Merry Christmas!!
We were back in Canada over November, as many of you know. While we were there the snow, the lights, the cold all reminded us of a Canadian Christmas. Even though we were a month away, we almost all got that tingly Christmassy feeling that you get around this time of year.
Then it dawned on me...
In the last several years, we've only had a few white Christmases...
We were in Victoria for 3 Christmases- no snow...
Loon Lake for 2 Christmasses- had snow (and cold!! not just regular cold, stupid cold...)
Mexico for a Christmas as we checked out YUGO Ministries.
Mexico for now our 3rd year- living here.
So in the last 9 years (any of our kids memory) we've only had 2 white Christmasses... the green, or "Brown" Christmas is more the norm for us- and yet even for our kids Christmas=snow.
This years Christmas will be quite different from others. We are hosting 3 families from Canada- from La Ronge, SK, Nipawin, SK and Swan River, MB. They are all coming down for almost 2 weeks to experience missions as a family. We're looking forward to the opportunity to serve the families!
We plan on putting some rolled roofing on houses, painting a church, maybe building a bathroom. Besides those things we will be visiting an orphanage, doing Christmas supper with some less fortunate folks, spending Christmas day together, serving pastors and their families a Christmas fiesta supper, handing out Christmas gifts and worshiping in a Mexican church. It will be a busy busy couple of weeks, but we are praying that as we live and work together in community, that God will use us to further His Kingdom and that we will be a blessing to each other and the Mexican people we will be serving.
A couple of Updates---
Pastor Ramiro's church in Valle Redondo (former open-air church) has the bottom floor almost finished now. Lake Morena Community church from just across the border in California have been coming down drywalling, and helping get it all done. They were finishing some of the painting today and it should be ready by this Saturday when we are doing a major Christmas box outreach. This little church of 100 is hosting over 300 kids and their parents to an outreach program where we hand out Christmas gifts to kids who likely would get nothing otherwise. Along with that they get a message about the Good News of Jesus Christ, some music and maybe even some games. Last year when we did this there were only 3 walls and a semi-roof like thing over top! This year we will be dry and warm! Please pray that many families respond to Jesus' gift of Salvation as this church reaches out to their community!
Misi had her surgery in November. She is doing well and will need some follow up work in the next year. I don't know how the family is doing, but will keep you updated as we learn more. please continue to pray for Misi and her family.
Iselda at the orphanage has not yet had her brain surgery to remove the 20+ tumours. They are waiting for the DIF (social services) to buy the materials to use in the surgery. The thoughts now are that she will need to wait until after Christmas. Please pray for Iselda.
Jose (had severe prostate problems) is doing better. He has had several visits to the specialist. These visits and the meds have been costly, please pray for their needs to be met. The medicine is working well and he needs to have more studies done to find out why his prostate is acting the way it is.
Sharlene found a good asthma specialist. For months we had searched in the phone book and Internet and at hospitals for specialists in respiratory illnesses. Respirar is Spanish for breathing and so we looked for a specialist that had that root in it's name. We could not find anything.
Finally I found a website partially in English and Spanish and it turns out a respiratory specialist is a neumologo-- using the Greek root for breath- pneuma... whoda thunk it?!? Anyway he seems to be very good, aks lots of questions and spends 30-45 minutes with you in a visit to make sure he has all the info and is diagnosing you well! She has been on some new meds this last 2 weeks and has improved immensely! She is stable and the doctor wants her to keep going for 2 more months the same way so we can see what she is supposed to be like when she is at top notch! Praise God for a good doctor- they are not easy to find down here!!
Classes are still continuing. We've changed locations so we can have classes even in the rain (this church is on pavement). We have 11 dedicated students who are enjoying their opportunity to delve into God's Word. This session we are taking Biblical Doctrine. God has been very gracious to me as I try to explain difficult concepts in my second language to students who, on average, have an elementary school education! I think my limited Spanish is an asset sometimes, because I need to use simple words and concepts- they are all I know!!
Future thoughts and plans:
I will be teaching a course this coming Semester (Feb-May) at Calvary Chapel Bible College in Ensenada, Mexico (1 hour south). I'm also continuing to train our new missionaries this winter. I'm hoping to get an opportunity to go a little further south into Mexico to scout out the land! I may have an opportunity to go in January, Lord willing!
Thanks for your partnership with us!! You are a blessing to us. It was good to see many of you over November- I think the next visit is yours though!! We have the room, if you need to break out of winter for a week or two- Be prepared to serve and to be blessed!
God bless,
Mike for the family!
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Last legs of Canada Trip...
It's been a while since we updated and not much of great significance happened-- but here is a lowdown on some of the semi-interesting (to us) stuff that went on...
We went to Swan River, MB where we went to a fundraiser for the Families Mexico Mission. Leah Penner and some of her friends raised about $590 to go towards providing for the Vision B Orphanage in Tijuana this Christmas. Praise God!
We had lots of desserts, a music recital by the kids and I gave a short picture presentation of our ministry in Mexico. We had a good time!
Next we went to the Nipawin Bible College Alumni retreat for our final weekend in Canada. We enjoyed staying with Wes and diane Fehr and their kids while we were there. It was a little strange at first to stay with our old teacher (10-13 years ago) and not call him "sir" or "Mr. Fehr". After a few minutes of visiting it seemed more like dropping in on old friends and we had a great time.
Our kids got a chance to go snow-sliding as well on the little hill next to the Fehr's home. It's been more than 2 years since they were able to do that and boy were they happy!
Our final speaking engagement was in a small baptist church- Bagley Baptist- in Saskatchewan. We had supper at the parents of our friends in Tisdale, SK (home of Brent Butt!!) They thought they knew where the church was, but didn't really- so off we went with sketchy directions. We got to the grid road and went straight- for abouy 15 minutes, till we relaized we were lost. We asked for directions, which were wrong, and made our way to the Lutheran church!
We turned around, got to a cross roads and took a vote- left or right (kind of a modern Ummim and Thurim) and turned left. We were 10 minutes away from just keeping going on when we came upon the church! We were 15 minutes late so "snuck in" ( 5 people sneaking into the front-ish rows in a church of 20 people, isn't really sneaky). After some songs it was our turn. We couldn't get the video projector to work! So after 10 minutes of fussing with modern technology to no avail we were ready to give up and go with stories, when it started working!
Afterwards we had a lunch at one of the most elaboratly decorated houses (Christmas style) I've ever seen. It was incredible! The kids counted 30+ Christmas trees, dozens of angels and tons of other decorations! It was a good time to visit.
From there we left the snow jus tnorth east of Saskatoon and really didn't see it again! By the time we got to Swift current, we were peeling off our coats to bask in the +6 weather. By Great Falls, Montana, we were almost ready for shorts!
Traffic was good until Salt lake city- and Las vegas and Barstow, CA. The last day we drove was the day before Thanksgiving and traffic was a mess.
We arrived in Santa Clarita, CA to visit with the Sauers- very good friends of the family. They are RV'ing across the US and Canada for a year and are in California now. So we visited with them for US thanksgiving. Tina Sauers put on an increidble supper - unbelievable considering she did it in a camper trailer! We missed the Canadian Turkey day down here and we happy to be able to stuff ourselves to the gills on casseroles, turkey, cranberry sauce and desserts...
We alos went to Santa Monica Pier to see an interesting site- a small theme-park liek place on a pier. It was cool to see, thoigh Jacob was very sad that we were THAT close to a roller coaster, and he couldn't ride it!
We also swam lots in a heated outdoor pool! It likely would not have seemd warm enough to us to go swimming (66F 18C) had we not gone to Canada, but given our wide, climactic travels this month, it seemed very very nice to us!
We arrive back home last night after fighting LA traffic (1 1/2 hours for about 30 miles) and a flat tire! We blew a tire on the fast lane of the highway and had to pull over to the left- only to realize there was not enough room- so with a flat, smoking, tire we crossed 5 lanes of 75MPH traffic to the right shoulder, (Praise God for his protection!) where we found a safe place to change the tire...
We got home by 9pm and ur house was wonderful! one of the local missionary ladies had someone come in to clean it up nicely, so we had a pleasant arrival home. We're very thankful for Miguel, our housesitter, for caring for our animals and house! It is very nice to arrive home to a clean place with everythign still in it!!
We went to Swan River, MB where we went to a fundraiser for the Families Mexico Mission. Leah Penner and some of her friends raised about $590 to go towards providing for the Vision B Orphanage in Tijuana this Christmas. Praise God!
We had lots of desserts, a music recital by the kids and I gave a short picture presentation of our ministry in Mexico. We had a good time!
Next we went to the Nipawin Bible College Alumni retreat for our final weekend in Canada. We enjoyed staying with Wes and diane Fehr and their kids while we were there. It was a little strange at first to stay with our old teacher (10-13 years ago) and not call him "sir" or "Mr. Fehr". After a few minutes of visiting it seemed more like dropping in on old friends and we had a great time.
Our kids got a chance to go snow-sliding as well on the little hill next to the Fehr's home. It's been more than 2 years since they were able to do that and boy were they happy!
Our final speaking engagement was in a small baptist church- Bagley Baptist- in Saskatchewan. We had supper at the parents of our friends in Tisdale, SK (home of Brent Butt!!) They thought they knew where the church was, but didn't really- so off we went with sketchy directions. We got to the grid road and went straight- for abouy 15 minutes, till we relaized we were lost. We asked for directions, which were wrong, and made our way to the Lutheran church!
We turned around, got to a cross roads and took a vote- left or right (kind of a modern Ummim and Thurim) and turned left. We were 10 minutes away from just keeping going on when we came upon the church! We were 15 minutes late so "snuck in" ( 5 people sneaking into the front-ish rows in a church of 20 people, isn't really sneaky). After some songs it was our turn. We couldn't get the video projector to work! So after 10 minutes of fussing with modern technology to no avail we were ready to give up and go with stories, when it started working!
Afterwards we had a lunch at one of the most elaboratly decorated houses (Christmas style) I've ever seen. It was incredible! The kids counted 30+ Christmas trees, dozens of angels and tons of other decorations! It was a good time to visit.
From there we left the snow jus tnorth east of Saskatoon and really didn't see it again! By the time we got to Swift current, we were peeling off our coats to bask in the +6 weather. By Great Falls, Montana, we were almost ready for shorts!
Traffic was good until Salt lake city- and Las vegas and Barstow, CA. The last day we drove was the day before Thanksgiving and traffic was a mess.
We arrived in Santa Clarita, CA to visit with the Sauers- very good friends of the family. They are RV'ing across the US and Canada for a year and are in California now. So we visited with them for US thanksgiving. Tina Sauers put on an increidble supper - unbelievable considering she did it in a camper trailer! We missed the Canadian Turkey day down here and we happy to be able to stuff ourselves to the gills on casseroles, turkey, cranberry sauce and desserts...
We alos went to Santa Monica Pier to see an interesting site- a small theme-park liek place on a pier. It was cool to see, thoigh Jacob was very sad that we were THAT close to a roller coaster, and he couldn't ride it!
We also swam lots in a heated outdoor pool! It likely would not have seemd warm enough to us to go swimming (66F 18C) had we not gone to Canada, but given our wide, climactic travels this month, it seemed very very nice to us!
We arrive back home last night after fighting LA traffic (1 1/2 hours for about 30 miles) and a flat tire! We blew a tire on the fast lane of the highway and had to pull over to the left- only to realize there was not enough room- so with a flat, smoking, tire we crossed 5 lanes of 75MPH traffic to the right shoulder, (Praise God for his protection!) where we found a safe place to change the tire...
We got home by 9pm and ur house was wonderful! one of the local missionary ladies had someone come in to clean it up nicely, so we had a pleasant arrival home. We're very thankful for Miguel, our housesitter, for caring for our animals and house! It is very nice to arrive home to a clean place with everythign still in it!!
Thursday, November 13, 2008
The Trip continues
We all had a great time in LaRonge. Shar and I lived there for a cup of coffee about 12 years ago and it was amazing how we could reconnect with a few folks almost like we hadn't been gone that long! It's a beautiful place that we are very fond of- it was a good visit!
The boys had their first Saskatchewan snowfall in 2 years in LaRonge and enjoyed immensly the snowball fights, rolling around in the snow and finding fallen trees in the bush to bring back home!
We spoke at the Lutheran church after a Mexican supper and got to share our ministry with a few folks there. I relearned how to drive in snow again- not a big fan of it- I'd rather do mud bogs on hillsides anyday!!
The drive down to Turtleford was through snow and on icey / slushy roads. We're thankful for God's provision of safety for us! We were almost half way between laRonge and Prince Albert (230km trip- without much in between for the first 150km!) when I realized I had not filled up with gas before leaving LaRonge! We turned on the laptop GPS and found a gas station in Weyakwin- not far from where we were. We were able to buy overpriced emergency gas- enough to get us to the city, Praise God!!
Today I slept in! I almost never do that but I slept so late, the sun was up! (which is pretty late in N. Sask in winter!) the folks here (Steins) fixed us an incredible canadian breakfast with bacon, eggs, toast, pancakes with blueberry and saskatoon berry preserves!
We went for a walk to the grocery store- downhill about 4 blocks away and I almost froze my face off! It's only hovering arounf 0C (32F) and most folks here aren't even wearing hats or mitts. Here we were bundled up against the freezing weather- looking like southerners! It took 10 minutes in the grocery store to thaw my cheeks out so I could talk again
Today we're going to go to the local nursing home and share some slides an Shar is going to sing in Spanish. Tonight is a potluck supper and we'll share with the local church what God has been doing in Mexico through us!
Please continue to pray for us- esp. road safety- the roads are slippery and snowy and I haven't got my "snow-wheels" quite back yet!
God bless,
MM
The boys had their first Saskatchewan snowfall in 2 years in LaRonge and enjoyed immensly the snowball fights, rolling around in the snow and finding fallen trees in the bush to bring back home!
We spoke at the Lutheran church after a Mexican supper and got to share our ministry with a few folks there. I relearned how to drive in snow again- not a big fan of it- I'd rather do mud bogs on hillsides anyday!!
The drive down to Turtleford was through snow and on icey / slushy roads. We're thankful for God's provision of safety for us! We were almost half way between laRonge and Prince Albert (230km trip- without much in between for the first 150km!) when I realized I had not filled up with gas before leaving LaRonge! We turned on the laptop GPS and found a gas station in Weyakwin- not far from where we were. We were able to buy overpriced emergency gas- enough to get us to the city, Praise God!!
Today I slept in! I almost never do that but I slept so late, the sun was up! (which is pretty late in N. Sask in winter!) the folks here (Steins) fixed us an incredible canadian breakfast with bacon, eggs, toast, pancakes with blueberry and saskatoon berry preserves!
We went for a walk to the grocery store- downhill about 4 blocks away and I almost froze my face off! It's only hovering arounf 0C (32F) and most folks here aren't even wearing hats or mitts. Here we were bundled up against the freezing weather- looking like southerners! It took 10 minutes in the grocery store to thaw my cheeks out so I could talk again
Today we're going to go to the local nursing home and share some slides an Shar is going to sing in Spanish. Tonight is a potluck supper and we'll share with the local church what God has been doing in Mexico through us!
Please continue to pray for us- esp. road safety- the roads are slippery and snowy and I haven't got my "snow-wheels" quite back yet!
God bless,
MM
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
The Trip Continued
Day 4
We made it through the border (Praise God!!)! We decided to take another route through Saskatchewan instead. While the highways were only 2 lane, there was almost noone on them so we could cruise along them at about 75mph the whole way. We made great time and crossed the border easily and made our way to Martensville early enough in the evening. We had a great visit with the Macoohs. Interestingly enough, our boys connected really well with the 10 and 8 year old Macooh girls (Courtney and Alex) and played and played and played all weekend long!
Day 5
Shar and I went to Saskatoon Saturday morning to speak with the the missions committee of Diefenbaker Drive Community Church. We had a great breakfast and visit and a good time to Share what God is doing in Mexico with us and through us.
We visited in the afternoon with friends of ours from Langham while watching the Saskatchewan Roughriders lay an egg in the CFL West Semi-final. I recovered from the pain soon after and we enoyed the rest of our visit with the Macoohs in Martensville again!
Day 6
We spoke at the Martensville Baptist Church and reconnected with lots of folks there. It is a growing church! When we left they were averaging around 150 folks and after a building program, they had 236 in church on Sunday! Lots of new believers and new attenders! It was a blessing to reconnect with them!
Day 7 was spent running errands in S'toon and then going to Timber Bay, SK. We visited with friends of ours- the Langendoens- for a few hours in Timber Bay. They have 6 kids from 2 1/2 -13 years old so our kids had a blast playing there.
Day 8-
We are in LaRonge, SK- about 400km north of Saskatoon in da bush. There was a mini-blizzard on the way up and it has been snowing today. The boys have been playing with the Karstad kids in the snow. Shar and Wendy have been preparing supper for tonight's Mexican Supper at the Lutheran Church. We're expecting maybe 60 folks from different churches to come by and see what God is doing in Mexico. We are also hoping to raise enough money to build a casita for a family in Tijuana who lost theirs to fire.
God bless, thanks for praying!
We made it through the border (Praise God!!)! We decided to take another route through Saskatchewan instead. While the highways were only 2 lane, there was almost noone on them so we could cruise along them at about 75mph the whole way. We made great time and crossed the border easily and made our way to Martensville early enough in the evening. We had a great visit with the Macoohs. Interestingly enough, our boys connected really well with the 10 and 8 year old Macooh girls (Courtney and Alex) and played and played and played all weekend long!
Day 5
Shar and I went to Saskatoon Saturday morning to speak with the the missions committee of Diefenbaker Drive Community Church. We had a great breakfast and visit and a good time to Share what God is doing in Mexico with us and through us.
We visited in the afternoon with friends of ours from Langham while watching the Saskatchewan Roughriders lay an egg in the CFL West Semi-final. I recovered from the pain soon after and we enoyed the rest of our visit with the Macoohs in Martensville again!
Day 6
We spoke at the Martensville Baptist Church and reconnected with lots of folks there. It is a growing church! When we left they were averaging around 150 folks and after a building program, they had 236 in church on Sunday! Lots of new believers and new attenders! It was a blessing to reconnect with them!
Day 7 was spent running errands in S'toon and then going to Timber Bay, SK. We visited with friends of ours- the Langendoens- for a few hours in Timber Bay. They have 6 kids from 2 1/2 -13 years old so our kids had a blast playing there.
Day 8-
We are in LaRonge, SK- about 400km north of Saskatoon in da bush. There was a mini-blizzard on the way up and it has been snowing today. The boys have been playing with the Karstad kids in the snow. Shar and Wendy have been preparing supper for tonight's Mexican Supper at the Lutheran Church. We're expecting maybe 60 folks from different churches to come by and see what God is doing in Mexico. We are also hoping to raise enough money to build a casita for a family in Tijuana who lost theirs to fire.
God bless, thanks for praying!
Thursday, November 06, 2008
The Trip... so far...
DAY 1
We left at 7:40am from our home and had to run a couple errands on the Mexican side before heading out and made it into the regular line where we waited an average wait time of about an hour. In the US, we had a few errands to run as well and needed to go to the US office near Los Angeles.
We had made it there early enough and it seemed to be too chilly to swim- so we skipped the wigwam hotel and went to Primm Valley Nevada which would have put us ahead of the driving game. This is a casino "town" with several hotels- we got a room for $19.95!! Very cool- The bigger price though was that you had to walk through a smokey casino to go to the room and out of the hotel. The pool was closed at 6pm (for some crazy reason) so we went to the outlet mall to get some food. It was big but not busy at all. Because it was midweek- everything else was closed- the arcades, the pool, the roller coaster, the drop of doom-- everything! It was a neat looking place, when things are open!
DAY 2
So the next day we got off late and made it to Pocatello, Idaho. The motel there had an open, warm pool.
On the way there, we went through the mountains and at 6500 feet ASL we ran into about 2 inches of snow and a mini-blizzard! The boys were so excited we pulled over in a safe spot and had a snowball fight! It was a lot of fun until the cold set in! I was in my shorts and Jacob in his sandals! It was then we realized that we hadn't brought any shoes for Jacob! He apparently doesn't have any shoes that fit him! Which sounds crazy, but he uses sandals for 8 months of the year, so we don't usually buy shoes until November-December and I guess that chore got lost in the preps!
We had a good night sleep and got on the road at about 9am this morning.
DAY 3
We made it through Idaho and into Montana and at the border, we got turned around! I could hardly believe it as is was happening. We cross the US Mexican border at least once a week and have crossed in Us vehicles, Canadian ones and Mexican ones with no issue. I've flown into Buffalo and crossed into Canada with a New York plated Rental vehicle with no problem because I am a Mexican resident. But today was trouble. The border official disputed our residential status in Mexico and sent us back into the states. It was 1 3/4 hours back to Great Falls, MT. Now we are praying about what to do- whether to rent a vehicle ($1600US + $400 insurance- and no where near that amount of money to do it!) or whether to try again to cross at the same crossing or go further east into a MT-Saskatchewan crossing.
I'm going to call the Border services in Montreal tomorrow at 6am our time to see what they say.
Please pray that the Lord would give us favour at the border and we would get a border guard that lets us through!
Thanks and God bless!!
Mike
We left at 7:40am from our home and had to run a couple errands on the Mexican side before heading out and made it into the regular line where we waited an average wait time of about an hour. In the US, we had a few errands to run as well and needed to go to the US office near Los Angeles.
We had made it there early enough and it seemed to be too chilly to swim- so we skipped the wigwam hotel and went to Primm Valley Nevada which would have put us ahead of the driving game. This is a casino "town" with several hotels- we got a room for $19.95!! Very cool- The bigger price though was that you had to walk through a smokey casino to go to the room and out of the hotel. The pool was closed at 6pm (for some crazy reason) so we went to the outlet mall to get some food. It was big but not busy at all. Because it was midweek- everything else was closed- the arcades, the pool, the roller coaster, the drop of doom-- everything! It was a neat looking place, when things are open!
DAY 2
So the next day we got off late and made it to Pocatello, Idaho. The motel there had an open, warm pool.
On the way there, we went through the mountains and at 6500 feet ASL we ran into about 2 inches of snow and a mini-blizzard! The boys were so excited we pulled over in a safe spot and had a snowball fight! It was a lot of fun until the cold set in! I was in my shorts and Jacob in his sandals! It was then we realized that we hadn't brought any shoes for Jacob! He apparently doesn't have any shoes that fit him! Which sounds crazy, but he uses sandals for 8 months of the year, so we don't usually buy shoes until November-December and I guess that chore got lost in the preps!We had a good night sleep and got on the road at about 9am this morning.
DAY 3
We made it through Idaho and into Montana and at the border, we got turned around! I could hardly believe it as is was happening. We cross the US Mexican border at least once a week and have crossed in Us vehicles, Canadian ones and Mexican ones with no issue. I've flown into Buffalo and crossed into Canada with a New York plated Rental vehicle with no problem because I am a Mexican resident. But today was trouble. The border official disputed our residential status in Mexico and sent us back into the states. It was 1 3/4 hours back to Great Falls, MT. Now we are praying about what to do- whether to rent a vehicle ($1600US + $400 insurance- and no where near that amount of money to do it!) or whether to try again to cross at the same crossing or go further east into a MT-Saskatchewan crossing.
I'm going to call the Border services in Montreal tomorrow at 6am our time to see what they say.
Please pray that the Lord would give us favour at the border and we would get a border guard that lets us through!
Thanks and God bless!!
Mike
Monday, November 03, 2008
Nos Vemos!
We'll see you!!
We are on our way as of 8am Tuesday Nov 4 (Election Day in the US). We're going to get to San Bernardino CA tomorrow and stay at a WigWam Mote. You stay in concrete Teepees- kinda like the once motel on Cars. It's on the old Route 66 that runs through the area! Should be very cool, we're thinking!
Please pray as we put on the Kilometers in our new ot us Van. It's a huge blessing that we're able to use it and we are very thankful! Pray for safety for the almost 4 weeks of almost constant driving!! Please also pray fo rour relationships with each other- that we would have all of the pacience we need and that we would be looking out for the needs of each other.
Please pray also that our needs would be met as we travel and speak in churches and with individuals! The expenses often add up quickly on a trip like this one.
Please also pray that we would be a blessing and an encouragement to the churches and people we speak with and stay with- that God would be glorified!
Thanks for partnering with us! Looking forward to seeing many of you!
Mike
We are on our way as of 8am Tuesday Nov 4 (Election Day in the US). We're going to get to San Bernardino CA tomorrow and stay at a WigWam Mote. You stay in concrete Teepees- kinda like the once motel on Cars. It's on the old Route 66 that runs through the area! Should be very cool, we're thinking!
Please pray as we put on the Kilometers in our new ot us Van. It's a huge blessing that we're able to use it and we are very thankful! Pray for safety for the almost 4 weeks of almost constant driving!! Please also pray fo rour relationships with each other- that we would have all of the pacience we need and that we would be looking out for the needs of each other.
Please pray also that our needs would be met as we travel and speak in churches and with individuals! The expenses often add up quickly on a trip like this one.
Please also pray that we would be a blessing and an encouragement to the churches and people we speak with and stay with- that God would be glorified!
Thanks for partnering with us! Looking forward to seeing many of you!
Mike
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Army guys- Prayer request
The violence between Drug Cartels has increased markedly in the last month. The Mexican Gov't has sent an additional 2000 army guys into Tijuana to patrol, weed out and either kill or arrest the Drug Cartel leaders.Since we've been in Mexico there have always been Army guys doing "Random" searches of every 10-15 cars (usually new pick-ups and SUV's) and I've been stopped once and searched, but it was no big deal.
Yesterday I was on my way to classes in the Eastern Colonias of Tijuana when I was passed through an army checkpoint with hummers like these ones pictured here. As I turned off pavement onto dirt- there was another checkpoint- by 2 guys. There were several other soldiers in a nearby house and a hummer driving around. The soldiers asked me to get out of the truck and searched quite thoroughly my vehicle and questioned me about what I was out in this poor area if I lived so far away. after about 10-15 minutes they let me go.
And my 1991 Ford Explorer wouldn't start. It was dead. Nothing. I had forgotten to bring my cell phones ( a big no no here) and was stuck about 1km from the church in a not so safe to walk in area. The soldiers told me to open the hood, so I did (they had large sub-machine guns- I did whatever they asked) and one of them proceeded to hit my battery posts with his gun and then told me to try to start it. I did, and, praise God, it worked. so off I went and off the soldiers went to their next place.
Please continue to pray for our safety. There have been 100 murders in Tijuana in the last 3 weeks. The usual number for a year is about 300+ the same as cities like Washington Dc, New Orleans and many other US cities. But this year the battles between drug cartels and police and army has escalated the violence exponentially. Almost all of these murders are rival drug cartels battling each other or police.
Recently it's become a little closer to home with 2 people we know having had their cars stolen at gunpoint this last year and a teenage daughter of one of our pastors almost kidnapped. There was a police killed on the road in his own car only about 5 minutes drive from us and now- the army's heavy presence in the areas I work. It is fueling a bit of insecurity on our part and could use your prayers for wisdom, discernment, guidance and protection.
Thanks for standing with us in prayer!
McDonald's in Mexico
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
The new Church building
I only have a few pictures to show right now- but here is a bit of the construction team we had here from Sept. 29-Oct 10...
They came from mostly Alberta Canada (one from Abbotsford, BC) to construct this church building in a very poor community of Valle Redondo in between Tijuana and Tecate. It seems a little (a lot!) out of place in the neighbourhood of shacks and squatter homes, but it will serve as a base for ministry to this entire area!
On one of my last blogs I showed the progression of the building from meeting without a roof and only 3 walls to the paving of the cement. These are the stages that we progressed through in the last couple of weeks, Praise God!!
The Canadians were joined by some of the guys form the church that didn't have other obligations. One family are "brickmakers". They rent some land and use the clay on it to make bricks. The landowner comes as the bricks are being baked and collects his 15% of the profits before they are sold. The family then needs to sell enough bricks to buy the other materials needed and pay the rental fee before they can start again. This family had not sold enough bricks to be working making more bricks so they came by to help in the construction. This picture was taken on Wednesday of the first day after 2.5 days of working!
The original goal was to try to get the roof on to keep out rain but the group worked so fast (and well!) that they went well beyond that and got the stairs up (front and back) and the upstairs walls in as well as electricity (with the help of Lake Morena Community Church in Campo, CA)!!
Right now the church in Campo is trying to raise enough money to finish off the insulation, electrical fixtures and drywall downstairs! Praise God!
Here is Ramiro collecting the keys to the church from Don and Judy Kropp- team leaders from Alberta! This is a huge blessing to this congregation and community!
Ramiro immediately plans on starting a daycare in one of the upstairs rooms. Many families work and the kids are left to fend for themselves for a good portion of the day. Often times single moms will put their kids in orphanages rather than let them run the streets.
He also plans on using one of the rooms upstairs to house a sewing shop for church ladies to sew goods to sell in the local markets to try to make a living for themselves as well as support the ministry of the church. They also have a children's feeding program to help feed the neighbourhood kids. This program (and the daycare and sewing shop) could use regular monthly support if you would be so inclined, get in touch with me and I'll help you make it work!
Thank you to the Kropp's group and Lake Morena Community Church in Campo, CA for blessing the Mexican church here in Tijuana. I am certain that this building will be an effective tool in the hands of the local church to spread the Good News of Jesus sacrificial death and resurrection on our behalf!
May God be Glorified!!
They came from mostly Alberta Canada (one from Abbotsford, BC) to construct this church building in a very poor community of Valle Redondo in between Tijuana and Tecate. It seems a little (a lot!) out of place in the neighbourhood of shacks and squatter homes, but it will serve as a base for ministry to this entire area!
On one of my last blogs I showed the progression of the building from meeting without a roof and only 3 walls to the paving of the cement. These are the stages that we progressed through in the last couple of weeks, Praise God!!
The Canadians were joined by some of the guys form the church that didn't have other obligations. One family are "brickmakers". They rent some land and use the clay on it to make bricks. The landowner comes as the bricks are being baked and collects his 15% of the profits before they are sold. The family then needs to sell enough bricks to buy the other materials needed and pay the rental fee before they can start again. This family had not sold enough bricks to be working making more bricks so they came by to help in the construction. This picture was taken on Wednesday of the first day after 2.5 days of working!
The original goal was to try to get the roof on to keep out rain but the group worked so fast (and well!) that they went well beyond that and got the stairs up (front and back) and the upstairs walls in as well as electricity (with the help of Lake Morena Community Church in Campo, CA)!!Right now the church in Campo is trying to raise enough money to finish off the insulation, electrical fixtures and drywall downstairs! Praise God!
Here is Ramiro collecting the keys to the church from Don and Judy Kropp- team leaders from Alberta! This is a huge blessing to this congregation and community!Ramiro immediately plans on starting a daycare in one of the upstairs rooms. Many families work and the kids are left to fend for themselves for a good portion of the day. Often times single moms will put their kids in orphanages rather than let them run the streets.
He also plans on using one of the rooms upstairs to house a sewing shop for church ladies to sew goods to sell in the local markets to try to make a living for themselves as well as support the ministry of the church. They also have a children's feeding program to help feed the neighbourhood kids. This program (and the daycare and sewing shop) could use regular monthly support if you would be so inclined, get in touch with me and I'll help you make it work!
Thank you to the Kropp's group and Lake Morena Community Church in Campo, CA for blessing the Mexican church here in Tijuana. I am certain that this building will be an effective tool in the hands of the local church to spread the Good News of Jesus sacrificial death and resurrection on our behalf!
May God be Glorified!!
Fall in California
We live close to the US-Mexican border so last week went up to Julian, CA to see some fall-like weather in the mountains...
The area is famous for apple orchards and apple pies. We bought a whole pie (cheaper than by the piece) and it was still ovenwarm. The guys were quiet... REALLY quiet while they were eating the pie so we thought we'd better catch the moment on "film".
Here we are at the Apple orchard. Elijah is pretending to pick an apple. It started off chilly that day- about 14C- quite cold for us! It was hard ot believe this place is only a couple hours away from the mild coast and the Hot desert.
We went down the mountain and found a pumpkin patch / petting zoo/ corn maze. Here are some Mexican cows. I assume they are documented...
We picked a pumpkin here and played with the corn cannon and even found popcorn on the cob. you put it in a paper bag for 3 days and pop it in the microwave. very cool.
We were missing fall and the things normally assosciated with Canadian Thnaksgiving. This was a nice blessing! We had thanksgiving chicken (couldn't find a good- whole chicken so bought parts and Shar skewered them together to look like a whole chicken- kinda like a bionic chicken...) and had pumpkin pie, mashed potatoes and gravy. Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!
The area is famous for apple orchards and apple pies. We bought a whole pie (cheaper than by the piece) and it was still ovenwarm. The guys were quiet... REALLY quiet while they were eating the pie so we thought we'd better catch the moment on "film".
Here we are at the Apple orchard. Elijah is pretending to pick an apple. It started off chilly that day- about 14C- quite cold for us! It was hard ot believe this place is only a couple hours away from the mild coast and the Hot desert.
We went down the mountain and found a pumpkin patch / petting zoo/ corn maze. Here are some Mexican cows. I assume they are documented...
We picked a pumpkin here and played with the corn cannon and even found popcorn on the cob. you put it in a paper bag for 3 days and pop it in the microwave. very cool.We were missing fall and the things normally assosciated with Canadian Thnaksgiving. This was a nice blessing! We had thanksgiving chicken (couldn't find a good- whole chicken so bought parts and Shar skewered them together to look like a whole chicken- kinda like a bionic chicken...) and had pumpkin pie, mashed potatoes and gravy. Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
quick update
I haven't blogged for a few weeks here- I've gotten busy with a church build- so I'll give you a quick update and come back later with pics and more details...
As for my dad.. we found him a place in a retirement home that is affordable, gives him lots of freedom and he gets the medical attention he needs. Praise God! Last I heard he is doing well, I hope to get an update soon, things will begin to slow down some here soon...
Church build-- We've had a group from Canada out building a 2 story church building for the formerly "open air church"! They finished today what they can do and tomorrow we have a church dedication. There is another group from just north of the border that is helping put in electrical and drywall. We are praying that God will supply the finances for them to finish the job!
I am having some families down over Christmas time and they may be doing some painting at the church. We hope to have it all finished by Early January, Lord Willing!
I'm off to Canada in a months time to speak in churches as well as speak at the Alumni retreat at Nipawin Bible Institute, my old school. Please pray for the extra needs that come about on a trip like this!
Praise! We are getting a new-to-us Car via donations! Someone has donated a 2003 Dodge Caravan! Praise God! Our vehicles have been in the shop ALOT lately, so hopefully this gives us a reliable vehicle! PRAY... for the extra $700 or so needed to import and license the van in Mexico!
MORE LATER!!!!
MM
As for my dad.. we found him a place in a retirement home that is affordable, gives him lots of freedom and he gets the medical attention he needs. Praise God! Last I heard he is doing well, I hope to get an update soon, things will begin to slow down some here soon...
Church build-- We've had a group from Canada out building a 2 story church building for the formerly "open air church"! They finished today what they can do and tomorrow we have a church dedication. There is another group from just north of the border that is helping put in electrical and drywall. We are praying that God will supply the finances for them to finish the job!
I am having some families down over Christmas time and they may be doing some painting at the church. We hope to have it all finished by Early January, Lord Willing!
I'm off to Canada in a months time to speak in churches as well as speak at the Alumni retreat at Nipawin Bible Institute, my old school. Please pray for the extra needs that come about on a trip like this!
Praise! We are getting a new-to-us Car via donations! Someone has donated a 2003 Dodge Caravan! Praise God! Our vehicles have been in the shop ALOT lately, so hopefully this gives us a reliable vehicle! PRAY... for the extra $700 or so needed to import and license the van in Mexico!
MORE LATER!!!!
MM
Friday, September 19, 2008
Dad update
I was just talking to my sister here and have some info on my dad and an updated prayer request / praise report.
My dad had a few days last week when his blood sugar was out of control. They took him to the Doctor and got his insulin regimen changed and he has been steady now for several days. He has been staying with my sister for the most part during this time and that is working out well. Coulten, my sisters youngest, espescialy loves having grampa around and goes out for walks with him and hangs around alot with him. They are enjoying each others company.
Even their little dog has found grampa a nice, warm, bed partner at night and friend through the day!
He is getting stable and showing fewer signs of the dementia now than he was before. The constant attention and care he is receiving at my sisters house is amazingly helpful. He eats regularly (and healthy!), is constantly reminded of the time of day and the actual day and month and year- which helps him keep on track, and has his medicines regularly as well.
Please continue to pray for long term options for care! We're not sure what will happen with that, but are now convinced more than ever that he needs 24 hour attention and care- please pray for God-given insight, wisdom and tactfulness as we deal with various levels of government as well as family!
Thanks for praying with us!
Mike for the family
My dad had a few days last week when his blood sugar was out of control. They took him to the Doctor and got his insulin regimen changed and he has been steady now for several days. He has been staying with my sister for the most part during this time and that is working out well. Coulten, my sisters youngest, espescialy loves having grampa around and goes out for walks with him and hangs around alot with him. They are enjoying each others company.
Even their little dog has found grampa a nice, warm, bed partner at night and friend through the day!
He is getting stable and showing fewer signs of the dementia now than he was before. The constant attention and care he is receiving at my sisters house is amazingly helpful. He eats regularly (and healthy!), is constantly reminded of the time of day and the actual day and month and year- which helps him keep on track, and has his medicines regularly as well.
Please continue to pray for long term options for care! We're not sure what will happen with that, but are now convinced more than ever that he needs 24 hour attention and care- please pray for God-given insight, wisdom and tactfulness as we deal with various levels of government as well as family!
Thanks for praying with us!
Mike for the family
Church build
This is one of the first views We had of the "open air church" we had heard about. My Spanish was very limited in the beginning- so it took me some time to realize that the pastor and severla of the leaders in that church were in my class! This is a pic of the start of a medical mission we did out there with Al and Barb Goldsworthy.
When the rains came in December, somehow this church in one of Tijuanas poorest areas found some wood to put up a roof. At night it can be quite cold here with temperatures hovering around 0C with plenty of humidity that makes you feel the cold in your bones... it was around this time we thought it might be a good idea to explore the options of putting a building up with them
They found some walls, finally, in the late winter to keep the rain out.
This was the picture in August when they tore down the building and started to clear the land to ready for the build
In the meantime- this is where they are meeting. With the low ceiling and no windows and only tarp roof, the building inside is unbelievably hot! It was about 25C outside the building this morning and probably 30+C inside! I don't know how they do it with the place filled on a hot Sunday afternoon!
The church guys formed the land and put in the rebar for the foundation and strength.
And this morning we put cement down for the floor. We had 18 guys out and a few ladies too. One lady was in the cement raking it about and others were making some lunch for the guys. We had a 10MX15M (32 feetX48feet) pad poured in about 2 hours. 3 trucks of cement.We have a group coming from Alberta, Canada from Sept. 27 until October 11 to put up the framing and the roofing of the new building. We are looking for teams to come help these guys put together the inside as well- gyprock and framing the upstairs Sunday school rooms!
The church is a little over 1 year old and they are asking for 150 chairs to accomodate all the folks that they have- as well as another 70 to use for children upstairs! It is exciting to see what God is doing in the lives of the people in this community. It is rare to see a church with a strong presence of men, but in this one- they have a good core group of men who are leading, serving and doing well. After the meat of the pour was done, I noticed one fella in his 30's take off to an area to read his Bible in between work assignments.
God seems to be blessing this ministry and it is a privilege to represent you all in coming alongside of God and His work in Valle Redondo, Tijuana, Mexico!
Thanks for partnering with us!
Mike
Sunday, August 24, 2008
When coffee isn't enough...
So last night at about 1AM I awoke in excruciating pain with kidney stones. I wasn't sure what it was and after searching the internet for a few minutes we called friends to come over and stay here with the kids while we went into the hospital.I got in almost right away, as it appeared I was the only one in the hospital doubling over in mind boggling pain. They searched for a vein with the delicacy of a farmer on a rare T-bone steak. Finally with a spurt of blood, they found a vein and put the medicated IV on me. Within 30 minutes I was no longer howling in agony. I was in there for another half hour before they let me go, relatively pain free.
By the time we actually got to sleep it was about 4AM. I got up several times in the night to rid myself of excess IV fluid so neither one of us got a great amount of sleep. I witnessed Shar's cure for the morning blues ( "Everything" bagel with cream cheese and jalapenos. "Electric Breakfast") and felt it was blogworthy. I've never seen her do this before, but apparantly it gave her the kick she needed when she had less than 5 hours sleep, and coffee just wasn't enough.
Piedricitas de Rinones.
Kidney Stones.
I (Mike) was in the hospital last night from about 1:30am till 3:30AM getting flushed out after waking up in excruciating back pain.
I've heard it said that kidney stones are the closest a man ever gets to feeling the pain of childbirth- the major difference being that after all is said and done, all you have is a marble sized piece of calcium instead of a baby!
Sharlene was reading in one of our home medical books about a former marine officer who used to get his teeth drilled without anasthestic at all. Tough Marine type dude- and when he had kidney stones, he cried.
No crying for me last night (I'm tougher then a marine??) but there was pain, lemmee tell ya!
No marbles yet and the pain has subsided with meds... I go to the clinic tomorrow (Monday) for tests and we'll see what the doc says after that!
Appreciate your prayers!!
Mike
I (Mike) was in the hospital last night from about 1:30am till 3:30AM getting flushed out after waking up in excruciating back pain.
I've heard it said that kidney stones are the closest a man ever gets to feeling the pain of childbirth- the major difference being that after all is said and done, all you have is a marble sized piece of calcium instead of a baby!
Sharlene was reading in one of our home medical books about a former marine officer who used to get his teeth drilled without anasthestic at all. Tough Marine type dude- and when he had kidney stones, he cried.
No crying for me last night (I'm tougher then a marine??) but there was pain, lemmee tell ya!
No marbles yet and the pain has subsided with meds... I go to the clinic tomorrow (Monday) for tests and we'll see what the doc says after that!
Appreciate your prayers!!
Mike
Tow Truck
I wish I had a better shot of this, but I couldn't get a good one and drive safely at the same time. You can see a tow truck towing a van. The cool part (and you can kind of see it in the other pic) is that this tow truck is attached to another vehicle- in essence being towed by another vehicle- that is being towed by another tow truck!
So in a nut shell- there is a tow truck, towing a van- that is towing a tow truck- that is towing another van!
Here you can see the 2nd tow truck looking awfully close to the van in front- that is because they somehow connected him to the tow-hitch of the van in front of him.You don't see that everyday!
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Library Day
There is a library we go to regularly in Chula Vista, California. We have a membership and borrow many pounds of books each time we go. This summer the kids participated in the summer reading program. For reading 10 books, each of the boys got a free ticket to the San Diego Zoo and free tickets to other attractions around town. They all completed their task- with Elijah finishing with 33 books, Caleb 13 and Jacob 11. We are going to the Zoo sometime soon! YEEHAW!
Last Saturday they had a rally thing with pizza, prizes and the reptile guy. They had 1100 kids participate in the sumer reading program- in that particular branch of the Library! So we sat for about an hour while they drew name after name after name. Most of the kids weren't there. 98% of the names were Hispanic! Caleb won a puzzle, Elijah won a T-shirt and Jacob did not win :(. But everyone went home with something-- a little beach ball, a spider ring- something that may last till we get home!
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
diversion
This is a video of last winter when we shot off some fireworks. Some of it is pretty tough to see, but wait for the actual firing of the rocket. It's pretty cool.
Mexicans seem to love fireworks- they get set off for a few weeks around Christmas and new years- and also for any of the various Mexican holidays. Here in Tijuana area we have enough deportees from the US that they'll even celebrate US holidays like the 4th of July with fireworks. It's legal, inexpensive and slightly dangerous. I almost blew up a neighbours house in the bottom of the canyon last winter. I apologized and all was well. Then I changed the angle of the launcher.
Mexicans seem to love fireworks- they get set off for a few weeks around Christmas and new years- and also for any of the various Mexican holidays. Here in Tijuana area we have enough deportees from the US that they'll even celebrate US holidays like the 4th of July with fireworks. It's legal, inexpensive and slightly dangerous. I almost blew up a neighbours house in the bottom of the canyon last winter. I apologized and all was well. Then I changed the angle of the launcher.
Saturday, August 09, 2008
lots of tears...
I experienced my fair share of tears yesterday- not mine, but the tears of gratitude and the tears of a broken heart.
Yesterday I lead a women's soccer team from a Christian College in California to our Eastern Colonias to help a Christian family with a roof. They had received a tarp last year from us to keep the rain out and it was pretty helpful at least over a couple of beds, but not over the rest of the house.
They live in a 2 room modest home made of scrap wood at the side of the railroad track on squatters land. The husband has health problems and recently had surgery on his intestines. He has been unable to work so they survive on the equivalent of welfare which pays them about $100/ month to feed the couple and their 2 teenage daughters. The mom raises budgies to sell to veterinarians for some extra income. She sells 10 birds for $40 every few months to supplement their income.
One of their teen daughters is about 14 and was about to enter secondary school next week, but cannot because the cost is way too high for them. She is deaf and mute, but has been able to excel in school. Last year she received the equivalent of an A Average and was looking forward to going to high school. The cost for her to go- for books, shoes, uniform and tuition is about $200. About 2 months wages for the family. This is the ordinary cost for this!
Well the team finished putting rolled roofing down on the house and in the end prayed with the family and gave them some clothes and food. At which point in time the mother began to cry. She had tears of gratitude and thankfulness to God for sending this group to be a blessing to them! Their roof before this consisted of plain wood of different types shapes and quality, with huge gaps that allowed the rain to pour in in the winter. Praise God they will be dry this year!!
During this I went to visit a pastor I know in a nearby community. He had recently lost his paying job and has been struggling to make ends meet. He started a welding business out back of the church and he welds gates, doors and security windows out there. The problem he is finding is finding customers! His neighbourhood is quite poor and the material is pretty expensive. There are wealthier neighbourhoods, but people are generally not willing to give half down before the job to someone they do not know. So Pastor Julio is kind of relegated to people he knows who would have the money to pay him.
While we were visiting, Pastor Julio mentioned that school was starting soon and he had 10 kids in his church who can't go to school this year because they do not have the money for books, uniforms and tuition. Tears swelled up in his eyes as he thought of these kids being destined to desperate poverty for the remainder of their lives. But it wasn't so much the poverty he was worried about, it was the things that happen to kids in poverty.
Pastor Julio grew up in a rough family. He was getting beaten so much he left home at 8 years old to live on the streets. He almost immediately turned to drugs and alcohol to dullen the pain and struggled to survive on the streets. At 18 he was drunk, living on the streets and God spoke to a woman who was walking by him. "Tell this boy about me" she sensed God saying. But he's drunk and a mess, there is no way he wants to hear about Jesus! But God persisted and this frightened woman shared Jesus with a drunk 18 year old who had never known love. He believed her and placed his Trust in Jesus and began to follow Him. His life took a dramatic turnaround. He got training and a job as an iron worker and after some time went to a Bible Institute and became a pastor. He has a true pastors heart and loves the people God has given him, especially the vulnerable kids. He had tears in his eyes as he spoke about their potential and their vulnerability.
YUGO's back to school has had to be scaled back this year because of lack of donations. Last summer I went to Canada and shared the need and we had over 20 kids sponsored, but this year we only have received 2 donations from Canada!
If you are willing and able to help there is much need here! We are only able to work with a few of our poorest churches to help at least get the church kids in school as a blessing to our brothers and sisters in Jesus.
The costs are as follows:
High School - $550
Jr High - $300
Elementary - $150
Kindergarten - $120
If your heart moves you and you are willing, you can send a check made out to YUGO Canada to :
YUGO Canada
Box 231
St. Albert, AB
T8N 1N3
Please send a note saying it is for the Backpack program!
Thank you for your love! We appreciate you folks and your partnership with us! I'm hoping to be able to see a bunch of you when I'm back in Saskatchewan and Manitoba in November!
God bless,
Mike
Yesterday I lead a women's soccer team from a Christian College in California to our Eastern Colonias to help a Christian family with a roof. They had received a tarp last year from us to keep the rain out and it was pretty helpful at least over a couple of beds, but not over the rest of the house.
They live in a 2 room modest home made of scrap wood at the side of the railroad track on squatters land. The husband has health problems and recently had surgery on his intestines. He has been unable to work so they survive on the equivalent of welfare which pays them about $100/ month to feed the couple and their 2 teenage daughters. The mom raises budgies to sell to veterinarians for some extra income. She sells 10 birds for $40 every few months to supplement their income.
One of their teen daughters is about 14 and was about to enter secondary school next week, but cannot because the cost is way too high for them. She is deaf and mute, but has been able to excel in school. Last year she received the equivalent of an A Average and was looking forward to going to high school. The cost for her to go- for books, shoes, uniform and tuition is about $200. About 2 months wages for the family. This is the ordinary cost for this!
Well the team finished putting rolled roofing down on the house and in the end prayed with the family and gave them some clothes and food. At which point in time the mother began to cry. She had tears of gratitude and thankfulness to God for sending this group to be a blessing to them! Their roof before this consisted of plain wood of different types shapes and quality, with huge gaps that allowed the rain to pour in in the winter. Praise God they will be dry this year!!
During this I went to visit a pastor I know in a nearby community. He had recently lost his paying job and has been struggling to make ends meet. He started a welding business out back of the church and he welds gates, doors and security windows out there. The problem he is finding is finding customers! His neighbourhood is quite poor and the material is pretty expensive. There are wealthier neighbourhoods, but people are generally not willing to give half down before the job to someone they do not know. So Pastor Julio is kind of relegated to people he knows who would have the money to pay him.
While we were visiting, Pastor Julio mentioned that school was starting soon and he had 10 kids in his church who can't go to school this year because they do not have the money for books, uniforms and tuition. Tears swelled up in his eyes as he thought of these kids being destined to desperate poverty for the remainder of their lives. But it wasn't so much the poverty he was worried about, it was the things that happen to kids in poverty.
Pastor Julio grew up in a rough family. He was getting beaten so much he left home at 8 years old to live on the streets. He almost immediately turned to drugs and alcohol to dullen the pain and struggled to survive on the streets. At 18 he was drunk, living on the streets and God spoke to a woman who was walking by him. "Tell this boy about me" she sensed God saying. But he's drunk and a mess, there is no way he wants to hear about Jesus! But God persisted and this frightened woman shared Jesus with a drunk 18 year old who had never known love. He believed her and placed his Trust in Jesus and began to follow Him. His life took a dramatic turnaround. He got training and a job as an iron worker and after some time went to a Bible Institute and became a pastor. He has a true pastors heart and loves the people God has given him, especially the vulnerable kids. He had tears in his eyes as he spoke about their potential and their vulnerability.
YUGO's back to school has had to be scaled back this year because of lack of donations. Last summer I went to Canada and shared the need and we had over 20 kids sponsored, but this year we only have received 2 donations from Canada!
If you are willing and able to help there is much need here! We are only able to work with a few of our poorest churches to help at least get the church kids in school as a blessing to our brothers and sisters in Jesus.
The costs are as follows:
High School - $550
Jr High - $300
Elementary - $150
Kindergarten - $120
If your heart moves you and you are willing, you can send a check made out to YUGO Canada to :
YUGO Canada
Box 231
St. Albert, AB
T8N 1N3
Please send a note saying it is for the Backpack program!
Thank you for your love! We appreciate you folks and your partnership with us! I'm hoping to be able to see a bunch of you when I'm back in Saskatchewan and Manitoba in November!
God bless,
Mike
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
Multa...
I learned a new Spanish word today. Multa. I learned this when a car with flashing lights (not a police car!) signaled for me to pull over.
It turns out that when you register your vehicle here in Baja California, it is only good until Dec. 31 of that year. I was unaware of this. When the government of BC vehicle pulled me over he asked for my license and wrote me up a "Multa" - a Fine for not re-registering my vehicle. I confessed ignorance because I didn't expect that everyone's registrations would be finished the same day. He said I wasn't that far out from the real re-registration date, because although it says Dec. 31 is the expiration date, they give 6 MONTHs grace for everyone- so it is actually June 31 that it is really due-- without fine.
Better than that, he said that I have today and tomorrow to register the truck and if I did- I could get it done without a fine. So the REALITY is that the REAL expiration date is the day AFTER you get stopped.
So I went and re-registered my vehicle. I went to an information booth that was unmanned and waited. Then I decided to ask another government worker who was engrossed in a magazine where I go to pay fr this and she sent me to cashier #9. Cashier #9 was very pleasant. She took my information and sent me to Cashiers 7 and 5. Cashier 7 was not available so I went to cashier 1 who called cashier 7 over the intercom (READ: She yelled out "MARIO!!!!) Mario promptly came to his desk and took about 12 of my dollars. $8.00 was actual fees of some type. $2.60 was for a certificate that states I don't owe any debts to the government. 25% was taxes to support the ministry of families and Sports and Education. $5.20 was for something I will never understand because it is written with short forms- no real words. and finally there is a $2.00 "Voluntary" donation to the red Cross.
After that I was sent to cashier 5 who wasn't there. Cashier 1 again utilized the intercom system (READ: Yelled out "JOSE!!") who promptly came to help me. There I paid about $90. ($5.00 of which was another voluntary donation. The rest was for various fees that make no sense to me.
So now I know that every year, precisely 1 day after I get pulled over, I need to re-register my vehicle and donate to various government organizations!
UPDATE:
Seve Barboza had her studies done finally and got her results. She does NOT have cancer or anything else grave! (Praise God!) This doctor (the specialist) is asking her to cut back on the medications and see if that helps. He feels that the medications are causing havoc on her system and she needs to rest her stomach and bowels for a few weeks. She has another appointment in 2 weeks to see if she has made any advancement.
Jose is suffering from problems with his prostate. He did get an appointment last week. The doctor ordered him a study- which he can get in a month or so. And another appointment a month after that. He is looking at getting into a private clinic to for the study and result- he could have both of those done by the end of next week, Lord willing. Praise God for His provision for this couple!
OTHER MEDICAL NEWS
A little girl we'd been helping out, Misi, has a cleft palette. She had it fixed last winter by an American doctor at a clinic here, but it did not take well. She needs more work done and one of our missionaries has found an opportunity for her to get a repair done as well as speech therapy to help her make a full, excellent recovery. Please pray that Misi can get the paperwork needed to get this done- they need passports and medical visas which can be difficult to get. Please pray for God to provide them with the needed finances to get the paperwork down. This family are not believers and the father is quite antagonistic to Jesus and his Good News. Please pray that they would experience the love of Christ and respond to Him in repentance and faith!
OTHER NEWS
Our vehicles...
Today I took my truck in to the shop for transmission problems, which turned out not to be too bad. However, I am losing engine coolant- about 2 liters in 2 or 3 weeks. There is no noticeable leak anywhere, which apparently usually means that it is leaking into the engine via a bad gasket. This is a huge expense in Canada/US but here it is not so bad, about $350 and 2 days work. I've been putting in a couple hundred dollars a month into these vehicles for repairs for the last 4 months or so and it is taking quite a toll!
The other day I was driving the van (1994 Grand Voyageur) on errands in the states when I noticed the engine temperature light was going crazy. I pulled over at a gas station and found out that I had very little water left in the rad. I filled it with a gallon of coolant and 1-1.5 gallons of water. It was almost empty! Again- it looks to be a major leak into the engine. This one needs to be done right away or it could seize the engine...
We appreciate your prayers for these vehicles! At YUGO we often have vehicles donated and rarely we have good vehicles donated so we are praying that one comes in that would suit our needs for the type of driving we do.
SUMMER
Summer is going well. Shar is spending lots of time getting ready for the homeschool year starting in September. Class is going well for me. It's been good to be a blessing to the students and see them growing in their knowledge of God's Word. I've been learning a ton as well as we talk about culture and our own ways of serving and loving Jesus! I've also been teaching some medical mission interns and have been enjoying that tremendously.
FALL
Fall is coming up quickly! We have a few plans in the wings.
Construction
We have a team coming down from Alberta to help build a church in Valle Redondo, a squatter village in the far Eastern outskirts of Tijuana. They are building a 10 meter X 15 meter 2 story church building for this church of 75 adults and 35+ kids. It is a growing church plant of almost 1 year. Pastor Ramiro and his wife Katy and 2 other members are in my class and have been a great, faithful addition. They have a great vision for reaching their neighbourhood with the Good News of Jesus and helping with the desperate poverty in their community by providing meals for kids, a day care so single moms can go to work without putting kids in an orphanage ( a common practice here) and a medical clinic to assist with the huge, ongoing medical needs of this area. I'm glad t be able to partner with Ramiro and Katy in their ministry!
Canada
I have been invited to speak in Nipawin, Saskatchewan for their alumni retreat this November 21-23. I'm taking the opportunity to be back to connect with churches and supporters so I'll be back from Nov 5-24 or so, depending on travel costs! At this time the cost to fly and rent a car is pretty high, it's almost the same as driving from here with the whole family! So we are looking for places to stay and people to connect with. If you'd like us at your church, small group, youth group just with your family during that time- please email and let me know if we can work something out!
msmcdonald@yugomail.org
Semi-confirmed Schedule:
Nov 5- arrive in S'toon
Nov 6-15 open (I'm waiting for a response from a church on the 9th)
Nov 16th- North Battleford, SK
Nov 17-21- Swan River, MB
Nov 21-23- Nipawin, SK
Nov 24- Depart for Mexico.
Please let me know if you can give me an opportunity to share a report on the ministry here while I'm back!
God bless!!
Until Next time,
Mike for the family.
It turns out that when you register your vehicle here in Baja California, it is only good until Dec. 31 of that year. I was unaware of this. When the government of BC vehicle pulled me over he asked for my license and wrote me up a "Multa" - a Fine for not re-registering my vehicle. I confessed ignorance because I didn't expect that everyone's registrations would be finished the same day. He said I wasn't that far out from the real re-registration date, because although it says Dec. 31 is the expiration date, they give 6 MONTHs grace for everyone- so it is actually June 31 that it is really due-- without fine.
Better than that, he said that I have today and tomorrow to register the truck and if I did- I could get it done without a fine. So the REALITY is that the REAL expiration date is the day AFTER you get stopped.
So I went and re-registered my vehicle. I went to an information booth that was unmanned and waited. Then I decided to ask another government worker who was engrossed in a magazine where I go to pay fr this and she sent me to cashier #9. Cashier #9 was very pleasant. She took my information and sent me to Cashiers 7 and 5. Cashier 7 was not available so I went to cashier 1 who called cashier 7 over the intercom (READ: She yelled out "MARIO!!!!) Mario promptly came to his desk and took about 12 of my dollars. $8.00 was actual fees of some type. $2.60 was for a certificate that states I don't owe any debts to the government. 25% was taxes to support the ministry of families and Sports and Education. $5.20 was for something I will never understand because it is written with short forms- no real words. and finally there is a $2.00 "Voluntary" donation to the red Cross.
After that I was sent to cashier 5 who wasn't there. Cashier 1 again utilized the intercom system (READ: Yelled out "JOSE!!") who promptly came to help me. There I paid about $90. ($5.00 of which was another voluntary donation. The rest was for various fees that make no sense to me.
So now I know that every year, precisely 1 day after I get pulled over, I need to re-register my vehicle and donate to various government organizations!
UPDATE:
Seve Barboza had her studies done finally and got her results. She does NOT have cancer or anything else grave! (Praise God!) This doctor (the specialist) is asking her to cut back on the medications and see if that helps. He feels that the medications are causing havoc on her system and she needs to rest her stomach and bowels for a few weeks. She has another appointment in 2 weeks to see if she has made any advancement.
Jose is suffering from problems with his prostate. He did get an appointment last week. The doctor ordered him a study- which he can get in a month or so. And another appointment a month after that. He is looking at getting into a private clinic to for the study and result- he could have both of those done by the end of next week, Lord willing. Praise God for His provision for this couple!
OTHER MEDICAL NEWS
A little girl we'd been helping out, Misi, has a cleft palette. She had it fixed last winter by an American doctor at a clinic here, but it did not take well. She needs more work done and one of our missionaries has found an opportunity for her to get a repair done as well as speech therapy to help her make a full, excellent recovery. Please pray that Misi can get the paperwork needed to get this done- they need passports and medical visas which can be difficult to get. Please pray for God to provide them with the needed finances to get the paperwork down. This family are not believers and the father is quite antagonistic to Jesus and his Good News. Please pray that they would experience the love of Christ and respond to Him in repentance and faith!
OTHER NEWS
Our vehicles...
Today I took my truck in to the shop for transmission problems, which turned out not to be too bad. However, I am losing engine coolant- about 2 liters in 2 or 3 weeks. There is no noticeable leak anywhere, which apparently usually means that it is leaking into the engine via a bad gasket. This is a huge expense in Canada/US but here it is not so bad, about $350 and 2 days work. I've been putting in a couple hundred dollars a month into these vehicles for repairs for the last 4 months or so and it is taking quite a toll!
The other day I was driving the van (1994 Grand Voyageur) on errands in the states when I noticed the engine temperature light was going crazy. I pulled over at a gas station and found out that I had very little water left in the rad. I filled it with a gallon of coolant and 1-1.5 gallons of water. It was almost empty! Again- it looks to be a major leak into the engine. This one needs to be done right away or it could seize the engine...
We appreciate your prayers for these vehicles! At YUGO we often have vehicles donated and rarely we have good vehicles donated so we are praying that one comes in that would suit our needs for the type of driving we do.
SUMMER
Summer is going well. Shar is spending lots of time getting ready for the homeschool year starting in September. Class is going well for me. It's been good to be a blessing to the students and see them growing in their knowledge of God's Word. I've been learning a ton as well as we talk about culture and our own ways of serving and loving Jesus! I've also been teaching some medical mission interns and have been enjoying that tremendously.
FALL
Fall is coming up quickly! We have a few plans in the wings.
Construction
We have a team coming down from Alberta to help build a church in Valle Redondo, a squatter village in the far Eastern outskirts of Tijuana. They are building a 10 meter X 15 meter 2 story church building for this church of 75 adults and 35+ kids. It is a growing church plant of almost 1 year. Pastor Ramiro and his wife Katy and 2 other members are in my class and have been a great, faithful addition. They have a great vision for reaching their neighbourhood with the Good News of Jesus and helping with the desperate poverty in their community by providing meals for kids, a day care so single moms can go to work without putting kids in an orphanage ( a common practice here) and a medical clinic to assist with the huge, ongoing medical needs of this area. I'm glad t be able to partner with Ramiro and Katy in their ministry!
Canada
I have been invited to speak in Nipawin, Saskatchewan for their alumni retreat this November 21-23. I'm taking the opportunity to be back to connect with churches and supporters so I'll be back from Nov 5-24 or so, depending on travel costs! At this time the cost to fly and rent a car is pretty high, it's almost the same as driving from here with the whole family! So we are looking for places to stay and people to connect with. If you'd like us at your church, small group, youth group just with your family during that time- please email and let me know if we can work something out!
msmcdonald@yugomail.org
Semi-confirmed Schedule:
Nov 5- arrive in S'toon
Nov 6-15 open (I'm waiting for a response from a church on the 9th)
Nov 16th- North Battleford, SK
Nov 17-21- Swan River, MB
Nov 21-23- Nipawin, SK
Nov 24- Depart for Mexico.
Please let me know if you can give me an opportunity to share a report on the ministry here while I'm back!
God bless!!
Until Next time,
Mike for the family.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Jose and Seve
Praise God!
A couple people have given towards Jose and Seves medical cost!
Since I last blogged, Jose was called into the Dr.'s office and given an appointment for next week with the specialist-- Praise God! He is feeling a bit better lately and is looking forward to seeing what the specialist has to say. Please keep him in your prayers as they do their investigative work with him this upcoming week.
Seve had her colonoscopy and assosciated tests on Friday. She is feeling a little rough after the tests- as she couldn't eat almost 2 days before the test and needed to take something to purge her before the test-- she said it was incredibly disgusting stuff and the purging process was suprisingly less joyful and comfortable than one would think. They gave her a general aneasthetic during the test and afterwards they sent her home while still groggy! She was in, out and home within 4 hours but quite tired and in some pain afterwards. She had one other test afterwards, has one more this coming week and then a consultation with the Doctor to let them know the results of the tests.
We appreciate your prayers on their behalf- they are a great couple whom we've come to admire greatly!
On another note- we had a birthday celebration with Caleb at the drive-in theatre! A fine time was had by all as we watched "Wall-E". We were all a bit disappointed- not that there was anything bad about it, but I suppose we've come to expect a more entertaining film from Pixar. This was ok- but very forgetable.
Thanks to someone's generosity, we'll be taking the boys to the waterpark in August! Thank You and Praise God. It has been a great learning experience for our boys to see the benefits of sacrifice!
Thanks for praying and Partnering!
Until Next Time,
Mike for the family.
Php. 4
I am amply supplied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God. 19And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.
A couple people have given towards Jose and Seves medical cost!
Since I last blogged, Jose was called into the Dr.'s office and given an appointment for next week with the specialist-- Praise God! He is feeling a bit better lately and is looking forward to seeing what the specialist has to say. Please keep him in your prayers as they do their investigative work with him this upcoming week.
Seve had her colonoscopy and assosciated tests on Friday. She is feeling a little rough after the tests- as she couldn't eat almost 2 days before the test and needed to take something to purge her before the test-- she said it was incredibly disgusting stuff and the purging process was suprisingly less joyful and comfortable than one would think. They gave her a general aneasthetic during the test and afterwards they sent her home while still groggy! She was in, out and home within 4 hours but quite tired and in some pain afterwards. She had one other test afterwards, has one more this coming week and then a consultation with the Doctor to let them know the results of the tests.
We appreciate your prayers on their behalf- they are a great couple whom we've come to admire greatly!
On another note- we had a birthday celebration with Caleb at the drive-in theatre! A fine time was had by all as we watched "Wall-E". We were all a bit disappointed- not that there was anything bad about it, but I suppose we've come to expect a more entertaining film from Pixar. This was ok- but very forgetable.
Thanks to someone's generosity, we'll be taking the boys to the waterpark in August! Thank You and Praise God. It has been a great learning experience for our boys to see the benefits of sacrifice!
Thanks for praying and Partnering!
Until Next Time,
Mike for the family.
Php. 4
I am amply supplied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God. 19And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.
20To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Fasting...
Jose and Severa are two of the most faithful people in my class. Rarely do they miss a class unless they are sick (and even then rarely...) or off on a mission trip somewhere in Southern Mexico.
Jose is one of several leaders in a little church that has a missions mindset. The attendance is less than 30 regularly, yet they have sent off and support several missionaries.The average income for a family in the church would be $400/ month. So each tithes to pay the lights, water and propane bills etc. and at the end of each month they take special offerings to pay their missionaries. Much more than 50% of their total monthly offering goes to support their missionaries working with Native peoples of Mexico. A really inspiring group!
On one of their trips to meet with some folks who have gone out from the church to live in the south, they think Severa contracted some kind of disease. She came back with severe, bloody diarrhea. She has seen multiple doctors and was in the hospital for a week. She has to have some tests done (colonoscopy) to check for colon cancer. She has had the diarrhea since March! The problem is that they have purchased government insurance for their medical needs and although the tests would be free, she has to wait until September to get them done! That will have been 6 months with diarrhea and other symptoms until the test, never mind any operation. Tijuana has dozens of Doctors and clinics to take care of this privately, but the cost is about $500.00 and this couple makes less than that each month... If you could please pray for Severa!!
Her husband Jose was on a trip to encourage their missionaries in southern Baja when he woke up in the middle of the night sicker than a dog. A visit to the Doctor provided the same frustration Severa had-- yes you are badly ill, wait several months for an appointment. So they scraped up what they had left for the month and got some tests done. He has severe prostatitis. A normal test for a 50 year old is about 4.5 or so- his test was 25.6! He has had severe fevers for 2 weeks now, extreme pain all the time, but esp. when he urinates and he looks like hes been run through the ringer.
He needs an appointment with a urologist but the government urologist (one for a city of 3 million!) has no appointments. At all. He does not know how long it will take. He has been taking medicine that has helped a little bit- only a low grade fever now, but still excruciating pain. He told me yesterday that a Dr.'s appointment outside of insurance is about $50.00 plus any tests and medicines. But they are tapped out already, having paid a lot for their medication.
So I was talking to my young men (Elijah Caleb and Jacob) this morning about this. We did not have enough support this month to get a full paycheck and I've had both of our vehicles in the shop twice each this month which has further drained the account. I'm wanting to help out, but we don't have much right now until child tax credit comes in on Friday. Even then, after paying the bills that it pays and some gas and food money, we will have enough left for Caleb's birthday party at a water park. So I told them we were cutting back- no eating out for the rest of the month, no tacos or soda or anything like that- but even so, we would not have enough to help Jose out with medical bills.
Then Caleb said "what about the waterpark... we could not go there and give that money to them." Elijah and Jacob agreed. They said it was a much better use of our money to help these guys out--what if the have cancer, or if his infection gets much worse and he gets really sick?!
I am so proud of my men! They get it- They understand loving God with everything you have and loving your neighbour like yourself!
Isaiah 56
Jose is one of several leaders in a little church that has a missions mindset. The attendance is less than 30 regularly, yet they have sent off and support several missionaries.The average income for a family in the church would be $400/ month. So each tithes to pay the lights, water and propane bills etc. and at the end of each month they take special offerings to pay their missionaries. Much more than 50% of their total monthly offering goes to support their missionaries working with Native peoples of Mexico. A really inspiring group!
On one of their trips to meet with some folks who have gone out from the church to live in the south, they think Severa contracted some kind of disease. She came back with severe, bloody diarrhea. She has seen multiple doctors and was in the hospital for a week. She has to have some tests done (colonoscopy) to check for colon cancer. She has had the diarrhea since March! The problem is that they have purchased government insurance for their medical needs and although the tests would be free, she has to wait until September to get them done! That will have been 6 months with diarrhea and other symptoms until the test, never mind any operation. Tijuana has dozens of Doctors and clinics to take care of this privately, but the cost is about $500.00 and this couple makes less than that each month... If you could please pray for Severa!!
Her husband Jose was on a trip to encourage their missionaries in southern Baja when he woke up in the middle of the night sicker than a dog. A visit to the Doctor provided the same frustration Severa had-- yes you are badly ill, wait several months for an appointment. So they scraped up what they had left for the month and got some tests done. He has severe prostatitis. A normal test for a 50 year old is about 4.5 or so- his test was 25.6! He has had severe fevers for 2 weeks now, extreme pain all the time, but esp. when he urinates and he looks like hes been run through the ringer.
He needs an appointment with a urologist but the government urologist (one for a city of 3 million!) has no appointments. At all. He does not know how long it will take. He has been taking medicine that has helped a little bit- only a low grade fever now, but still excruciating pain. He told me yesterday that a Dr.'s appointment outside of insurance is about $50.00 plus any tests and medicines. But they are tapped out already, having paid a lot for their medication.
So I was talking to my young men (Elijah Caleb and Jacob) this morning about this. We did not have enough support this month to get a full paycheck and I've had both of our vehicles in the shop twice each this month which has further drained the account. I'm wanting to help out, but we don't have much right now until child tax credit comes in on Friday. Even then, after paying the bills that it pays and some gas and food money, we will have enough left for Caleb's birthday party at a water park. So I told them we were cutting back- no eating out for the rest of the month, no tacos or soda or anything like that- but even so, we would not have enough to help Jose out with medical bills.
Then Caleb said "what about the waterpark... we could not go there and give that money to them." Elijah and Jacob agreed. They said it was a much better use of our money to help these guys out--what if the have cancer, or if his infection gets much worse and he gets really sick?!
I am so proud of my men! They get it- They understand loving God with everything you have and loving your neighbour like yourself!
Isaiah 56
6 "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness [a] will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
"If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.
11 The LORD will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Quinceanera "Sweet 15"
I had a cultural experience last Saturday- my first Quniceanera!
Quinceanera is a girls 15th Birthday- a HUGE deal here in Mexico! I got there about 1 hour and 15 minutes late, hoping I didn't miss the meal. It turned out nothing had started yet- so I was just on time!
So it starts with music- some kind of Christian pop that celebrates the quinceanera and some girls comes down the aisle(it was outdoors and the aisle was only between 10 chairs in single file- 5 on each side of the aisle.) There were 10 girls likely ranging in age from 4-14. They come down the aisle slowly with flower petal baskets and bubbles. They are dressed in little ball dresses with their hair all done up nicely. Then the crowd stands and claps for the special 15 year old as she walks in between the other girls dressed in a wedding-type dress with a crown on her head as they toss flower petals and blow bubbles at her. She has a specially decorated chair at the front and then a preacher talks for about 30 minutes. He spoke about purity and following God through adolescence etc. Then the birthday girl gets a ring to signify a covenant between her and God to save herself for marriage. She also gets a new pink Bible and a pillow for kneeling on to pray.
Her mom gives her a baby doll that is her "last gift as a child" she then gives that doll away to one of the little girls who had the flower petals and bubbles to signify that she has left childhood and is entering into young adulthood. She was then presented, with her escort, to the world as "Senorita Ramirez"!
She leaves the same way she left to rose petals and bubbles and a song and then we ate Birria ( a pulled beef dish in a sauce-- very tasty!!)
Rights of passage are important, but I was left wondering (with no answer given...) why there isn't a similar celebration for guys- to recognize their "coming of age". I suppose historically it may have to do with when a girl is eligible to be married and for the guys- they are eligible to marry when they can prove to the girls parents that he is responsible enough to care for their daugter...
I watched the cake for a good part of the ceremony. It was a 3 story wedding type cake with 2 other cakes on the side. All the cakes were covered with some veil-like material, presumably to protect them from the hundreds of flies that were around. Eventually the weight of the flies pushed the veil close enough for them to get a taste (or it was close enough already...). And did they feast!! The sight was quite disgusting, and apparantly others shared my disgust as 3 women got up, dis-veiled the cake and shooed the flies away- for 1 hour (or more!!).
Unfortunatly, I needed to go to class before we got to the cake part, so I was left without having a chance to try it...
Quinceanera is a girls 15th Birthday- a HUGE deal here in Mexico! I got there about 1 hour and 15 minutes late, hoping I didn't miss the meal. It turned out nothing had started yet- so I was just on time!
So it starts with music- some kind of Christian pop that celebrates the quinceanera and some girls comes down the aisle(it was outdoors and the aisle was only between 10 chairs in single file- 5 on each side of the aisle.) There were 10 girls likely ranging in age from 4-14. They come down the aisle slowly with flower petal baskets and bubbles. They are dressed in little ball dresses with their hair all done up nicely. Then the crowd stands and claps for the special 15 year old as she walks in between the other girls dressed in a wedding-type dress with a crown on her head as they toss flower petals and blow bubbles at her. She has a specially decorated chair at the front and then a preacher talks for about 30 minutes. He spoke about purity and following God through adolescence etc. Then the birthday girl gets a ring to signify a covenant between her and God to save herself for marriage. She also gets a new pink Bible and a pillow for kneeling on to pray.
Her mom gives her a baby doll that is her "last gift as a child" she then gives that doll away to one of the little girls who had the flower petals and bubbles to signify that she has left childhood and is entering into young adulthood. She was then presented, with her escort, to the world as "Senorita Ramirez"!
She leaves the same way she left to rose petals and bubbles and a song and then we ate Birria ( a pulled beef dish in a sauce-- very tasty!!)
Rights of passage are important, but I was left wondering (with no answer given...) why there isn't a similar celebration for guys- to recognize their "coming of age". I suppose historically it may have to do with when a girl is eligible to be married and for the guys- they are eligible to marry when they can prove to the girls parents that he is responsible enough to care for their daugter...
I watched the cake for a good part of the ceremony. It was a 3 story wedding type cake with 2 other cakes on the side. All the cakes were covered with some veil-like material, presumably to protect them from the hundreds of flies that were around. Eventually the weight of the flies pushed the veil close enough for them to get a taste (or it was close enough already...). And did they feast!! The sight was quite disgusting, and apparantly others shared my disgust as 3 women got up, dis-veiled the cake and shooed the flies away- for 1 hour (or more!!).
Unfortunatly, I needed to go to class before we got to the cake part, so I was left without having a chance to try it...
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
Lights Out
Monday night marked the first chance I had to teach in Spanish since we came back from Chihuahua. I was starting a new course on Preaching Biblical Messages and Pastoral Ministry.
It took an awful lot longer to prepare for this one, because I basically needed to fully prepare what I was going to say in English and then do it again in Spanish... I can't just translate the words because I think it's best to internalize the message in Spanish as much as I can so it comes out a little more naturally than just reading a translated manuscript. I really enjoyed it because I have a teaching manual in English and another in Spanish and doing it in both is helping to expand my vocabulary and see how the grammar works too.
I left a little early to get out there and arrived much earlier than needed. So i took a little tour and took the long way around to the church. By the time I got within 100 feet of the church- the road had been completely dug up to put in some water pipes! So I turned around and tried to take another way only to find myself at the top of a precipice with a "road" going downhill seemingly into a ditch with little other alternatives. So I looked around and found, finally, an alternative route to the church that didn't involve me going the full 10km back around the neighbourhood to get in the other way-- nor sliding down a hill into a ditch.
After I arrived one of my students, Gustavo, arrived with a smile on his face- but no car. "Can't get around the ditch?" I wondered out loud-- no- he'd gotten a ride partway and walked the rest-- his car that he'd had for 3 months had been stolen- along with a baby stroller that they had! He had woke up at 4:30am and everything was OK. At 5am his baby stroller was gone from inside the house and the car had been stolen too! He said all this with a smile and said "God knows what we need and what we can handle"
We went into the church and found that there were no lights. Which isn't unusual, because the church has no "official" power. There are just power lines that cross right over the roof, so they hook a wire to it and connect it to the breaker box and bingo-- you got lights!! Not tonight, though. so Gustavo hopped up on the roof to shimmy the wire but it didn't work. One of the neighbours said that the church had a backup power connection- a wire coming from a neighbours house- when they put their lights on, so did the church! But, they weren't home. So we did the class for about an hour or so without lights.
Down here it gets dark about 8:15 or so, and so about 8:00 the room was so dark, the whole class could've been sleeping and I wouldn't have known- The only reason I could see was the twilight coming through the open door beside me. Just then the neighbours came home and we thought we'd have light! BUT... it turns out the whole side of the road was without lights because when the guys were working on the road, they had either knocked down, or taken down the wire that connected that side of the road to the power grid...
Despite the issues of light and dark, the class actually went well. I was able to communicate pretty well, I think and my comprehension was a lot better than it had been before. The preparation helped to increase my vocabulary and it came out pretty naturally in class. I had a comment that my Spanish is much better now, so that was encouraging!!
I'm back out Saturday- hopefully with lights this time!!
It took an awful lot longer to prepare for this one, because I basically needed to fully prepare what I was going to say in English and then do it again in Spanish... I can't just translate the words because I think it's best to internalize the message in Spanish as much as I can so it comes out a little more naturally than just reading a translated manuscript. I really enjoyed it because I have a teaching manual in English and another in Spanish and doing it in both is helping to expand my vocabulary and see how the grammar works too.
I left a little early to get out there and arrived much earlier than needed. So i took a little tour and took the long way around to the church. By the time I got within 100 feet of the church- the road had been completely dug up to put in some water pipes! So I turned around and tried to take another way only to find myself at the top of a precipice with a "road" going downhill seemingly into a ditch with little other alternatives. So I looked around and found, finally, an alternative route to the church that didn't involve me going the full 10km back around the neighbourhood to get in the other way-- nor sliding down a hill into a ditch.
After I arrived one of my students, Gustavo, arrived with a smile on his face- but no car. "Can't get around the ditch?" I wondered out loud-- no- he'd gotten a ride partway and walked the rest-- his car that he'd had for 3 months had been stolen- along with a baby stroller that they had! He had woke up at 4:30am and everything was OK. At 5am his baby stroller was gone from inside the house and the car had been stolen too! He said all this with a smile and said "God knows what we need and what we can handle"
We went into the church and found that there were no lights. Which isn't unusual, because the church has no "official" power. There are just power lines that cross right over the roof, so they hook a wire to it and connect it to the breaker box and bingo-- you got lights!! Not tonight, though. so Gustavo hopped up on the roof to shimmy the wire but it didn't work. One of the neighbours said that the church had a backup power connection- a wire coming from a neighbours house- when they put their lights on, so did the church! But, they weren't home. So we did the class for about an hour or so without lights.
Down here it gets dark about 8:15 or so, and so about 8:00 the room was so dark, the whole class could've been sleeping and I wouldn't have known- The only reason I could see was the twilight coming through the open door beside me. Just then the neighbours came home and we thought we'd have light! BUT... it turns out the whole side of the road was without lights because when the guys were working on the road, they had either knocked down, or taken down the wire that connected that side of the road to the power grid...
Despite the issues of light and dark, the class actually went well. I was able to communicate pretty well, I think and my comprehension was a lot better than it had been before. The preparation helped to increase my vocabulary and it came out pretty naturally in class. I had a comment that my Spanish is much better now, so that was encouraging!!
I'm back out Saturday- hopefully with lights this time!!
Monday, June 16, 2008
Spring Prayer Letter
Genesis 11:9"Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other."
And still we live with the ramifications of those "Tower builders" who were trying to make a name for themselves. We're not much different, I suppose, hoping to make a name for ourselves so others will know, love and respect us... but that's another sermon for another day- for this letter-- I'm concerned about the languages thing!
We spent 1 month in Chihuahua, Chihuahua in the Chihuahuan desert in a house with, you guessed it, a Chihuahua. While there we took classes in Spanish 4 days a week 6 hours a day (for Shar and I and 4 hours a day for the boys). We all enjoyed our time there and our Spanish knowledge increased over the time we were there. The classes were intense, the heat was stifling (35C almost every day!! 24C in the morning when you woke up and 38+ in our bedrooms at night when we tried to get to sleep!!), the people were wonderful and the experience was a huge blessing.On our weekends we usually took a day to rest our weary minds either at a park or walking through some caves or touring the downtown of the city. We also took at least 1 day every weekend and helped out at an orphanage we worked at with Loon Lake Baptist Church 3 1/2 years ago- but that almost didn't happen.
We spent 4+ hours over 2 days driving around after classes till dark trying to find Susanna's orphanage. I had an idea which part of the city it was in-- but still the area was several square Kilometers big with several thousand houses in it! We drove up and down streets looking for something familiar. We asked Ice Cream men if they knew of it-- but no one had heard of this orphanage! On our second day of searching-- after driving for more than 2 hours into the dark of night, we realized we were incredibly lost. I looked to see the close mountains on one side and deduced that the road home was in the other direction so we turned up a street incredulous, really, that God had not lead us to the children's home. We drove and drove for a couple kilometers wondering aloud why God would not have shown us the place and also debating whether we should return the next day ( a non-school day) to search again, but had pretty much given up. Suddenly, Shar calls out "There it is!! PRAISE GOD!!" and sure enough- it's bright Orange paint had been changed to a pink colour (not that we could tell much in the dark), but there were 3 vehicles on the side of the street- one of them the same SUV she had 3 1/2 year ago-- we had found it!! Or, more accurately, God had brought us here an showed it to us! After 5 minutes or so of bumbling through reintroductions of who we were, Suzanna came up and hugged us tightly! We then heard about her horrible year- how she had lost both her mom and dad within a few weeks of each other after a long time of illnesses. 6 weeks later her brother died suddenly and 4 months after that her son, 33 years old, died in Los Angeles, CA. She was a broken lady in need of love and encouragement. Shar prayed for her as she cried on her shoulders and we renewed acquaintances.
Over the next 3 weekends, we spent countless hours with Susanna and her 37 kids- some of whom were new, some of whom remembered us- playing, making meals and visiting. One day we took all of them to a taco place with a huge playplace and then out to the fair. 40 kids (including ours) and 3 adults- Suzanna and us!! It was a great day with memories that will last a lifetime! We spent so much time just visiting and talking (because we could communicate much better than we could 3 1/2 years ago) that leaving was VERY difficult. At the end Suzanna gave Sharlene a Tarahumara (Indian) dress for her to take home- This is a huge deal! They are unable to sell these dresses, culturally. Every one is handmade and if given away to a non-Tarahumara, it is a sign of love and closeness. Our kids also had a great time and we left very reluctantly.
Our Spanish improved a lot over the month there. We are still needing to review the things we learned so we can put them into practice in our regular lives, but we are thankful for the improvement! We praise God that more than enough came in for Language school and so we were able to share those blessings with the Children's home as well! Thanks to so many of you who gave for us to go-- and thank you for praying for us as well. While we are not yet fluent, we are improving. The "confusion" is being remedied!!!As for this summer we are planning on being busy! I am still teaching my classes to pastors and leaders 2 nights a week. I'll be doing more and more in Spanish, so that means more prep time as I first strive to understand the lessons in English and then move it into Spanish. Also we have 2 Medical Missionary Interns this summer that I will be teaching as well. We will be working on the Perspective on World Mission Course (lite version) that I took this winter. We will also be involved in going out to communities learning first hand the life of a medical missionary. In July and August we have a new Missionary family arriving. They will be working at the Babies home affiliated with Grace Children's Home. A part of my job with them is teaching classes in cross cultural ministry, family life in ministry and other stuff too. We'll also be helping them get settled and acculturated before they get into ministry-life full speed.
There are 4 other projects I'm assisting with or looking at starting or leading-- and I'm hoping you'll pray about a way to be a part of them!
1. School Sponsorship Program
- Last year 20 Canadians participated in the School Sponsorship program. Public school in Mexico comes with a cost and for most of the people we work with, it is beyond their means to send their kids to school. Some compensate by alternating years they send their kids, sending one or 2 every other year or so- others just cannot send their kids at all. We help by purchasing backpacks, new black shoes, books and other school materials, uniforms and tuition. The total cost depends on the age/ grade. What I'm asking is if you sponsored a kid last year and would like to again this year, or if you would like to sponsor a child for the first time, the costs are as follows:
High School - $550 Jr High - $300 Elementary - $150 Kindergarten - $120
2nd Micro-financing.
-It is a relatively new missions concept where we lend money to potential entrepreneurs at a low interest rate with the hope of helping to lift people out of poverty. In some of our Squatter communities there are many single moms (men have basically abandoned the family). Currently the welfare system pays them $25.00/ week. Housing in the squatter communities is "free" with stolen power and no running water or plumbing. So the money goes towards food and transportation. It is awfully difficult to feed 3 or 4 or more kids on $100.00/ month and send them to school. Many times moms will give up their kids to orphanages so they can work. A micro-loan could provide a group of mothers in an neighbourhood several sewing machines and material so they can make things to sell at local markets. This may provide income to a few families. I am talking next week to a group who are interested in hearing more about it. If this is God's will for these communities, we're praying that He lead us to the people int he States and Canada who can finance this and who have business knowledge adequate enough to put something like this together. At this point in time I don't know how I would be involved except maybe as the eyes in the field to look for opportunity and ensure things are going well on this end.
3. Project Joy Christmas Boxes
- Once again Shar and I will be helping to organize the collecting of Christmas boxes for kids here in Tijuana. We are hoping to connect with as many folks as possible to be a blessing to as many as possible here in Mexico!4. Church building project.
- I have a building project I am working on. Almost a year ago Pastor Ramiro and his wife Katy
began to pant a church among the squatter families along the railway lines in Tijuana's far east side. Pastor Ramiro and Katy are students in my class along with two of their church members, Lamberto and Gustavo. They started off with 3 walls and no roof last fall and have progressed to an enclosed building made from scrap wood and garage oors on a dirt floor. Ramiro has a vision for a 2 story building to accommodate the 70 adults and 30 kids they have coming out. He also has a vision for a building to be used for a kids feeding program ( some kids only eat once a day---) and medical clinic as well as a sewing shop for local ladies to use to supplement their income and, Lord willing, run the feeding program. At this point in time we have enough money raised to put a concrete floor and 2 story shell up- and a team to come do it! We are looking for about an additional $12-15000 to complete the interior (wiring, gyproc, etc.) and 2nd floor with rooms. We also need teams to come for a week or so to help with the work. The second building (kitchen and clinic) has not been costed out yet, but if God supplies the needed finances and teams to complete it, we'll get that done as soon as possible~~!Well, that's what we'll be up to this summer/ fall and into the winter! If you would like to partner with us in ministry, there are several ways to do it...
1. Pray! We need regular prayer for language acquisition, for family relationships, for Spiritual protection and power in ministry, for safety and to keep our eyes on Glorifying God as the reason for our ministry!
2. Give! You can give to several areas:
a. Our salary and ministry expenses.
b. The School Sponsorship Program.
c. Christmas Box Outreach Program
d. The Church building project (Pastor Ramiro's Church)
If you'd like to partner with us financially, Please look at the left hand side of this blog for YUGO Canada's address. Click Here For YUGO USA . Please indicate on a separate sheet of paper which area you would like to support. Call the phone numbers listed there for more info!!
3. Go! We need teams to help hand out or collect goods for Christmas boxes (or both!). We need people with a heart for construction and kids ministry to work at building the church while some do kids ministry at the same time. We can use teams as well for almost anything you'd want to do- from blessing an orphanage, to evangelism in churches, to Medical missions in poverty stricken communities. If you have a desire to serve in a life-changing manner for a week or more, let us know and we will do our best to make your time here a God-honouring blessing!
Thanks for keeping with me this long! God bless you for being a part of this ministry- thank you for your Spiritual Investments in our lives and the lives of folks here in Mexico!
2 Corinthians 9
Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 9As it is written:
"He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor; his righteousness endures forever."[a]
10Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. 11You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.
Your generosity is resulting in thanksgiving to God as we recognize that it is HE who works through you to be a blessing here in Mexico! PRAISE GOD FOR YOU!!
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