Exciting Things taking place!

Two weeks ago the youth pastors here had a big event at our new church plant in Salitral.  Pastor Jamin has a lot of land for the youth to spread out and have fun.  About 40 youth came; played futbol and volleyball, ate, worshipped and listen to a message.  Rafa and Isai have been planning events for the youth once month.  It has been a slow, but improving ministry.  Both of them are eager and wanting to invest in the youth of the churches.  The hard part is getting the buy in from all the pastors.  Pray for them as they are planning and coming up with creative ideas for the youth.  Pray for the pastors that they will get behind the youth ministry. 

This last week, our family, the praxis students ( Casey, 

Kourtney, & Sarah) , Sammy and Fransisco and his family family all went to Mexicali.  We went to check out the facility for our spring break groups, and we also took advantage of meeting up with the pastors there (Gustavo and Rafa).  One of our spring break groups le

aders joined us in Mexicali.  The group will be coming from Las Vegas, we knew that they were coming to see us, but we didn't tell Sarah who is from that church.  It was fun to see Sarah suprised when her pastors and leaders showed up.  We spent the day checking out the property where the church will be built and meeting with the pastors (Gustavo and Francis).  We have really enjoyed making new contacts in Mexicali, both pastors are so grateful to be apart of The Christian and Missionary Alliance.  Rick had fun learning how to get around the NEW city.  He joked with Sammy that this is now his city.  Sammy is from Mexicali, and reminded us often how much Mexicali has grown.  We spent a good amount of time trying to find Costco, thanks to Kourtney's good eyes we found it.

 

Today we went to church in Luis Mercado with the new church plant with Jamin.  Jamin has been working in the same area that Reynario is in, so we merged to 2 congregations into 1!  God is so GOOD!  They have come together to reach Luis Mercado, to have 2 congregations in 1 small village would not have been a good thing, but now the community can see 2 churches become 1!  It was an encouraging service with 40 adults and 20 kids. After the service we had lunch together at our home with Jamin's family, Reyario's family, Sarah, Casey and Ricardo's family.  Rick has really enjoyed preparing carnitas, he brags that his carnitas are better than others.  It was a great time of getting to know Jamin and his family.

  

Continue to pray for the ministry here in Baja, as we prepare for groups to come this spring.  Our hope is that we will be a light in the communities and that God will be seen.  Our desire is to reflect Christ in all that we do, as the groups prepare to come, we pray that we will be an example and a help to the pastors.   

Ministry in Ensenada when groups are not in town!

Part of our job is to work alongside the churches here in Baja California.  We have many challenges as we try to encourage the pastors to have healthy churches.  This month Rick and I have spent a great deal of time working on character issues and problems.  As with anywhere in ministry problems happen, our purpose in being here is to walk alongside the local church, we do not take over ministry and do it the way we would do it in Canada or in the United States.  It has been another tough month of dealing with issues, please continue to pray for the ministry here.  At this time we have had to put the youth center on hold, it has been discouraging but we have to trust that there must be a reason.  Pray for wisdom as we need to make decisions, that we would always be sensitive to the Lords leading. We had rented another facility, but we were unable to move our group housing over due to some internal issues.  We are hoping and praying that we will be able to open the youth drop in center in early June.  At the youth center we hope to offer free Internet, Foosball, air hockey, pool & live music on weekends.  Pray that God would supply ALL the funds for the youth center and reliable staff!

 

Two weeks ago Ricardo came to us with another friend who wants to come under the covering of the Alliance.  Rick and Fransisco have both met with them and it seemed to be a great church with a lot of potential.  One of the problems is that they are ministering in two communities and one of the same communities is Luis Mercado, the same community that Reynario is in.  It is a very small community, and would be very difficult to have two churches in it.  At this time we felt that maybe it would be a good opportunity for Reynario and the other church to combine and become one church.  However, we need to seek God to know if this is His plan.  Pray with us as we talk, and pray through this possibility, both pastors are planning to sit down and see if will work.

 

Two months ago Reynario lost 38 people from his church for 4 months.  They packed up their families and went to La Paz to find work.  Reynario asked Rick several times if it would be possible to visit them in La Paz.  This week Rick, Reynario and Sammy left for La Paz to minister to Reynarios church people.  Rick loaded up boxes of toys, and both Reynario and Sammy had bibles to give away.  One of our saying here is "there is never a dull moment", while living here we are learning to expect the unexpected.  While Rick was in La Paz visiting families, 11 people wanted to return with back to Maneadero.  Rick loaded the pickup with kids/adults in the cab and back of his truck for a 16 hour trek home.  Two hours into the trip the differential went out and all 14 people spent 6 hours at a Mexican shop while the mechanic fixed the truck.  The 16 hour trip turned into a 22 hour Mexican adventure!

Sammy & Reynerio with the mechanics after we finished

praying for them!

We were only able to fit 14 in total on our adventure back

home from La Paz, you can't see everyone (some are

still sleeping!)

Sammy & Reynerio leading the kids in some songs!

Last Group of 2008 & First Group of 2009!!

As soon as our plane landed in San Diego from New Jersey, a group was waiting to come home with us. Gregg Conrad returned with a group 10 from North Carolina. They spent the week building a home for a family in Francisco's church. Lupita has a daughter (26 years old) who is suffering from kidney failure. She has a doner, but the cost to have the transplant is substantial, certainly more than she could ever afford. As we prayed over the home, Maria struggled just to walk up the stairs to her new home. Pray for the family that God would touch Maria in a mighty way.

The group was able to spend New Years Eve with us and people from all the churches we are working with. We had a huge celebration with all 5 churches eating dinner together at our second floor. Faustino prepared his signature dish, Birria, for at least 150 of us. At the end of dinner, Rick set off fireworks and lit the interns Christmas tree on fire. The kids had a great time enjoying the fireworks and seeing the dry tree go up in seconds. The lighting of the Christmas tree was far more exciting than ALL the fireworks put together, it gives a new meaning to "light the Christmas tree"!

During the week we visited two of the churches for evening service. At Faustino's, Pastor Tom preached. At the beginning of the service, one of the members came in late holding her baby. Not concerned that the service had already started, she boldly went forward and asked for prayer for her baby. The baby had grabbed a pot of hot soup and burned her arm. Unbeknown to pastor Tom, his sermon spoke exactly on trusting God in difficult times. It is amazing to see how God puts things together!

Over the past few weeks we have been entertaining some friends, Todd & Suzanne Slind. Todd & Suzanne are considering coming down to Ensenada to be apart of the team. We have grown so much in the past 4 years that we can not do it on our own anymore, thanks to God! PLEASE PRAY with us and for Todd & Suzanne. We know first hand if this is of God, ALL things will work out, all those questions will be answered.

Trip to NJ & NYC!

We had a great time in New Jersey and New York!

Rick had the privilege of speaking at Princeton Alliance Church, it was great to see the team from last year and meet new friends. During our stay out in New Jersey and New York, we had a lot of personal tours of Philadelphia and New York City, it was an amazing experience. Our family was humbled by the generosity of so many, we had a great 10 days of visiting with friends and seeing all the sites . A special thank you to Princeton Alliance for the opportunity to share in your service and flying our family out there. Thank you to all who made this Christmas a wonderful time for our family, from going up the Chrysler building, to seeing the Rockettes on Christmas day, to many who took the time from their families and froze showing us the sites.

Thank you so much. It was good to connect with several churches who have been down to Mexico, it was good to see you all.

More Shoe boxes for the kids of Ensenada!!!

A group from San Diego came down with 68 boxes to hand out to the kids in Durango. We were encouaged with Rosi planning a program combined with their church and Grace Alliance Church. Every child walked away with huge smiles on their faces and started opening their presents right away.

The pastor have begun to forgive each other and work on their relationships. It has been an encouraging weekend, seeing the healing begin. Please continue to pray for them, that they would remain strong and focused on God's plan in their churches.

Weekend visit to Mexicali & Sonoyta

Last weekend our family, Francisco's family, Rafa and Isai visited a new Alliance church in Mexicali. Mexicali is about 4 hours north east of Ensenada. We were encouraged to see 38 adults and 15 kids attending the church, worshipping outside with Pastor Gustavo & his wife Frances. Right now they are renting a home for their church, the adults worship outside and the children were inside for Sunday school. The winter months are pretty cold in the evening and summer is very hot. We have agreed to help them purchase some land and build a church this spring, we hope to build a church building in March. Pastor Gustavo and Frances were very excited to have other Alliance churches come and visit and encourage them.


The next morning we visited another community outside of Mexicali (ironically is called Durango). Pastor Daniel is wanting to be apart of the Alliance and is in need of a denominational covering and he also needs encouragement. We hope to be able to build another church late in the spring, before it gets too hot!

From there we headed east to a neighboring state, Sonora. One of our pastors and brother is from a small community called Sonoyta, Sonora. We came with Christmas boxes to hand out to the kids, and food for the families. We had a great time hanging out with Pastor Ricardo's family. The night before we left, the family asked if they could make breakfast for us. Of course we accepted. The next morning they had slaughtered their pig and cut meat up for carnitas. We were humbled that they would give us such a wonderful breakfast.

We had a great weekend fellowshipping with our friends from Ensenada as well as all the people we met on the weekend.

PLEASE PRAY FOR THE MANY THINGS THAT ARE HAPPENING

Whew, we have hit the pavement moving since we have been back at work in Ensenada. The first two weeks, Rick spent everyday meeting with pastors sorting out problems. Sammy had his work cut out for him while we were gone for two months speaking in churches. One of the projects we asked the pastors to work on while we were gone, was to find a business that they could start. They had several ideas, but just didn't seem to agree on it. But, finally on Friday three of the four came to Rick and had a great idea that they were excited about. Faustino use to be a fisherman by trade, and he is willing to train the other pastors in fishing. The overhead costs is relatively low, and they will be able to start making money on day one. While we were gone Ruben stepped down as district superintendent for a variety of reasons. The president of the Alliance in Mexico would not accept his resignation, at this time he is sorting out if he is going to be the superintendent. Rick spent some time talking to him assuring him that we need him, and that we can help him with some of the issues. One of the suggestions was to have Francisco be the assistant district superintendent to help Ruben. Ruben was excited about the help, but we are not sure at this time what Ruben will do. This weekend the pastors and Ruben will have their first district meeting with the president and other alliance pastors in the district. As you can see, the enemy is at work, trying very hard to divide the ministry here in Ensenada. There are so many great things happening, and we need to bring all of this before the Lord and overcome the enemy. Please pray for wisdom for Ruben, and pray for unity with the pastors.

For the last few months the churches have come together for a tournament of futbol. Last night was the final game in which Roca Fuerte won the tournament. The pastors were so excited , they asked Rick if he could get a trophy so they could engrave the winner of each tournament. Ricardo came back proud because he had the Alliance logo engraved at the top of the trophy. Pray for the pastors as they are trying to use this event as an outreach to their communities. Many of the players do not go to their churches, but they are apart of the church team. We see this as a great opportunity to get to know and witness to many.

Many have asked about Ricks health. The final word was that he does not have gall stones, and that it is probably acid reflux. But, through all of the testing the doctor was very concerned about his high blood pressure and that he is a borderline diabetic. So, again Rick is on a strict diet, trying to loose weight and watch what he eats. Those of you who have been to Mexico will know that it is hard to resist Taco Pablanos (at least the pork tacos). Please continue to pray!

We have been blessed to have three praxis students who are working alongside us in ministry. It is great to have an extension of us going to each of the services. At this time we are concentrating on three of the churches who need a lot of help. Each of the girls are in one of the churches working alongside the pastors and wife helping. We are excited to see how God will use these girls, and stretch them as they learn to do ministry. Sarah and I are taking Spanish classes three times a week, pray for wisdom and strength to learn the language. Rick is also taking classes twice a week.

Finally, we are excited about a family who is feeling called to come down to Ensenada and work alongside us. We are in desperate need of help, and are excited to have a family who will assist us in ministry. They are in the process of selling their home and raising money to join us hopefully this spring. Pray for them as they step out in faith, that they will be able to sell their home, and raise the money needed to move down here.

Blessings,
Rick & Tammie

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This site will be used to fill you in on what's happening in Ensenada. Check back often to learn how God is moving among these people and how to pray for The Ensenada Project. We would also like this blog to be a source of communication. Please feel free leave any comments you would like. We would look forward to hearing from you.