An Update Update

I'm writing this update to update some of the previous blog updates...have I lost you yet?  I've had some people ask about some of the previous blog postings, wondering how things have been resolved for some of the concerns that I've asked you to pray for and I'd like to take a little bit of time to, well, update you!  I'll go in reverse-chronological order, starting with the most recent first...so here goes!

Rehabilitation Center

In a recent post I mentioned to you the possibility of opening a rehabilitation center in a small town up in the mountains about 5 hours from San Carlos.  If you remember from that posting, the mission that I'm with has several church plants up in that area, one being in the town of Arizpe.  The pastor in this particular community had recently left and the church is somewhat in a state of limbo.  Unfortunately, the church has been going through some tougher times over the past couple of years and there have been few people attending services, around 10 or so active church goers in a town of about 2,000 people.  You may also remember the facilities that this church has, a large gymnasium with several dorm rooms, bedrooms, a kitchen, and bathroom facilities...all seeing very little use...and perfect for something like a rehab center!

This past Monday we arranged a meeting to meet with the members of this church and the leadership in order to get a sense of what they thought of this whole idea of running a rehabilitation center using the facilities of this church.  Benny, of course, since the first moment we opened the doors to the facilities, saw an answer to his prayers as he's had it on his heart for some time to open a rehab center.  How would the members of the church react to this idea?  Well, we weren't sure what they thought of having their facilities "invaded" by people struggling with addictions.  And not only that, but asking them to also be apart of this ministry, helping along side Benny in working with these people.  As we sat their communicating the vision with them and then ultimately leaving the whole idea in their hands as to whether we would move ahead or not, I remember thinking, "How in the world are they going to agree with this?"  We were throwing something rather huge their way, something completely out of the ordinary, something that would mean some serious change for them.  I remember thinking, what church in their right mind would sign up for something like this?  As Benny was sharing his vision with them I didn't sense a whole lot of positivity, observing the faces of the people as they listened, and honestly, I couldn't blame them!  This was a lot to be throwing at them.  At best, I figured we would leave them their to think and pray about the project and perhaps get back to us with a reluctant YES in a couple of weeks.

But as Benny finished sharing with them the vision that he had for this ministry, one by one different members expressed their excitement and desire to see this ministry take place and to be a part of it as a church.  In fact, the first man to respond had two questions for Benny.  The first one was: "When do you think you could start?"  And the second one was: "What needs to be done before we can start?"  I could just hear the little voice in the back of my mind, "Oh ye of little faith..."

As it turned out, the congregation was indeed ready for a change, ready to step into something different and new.  They didn't want to keep everything as it always had been and instead wanted to move in a new direction.  They wanted to see their little church body grow and recognized that this may be what God had in store for them.  Wow, what an encouragement!  It made me think about how often (or perhaps, how rarely...) we as Christian are ready to step into something new, radical, uncomfortable or different for the sake of serving our Lord.  I find myself much more willing to keep things the way they've always been, the familiar, the comfortable, but this little church body was quite an example of stepping out in boldness and faith.  We all left that meeting excited and even humbled by the incredible response of these people.

Please pray for this ministry!  We've left it in the church's hands to come to a final decision in the next couple of weeks.  Meanwhile, Benny is of course very excited.  Pray for him as we move towards making this actually happen.  The goal, providing everything falls into place is to start within the next couple of months with about 20 people or so.  Also, praise God for opening the doors thus far and for what He's going to accomplish through this!

Alex

Speaking of rehabilitation centers, you might remember a young man, Alex, whom I mentioned a little while back in this post.  He is doing well.  He's still in the rehabilitation center but looking at getting out in the next week or so.  God has definitely been at work in his life and he has a sincere desire to live his life for the Lord and to not go back to his previous lifestyle.  Please continue to pray for him as he comes to mind!  I can't imagine that it would be easy to leave such a controlled environment and enter back into your life without going back to the old ways.  Alex does have a good church community with which he can identify and a circle of Christian friends, however because of choices he has made in the past, some of those relationship have been damaged.  Pray that he would remain strong!

Mitzia



You may also remember me mentioning the situation with Mitzia, (you can read about it here a seven year old girl who is awaiting a kidney transplant and has been waiting for several years already.  I wish I had better news but it seems as though everything is in the same situation, that nothing has as of yet been resolved.  They are still waiting, seeming to have fallen victims to the health system here in Mexico which at times can be very slow for whatever reason.  Keep praying for her and for her situation, that God would not only bring healing to her through whatever means He chooses but that He would also touch the hearts of the members of her family.

Coming to Canada!

One last update, I'm actually in the process of packing my bags to spend a few weeks up in Canada with family and friends!  I'm flying out on Monday and will be there until Thanksgiving Monday.  I'm really looking forward to connecting with as many as possible and I would love to go for coffee for meet up with anyone who would like to hear more about what's going on here in Mexico.  You can fire me an email and we'll make it happen!

Dios les bendiga!

Summer Showers

Some of you, especially those who have had the opportunity to spend some time out here with me in the summer, might think I'm crazy to say that this might be my favourite time of year.  To put this statement into perspective you have to realize that we are at the peak of the summer season out here.  The heat index is pretty much stuck at 40 degrees for the most part (low to mid 30's with high humidity), and the Mexican sun beating down on us mercilessly.  Top that off with the fact that we have to endure almost 4 months of this intense heat.  It's a lot like winter in Manitoba, where you hit February and you wonder if the winter is every going to come to an end...only it's obviously on the opposite end of the spectrum!

So how could I possible enjoy this time of year?  Well, its the time when we potentially have the most rainfall, and over the past number of weeks, we've had several good rainfalls.  Living in the desert, surrounded by rocky mountains covered with cactus and some pretty sad looking dry, brown bushes, rain is something of a treat.  A treasure in fact!  Psalm 63 begins like this:

You, God, are my God,
    earnestly I seek you;
I thirst for you,
    my whole being longs for you,
in a dry and parched land
    where there is no water. (Psalm 63:1)

For me this verse has taken on new meaning as we endure the hot days of summer, often consuming a gallon of water without even thinking about it!  And it truly is amazing what happens when a little rain falls.  What is normally dry and barren, suddenly turns green and luscious!  (NOT words usually used to describe the desert!)  But you can see for yourself in the picture below.  It was taken about a week ago overlooking a valley just outside of San Carlos.

Enough about the weather though!  I wanted to share with you two specific prayer items.  The first one is somewhat of a tag on to the previous post, about a past student named Benny.  I shared a little bit about his testimony, how God got a hold of his life and how Benny's dream is to open a rehabilitation centre for drug and alcohol addicts.  I also shared a little bit about how the two of us had gone up to a small pueblito, a little town named Arizpe, up in the mountains a number of hours from San Carlos, where the mission that I'm working with has a church plant.  We went to do some maintenance in the mission facilities as the previous pastor couple recently moved on to another ministry.  The facilities include a house and a large gymnasium complete with a number of door rooms, smaller bedrooms, a kitchen and bathroom facilities.  In the past short terms missions teams have gone up and made use of this facility but over the past couple of years the gym has been largely unused and it was showing signs of it.

Well, combining those two things together, Benny's passion for opening a rehab centre, and this large facility that is seeing very little use, and you might see where this is going!  Benny saw the facilities there and it didn't take long for him to see the potential for his vision to enfold right there in the town of Arizpe.  Over the past couple of weeks we've been thinking, praying, and talking to different people including the leadership of this ministry as well as some of the leaders involved in the church out there and everything has been positive so far.  Pray for this opportunity as it comes to mind!  Everything can look good in our eyes but if this is not what the Lord has in mind, then we don't want to have anything to do with it!  Pray not just for this potential opportunity but pray for Benny's ministry in general and that God would make a way for the passions that I believe He has put on his heart to be worked out.

That leads me to the second prayer request:  I'm preaching once again this Sunday in the San Carlos Community Church.  Please pray for me as I prepare!  It's always a humbling experience preparing to preach.  Pray that God would clearing put the message that He wants me to share on my heart.  God bless!

Benny's Story

Last week I was able to take in a little bit of a change of pace and scenery.  I spent Monday to Friday in a small town called Arizpe, about four hours northeast from San Carlos, heading up into the mountains where the mission that I'm with has several church plants.  Recently, the pastor couple in charge at that particular church plant had resigned and I went up there to take care of some maintenance at the facilities there.

Arizpe, being up in the mountains, is at a higher elevation, a little under 3000 feet.  They tend to receive more rainfall there than we do here and as a result it was wonderfully green and lush as you can see in the picture below.  A nice change from the relatively dry and dusty San Carlos!

The town of Arizpe

I went up with Benny, a student from two years ago whom I've had the pleasure of getting to know over the course of the past year.  He's a few years older than I am, in his mid 30's, but in comparison to what I've gone through in my life, he's got quite a story to tell!  For much of his life he was involved with the drug cartels in Hermosillo, the capital of the state of Sonora and was actually an assassin for hire.  For years he lived this lifestyle, controlling the drug trade in his particular community, and "taking care" of those whom the higher-ups told him to take care of.  This lifestyle eventually landed him in jail and it was there that he found the Lord, and his life was completely changed.  He shared how along the way, God kept putting people in his path, sharing the Gospel with him, telling him that Jesus loved him. He also shared how his mother was constantly praying for him for years and believed that one day he would come to know the Lord.  And it happened one day as he was in jail serving out his sentence.  He cried out to the Lord and promised that if He would get him out of jail, he would serve the Lord for the rest of his life.

It actually happened, not long after that, that a judge whom he knew came by the prison where he was at and noticed him there.  She asked him what he was doing there and before she left, she told him that she would get the paperwork in order to get him released.  To his surprise it wasn't long after that that everything was in fact arranged for his release and he walked out a free man; God had miraculously set him free and he has indeed never been the same since!

Benny has such a desire to serve the Lord in whatever way he can and it is contagious being around him!  It's refreshing to hear his perspective of things, as someone who didn't grow up "in the church".  He has such a simple yet passionate grasp of what the Gospel message is and his desire more than anything is to share that with everyone around him.  As someone who has grown up in the church, I find that sometimes it's so easy to get caught up in "playing church" if you know what I mean.  We can get stuck in the ruts of rules and traditions, sometimes simply going through the motions, that we forget how simple the Gospel is and how powerfully transforming and life-changing it ought to be, not only in us, but in the people around us!  Instead of getting caught up in worship styles, we ought to be caught up in worship of the Creator Himself!  Instead of worrying about programs and activities, we ought to be caught up in the needs and concerns of our neighbours, both physical and especially spiritual!

Having come from a life of drugs, his particular passion is to reach those who are caught up in drug and alcohol addictions.  His dream is to open a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center and he is praying for the opportunity to do so and more specifically, a place to use.

Currently, Benny has been given the opportunity to work in several of the prisons in Hermosillo, doing Bible studies several days a week with the inmates.  He's also been doing some sharing at an existing rehabilitation center.  You can keep him in your prayers, that God would provide a place for him to be able to open his own rehabilitation center.

It's always an encouragement to see how God can and does work so powerfully in our lives.  And it's so important to share this with others, isn't it?  Psalm 96:3 says,

Declare his glory among the nations,
    his marvelous deeds among all peoples.

God bless and I hope Benny's story has been an encouragement to you!