CASA DAILY HAPPENINGS:

• KEVIN will begin his dialysis technician practice Monday from 6am until 6pm.
• CJ & Randy are getting so much plumbing done.
• An 18 wheeler ran into a crowd and 18 were killed and over 50 were injured.

1/7/2001. At 10pm the police arrived with a 4 year old child found wandering in the streets od Sumpango. I was still awake when the mother of Mario II called to tell me that Mario had been shot to death. He was only 12 years old. He came here at age 10 but constantly ran away. His mother would return him to Casa but he just wanted to live with her. However, a local gang forced him to join them (for his protection). On this night he was shot to death by a rival gang.

His mother asked if I would perform the funeral service at 10am. Normally, the dead are not embalmed so funerals are immediate. Dottie and I went to the city where the funeral was actually held in the garage. Dottie, the mother and I were the only ones in attendance. When I stood to begin 20 gang members entered the garage. So I had the marvelous opportunity to share the Gospel with them. No one got saved but I have to believe that the Spirit would speak to their hearts in the future.

After the service we returned home and the police were waiting with a 6 month old baby. Later in the day Ed from Boston who worked with Mother Teresa in Calcutta, India arrived. He heard about us while visiting a church near Boston and believed that God was calling him to help us. He would stay and help us for 2 years.

1/8 The 140 school shirts that we ordered arrived. Seventy-eight high schoolers and college students went to purchase their school supplies including textbooks. This would be the first time that we spent $10,000 just to get students enrolled. It would never be less than that even until today which is January 18, 2019. Our men and visitors hung sheetrock, installed windows, finished the electrical and the plumbing work in the new building. 

1/9 The mother of Mario whom we just buried arrived with another young teenage gang member who had asked her if we would take him. He told me that  he just wanted to be safe. That young boy would eventually be saved and go on to finish high school. Today, 2019, he is married, has a family and works at a Burger King. Dottie and I saw him recently and he hugged me, told me he was going to church and that his wife was saved.