East Tijuana: Building a Comedor (Feeding Kitchen)

Ron had the priveledge of leading the build of a comedor in East Tijuana a couple of weeks ago.  Comedor means dining room/area in Spanish.  The purpose of constructing a comedor is to house a breakfast feeding program.  This one was attached to the side of a church.  The church wanted to also build a small addition for church-related events.  We asked them if we could just build the comedor attached to the church and it could be used for both purposes, since the feeding program takes place early mornings on weekdays and the church would use it on Sundays, evenings, etc.  They were more than happy for the idea, as they didn't want to take advantage of the comedor building the team was building.

The team that came to build the comedor also worked on other projects in the area, including a new fence for this church.  The team was an amazing group of people from Canada.  They are from the church of two YUGO missionary candidates, Jody & Angela.  This was the first full comedor Ron has led, but not the first one he has helped with.  This team of about 30 people ended up working an extra day to help get projects finished up.  This was due to a malfunctioned computer system for their airline.  They were delayed by a few days and instead of flying home on the same flight, they flew home on about four different flights.  They handled this delay amazingly!  Here are some more pictures of the build:

 

 

 

 (Pastor Romero & the keys to the comedor)             

Two New Homes Being Built in Mexicali

These are two families that lost their homes in the earthquake last year in April.  Ron had the priveledge of helping to lead in the build of these two homes a few weeks ago.  This is a team from Arizona, and we thank two of them for the pictures (Sean & Peter).  What an amazing blessing this was!!  Here are a few more pictures:

 

March Prayer Letter

Greetings from Mexico! It’s hard to believe it is March already. We have managed to keep quite busy. Our Missionary Training began a few weeks ago and has been going very well. It is being taught by YUGO Missionary, Mike McDonald. Unfortunately, we've had to cancel Spanish immersion due to lack of funds. We are continuing to work on our Spanish as a family through some books that we have and would like to begin taking lessons when we the Lord provides the means.

Ron has been busy handling the majority of home schooling and housework for the past couple of months so that Kristy could spend time working on the YUGO website. This is a rather time consuming project as there is a lot of information that still needs to be added. Please pray for those making decisions for future improvements to the website as Kristy is helping out with this project. Ron is now able to also focus more on the recruiting aspect of his job. Much prayer is needed as he's beginning to contact churches and pastors in California, not only for construction ministry, but the evangelistic outreaches as well.

Kristy is also working on a project for the Missionary Training we are doing with YUGO. She is recording all of our sessions and mixing a video with the PowerPoint, etc. that goes along with the teaching. This will be a helpful tool for YUGO, as well as free up Mike McDonald for teaching at the Bible school and training pastors.

Ron will be heading to Mexicali the second week of March to help lead a home build for earthquake victims. We spent a week in Mexicali for the New Year’s outreach as well. Ron cooked for the week and Kristy helped with photography and assisted in the kitchen.

Please keep our financial situation in your prayers. We will need to make a decision very soon about one of us seeking part to full-time work in California to help support our family. We know that this is where God wants us to be. This is where He wants us to be ministering right now. Adding outside employment will definitely have an impact on the amount of time we are able to invest in ministry. If you would like to learn more about partnering with us, please visit our website.

Many have shown interest in building a home in Mexico this year, even though their church may not be sending a team. We are offering a mission trip for such individuals this June. Come by yourself, bring your spouse, a friend, your family – all are welcome! The cost is only $850 & includes the cost of the house, your stay in Mexico and round trip transportation to and from the San Diego airport. The dates are June 26th – July 2nd. (If this date does not work for you, please contact us anyway as we may be adding extra individual weeks.) Come and experience a home build this summer and see how you can change hearts for Christ while providing safer, healthier shelter for a Mexican family in need. Sign up in March in order to allow time for fundraising and to allow us to add extra weeks as needed. God bless!

Build A Home For A Mexican Family in Need in 2011

It is time to sign up for Individual's Week!! That's right!  Many of you have expressed interest in building a home this summer for a Mexican family in need, while sharing the love and message of Christ with them, their friends, family and neighbors.  Now we need to hear from you in order schedule additional weeks as needed.  A minimum of eight adults is needed per team.  Contact us today to register and allow yourself time to fundraise for your trip.

(Full Version:)

YUGO New Year's Outreach in Mexicali

Wow, how times flies!  Our apologies for the lack of updates over the past month.  We have been super busy here in Mexico!  Our March prayer letter will be coming out soon.  Right now, we'd like to share a few pictures and a video from the New Year's outreach in Mexicali.  Ron cooked for the outreach week and Kristy helped with photography and assisted in the kitchen.  The children were very helpful.  They jumped in and helped wherever needed.  Since most of the staff for the outreach came down from the U.S., we were able to get there a couple of days early with another missionary and a volunteer (our good friend, Claudia, pictured ministering to the children below) to do a lot of the shopping and preparing for the teams to arrive.  It was an awesome week with a large high school team and a college team from Michigan. 



December 2010

Kristy had the priveledge of taking the Christmas photo for Grace Children's Home this year.  They had the idea to take it in front of the new building for Grace Babies' Home, right across the street, which was a great idea.  The photo includes the Paulau's (directors of the children's home), the Strutton's (directors of the babies' home), all the children, volunteers and the house moms.

We spent two weeks doing Spanish immersion in Ensenada with Pastor Ever Perez and his family.  Unfortunately, we decided to postpone the third week due to a rather busy schedule getting ready for the New Year's outreach in Mexicali.  Ron was the cook for the week, so he had a menu and grocery list to prepare for over 70 people, plus the majority of the grocery shopping, transporting trailers and more.  We will hopefully be able to get the third week completed in January, depending on Pastor's schedule.

These two pictures are from a scenic overlook in Ensenada that Lupita, the pastor's wife, and Samuel, their oldest, took us to.  Here is a picture of Pastor, Lupita and Josias, their youngest.  We'll have to get a picture of the whole family together the next time we are there.



A small, sweet surprise was how green the ranch turned this winter.  We never really gave it any thought until it happened.  It's a nice change from all the brown dirt that normally covers the whole ranch.

In contrast, the roads look a little different.

These pictures are of the road on the ranch.  The roads outside the ranch can be much worse, especially on the hill you see behind the gate.  For the most part our four wheel drive hasn't given us too much cause for being concerned about getting stuck.

This is a photo of the Pesina's, a YUGO missionary family.  Jose Luis & Cindy are starting a new church in Tijuana.  This photo was taken on the day of Jose Luis' ordination at our church in Rosarito.  Please pray for the church leadership and the outreach efforts, as this new church opens this month.

December Prayer Letter

Our apologies for not updating our blog for some time.  We'd like to post our December prayer letter and then we'll give you an update on some of the things that we've been up to during this busy time:

¡Feliz Navidad! It’s so hard to believe that this year is almost over already – and what a year full of blessings it has been! God allowed for us to move to Mexico and be a part of several home builds – two of which were built in Rosarito. We’ve had some opportunities to help with the construction of the Babies’ Home. We have spoken at a few churches and to many families and individuals about the construction ministry. He is beginning to do some awesome things here in and through us in Mexico.

Brittany and William have adjusted very well to living in Mexico. Of course, they miss their friends and family back in the mid-west. But they are doing very well in their school work and with their music lessons. They have also been blessed with good friends, many of which they met here last summer. One difference for us, is that this was our first Thanksgiving for which we did not have turkey. A small thing, but kind of funny that we were eating fish tacos and taking a walk on the beach for Thanksgiving. However, we did celebrate Thanksgiving with good friends the following weekend.

We are very excited to share with you that our whole family has started Spanish immersion!! We’re spending a total of three weeks with a pastor and his family in Ensenada, which is about an hour and a half south of Rosarito. Ron and Kristy have Spanish lessons twice a day, and the whole family is learning through vocabulary exercises, games, and just having to communicate in Spanish with a family that does not speak English. This is truly a blessing in many ways, especially financially. Most other immersion classes cost anywhere from three to six times as much. The whole family is doing quite well and learning a lot. Ron especially enjoys the times when he gets to translate something for Kristy that she didn’t understand. The family has three children: Samuel (19), Abi (16) and Josias (8). The children play very well together. Will especially loves having someone his own age to play with.

While we are staying there, the children are doing about half of a normal week’s school work each week. This frees them up to be able to learn more Spanish, yet doesn’t cause them to get too far behind in their studies.

The family we are staying with, the Perez family, is actually the same family that Ron’s brother, Tim, stayed with during his Spanish Immersion trip about a year ago. So Ron’s “new name” has become Hermano Ron, el hermano de Tim. That is how he is introduced to everyone (as Tim’s brother).

This ministry would not be possible without all of you that have partnered with us through prayer. Please keep them comin’ – we need them very much. Our family is committed to praying for all of our ministry partners. Financially, we still have a long ways to go, but we praise God for putting us here for such a time as this. We are confident that He will provide all that we need. If you would like to find out more about coming along side us in this ministry, please visit our blog at www.rstruska.blogspot.com.

We pray that you will have a very Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year!!

¡Dios le bendiga!
Ron & Kristy