Christmas Prayer Letter

The tree is up (though the cats have been slowly dismantling it every night), the advent candles are burning low, the weather has turned wet and cool and our grass is starting to grow.

It must be Christmas!

My final exams are all marked, we're making plans to have a Christmas party for the pastors and leaders class and their family and they are getting a much needed small brain break from classes for a couple weeks.








As we head into this Christmas season, we change gears a little bit as we help out getting Christmas gifts down to kids in Tijuana's poor colonias. Shar and the boys are putting together 400 candy bags for kids, we're picking up boxes full of toys mailed to the US office to be handed out and helping organize a few parties. Our fellow Missionaries Jose Luis and Cindy Pesina are doing the lions share of the work this year as they have the contacts both in Mexico and the US to help connect gifts with kids! Their ministry is much more aimed at kids than is ours, so we've asked them to take it over next year entirely and we can come alongside and help them in whatever way is needed.

This has been a good semester of teaching. Our pastors and leaders training is coming to a conclusion this spring. We are working on the 2nd to last course now- "Church History Survey". It is quite information heavy, but has been helpful for them to see the progression of the church through the first 500 years of it's history- both good and bad. We're hoping to have a better understanding of today's modern church and also have a sensitivity to the things that have historically caused the church to slide away from God's Biblical Ideal!

At Calvary Chapel Bible College I taught Minor Prophets to 14 students. It was a good class which solidified our understanding of the message of God throughout the Scriptures- God hates sin and calls us to repent and trust Him. There is a coming "Day of the Lord" when all evil will be judged- and noone will be able to stand without someone to save them. Jesus is the one prophesied about long ago- the Messiah, Christ, Saviour of all who repent of their sin and trust Him.

I found out, though, that I am a tough exam-giver. The students had 2 hours to answer 60 short answer questions and noone finished! Most came nowhere close. I am mean! :) But, thankfully in Jesus there is grace and mercy- so I had both on them and they did well overall! I'm learning a bit about testing and hope to have it down pat some day.

Next semester I am going to be teaching two classes. I have no missionary training to do and so will have the time to prepare. I will be teaching "1 Corinthians" and "Exodus" in the Spring semester.

A few prayer requests concerning these ministries:
1. I graduate the first class of pastors and leaders this spring and am praying about direction for next year. I'm not sure if I should start another class, or help one or two of my current students to teach a class or two. The idea is to train them to be teachers, that way the ministry is not dependent upon a missionary to run it, it can multiply quickly and only needs me in an advisory and administrative role.
2. Calvary Chapel Bible College is needing someone to come on staff full time or 3/4 time to teach a few courses every semester an help out with the administration / discipiling of students aspect of the ministry. Currently they have 1 full time teacher/ administrator. He is swamped and the school is growing each year. I may be able to do the ministry 3 or 4 days a week and commute the 100 mile round trip and then work 1/4 time with the pastors in the colonias. Or we could move to Ensenada (50 miles south) and live in the community that the school is in.
There are plusses and minuses to both options. We would like to have Christ's mind on this!

Finally, Shar and the kids are doing well. We have decided not to put the kids in a private school. Financially and schedule wise it would not work for us. Also we don't think it's the best option for the boys. So we continue to homeschool each day. Sharlene has found a homeschool group meeting twice a month here in Rosarito that she is going out to with the guys. They are enjoying it. They get to meet other folks, practice Spanish and do some other schoolwork while getting input from some other teachers. So far it is working out well.

Thank you so much for your prayer and financial support this last year. It has been a blessing representing each and every one of you who invest in this ministry.

Remember that you have an open invitation to come down and minister alongside us anytime you would like!

Our house is your house!

God bless and Merry Christmas!

Mike, Shar, Elijah, Caleb and Jacob McDonald

cat blog...

We have 3 cats...

Last spring, Elijah had been praying for a cat after our old cat decided to look for a new home. Along came this little, skinny, pregnant cat who also was looking for a new home. We took her in and she had 4 kittens.

We kept 2 of those cats and named them M&M and Tom.

We thought Tom was a boy. But she wasn't- she appeared to be a girl. Which is kinda funny because our old cat, Rosie, was once thought to be a girl. But that theory was proven incorrect when the time came to get her "fixed". Ken Weiers, the local animal fixer in Barthel, SK discovered the fact when he was about to sterilize Rosie. Rosie was actually a boy- or at least she was before Ken got a hold of him, rather- it.

So, we used to have "Rosie the boy cat" and now we have "Tom the Girl cat".

That was, until today...

Today we found Tom the Girl cat doing things that appeared quite "boyish". Sharlene took a bit of a shock, turned the cat over on it's back, and pronounced Tom a boy cat- again. Immediately she dispensed me to the vet before our newly discovered boy cat became a deadbeat dad cat...

So off we went, Jacob and I, to our favourite vet. I don't think he's the best vet, but he's good enough for us. Anyway, I went in, told them about our boy cat problems, and lack of desire for more kittens, and promptly gave the nice lady some money to surgically alter Tom the boy cat (macho in Spanish) into a lesser man- and more of an it. Across his cat carrier was masking tape with "Tom - Castracion". Something twinged deep inside me.

We were told to return at 4:00pm. But after living in Mexico for 3 years and watching the surprise on peoples faces when we actually show up on time- We decided not to go back till 5:00pm. Much to our surprise the first thing the new nice lady behind the counter said was "Tom was not a 'macho'- she is a girl". OH! I said semi-surprised. We thought so til today when she started doing boy cat things. She is one very confused cat (very likely to do with an absent father, a young mother and being named "Tom".)

This news was not utterly surprising, because up until noon today, we'd thought Tom was a girl, so now things were back to normal.

"Normal" will have to wait because "Tom the newly rediscovered girl cat" was still heavily under the influence of anesthesia. The "Doctor" assured me that she would come out of it in about an hour and a half- about 6:30pm.

She is on her way to recovery, but "out of it" is precisley what she is not. This poor cat is wobbling around the house, if she moves at all. Just before we were getting ready to go to bed Shar went looking for "Tom the gender confused cat" only to find the poor furball kind of lieing down with his head hovering over his food bowl, but without eating. As if to be saying "wow... look at all the pretty colours... and shapes... coooool..."

Now I don't know much about cat psychology, but I am certainly wondering if "Tomisita" asked for a couple extra hits of anesthesia when "he" found out she was a "she" again. I can imagine the confusion that must have been going through her poor mind at the moment of discovery... bad home life,given a boys name, discovered she was a girl a few months later, then declared a boy and sent to have her "de-machoed"and then redisovers her girlness just before the knife extracts her femininity once again.

It must be tough to be "Tom the sterilized, confused, heavily intoxicated girl cat..."

As I finish this, Tom has stumbled 5 feet into the dining room where he has passed out with is head in his hands.

Let's hope tomorrow is a better day for Tom.

Sleep well, my friend.

Feeding kitchen project pictures

Click on this one to get a really rough- not to scale idea of the porperty and where the pics were taken from. It may help and it may not!!
















this is a pic of the area from the back door looking down the descent of land. A small fence here-- about 5 feet long- to keep kids from going down this area would be good.















This is a pic from the top of the stairs looking down to the area where the building would be.
















this is a pic from the stairs showing where the small fence is needed.















this is a pic from the "driveway" showing the bathroom and the area where the proposed building would go.















Thi si a pic from where the proposed building would be- showing the existing building and "porch".















this is the existing bathroom. If time and money permits, it would be nice to put something up here.

Pic Blog

Jacob-- pretty intreagued with the starfish behind him...














Love this tree in Balboa park. The roots look like a waterfall!















kittens--s till nursing at 5 months old...















Cowboy Jake...















This is "Pozole". a traditional Mexican soup with pork or chicken, usually, hominy and peppers. After it's cooked and in your bowl- you add cabbage, raw onions, cilantro, lime and radishes.
it is VERRRY good!!















Friday night is family night at the McDonald's. We play games, watch a movie or go out and do something special together. Each kid gets a night to choose the activity and the meal. The parents get a night too! This night we played Jenga!















This is Shar hanging out at a friends b'day party. Volunteers at Grace Children's home have a beachfront condo with a pool and hottub-- so they let us use it for a birthday party! It was VERY nice!
















This is Jacob's famous "Belly Move". He will show it to anyone he meets for the first time- It seems to freak some folks out-- with reason!!
















This is the boys hanging out in a huge tree with a cool root system at Balboa Park in San Diego...
















our crazy cat climbing the steel screen door-- going after moths on the outside...
















Elijah's Birthday cake-- a "litterbox" cake- made in a new (to us) litterbox! complete with tootsie rolls for effect!

November Prayer letter

Hello Valued Prayer partners!

We certainly do appreciate your partnership with us! Thank you so much for your prayers over the last month since our last update!

The last little while I have been marking my Pastoral and Leadership Training students on their teaching methods. The main idea of the class was to enable them to expositorily teach the Scriptures and get the meat out of them in order to grow their congregations spiritually. One of the main needs in churches here is for strong, deep Biblical teaching and this is what we are hoping to accomplish.

I've had 6 students teach so far, from real newbies to seasoned pastors. Overall they are doing pretty well, although it seems to me that for some, the more experience they have the more difficult it has been for them to learn something new. Please pray for our students that they will learn to take the meat of Scripture and feed their folks a steady diet that the people may grow up in Christ and not be tossed around by the mass of false teachers that we have here. (Eph 4:14-15) Read my blog for more details of this part of the ministry!!

The teaching at Calvary Chapel Bible College is continuing. They've asked me to teach another class next semester, I'm just in the process of praying about what book to teach on. Please pray with me on this!

NEW NEWS

I've been given an opportunity to go down to southern Mexico for a week or so in early December. One of our YUGO Missionaries, Efrain Torres, had started a ministry down in his hometown of Acatita, Sinaloa. He is leading a Canadian group down there to do some evangelism in December and invited me to come along to see what is up. I'm looking for a place to take my Pastor and Leaders Training grads to next spring. This area is ripe for the message of Jesus Christ with very little Christian witness. See this article (page 2) from a sister mission MGF who has assisted in some work there...

Please pray that God would supply the finances for this trip-- it is in less than a months time away!

Speaking of finances...

Our last month was quite low. For only the 3rd time since being here we failed to receive a full check. As a matter of fact, our take home amount was about half of what we usually get. So in November we have canceled all non-essential driving are cutting back on our groceries, have shelved a vehicle for the month and are spending as little as we can. God is good and is helping us to reevaluate our needs. Because of having to go out and mark students-- that travel has increased markedly these last few weeks, which means we can do little else! Praise God we had full support before this so our cupboards are doing OK, but we cannot go too many more months like this!!

Please pray that our regular support will be back up to normal this coming month and that God will also provide for the trip to Acatita to help spread the gospel and disciple brand new believers.

Language Acquisition

Finally we're asking pray for our language acquisition. We are finding that Shar and the boys are going through some pretty intense isolation as their limited skills in Spanish hamper their abilities to integrate with the people around them. We had been praying about sending the boys to a local private school-- so they could learn Spanish, make friends and give Shar more time to concentrate on Spanish. But that is not working out.

Our next thought is that maybe we need to take some more intense language studies. They say if you have about 6 months of intense, daily full time study you can become fluent in the language. We've had 1 month of study like that and the rest has been learn as you go. We've probably all met people in Canada from "the old country" who never really did learn English well enough to get by outside of the family- and that is not what we want to have happen with us!

So we are hoping to do 2 months of Spanish this summer in Ensenada, about 120km south of here. 5 days a week 6 hours a day. Please pray that God would give us wisdom and direction in that and that we'd get enough Spanish for me to be fluent and Shar and the kids to be conversant. We'd love for them to be able to get into the community with activities like soccer, swimming lessons, kids and ladies activities at church. We'd also like them to be able to make friends and share the gospel with our neighbours.

Thank you so much for your partnership with us! It is a privilege to represent you down here in Northern Mexico! We are laying up treasures for ourselves in heaven together! I pray that God will meet all your needs according to His Riches in Christ Jesus! (Php. 4:19)!

God bless!!

Mike, Sharlene and the boys

5 Services in a day...

Last Sunday I had the opportunity to attend 5 services-- 1 of our church in Rosarito and the other 4 in the churches of my students.

We've been learning about teaching methods and principles. It has been a long time coming- almost 2 years- since we started the process- and this is really the proof as to whether or not they "got it" or not!

So we went to Church at Capilla Calvario Rosarito -- our church in Rosarito. We have 3 services each day to accommodate the growing church. 5 or 6 years ago they were 40 people meeting together starting a church in Northern Baja. Today it is a dynamic Bilingual church in a bicultural area. We live in a unique area in that 50% of Mexicans have their visas and can cross the US border-- and many do- for shopping, entertainment, work and to visit friends and family (many of whom cannot cross borders). We also receive the lions share of deported Mexicans from the US. Every night hundreds of Mexicans being deported are dropped off at the border and told "good luck" as they enter a country that has become foreign to them. A few of the folks in our church are in that category. They were brought over into the US as preschoolers, raised there, schooled there. It is home. They are culturally Americans. But upon getting in trouble with the law, they are dropped off in Tijuana with a few bucks and a set of clothes. We have many of these folks in our church who either found Jesus in Jail, or while they've been here in Mexico. They are bilingual, bicultural and are learning to fit in both cultures.

Then we have the missionaries who are from the US and Canada and other places. They are not fully North American anymore nor Mexican - but again are bicultural- many bilingual. We congregate here too.

The church is now over 400 strong and continuing to grow. This summer they baptised over 40 new believers. The church is growing numerically and spiritually. One new missionary said recently that she has grown more spiritually at our church in the last 4 months in Mexico than she ever has. We are very thankful for our church and their dedication to preach the Word of God, verse by verse, chapter by chapter no matter who it offends. Every Sunday People are offered the gift of Salvation in Jesus and almost every Sunday someone repents and places their faith in Jesus.

Well after being in the second service last Sunday (from 10-11:15am) We went home, had a quick lunch and Ivan and I went out to the Colonias to listen to my students teach.

It was a bit of a roller coaster day in that somethings went very well and others were quite disappointing.

We were late to the first church, but when we got there they were still singing (probably an hour or more after they started!) As we got there, they shuffled us up to the front seats (!!) in a church of about 50 people. They had an old Fender Monitor for their speaker in the front. All sound that came out of it was LOUD and SHRILL. And we were about 6 feet from the speaker.

Mexicans are generally pretty emotional, so this is shown in church as well. By the time the next round of singing was done, I could barely hear!

My student did her teaching and it was OK. I don't know how often she gets to teach or preach-- but I think it's fairly often. So I was a bit disappointed that it wasn't better, but it was pretty good. She had some good points and her interpretation was good, but she was missing a lot of application. Overall I was pretty pleased with the job she did.

We were late and so had to leave as people came up for "ministry time" ( to be prayed for) and so excused ourselves and rushed off to our next assignment.

We were 15 minutes late and at this church- they start on time. So the student there decided to pray lots and give lots of background information to stall until we got there!! It was Sunday school with about 20 adults.

She did a fantastic job and was passionate about what she was teaching. She did an excellent job of communicating it in an understandable way and we were all able to come out of it with some good points of application. I was VERY impressed with her work, but I was expecting it too. She is always asking Questions in class, participating, investigating-- asking about their own denominational teachings and where they are found in the Scriptures (sometimes they are not!!) and has had one of the most teachable spirits int he class.

Next was church service time at the same church-- we sang for an hour or so, had some time where people could come up and give testimony and then the teaching time. This is where the roller coaster went down again. The speaker there had not done the assignment as I had asked him. It even seemed as if he had completely ignored it and went back to the old way of doing things. The normal way of "preaching" in some of these churches is to read a passage of Scripture and start speaking about other things!! And that is what he did for about 30 minutes. No life application, no real meat. Just milk.
I came away from that place REALLY discouraged. But not surprised. He's been leading in churches for 11 years. And it is very difficult to teach someone new ways of doing things. Although he has been faithful at class, he hasn't always seem convinced of what I'm teaching.
I had the chance to talk to him the other day. I have been very gracious to them in the past, and patient ( they mention this all the time...) so I'd realized I'd earned the right to be hard for a few minutes. I called him out on his lack of preparation and his lack of study. I admonished him to start feeding the people meat or else they will always be babes in Christ. His response was that on Sunday and Wednesday evenings they don't want teaching-- they want music, prayer, testimonies and a little preaching. I've been down here long enough to know that that is not enough for these folks. What happens is they get that for a while, never grow and then leave the church-- either for good- or to search for another one. There are countless stories of churches growing and collapsing because no one ever grew and figured out how to live in community. So as soon as one little thing goes wrong- they bolt and take people with them.

I am going back in 2 weeks to re-test him. and I'm hoping it goes much better.

We had to leave there early too because the next church was a ways away (turned out to be an hour away) in the middle of Tijuana's hills and canyons in an area I'd never been to before.

It was surprisingly dark in the area-- I suppose that there is little electricity in the neighbourhoods and that that there is up there is stolen...

I parked beside someone Mustang ( the horse kind- not the Ford kind) and went into the little ramshackle church building. It was very small (probably seats for 45 folks) and again they shuffled us up to the front. We arrived at the last song of an hours worth of worship to hear the last message of the day at 7pm at night.

Their speaker system was incredible. They had 2 speakers outside so the entire canyon could here them- they were about 3 feet tall by 3 feet wide and really good quality. Inside they had 2 speakers that were about 5 feet tall. Again we got to sit in front of them! It is hard to believe the speaker systems that these churches have. Some have excellent sound systems and no roof even-- their priorities definitely lie in the ability to make the sound ring out in the church and the neighbourhood!!

I wasn't sure what to expect from this speaker. He is a quiet student, but always seems reflective in class. He is a student of God's Word, very humble, trusts Jesus for everything. When he does speak in class- it is always worth listening to. When he gave us an overview of his message, I thought I was maybe a bit hard on him as I asked him what the result he wanted out of his congregation who will hear it. How do you want them to change. Well he took that very well and ran with it. He is not a regular preacher. He is very new to leadership in the church, but his was the best message, by far, of the day. At the end of the message he asked people if God had been speaking to them to come up front for prayer. Usually this prayer time in these churches is reserved for prayer for healing, or release from addictions etc. But here he specifically asked if God was speaking to them and asking them to repent and become more Christlike to come up to the front for prayer. He did so in a humble way, but with authority. about 15-20 people of the 45 folks came up asking for prayer, indicating their need to change.

I stood there and reflected on my roller coaster day, some getting it and applying themselves, others not. And God seems to speak to my heart. He seemed to say that not everyone gets it-- not everyone wants to work at their relationship with Him- not everyone is teachable. But every once in a while you catch one or two or three that get it... that want to learn, want to grow and want to serve Him and see others become more like Him. And this guy-- He got it... I pray that he continues on!!

We have 2 more courses to take-- Church History and Missions / evangelism,/ Discipleship.

Please continue to pray that they "Get it" and become servants who lead.

God bless,

Mike

Homeschol and ministry update

Fall here looks an awful lot like Summer and late Spring, but it brings about a change of pace and direction that let you know the unofficial "New Year" has begun!

Homeschool
Shar started homeschool up a little more than a week after we returned to Mexico. Elijah is in Grade 7, Caleb in Grade 5 and Jacob in Grade 2. They are all doing well and enjoying school as much as the average kids!

This year for Spanish they are working on Rosetta Stone's homeschool Spanish program. In the 2 months that they have been at it- I would say it is the most effective program they've worked with yet. They work for 1/2 hour a day and the change in their ability and confidence in Spanish has been noticeable. The boys have 2 friends in our neighbourhood who speak only Spanish and their ability to communicate is improving as time goes on. We are thankful to see that!

Caleb's favourite homeschool class is science. He and Jacob are learning about Water Creatures this year and are enjoying learning about all God created that lives in water! It is pretty deep (pun intended :)) and we're looking forward to going to an aquarium in Long Beach, CA at the end of this month for a field trip and a low-tide tide pool excursion! Caleb loves to build things with his hands and tools. He has built a scratching post for the cats, and is currently working on a stool for outside. He can often be heard sawing, hammering or otherwise building stuff

Jacob's favourite homeschool class is Reading. He enjoys reading (especially Garfield books) and is getting better at it all the time. One of Jacobs favourite things to do is play with the dogs. He especially enjoys playing fetch with princess- our newest dog. He also still enjoys running and will run in circles, straight lines, on the ground, over top of things... even now as I write this he is walking on a table outside :).

Elijahs favourite class is reading as well. He will often be found reading one book or another and loves to go to the Library to get more books! Recently he has been working on making a wooden sword, whittling away little by little, sanding and soon to be lacquering it. He loves to research new things on the Internet and is a veritable fountain of knowledge.

Sharlene is a busy busy lady teaching these boys all they are willing to learn. Their school day starts at 8:30am with devotions and goes till about 3:00 with a half hour break in the morning and an hour for lunch. Much of her evening time is spent planning out the next day. We usually relax at night with a video. Recently we have been watching Star-Trek the Next Generation or some old spaghetti Western videos we picked up at Wal-mart (20 movies for $5.00!!). She has been missing her friend and fellow missionary Cheryl Hoople who is in Canada for medical reasons.

Leadership Training Ministry

This September I was teaching Cross-Cultural communication to some of YUGO's staff at Grace Children's Home. We had a very good time and they tell me that the information was very helpful in enabling them to serve the Mexican people in a culturally appropriate way, sharing Christ's love in a way that speaks to the hearts of our people here in Mexico!

I started up the teaching at Calvary Chapel Bible College Ensenada again. I have a class of 11 students and we are studying the Minor Prophets. There are 2 English students in the class, so I teach in English with a translator. I love teaching these guys and girls! They are interactive, dedicated to Jesus and His Word, they work hard and are a pleasure to teach! God has been teaching us all great things about His sovereignty, His grace and mercy, his heart for the World and his wrath against sin! I remember my own class on the minor prophets as a student about 11 or 12 years ago at Nipawin Bible College and hope that this class is as influential on them as mine was on me!

We continue to train pastors and leaders in Tijuana's Eastern Colonias 2 days a week. These students continue to be a blessing to me as I see them dedicate themselves first to the Lord and then to the work of the ministry and in growing in His Word. We are learning about teaching Principles and methods right now and they will be providing me with an outline of Ephesians and a lesson plan to be given in their church. I'm looking forward to seeing them at work in their setting over the next few weeks!

This first class of 10 will be graduating in April or May (depending on the weather-- how many days we get mud-stayed) and afterwards I would like to take them on a mission trip somewhere in Southern Mexico where there are no churches to give them an opportunity to use some of what they have learned in a needy area. Please pray with us about the needs associated with such a mission trip as well as the wisdom to know where to go- and how to make the connections necessary to have a meaningful ministry.

I would also appreciate prayer for the future of the pastoral training ministry. The idea is to train those folks who graduate to become teachers. I'm praying for one or two of them to have the desire to train others in their areas. I want to avoid making this a missionary-dependent ministry and so need wisdom and direction to do that. I have been asked by a couple people to consider doing a class here in Rosarito when we are done in the colonias. I've also been approached to do a class out in the colonias again-- but am hesitant to do so if we have some possible teachers out there already. We'd appreciate your prayers!


Church Assistance

We are praising God for His provision for His people here in Mexico. We have received money to sponsor 2 church's kids feeding programs in the colonias along the railroad track. For about $100.00/ week each they can feed about 30 kids / day 5 days a week. Most of these kids are lacking for food at a very basic level. Some only eat once a day- others not even that without these programs. We are praising God for those sponsors that allow us to do this much needed ministry. Each day these kids have a time of Bible teaching and then a breakfast before they go off to school!

We also have been receiving food donations every couple of weeks- about 2000lbs which is shared between 2 churches to hand out to their neighbourhoods. We hope it is an opportunity to soften hearts to the Gospel message in these poor communities!

Thank you so much for your prayers for us and your partnership in this ministry. You are truly laying up for yourselves treasures in heaven as you invest in eternity! It will be wonderful to see together the fruit that God brings about for Himself through the training of leaders and the care of the poor in Northern Baja Mexico! May God be praised and glorified in all that is done!!

Ministering together with you in Baja Mexico,

Summer Ministries

Boy is summer almost done already!?

We got back a few days ago from our summer ministry tour of Canada and I figure it's about time I report on a bit of it!!

Week 1 of camp

Week 1 was spent in Timber Bay Saskatchewan- about 1.5 hours north of Prince Albert, SK. We have been to this camp several times before and their invitation to come speak was the genesis of our trip north for the summer.

It was an interesting week. Stanley Mission is a reserve north of la Ronge and that is where the kids came from that week. There are no missionaries there, no church and only a few genuine believers in Jesus.

The temperatures were pretty cold- it felt a bit like winter to us acclimated Mexicanos, but thankfully we had a warm place to sleep with a comfy bed! Our boys were at Silver Birch Bible Camp that week- the first time all 3 could be campers- and the first time any of them had been there without us! They had a great time and still talk about the fun they had!

That gave us the time we needed to prepare messages for the camps. We came with ideas and topics- but kind of unsure how we were going to flesh it out. So we spent a good deal of the time doing this and giving the messages in the chapels. Sharlene gave 5-10 minute sessions of "kids of courage"- kids in other countries who face persecution and possible death for their faith and yet continue to follow Jesus wholeheartedly. This was a great teaching tool- as many of these kids go back to hostile environments if they choose to follow Jesus!

The kids were quite hard at first. In my 15+ years of camping ministry- probably the hardest kids I've seen. There were a lot of hurts, much fear and an amount of spiritual warfare going on.
God is faithful though and in the process of presenting His Word to the kids- there were a few who responded with repentance and faith in Jesus. There were many others, we found out, who were being attacked spiritually- feeling things, seeing things and hearing things. Satan has quite a hold on these communities and was spending time reminding these kids of who he and his minions are.

Praise God- He gave me a message about the kingdom of darkness and the Kingdom of Light that exposed the manifestations for what they were- attempts to keep the kids in bondage- to steal-kill and destroy them! But that the King of Light had come to give them life- and to the full! over the course of a few days- a few more kids responded to Jesus offer of reconciliation through faith in His sacrifice and repentance from sins! Praise God!

It turned out to be a good week, overall and was a learning experience for many of us!

Week 2- Timber Bay

Week 2 we had the boys with us (after going to Loon lake to get them- then to Martensville to share a bit- then back to camp). This week was unique as well because the local Montreal Lake Alliance Church was there to assist us. They will be running the camp next year as they take over the whole Timber Bay Bible Center this fall. They shared a few things with us on better reaching First Nations children- and it was a great week. What a difference it is with a strong functioning church and transformed believers in a community! These kids were eager and hungry for the Word and the church was ready to do follow-up and discipleship. There were many kids this week who surrendered their lives to Jesus and it is great to hear that the church will come alongside them and walk with them in the coming days and years!!

Week 3- Turtleford

Turtleford camp (Island Lake) was a teen camp- made up of mostly churched kids from the surrounding farming communities. This camp excels in music- so for a small camp- the music was incredible! I spoke on the book of James and Shar did a kind of kids of courage aimed more at teens. It was a very good camp as we challenged the kids to live a life worthy of the calling that they have received! There were many good responses to the offer of salvation and many of the other kids entered a deeper relationship with Jesus! Praise God!

Week 4- Steeprock Bay, MB

This was the first time we'd ever been here- though we'd heard about it before. We only had one short chapel session so it was a challenge to condense the messages down and still try to be effective! God is not limited by our planning or difficulty in preparing and He touched many kids lives with several responding to God's offer of salvation through Jesus Christ. The extra time gave us more opportunity to hang with the kids- and that was nice. These were a great group of kids from the pas- a small town in north Western Manitoba. The drugs and gangs there make it more like a little inner-city though and these kids were obviously more "urban" than the ones we'd worked with in northern Saskatchewan!

On the weekends between camp we spoke at Cornerstone community church in loon lake, Martensville Baptist Church, Turtleford Baptist and Swan River Pentecostal. We visited with old friends and met new ones. We visited and were encouraged by faithful supporters and we connected with many people. It was busy, but a blessing to be able to serve in this way!

Pre-Camp

We arrived in Canada 4 days after our northern journey and stayed at Mossbank, SK for a few days at our friends the Sauers.


It was Matt Sauers 11th Birthday and he was almost jumping out of his skin to see his bestest buddy Caleb had come and brought his whole family too to celebrate his birthday!

Mossbank is a nice little town with an outdoor pool. we bought a week pass for the boys for $10.00 each and they swam every day- almost twice a day. They enjoyed themselves profusely and we did as well, visiting the adult Sauers.

Some of the big differences we notice are the security issues. They can leave the vehicle and the house unlocked, the kids are able to walk around the town without constant supervision, go to the store themselves etc. There are no fences/ gates/ barbed wire / razor wire/ block walls with broken glass on top around any of the houses. well, maybe the occasional fence- but it's usually for privacy more than protection.

It was a good few days to reconnect with friends, rest up from the long trip before a gruelling speaking schedule and reacquaint ourselves with Canada and the culture.

We had a bit of a passport ordeal in the midst of this time.

we were told several times that we could use the short passport form to apply for a passport from Canada. In Regina they made us wait in 2 lines. The first line was to check to see if your passport was filled out correctly. The second line was to see if the corrector corrected your passport correctly- then they plugged it into the computer. The average time we saw people actually processing the passport applications was probably 20 minutes- and that was AFTER their apps had been checked out for errors.

Our was rejected- and we needed a form with a guarantor. So after 1 hour, we left to figure out our next steps.

I was assured that I could use the long Canadian form and not the "living abroad" form- which was going to need a declaration in lieu of guarantor signed by a notary (cost $70.00 each). So we tried it- but in S'toon instead.

In S'toon there was only 1 line. The same person checked for errors and processed the application in usually less than 10 minutes. We were in and out and processed in 15 minutes- despite paying for 1 1/2 hours of parking meter time in the sweetest parking spot around. I almost wanted to wait it out to get what I paid for. I lost the vote though- and off we went to see our friends new baby at the university Hospital!

Irv and Mari have been married for 19 years and have adopted a wonderful girl Leah. Years ago Leah wanted a little brother or sister, but they just weren't able to have kids. Until now. Surprisingly, they got pregnant, and through a difficult pregnancy and 14+ hours of labour- had a baby boy almost 2 weeks ago. And Isaac was born! ( at least that's what I wanted them to call him- but they decided on Jaxson instead!) Everyone is healthy- and tired!

So then we went to Loon Lake to speak at church on the Sunday. we had a great time there and then scooted off to week 1 of 4 of camp!

Canada

Boys by the river near "old faithful"
















Old faithful- we picked a bad spot to watch - we saw mostly steam. but it was cool, nevertheless
















Castle geyser steaming up a storm.
















One of the cool coloured pools. more like a hot tub- a REALLY hot tub. 95C- almost boiling!






We made it safely a few days ago here to Saskatchewan!! Praise God!

Our drive up was incredible- as usual! I love the drive north through mountains, deserts and cities. I've been wanting to go to Yellowstone Park the last few times we've been driving through, but the timing never worked out. This time, we made it work. It was a really cool place! Lots of forests and mountains interspersed with out of this world-like bubbling, hissing and exploding cones of steam, hot water and mud! Probably the coolest part was the last part through the park where you come alongside of a hill that is just steaming at several spots- it looks like some sort of a moonscape or something. It was all pretty cool.

That night we showed up in Harlowton, MT a little town with 2 motels. the first was full and the guy said the other was full too. The problem was that it was 9pm at night, and the next town 1 hour north had all full motels as well. so if we didn't stay here, we were driving almost 3 hours to Malta, hoping that there were motels open there!

Shar suggested we try the 2nd motel in harlowton and it turned out they had 1 room left- single bed mthough- so the boys slept on the leaky air mattress we bought! It was tiny and kinda stinky- but better than sleeping in the car on the side of the road!

Supper that night was at a roadhouse kinda place. we got in 5 minutes before the kitchen closed at 9:30. It was the best meal we had on the trip- fresh salads, good grilled chicken sandwich and real- homemade burgers for the boys. Beats Wendy's by 1000 miles!

I've booked a few places to stay in the past on priceline or hotwire. They are my new favourite travel websites. Our first night we stayed in Vegas and we got a 4-Star hotel south of town with a HUGE pool and hottub and it was the cheapest accomodations we had! The room was huge with a massive flat screen TV, the pool was open all night and by the time we were done swimming and needed a snack- we went to a restaurant in the hotel that had $2.45 ham and eggs and pancakes. We paid $50.00 totla for the room.

The next night we were in Idaho falls and there were no priceline rooms available there. so we took a little motel room for $70.00. The hallways were filthy, the pool was old and the edges were falling apart-- the room was stinky- but it was our only option! We couldn't believe we paid $20.00 more for it than the fancy place we were in the night before!

So far things are going well here. We are visiting friend in Mossbank, SK. It is a nice break before we go full tilt for a month of camps! The town here has an outdoor pool- so we purchased a week pass for the boys and they'l be in it all afternoon- home for supper then back out till 9 every day we're here.

Today Shar has gone out with Tina and abigail to MooseJaw for a girls day out and I'm helping Michael put up a hanging ceiling in their basement.

Weather is nice- 33C yesterday ad sunny and at noon it is 26C today.

Gotta go hang a ceiling.,....

Grad. Mexi-style

Shar and I went to the most unique- and by far most significant- high school grad type of occasion yesterday.

Rebekah Hoople is the daughter of fellow Canadian Missionaries- Rod and Cheryl Hoople. She has also been babysitter to our kids and they have fallen in love with her. Shar and I were asked to be her "Patrinos" which is kinda like god-parents. So we had an opportunity to say something to encourage her at the end of the program.

At this school she attends (Highland Prince Academy) in order to graduate she needs to write a thesis and a tesina. The tesina is basically a plan outlining your goals, vision and mission describing how you plan on getting there. She had to give the presentation in front of 4 Judges (teachers from the school) and about 20 family and friends watching.

With poise and youthful professionalism Rebekah outlined the final project that had taken her a semester to explore, pray about and Seek the Lord on. It has been a great excercise for her. They helped her to identify her strengths and weaknesses- and how to overcome the weaknesses and take advantage of her strengths- and what types of careers and post-secondary training would fit her desires, goals and values.

It isn't officially a "Christian school" ( don't think you can have such a thing in Mexico) but it was started by a church and the teachers are all believers and followers of Jesus. The judges asked some tough questions of her and encouraged her greatly. We had a chance to tell her how much she has meant to our family and encourage her to lay all of her plans before God allowing Him to guide and direct her steps.

This was one of the most impactful things I've ever seen! They helped Rebekah to look over her life and the people and events that helped influence her and she now has a very clear picture of who she is in Jesus and how He can use her to be His hands and feet in the world. She is returning to Canada to work for a year and upgrade English (Spanish English wasn't good enough, I guess!) and then is applying to Prairie Bible Institute's nursing program. We prayed for her and with her parents for God to guide and direct her and for her to make good decisions and this excersize was instrumental in doing that. She now knows her values, vision and mission and will weigh er decisions based upon those- rather than upon a whim, or the suggestions of a peer. I wish EVERY kid had the chance to do this!

We were blessed to be a part of it and are looking forward to seeing how God uses Rebekah in the future. She has a desire to go to Africa but it has not worked out as of yet. As she was checking out Prairie Bible Institute she found out that they offered a 1 month internship / mission to Africa as part of the program. She is a far cry from the old song please don't send me to Africa!

buen viaje (bon voyage)

We're off to Canada for a couple months starting this afternoon.

This morning we're going to do all of our last-minute stuff- pay bills, finish packing- buy dogfood etc. and then head down to las pasaditas for our last tacos for two months.

From there we cross to the US- do some grocery shopping for trip food and then begin the trek through the Mojave desert. The original plan was to leave bright and early- and get to the California-Nevada state line- but that meant we'd be there at 1 or 2 in the aft- in 108F heat! I really don't know how long someone can be in 108F heat before getting heatstroke- but I'll bet you it's not long! So instead of going for a short swim and languishing in the room all day (want to avoid driving in 108F heat too) we've decided to leave this aft and arrive in the desert as the heat dissipates- thus pulling in at 9:00pm or so in Las Vegas- where it'll only be 95F instead. We'll go for a nice night swim and get rested for day two!

We'd appreciate your prayers-- it'll be a long drive! As well- I've been taking some antibiotics and they seem to have affected my normal flora and fauna and it's causing me to need to be close to a washroom. I'm hoping that it is passing this morning and we can do this voyage without the inconvenience of hourly emergency stops!

The kids are REALLY excited to go back- they will be spending a week at Silver Birch Bible Camp in Loon Lake-- it will be Jacobs first year in a cabin! Even before we knew we'd be coming back- he was talking about how it would have been his first year and how much he'd like to go. The other two as well were talking about Silver Birch lots. Last year was the first year we've not been at a camp- for at least 1 week- in almost all of their lives!

God bless and thanks for praying!

not so mini update...

Happy Last Day of Spring!

On this last day of spring in Playa de Rosarito, Mexico, our grass is dead, it hasn't rained for 3 months and the daily weather is a steady 22C and "June Gloom" means we have overcast mornings almost every day here at the coast. But just as each spring turns into summer, God has continued to be faithful in our lives.

In May-June we were having some financial issues coming up- with getting our visas and some other things that were out of the ordinary costly. Thank you for Praying- all of our needs have been met!!!

Since last fall we were planning on going to Ontario to visit relatives and speak in some churches to raise support. Through God-ordained circumstances- we were not able to go this spring. It was somewhat saddening because my dad hasn't been in great health and our other parents are getting older and we realize that each time we get to see them- may be the last. It has been 3 years since we were back in Ontario- and we haven't all seen Shar's family since then. I've been back on deputation- and my dad's medical emergency- a few times, but they and the kids and Shar have not been reacquainted for too long.

A few weeks ago I was talking to a friend of mine in Saskatchewan and he asked if we could come speak at his camp for 2 weeks- kinda half-jokingly. I said we'd pray about it and see what happened. Well within a week or 2, I had 4 weeks of camp speaking engagements- some times to share in churches and a full July Schedule! You may remember my prayer request in our last letter for some wisdom on summer ministry opportunities- since they dried right up here till the end of August! So we became convinced that God was giving us the go ahead to go back to SK and MB for camp ministries this summer.

We are also planning on going back to Ontario before we head back to Mexico. It's not really a lot closer from MB to Ontario then from Mexico, but we asked for wisdom and believe it'd be the best, wisest thing to do while we have the opportunity and time this summer. All that to say that we will be in Ontario for 2 weeks in August. From Aug. 5th -12th in Wasaga Beach area and from Aug. 12-19 in Hamilton area. We have yet to secure any speaking engagements during that time- so if you are there and would like to have us come to your church , cell group, youth group or just over for supper to hear how things are going- we'd be more than willing to try to make it work in our schedule! After that it is a 4 day drive back to Mexico.

When we get back, we'll be jumping right back into ministry with some missionary training in September and my regular pastoral training and Bible College teaching in Ensenada.

Thank you again for your partnership with us in prayer-- a couple of prayer and praise items:

LAMBERTO: ( Neck Surgery this winter) just received a $1000 gift for his medical needs. They still owe the doctor this amount because one person who said he was going to pay this amount for his care- never did ( he owed them this money for a property the sold to him). However, the doctor has all but abandoned Lamberto in his "recovery"- so we are praying for wisdom as to what to do with this money- pay off the doctor or seek additional medical care to assist in Lamberto's recovery. His pastor, Ramiro- will be making this decision this summer.

Daniel and Dolores: Have started on their taco cart business this week- thanks to the gifts of friends from Canada! They are also praying about starting a feeding program in their impoverished neighbourhood that is in desperate need. There are at least 70 kids in need of daily food, if they had the finances to do so! Please pray for this need!

Severa Barboza (Student in pastors-leaders training) leaves June 28 for Nayarit, Mexico for 1 month. Seve is older than 60 and is married to Jose ( who is also in my class) She is going to this area in southern Mexico where some people travel up to 4 hours to find an Evangelical church to worship in. It is a desperately needy area for the gospel- many towns and villages have no Christian witness. Seve goes down- stays with the people and disciples the believers and shares the Good News with the others. It has been a fruitful ministry- but it is tough on her. She has few means and relies on the hospitality of the people to live there. Please pray for Seve's health and for her ministry there in the month of July- that the God of all the universe would be glorified!!

Our finances God has been generous to us supplying our needs for new visas and other spring needs that came up. We have received some other gifts and promises that will help pay for our way to Canada! PRAISE GOD! Please pray that all of our needs would be met in our voyage to Sask, Manitoba and Ontario and Back- and that our monthly support would be where Jesus wants it to be for the fall and winter!

Thanks again for your partnership in this ministry. We honestly feel as if we are an extension of your ministry and are humbled and honored that we can work together with you! ¹⁰For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Eph 2:10.

It is exciting to partner with you to do those works here in Mexico!

May God bless you!

McDonald family.

June Prayer letter

Hey folks,

Thank you so much for your continued partnership with us. Together, during the first 6 months of 2009 we have served many in the name of Jesus- whether it was with a Christmas gift or rice and beans in Jesus name, some Biblical teaching and fellowship- (Iron sharpening Iron) or North Americans experiencing Missions- there have been hundreds touched though your partnership with us! Your ministry expands beyond the borders of Saskatchewan, Ontario, Manitoba or California and we are grateful to represent the Love of Christ that is in you, here in Tijuana Mexico!!

We've had a few good weeks here since I last wrote a big update and report!

So here are some updates on prayer requests and people- and after I'll let you know a bit of what's been happening lately...

1. Health Shar is doing much better. She had a flu, but slept it off for a few days and took some antibiotics and now she is back about 100% Praise God! The kids and I got it slightly as well, but it was pretty mild and we've all almost completely recovered.
   
2. Lamberto- Has not been doing well lately. Because none of us are doctors, we cannot adequately figure out why or why not. The doctor he went to for surgery is not being particularly helpful when it comes to follow up and recovery. He is still confined to a wheelchair and is in some discomfort. Please pray for wisdom to know what to do in his situation.
3. Our neighbour lady who was being threatened by cartel guys has been doing well. Her husband comes back and spends many nights of the week with her and commutes to his job in San Diego. They have not been contacted since. We wonder if it was a case of mistaken identity.
4. Leadership Training- I am done with out new missionary training for the summer. We had 7 people taking the class over the course of the school year. It seemed to be well received! My Bible College class ended in May. I taught James to 10 students at Calvary Chapel Bible College- Mexico in Ensenada- about 1 hour south of where we live. I loved this once/ week class and learned as much or more than the students did! The Pastoral Training that I do twice a week is going strong in Tijuana's poor Eastern Colonias. We have 10 students and they are faithful and love participating in the class. It is a stretching time as we challenge our perceptions and search the Scriptures together for Gods perspective. It continues to be a blessing to be involved in the lives of these servants of Jesus!

And now for recent happenings---

Food! We have been blessed by a contact with Club Dust ministries and Strong Tower ministries to provide food for two of the churches we work with in the poorest areas of Tijuana. Pastor Ramiro and Pastor Manuel cross over to the US once or twice a week to collect 1000lbs of food at a time to bring back to their areas to bless folks with some of the desperate needs that there are in that area. I went out with Pastor Ramiro the other day as he took bags of food out to 56 families along the railroad tracks. I was taken aback to see the multitudes come for food. The economic crisis has hit here with such force it is hard to put into words. Many 1 income families who used to make $200- $400 / month are now either out of work or the hours have been cut back so much that buying food is difficult, if not impossible. We are so thankful for the timing of this blessing, but also aware of the pressing need for an economic recovery here in Mexico. Please pray for the children and families in need here- and pray that they will not only seek out bread but also Jesus- the Bread of Life.

Homeschool The boys have been doing well in their studies. We did a wholesale change this year because it seemed as if the curriculum we were using was not being as effective as we would like. So it has added A LOT of work to Shar's preparation and delivery of the material, but the amount of learning that is going on is incredible! Our boys were struggling in the basics of math- so this year we tried a new math curriculum from scratch and where as Elijah was using his fingers and hands to add, subtract and multiply last year (which made all other math difficult, time consuming and, usually, wrong!) this year he has it all down pat and is flying through division this summer and will likely be up to his normal grade 7 level by around Christmas. Also- Caleb has continuously struggled with reading. With some concerted effort- and lots of help from mom, he is excelling in his reading and writing and will very likely be a very proficient- possibly above average reader some day soon! Jacob has just gotten started in his school career and so is excelling in his studies too! We are very thankful for God's grace and enabling! He has been good to us, indeed!

Other Stuff -- one of our dogs had 10 puppies this spring- we kept one and so now have 4 dogs again! We also found a cat (Elijah has been praying for a cat for months) that was pregnant and kicked out of her house. With Shar's approval, we brought her in, named her "Bengal" and she had 4 kittens last week. We've found that kittens are, so far, A LOT less work than dogs! With the puppies, we needed to construct a pen for them- and with kittens- a box with a towel is just fine! We will also be getting a turtle in the summer as a missionary kid will be moving back to Canada to go to College this fall. The farm just keeps growing!

Future Stuff This fall I will be continuing teaching the Pastors Training. We have about 6 months left on it- maybe 8- depending on the rain and other cancellations that sometimes happen. I also plan on teaching again at Calvary Chapel Bible College- Mexico. This fall semester I'll be teaching on Minor prophets- which was one of my favourite classes at Nipawin Bible College. I have also been asked to teach a class on Cross-Cultural Ministry here in our area, which I'll be doing a couple days a week for about a month. And I am looking at a possibility of teaching a class on Bible Study Methods and Rules of Interpretation for anyone who wants it in the area, but that will depend on interest!

Prayer Requests. --

1. Summer opportunities We are praying about what to do this summer. It is my slowest time of the year. Last year I was involved in an internship training program that is not happening this year- as well as speaking some of our outreaches. But this summer it will be different. I have been presented with an opportunity to speak at a camp in Canada for a week or two, but would need more opportunities to justify the trip! So please pray about this with us!
2. Finances- Our monthly giving amounts have been down this year. Praise God we have had enough when we needed it- He has been faithful to provide for our needs. Please pray that that would continue to happen the last 6 months of the year as well! Our expenses have increased substantially with having to cross the border 1-3 times a week for food donations and then go to classes in Ensenada (100 mile round trip) So please pray that God will work out those details!
3. Personal Spiritual Lives Please pray for our personal spiritual growth- that we as a family and individuals would be attentive to the Voice of God and be willing to walk in obedience and love for His glory! As with most Christian workers- it becomes easy to let the ministry supersede our own walk with God!
   
4. Safety As in most developing world countries, safety is a constant issue with us. We have complete trust in God, that He is our ever present help! We covet your prayers on our behalf for safety. Specific, regular times to pray for this are:

• Each Monday from 6pm-10:30pm-
  
• Friday from 10am-2:00pm and
  
• Saturday from 4:00pm-10:30pm.
  

And especially the first and last hours of those times- as that is when I am driving- sometimes in some precarious situations!

God bless you and keep you!

Mike, Sharlene, Elijah, Caleb and Jacob

--
Michael McDonald
Missionary to Mexico
YUGO Canada
1-(619)400-3326 (North America)
661-100-3396 (Mexico)
msmcdonald@yugomail.org

come, pig.

Hey folks,

Just a short note to give you some perspective on the swine flu- straight from the belly of the beast.

We are not terribly worried.

The vast majority of cases are happening in Mexico City and surrounding area. There are about 28milliion people living in that area. That is the equivalent of all the population of Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, Newfoundland and all the Maritimes. And these folks all live in one metropolitan area.

Within this conglomerate, there are 1300 cases of swine flu-- about .004% of the population of this petrie dish of a city. Of those, sadly, about 100 of those have died as a result.

One more thing to keep in mind is the health system in Mexico. Often there is a cost involved to go to a Doctor. When people do not have enough money for food (espescially in these tough economic times) hospital visits for a flu don't happen until it is absolutely necessary. So while we have found out that Tamiflu and Relezen (antiviral meds) work to combat this-- they will not work when it is too late.

Also remember the culture of Mexico-- while this is killing primarily young men, these are the ones who would be least likely to go to a hospital under any circumstances.

So while yes, this is a virulent strain of the flu that more easily leads to pneumonia than our "regular flu", so far it is not out of control (despite media reports) and it is not killing healthy people in developed countries.

We do not feel a tremendous amount of fear, but we will be dilligent over the next few weeks until we see how this pans out.

Please pray for our health and safety as we continue to go about our ministry here in Mexico, but please be in extra prayer for the poor in Mexico- those who have limited access to health care. That God would protect His people!!

The worst part from our point of view are the thousands of desperatly poor Mexicans in our border region who live in filthy squalor who will not be getting a house built this year, or who will not be getting a new roof on the old dirt floor shack, or who will not be receiving the needed food our groups bring because people are fearful.

Groups are cancelling trips to Mexico because of the violence-- (which is down 80% from last year!!) and it is the poor who will suffer most. Please pray that those who cancel will offer to donate the amount that they would have spent on a mission trip to go towards the incredible needs we are finding here!

While the Economic downturn is difficult in North America, here it is devastating! We are seeing more and more children suffering from malnutrition and starvation.

We also receive thousands of people who come to help the Mexican church reach their people in Evangelism ministries. Please pray that the Good News of Jesus love and salvation will continue to be spread in this time of Great harvest here in Northern Mexico!

Please pray that God will be glorified and His name will be lifted up in Mexico!

Thanks for praying!

Prayer request

Hey folks!

Things have been going well this Spring. We had several groups and families coming down from Canada to spend a week or two with us in Ministry. It's been a blessing to watch God work in them and through them! The busy-ness, though, has brought with it quite a few extra expenses. That, coupled with lower than normal monthly support for the last 4 months, has depleted our "reserve account" which we use for ministry expenses and to fill in when monthly support is low.

So we need to ask you for prayer for our financial needs this spring!

Spring typically brings us some extra costs. We need to purchase our homeschool material for next fall (it's usually discounted in Spring!!) as well as renew our Mexican visas (We need to do this every year-- about US$400). This year we also need to renew our passports!


Would you please pray with us for these needs?

Thank you and God bless!!

Updates...

Hey folks-- just 2 updates and 1 non-update...

First the non-update...

Many of you have asked how juanita is doing with the mafia blackmailing thing and the truth is we don't know. We did speak to her last week and she only said that her husband is staying in Mexico more often and commuting to the States to work. She feels better, but we did not find out if she is stil getting phone calls. Please keep praying for her and we'll get you fresh information when we have it!

Lamberto has not been doing well lately and is in need of some miraculous intervention. He began to feel some intense pain about amonth ago- and that set his progress back alot. When I last spoke with him he had started to feel the pain in his legs and arms again as well as the feeling of his legs being on fire. This is how he felt a few months before getting really bad last fall. He is also very discouraged and is in need of a spiritual breakthrough as well as a physical one.

Our Spring trip to Ontario for deputation and reporting has been cancelled. We were just not able to set things up to make it happen, so we are going to try again maybe next year. With that we are not going to be going to Acuna for the outreach there ( west of San Antonio Texas) as they already have enough help and it is a 2 day drive from here. It would have worked for on our way back from Canada, but not now.

Thanks for your prayers and partnership with us!

God bless,

Mike

April Prayer letter

So here is our April Prayer Email-- I'm adding a little bit extra to those of you on the blogosphere...











This is Ivan and Sergio- two of our translators/ assistants when we had some families down from Alberta last week-- and a team of Youth down from Langley BC in March















This is a quincenera cake- to celebrate the 15th birthday of a girl in Mexico-- This one was for one of my students (Dolores) kids- Joana.















Here is Joana in her Quincenera dress. Here in Mexico, at least among some folks of modest income, they will share the costs of fiestas-- some pay for the dress, others for the cake, others for the hall, others for the plates etc.















Here is the Taco cart that we bought for Daniel and Dolores.















This is us on a brief vacation in Phoenix!



We had 2 families here last week working with our pastors and churches we serve in the Colonias (poor neighbourhoods). We were at one mission church on the side of the railroad tracks painting some walls. It almost seemed like a exercises in futility- painting the rotten old, used wood that had made up this shanty-shack of a church. But Daniel and Dolores (churches leaders) were tremendously blessed by our service to them. Daniel gave us a bit on the churches history and his testimony. The Canadian families were blessed by the story of Gods work in the former addicts life! Daniel had mentioned that they had an additional $150 to pay off the church property- and were praying to God that He would provide. And God spoke to one of the families... After taking a night to pray about and discuss how they could help- we decided to help them in a different way. Daniel works as a security guard and makes about $200/ month- barely enough to buy food to eat for his family of four. His dream was to buy a taco stand and cook tacos for a living- which has a much greater possibility of succeeding! I remembered another church leadership family (Severa) that had a taco cart (that needed a bit of work) that they wanted to sell- so we hooked the families up- and for $150 we bought a taco cart for Daniel and his family. With some more donations we were able to purchase all of the things needed to get started too ( pots, pans etc...)!! Dolores and Daniel were overwhelmed. They shared testimony that life had been incredibly difficult these past few months (probably more like years- but particularly hard recently). But just that morning God had impressed on Dolores' heart that they had been faithful during these difficult times and that He was going to bless them in a way that would amaze them! This was that blessing! They called it a "fountain of work"- they would never run out of work now and it could grow itself as they invest back into the work! It was an emotional moment for sure! But the blessings weren't done yet!! Severa- the lady who sold us the cart- is 65+ years old and is in my Bible Institute class with her husband. They serve a church in Tijuana well- Teaching the Teens and in the church generally. She has had a burden for an area in southern Mexico- Nayarit- that is very needy for the Gospel. She was down there last year to encourage a believer she knew that had turned back to the world. What she found when she got down there were 5 villages in close proximity with very few believers spread amongst the villages. Some had come to know Jesus through her ministry- and when she left- there were 8 believers in these 5 villages! She had been praying for $150.00 so she could take another mission trip down to Nayarit! She is hoping to take some time to disciple a leader in the area so they can start a church! The Canadian families were amazed that their small donations of $150 and $70 could be a fountain of work (and therefore- freedom to minister well too!) for one family and a mission trip to some unreached areas for another! Praise God for bringing this all together!!

Prayer Requests:
1. For Dolores and Daniel- that they would be diligent and God would double their efforts to provide for them and their mission church.
2. For Severa as she goes to southern Mexico- that God would open hearts and convince them of their need for a saviour. And that God would use Seve to strengthen the believers!
3. For us as we train leaders and pastors- that I would speak only truth from the Scriptures- that the students would be challenged to devote themselves fully to Jesus and His service.
4. For Shar as she homeschools. It has gotten a bit better lately with Elijahs attitude towards school- pray that that will continue- and that Caleb would succeed well in his studies- he is having particular difficulty with mathematics.
5. For all of our health- that we would continue to be healthy enough to serve well! Thanks for your partnership with us!!

God bless!!

Mike