Hello valued prayer partners!
We've run into a bit of a financial hitch here that we'd appreciate your prayer about.
As Canadian Citizens living abroad, we still file Canadian taxes and are responsible for paying our taxes and CPP and EI payments. We also are eligible to receive any tax credits that anyone else is eligible for.
The Child Tax Credit people asked us to fill out a questionairre to determine our residency status and continued eligibility for the Child tax credit and GST Credit. Through a miscommunication, I did not get all the information to them on time. They have cut off our Child Tax Credit which is 25% of our income!
I immediatley sent them the info they wanted and they received it. They accept the fact that we are factual residents (according to Canada Revenue Agency) but are now asking for more information.
Our contacts in the Canadian Government as well as Canadian Council for Christian Charities all agree that we are still eligible for this benefit- but the government can be fickle and it seems that they are intently looking for information to disqualify us permanently.
Please pray for this need-- for our current and future financial needs-- even if they reinstate us- it likely won't be until May or June! We've lost 25% of our income this month and perhaps for the next several months.
Please also pray that this may be handled correctly so that the government does not begin to target Canadian missionaries who are currently eligible for these benefits!
Thank you for praying!
Mike
Monday, March 22, 2010
Sunday, March 07, 2010
expanding ministry!
Hey folks,
We're coming up to the graduation of the first class of our Pastors and Leaders training ministry! We're all pretty excited and proud of the accomplishments of these incredible students!
We have been meeting for 4 hours Saturdays and 2 hours Monday nights for more than 2 1/2 years. Many of the students have other secular jobs on top of ministry responsibilities. They have sacrificed alot of time to be at class and it is almost finished! We will have our graduation on Saturday June 5th for 10 students! And then we begin to look ahead to the next groups!
Thank you so much for your faithfulness in partnering with us! None of this could have been done without you! We are partnering together in the "Great Commission":
MT28:
18Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
The whole idea behind the classes is to train pastors and leaders and empower them to train others. It looks like this wil be happening and the amount of students will be multiplying next year!
I was talking to one of my current students about him starting classes in his church. He has 4 or 5 pastors interested already- and they are looking at bringing their leadership out to the training. He is hoping and praying for 20 faithful students! That's twice as many as I had!
I have 2 other students who are considering starting up classes in their neighbourhoods for pastors and leaders.
I am also praying about going to Nayarit ( southern Mexico-- 2-3 day drive away) for a few weeks to train a local pastor who has several mission churches started by Seve- one of my students (a 65 year old gramma!) as she traversed the villages sharing Jesus last summer. She saw 15 people come to Christ and last December went back and baptized the believers, saw a few more saved and found a pastor to disciple the new followers of Jesus! I'm hoping to help them train the lay leaders of these new groups of Christians! Please pray with us as we seek to make disciples of the disciple makers!
I was in Mexicali , Mexico today talking to a pastor who works closely with our YUGO missionaries in that city. He is looking for some training to give his church. So we drove for 3 1/2 hours through a driving rainstorm, snowy mountain passes and back down into the rainy desert to meet Pastor Loreto for an hour and a half to talk about the training ministry. He seems like a very humble servant leader who would be a good teacher. We think similarly on many points and both have a heart to see northern Mexicanos reach out to their southern neighbours where there are more witches and spiritists than followers of Jesus. I'm planning on returning in April after hes had a chance to look at the material to see if he is interested in starting a class in his area.
I am also praying about starting another class myself closer to where we live in Rosarito or on Tijuana's west side.
So, We could potentially have 50-80 people taking this incredible training over the next few years! Can you please pray with us for the needed finances to do this work?
It costs CDN$150 over 2 1/2 years to train each student. That includes an NIV Study Bible plus their 10 workbooks for each of their courses. So with CDN$7500 we can train 50 pastors and leaders! We will ask the students to pay a nominal fee to help with the gas of the local pastor-teacher, coffee and snacks and the use of the church. But what we found out is for people trying to feed families of 4 or 5 people on $15/ day (sometimes less) the $10/ course cost was enough to keep them out of the course.
If you would like to donate to this ministry Please send donations to:
YUGO Canada
Box 231
St. Albert, AB
T8N 1N3
Or, for more information contact Marylyn at:
(780) 461-0891
yugoministries@cruzinternet.com
Please send a small note designating the donation to: "Tijuana Colonias Pastoral Training (Mike McDonald)" and it will get to us to be able to help make disciples in Mexico!
In our other ministry at the Bible College, things are going very well! I am teaching 2 classes of about 11 students each- 1 Corinthians and Exodus. I once again have some excellent students and love going down each Wednesday and Friday to teach the classes. It seems to me to be a great investment in eternity to build into these young lives- most of whom are sensing God's call to pastoral, missionary or other church leadership callings.
New this semester is a Discipleship class I am also participating in. We are training 6 of the young people (3 guys- 4 ladies) to disciple up to 3 of the other students each. It has been an excellent opportunity to build into the lives of each other as we spend an hour a week, one on one, talking about our walk with Jesus as well as giving them counsel on their discipling ministry. All 3 of my guys are excellent servants of Jesus and I look forward to hearing from them in the future as God works through them!
Thank you so much for your partnership in prayer and finances with us! We appreciate each one of you and could not do this without you!
Partnering together with you to make disciples in Mexico,
Michael and Sharlene McDonald
We're coming up to the graduation of the first class of our Pastors and Leaders training ministry! We're all pretty excited and proud of the accomplishments of these incredible students!
We have been meeting for 4 hours Saturdays and 2 hours Monday nights for more than 2 1/2 years. Many of the students have other secular jobs on top of ministry responsibilities. They have sacrificed alot of time to be at class and it is almost finished! We will have our graduation on Saturday June 5th for 10 students! And then we begin to look ahead to the next groups!
Thank you so much for your faithfulness in partnering with us! None of this could have been done without you! We are partnering together in the "Great Commission":
MT28:
18Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
The whole idea behind the classes is to train pastors and leaders and empower them to train others. It looks like this wil be happening and the amount of students will be multiplying next year!
I was talking to one of my current students about him starting classes in his church. He has 4 or 5 pastors interested already- and they are looking at bringing their leadership out to the training. He is hoping and praying for 20 faithful students! That's twice as many as I had!
I have 2 other students who are considering starting up classes in their neighbourhoods for pastors and leaders.
I am also praying about going to Nayarit ( southern Mexico-- 2-3 day drive away) for a few weeks to train a local pastor who has several mission churches started by Seve- one of my students (a 65 year old gramma!) as she traversed the villages sharing Jesus last summer. She saw 15 people come to Christ and last December went back and baptized the believers, saw a few more saved and found a pastor to disciple the new followers of Jesus! I'm hoping to help them train the lay leaders of these new groups of Christians! Please pray with us as we seek to make disciples of the disciple makers!
I was in Mexicali , Mexico today talking to a pastor who works closely with our YUGO missionaries in that city. He is looking for some training to give his church. So we drove for 3 1/2 hours through a driving rainstorm, snowy mountain passes and back down into the rainy desert to meet Pastor Loreto for an hour and a half to talk about the training ministry. He seems like a very humble servant leader who would be a good teacher. We think similarly on many points and both have a heart to see northern Mexicanos reach out to their southern neighbours where there are more witches and spiritists than followers of Jesus. I'm planning on returning in April after hes had a chance to look at the material to see if he is interested in starting a class in his area.
I am also praying about starting another class myself closer to where we live in Rosarito or on Tijuana's west side.
So, We could potentially have 50-80 people taking this incredible training over the next few years! Can you please pray with us for the needed finances to do this work?
It costs CDN$150 over 2 1/2 years to train each student. That includes an NIV Study Bible plus their 10 workbooks for each of their courses. So with CDN$7500 we can train 50 pastors and leaders! We will ask the students to pay a nominal fee to help with the gas of the local pastor-teacher, coffee and snacks and the use of the church. But what we found out is for people trying to feed families of 4 or 5 people on $15/ day (sometimes less) the $10/ course cost was enough to keep them out of the course.
If you would like to donate to this ministry Please send donations to:
YUGO Canada
Box 231
St. Albert, AB
T8N 1N3
Or, for more information contact Marylyn at:
(780) 461-0891
yugoministries@cruzinternet.com
Please send a small note designating the donation to: "Tijuana Colonias Pastoral Training (Mike McDonald)" and it will get to us to be able to help make disciples in Mexico!
In our other ministry at the Bible College, things are going very well! I am teaching 2 classes of about 11 students each- 1 Corinthians and Exodus. I once again have some excellent students and love going down each Wednesday and Friday to teach the classes. It seems to me to be a great investment in eternity to build into these young lives- most of whom are sensing God's call to pastoral, missionary or other church leadership callings.
New this semester is a Discipleship class I am also participating in. We are training 6 of the young people (3 guys- 4 ladies) to disciple up to 3 of the other students each. It has been an excellent opportunity to build into the lives of each other as we spend an hour a week, one on one, talking about our walk with Jesus as well as giving them counsel on their discipling ministry. All 3 of my guys are excellent servants of Jesus and I look forward to hearing from them in the future as God works through them!
Thank you so much for your partnership in prayer and finances with us! We appreciate each one of you and could not do this without you!
Partnering together with you to make disciples in Mexico,
Michael and Sharlene McDonald
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
January...
Wow-- it's been a while since I've updated...
We had a good December and first half of January. The weather was unusually warm and dry which allowed us to have some very pleasant firework displays for both Christmas eve and new years eve. Usually it has been cold and windy which makes the fireworks a little more dangerous and neighbour disturbing.
A few years ago we had a bit of a wind and it was our first fireworks day. I sent up an explosive kind and the wind took it sideways at about 25 feet above the ground- right over to our neighbours house where it exploded near his roof. They were not impressed... so we adjusted the direction and sent another up- it too only went up 25 feet and then a downdraft took it down the canyon and onto a neighbours porch where it exploded... thankfully no one was hurt and we learned to send them up with a higher trajectory.
This year the only casualty was a tree. I lit an M-80 firecracker and threw it left-handed over our fence into one of our Spanish dagger trees... It exploded and took out the center part-- which means the tree will probably eventually die.
This new years was the first time we all stayed up past midnight. We launched fireworks- watched movies, played games and waited till midnight to wish each other a happy new year. Here in Tijuana the last hour or two till midnight is HUGE firework time. So at midnight it is nuts- and all over the city you can see and hear explosions. Because we are on a hill overlooking the city we get quite a show!
PROJECT JOY
We did project Joy again this year. We received lots of gifts to hand out in the poorer communities of Tijuana. One church I work closely with (5 of my students are from this church) had 500 kids show up. The partner church from California brought about 270 gifts and we had had several other things donated that we brought out. when all was said and done- everyone who attended the event went home with at least a small gift. There were about 50 kids who came up to receive Jesus as their Lord and saviour as well. Please pray for their follow-up that this church may be able to make disciples of these kids...
PASTOR'S TRAINING
We started classes back up after a brief Christmas break. We are studying church history. It has been good for me because I'd forgotten a good chunk of what I learned in Bible College. It has been eye opening for the students to see the churches history and how we got to where we are today. Espescially interesting to me has been to see that many of the church practices that were occurring prior to the reformation- are still alive and well here in Mexico.
The Dominant Mexican church still practices the selling of indulgences for the forgiveness of sins. You can still, today, buy forgiveness from the priest! You can also purchase your loved ones release from purgatory through a series of "Masses" that are said on their behalf. The more money you pay the priest, the more effective the mass- and the shorter time the loved one stays in Purgatory paying for their sins. Also, in order to expedite healing, the people will gold pieces to the church to buy healing from the saints. So, if your child broke a leg, you could break a piece of gold off of a piece of jewelry that looks like a leg- give it to your favourite statue while you ask the saint that it represents to ask God to heal you. The priests take the gold for their own purposes.
This group of 10 students will be graduating this spring (June 5)! It Will have been almost 3 years of intense study 6 hours a week- when many of them have full time jobs on top of ministries and other obligations. I'm looking forward to seeing them complete their studies!
TEAMS
We have a couple teams coming down this winter to assist us in ministry here in Tijuana. One team of 3 families from Saskatchewan and Manitoba are coming for 2 weeks in February to help out at a mission church along the railroad tracks. The first week they will be building a little portable building to be used as a "comedor" to feed kids in the neighbourhood breakfast. Many of the children in that neighbourhood are malnourished, hungry and very needy of physical and spiritual food. Dolores ensures that they get some of both, thanks to the generous donations of some Canadians. She feeds 35 kids 3 times a week. The need is so great that, if finances allowed, she could feed 100 kids a day. Please pray for these needs!
The second week they will be doing a Vacation Bible School in the same place and feeding the children over lunch. Here in Mexico the kids go to school in shifts-- a morning shift and an afternoon shift. So the families are going to be doing a VBS for each shift when they are not in school- and feeding the kids in between the shifts.
Our second team will be a regular group of folks from Langley BC who come down each year to help with ministry in orphanages and the colonias over the March Break. They are a fantastic group- one of the best- and we're looking forward to seeing what God will do in and through them!
BIBLE COLLEGE
The Bible College in Ensenada I've been teaching at has a long break over Christmas. classes don't start again until February 5. I'm teaching 2 classes this semester- Exodus and 1Corinthians. I've been doing some prestudying and am looking forward to teaching these books this Spring!
I'm also helping out once a month with the School of Ministry in the church that we congregate at- Calvary Chapel Rosarito. There are 25+ men who believe God may be calling them into ministry. Our job is to give them some frank ministry training and then evaluate their preaching and teaching progress. This is once a month for a year. We had our first session last week. Pastor Mike Vincent sprang a surprise on them when he gave them 10 minutes to study a passage and give a 10 minute message on it! Then we split into groups of 3+ a teacher and they gave their messages. Talk about deer in the headlights! One of my student's wife told him to come to church that day- he had NO IDEA what he was coming to. He is quite new to following Jesus and was shell shocked- to say the least! poor guy! Another one is also quite new and spoke all of two minutes. That was after I prodded him to give me more because 1 minute wasn't enough!
I'm looking forward to seeing their progress over the next 12 months and then to see what God will do with them afterwards.
Calvary Chapel Rosarito has been a tremendous blessing to us- it is a balanced, Biblical church with a grand worldview. At 6 years old- they have already sent out their first missionaries to Mexico's south. They also have a large leadership team that serves this growing bilingual church of 700+. When we started coming 2 years ago- there were about 200+ people coming. They baptise many people each month and almost every week sees people getting saved. We are very blessed to be a part of this movement of God in Rosarito.
I have started to take training in the sound booth at church and once I am trained I will bring Elijah in with me so we can serve together.
FUTURE MINISTRY
We appreciate your prayers for our ministry here in Mexico! After this spring when my pastor's training class graduates we need to be seeking God for his wisdom as to what to do next!
As of this time, I think I am going to team-teach a class in the colonias with one of my students. He has many contacts with pastors in that area and may be able to get a good group together. I just found out this month that the government of Mexico is contemplating requiring all pastors to have theological training or face being shut down. What we've found is that there are only a few current pastors who see a need to get training- and it is easy to get your pastor's card without having any training or evidence of a call to ministry even- as long as you are strong and charismatic. As a result their are many problems in the evangelical church with false doctrines, false practices and lack of humility in the pastorate. We see this government move as a blessing and hope to be able to continue to provide low-cost training to the many untrained pastors in our area.
I've also been approached to help do some training of potential leaders and pastors down south- in Nayarit, Mexico where one of my students takes evangelistic trips twice yearly to previously unreached areas. Please pray for wisdom, direction and finances, if this is God's direction. I would likely go down with one or 2 of my students for a week or 2 at a time and offer this to them- their is alot of desire for it down there, I am told!
Thank for partnering with us!
God bless,
Mike
We had a good December and first half of January. The weather was unusually warm and dry which allowed us to have some very pleasant firework displays for both Christmas eve and new years eve. Usually it has been cold and windy which makes the fireworks a little more dangerous and neighbour disturbing.
A few years ago we had a bit of a wind and it was our first fireworks day. I sent up an explosive kind and the wind took it sideways at about 25 feet above the ground- right over to our neighbours house where it exploded near his roof. They were not impressed... so we adjusted the direction and sent another up- it too only went up 25 feet and then a downdraft took it down the canyon and onto a neighbours porch where it exploded... thankfully no one was hurt and we learned to send them up with a higher trajectory.
This year the only casualty was a tree. I lit an M-80 firecracker and threw it left-handed over our fence into one of our Spanish dagger trees... It exploded and took out the center part-- which means the tree will probably eventually die.
This new years was the first time we all stayed up past midnight. We launched fireworks- watched movies, played games and waited till midnight to wish each other a happy new year. Here in Tijuana the last hour or two till midnight is HUGE firework time. So at midnight it is nuts- and all over the city you can see and hear explosions. Because we are on a hill overlooking the city we get quite a show!
PROJECT JOY
We did project Joy again this year. We received lots of gifts to hand out in the poorer communities of Tijuana. One church I work closely with (5 of my students are from this church) had 500 kids show up. The partner church from California brought about 270 gifts and we had had several other things donated that we brought out. when all was said and done- everyone who attended the event went home with at least a small gift. There were about 50 kids who came up to receive Jesus as their Lord and saviour as well. Please pray for their follow-up that this church may be able to make disciples of these kids...
PASTOR'S TRAINING
We started classes back up after a brief Christmas break. We are studying church history. It has been good for me because I'd forgotten a good chunk of what I learned in Bible College. It has been eye opening for the students to see the churches history and how we got to where we are today. Espescially interesting to me has been to see that many of the church practices that were occurring prior to the reformation- are still alive and well here in Mexico.
The Dominant Mexican church still practices the selling of indulgences for the forgiveness of sins. You can still, today, buy forgiveness from the priest! You can also purchase your loved ones release from purgatory through a series of "Masses" that are said on their behalf. The more money you pay the priest, the more effective the mass- and the shorter time the loved one stays in Purgatory paying for their sins. Also, in order to expedite healing, the people will gold pieces to the church to buy healing from the saints. So, if your child broke a leg, you could break a piece of gold off of a piece of jewelry that looks like a leg- give it to your favourite statue while you ask the saint that it represents to ask God to heal you. The priests take the gold for their own purposes.
This group of 10 students will be graduating this spring (June 5)! It Will have been almost 3 years of intense study 6 hours a week- when many of them have full time jobs on top of ministries and other obligations. I'm looking forward to seeing them complete their studies!
TEAMS
We have a couple teams coming down this winter to assist us in ministry here in Tijuana. One team of 3 families from Saskatchewan and Manitoba are coming for 2 weeks in February to help out at a mission church along the railroad tracks. The first week they will be building a little portable building to be used as a "comedor" to feed kids in the neighbourhood breakfast. Many of the children in that neighbourhood are malnourished, hungry and very needy of physical and spiritual food. Dolores ensures that they get some of both, thanks to the generous donations of some Canadians. She feeds 35 kids 3 times a week. The need is so great that, if finances allowed, she could feed 100 kids a day. Please pray for these needs!
The second week they will be doing a Vacation Bible School in the same place and feeding the children over lunch. Here in Mexico the kids go to school in shifts-- a morning shift and an afternoon shift. So the families are going to be doing a VBS for each shift when they are not in school- and feeding the kids in between the shifts.
Our second team will be a regular group of folks from Langley BC who come down each year to help with ministry in orphanages and the colonias over the March Break. They are a fantastic group- one of the best- and we're looking forward to seeing what God will do in and through them!
BIBLE COLLEGE
The Bible College in Ensenada I've been teaching at has a long break over Christmas. classes don't start again until February 5. I'm teaching 2 classes this semester- Exodus and 1Corinthians. I've been doing some prestudying and am looking forward to teaching these books this Spring!
I'm also helping out once a month with the School of Ministry in the church that we congregate at- Calvary Chapel Rosarito. There are 25+ men who believe God may be calling them into ministry. Our job is to give them some frank ministry training and then evaluate their preaching and teaching progress. This is once a month for a year. We had our first session last week. Pastor Mike Vincent sprang a surprise on them when he gave them 10 minutes to study a passage and give a 10 minute message on it! Then we split into groups of 3+ a teacher and they gave their messages. Talk about deer in the headlights! One of my student's wife told him to come to church that day- he had NO IDEA what he was coming to. He is quite new to following Jesus and was shell shocked- to say the least! poor guy! Another one is also quite new and spoke all of two minutes. That was after I prodded him to give me more because 1 minute wasn't enough!
I'm looking forward to seeing their progress over the next 12 months and then to see what God will do with them afterwards.
Calvary Chapel Rosarito has been a tremendous blessing to us- it is a balanced, Biblical church with a grand worldview. At 6 years old- they have already sent out their first missionaries to Mexico's south. They also have a large leadership team that serves this growing bilingual church of 700+. When we started coming 2 years ago- there were about 200+ people coming. They baptise many people each month and almost every week sees people getting saved. We are very blessed to be a part of this movement of God in Rosarito.
I have started to take training in the sound booth at church and once I am trained I will bring Elijah in with me so we can serve together.
FUTURE MINISTRY
We appreciate your prayers for our ministry here in Mexico! After this spring when my pastor's training class graduates we need to be seeking God for his wisdom as to what to do next!
As of this time, I think I am going to team-teach a class in the colonias with one of my students. He has many contacts with pastors in that area and may be able to get a good group together. I just found out this month that the government of Mexico is contemplating requiring all pastors to have theological training or face being shut down. What we've found is that there are only a few current pastors who see a need to get training- and it is easy to get your pastor's card without having any training or evidence of a call to ministry even- as long as you are strong and charismatic. As a result their are many problems in the evangelical church with false doctrines, false practices and lack of humility in the pastorate. We see this government move as a blessing and hope to be able to continue to provide low-cost training to the many untrained pastors in our area.
I've also been approached to help do some training of potential leaders and pastors down south- in Nayarit, Mexico where one of my students takes evangelistic trips twice yearly to previously unreached areas. Please pray for wisdom, direction and finances, if this is God's direction. I would likely go down with one or 2 of my students for a week or 2 at a time and offer this to them- their is alot of desire for it down there, I am told!
Thank for partnering with us!
God bless,
Mike
Wednesday, December 09, 2009
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
Thursday, December 03, 2009
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.
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)