On The Road Again

Looking at the date I realized that it has been a while since I last gave an update - although in the meantime I was able to see many of you (the Manitobans!) over the month of July and enjoy a good time with family, friends, and my Church family.  Last year was the first year that I wasn't able to make it back to Canada and it was long overdue to see many of you in person - and it truly was a blessing.  I know that many of you read these updates and continue to pray both for myself and the ministry of CEC, but there is nothing that can replace connecting in person.  So, here's a little bit of an update of what's been going on and what's coming up over the next few months.

Returning to San Carlos early August was a matter of simultaneous unpacking/repacking with about five days of turnaround from the trip to Canada to hitting the open road heading down to the southern part of Mexico.  Driving most of the way but flying the last leg down to the southern most tip of Mexico to the city of Puerto Escondido, I met up with one of our teachers, Ivan, who as participated in CEC for the last number of years teaching Evangelism.  His ministry is unique where he visits on a weekly basis 9 different churches (one a week for about 5 days), teaching and encouraging the churches according to whatever their needs are.  For the most part these are small churches where the leaders/pastors have had little or no training - just a willingness to serve.  They typically are churches that are in need of a lot of help but are also vibrant and looking for the help that he is able to give them.  Arriving there, he arranged for me to visit 7 of the 9 churches he works with (plus one additional church), one per day, for a marathon of visits where he gave a small workshop focused on Evangelism and I shared about the opportunity to study in CEC.  The furthest church was probably about two hours away where we would take a taxi, then hop on a "collectivo" (a van or truck that would take you on certain route to the nearby town) and then perhaps hop on another motorcycle taxi or something of the like to get to our final destination.  By the way, Oaxaca is the opposite of Manitoba - not a straight or level road in sight - I may have been wiser to pack some Gravol for some of these outings!

Probably the most exciting part of this part of the journey was meeting the members of these churches, seeing their desire to learn and grow while also seeing the needs they have for teaching and training -  Ivan has a huge ministry in all that he is doing to help them.  At the same time, there was a lot of genuine desire for people in each of the places we visited to come to CEC - these are really the types of places that we desire to reach.  They are largely small villages, people mostly of agricultural lifestyles, living off of what they themselves produce.  It is rare to have a "full-time pastor" in the sense of a paid position.  Most who serve in the church in whatever capacity have their own livelihood apart from the church - there simply are not the kind of resources for paid positions.  Of course, the possibilities of studying in a seminary for several years are completely out of the picture.  CEC, for the shorter time of the course, and the significantly reduced fee (approximately $225 USD) is a very feasible option for many.

The first church we visited in Quequestle, Oaxaca.  Ivan is on the left by the two kids. Pastor Pedro is to my left.  (You can probably spot me in the photo, right? ;)

Pastor Pedro (to my left in the picture above) is one such pastor, never having had any formal training himself.  Yet his desire to serve is coupled with his desire to learn - they welcome someone like Ivan to come and teach them.  Pastor Pedro would love to come to study, though for him, even taking four months might be hard to do - we will see what might work out for this year or for some time in the future.

Omero, a young man from another church was generous enough to give us a ride a couple of hours away to another congregation - he heard about CEC on a previous day when we visited his church.  On the drive I got to hear more of his story, how he had attended a church for a number of years but had not taken care of his relationship with God and eventually ended up caught in addiction.  While in a rehabilitation center his life dramatically turned around and he came back to the God, now with a deep desire to serve Him.  He ended up sharing a little bit of his testimony on one of our final days in conjunction with Ivan's Evangelism workshop - Omero's heart is for evangelism and his desire is to serve in whatever way he can.  As he shared about his desire to come to CEC, he was even more excited when he found out that he could possibly come together with his wife and their two kids.  

In each place that we visited there were example such as these who are the people we have in mind for CEC - pray for those that we have met, that God would provide the way for them to come, as He sees fit.  We look forward to seeing those He leads to CEC for this coming season!

I'll be on the road another couple of weeks.  In my second stop, unfortunately some of the churches that I had been hoping to visit have not worked out - there are times where churches look at a school like CEC with a certain amount of suspicion because it is outside their "denomination."  But at the same time this time has been a bit of a breather, a calm before the storm that awaits arriving at San Carlos.  I'll make one more longer stop along the way to a church in Jalisco that has sent a number of students over the years while also making several other shorter stops on the road back to San Carlos.

As I get back to San Carlos at the end of September, I'll have a week before the program Consiervos beings - a two month intensive course that trains people who want to use their trades in cross-cultural mission work - this will be the second time it has run.  Though it is not run by CEC, it is run out of our facilities and I'll be participating as part of the leadership as well as doing some teaching.  During those two months we will also host a missions module for Millar College of the Bible as well as a missions team from my parent's church, Bethel, in Winkler.  In the meantime we also continue to prepare for the next school session to begin the end of January.

With all of this said, the need for prayer doesn't end! Thank you for your continued faithful prayers.  Please feel free anytime to send me a message (rsthiessen@gmail.com) if you have any questions about anything.  God bless each one of you!  ¡Dios les bendiga!

Desert Reflections

 It may be difficult to see, but it's there...

It's the driest time of year here - with months without rain, everything is as dry as a bone.  We get these occasional brush fires, though they are not too dangerous because, quite frankly, there isn't much that can burn!  But often, what little there is, ends up looking like the tree in this photo - dry, dead, scorched.  One would wonder if anything can come back to life in conditions like this.

But if you take a closer look...

...Somehow life persists and pushes through even in these dismal circumstances, even without a drop of rain falling from the sky.  

This past week I was able to advance a little bit more on my online schooling through Briercrest Seminary taking a class on the Former Prophets - the books of Joshua through 2 Kings.  Narrating the story of how Israel entered, conquered, and tragically ended up being exiled from the Promised Land, the question that must have plagued the exiled Israelites is this: Is there still hope?  These books are written as warnings of what happens when one repeatedly chooses to depend on themselves instead of God, yet even despite of its tragic end resulting from Israel's repeated faithlessness, there is an underlying current of hope anchored in God's faithfulness - He did not forget the promises He made to Abraham, and He will not forget His promises to us.

Those who were looking back as exiles from the Promised Land could not have had any idea of what God had in store for them, the very people who had repeatedly rejected Him.  Yet God's long-suffering patience - that slow-to-anger kind of enduring love - would still accomplish His purposes and offer a way to reclaim what was lost.  Somehow life can persist and even spring forth from the most surprisingly bleak, hopeless circumstances.  What Israel faced on a large scale, we often face perhaps even on a daily basis.  Sometimes, though, the hopeless circumstances carry on seemingly without end.  Yet somehow, God has not abandoned us (even though we deserve Him to do so!)  Where is He moving?  What is He doing?  Is there still hope?  The message that I heard loud and clear through these books of the Bible was, Yes, there is!  There is always hope when we look to Him...

ELIAS

Yesterday I had that opportunity to sit down with one of our students from this year, Elias who is from the nearby city of Hermosillo.  Having previously had his life turned around from being caught in addiction, he is now back working at the rehabilitation center where God first got a hold of him.  He is now in charge of a group of guys who have gone through their rehab program and are now reintegrating back into their lives, both working and serving.  One of his main responsibilities is giving daily devotional reflections as well as leading Bible studies.  This is something that he has always strongly desired to do but in the past sensed a deep inadequacy in both understanding and communicating the Bible, especially in front of others.  He shared with me how, even though at times he still has the same fear of speaking in front of others, he has seen how God gives him understanding, leading him in what to share, and giving him a deep sense of peace when he needs it the most.  He also shared how, now being on the "other side" where he is in charge of others, working for their spiritual grown (as opposed to being a student), he is understanding the challenges that comes with walking along side others.  The learning has moved from the classroom to the campo (field).

Perhaps one of the most exciting things to see in his life is not only how God is working in him and through him in ministry, but also how his family is slowly being restored.  Having virtually lost contact with his wife and kids because of his past, slowly, trust is being restored as his family see the profound change that has taken place in his life.  Not only are the relationships being restored, though, but he is sharing with them who God is and what He has done in his life.  God is not only restoring his family but He is also using Elias to bring them to Him.

MB TOUR

With summer just around the corner I'm looking forward to making a trip back up to Manitoba for the month of July.  While I was able to spend an extended amount of time in Canada in 2020, last year it didn't work out to make it up (the first time during the 15 years I've been down in Mexico).  I am looking forward to see many of you again!  Please let me know if you have time over the course of July - I'll look forward to connecting in person...until then, ¡Dios les bendiga! y nos vemos pronto!

Catching My Breath

Our 14-week marathon came to an end just over a week ago as our students took off for the respective homes.  On one hand they were sad to leave CEC behind but on the other excited to take back with them all that they have learned and experienced during these intense 14 weeks together.  The other day I had the opportunity to accompany one of our students, Juan David, to his home up in the outskirts of the mountains east of us in Sonora, about a 6 hour journey from San Carlos.  He had gone through CEC several years ago and decided to come back not only to refresh what he had learned but to gain a deeper understanding of the Bible.  He comes from an indigenous group, the Guarijio - you might recall a student from last year who also come from this area, Jesús (you can read about him here.)  Spanish not being their first language, not to mention significant cultural differences, made for a steep learning curve the first time through CEC.  Yet in spite of those obstacles, both Juan David and Jesús left CEC energized and excited to share what they had learned with their families and communities, many of whom have not heard the Gospel presented clearly.  Upon returning from his first time through CEC (in 2019), Juan David would spend hours, even days, walking to neighbouring villages, praying as he went, in order to share the Gospel.  Though the first villages can be arrived at by vehicle, from there it is anywhere from a three hour to an entire day's journey to reach neighbouring Guarijio villages.

This year, the transformation that we saw take place in Juan through his first time at CEC picked up where it left off.  At first being quite reserved, we began to see a whole new Juan David this time around.  Finding his place as part of the CEC family, his smile, laughter and joking demeanour came to the surface more and more.  As he would share about what he was learning in the classes and as he prayed and studied the Bible, it became more and more evident that his demeanour was anchored in something deep - in the joy that he has found in knowing God more and more, as well as his appreciation for studying the God's Word.  Repeatedly Juan would talk about "God's Word" (a phrase that often came from his lips) as he shared something that he had discovered through study.  What shone through too, though, was his simple and sincere faith in God seen in his powerful and simple prayers, as well the burden that he had to share the Gospel with others in his home villages.  What struck us particularly as we took him home yesterday was that, along his joy in seeing his family again, he had a new sense of confidence in heading back - not a confidence in his abilities but rather in the greater understanding he had of the Bible and how to share it with others.

Though we only had a couple of hours that we could spend with him at his home as we dropped him off had the added treat of seeing Jesús as well who had travelled from his village to meet us.  It was a treat to see him especially since it is relatively difficult to stay on contact, there being very limited cell service in the area where they live.  We are praying that Jesús would come back next year, this time with his family (wife and two teenage/adult children), so that he too could, along with his family, deepen his understanding of the Bible to be even more effective witnesses to their community.

Juan David and Jesús have been a tremendous answer to prayer and fit into something greater that God has been bringing together far beyond CEC.  Local ministries (Casa de Esperanza, where I spent my first five years in Mexico) and churches have been investing time and energy into this area, organizing missions trips to share the Gospel in this area.  While there are churches established, there is still a great need to bring the Gospel message to villages where there is little or no church presence.  The existing churches too have great needs too to be encouraged and strengthened.  While the missions trips could help someone in both of these areas, to have two young men like Juan David and Jesús, men who spoke their language and understand their culture, will be the greatest "missionaries" to their own people.  So, through prayer and help, especially by Casa de Esperanza, these young men have had the opportunity to be even better equipped and grounded in the Bible to help strengthen and grow the local church.  Please keep both of these young men in your prayers!

I'll post some updates intermittently of some of our students as they are back at home serving in whatever way they can - thanks for your continued prayers for them.  As I make plans for the rest of the year, I am looking forward to spending some time in Canada (hopefully in the month of July) followed by resuming some travels throughout Mexico in August and September in order to visit past students as well as make some new connections for CEC.  Other opportunities over this coming year will include, Lord willing, participation in the Consiervos missions program (with the English program starting in just over a week and the missions training program taking place in October and November).   As we make plans also for next year while continuing to encourage our past students (hoping that we will have a good group for 2nd year this coming school season), it almost seems like 2023 is just around the corner!  Thank you for your continued prayers...  ¡Dios les bendiga!