This week marked our first fully operational week of Submerge. The first week we spent much of our time in training, building relationships with the team, and planning. This week we hit the ground running as we executed all of our plans from the prior week. We started things off on Saturday with one of the outreaches we’ve done in other countries called, “Love from Above”.
The concept is simple. Come up with little ways you can bless a stranger, accompany this act with hand out cards that say “Love From Above: We wanted to show you by this simple act of kindness that God loves you and he cares very much about you.” The card then directs them to visit a page on our website with an article in Spanish on God’s love for us. The team chose to go to a local park and pass out free water along with the Love from Above cards. They had some incredible conversations and people were blown away that anyone would spend their Saturday passing water out to strangers.
In addition to this outreach the team ministered at; a juvenile detention center, One Heart college ministry, a kids feeding program, and two schools where they presented 7 childrens/youth programs. Needless to say the team was very busy this week and saw much fruit from their labor. In all they were able to minister to over 1100 people since last Saturday! We also began Spanish classes this week, I say “we” because Christa and I are definitely attending classes as well! It’s amazing how much more you pay attention in class when you know that when you walk out the door that’s the only language you can use to communicate!
Overall I would say we are very happy with the launch of Submerge and are enjoying getting to know the team more each day. We trust that they are learning and growing as they make themselves available to be used by God. Thank you for your continued prayers for us and our team and we specifically ask that you pray for health as some of our team members are battling some “bugs” this week.
Journeying Together,
The Baca’s
You Are Creative
I have been speaking every Saturday all this month to a local youth group on Creativity and the role it can play in our life. One tool that I always share with people when speaking on the subject, is something I first heard from Robert Kiyosaki years ago. When faced with an obstacle or challenge don’t say “I can’t” but rather, ask “How can I?”. That subtle distinction can make all the difference in the results we see in life. Give it a try and watch your mind go to work.
My Day With Zion
I’m sure we can all recall conversations with either our parents or our children about the importance of being grateful and how others around the world have it worse than we do. This has been a recurring conversation in the Baca home recently as we aim to instill gratefulness and generosity in the heart of our son. Yesterday I told Zion he was not going to daycare but that he and I were going downtown to look for ways we could be a blessing. We ended up inviting a group of children who work as shoe shiners to eat lunch with us. Afterwards Zion suggested he use his ten dollars his Papa had recently given him to buy ice cream for everyone. It was a special day for all of us.
Visa's In Hand
Thank you to all who have been standing with us in agreement that our visa’s would come through. Yesterday I went to the immigration office to pick them up and I’m happy to say that today we have them in hand! This completes phase 2 of a 3 phase process that must be accomplished in order to obtain the type of long term visa we are hoping for.