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!!

Back Home Now...

After being away from home for about a month, it was great to pull into our driveway last monday afternoon. On the drive back we took the opportunity to see some of the US Southwests coolest sights. The first day was the Petrified Forest. This place was the biggest hit by far as we roamed around some desert badlands, not unlike Drumheller, AB but on a HUGE Scale, looking at logs that, for the most part, looked like regular logs, but were actually Petrified pieces of Rock in an area with virtually no standing trees for miles and miles around!

Shar and Elijjah beside a huge petrified log... the other two boys ran ahead as our "recon" team to let us know where the coolest logs were!

Shar and the boys in front of the "panited desert" an area with incredible colours in the Drumheller-like land formations...

This was one of the petrogliphs from a Hopi Indian site that dates back to 1200-1450AD. They had excavated lots of part-buildings as well around these rocks.

The boys in a forest of petrified wood...

The boys and I on a petrified log....

The boys getting sworn in for the first time as official "Junior Rangers" of the US Parks system. After promising to do whatever they can to take care of parks wherever they are in the US, one of the boys pops up "and in Canada too" and another "in Mexico too, because we live there". The Park Ranger agreed and so our boys may be the first to be junior park rangers sworn in to protect parks in the entire continent of North America. They seem to be handling the pressure well. And, they got cool little badges to boot. One of which was made by the same company that makes missiles and Rockets. A fact that easily impressed my boys...

The next day we hit the Grand canyon as it was basically on our way. Shar and I went there for an hour or so when we drove down to Chihuahua with our church and were amazed at it's vastness. The second time was still pretty cool and the boys liked it too, but after 3 hours of touring, it was time to go to the motel for a swim!

This is the Desert Outlook Tower in the far Eastern Part of the Grand Canyon. The tower itself was impressive and the high view of the canyon was pretty cool too.

This is the grand Canyon.... pretty Grand, eh?

The second last day we went to a ghost town outside of Barstow CA and while it wasn't what we'd expected (we were expecting more informative, less touristy) it was pretty interesting and we got to have sasparilla soda and the boys panned for "gold".
Calico Ghost town... the last person to live here left in 1967 and Knott's Berry Farm bought the land and turned it into a tourist trap type place...

They had gunfighters there putting on a show- Here's Caleb and Jacob getting their pic taken with them.

Here are the boys panning for gold... they were happy with the days haul...

Here we are having some genuine sarsparilla root beer, just like the old west guys drank...

Shar told the boys that this is the only time we're helping them get out of jail... if they ever find themselves in this kinda trouble again, they are on their own...

When we got back we went right to our favourite taco stand and found Rick and Collete there too (the folks who were watching our house)!! They were on the way to one last day at the beach and looked pretty sad to be going home the next day. It was a blessing to have them here! Our house was in great shape when we got back- even a little better than when we left it!! What a contrast from the last time we left for an extended trip!! THANKS BROWNINGS!!!

Now that we're back, we're back into the swing of things, getting ready to get going full steam ahead in the coming days! I'll be starting classes with the pastors up pretty soon- this next session is on teaching and preaching and the ministry of pastoring. We're hoping to have them all out to our house sometime soon for a BBQ and beach day.

Thanks for praying for us!! It was a fruitful and profitable time for language training and we hope to see the benefits of it grow even more in the coming days and weeks! Praise God for His provision of our needs for this time!

God bless!!

Week 4 of Language School

This was our last week at language school and it was a good one! The kids spent all of the afternoons at their teachers house (who has 3 kids) and played while we were in our afternoon classes. Shar and I got to go on some field trips to the ice cream shop, for tacos and to a children's music recital. It was a good, informal way to practice and learn Spanish! The last day we all went on a tourist trolley Ride around the city and saw some of the tourist sites, including 2 museums.

The last Sunday at the children's home went well. We had attempted to go to church, but when we got there in the afternoon (church starts at 2pm) Suzanna wasn't there. She had been in a car accident. Everyone was ok, but shaken. She had had a couple kids with her when an 11 year old girl darted out into traffic on her bike. Fortunately, Suzanna was driving very slowly after just leaving the stop-signed intersection. The girl wasn't hurt, but suzanna spent the entire day in the police office waiting to see if the girl was ok and for them to investigate who's fault it was. Suzanna was found not at fault and so was released at about 5pm after almost 8 hours in the police station.

There were two young girls there watching the kids when we got there, so Shar and I stayed and watched the kids with them, and Shar helped cook. We stayed there till8pm and said our final, teary goodbyes. We were glad to get the opportunity to come and reconnect with Suzanna, it was a blessing for all of us! We didn't "help" to much, mostly spent our time visiting and playing, but in a relationship-based culture, it was a very productive time! We were able to connect her with a couple other people- some of whom are local church leaders and others who help connect US groups with orphanages- so helpfully they will continue to be a blessing to her and her ministry.

We are always humbled by Suzannas selfless service in Jesus name with her kids. She has a tremendous amount of love and it was inspiring for us to experience it again!

Rickeys and Roaches (updated...)

It's the end of week 3 and heres a bit of an update-- i might repost this later with some more info and pics,-- I'm running out of time right now...

Saturday (yesterday) we took the kids from the children's home out to a Rickeys Tacos for tacs- it had a huge playplace and the kids 10 and under loved it! At this taco place you get free totopos (tortilla chips) and veggies-- so the hungrier kids stuffed themselves with refillable soda, cucumbers and chips with salsa and jalapenos. The kids had a blast after a mall disapointment...

We spent more than an hour getting lost on the way to the local spring fair here in chihuahua. And when we finally got there, it was closed. On Saturday afternoon at 1:30- the fair was closed. I hadn't even thought of asking if it'd be open because i've never heard of a fair being closed in the afternoon on a Saturday- but it was!! and there we were with 43 people in 2 vehicles (17 in my van and the rest in a suburban) and a closed fair. the silence among the kids was heartbreaking-- it had been a surprise where we were going and when they finally knew they were bubbling only to be burst at the site of an empty fairgrounds (at 1:30pm!!). So we went for tacos at a place with a playplace and then returned at 4pm when the fair opened.

It was a great time-- the rides were free with admission and suzanna even convinced them to give us free admission because it was a children's home! So in we went for almost 4 hours walking and riding rides, laughing and smiling with only one spontaneous bloody nose as the only casualty of the afternoon. We had a great time, even though everyone over 30 was bushed at the end (did I mention that there were 40 kids altogether and only 3 adults- shar and i and Suzanna???)

We all had a blast!!

here are some pics from Rickeys and some roaches we found at our house afterwards--- I'll tell that stry in the update later...

A couple of the kids at Rickey's tacos-- the younger ones played and ate and drank while the older guys tried to see how much chile salsa they could eat on their tortilla chips...

Here's part of the group-- we were 43 in all and kinda chased out some birthday parties that were in their waning times anyway-- I liked the look on the staffs face when 40 kids showed up at once!!

Suzanna (director of El Refugio Casa Hogar del Amor )


Shar with 3 of the teen girls-- Shar spent most of here time with the teen girls and even got a cool woven / beaded hair extension by them (you can see one on the two girls to the right (Shar's right) of Shar...


A few of the kids playing at the playplace. the girl in th epink is Rocio--- she remembered me from the last time we were here 3 1/2 years ago. She loved to hang out, read books and play ball with us!

One of the parts of the play area-a mini-soccer pitch in the air.


A couple roaches we found at our house one night. We captured them, and transported them to the upstairs bathroom where we tried to flush them down the toilet. the project almost failed as the second cucaracha refused to be flushed down and disapeared in the folds of the toilet. Thankfully when we found the third, the flush was strong enough to wash them both down the toilet. unfortunately the next night we found 3 more, but were unwilling to continue on with the game...

Week 2 of Language school

Things are going well here, but my head sometimes feels as if it's going to explode. We are taking the information that normally gets taught in 10 weeks and doing it in 4 and so it's a bit mind-numbing at times- but it's good too, because we are seeing progress!!

I got into a small accident the other day, but nothing major. The other fella tried to pass me on the left while i was turning left-- but i wasn't in the normal turning lane either- and the police officer was standing in the lane i was wanting to go in- so really it was all of our fault! the only damage was a bent side view mirror on the other truck and he was fine with that- readjusted it and left. The police asked for my license and insurance and then we talked about why we we're in Chihuahua to learn Spanish and where we're from in Canada and he seemed pleased to let me go without a ticket or bribe! Praise God

My teacher said that it was unique form of learning I had that morning and we spent the first hour or two going over the accident in detail and learning the different verbs associated with the accident... it was very helpful in my Spanish learning. In the afternoon class, my classmate Pete a 28 year old med student told the afternoon teacher about the accident and I went over it again only this time we learned new verbs and conjugations through the retelling of the story. I told them not to expect this kind of help in lesson planning again!!

Today it rained. All also night and into this morning till about 9am and it's about 13C this morning- a change from the usual 32C!! the streets were flooded this morn because they don;t have storm drains in this city so they wait for the sun to come put and dry it all up afterwards!! it was a driving experience for sure-- but NO ACCIDENTS TODAY!! That's 3 days in a row without an accident!!

The drivers here are a bit crazy- not nearly as courteous or helpful as the Tijuana drivers, and lots more aggressive!! It must be the heat that puts them on edge!!

Things are going well, though there are some adjustments that can some times be frustrating-- some cultural differences that are noticeable and the extreme lack of taco stands has made this a little tougher than we thought-- apparently the border area is not always the same as the rest of Mexico- and each area has it's own little cultural tweaks and quirks- not unlike the US and Canada too!
We have 2 weeks to go and hope to get to Suzanna's orphanage tomorrow and to another church on Sunday...

Thanks for praying- please continue to pray as we work through some adjustments that are needed living in someone else's house for a month!

God bless!!

Mike

Sometimes, God freaks me out...

We're here in Chihuahua where we first came to Mexico 3 or 4 years ago with our church to help an orphanage among other ministries... I was hoping to get to contact Suzanna who ran the orphanage when we were here last, but the mission we came with, COI, no longer operates here. The school we're at does alot of orphaange work, but did not know her and our contacts for her had dried up.

So I tried last Tuesday to see if we could remember where she was. we go to the area the Mission centre was at- where we slept and ate and drove form there down tons of streets, looking and looking for her to no avail.

We tried again last Thursday after classes to try out another route. We drove for over an hour, asked people who may know and came up empty handed again. we were told of a new orphanage- a larger one down the way and so we tried to find it only we got very lost. The only thing that helped me as it was getting darker was the mountains are always on one side and the highway on the other so I turned up a random street, frustrated, on my way back to the highway to go home.

Suddenly, Sharlene yelled out-- "There it is!!" It's pink now, but there are kids clothes hanginig on the patio and 2 vans and a SUV out front- that's it!!" we did a U-ey and came back and then recognized the neighbourhood- the little hardware store, the unfinished building, the tire shop and the house across the road with the palm tree in front- we had found it!! I had given up after several hours of trying and we drive in front of it "by accident" on te way out when we were no longer looking for it!! I still am a bit freaked out by it!!

We went in to visit and after about 3 minutes of explaining who we were, It clicked and Suzanna came and gave us all a big hug. There are 35 kids in the orphanage now and they have 2 large vans along with the old SUV they had. Not all was well though.

Suzanna explained that she had had a difficult year as both her mom and dad were sick for qite some time last spring and they both died within days of each other last July. In August her brother died and in December her son did in the US- he was 33 years old. She had obviously not recovered fromt he first 3 deaths and the 4th has been overwhelming for her. Her sister came to visit and they immediately embraced each other and cried in each others arms. Sharlene hugged them both and prayed for them as all 3 cried in each others arms. After a while we talked a bit about other things and what we had been doing. The home was in a bit of a shambles and it looked like she needed help just to be encouraged.

We returned the next day with the lady that we are staying with. Hopefully she can make a good connection with suzanna and maybe give some help through her church. We played with the kids, sorted laundry (mountains of laundry every day!!!) and talked and sang together. It was a good time and we're looking forward to going back on the weekends while we are here.

Thanks to those of you who prayed we'd reconnect with her- I think we were the encouragement she needed that day- She was happy to here her Loon Lake friends had been praying for her, were concnerned for her and hoped to somehow make a connection again with her. For those who were with us, it won't surprise you to know that Tim's name came up the most "oh you were here with Tim's group??" Many would like a return visit from Tim!!

The language learning is going well. We are seeing progress and are glad for 3 day weekends as there is lots to study and solidify before starting again on Monday. Shar and I do 6 hours a day whilel the kids have 4 hours. The other 2 we are in class the boys either go to the park, watch a movie or visit with their teacher- who has 3 kids around ours ages.

Believe it or not there is a bit of culture shock to get used to- we are right in an urban neighbourhood so the noise is tough to get used to- including the neighbourhood dealers who live next door. Today is mothers day and a typical mothers day night/early morning consists of seranading mom between 1 and 5 am. The mariachi bands were busy last night- but the most "emotional" of singers are the inebriated adult kids coming by cranking up the CD and singing loud enough to wake permanently sleeping... it was a rough night last night!!

Taco stands too=- there are NO taco stands where you can just go get a $1.00 taco- only taco restaurants where there are multiple different types of taco-like fast foods for exhorbitant prices. We're used to going for tacos for 5 and spending between 10 and 15 dollars. here it's more like $30-40 which means not many tacos for us!! It's hard to beleive we're in Mexico and craving tacos... On a good note- one of the taco restauraunts has a HUGE playplace with a min-soccer field and wireless internet access. We have interneat access at school- but only for about 10 minutes before and after class- so only about enough time to asnwer a couple emails...

thanks for praying- things are progressing- please continue to pray that that continues on in the coming 3 weeks!!

God bless!!

Mike for the family

On the Road Again....

Today we leave for Language School. We've had a good couple days hanging out with Rick and Colette Browning- showing them around Tijuana and Rosarito! We had planned on getting the car packed last night, but spent time hanging out instead with them. We enjoyed our time seeing pictures of Loon Lake and the Camp we used to work at too. So now it's 6:44 and we're about to load the vehicle and head for Chihuahua~

It's a 1600 km drive out there, so today will bring us to Tucson, AZ where we'll get a motel and swim in the desert heat this afternoon. Tomorrow we'll explore Tucson a bit- maybe go to a desert garden and zoo type area or to an air and space museum with a plane graveyard spread over 80 acres of desert- not sure which we'll do yet! and then it'll b off to El Paso, Texas before heading south to Chihuahua Mexico!

Please pray for safety and for us to have all the patience and kindness we can handle as we travel together for a few days and then stay with a Mexican family for 4 weeks!!

God bless,

Mike, for the family.