Thank you so much for praying for us over this winter! Here are a few of our highlights, prayer request and praise reports!

Project Joy

Sharlene and I have the privilege of organizing YUGO's Christmas gift program, Project Joy. We had about 3000 gifts donated this year going to many churches in Tijuana and Mexicali, Mexico. Project Joy is unique because we get to not only take the gifts out to churches to distribute to the kids in their church and communities, we get to watch the churches, schools and youth groups who compiled the boxes- hand them out too! Many groups from across the US have come down- some for a week, others for a weekend or only a day to partner with a local church in handing out the gifts. For many of the kids in these neighbourhoods, these are the only gifts they may receive this year! It is incredibly rewarding to watch the smiles on their faces and to share the Good News with them that God loved them so much, He gave us the Gift of His Son, Jesus Christ to pay the price for our sins and make a way to God the Father for us!

At one of our outreaches a family group who had recently lost a family member came down to be together reaching out during Christmas time. It was wonderful to watch this family give of themselves for the sake of others and for the Kingdom when they were inwardly mourning the loss of a loved family member. It was there that we met Jael. Jael is 11 and has been attending Pastor Julio's church for 9 months. During testimony time (the kids who know Jesus get an opportunity to give Him praise in front of their peers!) Jael praised God that her Dad had recently surrendered his life to Jesus and as a result had changed his life- quit drinking and neglecting/ abusing the family- and she was not only happy for this Project Joy Christmas box, but for having her family all following Jesus this Christmas!

Friends in Ministry

In January we had friends of ours come to visit from Swan River, Manitoba- Irv, Mari and Leah Penner. Leah had organized a a piano recital / coffee house before she left and as a result was able to raise $1000.00 to buy food and medicine for Vision B Orphanage in Tijuana, Mexico! They were especially blessed as the kids of Vision B surrounded them and prayed for them en masse- thanking God for the gift and asking god to "doubly bless" all those who gave! It was a moving moment for all!



Praise Items

We had some health issues in January with Mike having a debilitating toothache and resulting Root Canal. We also had a lot of rain which, unfortunately, found it's way inside our bedroom walls. Mold began to grow and Shar had multiple asthma attacks. We had her into Emergency 3 times in 2 weeks and into the Doctor an additional 3 times in the same amount of time. Right now we've moved out of our bedroom as the outside gets sealed and we clean up and/or replace the inside walls too. Praise God for better health and that He has provided us with the needed finances to do the repair work!
Praise God also for my Bible Institute courses. We have settled down to about 22 dedicated students who are involved, excited and committed to studying God's Word. We will be finishing Old Testament Survey this month and Starting on New Testament Survey in March.

We are also thankful that God has provided for my ongoing training in Fayetteville, Arkansas in February. I am going to be helping out by teaching a Mini-Perspectives in World Missions-lite course to Medical Missions interns during the summers and may even teach at the Mexico Center for World Missions in the future as well- This week is the preliminary training. Praise God for providing for the costs of this Seminar!

Prayer Requests.
Language School
- We are finding that we definitley need intensive language training- and soon. Sharlene is having a couple ladies over a few times a month to teach her Spanish, while she teaches them English, but it is very slow going. Our kids have very limited Spanish and while I am able to function pretty well, I yearn to be more fluent so I can more effectively teach the Scriptures as well as help my pastors out whenever and however needed. We are planning on going for a month to an intensive language school in La Paz, Baja California, Mexico in May. It will be expensive- around $4000 for classes for all of us for the month- along with renting a place and driving down there (22 hour drive south through the desert!!) Please pray that this amount is supplied!?!

New Class??
I have had multiple requests to start a New Class for the Bible Institute. I have a fellow who could either teach my current class or who could teach the new one, but we are looking to God for wisdom for proper timing. Our Church in Ontario (Faith Evangelical Missionary) has supplied the needs for materials, we are just waiting on God's timing for this- Please pray for us for Wisdom. Our vision is to have many multiples of these mini, Mobile-Institutes
and to have 1000 pastors, leaders and missionaries trained in 10 years!

Ramiro's Church

We have had about $6000 donated to the building of a church in one of Tijuana's poorest area. We need an additional $6000 to build it to the point of being able to close it in and a total of about $24000 to finish it off completely. We are asking God for finances and groups who are willing to come and build this church that is a light in the midst of terrible darkness.






Roofing

We have had the opportunity to hand out a few tarps to pastors to distribute as tools of evangelism in their communities, but they are really only a very temporary- stop-gap measure. We are open to groups coming down to fix roofs in Tijuana. Some of the homes have need of a full roof, others only some rolled tile to keep the rain out. It is raining today and has rained a lot this year-- imagine your house without heat, with open gaps in the walls, a seriously leaky roof and a night time temperature of 2 or 3 celsius?! Please pray and ask God if He would have you come down and fix a roof in His Name!

Thank you for your support in finances and prayers! We love hearing from you! We are glad you have chosen to minister to the people of Mexico with us! May God bless and Keep you and may He shower blessings on you!

Mike, Shar and family