Not an Ordinary Day

Not by a longshot.

La Tribu de Jesus (The Tribe of Jesus) is an orphanage in one of Tijuana's poor valleys. Edith and Fernando are the parents to 50+ kids. They have one regular helper, Cindy the missionary, and a few ladies from the neighbourhood who come and wash dishes or clothes, or clean up in exchange for food for them and their kids. They can have as many as 75 kids hanging around as parents who work from7am to late at night leave their kids there, otherwise they'd be home alone.





The kids were looking a little dirty today. The reason being that their "bathtub" is a trench in the middle of the barn that serves as laundry room, kitchen, storage and living room. The water comes from a rain barrel that is outside temperature at best, and it has been pretty cool here (lows of 7C highs of 13C). I would have said room temperature, except that room temperature IS outside temperature. The barn they live in has a roof (that doesn't connect at the crest) but no walls below- just fencing and plastic over 70% of it. It is personally overwhelming to see the hordes of kids running around with so little adult help- and so little personal attention. Make no mistake, Edith and Fernando love these kids- they have given over their lives to help those in need- but 2 parents can only give so much personal atention when spread out amongst 50+ kids.




So as soon as you get there, the kids come flocking to you to see if you will hold them, talk with them, love them, push them on a swing- anythign really.










Shar and I started off pushing 4 kids on swings- back and forth, back and forth. Then one little girl and one boy gave us a tour.

It's a huge property that they are renting right now, but 60% is unuseable as is because of the slope it's on. We went first to the boys cabin. they have 5 bunk beds and 2 queen sized beds and this cabin sleeps 20 boys. It looked ok for a cabin and at least the roof does not leak. The girls rooms do leak- so 30+ of them are packed into 2 rooms with 4 beds. One girl told us she had 6 kids on her bed last night.





We also went to the "bathroom". It is 3 walls with 5 toilets in it. No roof, no door, nothing separating toilets.

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Belin is about 3 years old. She must have some sort of allergies or something because she has a perpetual leaky nose. She also has eczema on her face and it look very "chapped". Almost as soon as we got there- and for most of the time we spent there- Belin hung around with me. She came to me with arms wide open and said something about a "papa" or daddy. I don't think she was calling me her daddy, just asking if I was one or if I knew where hers was. Either that or she was asking me about potatoes cuz the words sound almost the same. Either way, I got all choked up, picked her up and she smiled and hung onto me or around us most of the rest of the day.


You know, I've watched the "Compassion" commercials on TV and felt sad. But I was able to change the channel. We can't change the channnel here. The need is so overwhelming. I kept thinking to myself- what can we do? This is not even the ministry we are called here to be primarily involved with, but the need is so HUGE! So, personally, we're going to go visit regularly. I'm bringing them a Christmas tree tomorrow (you can buy real douglas fir trees here!) I'm going to start doing a Blog like this for them to post pics of the kids- regular updates as to their needs (They don't always have enough food to eat or soap, or toothpaste or toilet paper etc.). Beyond that, I thought what can one family do? The little we could give financially would not be a drop in a bucket to cover the needs.

But then I thought... we are not here alone. We have partners at home who are with us on this field in a very real sense.

Will you pray with us for La Tribu?
Pray that the kids would have enough food to eat.
Pray that they would have a useful bathroom built soon.
Pray for walls for their home.
Pray that the kids would experience the Love of Jesus through His people.
Pray for many of the parents who are addicted to drugs and alcohol and cannot care for their kids.
Pray for those parents who are so self-absorbed that their kids get woefully neglected and need La Tribu.
Pray for Edith and Fernando, for strength, stamina and unconditional love for their kids.
Pray that the Lord of the harvest would send workers into His fields.
Pray that we would be a blessing to the children and the workers.

Thank you so much for partnering with us. It is an incredible privilege to represent you here. Your part in this ministry is invaluable. Today, we loved orphans together in Jesus Name.

Until next time,

your partners, the McDonald's

Bathroom Stuff etc....

If the foreign bathroom talk isn't your cup of tea, then scroll on down a bit...


Some of you know I have adverse reactions to dairy products that is cause for some embarrassment and much consternation (NOT constipation...). Sunday we celebrated American Thanksgiving in Mexico with a majority of Canadian Missionaries. Odd I know, but we love turkey and pumpkin pie, so any excuse...

Just before we left, the lady of the house gave the kids a last pumpkin tart for the road before we went to church in the evening. I got one for Shar and myself. All of them were topped with that whip cream in a can, and I got the biggest tower of White stuff.

Well, earlier in the day I had noticed that it was made with real cream and milk instead of the "edible oil product" it's usually made from, but of course I had forgotten this as I was gorging on a 4 inch tower of whip cream on top of my pumpkin tart. Baaaaad, Baaaad news....

25 minutes later at church My stomach is kicking up a fuss and I need to leave to go "downstairs". Having used the bathroom at church before, I remembered that the water does not work in the men's room- and there is no soap anywhere. So I whispered to Shar for some hand sanitizer and trotted down the stairs.

What I didn't remember (MUST REMEMBER THIS!) is that a lot of public bathrooms in Mexico do not come equipped with toilet paper (Take note of this if you plan on coming down...) It's a "bring your own" system. So here I am, quite concerned as the time is becoming urgent, with no TP. I search throughout the kitchen area for something- but no TP, no kleenex, no paper towels, no newspapers- Nothing!

Upstairs I gently canter, looking for my wonderful, beautiful and resourceful wife whose job it is to remember to bring some sort of soft paper product in her purse for times such as these. It seems as if her supply was exhausted at an earlier juncture, and I am left empty handed with an even greater sense of urgency. Out to the van I saunter, keys in hand, hand sanitizer in pocket wondering if I'll need to risk the 15 minute drive home over exceptionally bumpy roads. But, to my extreme joy I discover some soft paper products in the back of the van seats! "are they new or used" I ask myself- "Don't ask questions you don't want answers to" I remind myself of an ancient piece of wisdom. Thankfully all the paper was free of evidence of previous use and I was able to relax, after a quick jaunt to the proper room...

I have heard of some people in foreign countries who have little more than a hole in the floor to use for this purpose, so we are thankful for Canadian style toilets, with or without the TP.

BATHROOM STORY ENDS HERE!

Near Future....

Shar is heading to Hamilton Saturday December 2 for 1 week to visit her mom in Hamilton ON. Gramma Nelson is in the hospital recovering from a broken hip and surgery. We were able to find a plane ticket into Buffalo airport for under $250CDN return- taxes all included. We have a College friend (Rev. Dr. Prince Conteh) pastoring in St. Catherines, ON (close to Niagara Falls Border) and he and his new wife will be picking up Shar from the airport and taking her back a week later. Please be in prayer for Shar as the family and gramma will need to make some decisions about her long term care and accomodations.

I'm working on an introduction video.

I'm trying to make a small video to put on the blog site bar that introduces us as a family and the area we live in and the ministry we'l be involved in. I'm hoping to have that up by the end of the week...

Bible Studies...

We will start to be going to Bible Studies at Grace Children's Home on Thursdays. there are about 15 new Christians and seekers getting together for Bible study and prayer time. They will hopefully be the core group for the church plant in that neighbourhood. YUGO is in the process of purchasing a plot of land across the road from the Children's home that will be home to a babies facility (for the children's home), seniors apartments (for destitute seniors with no family to help them) and a Community-Centre / Church building with a multipurpose room, gym and seating for 1000. We will be hosting medical clinics, feeding programs, community outreaches from this site, as well as a sanctuary and Kids ministry facilities for 1000. We are in a brand new community of about 200,000 people with 1 other church right now. Please be in prayer for us as these plans progress. We are asking God for $65,000 to purchase the land (a really good deal for this land!) as well as the needed professional services to build a building of this magnitude.
In the very near future we will need a mobile home we can convert into a meeting place to be put on the existing property at Grace Children's Home.
Thanks for praying.


Merry Christmas!

It does not feel like Christmas, even though the calendar says it is a month away. Irv, Mari and Leah Penner gave us some Christmas Chocolate countdown calendars while I was in Swan River, MB. that start soon and is a tradition with us. This coming Thursday we'll get a tree (likely fake, though, surprisingly, you can buy real trees here for a similar price to Canada). and do some decorating around the house. Stay tuned for pics! All of our Canadian Missionaries here are going back to Canada for Christmas this year, and lots of the American ones go back home too if they are close, so we are keeping our eyes and ears out for some Mexican folks who are far from family with whom we can celebrate and share traditions with. We'd love to see how Mexicans celebrate the birth of our Saviour! We will not be giving lots of gifts this year to each other. Last year we got 1 big family gift (a portable DVD player) and 1 or 2 gifts each because we were going to Mexico for an evangelistic outreach. It went really well and the kids were very thankful and less overwhelmed by the barrage of things. This year we'll have the added blessing of being here for the pre-Christmas "Project Joy". We'll be able to help give out shoebox gift packs and / or blankets to kids who would normally get little or nothing for Christmas. A way we can tell them that we love them, Jesus loves them and that God's gift of his Son restores a relationship with the Father that we've lost. Our church ( Grace Bible Church) hands out about 400 in the church's neighbourhood. We do more at the Tijuana Dump where families have built houses and live and work scavenging through the garbage. we count it a blessing to be able to serve those on the fringe of society. We often have churches send boxes down with or without a representative to hand out the gifts. If you are interested in something like that- contact me here: pastrbuzz@yahoo.ca .

Thank you for partnering with us! We value your part in this ministry.

God Bless and Keep you until next time,

Mike for the family...

LockDown

We had visitors over for supper tonight and afterwards it was a regular occurrence here at Casa McDonald's... Lockdown.

Our place is not the most secure home in our Colonia, but it has fences and gates and they need to be locked at night. So every evening when it looks like we're done coming and going, someone goes out and locks the gates. We have a front gate that the car comes in and a side or back gate that is a walk-thru one.

We haven't had any issues with snakes or scorpions yet, but this is the time of day you are most likely to see them, so even the most boring of tasks can have a sense of heightened interest.

Tonight an added feature of lockdown was the bikes. We've had the kids bikes over at the place where we stayed in the RV. It seemed like when we just got settled and had a chance to get them, we'd either move or someone would go away (language school or deputation) so today was the day.

The boys were ecstatic to get the bikes back, though poor Jakey's having some trouble. He learned to ride a 2 wheeeler a couple days before we moved to Mexico and hasn't had a bike since. He lost a bit of knowledge and some nerve too. Not only that but he's outgrown his bike (GROWTH SPURT! Eating like a horse!) and that makes it more difficult- not to mention the hilly clay, rutted roads. We'll have to rectify the bike situation sometime soon...

Our "gardener" spent another day here at the house. He has only worked for us, technically, 2 times. The rest of the week he's been working for the landlady forming a driveway for us. Our yard is a fine, clay powder that gets incredibly muddy in the rain. So the cement parking pad will help to allow us to get in and out of our place.

Could you pray for Alphonso the worker-guy? He is really hard to understand so it's difficult to have a conversation with him in Spanish. He must have an accent I am not able to comprehend. he likely says the same about me!

Tonight I spent about an hour negotiating pay with him. The landlady gave me the amount needed to pay him when the job was finished. After he finished tonight, the job still was not done. So Alphonso began to ask for money for materials he brought over. The landlady had told me she paid for them already. What followed was an hour of him writing his demands, me taking them and translating them online at www.freetranslation.com and me responding. He was adamant that he needed $20 of his $70 pay tonight. We went back and forth for the whole time until someone came by who could translate. I gave him the $20 for the materials, but told him he'd not get the full amount for his wages, because I did not have it and i didn't have authority to give it to him. So he discounted his wages and he'll negotiate the rest with the landlady.

I'm concerned that he may not come back and finish the job, or that he needed the money for more nefarious reasons. He also comes back to the house with wood each day from an undisclosed location- not sure exactly where it's coming from, though I do know of a house nearby that is under construction...

Please pray for wisdom for us and for Alphonsos salvation. Please also pray for good communication to develop!

We appreciate your prayers and partnership with us! Hope you like the new design of the website! I'm hoping to be able to figure out how to get video on here soon. When that heppens, we'll have some video clips of life in Mexico!

God bless until next time,

Your McMissionaries

Interesting happenings...

I have a couple of collected thoughts and experiences I'd like to process with the blogosphere tonight...

We continue to struggle a bit with the whole school thing and the communication that happens (or mis-happens) there. Last friday was their rendition of "Mexican revolution Day". The grade 4-6 classes all dress in their school uniforms (of which there are 2 types, we only have the cheaper type- the other one consists of special track pants and jacket- that totals about $70 for each uniform / child...) or some period costume (some kids were dressed up with bullet straps across their chests (fake mostly) and sombreros etc. They were to march in downtown Rosarito.
We got as much info as we could muster, but it was not enough. We weren't able to participate because of the incorrect uniforms, so went to go see the parades... only we couldn't find them. We didn't have proper directions or misunderstood them. We drove around rosarito, occassionaly seeing kids dressed up in costume, but with no idea where they were coming from!
It will be nice when we can communicate fully. There has been progress though...

We invited a couple we know from church out to Sunday dinner. You should have sene the look on Jose's face when I told him we could get together at "Doce"(12:00 noon). It was 11:30 and he wa sshocked. Who on earth would eat at such a crazy hour- it's 2 hours before lunch! I immediatley saw his look and corrected myself by saying "Dos" (2:00pm)- the look of relief was evident on his face. So off we went for "Comida China" at 2pm (or so).
We actiually fared quite well in a conversation with this totally Spanish Mexican couple- finding out about work, family, homelife. It turns out that Jose is a "Sculptor" who carves concrete, granite, etc. He'll do whatever other work comes his way, but that's his trade.
I preached at the church a few weeks back. I was talking about Paul's secret to Contentment. In the message I used an illustration about contented cows (just like the carnation milk ad says...). Anyway, Solidad (the wife from the couple we were having dinner with..) says she liked the message, espescially the illustration. we laughed about it a while when Shar said (in English) to Solidad "Milk must make you contented too!" I "translated" for Shar and said (apparantly) "Do you make contented milk?" I turned about 5 shades of red when I realized what I had said--- To Solidad and Jose's amazement- "Your husbands turning pink!!!!" they said!

I think i accidently hired a gardener last weekend...

I was outside watering my palm trees and cacti and other trees when a forlorned looking man came walking up the hill. He almost walked by, but instead asked if he could do some work for a bit of money. I said he could weed and even out some ground outside the fence- He said he'd charge $6.00 for about half a days work. So we did some work together (kids included) hoeing, watering, collecting rocks as a water barrier around the trees. We had pancakes all together for breakfast too. after being about 2/3 finished Alphonse said he needed to go do some more work for someone else and may be back monday to finish it up. I offered him $10.00 if he stayed till it was done. So we finished about 12:30, I paid him a bit extra because of a fantastic job he did-well above what was expected and agreed upon, and he went off with the offer of another job from our landlady to lay concrete down for a driveway and a porch for us. He'd be back Wednesday. This Was Saturday all this happened.

Then at 8:30am today (Monday), Alphonse showed up for work at the house, but we were leaving. I figured he was going to form the driveway while we were gone, so we left him water and some food too.
When we came back home, our trees in the yard were all pruned, hoe'd with water gullies around them and even a bit landscaped- he had raked and collected stuff- he even made sure our garbage was picked up (it was a holiday- we didn't know they'd have pick-up!). I didn't ask for any of this work, but he still did it! We can't afford a Gardener! We don't need a gardener!
I may have to lay him off...

One thing we deal with here a bit is the question of giving money to people. There aren't many people begging here- but lots of people become part of the informal work sector. They'll dust your car in the border lineup, or kids will juggle balls, or adults juggling burning things in the intersections. Or an older man playing harmonica or guitar for coins, or a kid or adult packing groceries as volunteers (not paid by store) for tips.

We were in the line for the border today (for 2 hours and 20 minutes in 31C heat) when a fella came walking by- extremly unkempt with barefeet, no shirt and ragged hair. I began to pray- "God do you want us to give to this fella? - if so, bring him by". He walked beside the row next to us for about 20 cars then came back in our row. He came right to the car ahead of us- looked right through us and then went to another row. Then he came back to the car right behind us completely missing us.
next was an older man with a harmonica. Here in Mexico there is no social security or old age pension for folks. You work till you die, or have a family member take care of you. Some folks just can't work and just don't have someone to take care of them (kids in jail, addicted, in extreme poverty, early death etc.) so they guard cars in parking lots, play guitar/ harmonicas, pack groceries and sometime even beg as a last resort. This harmonica fellow came by and we gave him about 50cents, and another older woman came by, and we gave her 50 cents too. We talked about it, we debated internally and externally, we prayed... shouydl we or shouldn't we??? in the end our total giving for the day turned out to be $1.00. We were that concerned about only a buck?
So our pryaer now is that Jesus would give us wisdom to handle each case individually and that he would direct us to those we can help, knowing that although our resources are limited, they ar enot too limited for a little generosity...

I just want to leave you with a Scripture I read today and saw something new in the context...

Luke 12:22-34

Do Not Worry

22Then Jesus said to his disciples: "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. 23Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. 24Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! 25Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life^[b]? 26Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?

27"Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 28If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! 29And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. 30For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.

32"Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. 33Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

I've preached on this passage, but missed the context of it. The last paragraph finishes off the context. Basically Jesus is saying - don't worry about your daily needs, your Heavenly Dad will take care of them if you are concerned about the things that concern Him in his world and in your own life... and- don't be cheap... give to the poor and God'll keep track of the books...

wel, thanks for sticking around this long... if anyone has any ideas what to do with Alphonse, I'd appreciate your insight!

God bless and Keep!

Until Next time,

Mike for the family...

Back Home Now...

I was gone for a total of 17 days, and it sure is good to be home. I started missing my family right away, and noticed after a week or so that I really missed Mexico (and it wasn't just the foot of snow that did it to me!!). I really began to miss the sights, the smells and the sounds- so it is good to be home.

Shar held up well as a "single-mom" for the over 2 weeks I was gone. She got sick the last week before I came back and that added to the struggle of single parenting, but all in all they all came out of it well. Shar's Spanish improved immensly in that time as she was forced to use it to get by. She also took the opportunity to visit with some of the ladies at the school as she waited there between dropping off Elijah and Caleb (at 8:00am) and Jacob (at 9:00am). There is a lady there who is interested in learning English, so they are going to try to help each other out during that hour or so between the kids classes. I bought us each a cheap digital spanish English translator to help with the communication, hopefully that will accellerate our learning!

While I was gone Grace Children's Home hosted a number of families for a televised Billy Graham Crusade in Spanish. At the end of the weekend 20 people were interested in exploring a relationship with Jesus Christ more through a Bible Study. This seems to be the start of a core group for the church plant we will be working with!! It is exciting to see the Lord working! We are looking forward to joining Him in what He is doing!

While away I had the opportunity to share a video report in Martensville Baptist Church, our sending church. I also spoke at a youth rally in Swan River, MB as well as at the church service at Little Woody Baptist Church on that Sunday. I had some pretty good reponse with a few people interested in hearing more from us and another interested in bringing a youth group down. From there I spent a couple days at my old Bible College (Nipawin Bible Institute) representing YUGO at there missions conference. It's kind of a tough gig because you have 20+ representatives all deseperate for missionaries and there are only 45 students or so. It kinda seemed like a bear pit sometimes! I had the opportunity to give a seminar on the Monday about Short-term missions and whether or not it is worth the money we invest in them. There were about 15 out and it seemed to go well.

Travelling back was about the most eventful of the time I had on these 2 weeks away. Tuesday I drove back to saskatoon and finished last minute errands. I had to do a bit of repacking of my gigantic luggage and weigh it. It seemed to come out at 50 pounds exactly, so I took a book out to make sure it came under that limit. ( more than 50 pounds is an additional $25.00). I had trouble getting to sleep- (all excited!!) and finally dozed off at midnight- and got up at 5:15am to be at the airport for 5:45.
After checking in, waiting and then getting on the plane, we were asked to de-plane because of a light on the dash that would not go out. They rebooted the plane- which did not work- they powered it all the way off and restarted it from scratch, which didn't work,(sounds like a Windows computer...sure hope microsoft doesn't program planes... I got worried about that "blue screen of death"...("Your DC9 has registered an error and has entered an infinite loop from which it cannot escape, press CTRL-ALT-DEL and pray that it starts up again before you crash")... anyway they deplaned us and called some mechanics to come fix it from minneapolis. We rescheduled our flights and I got out the next day- and got to fly to San Diego instead which is 2 hours closer!
So I spent that day at the Sandman hotel- with no winter coat, hats or mitts, and had a small swim, lunch and chatted with shar for a good part of the afternoon. I ended up falling asleep at 5pm while watching TV only to wake up an hour later, but unable to fall asleep again till after midnight that night!
4:12am- and I was wide awake and ready to catch my 7:00am flight- showered etc. and caught the shuttle tothe airport- hoping that there was no loight on the dash.

There wasn't and off we went- did I mention that in the rebooking I got bumped up to first Class?? the only problem is that I was flying with NorthWest Airlines. The morning first class flight consits of such luxuries as free apple juice in a glass (as opposed to coach where the free apple juice comes in a plasic cup) and a banana (or muffin or granola bar, your choice...). The best part of it was the larger seat, but for those guys who actually bought the seats for an additional $300.00- I can't see the banana and extra leg room being worth it.

The 2nd flight from minneapolis to San Diego was over lunchtime and I was treated to a fruit and lettuce salad. after a few errands we came back to Mexico- I love crossing the border... the sights of Tijuana, the smells, the sounds... it felt like I was finally home...

Thanks for praying for us during this time- we appreciate it!

Anyway, we're off to church here right away, may God bless and keep you!

One more thing.. Shar's mom broke her hip last week and is in the hospital after having had surgery. We are praying about Shar going back for a week to be with her mom during this time to be a comfort and support to her- could you please pray for us in that regard, that God would give us wisdom in that decision- please also pray for Shar's mom as she is recovering in hospital and the decisions that the family may need to make about her long term needs.


THANK YOU! YOU ARE A BLESSING TO US -
until next time, mike and shar and kids

Week in Review...

Well this past week was a good one, if not tiring and a bit on the cool side...

Friday night I Spoke to about 50 youth from the swan river area about missions encouraging them to consider going on a mission trip sometime. Sunday I preached in the church there and that seemed to go well, lots of folks coming afterwards to ask questions and sign up for regular updates.

Sunday Afternoon I listened to the the Roughriders get blown out of the water by the BC lions to finish off the season and keep the roughies out of the Grey Cup..again. The roads were quite icy and the trip took much longer than anticipayted to Nipawin, but I arrived, set up my YUGO Booth and listened to the speaker.

It was good to get reaquainted with former profs, some former fellow students and other folks we met while living in Nipawin. All in all a good weekend.

Now it is Wednesday morning. I slept the sleep of a person who has to get up at 5:15am to catch a flight... restless and intermittent. Wes Long drove me to the airport for at 5:30 and I checked in, got onto the plane and then got off of the plane. Turns out there were some mechanical issues with the plane I was on and it was delayed until a mechanic could fly up from minneapolis. Flight should take off at 3pm.... and arrive at 9pm -then it's a 2.5-3 hour drive back to mexico...

I am now taking a different flight from saskatoon to San Diego instead- the airline put me up in a hotel with meal vouchers. Am I ever glad I packed my swimsuit in case i got bumped off a flight!

So today I'm going to catch up on sleep, swim a bit and read. I gave my winter coat back to the people I wa sstaying with so they could store it till next time I'm up, so I will not be doing any outside activities today...

tha nks for reading!

Prayer request...

1. Shar's mom is in hospital recovering from hip surgery, it's tough on Shar to be so far away during this time- we also need to be exploring what she will need after surgery (homecare etc...)

2. My flight tomorrow- for safety and good timing...

3. Getting back into life in mexico again- shar will need a days rest (at least- 3 boys by herself for 2 weeks!!!) and we'll need to run some errands etc...

Until next time,

mike

What is all this white stuff falling from the sky?

oh yeah... SNOW!

I had an interesting trip from saskatoon to Swan River. It started out with ice rain that day and really slick roads, but once the salt trucks came out and a little traffic too, the ice was melted and it was time to go... so after 6 hours of driving on slippery roads, i finally found the funeral home where I'd be staying. Funeral Home? you're saying.... Yup- that's where I'm staying for the 5 days I'm here in swan river, MB. It's much cheaper than a hotel- and the beds are REALLY comfortable!

I guess I'm more "Above" the funeral home in my friends apartment. It's a nice place- and the downstairs neighbours are quiet, despite the fact that it seems like they can't keep tenants for more than a few days...

Tonight I'll be speaking at a YOUTH RALLY for 40-50 kids and their leaders- please pray that God would speak to hearts and move some folks into exploring short-term missions...

Sunday I speak at the Little Woody Baptist Church. Please be praying that God might raise up partners for this ministry in Mexico...

Couple of prayer requests...
1. School-- The boys are all in a public Mexican school. For the most part it is going well, with the exception of Elijah's class. Elijah is one of 32 students and the only non-spanish speaking one. In Canada if a kid comes in needing to learn english we hire a Teachers assistant /ESL teacher and they get lessons and help. In a developing country, they don't have the resources to do it- and with an overtaxed teacher, Elijah is not exactly thriving. We're not sure what to do right now- and to make matters more stressful, Shar is dealing with it herself while i'm shovelling snow in Canada- Please pray with us in that regard.

2. Partners-
- Our support level has been good since we came down. Please continue to pray that God would raise up prayer and financial supporters so our monthly support can equal the amount needed for us to stay long term!

3. Church Planting
- This weekend the children's home in Tijuana that we will be working with on the church plant, will be hosting a Billy-Graham Crusade via TV friday- Sunday. Shar says it was a busy place getting ready last week. They have been a great witness of the love and power of Jesus as a small church and a few missionaries have been loving people to Jesus this last few years they have been there. We are praying for many to put their trust in Jesus as their saviour and fort that to be the catalyst of a church plant on the orphanage property.

Thanks for praying!!

Until next time,

Mike

Off to Manitoba

I've been here in Martensville for almost a week now and it's been a good time! I had the great fortune of staying with Wes and Jan Long at their "Bed and Breakfast"! It was really a blessing to get to know them better and to share their company over hearty breakfasts!

I've had the opportunity to meet with some of the folks here as well as get caught up on some business and errands that needed to be run while I was here. The weather has been chilly, but not as cold as it can get in November (about-5C each day). Sunday I shared a small video/ slide presentation at our sending church (Martensville Baptist). It was good to get reacquainted with so many of the folks there. they have been on the growth curve upwards again and there were around 140 out. Lots of young families in the area are discovering this great church- and they are doing a fantastic work in the Kingdom!

Today, after the ice rain melts, I'm off to Swan River MB. I'll be staying at an old (VERY OLD!) friends house over top of a funeral home. Irv Penner is a cremationist / funeral home chaplain training to be a funeral home director. I'm not looking forward to seeing where he works!

I have a youth rally this friday that I'm speaking at and then at church on Sunday morning- then I'm off to Nipawin Bible Institute to represent YUGO at the missions Conference there. I'm also giving a seminar on short-term missions. Please pray that I would be effective in sharing the heart of Jesus that all people in all nations have the opportunity to hear of His grace and love.

I'll be in touch, Lord willing, this week to let you know how it's going. But please keep the following dates in mind as you pray:

Tuesday Nov 7th- Travel to Swan River
Friday Nov 10th Swan Valley Youth Rally (Speaking)
Sunday Nov 12th Little woody Baptist Church (Speaking)
- Travel to Nipawin Bible Institute
Monday Nov 13th NBI Missions Conference (Seminar/ representing YUGO)
Tuesday Nov 14th Travel to Martensville
Wednesday Nov 15th- Fly to LA- drive back to Mexico.
Thursday Nov 16th- Give Sharlene day off to regain energy and sanity after daddy's been gone for 2 weeks.

Please be praying for Sharlene as well as she tackles issues at home alone. Espescially concerning our kids schooling. More details on that may be to follow!

Until next time,

Mike for the family!