Monday, February 1, 2010

All we can say is thank you so much for all your prayers!!

All we can say is thank you so much for all your prayers!! God has showed himself so clearly and brought us through the difficult circumstances we went through. We have learned a lot about being apart of a community and what that means. We have seen how God has met our needs in ways we couldn't even imagine. God used a hard week to bring our team together as they worked hard, amazing to see their love for each other! We are sure that this is through your sacrifice of time to pray and give to the ministry here. God is so good and we are thankful to be God's servants here, willing to be used by Him.

God's timing and His plan can only be from Him, we continue to shake our heads in amazement. Last week 2 bridges south of us were washed out and it was not possible to go south of San Vicente. A group from Alaska was planning on going to an orphanage down south, found out about us and on Sunday showed up ready and willing to do whatever we needed. They went to Fransisco's and repaired the roof damage and moved two dump loads of dirt to secure the retaining wall. Then went down to the boys home and fixed the roof and worked on the dry wall damage. The ladies did to many loads of laundry to count and cleaned the kitchen thoroughly . They helped pour our foundation for the new apartment complex. The Big Bear team that was scheduled to do the foundation was unable to make it, so between the group and our pastors it all got done. Praise God!! God's plans are not always our plans, and He knew exactly what we needed. The pastors stayed all night after the cement was poured and kept smoothing out the cement. To our amazement all of the pastors rallied together to get this done and done well.

Update on Jamin's community, the road is still not passable. They think at least another week or two. The government has brought in trackers to move the dirt and water. Jamin's family has walked through mud and water to get into their home, there was little damage to their home or church. Praise God! The pastors have bonded together, it has been great to see them grow together. It has been a sweet time, loving on each other, helping whenever someone needed something and serving each other. During the storm, we had two days of dinners at our home for all the pastors and their families. They came together like little kids, sharing stories of their communities and how God was at work.

Through this storm God also brought a couple from Moses Lake, Wa. They were going to be with us only for a few days, but plans changed when the road was washed out south of Ensenada. They jumped in and helped us in many ways. Gene was able to go to Paradise for two days and help put up a wall on one of the churches that collapsed, he also fixed some things that needed to be fixed at our facility. Gene and Starlene get up early each day to help put out breakfast and get lunch ready. This has been a huge blessing for us. Also, one of the members of the Big Bear team who lives in Los Angeles, was able to make it down. Jim was a huge blessing, not only taking wonderful pictures and video, he pitched in and helped get the team where it needed to be. He was willing to do whatever needed to get the job done. We are so grateful for all of the people God brought along our path, just when we needed them.

Please continue to pray for us as we will need to continue to fix things at the boys home, so that they can return. This Sunday our first group arrived to start building the first floor of the apartment complex. Pray for wisdom as we need to make changes to the apartment complex. The Mexican government does not want us to build a three story building (after the last storm). We have a couple of options; pray that God will direct and that we will be wise in what way to go. Thank you all who wrote encouraging words, who prayed and those who gave. Please keep checking our facebook page we will be posting pictures and video so that you can see what is going on here in Maneadero.