There has been more to hymn sing preparations than we first imagined. We thought we would invite young people from area schools and colleges but that turned out not to be too popular an idea since we will be singing hymns… God truly isn’t very welcome in the public school anymore. We decided we would go out and play our instruments in parks, hospitals, bus stations and area stores to let people know what we would be doing. It has been good for us because it has forced us to practice more… but it has been a bit difficult too to have our schedule so full. The only problem with playing at hospitals is that Chris caught a virus and has been down with a fever for 3 days. We hope he won’t lose his voice completely before the hymn sing since he is directing it! We still have music to enter into the computer and give to participants and 3 practice evenings before the event. You can see the flyer on the Hymn gather and encourage each other. |
| P.O. Box 1061, Pharr, TX 78577 In the U.S. : 608 - 313 - HOPE Message phone in U.S. : 956-781-5133 Email: chriscoleen@symphoniesofhope.org Email: chriscoleen@choirsoffaith.org |
| SymphoniesOfHope.Org ChoirsOfFaith.Org SinfoniasDeEsperanza.Org CorosDeFe.Org |
| Update May - July 2009 |
Symphonies of Hope– Choirs of Faith
| Orchestras & Choirs Serving in God's Love |
| “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him” 1 Corinthians 2:9 |
| A Quick Summary |
After Josephs wedding we wanted to visit the small orchestra we had started in Monterey. The visit went well and they were very encouraged to see us—they had fallen into numerous difficulties. To encourage them we took some of their families for a picnic outing in the mountains. Pricila, the young sister of two violin students, who was fighting cancer, was not doing well. After returning to the U.S. and calling them once again we learned that Pricila had passed away. While we continue to dedicate our lives full time to our mission work there are many challenges. Our long absence from the U.S., combined with changes in the economy has left us with much much diminished support. To try to make up the difference we have been selling fresh bread from door to door while here in McAllen, Texas. We are now preparing for a community hymn sing to which we are inviting string players from the area. We have been playing our violins at several hospitals in the area and at the bus station to encourage and invite people to the hymn sing. In about a week and a half we will be heading toward Monterrey, Mexico again to bring them real violins and to encourage them. |
| Easter Visit to Monterrey |
| We wanted to make a short visit to Monterrey to see the families of the children we had worked with last year building violins. We also wanted to visit the Union Church again. Rather than take the whole camper and spend a lot of time at the border we took some tents and blankets so we could just camp for a few days. We have a kitchen in the van and a portable bathroom and shower is easy to rig up with some tarp and a portable toilet. We have learned how to rough camp over the years. We were happy to see that several of the children were still practicing their violins although things had changed somewhat. When we left a teacher was coming to the school and giving them a class one time a week. The teacher loaned them real violins as well. But because so many fear the poorer neighborhoods after a few months the teacher decided that the students should instead come to him at his school in downtown Monterrey. For these children a one and a half hour bus ride through a big city was a pretty major undertaking. And some parents really couldn’t afford the bus fare and were also afraid to have them alone on such a long trip. So one by one they stopped going and then their instruments were taken away because they didn’t attend regularly. Also the teacher was only teaching them how to play violin and not including the Bible or its teachings… So we are now ´planning to revisit this community in August and restart the class. We are raising money to buy a few violins for this group. We enjoyed playing our violins at the Union Church Sunday morning and visiting with Pastor Long after church. On Monday we decided to go to Chipinke – a park at the top of a nearby mountain with the family of Pricila… the little girl with Leukemia. Several of the other violin students went along too. Our van was packed! We took hotdogs and beans and chips and had a picnic together. After our picnic the violin students played violins together and it was exciting to see how much they had progressed. Elizabeth had a fun time giving Pricila piggy back rides around the park. She had been out of the hospital for only a few days after a very bad time… she had been in a coma for several days and it was uncertain if she would wake up. We noticed that her stomach was very swollen and she was very weak. She wasn’t feeling real well when we went to the park but was full of smiles and giggles. We took pictures of all of the children together on a rock in the park until my camera batteries gave out. We fed squirrels and birds and had a great time together. Later we were thankful that we had taken the time for this special outing with Pricila and her family. The next day we were making breakfast in the van kitchen and we heard several loud explosions which we thought were fireworks nearby…so we hardly paid attention to them. Fireworks are so common that you hear them many times a day. About 15 minutes later we heard sirens approaching on the road about 2 blocks away. We assumed it was another car accident. There are accidents on the roads nearby very often. All of the children in the village ran to see what had happened. It was just across the soccer field from us. Our children came running back within 2 minutes to tell us that it wasn’t an accident after all… It turned out that a man from the community we were in, owed money to a man in the community next to us and when he went to the man’s house and couldn’t pay up… he was shot. The man who shot him ran off right away but the police caught him within 2 days. We felt for the families there. The man who died was a relative to half of the village. He was only 21 years old. Everyone in La Fama was pretty shook up. |
| Tragic news from Monterey… |
| We visited Chipinke park at Easter. None of us knew it would be the last time we saw Pricila with her brothers and parents. We are thankful that we were able to spend time with Pricila and her family one last time before she passed away only days before her 7th birthday. |
After visiting Monterey again we began thinking about what we could do to encourage and
strengthen the little group there. We began planning another visit and wanted to start regular
brother of Alejandro and Pricila, but the call would not go through. (Frequently people are
not able to charge their phones or put time credit on them) Just a couple of days ago Chris
decided to try once again and to his surprise the phone rang. Cesar, the older brother of
Pricila (the little 6 year old with cancer) answered the phone and the line was clear. Chris
asked if he was interrupting anything and Cesar said no, but then proceeded to tell Chris he
had bad news. Weeping was heard over the phone as Cesar explained that the life of his
little sister Pricila had ended the day before only days before her birthday. A couple of us
and pain together with Cesar’s family. We prayed as best we could with Cesar over the
phone and the conversation was over.
Later as a family we talked about our memories of Pricila’s family, her brothers, her father, her
mother, her neighbors. We remembered seeing her mother spending time with her on the swing,
sometimes at 2 in the morning—later explaining to Elizabeth that she just wanted to make the
most of the time she might have left on a night when Pricila couldn’t sleep. We remembered
gathering the whole family and praying with them during some of our first days of visiting that
community. Elizabeth was able to recall showing Pricila baby chicks to help lift her spirits—
she was also able to recall holding Pricila on her shoulders and giving her “horsy” rides in the
park when we were with the family just a few weeks ago.
We all remembered taking Pricilla to the hospital about a year and a half ago when she was
having a bad reaction to a blood transfusion. The nurses there took Pricilla’s temperature
under the arm. After noting her high temperature they proceeded to put ice packs under her
arms. After 2 minutes of ice packs, they again took her temperature under the arm (where the
ice packs had been) and concluded that her fever was much better. At one time she was given
an excellent progress report and her cancer seemed to be in remission, but there always
seemed to be issues surrounding the blood transfusions she required. I don’t think anyone of
our family feels that she received the quality of care she should have—but that issue is a
complicated one, buried in the economics of hospital management and the disparities that exist
between wealthier and poorer nations. When we come upon difficult cases we send out letters
to various organizations in the U.S. that we feel might be able to make a difference, but
invariably only a short answer that in some way says “unable to help” is the reply we receive.
It’s too bad we haven’t saved all of those letters; we would have quite a collection by now.
Though Pricila’s death and suffering was certainly a hard blow for the family, her little life
filled with its struggles brought many blessings to her brothers, father, mother and other
children in the community. They all learned a lot about having concern for another who is in
great pain—enduring shots, hospital visits, nausea, and more. They all worked together to try
to bring a bit of joy to Pricila each day. The children in that community seemed to have more
of a bond for each much stronger than we have found in other communities. Pricila’s father,
who before her sickness would enjoy a drink with the guys—turned away from alcohol
completely. Pricila would occasionally need blood transfusions and if there was alcohol in his
blood he would not be a possible donor.
In short, it seems clear that God worked through Pricila to teach everyone a little more about
kindness, a little more about gentleness, a little more about sacrifice, and a little more about
love. .. She will be very missed. Cesar is now working 3 part time jobs to raise enough money
for a nice headstone for his little sister. We will be able to see them in August. Please keep
their family in your prayers.
Dear Lord, watch over Pricila’s family at this time and keep their faith strong. Encourage
them in the days and weeks to come…..amen.
| Update # 16 |
Violins and music alone are not reason enough to endure various hardships in order to continue with the work we do. Making bread and completing the mission work at the same is very difficult. Many days have been long and exhausting. (It is for this reason that this recent update has been so long in coming) Many purchases are put off with hope until a later date. Food is very simple and anything that is not a “real” need gets put on hold. Economic stresses on our mission work are probably in part due to recent changes in the economy, and those challenges are not going to disappear any time soon. What does give us the strength to continue is seeing the hope and joy in children and parents that comes forth when they realize that you truly care about them out of your love and commitment to God. They recognize the vision—of providing a time and place where young people and adults who want to put God first can gather together and spend time learning a skill of beauty—and then reaching out to truly show God’s love and kindness to others in the community. So here we are, fighting for a cause. A few weeks back we offered a fresh bread loaf to a young man as he was entering his house with bags of newly purchased beer and video DVDs. After explaining about the little orchestras he gave a grunt of irritation, shuffled into his house and closed the door. What he valued was clear—beer and videos. He had no value for small God centered orchestras—or even fresh bread. Many valuable ministries struggle because the world at large simply does not value what they do. There are others that we encounter that truly do value what we do and try to be encouraging. People like these are like little oasis in a large desert. These persons seem to ring with a message that says “you are not alone—what you are doing should be done and may God bless it”. God sees all and knows all and sometimes sends a surprise of encouragement. Recently the Sisters of St. Joseph sent some funds to enable us to help families and children in Monterrey and others at Grace and Truth have helped as well. Will any of the little orchestras that we have started ever be large and “successful”? We don’t know that. But we do know that numerous families have had God’s love shown to them in a very real and meaningful way—and we don’t feel that we will ever be ashamed of what we have tried to stand for….so….we keep on keeping on. |
| Fighting For a Cause |
| Hymn Sing Preparations |
“Hi. We’re staying over near Grace Community Church and we do Mission work in Mexico and Guatemala and while we are here in the U.S. we make fresh bread…" “Every evening we have been pounding the pavement from door to door selling loaves of Italian bread to raise enough money to pay our electric, grocery, and gas bills. It has been interesting and sometimes fun, but it always a lot of work. We had to decide how we could get by while in the United States, and while Chris could go out and find a job, chances are he wouldn’t earn more than we can earn baking bread. And of course then we wouldn’t see him for most of the day and couldn’t work on our orchestra work very much either. Unfortunately the bread baking and selling uses up most of our time and energy and can be unpredictable. Recently we had a two week period when the bread just wasn’t coming out as nice as it usually did. We were more and more frustrated because we just couldn’t identify the problem. We tried changing the type of oil we used, changing the brand of dry milk, adding more and then less water, and even the rising time. Why were loaves that normally came out large and soft suddenly falling at the time of going in the oven??? Finally we decided we would look for another brand of flour even though we had been using the same kind of flour since the beginning. Chris was on the internet liking through the list of flours that the bakery sells and I was looking over his shoulder. I noticed one…and I said it out loud. Isn’t that the one we are using??? Suddenly Chris jumped up and said I don’t think the bag says that anymore!!! We ran home and looked for the bag… Sure enough the bag was the same color and had the same design on it, but only said “bread flour” on the label. He went back to the bakery for a bag of the right kind and finally the bread was back to its old self. Unfortunately we lost a lot of money on DUD Bread in those two weeks! Recently we had a big two day cinnamon roll bake to raise money for violins for the group here in Pharr so now we are making some bread and some cinnamon rolls Monday through Saturday. We will tell more on that story next time around! People really seem to like the bread and the cinnamon rolls. Last week we played our instruments in a Wal-Mart that had a Grand reopening day… Ronald McDonald was there in full costume dancing around us as we played. He made it very hard for us to concentrate! After it was all over he gave us coupons for McDonalds and just before walking away he said, “By the way… Your bread is delicious!” We all looked at each other stunned...Who was he? We couldn't tell with all the makeup ! We all had to wonder who he really was! We must have knocked on his door selling bread at some time. :) |
| We Usually Do Not Live By Bread Alone— Bread Adventures |
There are many prayer needs… Please keep us in your prayers as we travel to Monterrey
and Saltillo in the coming weeks. Pray that we will be wise in our decisions and that our
efforts will bless the young people and families that we encounter. Continue to pray for
Pricilla’s family as they adjust to life without her. Pray for the children in Guatemala that
continue to meet for their classes despite heavy rains and storms… that they might not give
up in our absence.
Thank you for keeping in touch with us. Every letter is treasured by all. We are always
encouraged to hear from friends and family in the states or from anywhere! We wish we
could get together with each and every one of you.. In time perhaps. We appreciate all of
your prayers and communications! May God protect you and guide you in the days ahead.
With Love in Christ,
Chris, Coleen, Elizabeth, Sarah, Jonathan, and Samuel (& Scooter, the cart pulling dog)
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