Just a Moment to Breathe

Looking back

We've just made it through our first team - a group that comes down from a church in Phoenix twice a year. It's a bit of a whirlwind trip for them with one day of travel here, three days of work, and one day to return. Backing up just a bit, a couple of weeks ago we had a couple from Crystal City, Manitoba whose church raised the money needed to put a roof on a church here in Guaymas that has been in construction for the past year or so. This was probably one of the first churches that I work with during my first year - a very much alive church and a joy to work with. Their building however, was nothing more than wood pallets nailed together and a flimsy metal roof. This church from Crystal City raised the money to buy the bricks for the walls, which the church has been working on building over the last year. Now, over this past week, with the help of this couple as well as this team from Phoenix, we have been working at putting a roof on the church.

This last Sunday evening the team was able to take part in their service and what a service it was! Several members of the church were so overwhelmed seeing the building come closer and closer to completion. Perhaps one of the most touching moments was when an elderly man shared how for 15 years it had been a dream of theirs to see a new church building put up. He shared how he prayed that God would not take him until he could see a new church built. And he shared, overwhelmed with tears not only with the fact of having a new building but with the desire to reach out into their community.

Looking Forward

And now onto the next adventure! The bags are back, and the bike is nice and shiny (for now...) and tomorrow morning a group will be heading out into the Copper Canyon in neighboring Chihuahua. 4 motorcycles, 2 quads, and a 4x4 Tahoe will be heading into the boonies loaded with Bibles and equipment to show the Jesus film in remote mountain towns. You never know what God has in store but you always know that it is going to be an adventure seeing how He will move in people's lives. Just about every night we will find ourselves in a new town, some towns we've never been to before and others that are familiar from past years. In some towns we already have contacts with existing churches, and others we will be looking for new contacts, new churches with a desire to reach out into their community.

I can't tell you how much we as a group covet your prayers on this trip! Not only for safety as we are traveling some treacherous mountain roads and traveling into some more intense drug-growing country but just that God would already be working in these towns, that the existing churches would be encouraged, and that we would be desponible, available for whatever God has in mind!

If you want to follow along with us in prayer, keep these places in mind:

• Day 1 - Alamos: showing a Jesus film.
• Day 2 - Chinipas: a hard town with no evangelical church; pray that God would raise up His church in this town!
• Day 3 - Temoris: we've been here a number of times and worked together with a wonderful pastor; pray for their continued outreach into their community.
• Day 4 - Bahuachivo: a town we've passed through on previous occasions. Pray for a new contact, that God would open the doors to work with an existing church that has a passion to reach out to their community.
• Day 5 - Ceracauhi: another town we've passed through on previous occasions. Pray again for God to lead us to an existing church in this community.
• Day 6 - Urique: A beautiful town at the bottom of a canyon more than a vertical from top to bottom! Pray for the pastor and his church as we reach out into their community.
• Day 7 - Urique: We will spend some time in neighboring villages - pray for opportunities in these villages.
• Day 8 - Chinipas: on the road home again, perhaps making some connections again in this town.
• Day 9 - San Carlos! Con el favor de Dios returning safely to San Carlos!

Thank you to the faithful prayer warriors! We wouldn't want to embark on a journey like this without you! I'll be looking forward to sharing what God does on this journey and how He will answer your prayers!

Changing of the Seasons...

I've come to adjust to a whole new concept of what it means to have the seasons change! It used to mean going from beautiful, sunny summer to chilly, leaf color changing fall, to freezing cold, white winter, to muddy, and wet spring, and all over again. There was no question about what time of year you were in or really what to expect, although sometimes you would get snow super super early and then the next year wonder if Christmas would have even a single snow flake!

Well, the seasons down here in Mexico are as follows: Nice with a little chilliness in the evenings and mornings (winter), to hot during the day and pleasant during the evenings (spring), to just plain blazing hot 24-7 (summer), to not quit so hot (fall), and the cycle starts again! It's pretty much the same sunny weather year round with different levels of heat throughout!

What is also odd is what I now consider to be "cool" or "chilly". For example, these nights we are having currently are a "cool" or even "chilly" high teens, hovering close to 20 degrees, and for you American folk, that is Celsius, not Fahrenheit! When would I ever have thought that 18 or 19 degrees could be considered cool?! How quickly we adjust to our environment!

Enough about the weather, though! As you can tell, we are in the midst of season change out here as well, and that includes not only the weather but our seasons of ministry. The team has arrived back at the centre including Art and Brenda, the couple who runs the mission centre as well as two new staff members, one of which many of you probably know, Shorty. For the few of you who may have not met the legend Shorty, he's a young man who's here from San Carlos and spend the last year and a half up in Manitoba studying and serving at Winkler Bible Camp through their Crosscurrent Discipleship Program. Prior to that he was somewhat of an adopted son here at the centre, helping out, learning English, and hanging out with the teams during the winter. For those of you who have had the pleasure of meeting him have witnessed his craziness and passion for life and you won't soon forget him! Having recently come back from Canada after spending more than a year there, there are always lots of adjustments to be made coming back "home", especially when home is as different as Mexico is from Canada. But for those of you who have kept him in your prayers at any point, it has been so encouraging to see how God has been shaping and forming him! To see the spiritually growth that he has taken place in his life is wonderful to see! I mention this first of all to give God the glory and second of all to encourage you to keep praying for him as God puts him on your hearts. One could imagine the shook of spending so much time in a culture different than your own and then suddenly being reimbursed in your own culture. And then you throw in the intense discipleship experience that takes place in a place like camp and then suddenly being taken out of that situation and put back into your "normal" life and to try to bridge that gap!

As a team we are in the midst of preparations for the coming busy season of hosting missions teams. It all begins in November with the first team coming in on the 13th, a small group from Crystal City, Manitoba that will help to construct a roof for Pastor Pablo's church. It's a building that has been in the process for that past couple of years. Their former church was constructed with wooden pallets as the main material and with the help of some teams that have come down as well as many hours of work on the part of the church, their building is close to being completed.

Thanks for the many prayers that have been offered up on my part and on the mission's part! You are all a huge part of the ministry that takes place here! I've gotta go and refill my cup of coffee here…it's a chilly 18 outside right now...

My ways are higher than your ways...

It's interesting how God works things out, sometimes, the people He brings across your path. This past little stretch has been that way - some people in real need, not just physically but spiritually.

Summer is always a hard time here in this area. Jobs are scarce, not just with the economy the way it is, but as many people depend on tourism in this area, summer is a slow time. This morning as I was on the way to Guaymas, about 15 minutes from the center, along the highway I came across this young lady also on her way to Guaymas, walking along the highway with her 2 year old daughter. Oddly enough, I had come across her before a couple of months ago at the exact same spot, carrying her daughter, in the heat of the day, making the 5 mile walk to Guaymas cause she didn't even have money to take the bus. Her name is Rosa and she is more or less on her own with her daughter. Her husband has left her alone to care for her child and she has not heard from her family which lives a fair distance away for a long time. Over the course of the past couple of months we've been able to help her out at times with food and had some opportunities to encourage her, share the Lord with her, and pray with her. But it is difficult when there is little if any work and one is looking not only after herself but a two year old as well.

Another crossing of paths has taken place with a young man named Jesus. Wanting to learn English, he has come along with another couple to the English church, San Carlos Community Church faithfully for the past couple of months. He is 15, living in Guaymas, and having recognized me from some of the work we've done in their community, quickly sought me out to see if I would teach him English. So, for the past couple of weeks he's faithfully make the trek out Tuesdays and Fridays to spend some time with me here at the center. Between helping me out with some work here and sitting down in some not-so-official English classes, he's slowly been learning and soaking it in. Last Tuesday when he came over, our conversations took on a different nature as he started sharing some of his past and some of the difficult things that had taken place in his life, many years ago. Our conversations turned towards God's plan for our lives, and the hope and healing that He alone can bring. Jesus hasn't yet committed his life to Lord and through things that have happened in his life is really searching for meaning and understanding. To this point he hasn't turned to the Lord, but pray that he would! Our English lessons have been great opportunities to talk about all kinds of things, but pray specifically that God would touch his life, and that he would see the hope and purpose we have in Jesus!

As you think of them, please pray for both of these people, Rosa and Jesus. You never know what God has in store, but we know that God is not wanting "any of these....should be lost!" Matthew 18:14. Thanks for your continued prayers!