Tar Paper Shack

I am not sure where or how to begin, words never have come easily to me, especially when it comes to explaining what the Lord is saying in my heart. Language falls so short, any language. This story is more about what the Lord has shown me rather than what He is telling me.

Recently at a prayer meeting at church, we took a collection for a lady who needs medication. This lady is the mother of a large family. She is a grandmother as well and she has ten or more people living with her (not sure if they are all family or not). I came to get involved with this family through my friend Marcela. You see Marcela was leaving her work the other day and rather than showing up for an appointment, she felt the Lord tell her to go home and on the way, saw this family picking through the garbage looking for food. Marcela can relate to that as that used to be part of her life as well not so long ago. Now the Lord has changed her circumstances and her heart but she still remembers what it is like to have to look through the garbage for food. So she had compassion on this family and took them to the store to buy some food and a few things they needed, even though Marcela doesn’t have a lot herself (by Canadian standards anyway).

Fast forward to the prayer meeting one night later.

A few members of this family took Marcela up on her invitation to come to the prayer meeting at our church the next day. We took an offering and then went to buy the things that were needed with the money that had been given. Afterwards we took this family “home”. I put home in quotes because it could hardly be called a “home”. Marcela and I followed them into their house to find their bed ridden mother/grandmother inside. I have never really seen the inside of a tar-paper shack (maybe once briefly in Paraguay) but this was so hard to swallow. It was cold that night and the wind was blowing the cold air through the many holes in the boarded up, patched together walls. There was one mattress in the room (the size of a very small bedroom) but there were 8-9 people in there. The smell inside resembled the smell of an outhouse, just not quite as strong. The baby lay on the mattress but fell asleep beside the make shift boarded up wall that was full of holes.

As Marcela shared the hope of Jesus with this family, they all seemed quite content and comfortable; perhaps I was the only one uncomfortable standing on the sloped dirt floor as I tried to keep my balance in the dimly lit room.

That night after we parted ways, I returned to my house speechless. “They have nothing” I kept thinking, with tears running down my cheeks. “Lord how do they live in there”? In Canada, our garages are plush mansions compared to this home.

The next day Marcela and I returned with the medicine for the mother/grandmother. As part of our routine, Marcela and I prayed together before we set out, feeling weak but strong in the Lord, knowing we only had to be willing to be used by Him, and that He would do the rest. When we arrived, everyone was sitting outside of the house, visiting with a lady whom we had not yet met. They quickly welcomed us and brought two broken unstable looking chairs to sit on…………………

We took our seats and Marcela and this lady began to visit. As it turned out, this lady (Blanca) was a niece who RARLEY visits. Marcela and she hit it off and talked for an hour, while I took my usual position of praying my heart out for Marcela as she talked and for the people as they listened. At times I got distracted from praying as I focused on trying to understand the Spanish that was being spoken between 2 native speakers at a record speed, and the open sewage that rushed out from the house into the street and the smell that it produced.

“Lord sometimes I have good thoughts and feel privileged to be here, but sometimes the overriding feeling is to get up and run away, far away”. This time the latter was what was coursing through my brain. I wanted to go back to Canada, where it is comfortable for me, clean and safe. I know this is only the beginning of our time in serving the poor here in Mexico, and is only the beginning of spending time in places like this, I think that is why I wanted to run. It can seem like a big mountain to have to scale. Sooner or later however, the Lord brings perspective back to me.

Did not the Lord himself come from a much more glorious place than Canada into a gross and smelly place? Was not the first smell He smelled as a little baby, the smell of animal feces? His “house” was hardly a place for a newborn baby. “Lord to say ‘thank you’ isn’t enough, I need to give you all of me, I can’t run away”. “You took your cross and now I need to take mine, though you gave so much more than I could ever give”.

As Marcela and I left the family and drove back to my house, my thoughts were still of running away. Then God touched my heart with his grace and mercy (which he didn’t have to do) and gave me a better perspective. He reached out and touched me because of his loving heart.

Marcela then spoke up, “Did you understand what happened last night to Blanca?” (Remember she was the niece who had visited with Marcela). I confessed I didn’t follow Blanca’s story enough to understand what had happened. Marcela then explained how Blanca and her boyfriend had a fight the night before as he had come home high on drugs again. He accused her of cheating on him and grabbed their baby saying that Blanca would never see the child again. Blanca also grabbed the baby and a struggle over the child began. Blanca pleaded with him to let the baby and her go. He then tried to rape Blanca but she somehow managed to escape with the baby in her arms. She managed to find a place to stay that night and had what she called “a vision”. She saw her auntie’s face and then a voice told her that her life was going to change the next afternoon. The next morning she went to her auntie’s house and that afternoon Marcela and I arrived and she heard the good news and hope of Jesus Christ from Marcela.

Thank you Lord for your mercy. I know you have called me here and even though at times I want to run, I have peace about being here. Thank you that you allow me to see your mighty hand at work around me. Use me in my weakness Lord. Be glorified.

The family in this story has been coming to church here and there since this story took place. Thank you for your prayers, we need them!

Blessings to you this holiday season.

Sheri Elliott

Teaching and Singing Before Eating at the Soup Kitchen

We had about 80 kids in total by the end of the day as well as 20 adults, and for our first time, we were very pleased! We will continue serving the community each Saturday in December. Please pray for us! We want to reach the spiritual needs by reaching out to the physical needs.

Serving Food for the First Time at the New Soup Kitchen

Soup Kitchen Opens to Meet Needs- Physical/Spiritual

Soup Kitchen nears completion

Youth Group Partners with Canadian Team for Hurricane Relief

New Soup Kitchen Coming!

God of Miracles

Full of Purpose

Humility or Discouragement

Ok, it is time to get vulnerable. Not that I really enjoy being vulnerable, but having just read a blog of a former teammate in Paraguay, it has inspired me and if I wait, I won't do it, so here it goes.

Yesterday was our weekly prayer meeting at church. Wednesday nights at the church have been a real source of encouragement for Sheri and I. You see one of the passions we came to Mexico with was the desire to see a prayer focused church. We passed out a few copies of a book called "Fresh Wind Fresh Fire" by Jim Cymbala of the Brooklyn Tabernacle in Brooklyn New York. God has used this book and many others in the same series to move us toward a deeper prayer life. Not that we could be considered "prayer warriors" but that we are on the journey and are beginning to recognize how important prayer is in the life of a Christian (how come it has taken 16 years to get there)?

Anyway God is using the teachings of Jim Cymbala and the testimonies of so many in the Brooklyn Tabernacle that have attested to the power of prayer. He is moving our church toward deeper prayer. Prompted by the leaders, we have changed the prayer meeting from Friday nights to Wednesday nights and as leaders we prayed that God would send more of our congregation to pray (we used to get 5 or 6 out on Friday nights). Now after about a month of meeting on Wednesday nights, we are getting about 30-40 people out for the prayer meeting! We are excited, the church is getting excited and it seems that God is beginning to move in our midst! That is all great right? Yes it is! So where does the title of this entry come in? In a word, Spanish!

Let me explain. Last night at the prayer meeting I shared the devotional with the church before we prayed. When I speak up front, I like to (no, I need to) move around and use my hands and speak what is in my heart. The problem is that the things that are in my heart usually express themselves in English! When I share in Spanish, I need to stay behind the pulpit and read what I wrote and not deviate too much or I might get lost! It feels forced, unnatural, uneasy and boring. I really don't like it at all, and unlike most, I love public speaking! In English. Once I finished, one of the national leaders got up to lead the church in prayer, it felt and sounded so much better! Those poor people who had to listen to me for 20 minutes! I know I can communicate and be understood and my Spanish is improving all the time, but I guess I need more patience with myself. I wonder why I get asked to share in public settings like that. For now I do much better one on one.

All this leads me to humility for sure, which is a good thing, but I confess last night it also led to discouragement in my heart. I believe Sheri and I are having an impact here and I am happy about that (one of the church leaders told me that he felt like God called us here to show the church that they need to focus on prayer). Thank you Lord and praise be to you!

Learning a new language isn't easy, especially when you are figuring out how to speak infront of 30-100 people! God has a sense of humor!

Pray for me, I am preaching on the 13th...........................

Lane

Reaching into Desperate Lives

This week we attended a birthday party in a humble part of town. You see the couple we have been discipling (Cesar and Marcela) have befriended a family over there and it was their 7 year olds birthday this past week.
The mom and dad of this family are caught up in an addiction to drugs. Cesar and Marcela know this all too well, having themselves been clean from drugs for about 10 months or so. They know what it is to be so addicted that you feed your habit before your family. When one is addicted like that, there is never any “extra money” around for frills like birthday parties.
This 7 year old had never celebrated her birthday. She had never had a birthday party in her life. Marcela explained the circumstances to Sheri and the planning began. The ladies went uptown and purchased ingredients for a birthday cake and a few other party supplies. They spent most of the day baking the cake and preparing for the party.

Cesar, Marcela, their daughter, Sheri, our kids, and I showed up with supplies in hand and a few little presents. Their daughter was so excited to see us and when we started blowing up balloons she just started shrieking with excitement! Soon there were probably 15 kids from the neighbourhood at their place. There were no chairs, no tables, no air conditioning, just joy and excitement! Some neighbours set up a trampoline in front their house and the kids jumped till their hearts were content. The kids then enjoyed the birthday cake that Sheri and Marcela had made and then it was time to break open the piñata! A great time was had by all the kids and the parents of the birthday girls were all smiles as well.

It was great to see our kids in their playing with the other Spanish speaking kids and adding their words to the conversation as well. They didn’t seem to be bothered in the least by the dirt floor and absence of chairs etc etc. It wasn’t a “stretch” for them to be there like it would be for so many of us Canadian adults. Sheri and I pray that we will continue to have opportunities for us and our kids to reach out into humble circumstances to bless others, to be Jesus to them. Then when our kids grow up, it won’t be hard for them to continue to reach out to the poor and needy wherever they are.

It was also wonderful to see this couple we have been discipling (Cesar and Marcela) looking for opportunities to bless someone else. Their testimony is so perfect for this situation as they can relate to this family having walked in their shoes as recent as less than a year ago. Christ has made such a difference in their lives and they want everyone to know it! We are blessed to be a part of their lives.

Thank you Lord for giving us the opportunity to live and serve in such a needy place. And thank less than a year ago. Christ has made such a difference in their lives and they want everyone to know it! We are blessed to be a part of their lives.

Thank you Lord for giving us the opportunity to live and serve in such a needy place.

P.S. Please pray for our children Alexis, Jemma and Noah. They will be starting school this Monday (3 days a week) for the first time for all of them. We have been home-schooling up until now and we will continue 2 days a week. Our purpose in putting them into school 3 days a week is so that their Spanish improves. It will be hard for Mom and Dad to see them go! They won’t understand everything that is being said in class and so we ask for your prayers. Thank you for partnering with us in this way!

Lane for all of us

Mexican Sword Dance Performed Outside our Church

Traditional Mexican Dance Performed for Winnipeg Youth Team

Kids Club at Our Church with the Help of Winnipeg E-Free Youth Team

Youth Team Visits Hermosillo

This past Saturday, a youth team of 22 people from Winnipeg E-Free arrived at our church Arbol de Vida. They are here to ministry until the 15th. Please pray for them and for us. These next 11 days are going to be hectic but wonderful as well, we anticipate. We will be doing a lot of kids ministry at our church as well as at a Methodist church that is only a block away from ours.
This morning we are heading over to that church to paint it and bless them in Jesus name. Then the afternoon will be full of kids ministry in our church. Each day will be similar.
Please pray for open hearts and changed lives. Also pray for health please. I (Lane) am not feeling real well this morning but there is much to be done!

Thanks for your prayers!

Lane for all of us

Church puts faith in action

This past Sunday I was privileged to speak at church. I gave a brief sermon on “Putting our Faith into Action”. I believe that action, by in large, is what is missing in many of today’s Evangelical Churches.
When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was, He replied that loving God with all our heart and mind and strength was the greatest but He didn’t stop there. He went on to say that the 2nd greatest commandment was like it, loving our neighbor as ourselves (Matt.22:36-40). Has it ever crossed your mind that He was only asked for 1 commandment? However He offered 2. Why? I think it is because you can’t separate the 2. In other words, if we truly do love God with all our heart mind and strength, a natural outcome of that will be loving our neighbor as ourselves. If we don’t love our neighbor as ourselves, then the obvious conclusion is that we don’t love God with all our heart mind and strength.
The same principal can be applied to the Faith vs. Works question. It shouldn’t really be Faith VERSUS. Works at all. It should be Faith + Works. There is a difference. Ephesians says that we are saved by grace through faith.
Salvation cannot be earned, it is a gift that can only be accepted. However, if we truly have faith, then we must also have works. Works in this sense is not a negative (trying to earn our salvation) sort of a thing. Rather we should think of it as fruit. If we are saved (truly love God – greatest commandment) then the natural outcome is that we will have good works in our lives (love our neighbor as ourselves). If there is little to no good works (fruit) in our lives, then we must question if we have taken care of the greatest commandment, in other words, our salvation. I know these are strong words, but I simply can’t escape the simple teaching of Jesus in this matter.
Works or fruit, is the proof that we do love God with all our heart and mind and strength, and that we do have faith in our lives, saving faith. If the proof isn’t there………………it is time to start asking some hard questions.
So after explaining this to the congregation, I proceeded to tell them that it would be hypocritical of me to talk about fruit, or good works and then for us all to go home and carry on with our week. No, now was the time for action.
I challenged everyone to come together and clear out the sanctuary and convert it into a kitchen, a sandwich making kitchen. They did so and we made about 150 sandwiches (the ingredients had been bought the day before without the congregation knowing about it). We then ventured out into the 40C weather and passed out ham sandwiches and a cold bottle of water in the name of Jesus. If you know the neighborhood near our church, it is a place of great need. It was a joy to see our church body serving in this way and blessing many needy people in the name of Jesus. I hope when they went home afterward, they rested in the knowledge that they had given Jesus something to eat, and had given Him a glass of water. I hope they were blessed as I was, I hope they know Jesus was blessed as well.
My prayer is that they would see the benefit of serving in this way, leaving the church and leaving our comfort zone to seek out needy people and serve them, and by extension, serving Jesus. I pray that they might have “caught the vision” and will seek out those types of opportunities in their own lives on a regular basis. I pray that as you read this, you too will seek out ways to serve Jesus by blessing someone who is in need, someone who needs the loving touch of Jesus in their lives. You will be blessed, they will be blessed, and Jesus will be blessed. Best of all, if you make this a pattern in your life, when you stand before our Lord on judgement day, you will hear Him say, “for I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. Come and take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world”.

“A Church that lives within it’s four walls, isn’t a Church” – An African Pastor

“Don't fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear! Those who hear and don't act are like those who glance in the mirror, walk away, and two minutes later have no idea who they are, what they look like.” James 1:22- The Message

Blessed to serve Jesus in this needy place,

The Elliotts

Mourning with those who mourn

We received news this morning that little 2 year old Jimena (one of the victims of the daycare fire that occured at the beginning of this month here in our city) has passed away.
Sheri and Marcela (a Mexican friend) have gone to the memorial service this afternoon. Please pray for them as they search for how to comfort Jimena'a mother and father. Pray that God's love would be so evident in Sheri and Marcela. You may remember from a previous blog entry that Marcela has also experienced this kind of pain. Her youngest child passed away almost a year ago now in the same hospital. She knows what Jimena'a mom is going through.
Pray that God would bring something wonderful out of such tragedy. Only He can do such a miracle.
Matthew 5:4 says "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted." Please pray for comfort for Jimena's parents.
It isn't easy to be here in times like this, but this is when the church needs to stand up and be the church.
Thank you for enabling us to be His hands and feet in a place and time like this.

Lane

Searching for how to Help

Today I plan to pick up a church member and head over to the other side of town. Her sister (Reina) lives over there, close to the train tracks. I met her sister in church on Sunday. She doesn't normally attend our church but she does come once in a while.
It turns out she is trying to minister to some desperate people and I would like to see if the Lord is leading us to help in some way. The desperate people I speak of come from all parts of Mexico and beyond. Some as far away as Central America. Why do they come you ask? For a chance to make what they think will be, a better life in the States. Our city Hermosillo, is a stopping point for those who travel by train. They must get off their train here and walk (I am not sure how far) to catch the next one. Most of them travel illegally and will attempt to enter the USA illegally as well. They come hungry (some of them haven't eaten for up to 2 weeks), they come dirty, they come bloody (stowed away on a train is a dangerous form of travel and assaults during ones sleep are apparantly not uncommon), and most of all, they come desperate.
In their transfer, they walk very close to Reina's house and she sees them every day, 6 to 8 or more. Most of them are men although sometimes families with children to come by as well. All of them are in search of a better life that they think will be theirs if they can just cross the border.
How can we help? How can we make a difference? With so many different needs that exist, how do we know if this is one that God is calling us to get involved with? We can offer food, we can offer hope through Jesus. For this reason I am going today.
I am also going with something else in mind. We have a team of youth coming from Canada in a months time and one of my responsibilities is to find a morning ministry for them while they are here. The goal is to find a venue where they can reach out to needy, even desperate people. We also desire that God would reach out to the youth group through these needy people as He has done in my life, and continues to do. That these kids would go home changed people for having reached out and touched hurting and desperate people and in so doing, would have had the privilege of serving and touching none other than Jesus himself- "For what you have done to the least of these, my brothers, you have done to me".


Please pray for guidance, pray for understanding, pray for compassion. Perhaps this particular need isn't one to be met by a youth group from Canada, but by your prayers for guidance and understanding, we will see that. There are lots of needs here, we just need to find the right one for them, the one God wants. He simply wants us and them to be His hands and feet in a hurting place.

"Christ has no body on earth but yours, no hands but yours, no feet but yours.
Yours are the eyes through which Christ's compassion for the world is to look out;
yours are the feet with which He is to go about doing good;
and yours are the hands with which He is to bless us now."

Saint Teresa of Avila

Update on Daycare Tradgedy

After spending some prayer time I suggested to Sheri that she and Marcela (a friend from the church who Sheri is discipling) go down to the kids hospital to see if they could help in some way, via prayer or whatever (in response to the day care fire last Friday that claimed the lives of over 40 children under the age of 5 years).

Marcela comes over to our house to meet with Sheri every Tuesday afternoon. At this time last year Marcela was sitting in the same hospital watching her little girl pass away. Marcela felt she could offer hope to these grieving families and pass on some of the love that God had shown her since the death of her daughter.

They went down to the hospital to find hundreds of people there. Within 30 seconds of entering the place a man stands up says to Marcela, "Don’t I know you”? Marcela couldn’t place him. As they talked she explained that she was looking to pray with the families. He said, “I am an uncle to one of the little girls who was burned, my 2 year old neice Jimena. Her mother is upstairs, would you like to go talk to her?” (Them passing the door of the waiting room would have never happened without the help of this gentlemen). The three went upstairs and talked for a while with the mom, there were tears and encouragement, Marcela shared her new faith in Christ. Phone numbers were exchanged, hope was left.

Please continue to pray for us as we seek to how best minister to a hurting city. Your prayers make a difference!

Day Care Tradgedy

As many of you have already heard, there was a terrible tradgedy that happened this past Friday in our city of Hermosillo. A day care caught fire and to this point, 43 children (most of whom were between the ages of 0-5yrs) have died. As you can imagine, the city is in mourning.
We (our family as well as most of our young adult group) were headed out of the city at the time of the fire. We were driving through an area not far from where the fire happened and it was caos. Traffic was jammed and ambulances, many many ambulances were trying to pass through. Police were directing traffic and trying to bring it all under control without much success. Once we left the city and arrived at our destination for the young adult weekend retreat, then we found out what had happened.
We ended our retreat early in order to return to the city to attend a city wide church service. Many Christians all across the city joined together to cry out to God to heal the remaining victims who are in hospital, heal the families of the victims, and heal the city as a whole. We received a donation from a church outside of the city as an expression of love from them to those who are hurting. That is just one of the ways that we are going to attempt (administering this gift) to bring Gods love and mercy to those who are desperate for it.
Please pray for us, pray that God would show us exactly how to get involved and how to show compassion in His name. We are called to be Jesus to these people, to a city in need. Thank you for your prayers.

Update

Things have been ticking along here in Hermosillo. With the summer heat approaching, we are already feeling that familiar "drain of energy". I remember in Paraguay during the hot season feeling like it was all I could do to get up and eat and kind of just exist day to day. You feel so tired on an ongoing basis. Well that feeling is coming back. We have been regularily up near 40C each day and they say it isn't about to let up. Right into July and August we will see temps of near 45C. You kind of get used to it but at the same time, your body goes into preservation mode and you just can't muster the energy you had when it was cooler.

We bought a puppy for the children finally. He is a little French Poodle, Maltese cross and we named him Gilligan. He is a joy to have around the house but the reality is that he is a lot of work too! We are hoping to have him trained sooner than later but with him being only about 2 months old, we have a ways to go still! The kids love him and he is quite cute. He is a litte white puff ball running around the house.

We have just punched a hole in the back fence in order to connect our yard to the Neufelds yard. They are our teammates here in the city. Now we have easy access to each others yards with the main goal being an above ground pool that will be put just on the other side of the fence. The kids will love it I am sure and are bound to spend many hours in the water as the summer heat swealters.

On the ministry side, I am discipling 2 or 3 young men from the church on a weekly basis. Some of those relationships are based in English, some in Spanish, and some are mixed. It is a unique fact that in this area of Mexico there are more than a few people who speak English quite well. Some of them are new believers and it is a blessing to see their eyes light up when I explain to them a bible passage or a truth in scripture. I wish we all had the same level of excitement about our faith as new believers do!

This Thursday I will be going downtown with "Marina" (if you remember she is the one who we raised money for in order to pay off a debt that she incurred through no fault of her own- and because of that she has been living with her 2 kids on the gererosity of a distant relative-living in their small house- but that relationship is beginning to be strained as you can imagine living in such tight quarters) in order to pay off her debt. She is so excited and is already making plans to move out of their current living situation into their own rented house. It will be a blessing to us to see her living in her own place and having enough each month to provide for her family.

This morning after our discipleship class I am heading downtown with Cesar. Sheri and I have been working with Cesar and Marcela. They are another couple in our church with quite the testimony. Having overcome drug addictions and many other problems, they are now new creations in Christ and Cesar is holding down a regular job. It isn't easy to raise a family on little income each month and there are certainly no frills, but we are trying to help them to manage their money and stick to a monthly budget while at the same time, disciple them into mature believers in Christ. Cesar and I are heading downtown to purchase some fans for their house. Air conditioning is just too expensive for them to buy and to maintain - power bill.

It isn't easy to know where the line is between helping and creating dependency. You know the age old saying "give a man a fish or teach him to fish"? Well that is what we continually struggle with. It is sometimes hard to know the difference. We are aiming to teach Cesar and Marcela how to fish. They are learning as well and have made great strides, however part of the key to learning how to succeed is going through failure first. Man that is tough to see friends failing when you know you could step in and fix the problem. Does that teach them how to avoid the problem the next time though? Usually it doesn't. However we need wisdom in this so please pray for us!

Finally, thankyou for enabling us to be here. We really do love the ministry here and love being where God wants us to be. It is a blessing, not without challenges, but it is a blessing for sure! We hope you are enjoying being where God has put you as well. Lets all remember that our purpose in this life is not earning money to feed our families, rather it is to do the work God has given us, to extend His kingdom by remaining close to Him and being His hands and feet in the world. That is where our true joy comes from!

Grateful for you,
Lane and Sheri

Olds area Christian School comes to Hermosillo

We were blessed to facilitate 40 students and leaders from Olds Koinonia Christian School these last 9 days or so in Hermosillo. They served in many ways- Ministry in a park each morning (kids clubs, soccer, ladies crafts). We also had a work team that came to finish the roof of a small house and install city water into that same house. They also built a security wall for another modest house. Each afternoon these students played with kids in different clubs at the church and in area parks (basketball and soccer). Many kids and ladies made commitments to Jesus! Thank you OKCS!

"Right in the Middle of it"

If you should ever come down to Hermosillo Mexico to visit us and the ministry here, you will find a strange sight as you approach our Church/Ministry Centre. It is surrounded by garbage! Over the last number of years, the dusty dirt road that passes by the front of the church has become a bit of a garbage dump really. You will notice the church at the end of the road in the picture.

On Saturday mornings I usually walk to the church for our weekly men’s meeting and already by 8am the sun is getting hot (we do live in the desert after all!). The searing sun nicely heats up the rotting garbage, not to mention the carcasses of dead dogs and cats that have been left amongst the garbage. All of this provides a distinct odour as one prepares their heart for worship………………………

Now that your stomach is queasy and you are wondering why I have decided to provide you with this intimate glimpse of our church setting, let me explain the point.

Jesus said, “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.”- Jn 17:15. It struck me one day as I passed by one of those rotting dogs (my nose knew it before my eyes did), that Jesus wants us to be “right in the middle of it”- (my interpretation). When you think about it, where did Jesus spend most of His time when He was living on the earth? I will tell you this, it wasn’t in the temple. He was out there with the sick, the hurting, and the suffering. He got involved in the lives of the dirty and smelly people and He wasn’t afraid to touch them. He even explained why He wasn’t just hanging out in the temple most of the time- “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” –Mk. 2:17.

It doesn’t take long to realize that many things in your and my world are a mess. Just pick up the paper, listen to the news on the radio or turn on the TV. It is all around us and it reaches right into our very neighbourhoods. To me, the garbage in front of our church that one must pass in order to enter the church, is symbolic of the mess that is our world. However this isn’t depressing news to me! You see “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” – Jn. 3:17. How can we be Jesus’ hands and feet and continue the work that He started when He walked dusty dirty roads Himself, if we aren’t “out there in the garbage”?

God wants to change the smell of our world from the odour of rotting garbage, to the sweet smell of redeemed lives! He hasn’t changed over the years, He is still about the same thing, changing lives. The most amazing thing about it is that He invites us to be involved in the process. With His help you and I can “clean up the neighbourhood” to the point that the stench of sin is replaced with the amazing aroma of redeemed lives. We can’t do it however, if we turn a blind eye to the garbage and just drive through it into our garages and close our doors. That is pretending that the mess isn’t there. Or perhaps it is getting so used to the mess that we have given up and just accepted that it will always be there.

Our challenge is to get out and walk through the mess- physically- to remind ourselves of the stench and to determine to find God working in it- it means getting involved in the lives of our neighbours. He wants to change messy lives, He wants to redeem them. He wants to use us to do it just like Jesus did it. We need to be involved in the lives of those who need Him, we can’t ignore them or keep them at an arms length, that sounds like what the Pharisees did as they tried to avoid “getting dirty” in the public squares.

Lets remember that God has put us in the world to bring the sick and dirty and hurting to Him so that He can redeem them and save them! He hasn’t put us in the world just to have us avoid the world. So next time you see or smell the rotting garbage in lives of those who don’t know our Lord, determine not to avoid them, but rather to introduce them to the one who can clean up all the garbage!

Garage Sale to Benefit Family

Security Wall for Single Mom

Remebering What it is Like

Today was a good day. Today I messed up a lot of Spanish! Today I misunderstood what people were saying to me. Today I sweated from the heat. Today I got dirty. Today I remembered what it is like to be a Missionary again, and I loved it!

Let me give you a little pre-amble. Sheri and I came to Hermosillo Mexico with a vision. We came with a vision of seeing a community of like minded believers reaching out to care for those who are struggling, in the church and outside the church. We came with a vision of service to those less fortunate than ourselves and with the hope that the church would join us in reaching out in practical ways to those who are in need. We believe that Jesus ministered to the physical and emotional needs of the people He came in contact with and then He gave them the good news of the gospel. We desire to do the same. I think that loving people first before you present the gospel to them is an effective way to do evangelism. It is something the church should be doing and it is our aim here in Hermosillo.

Enter Jorge (not his real name). You see God has also planted this vision in him and has given him many practical skills in which to serve with as well. Jorge attends the church and wants to see the church reaching out in love to those in need as well.

Enter a team of 7 men from our area of Alberta. These 7 arrived on Saturday night and will be leaving this coming Saturday. They are here to further the construction of the church building. However they also said that they wanted to serve a person or a family in need in some practical way.

There is a lady in the church who is raising 3 kids (16, 13, 7) on her own and she is getting by, but with no room to spare. She lives in a tiny 3 room house in a very modest neighbourhood where there are many abandoned houses. Two of these abandoned houses front her property (one on the side and one behind). Now these types of houses tend to attract people who are up to no good. Often drug deals and other such things happen there. This family doesn’t have a wall to separate their property from the others and therefore after doing their “business” in these abandoned houses, the people will often walk right through their yard or even through their house! The 16 year old girl often cares for her younger siblings while Mom is at work. This obviously isn’t the type of environment in which anyone would want to raise 3 kids on their own!

This morning I met Jorge and 4 of the men from the team (the other 3 were working on the church) at this lady’s house and we began the construction of a proper wall made of brick to provide much needed security for their home. This project is happening because of the combined efforts of people in the church (Jorge specifically), the men from back home, myself, the other Missionary Family that serves here and the Mom of the 3 kids who is going to pay for part of the materials needed to build the wall.

I spent a good part of the day driving around with Jorge picking up materials needed for the construction and we also ate lunch together in his home with his wife. It was wonderful and difficult to speak Spanish as we drove for so long with no way of escape! After we ate lunch I thanked Jorge and his wife for the lunch they provided and then as we got into his vehicle, I thanked him again. After a minute or two he told me “I have something to teach you about our culture”. He proceeded to tell me that very few people say “thank you” here and that it bugs him when people do thank him! I told him it would be very difficult for a Canadian who has been invited over for a meal to not say “thank you”! Ah the intricacies of Missionary life!

I don’t want to be too idealistic or get the horse in front of the cart, but I was so encouraged by today! In working toward seeing the church reach out to others in practical ways, it is absolutely key for them to “catch the vision”. Today I saw a leader emerge from them, one who has the same vision and one who will hopefully draw others into service as well. God is obviously at work and today was just the beginning we trust.

Today for me was the beginning of seeing this dream realized. Today I saw Mexicans serving Mexicans. Today I saw Canadians serving Mexicans and being changed in the process. Today a family was blessed. Most of all, and I believe this with all my heart, today God was pleased.

Please continue to pray! We need your prayers!

Lane for the Elliotts.

English Kids Club at the Church- Sheri helping at the back

Almost There

I am typing this from our hotel room in Blythe California which is almost on the border of Arizona on Hwy 10. We have been traveling for 4 days now. The kids have been doing well, but we are all tired. Our drive to Mexico began on Monday morning in Coaldale Alberta where it was -15C or so with lots of snow. We headed south and have traveled through Montana, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Nevada and now California enjoying the 19C weather! When we pulled into Blythe we saw a dirty pickup and RV ahead of us and I jokingly commented to Sheri and that it looked about as dirty as our vehicle and must be from Alberta. Upon further inspection the license plate indeed confirmed that it was from Alberta!

We are planning on taking a break tomorrow and not traveling at all. Maybe we will take the kids out to a movie and then hot tub here at the hotel later.

A highlight of the trip for Noah was when we traveled on the "Historic Route 66" hwy on which the movie "Cars" is based- (His favorite). The girls have been enjoying the trip as well except for when Jemma got her fingers caught in the electric window when Dad rolled it up...........................no worries, all her fingers are still there............
This really has been quite the fun time for the kids. These are memories they won't soon forget!

So the plan is to head to Tucson on Saturday and then down to Hermosillo on Sunday. We would love to have your prayer support again for this border crossing. By the way, the one into Montana went without a hitch. The border gaurd asked me for my license plate number and because it is new to me, I hesitated when giving him the answer and even though I got it right he still wanted to see my registration. Oh well, we made it through fine.....................without having to open the trailer!
We were going to spend New Years Eve in Las Vegas but couldn't get a hotel room as the whole city was pretty much sold out! Oh well, we went to Mesquite Nevada (an hour north east of Las Vegas) and stayed there instead. The kids loved the tredmills in the exercise room of the hotel we stayed at.........................go figure.

Well that is about it. We are getting more and more excited as we get closer to Mexico. We are truly looking forward to what God is going to do in and through us there in Hermosillo. We have a vision but God is refining it and will continue to do so. There is a song that we have been listening to on the way down here that is new to us. It is called "God of This City" by the Passion Worship Band. The chorus goes, "greater things have yet to come, and greater things are yet to be done in this city". That kind of sums up our anticipation as to what God will do in Hermosillo. We believe He has big plans for the people of this city, and we consider ourselves blessed that we are hopefully going to be a small part of it!

We will update again when we can and also we will post pictures of our trip at www.flickr.com/photos/elliottspics

Blessed to have you behind us, The Elliotts.