Farm Animals

If you live in or have visited Indiana, chances are you're going to see farm animals, whether by accident or on purpose. Julie and I are fully embracing our life in Indiana, so recently we went to the 4H Fair near us and while we didn't embrace the animals, we did see and appreciate them. We are grateful for farms and farmers. (Oh, and I lost the staring contest with the llama.)

In addition to learning more about farm animals, Julie and I also attended training about Trust Based Relational Intervention, specifically when working with children who have experienced trauma. We also attended coaching training that an be used to coach staff, parents, or whoever we may need to coach. Regarding the Strong Families curriculum, we are beginning the process of converting content into in-class training material. In official terms it's called instructional design. I'm including a link HERE to a Prezi presentation we created for our site directors to update them and describe some of the modules we're creating. (It's 4 minutes or less and has a video.... of us.) We head back to Monterrey and Mazatlan, Mexico for about 3 weeks in Sept/Oct to do more site reviews in preparation for future training.

Nick started his new job in Bloomington, IN last week and starts classes at IU next week. He's excited. Eliza also started a new job at a chiropractic office. She is very interested in holistic and alternative medicine. Nate did extremely well in his first round of pre-nursing classes. He starts his next 9-week cohort next week. 

This month, we're asking you to pray with us for more people to join our support team. We have some ongoing new expenses and other expenses that are far more than we were paying in MX. We know God owns it all and are trusting Him. So we are also inviting you to pray about joining our team if you're not already on it. 

Prayer Opportunities

• Pray that God will raise up more partners to join our support team.
• Please continue to pray for Julie's health. She sees another doctor this week.
• Pray for Eliza and her new job, that it will be fun and fulfilling for her.
• Pray for Nick not get too stressed out as he starts classes and works.
• Continue to pray for Julie and I as we move down this path of identifying the best ways to help the children and families we serve and how to roll out global training.

Humbled & Grateful.
erick & julie

Listening, Learning & Writing

Listening, Learning & Writing

One of the many classes and seminars
at the CAFO conference in Dallas

It started in Dallas at the Christian Alliance for Orphans international conference, and ended at our Back2Back site in Monterrey, MX. After two full weeks of seminars, meetings, and interviews, we returned to Indiana with information-overload and ready to process all we'd learned. So now, we are spending time assimilating information, recalling what we learned on the field about family strengthening, and researching best practices about alternative forms of care for at-risk children.
Research is one of Julie's sweet spots. She loves digging and learning what works and what doesn't. I am more of the process person. So I'm developing the processes for how we will roll out training, and how we will determine the readiness of each site for training. Specifically, we are digging deep into foster care programs, Back2Back's Hope Program, transition care for helping young people transition to independent living, and family strengthening (we call it Strong Families).

We are highly motivated to bring best practices and processes to each of the Back2Back sites, but before that happens, we need to do more listening, learning, and writing. 

The big news with Eliza and Nate is that Nate started nursing school. He is in an accelerated program and believes he's found his passion. Nick's big news is that he got a 4.0 his first semester at IUPUI, and in the fall will transfer to Indiana University in Bloomington. He has a job and a house secured in Bloomington and is excited to start a new semester in September. 

Prayer Opportunities

We just celebrated 31 years together!

Nick recently registered for
classes at Indiana University
Bloomington. He's excited!

• Please continue to pray for Julie's health. While she's stronger, she continues to struggle with consistent good health. 
• Pray for Nate as he pursues nursing.
• Pray for Nick's transition to IU Bloomington.
• Pray for Julie and I as we move down this path of identifying the best ways to help the children and families we serve and how to roll out global training.
• Pray for our newest site in the Dominican Republic, that God will direct Back2Back to the right partners and and clear vision for how best to make an impact in this country. 

Humbled & Grateful.
erick & julie

Life Lessons

Last week we had a medical and construction team here. This year because of all the work that is being done on the community center, the construction team had three very very busy days all of which included mixing, moving and pouring cement. If you haven't done it, it can be pretty tiring. Our construction team was fairly small, so we were all constantly on the move, shoveling and moving buckets of sand and gravel, then filling and moving buckets of cement. Then doing it all over again....all day.


About half way into the third day, one of the 14 year old boys we work with in Tres Reyes (Tony) got my attention and asked if he could help us. Given how exhausted we all were, and knowing we still had 3-4 more hours of cement work, his offer was appreciated by all of us. So I invited him to help. About an hour or so later he told me his friend Louis, also 14, wanted to help. I welcomed him as well. They both jumped in and worked hard for over three hours. Their contribution was significant and helped us finish the huge cement pour in the large palapa.

Rewind to the previous day..... Tony and his two sisters were scheduled to meet with the tutor for a few hours. They've been meeting for over a year now, helping the kids get caught up and stay on track with their grades. We've told the kids how critical it is that they show up and be on time for their tutoring sessions. We also explained to them that we pay the tutor to be there with them. On this day of tutoring, all three kids, including Tony, left the tutoring session early....a couple hours early. They said they had  other things to do. Needless to say it frustrated the tutor.

Back to the cement work..... After Tony and Louis finished  their work with us, I pulled them aside with one of our other staff who has been working more closely with the family, and  told them how much their work helped and that I was proud of them for working so hard. I told them I wanted to pay them for their hard work. But I also needed to help Tony connect his hard work and earnings with what he (and his sisters) had done to the tutor the previous day. I told him that I wanted to pay him 100 pesos, but because we had to pay the tutor, even though he left early, I couldn't pay him as much. I could only pay him 50 pesos. His friend also got paid 70 pesos. As I explained this to Tony, my prayer was that  he could understand, at least to some degree, how his actions were costly, not only to the tutor and Back2Back, but also to himself.


My children often received "teachable moment" lessons from me as they grew up. Some stuck. Some probably didn't. I pray that the reality of how actions have consequences will give Tony something he needs as he grows and matures.

Mision Educarte - Rossy's - Bonfil

Some of the children in Bonfil - they were so eager to help paint

There are two girls who live in Bonfil we’ve gotten to know better this summer.  They make us smile every time we are with them because of their sweet yet spunky personalities.  We know that God has a great plan for their lives!  Recently, we discovered that neither of them can read, and struggle with the abc’s and numbers.  We know that they are not alone in their educational struggles and want to provide after school tutors every day who can help the children of Bonfil.  We are trying to be more intentional with the educational programming at Mision Educarte.  For years, the kids in the neighborhood have heard about Jesus through Rossy’s classes.  Every Wednesday & Saturday she has a Bible class with a craft and feeds the children.  For 19 years she’s done this alone.  We started working with Rossy in January 2013 to provide her with additional resources, bring teams, provide a hot meal, and help her with the Bible classes.  Because we believe in going deep with our ministry partners, we have been evaluating the children and the program to determine their biggest needs and how we can help.  Our desire is that the children will love God with all their heart, soul and mind, but we also want to help make a difference in their educational, physical, emotional, and social needs. 

This summer we took one mission team (Horizon Church College Group) to go and paint the community of apartments – called a cuartaria - where many of the children live.  The one room apartments are about 12 x 15 feet.  Most apartments share one community bathroom and only have a small electric stove for cooking.  The mission team was able to repaint the entire lower level of this cuarteria.  The kids and some of their Mom’s helped with the painting. We also had VBS every Tuesday night with the help of many local volunteers.

Praise & worship time

Samuel is one of our faithful volunteers who helped with VBS

Small group time

Pasta verde....yum!

Beltway Baptist Church helping prepare to serve the kids dinner.

Singing the Psalms...

Julie, Jeny, Erick & Adela - 2011

Jeny 2011

This is Jeny in 2011.  Back2Back had just started working with her and her family. In order to help her Mom - who was a widow - keep her children.  At the time we thought of it as “orphan prevention” but it’s really Family Preservation.  Family Preservation helps families stay together.  Oti, Jeny’s Mom, needed help, to provide and care for her 8 children.  At the time we started working with Oti, she was desperate and ready to take some of her children to an orphanage (a Casa Hogar or what we call a Children’s Home). I love this picture of Jeny because it captures her personality so well.  She always has a smile and is full of love.  In 2011 she was 10 years old and never attended school.  Back2Back saw the need to help her get into school and hired a tutor to come every day after school to help her with her homework.  This was important because her mother cannot read or write and we wanted to make sure she was getting the help she needed.

Jeny 2014

This is Jeny now, 3 years later.  She loves to read, she’s excelling in school, and she still has a smile that lights up her face.  Recently, Sarah, who is part of our staff, gave Jeny a Bible. Jeny was so excited to start reading it.  Sarah asked Jeny if she had a favorite book of the Bible and Jeny wasn’t sure.  Sarah said…"the Psalms are songs they used to sing in Bible times"…knowing that Jeny has often said she wants to be a singer when she grows up.  So Jeny asked Sarah, “do you know what the tune is to this Psalm?"  Sarah answered…."No." Jeny didn’t miss a beat. She said….”I know.” And started singing the Psalm. Making up an upbeat melody.  How precious that must have been to Jesus, to hear Jeny singing a Psalm! 

2014 Mother's Day Card from Jeny

This is the Mother’s Day Card Jeny made for me this year.  She had no idea how much I needed that card.  It was the first Mother’s Day in 21 years I wasn’t able to be with either of my children (Eliza & Nick).  She wrote I love you Julie." Just what I needed to hear!  Please continue to pray for Jeny.  I know God has great things in store and I can’t wait to see the rest of her story.

A Tribute to Our Child Sponsors

Chris and Lori Peters with Gloria's family

It's always encouraging to see the children we serve 

get to spend time with the people who sponsor them.  

Earlier this month we had a team from Dayton, Ohio,

Apex Community Church, come to serve.  A couple on their team sponsor 4 children from the same family.

While they were here they were able to celebrate birthdays with Vanesa and Candy. It was precious to see them laughing with the children and making special memories with them. 

We took them to Peter Piper Pizza and the children loved the pizza and games. I'm sure this celebration won't soon be forgotten they children or their sponsors.

We want to thank all of our child sponsors for your faithful support of the families and children we serve. Through your prayers and financial support, you make it possible for us to meet many of their spiritual, physical, educational, emotional and social needs. And if you've never been down here, we would love to have you serve with us and hang out with "your" child.

Thanks for your partnership. God bless you all!

If you have't been to the Back2Back Child Sponsor Facebook page, click HERE to see pictures and much more of these awesome families and children.

Teacher appreciation!

Fabiola at the Back2Back Christmas party

We would like to introduce you to Fabiola she is the tutor for Oti's girls.  She is such an answer to prayer.  She works with the girls for 2 hours, 5 days a week.  She is doing a great job with them and we continue to see improvement in their school work.  Like many other children they sometimes lack motivation, but overall they keep trying and learning which is what we hope for.  All of the girls show artistic interest and talent.  They love to color, paint, and do crafts.  

Horizon Women's group with Oti's family

They also love story time.  Recently, we read the book:  If You Give A Pig A Pancake.  Afterwards, we did some crafts and then ate pancakes made to look like a pig face.  We all had lots of fun! We did the same story, craft, and pancakes at Casa Hogar San Jose.

Jeny wrote:  I am Erick 

Our Mobile Education Resource Center (MERC) continues to grow with items from our Amazon wish list. People have been buying items and bringing them down when they come to serve or sending it to the home office for other teams to bring down. 

Jimena with her pig pancake....aren't they cure!

Pig mask craft

If you would like to contribute to our MERC resources here is our 
Amazon wish list: www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/GCO1EZ9ZOLSA/ref=topnav_lists_1   You can send the items to our home office:

Back2Back Ministries - Cancun Site (MERC)
P.O. Box 70
Mason, OH 45040

Gracias!