Summer Quarter Newsletter– July 6th, 2022
Dear Friends and Family,
Happy summer! I hope you are all enjoying this time of year and all the activities that usually come with it! We’ve been getting quite a bit of rain here, but that’s a good thing and everything is beautifully green and lush because of it.
The last few months have been full of work, visits, hosting, and, of course, fun new stages with a quickly growing baby. Vienne sure does keep me on my toes, and will be doing so even more as she has just learned to pull herself up on anything she can find so she can practice standing. Crazy! We’re loving it. She is such a joy!
With work, Mario is still working hard every day on the various projects we had when we got this house, the current one being getting chain link fencing around most of the property and then wall around the other part of it. Mario has been so awesome and dedicated, and has learned tons since getting to work with his cousin we hired for all the projects.
With visits, we’ve had the opportunity to go visit and share with multiple elderly people, specifically ones that have been sick and would otherwise be unable to socialize much. It’s always sobering to be in those settings and be reminded of what a gift our own health is. Apart from just visiting elderly people, just this last week we got the chance to spend some time at a Teen Challenge that is just a few miles from where we live. For those of you who don’t know what Teen Challenge is, it’s basically a rehabilitation center, but with a major focus on Christ and seeing the men that go through the program become free of their addictions as they are transformed by Jesus. The work they do is absolutely incredible. Mario may also start going a couple times a week with another friend of ours to spend time with the guys and to give some classes on sound system stuff (that I totally don’t understand!).
And finally, with hosting, we’ve gotten to have people over a lot. There are few days when we don’t have someone over, either invited or a surprise drop-in. I try to keep my freezer stocked with treats and always have coffee on hand! It’s so fun to get to open our home and have it full of activity and laughter and good conversation. Part of our new weekly rhythm with hosting also includes a small gathering for fellowship and pursuing Jesus in community. We’re only a couple weeks in, but it’s already such a blessing to get to use our home as a place for worship, prayer, and “spurring one another on to love and good works” (Hebrews 10:24).
In May, part of hosting included having my parents come visit for about ten days (not near long enough!), and Kyle, a friend/colleague of my dad, joined them for the first weekend they were here. That weekend with Kyle and my parents was one full of dreaming of possibilities and potential business opportunities to help impact the people of La Venta. Hopefully I will have more to write on that in one of my upcoming newsletters, but please do be praying for God to give us His vision as we consider what it would look like to move forward.
Current news with our cafe, Taza de Gozo, is just that it’s still on hold… I am hoping that upon finishing the fence/wall project and finally getting our property to where it’s not a total construction zone, we will be able to start opening the cafe even just a couple nights a week to start. However, to try to have something going for now, even just to keep the name Taza de Gozo in people’s minds for the meantime, I’m considering making and selling baked goods a day or two a week as it should be something easy enough to do even with Vienne. If anyone has any great recipes for simple sweet breads, send them my way!
Prayer Requests:
-God’s continued provision for us which enables us to open our home and allows us to
go visit others and help them buy medicine and/or food when needed
-The Teen Challenge I mentioned– they receive almost no support at all and are barely
able to provide the needed food for the 26 guys they currently have in the program
-Mario’s new year and decade of his life– he just turned 30 on the 4th! Pray for him to
continue to grow into the man God created him to be and to be like the Psalm 1 man
“Like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season…”
-Our little home fellowship that I mentioned– that it would be honoring to the Lord, that
we would be Christ-focused, and that we would practice the one-anothers with sincerity
of heart
-The potential projects/business opportunities I mentioned in the last paragraph
-Mario’s visa– it’s all still a process and there are always hoops to jump through, but I
believe we’re finally getting close to him finally getting it and being able to experience
“my world”!
-We always desire prayer for our marriage and now in parenthood!
Thank you so much for your support both financially and in prayer. We are humbled, and deeply encouraged and grateful.
Blessings!
Katie and Mario Velasquez
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