with all there is to do in a more unified and powerful way.

What a blessing it is to have a family! I love them with all my heart.

Texas Task 4: Financial Principles

There is a really good Personal Finance Course that our church teaches. It suggests you get out of debt and have at least one month cash reserve for your family.

We can't be amazing stewards of a nonprofit organization if we are not amazing stewards of our own family.

We thought we had a responsible financial plan when we moved to Mexico, but so much did not go as expected.

There were so many mosquitos during the rainy season this year that we couldn't go out much and could not host groups at the ropes course.

We are making plans for the mosquitoes, the road, and the marketing for when we get back, but in the mean time - we need to pay off the debt that we got into to pay for the solar power system (there were no other electricity options near us) and windows.

So Bill will be working in Texas to get that paid off. He found a job near my parents' house so we can live here as we get things in order. We plan to get the debt paid off and get some savings so that we are living sound financial principles as a family before we head back.

Thank you!

Thank you for your patience and for helping us so much! We are honored that you are on this journey with us. Many of you have sacrificed so much for us to get this far. We are so excited for Phase 2 of this work.

Please pray with us that we can reach these goals soon

With lots of love,

Karen Bates

P.S. Please consider becoming a monthly donor There is a donate button below.