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