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Bernadette Gutierrez is our new Administrative Assitant. She isn't new to Mountain Christian, but here are a couple things you might not know about her - even if you have known her for a long time.

Hello!  My name is Bernadette Gutierrez.  I have been a part of Mountain Christian Church for about 16 years.  The church has been a blessing to my whole family.  We have grown in the Lord and have met some extraordinary people.  It's a very special place to me.  My kids are older and are mostly doing their own things these days, but Eddie, my husband, and I are involved in a couple community/small groups and we enjoy them very much. 

Some things you may not know about me…

 ~ I love to travel…I enjoy traveling with our trailer, to see states near and far and I enjoy traveling out of the country. 

 ~ When I have time, I do enjoy woodworking projects.…I like to build things I can use in our home.  However, I am definitely an amateur.

 ~One last thing you probably do not know about me is that I am currently taking violin lessons.  I am enjoying the violin, but have lots to learn. 

I am happy to be working alongside Frank and Paul in the office.  I’m sure there are going to be many interesting adventures ahead.

The Shield Prayer Ministry of Mountain Christian Church

“But You, O Lord, are a shield about me, My glory, and the One who lifts my head.”
Psalm 3:3

The goal of the Shield Ministry is to honor and Glorify God by being Prayer Warriors for First Responders and their families. Day after day and night after night law enforcement officers, fire fighters, paramedics, and emts say goodbye to their families and put their lives on the line to keep us safe.

We provide spiritual back-up for these heroes with prayer and words of encouragement. This may look like birthday cards, anniversary cards, notes of encouragement, scripture verses, or wherever the Lord leads. We commit to praying for their safety, courage, strength, and integrity. Sometimes we receive specific prayer requests and join our First Responders in bringing them before the throne of grace.

We encourage everyone to pray for First Responders. If you are a First Responder or are interested in becoming a Shield Ministry Prayer Warrior and receive specific prayer requests, contact Pete Feldner at (505) 350-0399 or Cathy Feldner at (505) 362-8048.

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

To all our East Mountain Churches and Parishes,

Our staff and volunteers here at East Mountain Care Net Pregnancy Center are humbled by your support and your love for Life!  We thank you for your participation in this year’s Walk for Life and are so grateful to be a light in this community with you!  We couldn’t do it without you!

Our Walk for Life was a GREAT success with over 30 churches being represented and 200 present, who enjoyed live music, prayer and a beautiful walk.  Prayers, attendance, donations and people’s zeal for Life made this year’s Walk for Life one of the most successful! 

A HUGE THANK YOU for your enthusiasm for the cause of LIFE and our East Mountain Care Net Center’s ministry which is touching lives of the moms and dads who come for our support and services!  We love you and are very blessed to lock arms with you all in this State to courageously fight for the lives of the unborn! 

THANK YOU!!!!!!

- East Mountain CareNet Team

This year's CareNet Walk for Life for the entire Albuquerque area had over 700 walkers in all four locations and raised $69,541.80!!!!

*Thank you to Ron and Donna Cura for the pictures!

Have you ever been without running water for a time? Those stormy days when the pipes freeze, or the sudden panic when the well pump gives out. At those times we store water in any big container we can find, and eek out the smallest amount at a time to do necessary drinking, cooking, and the barest of
cleaning.

What if that’s how water use always was at your house? Imagine purchasing questionably clean water in 5 gallon buckets at prices you knew were too high, only to do it again later in the week.... every week. You’d skimp on washing, flushing, even drinking to make it to the next time you had to buy more. That’s
exactly what having water is like in communities like Villa Margarita – the community MCC partners with in Sucre, Bolivia, through Food for the Hungry.

But things are changing! In the last two years, Food for the Hungry has been able to partner with several other organizations, our church, and the city of Sucre to connect many families and a school to the city water. While the permits and logistical details are figured out by these organizations and city,
our church has supplied some matched money which helps purchase the 5000 liter holding tanks for 3-5 families to share. The families, the local church, and their neighbors then get involved by digging the trenches for the pipes to be laid into and creating a space for the tanks. Now these families will have a
consistent source of water which allows for benefits in health and hygiene in all sorts of ways!

It’s no surprise to these families that water and life are concepts that go hand in hand. In John 4, Jesus tells the Samaritan woman that drinking from worldly wells continues to make us thirsty, but His Living Water will, “become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” What a picture of God’s provision; life-giving water that wells up and is consistently present!

Want to be even more involved in this life-giving ministry?! The kids at VBS raised over $800 for another tank to provide water for 3-5 more families! AND stay tuned for more information in August about a possible mission trip to Bolivia in 2023! Come be a part of his Living Water!

  I’ve wanted to be a mother since I was a little girl.  At school though, when asked, I said I wanted to be a veterinarian because it wasn’t acceptable in the 70s to say I wanted to be a mom.  I went to college and got my degree in special education with an emphasis in deaf education, but I planned to stay home if I got married and had a baby. That was a tough conversation for Paul and I since I made more than he did in 1994 at a whopping $20,000 a year, but I was committed.  I wanted to be there for every step of mothering. I didn’t want to miss a thing. 

  When Paul and I got engaged, we talked about having kiddos and agreed on four. Was nine even a number and not too crazy? For two people who met at a summer camp for kiddos with physical disabilities, we thought more than two felt great and made sense. We adored kids.  All kids.  Kids with differences.  Kids with disabilities.  Just loved kids. 

  So, when I was pregnant with our fourth, Paul said he thought we were done and I emotionally fell apart.  By then, we were homeschooling our older two kids and had homeschooled our deaf foster son for a few years and that meant I was around a lot of families with more than four kids. I had shifted to wanting eight or ten, but not Paul.  Poor guy.  In his defense, I wasn’t a natural or even trained homemaker and I had to work super hard to keep it tidy and organized.  Homeschooling two, having a foster son in the public school, a preschooler, and being pregnant looked hard to Paul. And it was.  But I still wanted more kiddos.  

  We both prayed and sought God’s direction… and Esther arrived, our fifth. Then we prayed again and thought the Lord said we were done having children physically, but He actually meant … Paul Louis was arriving.  Paul Louis was my sixth c-section and so after prayer and discussions, we believed I should not have any more children biologically, but I didn’t think we were done adding to our family. 

  My mother died two months before Paul Louis was born. We switched jobs and then camps, which also meant new housing, when he was months old, so while I was praying for adoption, Paul wanted us to be more settled.

  The Lord led us to New Mexico, leaving our family, friends, church home, and community of eighteen years. To a land that was vastly different.  I asked Paul about adoption and he said, “When we own a house and a dog.”

  After renting in Edgewood for over a year, we bought a house in Sandia Park December of 2013.  I waited a week before asking Paul if a plan for a dog counted as the actual dog. Soon we contacted Adoption Assistance Agency to get the adoption ball rolling.  There was a waitlist for a wait list, so we got on it.  

 December of 2014, we were off the waitlist, our home study was completed, our family book was ready, and our names went into the adoptive family pool.  

 Two weeks later, I got a text from a friend of twenty-five years, “I’m pregnant.  I think this is a Brouse.”

  My jaw dropped.  This was a friend who took my job when I stayed home, who came to Thanksgivings and Christmases, who brought gifts to the hospital with each baby I had, and who we loved dearly. 

  After an amazing conversation, we said yes not only to adopting her baby, but to her moving in with us for her pregnancy.  She arrived two weeks later, moving into the bedroom and bathroom that friends helped us renovate so her wheelchair could fit in.  

  The seven months when Sarah lived with us were the most amazing of my life. Loving on a birthmother first hand, twenty-four seven, is … well… It's surreal.  And yet, it felt so so natural. 

And so, when the Lord started putting on my heart and into my dreams that this was a baby girl with Down syndrome…. Of course. 

  I kept the news to myself for a bit, but then told Paul and Sarah at the nineteen week mark. They both thought I was dramatic, but I knew.  I knew in my heart. 

  When the twenty-two week anatomy scan showed that Sarah was carrying a baby girl, I knew.  Paul said, “You’re only half right.”

  When the scan took a really long time, when they said our appointment would be a bit longer, when they asked to call the doctor… Sarah said, “You’re about to be right.”

And I was.  Our baby was a girl with Down syndrome.

There wasn’t a wet eye in the room.  No tears.  No fear.  No regret. 

Just peace.

  Our story started when Sarah was a fifteen year old with CP at a camp in Texas.  She was a camper while Paul was a counselor. Then, when she was seventeen, she was my counselor in training my first year. A friendship built on the belief that all children are fearfully and wonderfully made, led us to this road. To this ultrasound room.  And ultimately to the operating room where a beautiful baby girl was born on August 3, 2015.

  We named her Jubilee because she was our seventh child, born seven years after our previous, born in the year of Jubilee. Because the year of Jubilee is a celebration for a time of forgiven debts and fresh starts. We wanted Sarah to see her daughter’s birth as a fresh start as well as a celebration and we wanted every single person who ever saw or met this daughter to know she is worth celebrating.  

  Jubilee turned seven a couple of days ago and we all love her more than we ever thought we could. We see her value more and more every day and since we believed her value was priceless before she even was placed in our arms, that’s saying something.  

Adoption is demonstrated by our Lord.  We are His adopted children.

 I couldn’t be more grateful He allowed us to join the example of His story by the adoption of our Jubilee.