I just wanted to write a quick update on the status of Shaun and his wife Beatrice, the couple I wrote about in the last blog entry. Gracias a Dios, we went into Hermosillo on Monday to pick up both Shaun and Beatrice from the hospital to take them back home! Indeed, Shaun had a bout of dengue as well as some kind of infection in his stomach. But when we went to pick him up, he was doing much better, ready to go home.
Marilyn survived three nights with the little ones. She got little sleep the first night but the two were probably too tired to miss their parents the second and the third night! They were overjoyed to see their parents again as they probably had never spent a night apart from them before! Though I'm not sure who missed who more, whether it was the kids missing their parents or vice versa.
Continue to pray for them. They are a young couple both in age and spiritually as well. They are Christians but they have not found a Church body which they regularly attend. Pray that God would provide for them, not only a job for him but also that He would be at work in their hearts and lives, drawing them closer.
Thanks for being a part of this and keeping them in your prayers!
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Friday, September 23, 2011
Desperation and Prayer
It's hard to reconcile sometimes, the differences between the life that I live, the lifestyle that I am used to, and the lifestyles of many people I keep crossing paths, here in Mexico. I know that I by no means live an extravagant lifestyle by the measures of what would be considered "the norm" in Canada, but judged by the standard of too many people here, I live like a king. That's not to say that the vast majority of people here live far below the "Canadian Standards" but, it is scary to see what conditions some people consider to be "the norm" for their lives.
I'll bring this to a more concrete level and share about a young mother, who I doubt is much older than 20, if even that. She showed up at our door yesterday with her three year old girl, one year old boy, in a state of desperation. We know who she as, as her husband who is a "Yesero" by trade, working in construction doing plastering with a plaster-like material called "yeso", has worked on some projects for us. First of all, to understand what it meant to even show up at our door, they live in Guaymas, a half hour bus ride from here. The bus only goes along the main street in San Carlos and the mission center is another mile and a half from the nearest bus stop. So she, with her 3 year old in two and the baby in her arms, walked the mile and half in the hot September sun, just to get to us for help.
Answering the knock at the door, I asked her how she was and she said, "muy mal", very bad. She went on to share about how her husband had been in the hospital for 5 days with what they thought was dengue fever. Except that the night before he was transfered to Hermosillo, the capital city of the state that we are in, because things had taken a turn for the worse. She had been trying to find out how he was and what was going on but wasn't able to find anything out, other than that he had been transfered.
So we took her in, gave her and her children something to eat and set about to see if we could track down some more information. However, over the phone, they wouldn't give us any more information other than that he was stable but still in the emergency ward. So, we packed the kids up, got in the van and drove to Hermosillo, about an hour and a half away to go see him and to see what was up.
When we arrived, we quickly found him in good spirits, but with fever, and other issues that the doctors weren't sure about. They weren't sure if he had Dengue Fever, or Rickettsia, a tick related disease. We went and purchased the prescription medication that was needed for the treatment and made sure that he was OK. The doctors wanted to keep him in the hospital there to continue to observe and wait for the results of the analysis.
They didn't want his wife to stay in the city but rather to return to the house so we packed her and the kids back up and made our way back to Guaymas, planning to keep in touch with him and the hospital by phone.
This morning, I went to her house with Augustine to bring her a food hamper, as her husband wasn't there and in fact had been without work for some time, to also help take care of some holes in the roof of their house, and to do some spraying around the house for bugs and specifically wood ticks, if that was in deed what had caused the sickness in him.
We arrived at the house, which was no easy task in and of itself! They live on the side of a hill, literally. There are often times when the higher a house, the better a view, the more expensive the property. This situation was quite the opposite. The higher the house, yes the better the view, but to get their you pretty much drive up the street, as far as it goes, park the vehicle, then get out and start climbing. At first there were nice cement stairs. But after those run out its just you and the paths carved up the hill taking you to the final row of "houses". We had to admit, the view from up there was amazing, but the "houses" left something to be desired. The small two room shack that this family of four lived in was literally built on the side of the hill, with three walls, a roof, and the back wall being stone from the hill itself.
I wish I had pictures, but it truly is hard to imagine living in conditions this family so bravely not just survived in but even thrived in. If you have ever met Shaun or his wife Beatrice, by the joy that is always on their faces, you would never imagine the humble little shack they live in.
As Augustine and I did what we could to mend the very dilapidated roof and sprayed for whatever critters might be crawling around, she told us how she had received a call in the morning saying that her husband and taken a turn for the worse and was going into surgery. We didn't really know anything more than, only that we had to get her back to Hermosillo.
It's really hard to imagine, to begin with, what survival would look like, living as they do, much less with a young family, and I think I forgot to mention, a third on the way!! But then to have to deal with your husband, sick in bed for days, and not knowing what was going on with his health, I can't imagine. Praise God that He sustains us through every storm that we may face in life! Praise Him as well that Shaun and his wife are Christians and that they know this truth for themselves!
So, we finished things up, locked up the house as best we could, knowing that this is a dangerous neighbourhood, and brought her and her family to San Carlos where Marilyn would take care of the little two while we sent her on the bus to Hermosillo to take care of her husband.
I guess I share this somewhat long story with you for two reasons. One, that you would be in prayer for Shaun and his wife. He is a dear friend to us her, and we just pray for God's hand of protection and healing over his body. We also pray His peace over him and his wife Beatrice.
I also share this story cause it reminds me of the things that are truly important, and the things that are not. Jesus told us not to worry about what we would eat or drink or wear, and oddly enough, it seems that often those who have more than enough are the ones who preoccupy themselves with these very same things, and become worried about this that in reality, don't deserve even a moment of worry. But those who have next to nothing, live with a joy, peace and contentment, that many of us seem to miss altogether. Isn't this all a little backwards??
Anyways, thanks for sticking with me here...God bless!
I'll bring this to a more concrete level and share about a young mother, who I doubt is much older than 20, if even that. She showed up at our door yesterday with her three year old girl, one year old boy, in a state of desperation. We know who she as, as her husband who is a "Yesero" by trade, working in construction doing plastering with a plaster-like material called "yeso", has worked on some projects for us. First of all, to understand what it meant to even show up at our door, they live in Guaymas, a half hour bus ride from here. The bus only goes along the main street in San Carlos and the mission center is another mile and a half from the nearest bus stop. So she, with her 3 year old in two and the baby in her arms, walked the mile and half in the hot September sun, just to get to us for help.
Answering the knock at the door, I asked her how she was and she said, "muy mal", very bad. She went on to share about how her husband had been in the hospital for 5 days with what they thought was dengue fever. Except that the night before he was transfered to Hermosillo, the capital city of the state that we are in, because things had taken a turn for the worse. She had been trying to find out how he was and what was going on but wasn't able to find anything out, other than that he had been transfered.
So we took her in, gave her and her children something to eat and set about to see if we could track down some more information. However, over the phone, they wouldn't give us any more information other than that he was stable but still in the emergency ward. So, we packed the kids up, got in the van and drove to Hermosillo, about an hour and a half away to go see him and to see what was up.
When we arrived, we quickly found him in good spirits, but with fever, and other issues that the doctors weren't sure about. They weren't sure if he had Dengue Fever, or Rickettsia, a tick related disease. We went and purchased the prescription medication that was needed for the treatment and made sure that he was OK. The doctors wanted to keep him in the hospital there to continue to observe and wait for the results of the analysis.
They didn't want his wife to stay in the city but rather to return to the house so we packed her and the kids back up and made our way back to Guaymas, planning to keep in touch with him and the hospital by phone.
This morning, I went to her house with Augustine to bring her a food hamper, as her husband wasn't there and in fact had been without work for some time, to also help take care of some holes in the roof of their house, and to do some spraying around the house for bugs and specifically wood ticks, if that was in deed what had caused the sickness in him.
We arrived at the house, which was no easy task in and of itself! They live on the side of a hill, literally. There are often times when the higher a house, the better a view, the more expensive the property. This situation was quite the opposite. The higher the house, yes the better the view, but to get their you pretty much drive up the street, as far as it goes, park the vehicle, then get out and start climbing. At first there were nice cement stairs. But after those run out its just you and the paths carved up the hill taking you to the final row of "houses". We had to admit, the view from up there was amazing, but the "houses" left something to be desired. The small two room shack that this family of four lived in was literally built on the side of the hill, with three walls, a roof, and the back wall being stone from the hill itself.
I wish I had pictures, but it truly is hard to imagine living in conditions this family so bravely not just survived in but even thrived in. If you have ever met Shaun or his wife Beatrice, by the joy that is always on their faces, you would never imagine the humble little shack they live in.
As Augustine and I did what we could to mend the very dilapidated roof and sprayed for whatever critters might be crawling around, she told us how she had received a call in the morning saying that her husband and taken a turn for the worse and was going into surgery. We didn't really know anything more than, only that we had to get her back to Hermosillo.
It's really hard to imagine, to begin with, what survival would look like, living as they do, much less with a young family, and I think I forgot to mention, a third on the way!! But then to have to deal with your husband, sick in bed for days, and not knowing what was going on with his health, I can't imagine. Praise God that He sustains us through every storm that we may face in life! Praise Him as well that Shaun and his wife are Christians and that they know this truth for themselves!
So, we finished things up, locked up the house as best we could, knowing that this is a dangerous neighbourhood, and brought her and her family to San Carlos where Marilyn would take care of the little two while we sent her on the bus to Hermosillo to take care of her husband.
I guess I share this somewhat long story with you for two reasons. One, that you would be in prayer for Shaun and his wife. He is a dear friend to us her, and we just pray for God's hand of protection and healing over his body. We also pray His peace over him and his wife Beatrice.
I also share this story cause it reminds me of the things that are truly important, and the things that are not. Jesus told us not to worry about what we would eat or drink or wear, and oddly enough, it seems that often those who have more than enough are the ones who preoccupy themselves with these very same things, and become worried about this that in reality, don't deserve even a moment of worry. But those who have next to nothing, live with a joy, peace and contentment, that many of us seem to miss altogether. Isn't this all a little backwards??
Anyways, thanks for sticking with me here...God bless!
Thursday, September 8, 2011
To all the prayer warriors...
I don't know who was all praying for me yesterday evening but I know that someone was! You would think I would be used to the process already because it is pretty predicable. The preparation to preach for yesterday evening was good. But then came the couple of hours before the actual preaching where I start to go into panic mode, not feeing confident at all in how the sermon came together and more than anything wondering how in the world I'm going to communicate this in Spanish, much less English!
But spending some time in prayer just before I went out the door, I sensed the panic give way to a peace which I knew had to be coming on behalf of the prayers that many of you offered up. And sure enough as I got up to share I almost forgot to follow the notes that I had written and it just flowed out. I didn't see too many blank faces out in the audience either, so that is always an encouragement, right??
I guess God felt if fitting that before I preach about the faith we need to "walk on water" as Peter did, He needed to teach me about it. It seems there is no substitute to learning water-walking faith than actually getting out there and trying it out for yourself!
Anyways, all of the glory goes to Him and the thanks goes to you!
God bless!
But spending some time in prayer just before I went out the door, I sensed the panic give way to a peace which I knew had to be coming on behalf of the prayers that many of you offered up. And sure enough as I got up to share I almost forgot to follow the notes that I had written and it just flowed out. I didn't see too many blank faces out in the audience either, so that is always an encouragement, right??
I guess God felt if fitting that before I preach about the faith we need to "walk on water" as Peter did, He needed to teach me about it. It seems there is no substitute to learning water-walking faith than actually getting out there and trying it out for yourself!
Anyways, all of the glory goes to Him and the thanks goes to you!
God bless!
Monday, September 5, 2011
Back in the (sweaty) swing of things!
Have I mentioned that summers here are pretty hot? It seems that spending a bit of time in southern Manitoba during summer makes you forget about things like mid to high 30's, just about a constant 80% humidity, showering several times a day, and not drinking water by the cups but by the liters or even gallons some day it seems! It makes me sweat just thinking about it! Nonetheless, it is good to be back in Mexico! Between hosting weekend retreats, connecting with the pastors and churches that we work with, the days are pretty quickly filled up with things to do.
It's neat to see how God continues to work in people's lives here. One such story is a young man, about my age, who is from San Carlos. Over the past year he's been working with us, volunteering as much time as he can, though he was not actually a Christian. He came from a past that had nothing to do with God whatsoever, involved in a typical lifestyle of alcohol, relationships, etc. About a year ago, he just sensed that he wanted a change in his life; he wanted something different. Being a good friend of Agustine, he began hanging out with us at the center and accompanying us as much as his job would allow as we would be out doing ministry with the teams. Though he loved knew he wanted to change his life and believed in God, throughout the past year he never made the actual commitment to follow Christ. We could see that God was at work in his life, though, and coming back now to Mexico, I found out that he finally took the step of giving his life to the Lord - something we've been praying for for a while now. Some of you may have met him if you've been here in the last year or two. His name is Omar, though we all know him as "Gummy". I'm not sure how he came to that name, but we are so excited to know that he has made a commitment to follow the Lord!
On the other side, though, is a prayer request. Many of you know Alex, if you've been here at any point over the past couple of years. I believe I've blogged about him recently, in how God has been at work in his life. He too comes from a very difficult background, having left his home at the age of 12 or so to travel around in a traveling circus. Several years later he ended up in the home of a pastor couple in the town of Banamichi, about 5 hours east into the mountains from here. During his time there he gave his life to the Lord and though it has been a tough road for him, we have seen a lot of growth in his life over the years.
That takes us to the summer, though, and coming back I have found that he has returned to a life of drugs and alcohol, a life he has come back to from time to time, though this time, he doesn't seem to want to have much to do with us. I know that he knows the mistakes that his is making, and that the life he's living isn't what's truly going to give him joy but for whatever reason, he's returned to that life. Please pray for Him that God would soften his heart, and drawn him back to Himself. Pray for us as we reach out to him, that he would truly desire to leave that lifestyle behind him once and for all and run after Christ!
For myself, I've been busy, buried in the books these past few days, having been asked by a pastor last week if I would preach this Wednesday at a service at his church. Ironically, or rather appropriately, I'm planning on speaking about Peter walking on the water, and how it's those times outside of our comfort zones that we, as we truly put our faith in the Lord, that we will experience Him in new ways and draw closer to Him. I would love your prayers as yes, preaching in Spanish is something that is far out of my comfort zone!
God bless!
It's neat to see how God continues to work in people's lives here. One such story is a young man, about my age, who is from San Carlos. Over the past year he's been working with us, volunteering as much time as he can, though he was not actually a Christian. He came from a past that had nothing to do with God whatsoever, involved in a typical lifestyle of alcohol, relationships, etc. About a year ago, he just sensed that he wanted a change in his life; he wanted something different. Being a good friend of Agustine, he began hanging out with us at the center and accompanying us as much as his job would allow as we would be out doing ministry with the teams. Though he loved knew he wanted to change his life and believed in God, throughout the past year he never made the actual commitment to follow Christ. We could see that God was at work in his life, though, and coming back now to Mexico, I found out that he finally took the step of giving his life to the Lord - something we've been praying for for a while now. Some of you may have met him if you've been here in the last year or two. His name is Omar, though we all know him as "Gummy". I'm not sure how he came to that name, but we are so excited to know that he has made a commitment to follow the Lord!
On the other side, though, is a prayer request. Many of you know Alex, if you've been here at any point over the past couple of years. I believe I've blogged about him recently, in how God has been at work in his life. He too comes from a very difficult background, having left his home at the age of 12 or so to travel around in a traveling circus. Several years later he ended up in the home of a pastor couple in the town of Banamichi, about 5 hours east into the mountains from here. During his time there he gave his life to the Lord and though it has been a tough road for him, we have seen a lot of growth in his life over the years.
That takes us to the summer, though, and coming back I have found that he has returned to a life of drugs and alcohol, a life he has come back to from time to time, though this time, he doesn't seem to want to have much to do with us. I know that he knows the mistakes that his is making, and that the life he's living isn't what's truly going to give him joy but for whatever reason, he's returned to that life. Please pray for Him that God would soften his heart, and drawn him back to Himself. Pray for us as we reach out to him, that he would truly desire to leave that lifestyle behind him once and for all and run after Christ!
For myself, I've been busy, buried in the books these past few days, having been asked by a pastor last week if I would preach this Wednesday at a service at his church. Ironically, or rather appropriately, I'm planning on speaking about Peter walking on the water, and how it's those times outside of our comfort zones that we, as we truly put our faith in the Lord, that we will experience Him in new ways and draw closer to Him. I would love your prayers as yes, preaching in Spanish is something that is far out of my comfort zone!
God bless!
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