It's hard to believe how quickly the time has gone and that we are already quickly approaching the end of November!  It seems it's harder to keep track of time here in Mexico without the drastic change of seasons that I had accepted as "the norm" growing up in Winkler.  "Cool" nights of about 15 degrees C are the equivalent of freezing temperatures and snow beginning to fall in southern Manitoba!

Enough about the weather though!  Looking back over the past month I'm grateful to God for how He has answered both your prayers and mine.  So much has happened and I feel very much at home here in this ministry and with the team that I am working with.  Here's a few highlights over the past couple of weeks:

Ministry Team from Salmon Arm, BC

In the four years that the couple who started this school have been here they haven't once hosted a work team, but wouldn't you know it, about a month into my time here towards the end of October, they hosted a team of about 20 adults from a supporting church in Salmon Arm, BC, who came to help with various work projects here at the school.  There were two projects in particular, a small storage/workshop, and a second story classroom/nursery/suite over an existing building.  Though none of them were masonry experts, by the time they left, about 1,500 cement blocks had formed the walls for these new buildings, and they left as Mexican certified block layers.

Second story classroom with workshop going up in background

Apart from that the woman used many gallons of paint, painting parts of the school and dormitory and lead some craft sessions for woman and children in different areas.  For the final day, which was perhaps the hardest test of them all, the team travelled about an hour away to help Pastor Martin and Rosa, whom I have mentioned before, pour a floor for the house that they are constructing.  If you don't remember from my previous post, they had lost their house this summer due to flooding and are joyfully waiting in the Lord has He provides for them a new home.

Pastor Martin and his wife with the newly pour floor for their house behind them.

It was about 1000 square feet, 45 bags of cement and about 6 hours of non-stop cement work!  We were blessed to be able to serve them in this way.  They are building as resources come in and in the meantime are living in some rather crude wood and tarp structures, as well as one room from their original house that survived the flooding, but they are waiting and serving with joy despite that hardships that they have had to endure!

I believe the team from Salmon Arm left exhausted but blessed and we enjoyed immensely our time with them.  Here's some pictures of the two (almost) completed projects, the workshop and the classroom:

Workshop

Second story: classroom/dormitory/suite

Pastors and Church Leaders Conference

Since then, we have shifted gears getting ready for a conference that is currently in session this week.  Three different speakers have come from different areas, one a Scottish born evangelist and teacher who lives on Vancouver Island and travels around teaching at various Capernwray Schools, Clayton Dugan, is teaching during the mornings from the book of Judges.  Oscar Escalada from Tijuana is teaching in the afternoons on the subject of Stewardship.  In the evenings Eric Ericcson, who, along with his wife are on staff here during the winter school term and do a fair bit of teaching themselves, is teaching on the theme of Spiritual Disciplines.  About 25 people have come in for the conference from different parts of Sonora and a couple from as far as a 15 hour bus ride from here.  It's been a very special time as these pastors and leaders come together to be recharged and rejuvenated and also to enjoy the fellowship of their fellow servants, encouraging one another.  Please continue to keep the conference in your prayers as it runs this week through Friday.  On Saturday, one of the teachers will be giving a day conference on the theme of marriage and we are hoping that more will be able to come in for this day of teaching.  Pray that He would bring those who need to hear what will be shared!

Also on the agenda...

So what's keeping me busy these days?  Apart from finishing the above mentioned projects that the Salmon Arm team were able to start on, the school has recently purchased two lots across the street from the existing facilities.  The hope for the future is to build a kitchen/dining room there as well as more space for dormitories.  Currently, the school uses the kitchen from the neighbouring San Carlos Community Church, the english church here in San Carlos.  They have graciously allowed the school to use their kitchen facilities whenever needed.  However, the future goal is to construct their own kitchen and dining hall facilities to accommodate the growing ministry here at the school.  In addition to this, a couple of RV sites will be developed as well, where I will hopefully be able to call home sometime in December.  So for now, walls are going up around the property and we are focussing on putting in the water, electricity, sewage, etc. to be able to park some campers there soon.

The new lots

Thanks for your continued prayer support!  There's lots of work to be done but more than that, pray for these conferences this week.  Also pray for the coming school term which will begin in January.  Pray that those who God wants here would sense His irresistible call!

New Beginnings

It's amazing to think how much has changed in the past couple of months in my life but of one thing we can always count on is that God always remains the same!  I have shared with many of you of some of these changes, but for those with whom I haven't been able to, God has opened some new doors of ministry here in San Carlos.

After spending some time with family and friends in Canada this summer, I came back to San Carlos to put the new plans in motion and to get adjusted to these new ministry opportunities.  I've started a new position at a ministry called Centro Educativo Cristiano, Christian Education Center.  It's a bible school  that started four years ago with the purpose of preparing Mexican leaders to go out and reach their own people with the Gospel.  This is accomplished through an intense 3 month term of classes focussing on teaching, discipleship, and ministry experience, as well as various retreats and conferences throughout the rest of the year.  My role in this ministry will have several parts including the following:

Administrative - helping in the organization of events and various aspects of the school term; also helping out with the website and things like designing brochures, etc.

Construction - helping to organize some of the upcoming construction projects; as the school is growing and expanding, some teams are coming down to help with some of construction projects to help facilitate the growing ministry.

Teaching/Music - helping with daily devotional times during the school semester, teaching guitar to interested students, leading worship throughout the term.

The school was has run for four years and was started by a missionary couple, Howard and Susan Dyck.  They served in Venezuela for 20 years with New Tribes Missions and came to a mission center here in San Carlos about five years ago.  They saw the need for training local pastors and leaders as many people here do not have access to any type of Bible training or education and God began to open doors through the mission center.

I'm excited for what God has in store!  I've enjoyed the five years I spent and Casa de Esperanza and look forward to these new opportunities.  I'm excited to still be working in San Carlos and continuing to be able to serve and work together with many of the pastors I've come to know over the past years.

UPCOMING HAPPENINGS

I'm sure a lot of you still have many questions, and for those of you who want to know more about the school, you can check out their website at: http://www.centroeducativocristiano.com for more information.

Here's some stuff that I've been keeping busy with and things we're gearing up for as a school in the next little bit:

October 26 - November 4: Group from Salmon Arm, BC, coming to help with some small building projects
November 18-23: Conference (Themes: Stewardship, Spiritual Gifts, Spiritual Disciplines)
November 24-25: Marriage Seminar
January 7 to April 19: School Term

The group that's coming from Salmon Arm, BC will be helping to construct a small storage room as well as another room which will be used as an additional classroom and a nursery.  They are coming with about 20 people and will spend 10 days here painting, building, and also be a part of some other ministry opportunities.

Something else that's been exciting has been being able to walk alongside a pastor and his wife who were students during last year's school session.  Sadly, the lost their house and many of their possessions when their house came crashing down due to some severe flooding this past summer.  A situation that would have left many people down and deeply discouraged have left them positive, hopeful, and joyfully trusting in the Lord.  In turn, many brothers and sisters in the Lord have responded helping them with purchasing materials and donating various household items; slowly but surely a new house is coming up!  I have had the privilege of visiting them a couple of times and appreciate their passion for reaching not only those in their own community but they also are actively involved in planting churches in neighbouring communities.  To see them continuing to do this joyfully and humbly despite that hardships that they have endured is inspiring to see!

Finally, I'm preaching not this Sunday but the next one, Oct 21 and am preparing for that.  I'll be preaching in English, thankfully, at the San Carlos Community Church.  Please pray with me as I prepare as it's been a while since I've preached!

PRAYER REQUESTS

Thanks for all of those who have been praying with me!  As God puts these thoughts in your mind please continue to pray with me in the following:

- Pray through this transition: change is often not easy but knowing that it is God who is in control makes a world of difference!  He has been good and given me a temporary place to live until something more permanent gets worked out here at the school, and He's also given me a wonderful team to work with.  Pray as I find my new place and new roles in this new ministry.

- Pray also for the events that are coming up, not only the team coming down but also for the conference as we prepare; Pray also that those who need to be at the conference we be there!

- Pray for October 21st as I preach!

Please feel free to write me an email if you have any questions!  Thanks to the many who have supported me so faithfully!  I enjoyed connecting with many of you this summer.  For those of you who want to continue to support me financially, please just send me an email and I'll send you the information.  God bless you all!  Dios les bendiga!

Recognizing God's Blessings

One would think that it would be easy to distinguish God's blessings in our lives and NOT confuse them for a stroke of misfortune, right?  You're probably scratching your heads wondering what I'm trying to say!  Well, from personal experience, I think it can be surprisingly easy at times to completely miss recognizing God's good hand of providence, if we aren't aren't in the habit of looking for it AND trusting Him with every detail of our lives.  I think I better explain!

For those who have been here in San Carlos over the course of the past season and you will remember that we recently started a new project here at the mission center, a new dorm building along with some staff suites.  It's a two story structure that's still in the basic building stage with the roof of the second story having been poured this past week.

Friday was the day that we were preparing to pour, with the cement truck booked to show up at 8:00am.  Well, wouldn't you know it as I wake up and survey the project to make sure that we are ready at 7:00am that some immense, dark blue clouds are sitting on the horizon in the East.  My Manitoba-prairie raised eyes see one thing:  rain.  Some of you are probably thinking, "Ryan, you live in a DESERT!" And yes, you are right, though we are in our rainy season which typically means that it can rain several inches over the course of two or three months, though it in fact rarely does.  However, seeing as even the possibility of rain and cement work don't mix well together, myself, along with the other workers were gazing up at the sky, asking each other, "Do you think it could possibly rain??"  After some good head scratching and pondering we eventually decided, it just isn't worth messing around, lets just postpone it to another day and so I went to make the call to the company to see about the possibility of waiting another day.  However, the only phone number I had was to the office and there was no one answering at 7:30 in the morning!  After repeated desperate phone calls to no avail, we did the only thing that was left to do: get ready for that cement truck!   All the time I was wondering why of all the days that we decided to pour this roof did it have to look like there was a real threat of rain coming.  And then to top it all off, why could I not even get a hold of anyone to cancel it??

Well, as the morning unfolded, the rain in fact did not come, as threatening as it had looked.  In fact, for most of the pouring we had a beautiful cloud cover and a relatively comfortable morning to pour.  For anyone who's done cement work before (especially if you've done it in the middle of summer, or in Mexico any time of year for that matter) NOT having the hot sun beating down on the project causing it to cure really fast, especially for a bunch of amateur cement workers, was a huge blessing!  

Perhaps it's too much to consider that God put those clouds in the sky for us that morning, but I can't help but think that He does love to bless His children, not just in big ways but in small ways as well.  And His blessing may not be signed with His name like the writing on the wall, but if we are aware of His presence, of His goodness in our lives, and if we trust Him to orchestrate even the smallest details of our lives, He will prove Himself good and faithful and worthy of our trust!

Hello Summer!

My thermometer is telling me that it is 35 degrees out today, and that is in celsius in case you were wondering. What month are we in? Oh yes, the middle of May. It's funny how you can lose track of time when you live in a desert and not know what season you're currently in. Coming from Manitoba's four distinct seasons to here will do that to you.

At the center here we seem to have two seasons which somewhat correspond to the two season we have here in San Carlos: Summer and Winter. Summer of course being what it is, lots of hot, hot, humid weather with the occasional rain here and there. Nothing but shorts and showers! Winter being hot and nice with the occasional need to put on a hoodie (in the evenings only, mind you). Our seasons at the mission center: Super busy and not quite so busy! We are just heading into the not so busy season with the last missions team having left about a week and a half ago. Looking back, its hard to believe we are into the summer season. I think it has been one of the busiest seasons that we've ever had, not only with the amount of teams that we've had but also with the amount of big projects that took place over this past season.

I realize that I have not done a great job in keeping you all in the loop with everything that is going on and in the next little while I plan to do so, highlighting some of the great things God has done over this past year. For now I just wanted to check in and let you know that all is well and also ask for your prayers for a young man named Alex.

I believe I've written about him before (you read here) and I believe that a number of you have probably met him as well. He's a guy who has had a rough life in many ways, traveling around Mexico in a circus as a youth where he ended up staying in a small mountain town about 5 hours from here and "adopted" by a pastor working in a church plant. He eventually gave his life to the Lord, but through the years since then he has struggled, battling with things like alcohol and drugs at times. I believe the Lord definitely has plans for him and we've been encouraged to see him break free from the past only to see him fall back into it time and time again. We've slowly seen him change over the years and grow in the Lord but there lingers this pull and temptation from these things, these vices from his past and I would love to see him surrender these fully to the Lord and not only leave them behind one and for all but to see him truly seeking the Lord.

He's been hanging around the center a fair bit the last little while and is actually working here on a construction job (helping to build some more dorms here at the mission center). He has been making some good choices in the last little while but I've had it on my heart that we need to be praying for him, that God would grab a hold of his life. I appreciate your prayers and encourage you to send some up whenever you think about him. Gracias y Dios les bendiga a todos ustedes!

Happy Easter!

Once again it's been a while since the last post! Sorry for keeping you all in suspense for so long! We've made it through our super busy season with only one team left to go towards the end of April. We saw the last team leave on Tuesday after having three teams back to back, one team leaving and then the next team coming later on the same day. That's actually the second time that that's happened this year, that we've had three teams back to back to back. As you can imagine, we started to understand what marathon running must feel like, after running 20 miles knowing that somehow you've still gotta find it in you to push through the last six...not that I've ever even run more than six miles at one time in my life!

Back to Mexico though, it has obviously been a very busy but a very good year in many ways. Much was accomplished in the way of projects such as Pastor Rafael's church in the community of Fatima in Guaymas was dedicated one week ago with only some minor details remaining to be done on the adjacent kitchen which will be used for the feeding program. Praise God for the many hands who helped to make it happen with the first foundation stone being laid sometime in December. It is an impressive building and a monument to the vision that God has for that community. It is a large building and the pastor's vision is that the growing congregation will quickly fill it's walls!

Bus aside from the work projects, as is always the case the more important part and the more exciting part is seeing God touch people's lives. We've worked a lot in Fatima and so we've taken a number of teams into the area handing out food hampers along with members of Pastor Rafael's congregation. It's neat to see the connection that they have, whether it's the pastor himself or his wife, Marisela, with the people of the community and to use the food hamper as a connection, a way to get into people's homes and spend some time sharing the Lord with them or praying with them. And every so often we get the privilege to lead someone to the Lord; other times we get the opportunity to pray with them as they are going through some personal struggles. I remember one such case as I was leading a group along with Marisela. We came into this lady's yard and she was burdened with her son who was living a fairly rebellious life and taking it out on his family, and particularly his mom. She herself was not a Christian though Marisela had shared Christ with her before. We could see as Marisela shared with her that she was so close to surrendering it all to God but just couldn't quite take that final step. Nonetheless we prayed for her and her son and trust that God will bring her to the point of final surrender.

I know that there's so many more stories I could share of God at work in people's lives. It's such a privilege to be a part of those stories, even if I'm just a spectator. And to all of you who have been praying for us as a ministry, you are a part of these stories as well! God bless you for your part! You probably won't fully see the fruit of your efforts until we are on the other side, but for now you can know that God is using you powerfully!

I hope that you all have a wonder Easter, remembering not just how much our freedom cost but incredible joy and the power of the resurrection.

"I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come." Ephesians 1:18-21

Healing Bodies and Souls...

Every year we host a ministry from Montana which brings doctors and nurses to put on free medical clinics in different areas around San Carlos. Today we're on a day off having already visited four places, seen over 750 people, handed out a lot of vitamins, glasses, and other medications, as well as Bibles. With three days left to go, we're enjoying a rather odd for San Carlos day, cool and cloudy with a little bit of drizzle here and there.

Monday was the busiest day we've had so far, being a holiday, Aniversario de la Constitución, and there were people waiting for us the moment we got there. I don't think the line of people waiting to get in ever depleted until about 3:00 in the afternoon when we had to stop accepting people so we could ensure that the backlog of people waiting to see the doctor would get a chance. 300 made it through that day, either wanting to see a doctor or to get a pair of glasses, whether reading, prescription or sun glasses.

Recently, I was reading in Matthew, about how Jesus had compassion on the people. Four times the word "compassion" is mentioned in Matthew. Each time its used pretty much the same way. "Jesus had compassion on them..." He saw their needs and He had compassion on them. But it never stops there. He saw their needs, had compassion on them, and then did something about it. In every case, his compassion lead Him to action, to do something to meet there needs. Jesus' compassion led Him to provide food for them, heal them, give them sight. Though He did what He could to meet their physical needs, He also saw their spiritual needs, the condition of their hearts, and turned to His disciples and said, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."

I don't mention this to pat ourselves on the back to say how we've been doing just through something like the medical clinics that but rather, that it was a big reminder for me. Perhaps you are not the same task-oriented type of person that I am, but sometimes I get caught up in the task before me and forget about the needs of the people around me, their physical needs and their spiritual needs.

It's interesting the connection there is between the physical needs and spiritual needs. Many people who come down on missions teams comment about this as well, how people who are in physical need tend to be more open to hearing about the Lord. It's easily seen on a large scale when you compare Mexico with Canada or the US. With such prosperity in Canada and the US, you see hearts that, in general, are very closed to God or anything to do with Him. Here on the other hand, with conditions being a little harder, people are open to hearing and it is exciting to see them respond!

Of course, I need only look at my own life and I can see that it is in the times of crisis that I have been brought down to my knees and have been drawn closer to God. And times of "prosperity" are the times when I may tend to drift away.

Although many people come to these medical clinics with some very basic needs, whether it be reading glasses, or with cold symptoms, or even just wanting some vitamins, some do come with some more serious medical issues. But the doctors take time to pray with each person whom they see. And every once in a while we see a transformed person coming out of that tent, seeing it written all over their face that they have in fact given their life to the Lord.

If you think about us over the next three days, pray for the people that come, not only that they would see Jesus through the acts of compassion, but that we would have the opportunity to introduce them to the One who can meet the deepest needs of their souls.

Manitoba, mountains, and more...

Wow, where has the time gone?!  So much has happened since the last blog post and there's been little time to blog about it along the way!  Thankfully, though, we've got a bit of a breather this week to get life back in order and take care of some of those things that have fallen by the wayside...

Lets go back to October, to the very good but brief time that I spend with many of you in Manitoba.  It was really good to have connected with so many of you during that week and and half that I was out there.  I was overwhelmed with all the people who came out to the evening in Winkler where my good friend Juan Carlos and I shared about the ministry here in San Carlos!

Fast forward to November where our winter season began here in San Carlos.  We hosted two groups during November, one from a church in Montana, and another from Phoenix.  One was a group that had never been here before and the other, a team that has been coming here longer than I've been here!

In November we started construction here at the mission center, putting up a second dormitory building.  We have long been pressed for space, to say the least, needing to rent a neighbouring house and at times putting people up in the living room on the foldout couch because we just didn't have enough room in our existing dorm rooms to host the teams.  I remember even sleeping up on the roof of the house with a few other guys a couple of years back because there simply was no room left IN the inn...  Needless to say, we were excited that God provided for us to be able to begin this project to help alleviate the need for space for the teams that come in and also for our own staff at the center!  You can see in the photo that the walls are up and we're now going to be working on the roof.

Moving onto December, as some of you may recall from the previous years, we set out on a bike trip into the mountains.  With 3 motorcycles, 4 quads and a Tahoe, 14 of us loaded up with Bibles and equipment to share the Jesus film in towns and villages off the beaten path.  We began in the town of Batacosa, which some of you may remember from some of the stories I've shared.  (If not, you can read more about it and the pastor, Goyita here.  We spent the first four nights there working with the pastor and going out to different surrounding towns each evening, showing the Jesus film, giving out Bibles, and praying with people.  During that time, Juan Carlos and I took a trip up into the mountains to scout out a new town that we had heard about before in our previous travels, a new place that we wanted to visit and share the films.  Rain turned what would have been a quick in and out day trip into an overnight ordeal, but we made it there and back safe and sound.  As we were in this town (called Milpillas, a town of just over 1,000 people at an altitude of about 4,500 feet) we saw not only the great need there but also God opening doors for us to spend a couple of nights there.

We made the trip primarily to scout out the town to see if there was opportunity for us to show the film and also to see if there was a place to spend a couple of nights.  We found the only "hotel" in the town, (hotel might be a generous description...) though it did have five rooms, with hot water.  There were no heaters in the rooms but we were assured that the rooms stayed fairly warm anyways.  We also found a local "restaurant" (a lady who serves carne asada tacos and hotdogs out of her from porch every evening and occasionally pollo asado, roasted chicken) that could take care of us during our stay there.  In talking with this lady we got a little bit of a sense of the town, what people did for a living, things like that and she shared with us, as is the case for many such mountain towns, that though many raised some livestock and perhaps some crops, by large most people really made their living growing a different kind of crop, or "weed" if you will...  But we sensed that there was a real openness to us coming and sharing this film in this town.  She had a friend visiting, who is from this town but is now living elsewhere, and as we were sharing with them about what we were doing and sharing the gospel, we could tell that her friend was deeply moved by this in almost in tears she told us how she had been praying that God would send so kind of help to this town, something just like this.

We were excited to see the doors open and several days later we rolled in with the whole gang.  Needless to say, we survived the whole ordeal, though on one of the mornings someone measured the temperature INSIDE the rooms at about 7am to be about 7 degrees!  And we did entice the people to come to the film with a warm cup of hot chocolate, but many did come and we were able to pray with a number of people following the film.

We praise God for the opportunities to share His word with many people.  We just pray that God would continue to work in the hearts of these people and reveal Himself to them!  Those of you who have visited Mexico before no doubt have seen how catholically influenced Mexico is.  I had several conversations with people on that trip, people who believe in God as many catholics do, and to believe in living a good life, loving others, treating others well, and holding onto "religion" but unfortunately, many stop there at religion and have not entered into that relationship that truly brings life.  Though know about God but do not know Him personally.  We pray that as we go out and do things like this, as we share His word, that the Spirit would draw those that know about Him into a relationship with Himself!

I better wrap this up here soon or I'm going to lose you!  Moving onto the rest of December, we've been at work, putting on hold the dormitory project here in San Carlos and focussing on building a church in Fatima, right beside Pastor Rafael's house which was completed last season.  What a privilege to be a part of their ministry and to be able to help them reach out to their community.  They are now feeding about 100 children every Thursday evening and Saturday morning.  Every time I see them, I can see how tired they are from being available from 5am often through till midnight, 7 days a week.  I'm humbled by Pastor Rafael's response when he says, he loves to go to bed exhausted each night knowing that he's become exhausted serving the Lord.

There's so many stories I could share in between, and I promise to be more faithful in sharing those stories!  (Consider it a New Year's resolution...!)  But I think I'll have to let you go for now!  Just a quick note to add before I leave you, I appreciate so much your prayer support!  When you think of us, please pray for us as a team.  Whenever God is at work, satan is doing what he can to distract and destroy.  So please just pray for God's protection and that God would bind us together in a unity that only comes by the Holy Spirit! Dios les bendiga!