McDonald prayer letter Aug. 2017

Thanks or stopping by!

Here is the McDonald prayer letter for Aug. 2017. We appreciate your prayer and financial support!

Here are a few updates since I typed out the letter in July...

1. Elijah is going to BCIT in Burnaby, BC  in a couple weeks to do an upgrade course that wil allow him to apply for the Engineering program in the fall of 2018. Praise God for provision to do that- it is not applicable for student loans! 

2. Caleb found work in Calgary in constriction and is doing very well-- he comes back here for a month long visit in a couple weeks in order to work on some paper work here- and then will be visiting friends and returning to Calgary in the fall to hopefully work at the same company. They've been very happy with him.

3. Sharlene and I fly to Tijuana today to pick up a 15 passenger van, 3 students and a lot of  stuff we still need to get la huerta  school of missions ready for opening day in a week!

Please pray for protection, wisdom and alertness as we do a long two and a half day drive down the peninsula in hurricane season next week!

Thank for being there with us!

McDonald prayer letter aug. 2017

McDonald prayer letter August 2016

It is with a great amount of excitement mixed with some trepidation and Godly fear that I get to announce to you, our friends, family and partners in ministry that YUGO has announced the launch of our new Campus in La Paz Baja Sur, Mexico!!

Sharlene and I are excited to be a part of this new leg of the journey and in the upcoming months we are looking forward to sharing with you more of the details! Let me just say for now that we will be serving as leaders of this campus and that we will be involved in training Mexican missionaries! There are a lot of other details to work out, and we are excited to be following God in this venture! We came to La Paz almost 1 year ago to check out the city in response to a call from a local pastor and former student in our church planting class in Rosarito. What we found was a community ripe for the gospel and lacking good, solid, Bible teaching, Spirit lead, churches. Sensing God’s call to come and serve, we relocated last January to this fantastic city, Since then, we have further sensed His leading in this direction- working alongside the local church to train up missionaries for the spread of the Gospel in needy areas of Mexico and the rest of the world!

Thanks for praying for us in this regard as we have been exploring the land and listening to the Father’s heart. Please continue to pray for the necessary resources to follow this path! That God would send the people and finances needed in His timing and His way!


On a more personal note, please continue to pray for our school finances for our kids. We need about $3000 USD for Caleb and Jacobs first semester tuition. If you can help with this need, please feel free to email me or use the form on the bottom of this letter to go towards that expense!

Also, please be praying for Elijah. Elijah finished two semesters of Bible College in Ensenada last May. He would like to return for a second year (it is a 2 year course) and went back to Ontario to work to save money for school. He has had a difficult time securing full time work and is currently piecing together part time work in 2 or 3 different places to try to get enough finances together. It is coming very slowly. It is a faith stretching time for him! Please pray that God would provide what he needs and grow Elijah’s faith and trust in God during this time!


Thank you again for partnering with us! You are truly our co-labourers in the harvest and the harvest is plentiful! As we are praying for workers for the field, please pray that God would raise up called men and women to be trained in our missions training center! ( starting sometime in 2017, Lord willing) You are appreciated!

 Mike, Shar, Elijah, Caleb and Jacob MDonald

Prayer letter June 2016

McDonald Prayer Letter

June 2016

We'd like to thank you so much for participating in this ministry financially and prayerfully! Let me update you with what has been happening and ask you to pray for some new things!

1. Elijah and Caleb both have found summer jobs in Wasaga Beach, Ontario Canada area! Elijah will be working at Wasaga Paint Ball and Caleb will be working with Steve Dyce in construction! Luke and Heidi Langman have offered them a place to stay during this summer- and it is close by to their jobsites! Praise God! We are thankful to the Langmans and Dyces and Faith Missionary Church for coming together to provide this opportunity for our boys. I'm especially glad that they will get a chance to experience my hometown for a few months!
2. Sharlene continues to study Spanish. We are going to be changing tactics a bit this summer. A local Spanish school has discounted rates for locals over the summer, So she will be doing a few weeks of full-time study. Please be in prayer for her during this summer. Language study is arduous!
3. We had our meeting in May with YUGO's Leadership about the ministry here in La Paz. We were very encouraged to have it received positively. Right now it is in the internal communication chain and we believe we will be able to make an announcement on the final decision within the next few weeks! Please be in continued prayer for God's leading as we finalize plans!
4. We have a couple of students from Calvary Chapel Bible College coming down this summer to act as interns. They will be taking census of the surrounding communities in order for us to get a great understanding of our community, it's needs, it's resources and the footprint of the local church here. Praise God for the people and financial resources to undertake this project! We hope to gain some crucial information and discern God's leading for the ministry here in Baja Sur!

Thank you so much for praying about these items this last couple of months! God has responded to your prayers and we trust that we are following Him in this venture.

Could you please continue praying for those areas and also in these...

1. School for Caleb and Jacob: Caleb is entering grade 12 and Jacob Grade 9 next year. We will need to raise the finances for their education again this year. Having the option of getting a North American education away from home has been invaluable for us. The kids have grown so much academically these last few years in Calvary Online School that we are praying that they will be able to re-enroll this year as well. This year the cost is about CAN$7200 with the current exchange rate. That can be paid all at once or in monthly installments. If you'd like to be a part of our MK's education fund- please see the address below for the Canadian or USA office to see how to do that.
2. Calvary Chapel La Paz: for the next year or so I am going to play an increased leadership / pastoral role in this new church. Please be praying for this role, for great communication and trust between the pastor and I and for favor from God and the church so we can serve well and effectively.
3. Adjustments to a new place: The first year in a new community is the most difficult. And while we have made great connections here, we still are missing the ones back in Rosarito as well. Please pray for strength and perseverance to strongly march forward!

Thank you all again for being part of this ministry. We believe strongly that God is being glorified in this service and that Hi Kingdom is expanding through the sacrificial service in giving and praying of our partners back in Canada and the US.

May He continue to be glorified!

Mike, Sharlene, Elijah, Caleb and Jacob McDonald

YOU can give online in Canada HERE 

You can give online in the USA HERE:

please be sure to indicate that it is for Michael and Sharlene McDonald

OR- please contact the office of the country of your residence below for more information

THANK YOU!!-- 

Prayer Letter February 2016

Hello Friends and family!

Please find attached our February Prayer letter!*Please include 2 additional things for prayer and consideration on our
families behalf.*1.* Elijah's summer plans.* Elijah needs to go back to Canada to work from
June 1- Aug 22 to save money for his second year at Bible College. He has
gone back to Turtleford, SK these last couple years, but is wanting to be
in a larger center if possible. We are praying for someone whod be willing
to provide inexpensive room and board as well as a job. He'll do most
anything, but really enjoys working outside. He is a hard worker and has
great references.2.* Caleb's Summer plans.* Caleb will be 17 this summer and would like to

go to Canada to work from June 8-Aug.22. Caleb has 3 summers experience in
our house building ministry. He is experienced, talented and knowledgeable
in the area of construction and highly motivated. He would like to go to
College for Construction Project Management when he graduates. He'd be a
great worker for a construction company or assistant for someone building a
house this summer. He'd also need some inexpensive room and board.

Thanks so much for your prayers and consideration!


--
God Bless,

McDonald Prayer Letter Feb 2016

The Peace

La Paz  ( the peace) is a medium sized city in Baja south Mexico. It is about 1800 km south of where we live and a whole world away.

Tucked in a bay alongside desert and mountains along the Sea of Cortes, La Paz is a city that God has had on our hearts for many years.

4 years ago we had the chance to go scout out the land as a family to see why this city seemed to never leave my mind. What we found was a city of about 200,000 people with about 20 Christian churches and very few Christians.  We realized that they need a church planting movement in that city, but also in surrounding towns and colonias where there are often very few, small churches or no churches at all! But we also came back thinking that God had confirmed to us our current path in Rosarito!

Fast forward a few years and Shar and I got the opportunity to go again a few weeks ago to visit our church's new 1 year old church plant in the city of La Paz. This is a remarkable little church. On their opening Wednesday service in July 2014, 40 people showed up practically uninvited. It was just supposed to be a bible study time for the church planting team, Word got out and many showed up!

A few weeks later they were launching Sunday services with regular attendance in the 30's and 40's. Now, about one year later I preached to 80+ adults and did a devotion for a solid leadership team of 10 men and women, with 7 being locals and only 3 coming from our original church planting team. Almost everything in the service is done by locals and they seem to be loving this balanced church that teaches God's Word verse by verse.

The church has a great vision of planting other churches in needy cities and neighbourhoods around "Baja Sur". They are a relatively close distance to southern mainland Mexico as well, by ferry, and could legitimately make an impact over there as well.

It is an intriguing work with a great vision of church planting, leader and pastoral training and mercy ministries- caring for the least of these.

Would you please pray about this work with us? God is doing great things there!

Thanks for praying!!

McDonalds Coming Back to Canada in 2015

Check out the details in our October Prayer letter HERE:  October Prayer Letter!!

AUGUST PRAYER LETTER

April Prayer letter

Thanks to those of you who pray and support this ministry!~

Here is our April prayer letter! Praise God for the growth in the ministry  and his provision!!

MARCH PRAYER LETTER!!

McDonald in Mexico update! March 2014

Hello Ministry Partners~

Just wanted to give you a brief update on how things are going down here in Mexico!

This Christmas we had an excellent ministry season as we hosted a couple short-term ministry teams that worked with some of the pastors we love and serve! Christmas day we went out with the team as a family and helped serve a Christmas dinner to 70+ people who had noone to share Christmas with. It was an honour to be there. I highly recommend something like that for your own Christmas~! Jesus' love was proclaimed and demonstrated!

I had the opportunity to teach in our Bible Training Center for Pastors and Leaders as a substitute teacher for a few weeks. It was great to get back connecting in that way again. These days I do more pastoring of the teachers than teaching in this ministry. It was a blessing to be able to share from God's Word again with these eager students! We have 4 classes with about 70 students currently learning in several different communities around our city.

I'm again teaching two classes at the Bible Institute in Ensenada, 1 hour south of us. I'm teaching Cross-cultural Missions in a class of 38 and Exodus to a smaller class of 7. I'm enjoying both classes! I have built several good relationships with many grads from the college and continue in contact with them as they are beginning life in the ministry.

I have been asked to teach a group of pastors and teachers in Honduras this year for a week as well. I'm hoping we can fit that into a busy schedule. I love serving these hungry and humble pastors and leaders as we spend time exploring the Scriptures together! Please pray for God's guidance, direction and provision in this venture. I will most likely try to take a former student with me to serve together.

We continue to have good relationships with the 18 or so pastors that we have identified as strategic partners in the area. I have a great group of guys working with me to shepherd these men of God as well as help organize our other ministries that serve these leaders.

Shar and the kids are all doing well. We are having our most successful year yet in homeschool as the 2 older boys are enrolled in on online school. They are excelling in that atmosphere! Jacob will be old enough to start the Jr. High portion of that school next year. Please pray for God's continued provision for our kids schooling! With the current exchange rate and taxes and missionary discount, each child's tuition is about CDN$3600.

I (Mike) will be back in Saskatchewan for a fundraiser from April 23-28. The Fundraiser is Friday April 25^th at 6pm at the Brian King Center in Warman. We will be having perogies and farmer sausage and a presentation on our ministry! This is our only fundraiser of the year, and the money goes to support the ongoing ministries of YUGO with pastors and churches including: Feeding children, ministry in prison, pastors and leaders training and an emergency benevolence fund for pastors and their families. Please consider coming out to support this aspect of our ministry and bring some friends who may be interested in good food, good fellowship and an opportunity to bless the poor!

 Thanks for praying with us and partnering with us! We are blessed by your financial and prayer partnership with us in this ministry! We pray that you are blessed at least as much as you are a blessing!

October Prayer Letter

http://s3.amazonaws.com/storage.nm-storage.com/yugo/downloads/McDonald_October.pdf

August Prayer Letter

McDonalds in Mexico!

August 2013 Prayer Letter

Family and friends,

Summer is coming to a close here in Rosarito, Mexico! Thank you so much for allowing us to be here! We feel empowered by your prayer and support to minister freely! This season brings a change of schedules and responsibilities for all of us, so I'm going to update you on what's been happening to us this summer.

Jacob

Jacob is taking a break from school and his formal soccer team this summer to concentrate on some ministry opportunities. He has been serving as a translator for some teams this summer in the sports and kids ministries. He is enjoying using his abilities to serve the Lord and is somewhat of a kid magnet-- this white kid who speaks almost perfect Spanish-- and has been an asset to the teams he has served! He is also active in inviting friends to church and there is one family in particular that God is working in and saving through Jacob's witness!

 Caleb

Caleb received an electric guitar and amp for his birthday, and has been practicing- doing some “\jamming” at the Rosarito Outreach Center with his friend William, who happens to play the drums. He is also involved in the team ministry when there are construction builds, helping the build leaders, translating, and serving. He is enjoying his role!

Elijah

Elijah is in Canada this summer battling the quasi-eldritch mosquitoes and summer rains. He has been serving at Silver Birch Bible Camp (in Loon Lake, our former church), and Island Lake Bible Camp (in Turtleford, where we stayed for furlough). He has served as a counselor and has been enjoying himself a lot. He's spending the second half of his summer mowing lawns and doing odd jobs in Turtleford, SK. We only get to talk to him on Saturdays. We miss him a lot, but we're glad that he 's serving the KING!

Sharlene

Sharlene had the opportunity twice to speak in the Women's prison in Ensenada for the Celebrate Recovery baptisms! She is a blessing to that ministry.

Sharlene also serves as a group leader at the ladies Bible study at our church, Calvary Chapel Rosarito. She has gotten to know many of the ladies of the church there and they are finding out what an incredible, godly, kind woman she is. She finds lots of opportunities to serve, and love new followers of Jesus!

Shar is also helping to cook at the ROC - she is loved and appreciated there as well.

With the kids being more involved in serving, Sharlene has had time to help disciple a new believer too. Please pray for this young woman, Lupita. She was just baptised a few weeks ago and is battling through old life issues. Her family is against her and she has even faced physical abuse recently. Please pray for salvation for this household.

Mike

I'm back to directing “camp”! This summer I am the co-director of the ROC, responsible for the general operation of the camp program as well as my other responsibilities with pastors and leaders. It's an old role I am familiar with and God is blessing our efforts there.

There! You are all up-to-date on us and our lives! We'd love to hear from you! How is your summer going?

Prayer Requests:

As the summer ends and fall approaches, my responsibilities will again be changing. Please pray for wisdom, guidance and faith needed to follow!

I haven't mentioned anything in a long time, but we will still be in need of a reliable family vehicle within the next year or so. We currently have a little over $1200 in that account! If God may be leading you to give to that, you can at:

YUGO Ministries

PO Box 231

St. Albert, AB

T8N 1N3

Pleae send a note saying that it is for:

McDonald Vehicle Account

Thanks for praying and partnering with us in this endeavour! May God bless you!

Mike, Sharlene, Elijah, Caleb and Jacob McDonald

June Prayer Letter

Happy Summer!!

We trust that God's presence is real in your life and that this time of regeneration of creation reminds us all of the work that God is doing in each of us, and desiring to do in those around us!

We have had a busy spring!

Bible College grad.

CCBC -Ensenada grads Spring 2013

We graduated 12 students from the Bible College in Ensenada this spring. I love getting to teach and interact with the growing, dedicated young people! I usually teach 2 classes  each semester. This last semester I taught Galatians (I'm still marking exams for that one...) and Practical Ministry. I love the book of Galatians and it's call to freedom! The practical Ministry class was awesome too. I had people from different areas of ministry come in and share their passion, their calling and the Biblical imperative to be involved in their area of ministry. To finish off the class we took the guys to jail! Ivan Martinez and Irvin Penner brought us into the Ensenada prison where they serve each week. We served the men hamburgers as others served them in baptism (14 baptised that day!!), rap worship music and a biblical message from one of our students!

It was a great day where I got to see my Rosarito ministry world collide with my Bible college ministry! Praise God for His work there!

New Pastors training class begins.

Jose and seve Barbosa have started a new class in Tijuana. They have 35 students from several churches in their area teaching them through the 3 year course. We have been speaking to other pastors and leaders in Tijuana / Rosarito and we may have up to 100+ more students this coming fall. Please pray for these students- that they would have the perseverance necessary to complete what they begin. Pray for protection as the enemy begins to attack as they prepare for service in the Kingdom. Please pray for clarity and that they would fall in love with Jesus and His Scriptures! That they would base their beliefs on the Bible, not on tradition or teachings of men. Please also pray for the teachers and wisdom on how to organize this growing ministry!!

Trip to Southern Mexico

In my ministry with our local church, I assist them with our church planters. We have a couple in Central Mexico in the state of Guanajuato who were sent out almost 2 years ago.

Jose Luis Rangel, Mike and Ryan Gause in Irapuato, Guanajuato

It is a difficult place to serve, in that it is the most traditional state in all of Mexico. Christians are not welcomed very warmly and people are bound in traditionalism. The work there has progressed very slowly and it has been discouraging for the couple who are there. I wanted to go and encourage them and give them some instruction on planting churches and evangelism, so a colleague and I flew down for a 3 day trip to meet them and a couple other churches in the area.
We had a great time buzzing around in our tiny little rental car (cost us $9.00/ day !!) visiting and encouraging pastors. I am planning on going down again in the fall with some more formal training. This is difficult, hard ground, but we believe that rain is coming. We're preparing for rain, as they say!

New responsibilities

I reported a few months ago that we were given some new responsibilities in the Rosarito Outreach Center  (ROC) with YUGO Ministries. The good news is that I still have those responsibilities, the other news is that they've given me more!  I am now the co-director of the ROC with a great brother in Christ, Ron Struska. Ron serves in the areas of the finances, food and facilities at the Center, and I serve those in the areas of the actual "camp" program, the ministries that serve directly with Mexican churches and pastors as well as administration / volunteers. It seems to be a good fit as we complement each other well.

Please pray for me in these new responsibilities  that I will be faithful to the Lord and His calling on my life; That we would serve well; For unity in the team; that God would be honoured in our service to Him!

Summer Schedule

With the end of homeschool (soon...) comes a change of schedule. Shar and I will be helping out at the ROC more often this summer. Caleb will be there as well. He has some interest and ability in the area of construction, so he will be serving in our house building ministry this summer, learning the ropes and being a servant! Jacob will be going with teams to different sites translating and serving in the sports / soccer ministry. I can't think of anything he'd love better than combining soccer with serving the Lord!  Elijah is on a bit of a different trajectory this summer as he will be going back to Saskatchewan! Elijah will be serving at a Bible camp for a few weeks and then making work for himself to earn some money. He will be staying in Turtleford, SK with good friends the Steins, where we stayed on furlough last time in Canada. He had the opportunity to jr. counselor last time we were in Canada and we saw tremendous growth in him then. He feels he needs to grow up a bit and wants to jump into the deep end of the pool and serve and work! We will miss him tremendously, but know that he is in good hands as our Heavenly Father cares for him wherever he is!

Thanks so much for your prayers and your support! God is moving here in Mexico and we are incredibly blessed to be a part of it!

Terrazas del valle, Tijuana, Mexico

Please let me know if you want to be physically present here as well serving alongside us! We have lots of opportunities to help repair churches, build buildings, train leaders, serve the humble and love the forgotten! You are invited!

God bless,

Mike, Shar, Caleb, Jacob, Elijah

Ivan Martinez Prayer Letter

Many of you know Ivan through stories and posts here in our blog---

I just wanted to share with you all Ivan's Prayer letter. He is a missionary like us and raises his prayer and financial support in order to be able to serve here in Mexico. Ivan works very closely with me and is my right hand man. Irvin Penner works with Ivan in the Ensenada Prison-- here is his report!

Dear brothers,I pray my letter may find you and your love ones enjoying of God's faithfulness,along with His warming and peaceful presences in your hearts.

Praise Report:

These past few months we have been preparing through prayer,for our pastors meeting on May 4.and so we met with all 15 or so.

Well it was a success.Now we are re-connecting with them on a more personal level,visiting them at their church or homes.

As we head out to meet with them,we ask our Lord to guide us through His Holy Spirit,and to be attentive to what they share with us and what they don't share.

Our aim (YUGO) is to let them know they're not alone,that we understand how hard it can be.So we want to come along-side of them and help with the burden and load (Galatians 6:2).But we want to be led by God and God alone,so we are praying earnestly,we want to have success and bring glory to CHRIST JESUS our LORD.

Prison Ministry,has also been a success,our God is bringing and raising up Godly men in there.Today we went to prison thinking we were only gonna baptize 7 new believers,we ended up baptizing a total of 16 believers,the Lord added more to the group.

Tho I myself don't live in there with these brothers,I could see the change in their lives,God's Word indeed does not returned void,but does penetrate the hearts,even when they're hard as a rock.

Again God is being glorify.

Our plan is continue to pursue the clear vision God gave us,and establish a very equip church in there,and to prepare men to return to their families a new person.All this through the power of God's word And His Holy Spirit.

Plans:If God is willing my family and I, would like to take a vacation sometime mid-July or end of July,again if God is willing.

Prayer request:Please pray with us and for us,that we may be attentive to the Holy Spirit and His guidance,to know and understand what our Lord is asking from us with the new group of pastors.

Thank you so much for your prayers and support,it has really been a big blessing,you have been a Big part of what God is doing out here in Mexico,many lives have been changed,again thank you and may our GOD ALMIGHTY add to your riches in heaven.

Your family and friends,

Ivan,Alma,Aleyda and Gregorio Martinez.

Perogies and Sausage Fundraiser!!

Hello friends!

Just a short reminder that we are having a perogies and Farmer Sausage fundraiser on May 10th!

It is at Martensville Baptist church-- 209 Centennial Drive North, Martensville, SK

Time: 5:00-8:00pm

Irvin Penner will be speaking and I will be there in spirit and on video!

We are raising money for our ministry here in Mexico-- these are the specific areas:

Mexican Youth Camp-- this is a camp that Mexican youth come and get trained in ministry and are sent out to churches to serve with youth, children and women's ministry. We need some help in offering scholarships to allow teens from our poorer churches to come and participate as well!

Pastor and Leader Training- This is our Bible Institute on wheels! Part of your donation will go towards helping pastors and church leaders be trained in a Bible Institute that comes out to their neighbourhood. We are praying for 100 graduates in this next generation!

Evangelism and Discipleship- This is a ministry of local Mexican missionary, Ivan Martinez. Part of your donation will go towards Ivan's ministry expenses as he is involved in ministry in prisons, with newly deported ex-gangsters and with pastors.

Pastors Benevolance-- We run into incredible needs with our pastors- mostly related to health concerns. Poverty affects peoples health and keeps them from receiving timely and adequate care. Many of our pastors sacrifice their own resources to help their people, we want to be able to give to the givers to lighten their load.

We are praying for $15,000 to cover this years ministry expenses-- Thank you for being a part of this ministry!! Please pray that God will supply these needs and if you can go, please come!

God bless,

Mike