What A Crazy Year

To start off, please forgive me, everyone, for not doing my monthly newsletters to keep everyone informed. I got so busy these past few months, but that doesn't give me an excuse not not find the time to do it. I do post things on Facebook, but it's nice to have the info presented in a more professional format.

So many things have happened this year, good and bad. It's been another faith-coaster that has had way too many ups and downs. I thank God that He truly helped me finish though and finish strong, blessing me beyond measure. Every area of my life has been stretched (once again), and I truly thank God for doing so. Every day that passes, I learn more about letting go and letting God. It's something I feel that everyone struggles with, but I've come to realize that it's something that I, as a missionary, need to do. I can't try to ever put this into my own hands. It's way too big of a job for me to do alone. I wouldn't even be doing this if it wasn't for God pulling me away from film school to get my eyes off of myself. Everything that I do is to bring glory and honor to Him, not to me. I need to let all of these people know that God is the one doing all of this:

• If it wasn't for Him, summer camp wouldn't have happened this year, and those 14 teens wouldn't have had that super-natural experience like they did.
• If it wasn't for Him, the 26 kids on the soccer team wouldn't have learned overall respect for others, responsibility, and teamwork, which they use on and off the field.
• If it wasn't for Him, 13 of those kids wouldn't come to the church regularly and also wouldn't be involved, like on the praise team or assistant team for the kids's program, 
• If it wasn't for Him, 8 kids wouldn't have realized their true musical gifts that God has given them, and 1 of them wouldn't be starting to practice for the worship team at church.
• If it wasn't for Him, 2 kids wouldn't have had the opportunity to have one-on-one reading classes, and 1 of them wouldn't have finished the class!!
• If it wasn't for Him, there wouldn't have been 12 to 14 teens coming to the house for life group every Thursday during the summer, nor would we have have had the 5 to 9 who come now.
• If it wasn't for Him, so many kids wouldn't have seen His true love in many ways, one of those ways being through a small Christmas gift (45 in all!! Pictures to come)

God has moved so much this past year, not just in my life, but in the kids' and families' lives, as well. Through all of the hardship, every single moment was worth it, and God is preparing me to do it all again and more this upcoming year!! Please continue to pray for me, as I do it all again, plus with the two new areas that God has placed on my heart: more orphanage ministry and helping the kids that live in the garbage dump. Thank you all so much for your support, whether it had been through donations or prayers. It was all more than appreciated. I'll be sure to post more frequently, whether it be through something like this, a video on YouTube or my Facebook, or my newsletters as before.

May God continue to bless you all ever so abundantly this next year in all that you do,

Daniel Ratz

Make Christmas Come True

Christmas is coming up soon, and there are so many kids here who would love to receive a gift for Christmas. A lot of the families I know do give gifts to their kids for Christmas, but it’s usually just clothes or something little. I want to make this Christmas special for these kids who truly deserve it, and you can be a part of it!! Below is a list of kids with a gift they had asked for. If you can, choose one of the kids below, send me the amount of the gift through PayPal, and I will buy the gift for them here. It is possible that you could buy the gift and mail it to me, but I’m not sure if it would make it in time. Anyway, here’s the list:

• Melanie: Disney Rapunzel Barbie doll
• Rosie: Disney Rapunzel Barbie doll
• Gaby: Giant stuffed Minion (from Despicable Me)
• Carlos: RC Car (a police car)
• Estefani: Gray blazer coat
• Karla: Brown blazer coat
• Blanca: Black blazer coat
• Kevin: Hot Wheels station (it’s like a little car house)
• Angeles: Doctor Barbie
• Natalia: Disney Little Mermaid Barbie doll
• Clara: Oscar Lopez movies
• Luis: Cruz Azul soccer ball w/ball pump
• Alberto: Goalie gloves
• Brayan: Soccer ball w/ball pump
• Julissa: Princess soccer ball
• Oswaldo: Nerf Bow
• Brayan: Soccer ball w/ball pump
• Chuyito: Nerf gun
• Danitza: Barbie toy wardrobe
• Danely: Pink tennis shoes (size 4)
• Gadiel: Mexico soccer ball
• Carmen: MK Backpack -or- black blazer coat

If you can’t pay for a complete gift, but would like to give a small amount to help, you can!! Whatever you can give is 1000% appreciated. It truly shows God’s love to these kids through such a small act of kindness, and how great would it be to share God’s amazing love to these ever-so-needing kids? Make the difference this Christmas and share some of God’s love with His precious children.

Misfits

A.K.A. Los Extremos. I’m not saying that they’re misfits as in they don’t belong. I mean this like I’ve got a bunch of kids who aren’t the same at all on the same team. Every time we go to play a game, I imagine like we’re the team from The Sandlot and every other team is that nice team who shows up with their uniforms, acting like they’re all that and a bag of Sabritas. We’re the team who has kids from different parts of town, some of them being friends, some of them barely even knowing each other, while the other teams formed from their little groups in school or from their street, so they all know and get along with each other. Just about every kid on the team has joined from seeing us practicing in the soccer field, and then they might bring a friend they know. Three of the past four games, I’ve had several kids give up mid-game, angry kids throwing their goalie gloves on the ground while playing goalie, and even one kid get a yellow card pulled out on him for running his mouth. These things, unfortunately, are all caused because one kid on our team says something offensive to the other, causing a quarrel which ends up not too good. I’ve talked to them all several times about how we are a team and that if someone messes up, we mess up as a team. If someone does well, we do well as a team. There’s no individual glory. Yes, there are some kids who score almost all of the goals, but we do so as a team. There has not been a single time where we have won due to a single person doing everything. The truth, this season, we haven’t won many games at all. What I can say, though, is that the games we have won, they’ve been beautiful games: hard work, not a lot of conflicts, teamwork, the definition of a winning team. This past game, it was just that. We had gone to play with only five players from our team, and we grabbed another player from another team who just happened to be there to play with us for just that game, making six in total. The games are 7v7. The other team, not caring about the unfairness (although it was our fault for not having the players) played against us 6v7. The extra kid we had from another team seemed to know a lot about teamwork, and we won 6-4. I wanted to cry and steal that kid for our team all at the same time.  He wasn’t the only reason we won that game, though. Our goalie was finally guiding his defense so that we had a nice defensive set-up. Jonathan and the new kid made some really nice plays passing the ball back and forth, making their way through the other players. Samuel and Alberto did a super awesome job at defense, blocking a lot of balls from going into our goal. There was a team. Even though my kids come from many different walks of life, ranging from having that little extra money to “Let’s see if we’re going to eat something different rather than beans for dinner,” from having that homework and life help when necessary to defending for their own, from confident to really insecure due to their poor family life, they are truly such an amazing team. If we played every game like this last one, we’d be unstoppable. I mean, we didn’t win that last tournament for doing nothing. Separate, they may just be like a bunch of random puzzle pieces, but together, they make that beautiful team I like to call Los Extremos. They’re no longer “Misfits,” but a family, a well-running family. I just wish they’d stay that way, not just when they win, haha. Pray for Alberto, Samuel, Yahir, Jonathan, Jhon, Octavio, Oswaldo, and Alexis to stay a team, in the good and the bad, and to always be lifting each other up.

“The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you, nor again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you.’ On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensible, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor…But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together. If one member is honored, all rejoice together.” – 1 Corinthians 12:21-23a, 24b-26

There's no newsletter for this month due to me being out-of-state without the correct equipment to do so, but I will be writing posts like this to keep everyone informed!

July 2014 Newsletter

Again, there were technical difficulties like every time, but here's the newsletter for July! Forgive me for the tardiness, although you probably already expected it...

June 2014 Newsletter

Here's the newsletter for June!! If you would like to come and help out, feel free to contact me at daniel.ratz92@gmail.com, through Facebook, or by calling 011-52-1-664-354-0179. Your help will be 105% appreciated!!

May 2014 Newsletter

I lost internet at the house, so I haven't been able to finish this newsletter until now. Please forgive me again for the tardiness. I'll be on time one day.

Hopefully one day, I'll have the time to write about something other than these newsletters :P

April 2014 Newsletter

Again, forgive me for being late. I seem to deal with more technical issues than a Dell Help Center. Here's the newsletter for April!!

I also would like to remind everyone that CAMP IS COMING UP SOON!!! If you can help out by donating financially, you can do so by clicking the donate button on the right side. It's not necessary to have a PayPal account to donate, either. If you would like to donate material, feel free to send me an email or a message on Facebook, and I'll give you all the info you need. Some things in particular that I'm looking for are Spanish Kids Bibles for 30 kids, walkie-talkies (the kind that adults use), and TONS and TONS and TONS of water balloons, preferably red and blue water balloons. If you want to come and help yourself, you most definitely can!! Camp is July 10-12. It's a LOT cheaper than you think. Email or message me for more info!!