Capstone Missions

Another great October Mission Trip!

noreply@blogger.com (Carol Brown) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 12:01:00 +0000

We had a really terrific trip. There were 13 missionaries, including three new people. Travel was trouble free and relatively quick. The new screening at the Mexican border is up and running but only delayed us a few minutes. All three vehicles were pulled over into the secondary screening area, but we got through without inspection. Our biggest challenge was not having a fluent Spanish speaker with us, be we managed to muddle through.

St. Joe's: The children all seem to be doing well. We especially noticed that Diana has really come out of her shell. She has also changed her name back to her birth name or baptismal name (I'm not sure which) and goes by Mary Angelica. The rest of the kids seem to be well and are really growing. We once again measured for kitchen cabinets, and Dave A. volunteered to get them cut here and ready for installation, (except still flat) and we'll take them down on the next trip if we get the money. There were just a few very small projects there that Marvin M. took care of.

Verdad y Vida: We were in for a shock the day after our arrival when we went over there and found all new nuns in residence. Marvin, Colleen C. and Susan N. fixed some serious plumbing problems in both the boys' and girls' bathrooms that included the purchase of new toilets and a couple new cabinet/sink combinations. The plumbing was significant, but fortunately Colleen's expert skills came through and got the job done. They also replaced a couple of windows. The new Madre is Fabiola who was extremely personable and helpful and Colleen and Susan were great representatives for Capstone. Later in the week Colleen and Teresa P. were able to assist Madre with some computer issues so really endeared themselves.

Hacienda de la Inmaculada: The bulk of our crew spent the week there. We built a big roof overhang over the laundry clotheslines to protect the clean clothes from the sun and rain. The front entry got painted, which was really needed and pleased Madre a lot. We thought we were going to do some bathroom work, but there were several other workers there and they took over that project after Steve E. spent some time with his head in the toilet(s), getting them installed. Wiring was done for the future installation of the refrigeration unit. We also did lots of laundry (in pathetic "automatic" machines)and played with the kids as much as work would allow. We were able to do a walk through to look at future projects and get them prioritized. There are currently about 70 children there, and still not nearly enough adults. One bright light is that a Kinder teacher comes daily and takes several of the preschoolers to the attached classroom for instruction. They even wore uniforms!

Rusty G. and Deb M. went to see a gentleman who is paraplegic and needing assistance. We heard about him through an email inquiry. Unfortunately he mainly needs money, but also seemed to need a couple of Gringo listeners for the better part of an hour. He lived in the U.S. for quite awhile, so his English was great. We made some suggestions on ways for him to get some assistance, and we'll follow up in a few weeks. By the way, he told us there is an orphanage a couple of blocks from his place with about 60 children....

Thank you for your prayers and support.

Basque Feast raised $11,000

noreply@blogger.com (Carol Brown) — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 15:47:00 +0000

Thank you to all the helped in the Basque Feast in some way. Capstone is truly blessed. Over $11,000 was raised.

Fall Conference Display

noreply@blogger.com (Carol Brown) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 12:26:00 +0000

Thank you to those that stopped and said hello this weekend at Fall Conference.

Recognize anyone on the display?

2010 Trip dates

noreply@blogger.com (Carol Brown) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 14:25:00 +0000

January 9-16, 2010 (BSU*)
March 13-20, 2010 (CSI, UI*)
March 20-27, 2010 (ISU*)
June 5-12, 2010 (Cottonwood youth)
October 23-30, 2010

*priority goes to college students on college trips, but those interested are placed on a waiting list.

Passport is necessary.
Trip fee is currently $400.
For more information contact trips@capstonemissions.org

Great Reunion!

noreply@blogger.com (Carol Brown) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 15:34:00 +0000

Thanks to all those that made the drive.
Dar and Tom were great hosts (thank you!).
The canyon is their backyard!

TV Interviews

noreply@blogger.com (Carol Brown) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 18:39:00 +0000

Rusty, Carol, and Debby we were interviewed via telephone on Catholic TV.
The interview is here: http://www.catholictv.com/shows/default.aspx?seriesID=72&videoID=129.
Our portion starts around 4:30.

Rusty and Debby went to Pocatello for a LIVE interview on KPVI News 6.
View it here: http://www.kpvi.com/global/category.asp?c=169274&clipId=&topVideoCatNo=94836&topVideoCatNoB=167746&topVideoCatNoC=169238&topVideoCatNoD=169239&topVideoCatNoE=169240&clipId=3960906&topVideoCatNo=94836&autoStart=true

Let us know if you have an idea for another media opportunity at info@capstonemissions.org.

Reunion July 19th at 2 p.m.

noreply@blogger.com (Carol Brown) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 18:56:00 +0000

Join Capstone Missions for some fun, food, and fellowship in Twin Falls- no tool belts or passports required!

You are invited to the Capstone Missions
Annual Summer Reunion in the Magic Valley
Sunday, July 19th at 2 p.m.
3228 Meadow Ridge Lane, Twin Falls
Please bring a potluck dish to share.

Family and friends are welcome to attend.
Capstone gear will be there to purchase.

Hope to see you there!

ATTENTION ALBERTSON'S SHOPPERS:

noreply@blogger.com (Carol Brown) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 02:17:00 +0000

Capstone Missions has been approved to receive contributions from Albertsons through their Community Partners program! Capstone supporters can now link their Albertsons Preferred Card to our organization and Albertsons will contribute a percentage of each supporter's eligible monthly purchases to Capstones. Our Community Partners ID# is 49001020182. You can easily link your card online by visiting www.albertsons.com/cp

Thank you for your support!

Next trip is October 17-24

noreply@blogger.com (Carol Brown) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 21:08:00 +0000

Join us October 17-24.

Trip fee is $400.

A passport will be needed, so start the process now!

For more information email trips@capstonemissions.org.

May trip successful

noreply@blogger.com (Carol Brown) — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 15:38:00 +0000

Hi all,
We had a great trip last week, with 9 participants. Four were CSI students and Spanish speakers, so they all had a blast with the kids and were endlessly helpful to those of us who are monolingual. We also had record times both going there and coming back. It's so easy with just 2 vehicles, and (mostly) compliant people!

St. Joseph's
For the most part, the kids seem to be doing well. Sr. Monserrat opened up quite a bit about Adriana's departure (Adriana turned 18 and left the home), and needless to say, she is very upset about it. She was concerned that those who support her (us) might be judging her and finding her inadequate as a mother. I hope I was able to reassure her that there was no judgment on our part, and we are 100% supportive of her efforts.

We did paint the bathrooms in the girls' dorm, and moved a light fixture out of the dining room.

Hacienda
At Hacienda de la Inmaculada, we built more shelves. Shocking! There is a large room that has been used as a study room that Madre wants to turn into a library. We were also able to clean out some junk from the room. They don't want to throw out anything, so we did! Most of the stuff that we thought they'd never use was put out on the street, and was snapped up in seconds. We also fixed the drywall on the ceiling of their small chapel. Next time, we'll finish it, paint and tile the room.

There are a lot of changes there. An engineer is redoing all the electrical and installing fans. The girls' bathroom is completed, along with the washing sinks in the dining room. Also, the metal fence in the dining room has been removed and the room painted. The engineer thinks he has things mostly organized to do the refrigeration unit. There are 70 children there right now.

There were 3 young women there helping out for the week, and 2 of them helped us on Friday with our final work on the study/library. There was also a new woman working there, and we'll pray she stays.

There is progress being made there, but the amount of junk and dirt makes it almost impossible to stay on top of things. The laundry issue remains a challenge, and there still aren't nearly enough adults.

Deb

Trip is on!

noreply@blogger.com (Carol Brown) — Tue, 19 May 2009 17:11:00 +0000

Praise Jesus! The C.D.C. lifted the travel ban to Mexico.
We are leaving Saturday morning May 23 and staying until May 30.

We have a great group attending.
Pray for us and those we serve!

June trip rescheduled to May 23-30

noreply@blogger.com (Carol Brown) — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 23:24:00 +0000

Our June trip was rescheduled to May 23-30th.
The trip fee is $400.

If you have any questions or need an application, please contact 208-733-1187 or trips@capstonemissions.org.

These trips are life changing. Don't miss your opportunity.

March Mission Trip a success

noreply@blogger.com (Carol Brown) — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 14:58:00 +0000

Hello all,

We had a fantastic trip, due in no small part to all the prayers offered for us, and our guardian angels. We're always so thankful for how smoothly the trips go, and this one was no exception.

One dark spot, though, is that Adrianna has left St. Joe's. We didn't get many details, but she has moved out and is living with her brother. I don't know anything about him or his circumstances, but as I understand it, she has quit school and is basically on her own. It was awful not seeing her there and we all need to pray for her, Sr. Monserrat and all the kids.

The rest of the kids all seem to be doing very well, and had a great time playing with the team and talking to our three Spanish speaking students from CSI. Benjamin asked me on Friday evening if they were going to get to do a "project" that night! Sr. Monserrat might not have liked our mess in January, but I guess the kids really liked it, so we'll have to plan some sort of craft or project for each of our trips.

We did some patching in the girls' dorm and painted both rooms; one light pink, and the other light lavender. Sr. Monserrat didn't care what color we painted, so the little girls gave their opinions and that's what we went with. On the next trip we'll paint the bathrooms, which needed some plaster work and weren't dry enough to paint before we left. The floor in the new side of the dorm will need replacing down the road. It was installed by Tijuana workers, who don't know how to work with linoleum, and is cracking.

At Hacienda de la Inmaculada we built and installed more shelving on the girls' side. We also did some mold repair in the ceiling of the boys' bathroom, and had a little time to play with the kids. There is another group there right now, building a classroom, computer room, and small library space for the school. It's the culmination of a thesis by a student from Woodbury College. While working on it, he decided to try to raise the money to actually do the project, and is partnered with Corazon de Vida on getting it completed. We met the guy (Chris) and he wants to continue his involvement with the Hacienda once the project is completed.

There continue to be many challenges there, but we saw some minor improvements in discipline and cleanliness, although there's still a long way to go! We saw George from Corazon on Tuesday, and he said they've been awarded a grant for a psychologist to spend 2 days a week there for 16 weeks. The person will work with the adults on discipline and parenting skills, as well as with the children. George is hopeful the grant will be renewed after the initial 16 weeks.

There seems to be increased interest in other groups helping out, which is desperately needed.

At Verdad y Vida we tiled a newly built small room, and built some shelves for it. The room will be used by the schoolchildren for homework. There was a 2 day old infant and his 13 year old mother there, and we got a chance to coo over her new little one. There are so many challenging issues there as well, and we're glad we can continue to help them out.

We didn't have any safety issues, although when we went to the Artisan's market on Friday afternoon there were a ton of TJ police vehicles heading to one particular area, and many others driving around the vicinity. However, all was calm at the market; otherwise we would have just turned around. We only saw a couple truck loads of Federales (also Friday afternoon), which is a real decrease over previous trips.

Thanks for all your prayers!
Deb

Crab Feast Fun

noreply@blogger.com (Carol Brown) — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 16:43:00 +0000

Thanks to all that helped to make this event such a huge success.
Receipts are still coming in, but we are around $25,000 (which is a record!).

Feast Raffle Tickets

noreply@blogger.com (Carol Brown) — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 13:25:00 +0000

The Crab Feast is SOLD OUT. Thanks be to God.

You can still participate by purchasing a raffle ticket.

Tickets are $30 each or 4 for $100.

Odds of winning are 1 in 50. Only 300 tickets will be sold. The winner will be chosen the night of the Crab Feast through a reverse drawing. The last ticket drawn wins the first prize, the second to the last the second prize, the third the third prize. Smaller prizes are awarded through the night for the first ticket drawn, 100th, and 200th ticket.

1st Prize: 42" Panasonic 1080 P Plasma HDTV
2nd Prize: Nintendo Wii with game pkg.
3rd Prize: Nikon Coolpix S560 Digital Camera Kit

Email info@capstonemissions.org to get your ticket today!

Passports needed after June 1, 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Carol Brown) — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 14:07:00 +0000

On June 1, 2009, the U.S. government will implement the full requirements of the land and sea phase of Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI). The proposed rules require most U.S. citizens entering the United States at sea or land ports of entry to have a passport, passport card, or other travel document approved by the Department of Homeland Security.

CHILDREN: U.S. citizen children under the age of 16 will be able to present the original or copy of their birth certificate, or other proof of U.S. citizenship such as a naturalization certificate or citizenship card.

Groups of U.S. citizen children ages 16 through 18, when traveling with a school or religious group, social organization, or sports team, will be able to enter under adult supervision with originals or copies of their birth certificates or other proof of citizenship. See the Department of Homeland Security's GetYouHome.gov for more information on the changing travel requirement

Adopted Patron Saint of Capstone

noreply@blogger.com (Carol Brown) — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 22:00:00 +0000

Today is St. Jerome Emiliani's Feast Day. (February 8th)

Many may not know this, we adopted Saint Jerome Emiliani for Capstone's Patron Saint.

We chose St. Jerome Emiliani because he is the patron saint of orphans and taking his namesake, Capstone Missions began in Jerome, Idaho.

For more information about St. Jerome: http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=61

Prayer:
Saint Jerome Emiliani, watch over all children who are abandoned or unloved. Give us the courage to show them God's love through our care. Help us to lose the chains that keep us from living the life God intended for us. AMEN

Saint Jerome Emiliani, pray for us.

HAPPY FEAST DAY!

Hacienda Bedding Project

noreply@blogger.com (Carol Brown) — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 21:45:00 +0000

Ten new bunks were installed in the girls dorm. Seven of the old beds were relocated to the new boys dorm and finally gave them the chance to sleep on a true bed instead of the floor. We plan to setup 24 more beds soon.

Thank you St. Edward's Parish for funding the new bedding and bunks.

4th Annual Crab Feast

noreply@blogger.com (Carol Brown) — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 20:58:00 +0000

4th Annual Crab Feast at St. Jerome's.

Saturday February 21, 2009
5:30 p.m. Wine and Cheese Social
6 - 7 p.m. Dinner
7 - 9 p.m. Decadent Dessert, Raffle, Live and Silent Auction

Dinner tickets are $35
Raffle tickets are $30 each or 4 for $100. Prizes are a flat screen tv, Wii, and a digital camera. (Need not be present to win.)

Tickets are available by contacting Colleen at 324-4257 or Debby at 733-1187.
Table reservations can be made by contacting Dar at dar@capstonemissions.org.
Tickets are selling fast, so contact us today!

Auction items are needed. Donated items or money to purchase items would be appreciated.
If you have a cabin, time share, yacht, airplane, special talent or hobby that you are willing to donate;
please contact Debby at debby@capstonemissions.org or 733-1187.

Thanks for your past support and we look forward to seeing you at the Feast!

January pictures

noreply@blogger.com (Carol Brown) — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 20:53:00 +0000

First trip of 2009 a success

noreply@blogger.com (Carol Brown) — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 20:43:00 +0000

January 2009 Trip Summary

There were a total of 18 of us on the trip.

St. Joseph's

Everyone seems to be doing well. The children were bright eyed and thrilled to have our large group there to play with them. Sr. Monserrat is more relaxed each time we go down , and loved the hearty appetites of our group!

The only job we did there was to repair a leak from the girls' shower. We'll need to repair some sheetrock on the next trip, and the whole dorm area needs a good coat of paint.

We had the kids do a craft project that we can auction at the Crab Feast. It was chaotic and tons of fun, and the kids liked it. Bid high when you see them!

The Trip
We borrowed two vehicles, a suburban from Terri, and Jim Paxton's truck. Both worked really well for our purposes. We did blow a tire on the 'burb in the middle of Nevada, but thanks to Bill and Scott Henscheid, it was fixed quickly and didn't delay us much. We opted not to replace the tire in Las Vegas since the spare was a "real" tire, and the spares for all other vehicles were the same size.

Marvin got a little boo boo on his truck pulling into the driveway (and another vehicle) at Cuki's. Once again, Scott came to our rescue and found the parts needed to repair it and got the truck in for an alignment. Manuel Castro helped him, and it went more smoothly than we ever could have hoped.

Verdad y Vida
We finished the tiling job in the nuns' sleeping quarters, and Sr. Veronica showed us a bunch of other jobs needing done; mostly tiling. Marvin headed up the crew there, and had 4 people working there most of the week.

Cuki says that donations are drying up and far fewer groups are coming down to help out.

Hacienda de la Inmaculada
First, the bad news; Srs. Lily and Berneice left the week before, saying it was too difficult. George says that there are 2 Mennonite missionaries who spent a year there awhile ago who are interested in possibly coming back. The toddlers have been released into the general population, and I'm not sure how they will fare. There were some kids playing with toys occasionally, but we saw lots of games (in English!) with parts everywhere and the kids having no idea how to play anything - and no one to show them how. I witnessed the most interesting game of chess I've ever seen!

Our presumed job there changed on Sunday when we went to look things over. Instead of starting on a nursery expansion, Madre wanted us to build more shelves - lots of shelves - some like the ones we built in October, and some with doors that could be locked.
We built 6 sets of shelves for the boys' clothing room, 3 tall shelves with doors for the large entry hall, and put about 8 sets of doors on shelves by the back exit to the laundry area. Naturally, all needed painting, so if people didn't have another job, they were kept busy painting.
They would like us to repeat the shelves on the girls' side in March.

One of the things that Julietta (probably Madre's first officer) loved the most is that we purchased padlocks keyed the same for all the doors we built. They have tons of padlocks in the place and they all need different keys, so she was thrilled.

We also painted the second room of the boys' dorm, installed a light and fan, safely capped off expose wires, and fixed the entry doorway to it.

The beds in the other boys' dorm room are bolted to the floor and walls, so we decided we should wait until the new beds are installed before painting in there. The bunk beds and bedding should all be in by the end of the month, and George has a crew ready to do down and help put it all together. I'm sure he'll send pictures.

Safety
We didn't have any problems other than overtaking a group of Federales ,who stopped right in front of us to arrest someone. Naturally, Rusty remained calm and in control while Manuel and I debated diving to the floor of the truck while emitting a few girly shrieks.

George got 4 prepaid cell phones for us that we picked up at the Hacienda. They were absolutely invaluable, and while we didn't use them for safety reasons, they really saved us a lot of time when getting materials.

Ripples
We hope we started several ripples of aid in Tijuana on this trip. The high school students weren't back in school yet, so we took Griselda ( Olga's goddaughter, who goes by 'Grees') to work with us for 2 days. She was very moved by what she saw, and wants to get her youth group involved at the Hacienda. Manuel Castro also came with us a couple of days, and also wants his youth group to get involved. He wasn't aware that places like that existed in Tijuana. Dr. Moses Castro also came to the Hacienda one day and examined several of the children and prescribed meds. Moses wants to go back there to work again! Also, although I didn't talk to him, Theresa said that Alejandro, who works with a TV station, wants to put out public service announcements in Tijuana asking for aid for the Hacienda. I gave him the contact information.
Theresa and Cuki had a wonderful dinner and fiesta for us on Friday night in Cuki's carport and patio. We had an excellent dinner and a little dancing, which Theresa and Manuel led.

New Construction Coordinator!!!
We are thrilled and optimistic that we have someone who not only was excellent at leading the Hacienda construction crew, but is very interested in continuing to make trips to Tijuana. This is such a gift to us - he's outstanding, both as a carpenter and as an individual and it will be a huge relief for Marvin. More on this later when we have had a chance to follow up.

Thanks to all the prayers offered for us, we had good roads there and back, and a really great week, with only minimal bumps and cuts. Thank you for all the prayer support!

Deb

Our Catholic TV Interview

noreply@blogger.com (Carol Brown) — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 15:23:00 +0000

On Tuesday, November 18 we had the privilege of speaking with Fr. Reed and Jay on Catholic TV. Rusty, Debby, and I gathered in Twin Falls for the telephone interview. It was so much fun and went way too fast! There was so much more we wanted to say.

Special thanks to Bonnie at Catholic TV. Hopefully she will invite us back! You can send comments to the show for viewer mail to thisistheday@catholictv.org

Watch the interview here: http://www.catholictv.org/WhatsToWatch/Detail.aspx?seriesID=72

P.S.-

I was surprised when they asked about my husband's podcast, it caught me off guard. I was focused on talking about Capstone! I should have done a better plug and a shout out to all his fans. So here it is: his podcast is called "Into the Deep"and their blog is at http://deepcast.blogspot.com/ and it is an affliate of SQPN.com . I am so proud of those guys and it is an excellent podcast. So check it out!

Some trip pictures

noreply@blogger.com (Carol Brown) — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 18:32:00 +0000

Our group.
Thank you for your work in helping the poor!

Aimee with Madre Virginia. Founder of Hacienda de la Inmaculada.

Troy building the stairs for a much needed fire exit at Hacienda.

Troy and Marvin modeling their work.
Now Hacienda has a fire exit to the dorm.

Building much needed shade at Hacienda.

Bob under cover.

Our group with some of the kids at Hacienda

Painting at our beloved St. Joseph's

We're baaaaaaack

noreply@blogger.com (Carol Brown) — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 16:02:00 +0000

Hola folks,

Thanks for all your prayers for a successful trip. It was. Debby and Marvin led another very successful mission trip with a few outstanding new members and we old heads, Bob and Aimee Fritsch, Betty, Marvin, Deb and I.

Our first foray to the new orphanage was outstanding, but there is still much to be done, so we are looking forward to the BSU trip in Jan.

Thanks to Jim Paxton for the use of his truck again. I’m personally very attached to the XM radio and air conditioning, which often is lacking in the other vehicles.

Cheers,

Rusty

2009 Trip Dates Announced

noreply@blogger.com (Carol Brown) — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 17:44:00 +0000

January 10-17 (BSU)
March 14-21
May 30-June 6
October 17-24

Mark your calendars and join us for one of these life changing trips!

Contact Deb@capstonemissions.org or call 208-733-1187