When Things Just Don't Work Out

Why? If we had the answer to that question...or even put a quarter away every time this question came up, we probably wouldn't have to worry about retirement, would we?  This question can rise up in the smallest of things as well as in large things alike. Take, for example, a couple of weeks ago when myself and another teacher were planning to head out one weekend to visit a church conference a fair distance away where we would be able to share with a number of churches about CEC; yet, as I'm getting ready to leave, my car just doesn't start (btw, it started the next day without issues!). This turned out to be the nail in the coffin, though, as we had been tracking a large tropical storm that was supposed to be arriving about the same time as we were in that very area. So, as I call my coworker and tell him my car doesn't start, he tells me about this list of things that are impeding his ability to leave - my car was only confirming that, for whatever reason, we were not make this trip, as much as we were looking forward to it.

Bigger things? Well, it looks like every year we are surprised by things unforseen. This year is no exception (I think I say this every year!) For someone who's job is to plan, and who's nature is to have everything under control, this constantly presents a great challenge, but one where every year I see how things work out in ways that only God can manage. Seeing and knowing this, however, doesn't make the journey itself easy.

One of the biggest things that we are facing this year concerns our director and his wife, Howard and Susan, who took off for Canada where they need to spend six months for various reasons - this, however only brings them back at the beginning of March, well into our school season. With no other option, we were already preparing ourselves to be without our director and his wife as we prepare and begin our next season of CEC. This has now only been compounded by, as many of you have known and have been praying for, a diagnosis for some fairly serious health conditions that surfaced in Howard over the past couple of months resulting from the West Nile virus. Thankfully he is at home with his wife, in Canada, recuperating, however he is continuing to deal with some serious symptoms from the virus.  Thankfully they will have time in Canada over the next months in recuperation, but more than anything, your continued prayers are coveted as there are no treatments for West Nile itself - we just continue to pray that he would find healing and relief from the present symptoms that he is experiencing.  Once again, thanks to those who have been praying!

In all of these things, we ask, Why? What is going on? What are you working out, God? And so we plan as best we can, knowing that many of the difficult things in the past (I think of serious health issues that have struck some of our past staff members, and even with the death of Jose Luis a year ago...) have brought about fruit and experiences in trusting God that have perhaps been more powerful learning experiences than if everything had just gone "as we planned."

UPCOMING YEAR

Since I got back from being on the road for most of the summer, things have not slowed down at all. We had a great time connecting with past students and making new connections with new churches over this summer.  (Here's a pic of a reunion from some of our students in the state of Jalisco.)

L to R: Guillermo (staff), Alexis (2019), Ketzia (2021), Ruth (2022), Jacqui (2022), Joel (2018).

In addition to connecting with some of our past students we were able to meet personally some new pastors from some new areas for some potential new students in the coming years.  Many are already expressing interest in coming to CEC this coming January - keep praying that God would draw those whom He wants with us for 2023! As we face staffing changes (both our directors, and as some of our full-time staff not being able to come for the entire session) we look to see how these needs will be covered. We are preparing as well for our second year - an additional load, especially on teachers, but we look forward to reconnecting with alumni for two months, in March and April. Pray for students, that they would be able to get away for this time once again and be encouraged as they continue on in their ministries. All of that to say, plans are coming together and we are excited for another season!

BONDSERVANTS - CONSIERVOS

At present there are six students onsite for a missions training course called Consiervos, or, Bondservants. It is a 10-week preparation for those who would like to serve in a cross-cultural, missionary setting. The director of the program was sharing how over 20 different missionaries will be involved during this time as they share from their experience to encourage these participants as they prepare for serving in missions in the near future. Two of the students were with is at CEC earlier this year, so it is a great opportunity to continue to connect with them over these two months.

OTHER UPCOMING PLANS

In just over a week, 10 bible school students from Millar College of the Bible in Saskatchewan will spend a week and a half onsite with us for a missions module that we are hosting. Some of the same teachers involved in Consiervos will stay on to help these young Bible school students be challenged and encouraged to become involved in missions wherever and however God might lead them. Pray for this time as we lead them, and that God would use it significantly in their lives, especially as they can experience, even if just briefly, what it is like to be in a different culture. Two weeks later a group of 24 will arrive from Bethel church by Winkler, Manitoba, headed by my parents, for a week of serving both here at CEC as well as in the community, for just over a week.

These experiences bring me back to my first experience here in Mexico, a ten-day experience that has now "strechted out" to 15 years and counting. It seems that, in God's hands, things have a way of working out in unexpected ways, even if they are, at times, un-comfortable or not what we would have chosen. It was not that I didn't "choose" to come to Mexico, but it was not in my plans.  More specifically, I didn't really have any plans at the time! In the end God always shows His faithfulness and His wisdom as He works things out in His way. Every unknown becomes another avenue for learning to trust in Him - something I have to keep telling myself from time to time as this nagging question of Why? keeps resurfacing.

Thanks for your continued prayers and support! They are never taken for granted. ¡Dios les bendiga!

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!