Christmas 2010 at the orphanage...Jungle Gym!

Hello friends,

We hope that you all have had, or are having, a great Christmas holiday season. We had our customary annual Christmas dinner (celebrated on the 24th down here in Mexico) at the church and have had some good holiday gatherings over the last few weeks. The children of the orphanage have had an especially blessed Christmas in that many individuals, families, churches and groups gave gifts this year. We thank all of you that gave towards meeting their “wants” this year.

Below, I have included just a few pics from one such group that came and provided gifts to the children. This particular group, collected the gifts from several churches in their area and then brought them all down in many large suitcases and travel bags. Their plane actually landed several states away (cheaper tickets) and then they took a 13 hour bus ride and another short trip by truck to get the gifts here. Blessed be the name of the Lord for men and women like these that have given much energy and time so that a few children in south Mexico could have a really good Christmas this year.

The other thing I have included in this blog concerns a group with Global Encounters that came down to help paint the inside of the orphanage and start the construction of a new jungle gym at the property several moths ago. But because of rain and lack of time, the group was not able to get very far with this new project. HOWEVER, about two weeks ago a much smaller group of local missionaries (along with one of the members of the original group) came back and finished up that neat project. They came for two days and after all of their hard work, the children now have a new and very large place to slide, swing, climb, and hang. Thank you guys for all of your hard work and dedication to finish up this project. [I have included this project in this blog for Christmas because most of the money for this jungle gym was raised in the states during a Christmas toy drive for the children.]

Several pics of Christmas at the orphanage....here is pastor C

All the girls...

Steve, pastor C and the boys!!!

Pics of the original group that came down several months ago to start the jungle gym project...

This is when the rain stated!!!! Couldn´t get much done then...although Nathan (the man in charge of this whole project, including raising the funds in the states) tried to continue!

These are photos taken during the two days that the second group came and continued working on the jungle gym to finish it up...

A few of the workers!!!

Tommy came with the first group as well...

Getting back to work...

Here is Nathan pulling out the big guns...nail gun that is!

And finally it´s play time!!!

That´s all for now folks,

Lance for the gang

Pics from the New Zealand Group

Hello friends,


Hope everyone is well and getting ready for a great Christmas holiday season. Sarah, Joshua, Caleb and I had a whole lot of fun putting up our Christmas tree the other day...lots of fun but also a little bit of stress with our two and one year olds as every two seconds it was Caleb no, Joshua put that down, Caleb stop that, Joshua why on earth would you do that?????!!!!!!



We are making this post because we wanted to share a little bit about a family (+ one) from NEW ZEALAND that just came and visited us. Gordon, Wendy, Wendy´s two daughters Debrin and Katie, and Dan came and stayed in our house for 6 days and what a great time it was. Wendy found out about us, and our ministry, when she found our blogsite and web page back in 2008 as she was surfing the web about things in Chiapas. And since that day, we have been in contact about the orphans and of course what the Keelings are up to. Wendy kept telling me that there are no coincidences but rather God has a plan for our meeting up in a small place like Teopisca (I mean after all, New Zealand is on the other side of the world from us).


I can´t remember exactly what Gordon said, but he said something like ¨we not only came to visit the orphans but to minister to, encourage and serve Lance and Sarah and the boys¨....and did they ever.


We had some good days visiting the orphanage, but we also just hung out at the house and talked and talked and talked. Gordon repaired a whole bunch of things around our rent house (our water pump works now!) and Wendy shared some baking secrets with Sarah (man those cinnamon rolls where the bomb...and Sarah knows how to make them now!)


We have had visitors (and short term missionaries) come stay with us down here in south Mexico over the last 3 1/2 years, and these guys have done what they all have; blessed us and the orphans in special ways.



Take a look at some pics below;




Here is a photo taken about 20 minutes before the gang got back on a bus and headed to the airport





Gordon and Wendy...they really love their rugby!





Dan and Katie...they are in their second and first year at a music universtiy...not sure how to say that? They played some good stuff for us!






And here is Debrin...who was the resident photographer and was doing this for much of the trip...she is a professionsal by the way!





Sarah and Wendy in the kitchen...cake and cinammon rolls...gotta love that





and here is Wendy doing what she does best; encouraging a tired missionary...



And take a look at this new water pump that Gordon put in...I know that he probably isn´t too thrilled with the final product because it doesn´t look ¨professional,¨ but let me tell you...you have to make due with what you have...and Gordon is definitely a professional in my book as he fixed mechanical and electrical things in the house and fixed my car as well.





Some pics at the orphanage playing soccer... (and as you can tell Debrin was at work because these photos were not taken with a point and click $100 camera)





Everyone keep their eye on the bouncing ball...





Check out the three things going on here...Sarah Grande is actually playing the game of soccer (goal keeper), Paty is possibly giving some encouragement (?), but check out Rubelsi...I think he is flexing for someone on the sidelines...not sure what that is all about!



Here I am hoping that Chepe does not kick me right in the face again...tone it down kid, tone it down!





The dog was on our team...



Go get em Dan!



Here is Katie lining up the shot (with her boyfriend Dan trying to get the best view he can)...SHE SHOOTS AND...









SHE SCORES!!!!!!!!!!!



Paty and Carlitos going after it...



I think Chepe was shooting at the goal and I was blocking his shot...thought this was a cool photo.

Two photos of Katie and Dan playing some songs for the children...and can they ever play and sing!

Our little Caleb liked this song so much, he thought he would start dancing!!!




And lastly, here are some pics of little baby clothes (and some older children´s clothes)
that Wendy left with Sarah and me to hand out to those families that are in need...and there are plenty of babies that are in need! Wendy said that a group of ladies from New Zealand got together and hand made the baby outfits, so they these are original New Zealand clothes...gotta like that!









And here we are handing some of the clothes out...have many more families that we need to visit with but it is a start...

This is Cruz with her new little 6 week old Karen...we have known the husband Daniel since the frist day we arrived here in Mexico...





The hammock in the background is little Karen´s bed...that is common in the part of Mexico we live in...

Here are some pics of two families that attend our church...

Chus and her 7 month old granddaughter...

Herminia and her 7 month old daughter Esther...this is Humberto´s wife.

And the rest of Herminia´s children wearing various things that Wendy left with us...

And that´s all for now.

Thanks for taking the time to keep up with what´s going on down here,

Lance, Sarah, Joshua and Caleb