We’re serving at the Womens Recovery Center located on Miracle Mile Road – perfect name for this location! Currently there are about 26 women and 10 or so children living here. They have been rescued by God’s grace! They have survived various challenging and destructive life styles and are now in various stages of recovery. We love the motto the staff have – to love them with Jesus and treat them with dignity and respect!
We are serving with two other couples this month, Tim & Cindy Klein and Craig & Karen Burrell. We’re sharing RV space in the parking lot – it works! Notice the shape of the buildings on the property – another reminder of the cross of Christ. There is much healing taking place on this campus!
First item on the list – The french doors on the Transition House needed to be replaced – the guys were able to remove the old doors without disturbing the stucco work on the exterior (how’s that for a plus!) The new door needed to be put in “backwards” so it would open to the outside. This added another challenge but we were succesful!
The first week the girls got to paint (surprise!) and help with some of the office work. They kept busy and cleaned everything as they went. Great job!
The H.S.Lopez Family Foundation Center of Opportunity!
One of the highlights of the project was getting a tour of the Center of Opportunity operated by Gospel Rescue Mission. A significant hotel in its’ day was purchased by the Lopez Family and sold to the Gospel Rescue Mission for $1. Since then the buildings and property has been in a constant state of refurbishing and remodeling – with a spirit of excellence. The vision is to provide opportunity to the homeless and broken in the Tucson area through various programs. The gospel is shared and the love of Jesus radiates throughout the staff and facility! We kept hearing that they strive to show dignity and respect to all guests no matter what background they come from. We had chills as we slowly toured the property and heard the stories of changed lives. Many of the staff used to be the “guests” and are now passing the love of Jesus on to others!
I think our work assignments were enjoyed and completed with a bit more heart in our work after learning how God was bringing HOPE to the lives of so many. More days of cleaning and painting in the administration areas. We worked as a team and made great progress! These weeks are going by so fast!
Each weekend, we’ve enjoyed worshipping at a variety of churches with our new friends and then going out to eat at some local cafe’s and even a food truck – serving the delicious Sonoran Hot Dogs! This is a Tucson exclusive: bacon wrapped fried hot dog with beans, and all the goodies – and a mild (hot!) pepper to go!
One of our SOWER highlights was meeting up with other SOWER friends and alumni at the Golden Corral – we shared and reminisced and learned a lot from each other at this mini-reunion!
The guys spent the last week serving at the Gospel Rescue Mission – Center Of Opportunity. We helped with the beginning install of a barber shop to help meet the needs of the men and families that are being cared for there. We also tracked electrical wiring (whew – that was a challenge!) and installed some new outdoor wiring for gate locks etc.
The ladies continued painting, cleaning, organizing, and building friendships with each other and several of the guests at the Womens Recovery Center.
…and just like that – three weeks of work were over! The time always seems to go so fast. Just like that helecopter’s spotlight is shining down from the sky, God has His eye and love directed toward this special ministry.
It was great to serve with Tim & Cindi Klein and Craig & Karen Burrell. We’re so thankful we’ve had this oportunity! We will remember the time, work, and fun we were able to accomplish here – this ministry will continue to be on our hearts and in our prayers..
AND … we are returning!
We’ll be here another month (March) serving with another SOWER couple. Wonder what fun and meaningful jobs we’ll be assigned. Check out our next blog for our next SOWER adventure!