Recent Events...

I've been thinking lately that we've gotten used to things here and it's becoming increasingly more difficult to blog things that seem interesting to us or new to you, because most of it seems normal. So I just thought I'd give an update on how things are going, what's happening with us and maybe some future plans- I don;t know if I'll get that far in this blog or not...

CarWash
Our van has accumulated many many weeks of desert-dust and mud around the various nooks and crannies- inside and out. And we are taking an extended trip into the US next week, so figured we'd better have a semi-respectable looking Tiuana-Van. I thought of washing it at home, but the problem is that it needs a vacuum and we only have a "stand-up" vaccum that wouldn't be able to do the job. The other problem was that our yard is a fine clay. Any water on it at all causes an incredible, muddy mess. Then the carpets in the house and van become filthy...
So Caleb and I took it down to a car wash here in Rosarito. They don't have those "do-it-yourself" car washes that are popular in Canada. And I haven't seen a "machine-wash" type one either. But all over the place they have "hand wash" car washes. You give a fellow your keys and they vaccuum the inside, the seats and carpets etc. then they take it inside the bay and rinse it- take it to the next station and wash it b hand. They had hand-scrubbies to take off the really tough grime. They scrubbed off 10 years of saskatchewan Bug-guts from the front bumper. We had no idea our bumper was that colour under the guts! After that they take it to the next station and they'll wash the inside of the vehicle, dash boards, inside glass, places where the kids hid that taco 4 months ago! I had a pair of new windshield wipers I had bought and was going to put on- and they even put them on for us! I did not recognize the van when they brought it out! The whole ordeal took close to 2 hours!!! I think they must usually have other people working- but today there was 3 of them working and we had to wait in line for them to finish the cars ahead of us. The whole thing cost $8.00 which was more than the $6 he had quoted me at first, but the van was a challenge, and they did an amazing job! Apparantly this is a common way to get your car washed because when we left, there were 6 cars waiting in line. Some of the folks had been waiting almost an hour before their cars even got to the vaccuum station! Mexicans have a lot of patience and don;t seem to get easily riled up by things they can't control. It was an interesting experience!

The Bird Man
While we were waiting for the van to be finished Caleb and I saw quite a sight.
Pet birds must be somewhat popular here in Mexico because we see them in abundance at pet shops. There are a few that put the pets out on the sidewalk for the day and when you stop at that corner (with 2 petshops on it) your ears almost drown in the cacophony of 100+ birds all trying to outdo each other with songs of joy, irritation and or hunger.
Yesterday while we were at the car wash, we saw a guy walking in the little plaza. He had a cowboy hat and leather gloves on, and strapped to his back with a makeshift seatbelt inspired apparatus was a 4 foot tower of birds. He had at least 20 birds in small bamboo-type cages and on top a larger wire cage with a large bird on top- desperatley trying to keep it's balance as the bird man walked along, trying to sell the birds.
I had to wonder if anyone actually buys birds from the bird man?!?! i can understand selling ice cream and frozen fruit sticks and elotes and tmaales from a little cart along the streets. Sometimes people are kinda hungry and when the opportunity presents itself in fron of you, you buy it... But I wonder how many people are walking around the plaza and beach and the streets thinking deep in the recesses of their mind "... boy... I kinda feel like buying a bird, if only..." And boom there appears the bird man, ready to fulfill the basic desire for a flying pet that is kept in a cage! Mexican people are incredibly resourceful, and if someone thinks they may be able to make a buck at somethign- they do it- so he must be either making money- or he's trying somethign new...

Finances
Many of you have been praying for us and our financial situation. I'm happy to tell you that we got a full cheque this month! Praise God! Thank you for praying and for giving! Please continue to pray for regular monthly-giving partners to be added to our team!

Ensenada
YUGO has an outreach Centre in Ensenada, Mexico about an hour south of us. We've been wanting to visit there and see what they do. When we were first thinking of bringing a team to Ensenada a couple years ago, we were interested in their ministry to Native people from Southern Mexico.
Outside of the city in the agricultural area there are several villages- mostly made up of Oaxacan and Mixtecan Indian people. In their home areas in Souther Mexico there is extreme poverty and almost no money as a large amount of the Native people are subsistence farmers. they hear stories of the wealth up north and come looking for a better life. There is mor emoney here, but the cost of living does not match the amount they can make. So often they have both parents working in the farm fields and sometimes the kids too ,in order to make enough to live on.
The kids can;t go to school because they often don't speak spanish when they first come, they have never been to "kindergarten" (an absolute must in Mexico- no kindergartern, no school!) and they do not have "papers" like birth certificates. They are often from very rural areas that are not serviced by many government officials, and therefore lack proof of citizenship, age and /or education.
Yugo has ministered to these folks by building houses, helping to build churches, running daycare and breakfast feeding programs and sending teams for vacation Bible School. The results right now are a few churches that are very very small ( in one area most of the churches have 10-15 people in them) struggling to know how to mkae the ministry their own. The pastors here are great guys, but they have never been discipled. Often times they become Christians and some others in the family and neighbourhood do so afterwards- and the guy whose been a beleiver the longest gets to pastor. But without many resources and no training and no discipleship, they and their churches have been struggling, usually coming to the conclusion that they cannot do ministry without the assistance of American teams coming. The ministry tends to be "hanging on" in between missionary teams. Please pray for these churches that they would experience freedom, and health to be all God would have them to be! It breaks my heart to hear of these churches struggling like that!

Language School

I have been attending language school 2 or 3 times a week for a few weeks now. It is going quite well. I get a little frustrated by the work. I wonder if I'm getting it, because it goes quite fast. But I am finding myself conjuncting the verbs now in conversation with people and sometimes even doing it without thinking. I can see progress. My Teacher, Ernesto, is expecting me to excel to the point of fluidity by June.

Mission Retreat
YUGO is haivng their annual retreat in Temecula California at the Calvary Chapel Conference centre. They have natural hot-springs and a heated pool as well. We are looking forward to taking advantage of those and having a good time of encouragement, Worship and fellowship. It will be good to meet the YUGO missionaries we haven't met yet!

Deputation
I will be in Ontario for deputation from March 7-19th. I am in the process of setting up appointments and speaking engagements. If you'd like to have a visit, see some pics and hear our vision for Ministry, I'd love to have the opportunity to share with you and/ or a group as well! I'm not sure when I will be where, but will let you all know soon!

Thank you so much for praying for us and partnering with us! We look forward to hearing form you and how we can pray for you!

God bless until next time,

Mike

Praise and Prayer Update!

Partners,

   We want to thank you for partnering with us in prayer and support this past month! We sent an email out a few weeks ago and posted it on our blog saying that we had had a glitch in oursupport this last month. Thank you so much for praying. God has been faithful and His people have been generous. As of today (Saturday January 20th) we have raised enough to pay off the deficit in our account and we have received promises of support before the end of the month equalling $1000.00.

  So, that means that we will have $1000.00 or so to live on for the
month of February (about 2/3 of our regular income).

   Thank you so much for praying!! Praise God for His faithfulness!

   Will you continue to pray with us that the remaining amount will be raised for us to have full salary this month? Will you also pray with us for a few more regular committed partners? Our Income
will need to increase in the following months to pay for Health Care costs, deputation costs and ministry expenses as we leave the Language Learning phase and enter the more direct ministry phase, likely after next summer.

   We appreciate you! May God bless and keep you!


Your Missionaries in Mexico,


Mike, Sharlene, Elijah, Caleb and Jacob

Kids New Years Eve at LegoLand

Click To Play

This is a short, 5 minute video of the family at LegoLand California celebrating New Years 2006-2007.

Thanks to Pastor Martin Castro for 5 free passes. Thanks also to Gramma and Uncle Doug and Auntie Barbie for Christmas money that allowed us to go, as well as buy souveniers for the kids!

We had found a brochure for legoland a few weeks ago. The kids were going through it and Jacob, Caleb and Elijah really wanted to go. Unfortunately, these places in Southern California are excruciatingly expensive. It would have cost us $250.00 for tickets plus parking, meals etc... we were sure we couldn't do it, but told them to pray and see what happened.

About a week before Chriatmas I was over at Pastor Martin Castros house chatting when he picked up a row of free passes to legoland and asked if we'd use them! Absolutely! Praise God.

So that was Jesus Christmas present for the kids! And with Christmas money from Family in Canada, we were able to go for New Years eve.

The kids had a fantastic time ( so did we!!) and we're all very thankful for the opportunity to do something like that!

Hope you enjoy the video/ slideshow!!

URGENT PRAYER REQUEST

But God remembered Noah...

5 months they spent in that boat full of animals, going, it must have seemed, nowhere. Noah and his family were locked in the ark longer than we have been in Mexico! But then... that wonderful verse..."God remembered Noah". And the waters began to recede, the end was near.

I was reading this passage the other day. It was one day after we got some bad news, and God seemed to speak to me and say-- "I remember you too...". The shocking news was from YUGO Canada's head office. Due to a clerical error, it was found that we were "overdrawn" in our account by the amount of $2700.00. Our December income was much lower than usual as well which contributed to this. We were a little taken back. "What does this all mean"? we began to ask ourselves.

It does not mean that God has forgotten us nor has he left us stranded. Our needs have been met before, and we are trusting He will meet them again. What is does mean is that:

1. We will not be sending the kids to the private school we had spoken about. That is ok. We thought it might be a possibility, but right now it is not. So the plan for the remainder of this school year is to home school the kids in the mornings and go to a local orphanage for 3 afternoons a week to help out. This will give us (the whole family) a chance to use our Spanish while being a blessing.
2. We need to immediately (by January 31) raise the $2700.00 above and beyond our normal monthly amount in order to receive a cheque at the end of this month.
3. We need to find a few more monthly supporters to keep this from happening again!
4. We need to enlargen our reserve account to pay for extra expenses such as blue cross health insurance ( Due in February); Spring deputation trip to Ontario, Mexican Religious Workers Visa, and to cover months like last December when giving can be lower than normal.

We want to thank you for being a part of our prayer and support team. We are not good at, nor accustomed to soliciting for money. We only ask that you bring this on our behalf before the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Today I was reading the account of Abraham and Sarah. When the Angel of the Lord came down to tell them that in one year, He would return and Sarah would have a son- the promised son... finally. Sarah had a tough time with this news, and The Lords response to her was " Is anything to hard for the Lord"? And again, the father encouraged me... this may seem huge to us, but what about from His perspective? He is still in the business of miracles!

Thank you in advance for praying, and thank you for partnering with us!

If God leads you to partner financially with us you can send donations (with a note indicating it is for the McDonald's) to the following places:

	In the U.S.	In Canada
	YUGO Ministries	YUGO Ministries - Canada
	PO Box 25	PO Box 231
	San Dimas, CA 91773	St. Albert, AB T8N 1N3
	(909) 592-6621	(780) 461-0891
	outreach@yugo.org	yugoministries@cruzinternet.com

May God bless you in this New Year!

Your Missionaries in Mexico,
Michael, Sharlene, Elijah, Caleb and Jacob