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!