J+J Are Coming Home!

Yes we are coming to get you boys!  It is official!  We will be heading down to Haiti on the 14th to get Jackson and Judeson!  FINALLY!!!!!!!!
This road of international adoption has taken us 4 years to complete.  What a journey!
We have learned a lot that is for sure.  In some ways it has been the most trying time of our lives, but isn't it in those times when God teaches us the most?  That has certainly been our case.

It feel so good to finally be at the end of this journey!  We will be returning to Calgary with the boys on December 18th Lord willing.  We will have our boys home for Christmas!  What better present could there be than that?  It is what we have been praying for since the summer.  So many others have also been praying for us as well.  Just last week a good friend called an impromptu prayer meeting right after the Sunday service.  Many gathered around and asked God to bring our boys home for Christmas.  It was more than possible, but far from probable.  Then all of 3 days later we received news that not only were the boys' documents submitted to the Canadian Embassy the day before, but their Canadian visas had already been approved!  What normally takes a week to 2 weeks, took all of one day!  Praise God!
Let me say that this process of adoption has usually not been so easy and we have waited and waited and waited, but now it is finally at its end and we are ready to go get them!  Now the real work begins!  Ha!  Raising twin boys!
We will need to teach them what family means and who mom and dad are and that might take some time.  Hopefully friends and family will understand that we will need time together, just our family, in order to prove to our boys, that we aren't just another volunteer who has taken and interest in them and then left them again.  That is all they have known their whole lives so far.  We are so thankful for the volunteers who have spent time with them, but now they need to learn what family is like, what it is like to have a Mommy and a Daddy who won't leave them.  We need to earn their trust.  Hopefully that goes well and they adjust to us and we adjust to them quickly.  Other than praying for safe traveling, the adjusting is now our biggest prayer.

We will post another update when we are with the boys!

We are the bearers of good news this morning!  Our boys are officially Elliotts!  We received word a few days ago that their paperwork has now progressed to the point that the Haitian Courts recognize our boys as well.........................our boys!  Elliotts! 
We still have a number of hoops to jump through, signatures needed etc.  Then comes the passport application process etc.  Having said all of this, the authorities would say that our timeline is somewhere between 2-6 months until we can go get them and bring them home.  We are praying they will be here with us before Christmas!  It is a bold prayer, but our God is more than able.  Please join us in praying that this dream He put in our hearts almost 4 years ago will be realized before the end of this year! 
Thank you for your prayers! 

Summer Youth Team from Manitoba Visits

July has been a good month!  We had a youth team from Manitoba come to Hermosillo to help out with a kids VBS at our church.  Only a youth team would be crazy enough to come during the summer and endure the heat!  They were a great group though!
Many kids showed up for the VBS which not only presents Christ as the only way to salvation, but also increases the exposure and reputation of the local church in the community.
The team also helped out at the Orphanage where we partner, located just outside of the city.  It is always a busy busy time when teams come but at the end of each one I find myself thinking it is always worth it!  God does so much through each team and so much in each team!  We see some of the effects of short term teams who come, but we won't see the full extent until we are in heaven!
Please pray for the young people who leave their comfortable lives in Canada for a week or two.  They come and see needs some of them have never seen before and they are impacted by it.  Impacted by the spiritual needs as well as the physical needs.  God calls them to reach out and keep reaching out, sometimes even calls them to a life of ministry.  Sadly the pull of our materialistic society in Canada often seems to push that call to the background and they don't end up doing what God called them to do, settling for the comfort that Canada offers.
Please pray that God would send out workers into the harvest field!
Also continue to pray for our adoption!  We haven't heard anything since we were there in Haiti.  We are awaiting the email that says that Jackson and Judeson are now Elliotts!  Thanks for your prayers!

Hello everyone,

Whew!  What an amazing past few weeks we have experienced!  I won’t go into tonnes of detail on the timing of things but it is sufficient to say that our trip to Haiti came together all of a sudden and off we went, almost before I had time to get to Alberta, see the kids and pick up Sheri after having been in Mexico!  Confused?  I almost was too!

Anyway Sheri and I arrived in Port au Prince last Tuesday and met our boys Jackson and Judeson for the first time!  Because we have poured over the pictures and videos of the boys that we have, it felt almost like we “picked up right where we left off” with them, even though it was our first meeting!  It just felt like we knew them already which was really cool!  They both came to us and wanted up right away which was also a blessing!

There really are no words to express how our time was with them.  It just felt so right.  God has moved this adoption into the final stages but I hesitate to guess how long we have left.  That is always a dangerous game when talking about International Adoption.  The best estimates we have been given range from 3-5 months left before we can go get them and bring them home for good! 

We have been so blessed and felt so supported by all of you who have prayed for us during this process.  Please don’t stop now!  We need you to stick with us through to the end! 

Thank you once again.  Hope you enjoy the picture!

Lane and Sheri Elliott

EFCCM Mexico

Off to Haiti!

After a long long long wait, we are finally heading to Haiti to meet our adoptive twin boys!  Yeah!!!!!!!!
We won't be able to bring them back with us to Canada, but we will be able to spend 2 or 3 days getting to know them and signing some paperwork for the Haitian Courts.  Then we will return without them and wait for another expected 5 months or so until we return to Haiti to get them for good!
We leave in about 6 hours and will return next Saturday

Thanks for your prayers!

We will hopefully be able to post a pic or two during our trip, so check back!

Lane and Sheri

Getting the Word Out

I am happy to report that during each visit to the Vineyards (3 per week now), we are able to transfer the audio New Testament to many young men who come and ask for it.  I was even able to download a copy in a tribal language of Southern Mexico and get it into the hands of about 10 different young men who spoke that language. 
I have also just completed an order of 500 bibles which should be arriving shortly.  It is such a joy to be able to get the Living Word into the hands of people who are hungry for it.

As I have mentioned before, some of the men who come to do the grape harvest come from unreached tribal areas of Southern Mexico.  They are said to be isolated in the hills and emotionally closed off to the message of Jesus.  However once they come up to Northern Mexico, far from their families, they experience an emotional transformation!  So many of them are open to God's saving grace and it is a privilege to go out to them in order to minister the Word of God.  We are regularly getting 150 or so each evening we are there.  The number of workers is about to go up in a big way however as the harvesting stage is coming soon, when the number of workers goes up to as many as 1000 workers per vineyard!  We have access to as many as 5 vineyards, but are only able to visit 2 right now due to lack of God's laborers. 
"The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.  Ask the Lord of the harvest therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field."  Luke 10:2 

Privileged

Last night was another amazing night.  We showed the Jesus Film!  There were more people watching the movie at the vineyard than I can ever remember!  There were well over 200 people there!  It truly was a privilege to share with them after they watched the movie.  The movie gave a clear presentation of the gospel message, the fact that Jesus died for our sins and wants us to know Him, to have a relationship with Him each day. 
I then spoke for a while.  I shared a few thoughts and shared about how Christ has changed my life.  The people were so attentive to what I was saying!  The gravity of the situation and the opportunity before me weighed on me.  Not as a burden but as a big opportunity that not too many people get even once in their lives.  I just realized the amazing opportunity that was presenting itself before me and prayed for the words to say.
We continue to go back once a week to the 2 different Vineyards that we have access to.  The people come and listen, are attentive and do respond.  We need more workers to come, there is so much more we could do with some more hands!
Pray for the Lord to send me workers into His harvest!

The picture below is of the group of people who gathered after I had finished speaking.  They always listen to me on the microphone talking to the large group, then when I dismiss them, some come forward and gather around me and expect me to keep sharing.  They just stand there and wait for me to say something.  So I just keep going!  Notice me at the rear of the picture with the hat on?

getting the Word of God into their hands

Last night I was at one of the Vineyards where we present the gospel on a weekly basis.  There were over 100 people there watching "The Cross and the Switchblade" - the story of David Wilkerson and Nicky Cruz and then they listened to a short message I gave on forgiveness.

After the formal presentation was over, a group gathered as they always do.  They were asking for bibles and as it so happened, we had ran out just a few minutes earlier.  I mentioned to the group of about 6 or 7 young men that I had managed to download the New Testament online in Spanish.  I had transferred the 1st 5 chapters of Matthew onto the computer we use for running the Christian movies we play out there and had them available.

A little while later one of those young me came up to me with his cell phone in hand and asked for the 1st 5 chapters of Matthew that I had mentioned earlier.  I told him I needed a cable with which to transfer the chapters from my computer to his cell phone.  He left me his cell phone and literally ran back to his room and then ran back again.  He arrived with his arm outstretched, cable in hand and huffing and puffing from the run.
After a little fumbling on the computer and some help from one of the young people from our church who had come along to help in the ministry, we got the chapters onto his cell phone.
 
At that point he was ready to leave but I encouraged him to try it out and see if he could not only find the files on his cell phone but also if he could get it to open and play.  When chapter one started to play, I think he was surprised that it wasn't just text on the screen, but an audible voice speaking the Word of God, word for word because a smile came over his face like I have rarely seen.  I was now the one taken aback because of the deep joy that was obvious on this man's face when he heard the Word of God being spoken right on his cell phone!

I know there are creative ways via technology by which we can get the word of God into people's hands and even into their ears.  I need to do the research and do my best to get God's Word into the ears of those who want it.  It is a privilege to be out there twice a week and see the hunger that people have!  I think I have the best job in the world!

New Prayer Letter Update

Please check out our latest prayer letter by clicking the link below.

                                    https://dl.dropbox.com/u/4943381/prayerletter%2327email.pdf

Disciples of Jesus Do Things Like That

where the couple we met was living (behind the wooden skids under the tree) when we arrived

Last week we welcomed a team from New Norway Alberta to Hermosillo.  They were a team of 9 men who came down in order to do some construction on a few different things.  The main project was a perimeter security wall around our church building.  The other was an additional room on a very humble house in a poor neighborhood next to our church.  The people who live there are committed believers who attend a Free Methodist Church right down the road from us.  The mother of the family serves faithfully at the soup kitchen we started a few years back. 

Anyway during the 2^nd or 3^rd day of the trip we were informed by the director of an Orphanage that we help out at from time to time that there was a house that burned down close to the Orphanage, only a week prior to the team arriving.  So we went over to investigate.  The elderly couple had been cooking on an open fire (their normal means of cooking) outside their home when a wind blew up and carried some sparks over to their house and it was destroyed in minutes.  Now the word “house” is being used here very loosely.  In very poor situations, the people use what we would call tar paper to cover the walls of their home, instead of cement block which is normally used.  That was the case here.  It is stinky and being black (providing no insulation), well you can imagine the temperature inside when it is 48C outside!  This couple was sleeping under a tree with some tarps and skids pushed up around the tree to try to form some sort of privacy.

Well the team decided to purchase wooden support beams and cross pieces from their own money and in a day and a half had a structure up.  We even had some extra steel from another project last month left over and used that in order to support a good roof.  The roof hasn’t been done yet.

I talked to the couple and translated back and forth between them and the team and the thing that they kept saying was “why in the world would strangers from so far away come all the way down here to help us like this”?  It was the same sentiment echoed by the mother of the house that they came down to extend.  They were taken back by the kindness of strangers.  They looked at me and asked me why they would do that, expecting an answer.  I thought for a second and replied, “Disciples of Jesus do things like that”. 

It is true isn’t it?  It makes me think of Mark 12:31 – when Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was.  He answered “love the Lord your God with all your heart soul mind and strength” but then he added another that they hadn’t asked for.  “The second is like it, love your neighbor as yourself”.  I think He added the 2^nd because we should never separate the 2 of them.  If we truly do love God, we will truly love and reach out to our neighbors.  Who is our neighbor?  I would ask a different question.  In this global world who isn’t our neighbor?  These men from New Norway proved that people who live 2 countries away who speak a different language can be our neighbors. 

We prayed with both families who received much work toward a new improved house.  We gave the couple whose house burned down a bible; their other one had burned in the fire.  I told the Orphanage directors who live close by that they now had a bible and he said he would go by to guide them through God’s word.

One last thing.  I know the men who came from Alberta gave a lot.  They really did.  Not just money, but time away from families etc as well.  However I know that they all received more than they gave.  You can’t measure what they received however.  How does one measure what happens in the heart?  But they saw this past week that Jesus’s words are true,  “it is more blessed to give than to receive”.  Acts 20:35       

The team of guys with the couple who lost their home in the fire

progress on 2 fronts

Pictured here is one of our youth from the church sharing with 7 Migrant Workers from Southern Mexico.  We were out at the Vineyard last night.  We had about 60 or so young men who came out to watch an hour of a Christian movie and then hear a short message.  Many were prayed for after the presentation.  It always amazes me how these young guys will stand there (after having worked all day on their feet) and listen to me speak.  I share from my heart about how God has changed my life and how He wants to do the same for them.  They just listen and listen.  Eventually I run out of things to say and tell them it is time for me to go.  I really have to tell them I need to leave or they will just keep listening!  They don't usually ask too many questions but will respond when they are asked a question.  

They are just so open to listening to the truth!  We need to pray that they will respond to the truth now!  

On another front we are nearing the end of a week long visit from 8 men from Winnipeg E-Free Church.  You can see in the picture the progress they have made!  When they came there was no steel whatsoever to be seen!  Now the structure that many churches will use is almost finished!  These men have worked hard and long and all have such great attitudes!  It is such a pleasure to be here to facilitate their trip!  God has blessed us with some great servants this week, never mind their expertise in putting up that roof!  

It has been a great week so far and I look forward to finishing strong with these guys before they leave on Sunday and I leave on Tuesday.

Lane