Sunday, March 29, 2009

God Continues to do Amazing Things!

First off, we are totally amazed at how the media is blowing things out of proportion in terms of safety.  We totally feel safe and secure here in Ensenada.  In fact we feel safer here in Ensenada than we did in Washington State, go figure!  Praise God, He continues to have his protecting hand upon his servants in Mexico!

We are excited to have our first spring break group, they came a couple weeks.  Owen Sound Alliance Church painted two of the churches, moved a huge pile of dirt, put up a fence around Ricardo's church and built a roof for a lady in lower Durango (all this in one week), THANK YOU OSAC!  This was a special week for us, Rick was the youth pastor several years ago at this church.  Now one of the former youth, is now the youth pastor.  It was a great experience to work alongside Greg and the team from OSAC.  Many of the youth that came were little kids when we left the church, they were not quite in the youth group.  It was a blessing to see these kids grow and be strong followers of Christ.  This year we have started some new ministries, one of them was a prayer ministry.  One of the leaders or pastors from each of the churches, a prayer team (lead by one of our interns, Casey) and a couple from the group go and visit a family. They spend time getting to know them and pray with them.  This has been a  great ministry, and seems to be a great encouragement to the churches. Another ministry is with our new church plant.  Pastor Jamin has a band and are called "El Trio", they have a mini concert for our groups.  It was a lot of fun, even the other pastors got involved. 
 
At the end of this week, a church from Big Bear California joined us.  Their plan was to build the retaining wall for Francisco's church, but as usual plans in Mexico don't always work like we think they should.  The group was gracious and willing to do whatever we had for them.  15 men (skilled laborers) poured a cement slab for the new church plant in Saliteral.  The next day they went to the boys home for a youth event.   It was amazing to see all of the pastors get behind Rafa and Isai, it was an amazing youth event.  There were 100 youth praising God!  Three of the youth were from the boys home, I was able to see one of the boys come to know the Lord that day.  One of the greatest moments was at the end, they asked all the youth to go forward so they could pray with them.  Each of the pastors prayed for each of the youth at the event.  It was amazing to see 15 men who could mix cement, and build a cement floor in a day, serving food to each of the youth.  There purpose in coming was to serve, either building or serving one another.  Willing to be used by God to do God's work.  The last day the men helped build a bano, a sidewalk for Reynarios church, and even poured the footing for the retaining wall at Francisco's church.
 
Gods timing is so amazing.  On the last day of Owen Sound, Becka cut the tip of her finger off.  Rick and I were returning from a meeting in Ensenada when one of our interns called and told us what had happen.  We met Becka, Nancy, Kourtney and Sarah at the hospital.  The doctor looked at her finger and felt that it would not be a good idea to do stitches due to where the cut was.  Unbeknown to me, the second group had a doctor with them.  Not only a doctor, but a fireman and an EMT.  God is so good, the doctor from the group said the Mexican doctor did the right thing.  Mike and Rick (not Rick Romano, because he probably would have passed out!)  helped me with treating her finger, and by the time they left it was looking better.  God knows what we need and when we need it, I continue to be amazed at how Great our God is. 

This next week we have a group coming from Las Vegas to Mexicali to construct one of our new churches. Please continue to keep checking up for updates and to see new photos!

Blessings,

Sunday, March 15, 2009

God Answers Your Prayers, THANK YOU JESUS!!

The other night we went to "El Pollo Mas Pollo",  the best chicken in town!  As we left the roadside chicken stand, Rick went to get onto the highway to go back to our house so we could eat dinner.  As he pulled out he realized he didn't have enough time to get across to the other side and so he pulled back off the road.  As he did that the truck that was speeding down the highway started to fish tail and then that truck hit another truck going the opposite direction.  We pulled over and Rick went to the seen of the accident with papers in hands ready to give to the police, because he felt he was at fault.  At that moment Rick asked that I call Faustino, because he wanted to make sure someone was there to giv
e him good representation and Kourtney one of our interns who could translate everything for him.  In Mexico you are guilty until proven innocent, and you go to jail until you can prove that you have insurance to cover all expenses.  So, Rick gave his paper work to the police when they showed up, and then a few minutes later Faustino & Tomasa showed up and asked what happened.  They made sure to tell Rick not to say it was his fault, he had a real hard time with that, because he felt it was his fault!  They asked him if he had his paper work, and he had already handed it over to the police.  So, they went and asked for it 
back, the police officer said they would hold it until the Federal Police came and determined who was at fault.  Rick was sure they would find him at fault and send him to jail.  The Federal Police asked Rick where his truck was and if it was hit, and because it wasn't, he was not at fault.  They gave him his license and insurance back and he was able to leave.  PRAISE GOD!!!!  Only by the GRACE of God was Rick saved from spending time in a Mexican jail!  As Rick came up to the 2nd floor, Rebekah ran over and hugged Rick and started to cry.  

A couple weeks ago the pastors met with two of the youth pastors to come up with a plan for youth events among the C&MA youth.  They now have a president of the Alliance Youth, Rafa will be planning a monthly youth event.  The youth pastors were encouraged that the pastors would support them, and help plan events.  Our hope and prayer is that this ministry will continue to grow, and the youth will have e
vents they would be excited to bring friends to.  Each of the churches are working on having a youth program with a youth worker.  They have youth workers in place, now they are starting to meet once a week in their churches.  
Last Saturday our son, Jonathon spoke to the youth at Francisco's church, Jon has been attending the youth group for about 10
 months now.  It was his first time speaking with them, he shared 1 Corinthans 15:33 .  Not only at Francisco's youth service, but after the service he went to Jamin's house.  Two other churches came together for a bon fire, he was asked again to share his sermon with them. 
 
Jamin and Reynario have been having joint services for a month now.  It has been a huge blessing, both of them are encouraged with what God is doing in Luis Mercado.  Last Sunday they had 47 adults and at least that many kids.  Jamin has been working in the area with a breakfast program every Saturday, this too was something that Reynario wanted to do.  It has been great to see how God has brought both of these men together being a light in Luis Mercado.