Hóla,                                                                                                                                                                

A lot has happened in and around the House of Mercy since you received our last letter in October of  ‘06! We would like to extend a ‘much belated’ thank you to all of you who have participated in this ministry through your time, talents, gifts, prayers and service. Kudos to those who helped in making Christmas happen for the Casa Kids and staff; to Dorris Grammar and her helpers who continue to create the Birthday Celebrations the first Saturday of each month, and made it possible for all of the Casa Kids to have new Easter Sunday outfits; to the scores of churches who have sent countless teams to Piedras Negras to work at the orphanage, the clinic, Templo Aleluya and on so many other projects; to the congregations who made the House of Mercy their VBS, Sunday School or Bible Study mission project, collecting all the items on our ‘Wish List’ and sending them our way; to those who sent monetary gifts for the Casa in memory of Karen’s mother, Donna Jean Seay; to a precious little girl at McKendree UMC who celebrated her birthday by asking people to donate to the orphanage instead of buying gifts for her – Thanks, Janie!; to the ladies in San Antonio who just show up ö with wrist watches for all of the boys and girls, toiletries baskets for the staff ladies, dish towels and sponges, and lots of other fun stuff and much needed supplies; to all of you who have sponsored or participated in children’s shoe collections, food drives, school supplies round-ups, etc. or, like our home church friend, fills up boxes full of coloring books, crayons and snacks and drops them to us by mail. There are so many folks to thank for doing so much that we could never list them all, but you are all remembered where it really counts – in the lives of the children. And too, by blessing the Casa de Misericordia you have blessed the people of Piedras Negras. Many outside of our campus walls have received physical and spiritual food, clothing and medical care because of your endless generosity.

Which brings us to the present - On Tuesday night, April 24th, we were having a birthday party in the orphanage for Katya, Ricardo and Karla’s – our house parents - oldest daughter. Suddenly, around 5:30 PM, the wind started roaring, heavy rains poured and the power went out and stayed out. The intense storm lasted only ten minutes. Gaby, a young lady who had lived here at the Casa previously for a year and has been returned to her family, had come to the Casa earlier for the party. We were unaware of any storm damage until we drove her back home, just two miles down the road. Arriving at the major four-way intersection with the large Piedras Negras sign, we saw street signs, billboards, traffic lights and other debris all over the road. At 10:30 PM another powerful storm came through battering the area with baseball size hail. You should hear that on a tin roof. Everyone here was safe. Our only damage was one hail-shattered window in the McKendree UMC van and a power surge that disabled our water pump. Early Wednesday morning, after our power was restored, we heard that a tornado had touched down in Piedras Negras and just across the border in Eagle Pass. The tornado in Piedras struck the Villa Fuente neighborhood (the site of the ’04 flood) destroying the Catholic Church, heavily damaging its’ Casa Nazareth Orphanage girls’ dormitory and blowing the windows out of the boys’ dorm. Karen and I called Salma, the D.I.F. Director, (Procuraduria de la Familia, of Coahuila, i.e., Family and Children’s Service Agency), offering to take in all of the displaced children and staff. She gratefully accepted. Ricardo led our children in a special devotional that morning to pray for all the victims and asked if they would like to share their home with the Casa Nazareth residents. They said, “Yes!” At 1:00 that afternoon, twenty-one children and six nuns were on our bus headed for the Casa de Misericordia. Our kids helped set up the rooms and get all of the belongings into the building. We asked our guests if they would join us in our nightly devotional and they accepted. It was a wonderful thing to see 54 children and all the adults worshiping together. They stayed with us for three days and two nights. By late Friday evening they were able to return to their boys’ dorm, where the windows had been replaced, and water and power had been restored. All of the Casa Nazareth residents will stay in that dorm while the girls’ dorm is rebuilt. Karen has been working with the coordination of the relief effort based at Eagle Pass United Methodist Church to Villa Fuente in Piedras Negras, as well as taking disaster relief groups - from church mission teams and individuals to representatives from United Methodist Volunteers In Mission, United Methodist Committee on Relief and the Southern Baptist Convention - to the damaged areas in Piedras Negras and Eagle Pass. We are so grateful for the immediate support we received from so many of you. And we will keep you posted as to needs as they arise in the aftermath of the storms.

We have welcomed many new arrivals to the Casa in the past few months. The head count has gone from 22 children to as many as 36. As of today we have 33 boys and girls. They come to us from homes where the parents are prostitutes, drug addicts, abusive and/or appallingly negligent in caring for their children. One eleven-year old girl came in with a large bruise on her face and multiple bruises up and down her arms. Her mother had severely beaten her and her seven-year-old brother. A sibling group of two boys and two girls came to us after their school teachers called the D.I.F. saying that they were uncared for at home, always dirty and appeared to be malnourished. Needless to say, here at the Casa they are receiving lots of love, clean clothes and nourishing meals. And we have some very good news. Eudelia and Armando, a brother and sister that have been with us for well over a year, were able to go back home with their parents. For sometime now their parents have been coming to visit them every Saturday morning where they participate in the devotional that Ricardo leads. They accepted Christ into their lives and began attending church every Sunday morning at San Pablo Methodist where we attend. Their father got a new job and they fixed up their house. The D. I. F., after months of observation and thorough review for positive progress, gave the parents a good report and allowed the children to return to the family. It is a so wonderful to see a family successfully and happily reunited.

We continue to receive children in need of special medical attention. One fourteen-year-old girl had a severe misalignment of the hip joint. Yewell and Yolanda Cox of The Cross Health Ministries in San Antonio contacted the Shiners’ Hospital in Houston, Texas concerning her condition. Yolanda made an appointment and, after a lot of red tape at the border, I took her to Houston. There the wonderful doctors and staff put a screw in her hip joint. She is doing very well, her ability to walk significantly improved. Yolanda also set up an appointment for our wheelchair bound spina-bifida teen to receive leg braces from a specialist in San Antonio. It is our hope that he will be able to eventually leave his wheelchair behind. Yewell and Yolanda have been such a tremendous blessing to us. They have enlisted many groups to come to the Casa and encouraged others, like the San Antonio Retired Teachers Association, to make significant donations of goods and financial support; they continually provide us with medical supplies – from Band-Aids to antibiotics; they were (and are) the catalyst for the amazing clinic facility that is being constructed on the Casa campus. On a personal note, they have become dear friends and avid supporters of the ministry. Karen and I had been praying for a much-needed minivan - we even prayed for a Honda Odyssey. Well, guess what. Doctor Ken Cusi and his wife, Ana, of San Antonio told the Coxes they wanted to donate their family van to the Cross Health Ministries. Yewell and Yolanda said that they knew just the place where it was needed. We drove to San Antonio where they took us to the Doctor’s home to pick it up. And there it was - a 1997 Honda Odyssey that looks and drives like new. God is so good.

On the Adoption Front - Perla is our oldest, having just turned 16, and has been at the Casa since we opened the doors in January 2005. She has been the one that has taken charge in helping with the younger children and the new arrivals. A little over a year ago a family in Cartersville, Georgia began the arduous process of adopting her. The adoption was finalized in Mexico the second week of April this year. Since the completion Perla has been living with her new Mom, Sandy, and one of her three new sisters, Chris, in a hotel in Piedras. (Dad, Tony, and the other two sisters are back in GA.) The next step is the matter of getting Perla’s U.S. Visa and Mexico Passport. At every turn there seems to be more and more paperwork needed by both governments. I have been kidding Perla that she seems to always be the guinea pig - she was the first girl in the orphanage and the first to be adopted to the U. S. through the D.I.F. system. We have learned so much during this process that will hopefully streamline future adoptions. Currently we have five adoptions in the works and an extensive list of people who are interested.

The House of Mercy is not an institution – it is a home. It is more than food on the table and a roof overhead – it is a family. And just like we all do with our own children, we try to give them a lot of outside activities. When the circus is in town, we go. When there is an invitation to swim in the river and picnic at a beautiful ranch down the road, we go. When San Pablo church has youth activities, we go. And for spring break Ricardo and Karla took 23 of the older kids to Saltillo and Monterrey, staying at Karla’s parents’ church. They went to the zoo, a water park, the fair grounds, and they sang in the Sunday morning worship service. It was a wonderful holiday week for all!

On the home front, Melissa, Rob and the world’s most wonderful grandchild, Ava Lynn, are doing well. Erin is wrapping up her junior year at Trinity on May 9th and will be returning to Georgia for her summer job. She will be living with her ‘other family’, Mike and Lynn McLaughlin, in Lawrenceville. My Dad, Glenn Smith, is making a full recovery from his recent heart valve replacement and bypass surgery. Thank you all for your prayers on his behalf.

We want to extend our heartfelt gratitude for the support and encouragement you have given us. 137 children have lived here at the Casa de Misericordia for varying periods of time; some for a few weeks or months and others for a year and more. Through your financial assistance all of these children and many of their parents and extended families have heard the word of God and their lives have been changed forever. Thank you for joining with us to be the hands and feet of Christ in this corner of God’s world. Karen and I do not receive an income from Hands and Feet Ministries or from the orphanage - we are totally dependant on gifts from you. Donations on our behalf may be sent to: McKendree UMC 1570 Lawrenceville-Suwanee RD Lawrenceville, GA 30043. Please designate on your check or by note: ‘For David & Karen Smith, Mexico’. May God continue to bless each of you in your service to Him.

Grace & Peace,

David & Karen