Psalm 9: 1-2 “I will praise you, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will tell of all Your marvelous works. I will be glad and rejoice in You; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High.”
We have much to be thankful for! Our time in the States during August and September was absolutely wonderful. A special thank you to the congregations in Arizona, California and Oregon which we were able to visit! Your hospitality was incredible, and we were (and continue to be) so blessed! Now that we’re back home, we’ve unpacked, done laundry, cleaned the house and are jumping back into life and ministry in Sinaloa.
Andrew and Evie step in to help with the children’s class at the church in Alamito. After being gone for over a month, they said it felt really good to be back to teaching the little kids…in Spanish. It was also wonderful to see some new faces in the kids’ class. Graciano and Diane, who moved to Tijuana a few years ago, have recently moved back to Alamito and several other children from the village have begun attending regularly, too.
Evie and Kelly, a missionary from Arizona who is staying with us, show our friends’ daughters the joys of finger painting. Simply living with and reaching out to the families around us is a big part of our work here. We pray that we are an encouragement to the families around us and try to be lights in our village. For the next few months, we have the pleasure of hosting a young missionary from Arizona. Kelly is getting a first-hand look at missionary life and has discovered that very little Spanish is needed to effectively finger paint with little kids!
Saying goodbye to Sarah at Rancho Tres Cruces outside of Ensenada, Mexico. What are they doing with their hands? Well, “tres cruces” means “three crosses”. Sarah is settling in at the ranch in San Antonio de Las Minas. Bible classes will be beginning soon and she’s very much looking forward to digging into the Word with the other students.
Friday night youth group in the Aposento Alto (the Upper Room). Friday nights are generally youth-led. Last week, Kelly shared a challenging message on being real and taking our faith seriously. The youth take turns teaching and leading worship. It's great to see God raising up young leaders! Pray that each one of them would be standing firm in their faith.
A special gift from a church in California enabled us to purchase chairs for the conference center. We were so excited to be able to bring 56 chairs home with us from Los Mochis last weekend. Now we will have seating for everyone attending our weekly Bible studies as well as all the pastors and leaders who will be attending the Bible school at the end of this month. In the past we have needed to rent chairs and tables. Praise God for His provision!!!
Master’s Bible School will begin in two weeks. We are very excited, but also feeling the time crunch and the need to finish several projects before classes start. The teachers’ airplane and bus fares are taken care of, and the course materials are ready to be sent to the printer. We have both tables and chairs – and didn’t have to rent them! We've talked with most of the students who attended Module 1 and most have confirmed their attendance for Module 2. Pray for these pastors and leaders. They see the value of solid Biblical teaching, and are willing to make sacrifices to attend the school. The cost for the 10-day course is 150 pesos (a little over $10) which is equal to a day's wage here. Most of the students will be taking time off work to attend and a couple have even stated that they plan to quit their jobs. One pastor shared that his boss wasn't willing to give him time off last winter to attend Module 1, so he quit the job. A week after the school, his boss called him back to work.
The tuition money is used to defray some of the cost of the food. As you might imagine, $10 doesn't really cover 10 days worth of meals, so the Vida Nueva churches have been doing fund raisers to help meet this need. This morning I was discussing the amount of money still needed for meals (about $1,200) with other pastors’ wives. Their attitudes both humbled and encouraged me. Of course, we all agreed that God will provide according to our needs and that we shouldn’t worry. But they went on to say that they believed we should be spending more time in prayer and fasting, so I really shouldn’t worry too much about the food. It would be a good discipline for the students to fast a meal each day. Please pray that God would meet the needs of the students during Master’s Bible School, and also pray that each of us attending will be open to learn every lesson that He has for us during that time.
The tuition money is used to defray some of the cost of the food. As you might imagine, $10 doesn't really cover 10 days worth of meals, so the Vida Nueva churches have been doing fund raisers to help meet this need. This morning I was discussing the amount of money still needed for meals (about $1,200) with other pastors’ wives. Their attitudes both humbled and encouraged me. Of course, we all agreed that God will provide according to our needs and that we shouldn’t worry. But they went on to say that they believed we should be spending more time in prayer and fasting, so I really shouldn’t worry too much about the food. It would be a good discipline for the students to fast a meal each day. Please pray that God would meet the needs of the students during Master’s Bible School, and also pray that each of us attending will be open to learn every lesson that He has for us during that time.
Prayers and Praises:
- Praise God for His provision during our time in the States and as we return home. We see His hand working in our lives daily! Pray that we would continue to trust Him every moment!!!
- Praise God for the young missionary, Kelly, who is staying with us. Pray that God would speak into her life in a mighty way while she is here with us and lead her where He wants her to go.
- Pray for Sarah at Rancho Tres Cruces. Pray for God’s continued guidance in her life and that she would be hearing His voice clearly.
- Pray for Caleb as he looks ahead to his first “solo venture”. Lord willing, he will be moving to California this spring.
- Pray for the mission team from Washington which will be arriving next week. Pray for God's provision and protection and that their time here would be impacting and life-changing for everyone involved!
- Pray for God’s provision for the Master’s Bible School at the end of this month. Specifically pray for the $1200 needed for meals (or the grace needed to fast!). ;^)
- Praise God for the tables and chairs and all the other "details" He's been working out for Module 2 of Master's Bible School.
- Pray that any obstacles which might hinder students from attending the Bible school would be removed.
- Pray for the youth in Las Glorias, Boca del Rio, La Pitayha and Alamito who are attending the weekly youth group meetings.
- Praise God for our home fellowship group in Las Glorias. Pray that the group would continue to grow both in number and in maturity.
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