November 2013 Update

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, 
there is freedom. 
-- 2 Corinthians 3:17

Our Tuesday night group learns the motions to "Jesus is God!"

Today, November 20, is Independence Day in Mexico. There are parades in every community celebrating the freedom that was fought for and won so many years ago. As Christians, we celebrate a different kind of freedom. Freedom from sin, freedom from death and a freedom to live the abundant life promised to us through Christ and bought by His precious blood, which was shed for us on the cross. Jesus came to free the captives and the oppressed, and that is what He does through our lives when we yield to Him. There is a war going on which goes far beyond the guns and drugs and the greed for money and power. It is the war for souls.

At our Tuesday night Bible study this week, two young men announced that they have made decisions to follow after Christ. Maicol and Jesús both come from difficult home situations, and this decision will not be easy for them. Both of their families are poor and at times desperate to have their daily needs met. One of Maicol’s cousins was recently kidnapped and then brutally murdered as a result of involvement in drugs.

Sadly, many young men in our area are turning to shady means of gaining money or possessions.  Recently another young man from a neighboring village, who at one time had confessed Christ, was badly beaten for stealing a motorcycle. He is recovering now from the physical beating, but our main concern is for his soul. It’s not hard to understand why the young people feel so desperate. Pray that we would be able to speak hope into their lives.

Men of all ages stop by our house daily.  In this photo, Julio and Luis are encouraging Andrew as he works on his buggy.

We are grateful for the team that God has given us here in Las Glorias. Joaquin and Luz continue to work hard to preach the Word, to counsel youth and adolescents and to lead them to Christ through discipleship. Seth has begun a weekly Bible study and prayer time for youth in Alamito. Jessee has been going to the corral with Ramon and the men who work there to disciple and witness daily. Andrew has begun a daily Bible study with Esteban, who is still moving forward in his walk with God. Evie has taken charge of Joaquin and Luz’s daughters, Eimy and Alondra, while their parents are in Guasave running their doughnut business a couple of days a week. Pray that God would continue to raise up Christian leaders in our community!

In October, a couple of visiting missionaries shared a workshop on child evangelism. 

On November 30, we will be partnering with the Vida Nueva Church of Alamito to host a youth outreach. Pray that God would bring the youth in the area, especially those who do not have a personal relationship with Him. On December 14, Lucy, Basilia, Esteban, Julio, Lupita and Julia will all be helping with the children’s outreach in Las Flores. Pray for Pastor Braulio and his family and that God would do a mighty work in that community.

Rebecca and I continue to reach out to the men and women in the area with bi-weekly studies in the Word and have stepped back into the "youth pastor shoes" during baseball season, since Joaquin’s business keeps him busy on the weekends. We are also traveling one or two days a week to minister and teach in surrounding communities.

Seth and Fabian leading the worship time at the church service in Alamito.  This is where the November youth event will be held.

Thank you for your continued prayers on our behalf!  We are encouraged and excited to see God working in so many lives here, and we pray that He continues to provide for and bless our ministry here.

Prayers and Praises:

• Pray for Maicol and Jesus, young men who have recently given their lives to Christ. 
• Pray for Aristeo and Armida who are mourning the loss of their son, Freddy. 
• Pray for the youth in Boca del Rio, Las Glorias and La Pitahaya. 
• Praise God for the spiritual growth we have been seeing in the lives of the believers here.
• Praise God for the youth who will be attending the youth event in Alamito next weekend. Pray that God would be glorified in every moment. 
• Praise God for the way He has been blessing Joaquin’s doughnut business during the past months. Pray for continued wisdom for Joaquin and Luz in this venture. 
• Pray for the up-coming children’s event in Las Flores. 
• Continue to pray for the February mission trip to Veracruz, Mexico.

End of Summer Mexico Update 2013

Psalm 121:1-2 I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth. 

After nearly two months of traveling the Pacific Coast and the southwestern US, we have returned to our home and ministry in Mexico. We had a wonderful time reconnecting with old friends, making new friends and visiting with family from Arizona to Washington and back.  During our time in the States, God provided for us to be able to purchase a newer mini-van and a small trailer.  The Chevy 15 passenger van has now been officially imported to Mexico and this week should receive its Mexican tags and registration.  Pray that that process goes smoothly -- dealing with paperwork is usually a long, drawn-out process here and can often become stressful.

This photo of our new Toyota Sienna pulling our new cargo trailer was taken in the city of Santa Ana, Sonora, about 3 hours south of the Nogales, Arizona, border.  About an hour before this picture was taken, we were at the same place in the city heading the opposite direction when Doug suddenly stopped on the train tracks for no apparent reason.  I was following behind in the 15 passenger van and had no idea what was happening until 4 or 5 men, who were working at a small store on the corner, ran up to the van and grabbed the tongue of the trailer...which was on the ground.  The pin holding the trailer to the ball hitch had popped out, but the safety chains had held.  So when Doug went over the tracks, the trailer popped off the ball and the jack wedged into the rails -- which stopped the little Sienna cold.  We praise God for the angels He had watching over the previous hours of travel on mountain roads with no shoulders.  We are still marveling over His protection.  How did the pin come out?  No idea.  We've been pulling trailers for over 20 years and can only remember it happening once before -- with really bad results.  On this particular trip from Arizona to Sinaloa, it happened twice.  All we can say is that God obviously isn't finished with our family yet!  Thank you again for praying for us as we travel!

We had a great group of youth at our house last night.  There were 25 kids here -- a van-load from Guasave and another from Alamito plus several who came from Boca on their bikes.  It's so good to have the house full of teenagers!  Keep these youth in your prayers.  Pray that they would remain firm in their faith through trials and struggles.  Also continue to pray for Joaquin and Luz as they teach adolescents and young adults in our village.

Fishing season is here!  Although this particular piece of seafood wasn't caught in our part of the ocean, it was certainly tasty!  Many of our friends here depend upon the ocean not only for their food, but for their income.  Fishing is the main industry -- the only industry -- in our village.   This year's season started out well, but the tides haven't been good for the past few weeks and very few shrimp are being caught.  Pray for Julio, who is working hard at shrimping.  His motor broke down last week and now he's trying to get it fixed.  It's discouraging, since he had just fixed some problems which had been caused by sabotage, but Julio is keeping a good attitude and is trusting God in the situation!  Pray for God's provision in his and Lupita's household.

We are looking ahead to several things in the coming months:

• On October 19th, we are hosting a singles' conference led by the Vida Nueva Church and missionaries Daniel and Laurie Graff.  Pray for the safe arrival of the Graff family and that many young people would be able to come to this exciting event!
• On October 26th, we are hosting a children's ministry conference with a missionary from the States, Lacynda Biggers.  Pray for safe travels for Lacy and the other missionaries traveling with her.  Pray also for the children's ministry workers who will be attending.
• In November, we are planning a children's Bible school in the village of Las Flores with Pastor Braulio.  Pray that God would be preparing the hearts of the families in this village and of those who will be serving during the Bible school, too.
• In February, we are planning a mission trip to Veracruz.  Pray that God would go before us and give us direction and divine appointments.  We are already seeing some exciting "coming together" of all of the loose ends.  Pray also that each person who is supposed to travel with us will be able to.  
• Also keep our family in your prayers as we continue to teach and train our kids.  Two families in our village, Braulio and Pily along with Joaquin and Luz, have opted to remove their kids from the government school and educate them at home.  We will be helping these families as they get started.  The amount of peer-pressure from family as well as neighbors is tremendous, so please lift them up in prayer.
• Praise God for the new baseball league which started this weekend.  (Photos will be coming soon!)  Joaquin's baseball outreach has grown to the point that the young men who have been attending the weekly outreaches are now ready to play in a league -- complete with praise and worship and a Bible study after each game!  Pray that the Word will be heard and multiply in the lives of these young baseball players and their families.

Summer Activities 2013

Romans 1:16 -- For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith."

 
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

 We are wrapping things up here in Sinaloa and preparing for a two-month-long furlough in the States (see schedule below). We are looking forward to seeing as many of you as we can during our time in Arizona, California, Oregon and Washington!

Yesterday we finished construction on the bathrooms at the small church that Braulio pastors in Las Flores. We praise God for the funding and the generosity of His people in helping financially with this project. This week we are hosting a four-day VBS in that same village. The low-ceiling building that the Church meets in is only about 15'x15' (that's feet, not meters). We are expecting 60 to 80 children to attend the VBS. Because of the small building, most of the activities will be held outside. Here is where we need your help! Today it is raining, and the only way into Las Flores is a five mile drive on a dirt road, making it nearly impossible to enter while it's raining. We want to bless this church in Las Flores and the children that live there, and we want to share the gospel and God's love with them. Would you pray with us that God would hold the rain back until Sunday afternoon? Pray that He will give us wisdom on how to proceed. Thank you! I've included a couple of pictures.

-the Coult's

These are the bathrooms. Keep in mind "finished" is a relative term!

 Here are some of the ladies from the congregation here in Las Glorias preparing for the VBS. This is a huge milestone! We have 8 men and women (not including our family) participating in the school. Praise God for growth!

These are the kids from our weekly fellowship meeting -- our kids have taken charge of the "children's ministry"!

Pastor Braulio's oldest daughter, Madai.

Our Furlough Schedule:
July 22 -- 3am leave MX to AZ
July 27 – In Sacramento
July 28 -- @ Restoration Life Church, Sacramento
Aug 1 -- Leave CA for Oregon
Aug 4 – @ New Hope EFC in Winston OR  
Aug 9 -- Leave OR for Washington, 9th -14th Family Camp
Aug 18 – @ Harper EFC (a.m.) @ Irondale EFC (p.m.)
Aug 19 -- Leave WA for Oregon
Aug 24 – In Woodland CA
Aug 25 – @ Woodland Bible Church, Woodland CA
Sept 8 – @ Magnolia Presbyterian Church, Riverside CA
Sept 15 – @ Saguaro Canyon EFC, Tucson
Sept 19 (+/-) – Home!

 

Coult's May/June Update 2013

 And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest." -- Matthew 9:35-38

Villagers gather corn that was dropped by the harvesting machines.  This custom, called "pepenar" (gleaning, in English), is very important in our area.  Many families will live on gleaned corn, or on money earned from selling the corn, until the fishing season starts.  
Gleaners can sell their corn in town for about $.30 per kilo.

Happy Summer from the Coult family in sunny Sinaloa, Mexico. The corn harvest is drawing to a close here, which means summer is in full swing. The days are heating up, the general pace of life is slowing down and the mosquitoes are beginning to congregate. Even with the challenges of summer here, we are extremely privileged and blessed to be serving in Mexico. How quickly our time here has passed! 

Even though Sarah and Caleb have moved to the States, the six of us who are left still make quite a team! The boys and I have been working on various construction projects this year. At the nearby mission house, we were able to install a much-needed cistern and water system. Those of you who have visited us know that water is always an issue in Mexico. We've also recently finished putting a new roof on the Petit's (our neighbors) house and gave the church building in Alamito a bit of a facelift, with new plywood and windows. At our house, we just put a roof on the veranda in front of the house and (I hope) got the house ready for the rainy season.

 Our home fellowship group is going strong! Sometimes we have a lot more kids than adults, but we all have a great time singing and studying God's word together. We have been having the Bible study on the porch, so the kids can use the Upper Room (containment!).

As I write this, Julio and Alfredo are breaking ground for bathrooms beside the youth center. Something we have been praying for, as we shine our lights here in Las Glorias, is that God would use us to bless the people. Things have been tough, economy-wise, in our village. I prayed that God would give us the ability to help several of the men in our fellowship feed their families this year. At the same time, I prayed that we could continue to disciple and train these men. God has been so faithful in providing the work and the funds necessary to do the projects! Fishing season will start in another month, and God has provided exactly what was needed! Pray with us as we look for long-term projects and business opportunities to help these Christian men provide for their families in a healthy work environment. 

 
Alfredo, Jessee and Doug finished putting 3-tab roofing on the veranda. 
 Looks sharp and the porch is now drip-proof!

 
Some of the kids from our home fellowship playing in Julio's boat.

Thank you to everyone who continues to give to Mexico Missions.  Thank you for continuing to pray for our family and the ministry and families here.  Thank you for your encouragement and for your investment in God's mission and in our lives here in Mexico!!!

 Prayers and Praises: 

• Pray for our two oldest kids: Sarah in Oregon and Caleb in California. Both are working and praying about God's direction for their future. Pray that they would continue to seek His will for their lives and that He would continue to provide for every need, according to His riches in glory. 
•  Praise God for raising up men like Julio and Alfredo to make long-lasting differences in this community. They are growing in Him, and it's exciting to watch. Pray that God would continue to grow these men into valiant warriors of God for their families and for Mexico! 
• Pray for Joaquin and Luz as they begin to break ground on their new house!
• Pray for the new couples who have begun to visit our Tuesday meetings.  Specifically pray for family struggles, abuse issues, and addictions which are tearing families apart.
• Praise God for His continued provision in our lives, in Joaquin's family and in the families in our fellowship.  We have a really big God!
• Praise God for the youth who continue to attend our Friday night youth events. 
• Pray for our VBS which is scheduled for the middle of July in a village called Las Flores/Las Culebras where our friend, Braulio, is pastor.  Our prayer is that we'll be able to draw in several of the members of our Bible study to help with the VBS.   

April Update 2013 -- Mission Being Accomplished!

"Jesus Christ is the Way"
Every time we drive past this hill outside of Los Mochis, Sinaloa, I'm reminded of a passage of scripture in Luke.  Jesus' disciples were praising Him (loudly!) in the streets, and some of the Pharisees told Jesus that He should rebuke them.  His response?
Luke 19:40 "I tell you, if these were silent, 
the very stones would cry out."  

We had a great trip to the States in March, but it's good to be back in Mexico!  Our co-workers, Joaquin and Luz, did a fantastic job of "holding down the fort" in our absence, and we arrived home to an even larger weekly Bible study group than we had when we left.  Our other weekly meetings for men, women and youth, continue to grow as well, and we are very excited!

One of our goals as we began to minister here in Mexico seven years ago was that God would raise up national leaders from the village.  Our desire was to be able to come alongside of these leaders in a supportive way, instead of being the ones leading the ministry.  It is truly wonderful to see the work that God is doing in this group of believers!

On Tuesday, 18 children attended our weekly Bible study!  While we prefer to have all of the children in the study with us, we understand that this is difficult sometimes, so our kids have stepped up to lead a "Children's Church" class twice a month.  Their plan is to use some of the oral Bible principles they learned during Master's Bible School to teach the children and then have the children share the lessons with the adults the following week.  We're excited to see where God will lead this group! 

Prayers and Praises:

• Pray for Rebecca as she travels this week to Kansas.  Her father recently underwent a triple-bypass, and is now on the road to recovery.  Pray that his strength would return quickly and that God would be glorified through this trial!  Also, pray for the rest of the family while Mom is out of the house for a couple of weeks.
• Pray for Doug as he begins a course of study to receive his credentials and later ordination into the EFCA.  
• Pray for our kids, Jessee, Seth, Andrew and Evie, as they begin a children's program during our Tuesday night fellowship. 
• Pray for wisdom as we pastor the flock here in Las Glorias.  Because of the witchcraft, superstition and other religions around us, we frequently have to deal with false teachers and false teachings.  Recently, we had to deal with a difficult situation in the Body here, and we pray that God helps us to respond rightly to any other situations which arise.  
• Pray for Joaquin and Luz as they investigate home schooling as an option for their children.  This will be a huge undertaking for them!  Pray for wisdom and perseverance!

February - March Mission Update: Spring is in the air!

Spring in Sinaloa is a beautiful time. The nights are still cool (cold tonight!) and the days are warm but not hot, AND there are no mosquitoes, which is definitely a blessing. Walking through our quiet village, listening to the waves on the beach and the eagles circling overhead, I understand the Psalmist:

Psalm 100:1 Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth!

In Las Glorias, one can hear creation singing!

It’s really hard to believe that it’s already time for our semi-annual trip to the states. We’ve been working hard on many projects for the past few months and this has caused the months to simply fly by.

Many of our friends and family have been asking us on Facebook when we’re traveling, where we’ll be stopping and how far north we’ll be going. Here’s our schedule, finally!

March 1 (Friday) – Leaving Mexico and driving to Arizona
March 3 (Sunday) – at Saguaro Canyon Evangelical Church, Tucson AZ
March 10 (Sunday) – at Magnolia Presbyterian Church, Riverside CA
March 15 (Friday) – at Happy Trails Christian Fellowship, Surprise AZ
March 20 (Wednesday) – Heading back to Mexico

It’s a very quick trip this time, and we’ll only be traveling as far north as Riverside. Semana Santa (Holy Week) starts on March 24 and we feel it necessary to be here for that important week. We are planning a longer trip in the summer so that we can travel north to see all our friends and relatives in Oregon and Washington. In the meantime, you’re all in our prayers!!!

Also, we had been trying to figure out a way to travel to Kansas this spring, but were just unable to make it work. Lord willing, we would like to plan a trip to Kansas next spring. We’ll keep all you Midwestern relatives posted!

I believe that the biggest accomplishment of the past six months was the completion of the 3rd module of Master’s Bible School and the graduation of 20 students. Hurrah! We've actually hosted both Module 2 and Module 3 since our last furlough, so it really seems that all we’ve done is prepare for Bible school and host Bible school and recuperate from Bible school for six months! It’s been a ton of work, but the blessings have abounded as well.

Joaquin's doughnut business is booming!  He's selling 200-300 doughnuts per day on the weekends!  Wow!

 

One very nice benefit of having a large family is that we are able to be involved in many different ministries and activities – practically simultaneously. We want to share a few highlights from several of the different ministries and projects we’ve been involved in.

Home fellowship – Meeting every Tuesday at the Aposento Alto (behind our house) our fellowship group continues to grow both spiritually and in numbers. It is a wonderful thing to see new believers in our community as well as many who are just curious about God (or about us!) and looking for healthy friendships and fellowship. We continue to have supper together each week after the teaching time and it’s been wonderful getting to know our neighbors better. Last week we had 42 people…13 of them were under twelve years old.
     • Pray for this ministry: That God would continue to bring people in from our neighborhood. Our desire is to see all of Esteban’s and Ramon’s families come to a saving knowledge of Christ. To be honest, that’s pretty much everyone in Boca del Rio and Las Glorias, so pray with us! Pray also for the families where only one parent is attending. In most cases, it’s the mom who is attending with the children, so pray specifically that God would raise up the heads of the households.   

Men’s Ministry -- Every Thursday morning at 6:30, a group of motorcycles and bikes converges on our house. The ten men meet for coffee, cookies and a time of prayer and study in the Word. They are reading through the book “The Stranger on the Road to Emmaus”. Also, on Saturday afternoons a group of men pile into our little white pickup and head to Guasave to play baseball at a “baseball outreach” in Tecomate.
     • Pray for this ministry: That through their time in the Bible study, the men would develop a deeper understanding of God’s word and a closer relationship with Him. Pray that the Christian men and youth who have been attending the baseball outreach in Tecomate would be lights shining out in a dark place and that God would be glorified through their testimonies. Pray that men in the neighborhood of Tecomate would have a hunger to know more about Jesus Christ.

Women’s Ministry -- Every Thursday afternoon, a faithful group of women gathers at Lupita’s house for a time of prayer and study. We also have been going through the “Stranger” book. We go slowly, as there are many questions, but we are all learning a great deal.
     • Pray for this ministry: That God would continue to grow our group. Lupita’s neighbors have begun to stop in for the study as well (one of those is Ramon’s granddaughter!) and we are praying that all of the ladies who attend on Tuesdays will also make the commitment and sacrifice to come on Thursdays. Pray for wisdom as Luz and I (Rebecca) answer tough questions of doctrine, tradition and misconception. Although Mexico is a traditionally Catholic country, most people in our village know little to nothing about the Bible.

Youth Ministry -- On Friday nights, Joaquin travels to Boca del Rio and Alamito to bring youth to the Aposento Alto for youth night. Turnout has been really good and attendance continues to grow. Once per month, we have a “movie night”, which has attracted as many as 50 youth. Although we don’t put a lot of stock in numbers, it’s really great to see all of the youth together in a healthy environment “hanging out”. Joaquin is a gifted teacher and has a talent for connecting with the young people and speaking to their hearts.
     • Pray for this ministry: Praise God that we have the pick-up truck to be able to haul teens around in!!! It has been an indispensable tool in this ministry. Pray that God would capture the hearts of these young adults. Several of the teens have also attended our Tuesday study and many arrive at our house early on Friday on their bikes so they can hang out before the study. Pray for Luz and Joaquin as they prepare for a more intensive Bible study specifically designed for young ladies and young men separately. Pray that God would give them wisdom as they begin these studies.

Children’s Ministry -- We’ve been working on including the children in our Tuesday night study and we are seeing some good fruit from our labors. As mentioned earlier, nearly 1 in 3 attendees on a Tuesday night is under 12. One young man, Andres, comes by himself!
     • Pray for this ministry: Pray that God would be unifying the family. Pray for wisdom as we enter the summer – we’re praying about a weekly “Children’s Church”. Pray that God would raise up workers if He desires that we start this ministry!

Family Stuff
• Sarah graduated from Tres Cruces Bible School in January (Yay!) and is currently living in Oregon. She is working at Subway and praying about a possible mission trip to North Africa. Pray for wisdom and direction!
• Caleb will be leaving us at the end of March to live in Chico, California. Lord willing, he will be working in Chico and saving money for college for the next year. The plan is for him to study welding at Butte College and to enroll in January of 2014. Pray for God’s provision for Caleb’s education!
• Jessee, Seth, Andrew and Evie will continue to homeschool in Mexico. Our once-large family doesn’t seem so large anymore. Crazy. Pray for continued wisdom and insight as we train our kids and that we would be good examples to the families around us.

And pray for us as we get on the road in a few hours!

Coult Update -- February 2013

Hello friends, family and supporters!

We wanted to let you all know that tomorrow we are starting the third module of MBS pastoral training here in Las Glorias, Sinaloa, Mexico. Once again, God has provided for travel for the teachers, purchase of the course books, housing and food for the ten day conference. Our wonderful provider never ceases to amaze and surprise us! The provision did not come from where we expected it, but it came at just the right time and we are grateful.

This is the fruit stand where we purchase fruits and veggies every week -- including this week, when we purchased produce for Master's Bible School.  The majority of Don Trino's produce is grown only a few meters up the road, just behind his fields of roses.

 

Thank you to those of you who have been praying for us, and also thank you to those of you whose hearts God has touched to support this ministry.

Please continue to pray for the following:

• Strength for the staff (teachers and kitchen crew)
• Pray that we will move at His pace and not our own.
• Spiritual and physical health for all
• For everyone to learn as much as we can in these ten days
• Pray against the enemy and his schemes
• We still have a few pastors that want to be at the study but aren’t able to because of either travel costs are lack of funds to leave their families for the 10 days or both. Ask God that He would do a miracle and allow these men to attend. Pray about helping them to be here.
• Pray for everyone who is striving to graduate from the school! 

In His Strength,
Doug and Rebecca

“I would most gladly spend and be spent for your souls”
                                                                         -- The Apostle Paul, II Corinthians 12:15

Update from the Coult Family -- Happy New Year!

O sing to the Lord a new song, for He has done marvelous things!!! -- Psalm 98:1

Monday night, shortly before midnight, a motorcycle roared into our driveway.  It was our friend, Alfredo, who had come to borrow our pick-up truck.  His wife was in labor and he needed to get her to the hospital right away.  Tuesday morning we got a call from Alfredo's mom.  "It's a boy!" He was born at 12:30 a.m.  We praise God that we were able to help Alfredo and his family!  Thank you, again, to those of you who participated in the purchase of our little Chevy pick-up.  It's most definitely being used in the ministry here!!!

Life is busy as usual, but we wanted to take a moment to wish you a happy new year and tell you that we are praying for you;  We are asking God to fulfill His will in your life in a greater way this year.

2012 was a year full of blessings for us here in Mexico.  We have had the privilege of seeing God change lives through His word, His spirit and His provision.  We have experienced a few changes this year as well.  Our two oldest, Sarah and Caleb, are stepping out in God's calling on their lives.  Sarah spent the latter part of 2012 at Tres Cruces Master's Bible School in Ensenada as she continued her pursuit of teaching/ministering in God's kingdom.  As our ministry is expanding, we are praying towards her coming back to work with us in Sinaloa for a season.  Caleb has also been pursuing a certification at Master's Bible School which he will be receiving in February.  His plan is to travel to the States in March where he will begin the application process into a welding school in Butte County, California.  

This year, we have taken on some new responsibilities with the Vida Nueva Church.  Doug is now managing the mission facilities in Las Glorias and is heading up some new construction projects for the Vida Nueva Church in Alamito.  Our friends and co-workers, the Petit family, have moved stateside for a season to raise funds for the churches and lead mission teams down to Mexico.  Pray for them as they adjust to these changes in their lives as well.

One of our main projects in 2012 was hosting Master's Bible School.  This school consists of three ten-day modules, of which we have completed two.  God has been so faithful in providing for every need of the first two modules and in February, Lord willing, we will host the third.  We are so grateful for the pastors and leaders who have received this training!  We are praying that 30 will graduate from the school and receive their certification in February. 

We continue to host weekly youth meetings and monthly youth events here at the "Aposento Alto" (Spanish for "Upper Room").  In December, nearly 100 youth attended our end-of-the-year youth outreach/pizza party.  Continue to pray for these young people and for our family as we reach out to share Jesus' love with them!

Prayers and Praises:

• Pray for our children as they seek God's direction in their lives.  Specifically pray for Sarah and Caleb as they begin to step out in faith on their own.
• Pray for God's provision in Module 3 of Master's Bible School.  The cost of this module will be about $1300.
• Pray that all of the pastors and leaders will be able to return to finish the Bible school in February.  
• Praise God for the new addition to our home fellowship -- Alfredo and Heidi's new baby!  
• Praise God for the youth who are attending our weekly youth meetings, the men attending the weekly Bible study and baseball outreach, the women attending the weekly Bible study, and all of the families who are now attending our weekly fellowship time.  God is growing His Church!