Good morning,

   Sorry there were no updates the last few days, we
tried to et out of Tijuana early the other day and had
no internet access at last nights motel...

   Our last full day in Mexico was spent doing
laundry, packing and getting a used tire in one of the
5 used tire shops within 4 km of the Outreach Center
in the morning and out to see the other ministries in
the area.

   We went to a new orphanage where one couple and a
few staff are looking after 27 kids in a very "Homey"
atmosphere. It was a really nice newly built place
with some very dedicated staff. They have a vision to
plant a church there as well to reach the very poor
neighbourhood around them.
   That morning I was reading in the english
newspaper for the area that "another" child had died
of electrocution in the area. It turns out that
impoverished people will hook up wires to the power
poles in a neighbourhood and run them to their houses.
So sometimes a child will encounter the wires in or
around the houses and get electrocuted. It happens
once a month in the neighbourhood of Rosarito. While
we were at the orphanage I noticed a couple dozen
wires coming off of the main power pole line and going
in a number of ddirections. Some folks had put up
makeshift "poles" to run their wires along the street-
others just ran them on or under the ground. Some I
saw had several parts that had been connected together
and covered with electrical tape. A tragedy waiting to
happen... The orpahanage is the only place there that
legitimately gets power, the rest of th eneighbourhood
siphons it off... Power is extremely expensive- It can
run up to $60-$70.00 / month for basic power. and at
$1.00/ hour as a good factory wage, most poor folks
can't afford it...

  The second place we went to was the Ensenada
Outreach Center about 1 1/2 hours south of Tijuana. It
was an incredible drive down the ocean with views over
the oceanside cliffs. We stopped at one beach to let
the boys run and feel the big winds and see up close
the 6-8 foot waves crashing offshore. It was like a
sandblaster though...

  At Ensenada we got a chance to speak briefly with
the directors. they run a 160 bed facility on 2 or 3
properties. They lead teams into the outlying villages
for ministry with the Native Indian people who live
and work in the factory-Farm fields. They build
roughly 100 homes /year there and have planted several
churches and also run a kindergarten and feeding
program for the children. It is quite a place and
quite a ministry.

   The next day found us crossing "La Linea" ( border
). What a contrast. To get into Mexico is a formality
to get into the US is a 40 minute + wait with a list
of questions. We made it through fine and the Customs
dude was even friendly- that wa sa surprise...!!

    We are finished the 2nd of 3 days journey and the
van is holding up well. The weather has been great and
except for about 20  miles of high elevation driving
with caked Ice on the roads on the Idaho / Montana
border. The inevitable traffic Jams in Las Vegas have
been about the only other driving snag yet. Tomorrow
is Canada and, Lord Willing, Home.

     Thank you so much for your prayers, please
continue on as we travel one more day and as we begin
looking for our support team that God is going to be
putting together for us.

      God bless and Keep you all~!

Mike, Shar and boys in Butte Montana ( pronounced Bee-
yute)!!

In Tijuana now

Hi,

We are leaving here quickly to go to \ensenada about 1 1/2 hours down the coast from tijuana...

The trip here was interesting. We had al planned on haivng the outreach in \mexicali done by 1pm so we could come back to Tijuana (TJ) by 3:30 or so. Turns out that it took longer than originally thought and we didn't get done till 3pm- and off for Tacos...

We came back to the \\\\\\\\\\centre in Mexicali for some last minute stuff only to find out the the brake lights weren't working on someones truck and 5th wheel. Then the emergency brake stuck on another vehicle. After another hour of workig on those things, we were on our way.

We travelled on a nice 4 lane highway OVER a mountain. We climbed 1000 Metres (3000feet) in 25 miles and then down the other side to \TJ. It took us about 3 hours because we were following the 5th weheel.

In TJ we all hit some HUGE Potholes. A few minutes later the van blew a tire. we pulled inot a restauraunt parking lot. There on the lot was a police officer with a HUGE gun and a toque. He came to see if all was ok and to ask our friensd to move their 5th wheel. I couldn't find our jack so we used another one and an hour later, we had a donut put on.

About 45 minutes later we were climbing almomst straight up a muddy clay road towards the TJ outreach centre. When we got there we crashed in bed and sleopt well- the sleep of the exhausted...

Today we went to 5 different tire shops before we found another tire for $20.00US. It works well and we are now having lunch and off to Ensenada to see the centre there.

We'll update you on that later...

\blessings,

Mike Shar and kids...

New Years Day in Mexicali

Buenas Dias. Feliz Nuevo Anos!

A long day indeed... the nights sleep didn't go as smoothly as one would have liked. Bottle rockets, M-80's, fireworks, guns etc all going off all night long. We slept ok considering, but not as well as one would have liked.

Today was the last full day of ministry. Sharlene spent a good deal of it sandwich making and taking inventory so they know what they have available for the next Mission, and I finished of the slideshow. After much deliberation, we settled into a 10 minute slideshow with all the teams getting ample airtime and a couple of good songs to go with it. When I was done compiling it- I needed to burn about 15 discs for people who wanted them. I am happy with the end result and people liked the presentation tonight. Memories of kids, staff and team members...

During the outreach the teams get sandwiches for supper while they are out on assignments. ( that was our job...) So the staff get to eat lunch leftovers from the last couple days. On the last day- all the left-over leftovers get wrapped up and given to an area childrens home, the local breakfast feeding program and the hard working pastor's families as well. So the mission takes the staff out for supper on the last night. We went for chinese food. In Mexico....

Turns out there is a very large Chinese community and a vibrant chinatown in Mexicali. The Mexican government brought many Chinese over to help build canals and railways and afterwards renegged on a deal to provide them with homes and land. So many had no way of making a living in the fields and no way to get home so set up in the city's core. It is something odd to see two chinese peple speaking perfect spanish to one another... but it happens here.

We were riding along in Tom's Van. Tom's van ran out of gas 10 minutes into the trip. So we watched the sunset over 4 nice palm trees while being stranded on the side of the road. It was about 30 minutes before a couple fellas came back for us and another 30 before we got to the restaraunt to eat cool ( temperaturewise) Mexican Chinese food. I'm not complaining, mind you... I'm smiling as I think about the adventure.

Speaking of adventure- about half way through the waiting period- Caleb started to get alittle impatient and whined slightly about the situation. Sharlene replied- "It's ok- it's an adventure." to which Caleb rebutted "I don't want any more adventures!" lol

We made it there and back in good shape...

In the Mexican countryside they have made provision for breakdowns. The desert can be a deadly place so, in case of someone running out of gas or vehicle malfunctioning in the middle of the desert, they have "Green Angels". These are government workers who drive the highways looking for people in trouble and giving gas or minor mechanical help or a tow to a garage- for free! How we longed for a green angel to come and rescue us, but being in an urban area, not gonna happen...

Then with the time on my hands I began to think of a spiritual application to this lesson... How many folks in life, here in Mexico and at home, are stranded on the highway of life waiting for help- but afraid to ask for fear that it'll get worse. Whenever a car came up behind you you had to ask- is this the policia to give us a ticket for running out of gas ? ( it happens here). Is it some bad dude looking to take advantage of people in trouble? or is it help?

With these outreaches you can see kids and adults in distress asking the same questions of us as we come to serve them. At first they are reticent, a little nervous and quite shy. But as the teams love on them and share Jesus with them the kids warm up. And often by the end of the week dozens of people, adults and kids alike respond to the love shown them by us, Jesus hands and feet in the world- and inside- their lives begin to change. This area is full of adults, some pastors, some missionaries, some incredible people of faith who were touched by an outreach in the last 40 years of ministry. I wonder who in my life God wants me to be a "green angel" for...

Blessings on the journey,

Mike and Sharlene McDonald

Prospero Ano Nuevo (Happy New Year!)

Sorry for the confusion if some of you thought I meant to say that new years eve was yesterday here... tonight is truly new years eve. Last night was pretty noisy- and tonight is amazingly loud! The ejido is buzzing with people and firecrackers and M-80's and fireworks and music... quite a fiesta.

Most of the groups that are here with us are out tonight at the village churches celebrating new years with the kids and adults they have been serving this past week. They have given money to the churches so they can put on a fiesta for their neighbourhood. i'm looking forward to hearing how it went!

We had a cultural experience today. Sharlene and Caleb and Jacob have been using their asthma puffers lots this week. The incredibly dusty air coupled with constant fires and smoke as well as heavy pollution from unregulated factories have played havoc with their lungs. So we went looking for a bank machine. Not ans east task in Mexico.

We needed to drive about 15 km into the city to a bank and then an additional few km to a "farmacia" . You don't need a prescription to buy prescription drugs in Mexico and the price is much cheaper than in canada. A special puffer for shar usually costs us around $70-75 and here it was about $43. Unfortunately they didn't have one for the kids, so Shar is sharing hers which is a similar dosage. After that we tried to find a walmart to buy mexican pop for a friend of mine. Despite probably good driections we found ourselves gettign abit lost so did our best to find our way back to the correct road- which we did eventually. We never found the Walmart, but we did find a groceteria where we could get some good Manzana Lift ( Apple pop!!). But no Sangria yet... ( a red grape juice / fresh fruit carbonated drink- best way to describe it)

On the way back we found a place with fruit for sale and "coco's" ( coconuts). They don't grow here- but they do 200km down the road in San Felipe at the Gulf of California. So we negotiated ourselves a 5 lb bag of oranges and a coconut for $4.00. The fellow i was bartering with spoke as much english as I did Spanish. So we spoke Spanglish to each other and communicated quite well. i told him we were from canada... he shivered and said "Mucho Frio no?" (Very Cold!!!?) I told him Abbajo Zero Cuarentes ( 40 below 0) He looked at me like I was crazy! it was about 18C today and he had a winter coat on. Poor fella wouldn't last a week in January in Saskatchewan! Then again it get to be +45C here in the Summer... I may not fare any better in the summer here! So we ordered a cocnut to drink so the guy in the back took a huge machete and cut a bunch of the hust off and a small hole in the top. We got some straws and shared some coconut milk- a first for Shar and the boys. They swigged it down quick and I asked if he could open the rest up for us- so He took the machete and worked his magic, then took a seriously sharp knife and quickly cut all the meat out of the inside- then took anodd looking tool that spearated the meat from the shell and put 2 toothpicks in the husk and a couple of serviettes on it. 2 more and cut an orange- put each half on it- threw a cut lemon inside and some peanuts- it was quite a sght and a great treat!

I spent most of the rest of the day working on the powerpoint show. Sifting through hundreds of photos and trying to make it all work with the various software- and making it flow witht he music. I'll finish it tomorrow and it will be presented tomorrow night.

Thhis is quite a place. It is naturally a desert, but with incredibley fertile soil. Before the US dammed up the colorado river, it would flood out down here- so the soil in the valley is amazing for a place with only 3 inches of rain a year. It is quite lush in some spots and parched in others. They have harnessed the river and there are canals everywhere.

The ejidos get their water straight from the canals. Problem is that the Canals run right through the farmers fields and run off with chemicals and fertilizers, natural and synthetic get into the water supply. So during spring runoff the water coming out of your shower or sink can be brown. And your never quite sure why! So anyone who can afford it drinks bottled water. And those that can't afford it- get sick.

Amazing... that water- that life giving element we all need- can be so close, but so dangerous to us. I was thinking of the spiritual water that runs so freely here. So many folks have a sense of the religious but are so empty spiritually. The water they've been drinking doesn't give them life, it sucks it from them! Not only is there a need for safe drinking water, but for the purity of the Living Water that comes from a relationship with Jesus. He once told a lady at a well that if she would trust in Him, he would give her water and she'd never be thirsty again.

I'd love to be able to give that water to the people here. The people are thirsty for Him all they need is for someone to show them and tell them.

Dios Bendiga

Mike Shar and Boys...

Friday in Mexicali

Hola,

Today I am tired. It is about 8pm tonight, and I have been back for 1/2 an hour. Shar and Caleb and Jacob came back earlier while I went out for more pictures for the slideshow. When I came back at 7:30 with Elijah- the others were asleep already!

Tonight is New Years Eve, Eve. Which means firecrackers galore, sparklers, fireworks and bonfires.... HUGE bonfires. One house beside the Bible School had an 8 foot or higher fire going and when it got smaller they started aniother and then another! there was an orange glow around the house!

Sharlene and I stayed up late last night talking to the missionary couple with whom we're staying. It was a really good conversation. We got to hear about what life is like after the glow of excitement dies down adn Mexico becomes home. Life in the Ejido's is very very similar to life on a northern Reserve, only more financially destitute than most Reserves I've seen.

After hearing more about the minsistry with YUGO we're quite convinced that this is a good fit. The outreach events with US and canadian churches is very similar to Camp work. The main difference being that instead of ski biscuiting and archery, these teens go out into a foreign village and love people to Jesus. They are stretched beyond their normal boundaries and given opportunities to serve and lead they may never receive at home.

Today they took videos of us working and had interviews with us. I wish I knew ahead of time they were going to do it today, because I've been "camping it"--- working on the best bed head for 5 days! Turns out they don't have "bed-Head Day" here at YUGO. What a waste...

The other needs they have is for someone to come teach at the Bible College in Tijuana. I've been thinking and praying about that, and though it'll be a stretch above me, at least I'll know if it works out well- it'll be God who does it through me! We're alos looking at being involved in church planting. Tijuana is growing by leaps and bounds with people coming to "El Norte" to work in factiories or on farmers fields or to wait out a trip across "El Linea" to the US. Many are very very needy. I would love ot help a Mexican pastor plant a church in these neighbourhoods. Sharlene is catching a vision for the young women and kids here. Many kids parents leave the house at 5 am wiht no food in it and the kids fend for themselves until 6 or 7 pm. We'd liek to partner with a local church - or a church start to help give these kids a good start to their days so they can learn and break free from incredible poverty- as well as give them hope in Jesus!

We are here in Mexicali until Monday afternoon and then off to Tijuana to see things there and maybe down to ensenada to see the ministry there too.

We appreciate your prayers, please continue to pray that all of our travelling needs are met and that we'd continue to be encouraged here!

God Bless and keep you!

Mike and Sharlene

Mexicali Day 3

Buenos Noches...

We have lived in some pretty modest places before. I remember our house in LaRonge, SK. It had one big kitchen/ living room /dining room, two bedrooms and a bathroom all in about 600Sq. feet. We had no kids then- only a homely little Basset hound dog. She should have been called a heat hound because every time the little propane heater came on and blew out hot air in the living room to heat the whole place, the dog would snuggle up right next to the heater and suck up every last bit of available heat. We almost needed to shoo our glowing dog from room to room to heat the rest of the house.

Here in Ejido Sinaloa, the pastor of the local church lives in a place that is basically Two 200Sq foot rooms attached with a common brick wall. He needs to go out his living room/ family bedroom front door and go in the kitcehn front door to get to the kitchen / bathroom. His bathroom has an old toilet and a small shower stall, but no sink. They wash their hands in the kitchen sink.

A group of 4 guys from maryland have decided to build him a new place on the church property. After 2 days they have the floor plumbing in,.the concrete floor formed and poured and most of the trussess made. They hope to have it done tomorrow or Saturday at the latest and the pastor, his wife and kids wil have a well bult, functional 700Sq (or so) foot house. It's amazing what 4 or 5 thousand bucks can do here.

I'm hearing a bunch of loud noises and I'm told that it's either gunshots or fireworks. Apparantly during the new years ( and we're coming up to it) week they'll do both - as well as small sticks of dynamite... Interesting. Praise God for concrete walls!

We went to a village called Quintana Roo. At the church building we had 25 or so small kids, about 7 ladies and 15 or so older boys and teens / young adults paling "futball". I met a little boy called Justin ( pronounced Hoo-Steen) today. Justin had a frisbee. He motioned to me several times that he wanted to throw it to me, but was afraid, I think, that I wouldn't throw it back. Sometime that day- he had lost his frisbee to someone else and was absolutely not willing to chance it getting taken again. I asked him time and time again to play with me and time and time again- he would get up- walk a few feet away and get ready to throw- but instead clutch his frisbee and go sit back down. He was so afraid of losing it, he wouldn't join in any games with the other kids.

And I began to think about how that is like me sometimes. I have this life that Christ has given me, yet sometimes I'm so afraid of what may happen to it- I clutch it to myself and eventually end up missing out on everything.

Jesus said something about this in Matthew 16

²⁴Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. ²⁵For whoever wants to save his life^[a] will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. ²⁶What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?

I'm hoping I can learn to let go of my frisbee and throw it into the wind... maybe it'll get thrown into a tree and hit a chicken ( yes the neibourhood chickens fly well enough to roost in the trees- I have pictures!). Maybe it'll come back to me and I'll throw it again... and maybe It'll get thrown to someone else and I'll lose it... But at least I can say that it was used for it's purpose.

Love to you all- Todo Te amo,

Mike and Sharlene McDonald and boys.

Mexicali Day 2

Gday! or Hola! or Buenos Dias!

6:00am woke us up with a cockle doodle doo this morning as the neighourhood roosters gave us the ol natural alarm bell today. The place we aree staying and serving is in an Ejido or village on the outskirts of the city. The Mexicali Valley is situated on the Colorado River and so they have siphoned off some of it and canals run all through the valley. They get about 3 inches of rain ayear, but the irrigation allows them to grow things and harvest about 8 monts of the year. Not much grows or is harvested in summer because the 105-120F Desert temperatures burns everything up. But this time of year it's like an oasis...

Anyway, all that to say that the ejidos are little villages sprung up amidst the fields that the workers live in. The homes are made of concrete block structure- and mostly from 200 sq feet to 1100Sq fet or so with most being in the middle. The yards are mostly large and some folks will grow produce to sell in them or keep cows or chickens in the yards- thus the cockle doodle-dooing this morning.

Our neighbourhood dog that has called this yard his home got hit by a car last night- he was limping pretty bad and I haven't seen him tonight at all. He was a bit skittish and charged at Caleb once our first morning- so maybe it's all for the best if he licks his wounds somewhere else the rest of the week.

After breakfast at the Bible School we looked on the program / shcedule for the week and found out that Sharlene and I were not sandwich makers- but sandwich coordinators. We were running the sandwich show. A promotion so soon has to be encouraging... And it would have been, if we had a clue what to do! So with some instant training we were set into gear to lead a team of sandwich makers in producing some 300 sandwiches of various ilk and kind so that the teams could eat at the ministry sites and continue with their evening services at the church without having to come back.

We went with a group to another Ejido about 17 miles away to take pictures of their ministry and to get a feel for the work. We met the pastor an his family and about 20 kids after we got lost looking for the church. I stopped to ask directions from a fellow who was fishing by the canal and was very proud of my attempt at Spanish... He turned around and looked at me and in a cheech and chong kind of way said " sorry man, I don't speak any spanish". A great effort wasted on a gringo. He had no idea where we were trying to get to but pointed us to a group along the canal further who spoke spanish and could understand me better... So try # 2 was attempted- and accomplished quite well- The lady understood me well and I understood some of what she said- just enough to get lost a little bit closer to our final destination. Eventually we made it and as we drove into the church "parking lot" a bunch of kids came ant attached themselves to us- slightly diaspinted that we weren't "The Team" with the van of teenagers-, but happy to see we brought them kids to play with. And play they did. I don't know how kids can play together without understanding each others languages, but they managed. Elijah and Caleb ended up watching a video at the pastors trailer behind the church for a few minutes and Jacob played with whoever would play with him. He learned the phrase "Juego Futball?" ( play soccer?) and kicked tghe ball around with the big kids.

About 30 or 40 kids came out for soccer and crafts / story time and about 8-10 ladies came out for coffee and craft and Bible study. For soccer the team said that they were going down the "road" (basically a sand path behind the houses) to the "park" which turned out to ba another road with harder sand that was easier to play soccoer on- and they did! a bunch of the kids, a few teens and the team from Michigan got together and sweat out a good game of futball with most of the american learning one spanish word well "Aqui!!" ( Here!). I took pictures and hung out with some of the younger spectatord (3-6 year olds) and learned about their families names, who their brothers were on the "field" and how old they were.

Sharlene spent most of the afternoon holding babies, talking as much spanish as she can muster with th eladies and helping out with crafts. She enjoyed herself immensly. Alot of the time this ministry reminds us of our work with Canadian First Nations people. The cultures are similar, the dificulties are similar and the need is similar- the language is the greatest difference, and that can be learned...

Caleb found a puppy. He carried this little "perrito" around all afternoon, sometimes having it sleep in his arms all curled up in a little ball. The only time he let it down was to go to the bathroom! Thankfully he didn't ask to take it home... that would not have worked. He also found that he likes oranges from trees. The church yard has several orange trees and grapefruit trees on it so he and the other kids were helping themselves. Most of the ones near the bottom were already picjed- so Caleb being Caleb, climbed the tree and reached out onto the edges to get himself three more oranges. He was very proud of himself

After the team left, I went to speak to the Pastor to say adios... he and his family were on their yard in front of a brken down trailer that was their home having supper. Wehn I came to say goodbye, he offered us tacos. He had 6 or more to feed ( kids and grandkids) we had 5 and there were only about 8 tacos, so I declined. He seemed disapointed, but I couldn't take the food from someone who had not even enough for them. I had to ask myself if I even have the slightest idea of what generosity is? They would be willing to give all they have to me, trusting God to provide for their needs. Is this what the scriptures mean when they say

So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Thankful,

Mike and Sharlene and boys.

Mexicali New Years Outreach Day 1

Hello all...

We've made it to Mexico and are at the end of our first full...very full... day.

The trip down went very well until Las Vegas where we ran into a bit of a snag.

We found out after being in a 40 minute traffic jam that the highway we were taking was closed. So we backtracked through the city to take another route down the main interstate and it was jam packed--- all those folks coming back to LA from Vegas during the Christmas Weekend. Taking the family to Vegas for Christmas...a little odd we thought, but apparantly thousands of others disagreed because we spent about 45 minutes to an hour going 11 miles - and the previous 20 miles took us almost as long. So after 3 hours in and around Vegas we hightailed it on a desert road across the mojave through some striking land with huge spiny Joshua Trees. ( google it if you want to see a pic).

We made it to a place we thought about overnighting about 6pm PST or 8:00 Sasktime... and decided to keep going as it was about 2 hours away from the border and very expensive motel rooms.

We arrived in the border area in good time but got lost looking for the Mexican Auto Insurance place. You need Mexican liability insurance. So after finding that and working through a few more snags there, we realized we weren't going to make it in time for the border crossing that I had planned on taking and had mapped out- it was closing too soon- so we went across the main - downtown location and had to drive at night through the downtown of Mexicali.

The Mexico border is odd. There is noone to inspect your documents, no vehicle inspection- just a street light- if it goes green- you can go across freely. If red- you are then asked to produce documentation and can be inspected more thouroughly. We, thankfully, got a green light and so we were off.

45 minutes later we made it through the city to the Bible Institute where almost everyone was asleep- so we were on our own to find the house we would stay at- no easy feat in Mexico during the day- and a lot less easy at night!

So we stopped at a PEMEX ( gas station) to use the phone and found out that it didn't take money- only cards. I purchased one and could not figure out how to use it. It turns out you need to- in this order- take the phone off the hook. put your card halfway in, hang up the phone- wait an underterminable amount of time- let the phone off the hook again- put card all the way in quickly- and the phone may then work. 1/2 an hour later I got that done and called the place we were staying and got a sleepy answer- they thought we weren't coming till tomorrow!

We found the place and made it to bed. It took us all 14 seconds to fall asleep at 11:30pmPST---after gettign up at 5:30am!!!

The next Day ( Tuesday) we spent at the institute getting things ready for the teams that are coming. We cleaned toilets and sinks, swept dorm rooms, emptied trailers of stuff,. sorted $2000.00 of groceries, transported equipment across the campus, lifted, cleaned, moved and changed almost everything...

During this time the boys found some missionary-kid friends and played in the wide open fields- gettign pricked by a cactus, climbing arbutus trees, throwing dates from a date palm tree, hitting people with sticks, making desert oasis ponds- and splashing in them! Enjoying themselves to the fullest- right up to the end this evening when they almost fell asleep standing up...

This week our assignments are to make 300+ sandwiches / lunches for the teams each day and to travel with the 7 teams taking pictures and making a slideshow for them to view on Sunday.

It feels good to be here. The adventure beforehand was more fun than frustrating and it is very good to be here! Thank you so much for your support whether it was financial, prayer or both. We count you as partners with us and know that we could not be here were it not for you. Praise God for His provision through His people.

And thank you for praying. We are sure that there were a few extra prayers going up last night as we were having our adventure- and He answered them... with unusual alertness while driving- even after 11 hours+ of driving! He answered them as Sharlene took over the driving in a relatively easy desert spot and we suddenly came into a canyon type drive that makes Kicking Horse Pass in BC before Golden look easy. He answered them when we made it through Mexicali- at night- to our place to stay. He answered them with us being alert and relatively energetic after 3 days of driving 3300 km+. And I look forward to sharing with you the next few nights how else He has been good to us!

Would you pray that we would hear from God as to how we would fit into this ministry full time? With our experience in Youth pastoring, church pastoring and Camp work- we can fit in almost anywhere here, but we want to know what the good works are He has prepared beforehand for us to do. Please pray that we would be a blessing.

Thank you so much! We appreciate you!

God Bless, we look forward to sharing more,

In His Name,

Mike, Sharlene and boys...