Youth Drop In Centre Christmas Party/Outreach

Thank you so much to all who prayed for this ministry last Friday night! I was so proud of our youth! This party was their idea, they put it together, they worked hard to make it happen! There were about 60 or more adolescent kids at our church who don't normally come to church. They saw God's love in action and they heard the gospel message! It was great to be a part of it! May God continue to grow and use our church youth for His glory!

1st Anniversary of the Soup Kitchen - "El Comedor"

Today was a great day, and it isn't even finished yet! Today we celebrated God's faithfulness to the kids of who come to the Soup Kitchen - "El Comedor". The Comedor has now been in operation for one year!

We started with about 90-100 kids when we began this ministry and as expected, we dropped down some, but one year later, we continue with 50-60 kids each and every week. This ministry is special to us because it is work that God is doing between 2 churches, and from different denominations! We work together because we believe God wants to change the neighborhood that we share. The vast majority of the kids that come to the Comedor live in very humble homes, consisting of some tin for a roof and nothing more than tar paper for walls. The community is full of drug and alcohol abuse, not to mention the unseen sexual abuse that takes place. It is a hurting place to say the least. However each Saturday morning there is excitement and hope!

We sing with the kids and pray together and then we split the olders ones from the younger ones. The older kids come to our church to play soccer and hear a devotional and the younger ones stay at our neighboring church to do a craft or color pictures and hear Bible Stories! Then we reunite both groups and finish our time with a meal that has been prepared by members of our neighboring church. This ministry is fully funded by the two churches as members of both churches give so that we can purchase the food. It has been such an encouragement to us to see the people of our church giving regularily to this ministry.

It was great to see how God has used "El Comedor" to touch the lives of not only the kids (some are now coming to either of the 2 churches) but also the volunteer leaders who help out each week. There were tears of joy today on the faces of some and big wide smiles on the faces of many!

Sheri's Ordeal and God's Faithfulness in it

What a crazy last 2 weeks! I left last Wednesday for meetings in Mexico City. On Friday I received news that Sheri was not in good health. We were sending messages back and for via cell phone. Things got progressively worse as she ended up in emergency at the hospital a few times and finally got admitted into the hospital.

I changed my flight and came back a day early arriving on Monday morning (just over a week ago now). The diagnosis came in shortly after I arrived, Hepatitis A. So we went on that advice from the doctor. We left the hospital on Wednesday but Sheri’s stomach pain came back in waves after eating. On Thursday Sheri endured a growing pain in her stomach for hours until we went into emergency again. She was at the point of fainting from the pain it had got so bad. I had to carry her in my arms to our vehicle and then from the vehicle into the hospital emergency room. The security guard and the doctors had really big eyes as they saw me carrying her and her head laid against me, unable to support the weight of her head herself. The pain then went away on its own and after confirming that there was no impending danger health wise for her, they sent us home again.
The next day – Friday- a familiar pain began again and after a few cell phone calls to the doctor and a few new medications tried, he sent us to another doctor on Friday for an appointment. We still were being told it was Hapatitis A. However after an exam from this new doctor, he told us it was likely not Hapatitis but rather a stone caught perhaps in a bile duct. His plan was a blood test and then the following Wednesday an ERCP (Endoscopy). However the next day – Saturday –again Sheri started with pain after eating only a quarter of a bowl of oatmeal. I called the Doctor (the doctors here are so accessible and give you their personal cell phone numbers etc). He told us to meet him at the hospital and that they would speed up the whole process of getting to the bottom of her pain. So they admitted her again on Saturday and Sunday morning they did the ERCP and indeed found what the ultra sound could not find- a stone in her bile duct.

We are grateful for the technology of today (they went down her throat with a camera etc and made a small incision in her bile tube, pulling the stone into her small intestine where it won’t cause any more trouble). The care we received from the 2nd doctor was really good and we are so thankful that the medical care available here is so good. Not only is the medical technology good, but with high speed wireless internet in the hospital room, a flat screen tv and Starbucks and Walmart across the street we were pretty pampered. It is safe to say that I didn’t feel much like a “Hard-Core Missionary”!

I think one of the things that stands out to us the most is how we received such wonderful support via emails from so many of those friends of ours who follow our ministry. We were overwhelmed to know that no fewer than 5 or 6 churches prayed for Sheri during their Sunday morning service not to mention the numerous emails we received from so many friends and family! I read every email to Sheri and she was so encouraged to know so many people cared and were praying!

We recognize now that what was wrong with her was not a medically complicated thing to fix, but for much of the time we weren’t sure what was wrong with her. That is what was hard to deal with, not to mention Sheri’s pain! I could only take so much of seeing her in so much pain, never mind how she felt through it all!

God really showed us how much He cares for us through this all. He had our friend and team-mate Shelli Neufeld here to take care of Sheri (trips to the hospital), and He had other friends and team-mates-Jack and Lucy Vogt- here to look after the kids for us (Thank you Lucy!). God also showed us His love through all of you who took the time to send an email and tell us that you cared enough to pray. Thank you! We truly are so encouraged by your prayers! How many people can say that they have literally hundreds of people praying for them? It is a privilege to be Missionaries here and to have so many of you on our side!

Please continue to pray for Sheri as she recovers. The stone likely had something to do with causing Pancreatitis from which she is still recovering. She hasn’t eaten much of anything yet and is still really hesitant to do so, but little by little she will increase her meals. She will be on a no fat diet for a time.

Once again, thank you for your countless prayers! We are so blessed to have such a wonderful team of praying people with us as we continue striving to extend God’s kingdom here in Northern Mexico!

Short video encouragement to the Elliotts

Musings

Do you know how they say that a Doctor needs to not get emotionally attached to his or her patients? I think it is accepted practice that a doctor does not perform surgery on a loved one as they may not be able to perform well. I wonder how much that applies to a missionary........................maybe a little, maybe not at all.

To be completely honest I have been having a hard time, stressed and just not myself. The reason? I am sure it is more than one thing but part of it is that some "patients" of mine haven't been doing too well in the areas I have been attending to. I know I just need to do my best and pray and leave it to God but like some doctors, I have been taking the stress of it home with me. I don't want to become cold and seem unloving - afterall isn't that what we are here for? To show Christ's LOVE? I know Christ calls us to love and that is my goal so I need to keep loving but it is hard to not fall with people when they fall. Maybe I am supposed to fall with them in some sense though.......... If we are to "Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ", it is hard to not feel it big time when the one you are carrying the burden for falls.

Sometimes Deut. 1:12 seems very real in my life - "But how can I bear your problems, and your burdens and your disputes all by myself"? I know I am not alone, that you are praying for me and my family, but sometimes it just feels like the load is heavy. I guess I just want to see people succeed so much. However God has been patient with me, so I need to be patient with others.

Thank you for standing with us in prayer, we need you!

I also ask for your prayers for Sheri and the kids and me as well this week. I am leaving for Mexico City tomorrow morning (Wednesday) for a denominational conference and won't be back until next Tuesday. Pray for Sheri and the kids in my absence as well as for safety on the trip. I will be flying with my teammate Greg Neufeld.

Blessings.

Lane

Deut. 1:12

God is Working

It is such a blessing to be involved in a ministry that God is using! It is a joy to see the people of the church begin to reach out and really care for others. Let me give you an example.

A few months ago a family in our city experienced a tragedy that no one should have to experience. Their father and husband (a police chief) was murdered right in front of their eyes by assailants as the family played at a neighborhood park. This man leaves behind his wife and 4 children ages 6 or so up to 14. As you can imagine the children and wife are struggling mightily.

One of the ladies from our church is a hair dresser and one of her clients is the wife I have mentioned. Well our church member reached out to her and invited her to a ladies retreat that was held about a month ago. At this retreat the now widow gave her heart to Christ! She has now started to come to church with her kids and the older 2 kids have also started to come to youth on Saturday! It is such an emotional thing for me to see this family in church on Sundays learning about Christ in the midst of their heartache.

God is so good, he can bring new life out of tragedies! Please pray for this family. They are going to need much love and support and I believe the body of Jesus Christ - the Church - needs to meet these needs. Please pray that our church accepts them, loves them, and shows them Jesus.

God is working!

Youth Missions Trip

Soup Kitchen- reaching out to "the least of these"

fun surprise

Finally the rains have begun! We are desperate here in Hermosillo for rain! We have been on water rashens since I can't remember when (close to a year maybe). We have city water from about 2pm till 10pm. In the morning there is no water pressure but we do get a dribble from our resevior on the roof which fills with city water when there is city water. They keep saying that once the summer rains come the water situation will improve. Well it has been raining off and on this week. Along with the rains though come problems.

On Tuesday I was informed that we had a waterfall coming from the roof of the church and pouring right into the Sunday School rooms. So I was up on the roof in the rain trying to patch up the holes with duct tape and silicon! Went back today in the rain to check on the patch job and it is holding nicely till it can be fixed permanently!

The biggest surprise of all though was a rat! Yes that is right, a rat, in our shower no less! The drain cover has not been screwed down in sometime as the screws rusted out. We have been covering the drain with a rubbermaid small container because of sewer smell. Sheri was in our room and she thought she heard something in the shower, scratching on plastic. So she peeked in and sure enough there was a rat in the rubbermaid container with was upside down over the drain cover! The container is semi transparent so she could see that it was indeed a rat! Sheri called me and I realized that the rat must have pushed the drain cover out of place and then once it was under the container, the drain cover fell back into place and trapped the rat! So I put my foot on it and after considering the possibilities (broom in hand ready for battle) I slowly moved the container away from the drain (rat underneath the container) and then removed the drain cover and slowly replaced the container over the shower drain. The rat escaped with his life and I didn't have to kill a rat!

Now to find some small screws to fix that cover on!

Prayer Request

Hello everyone. These days are busy times for the EFCCM missionaires in Hermosillo! We are currently hosting 2 summer youth teams from Western Canada. One team is from Osler Saskatchewan and the other is from 3 Hills Alberta. The kids club that we are doing along with outreach at 2 different orphanages and some outreach into poor neighborhoods here in the city makes for full days!

Please pray that God works in the hearts of the youth and their leaders who are here until next Tuesday. I have the privilege of speaking to these groups 4 times and my prayer is that God would use those messages and the practical times of serving outside of their comfort zone while they are here to move them from being Believers into being Disciples. Jesus called us to make Disciples, not Believers, there is a big difference. So pray that they would be challenged and go home different people, and that those differences would last so that they might reach out more effectively back in Canada as well. I feel like we are able to have some influence not only here in Northern Mexico but also in Canada through the teams that come. It is a unique ministry and we are blessed to be part of it!

Thanks for standing with us in prayer!

Lane

Analyzing

We recently returned from a trip to the Grand Canyon with our team-mates the Neufelds. The purpose of the trip was 3 fold. 1) Take a bit of a breather 2) Get reacquainted with some good friends from Paraguay (US missionaries who we served with there), 3) purchase some items in order to remodel the current youth room so that it will double as a Youth Drop In Centre.

It was great to get away and just relax for a week or so. Life and ministry here can get quite hectic with the many needs that exist. There are highs higher than we could have imagined - emotionally, spiritually - but then come the lows as well. All in all, we wouldn't trade our life and ministry here for anything. God is using this ministry and those that are involved with it and we are privileged to be a part of it!

One thing that has become part of my life that tends to drive me crazy is analyzing. Anyone who knows me knows that is the case. Sheri generally analyzes enough for both of us! However I have found myself analyzing many ministry decisions that we make. For example take the Youth Room I mentioned above. The vision is to make a nicer room and put some things in it that will hopefully attract the teenagers from the area around the church (the ones who respond tend to be those of the lower economic class) and get our Church Youth motivated to reach out to them, spend time with them and lead them to Christ. This all sounds well and fine but as I was purchasing some of the items we are furnishing the youth room with, I found myself wondering if I had gone off track. This ministry shouldn't be about "things" I told myself. Do we really need "nice stuff" in order to get the unsaved in the church? Can't the Holy Spirit bring them in without the "stuff" I wondered? Of course the answer is a resounding “no he doesn’t need the stuff to do His work”! Yet as long as our hearts are in the right spot concerning the “stuff” isn’t that what is most important? Our focus needs to be on Him, not on the stuff. However what are we saying to the kids who come from a lower economic reality? Might they think that church is for richer people who have nice things? That is a risk I suppose even though our hearts are to bless them and spend time with them in hopes of leading them to the Saviour.

These are the internal battles I have almost on a daily basis.

Then there is another reality that we face weekly if not more frequently. We have gotten to know some families from the same poor area close to the church. It has been exciting to get to know them a bit and plant seeds in their lives and even see some of those seeds begin to grow. We are realizing at the same time that these people live in another sub-culture of their own, one that we know almost nothing about. It is hard enough to understand a culture that isn’t our own (Mexican culture in this case) but then add to it their sub-culture and it can be overwhelming. These people have some resources and can be industrious if they need to be. At the same time they know how to ask and are used to receiving as well.
I have done considerable reading and research on “How to Help Without Hurting” this lower economic class of people and let me tell you, IT IS COMPLEX AND DIFFICULT! Just today I received a call from one family in that area asking me to come to the hospital and if I would pay for medication for one of their daughters who just had a baby. The word was that it was serious and both mom and baby were in danger of dying. I called our friend Marcella and Sheri as well, (since they both have had more contact with the family than I have had) and off they went. Even now they are at the hospital ready to pay for medicine (even though now we find out it isn’t as urgent as first thought – something I suspected from the beginning). Earlier in the day as they were waiting at the hospital with the family, the request was made for lunch. So off Sheri went to buy chicken, the whole time wondering how necessary it was. Yes they hadn’t eaten yet but that is nothing new for them. Often they go without meals because there is little to no money around. In this families case part of the reason is because the money is spent on illegal drugs to feed their habits.
So you begin to ask yourself, “Am I enabling them to continue in their drug habit even though I am simply trying to help them and show Christ’s mercy to them by buying some chicken”? I told Sheri to be generous in so far as meeting the urgent needs. The extras really need to be looked after by the family. They do have some resources and can be industrious if need be but if we just hand over what they are asking for, then we rob them of their ability to be industrious. The question is where is the line between helping them help themselves in healthy ways and maybe just being cheap? I really don’t think we are cheap and I don’t want others to view us that way either so sometimes I might give more than I really should and by extension, do something for someone that they really could have done for themselves inadvertently rob them of dignity.

Do you see what I mean when I say that helping the materially poor can be complex and difficult? Just like many requests are made of us, let us make one plea to you now. PLEASE PRAY FOR US! We need Christ’s wisdom!

At the end of the day we are blessed to be here as we strive to be the hands and feet of Jesus, and we are blessed to have you on our team! Thanks for praying!

Lane and Sheri

The Old Has Gone the New Has Come!

I have started a Bible Study for new believers in our church. Each Tuesday night we go through a workbook that leads through the basic foundations of the Christian faith. It is a blessing from God that we are able to offer this study as we indeed have new believers in our church! Thank you Lord!

Yesterday was the 2nd time we have done the study. At one point I looked around the table and realized who was sitting there studying the Bible with me. On my right, a young man of 26 or so who gave his life to the Lord about a month ago. He was the leader of a small gang who were involved in petty crime as well as much drinking and drug abuse. In fact he is right now struggling to overcome his addictions and "dry out". Next to him a friend of a year and a half who also has come out of a life of drug abuse and even living on the streets. He is maturing in his faith and beginning to lead others in the ways of the Lord!
Next to him sat a new friend of a few months. He is close to 50 and he as well has come out of a life of drug abuse and trouble with the law. He gave his life to God about 2 months ago and is truly becoming a new creation in Christ! He is eager to read his Bible and recently told me, "I have read the Bible before but I never remembered what I read and it didn't really make sense to me. Now I am begining to understand it and I never I thought I would enjoy going to church but I really do enjoy it now!"
Then between he and I sat another new friend. He made a commitment to Christ a year ago or so but I have only got to know him in the last 3 weeks. He is still a babe in Christ as we would say, having very little to no knowledge of the Bible. He too has come out of a life of drug abuse and trouble with the law. He is currently waiting for a kidney transplant as his kidneys have shut down completely even though he is only 25 years old! Please pray for a donor! It is wonderful to see the light go on in him when I explain spiritual truths to him!

All but one of these men have spent much time in prison. They know who they were, and now they are begining to see who they are becoming and who they really are in Jesus. We read a page full of "who you are in Christ" descriptions with bible verses listed. It was such a blessing to hear them each pick out one or two of the descriptions of who they are in Jesus and explain why it was important to them.

Jesus is truly transforming these men! All glory be to Him! And I get to be a part of it! What a blessing!

Please pray for these 4 men. They still have their struggles and temptations are around every corner here. They need your prayers! Thank you for partnering with us!

Lane

Memo part 2

Hey everyone,

The other day we went to the beach with the Didsbury Zion Youth team. I know, tough life.
Their time here is winding down as they will be leaving on Monday. If you read our previous blog entry, you will know that Memo (Guillermo) is a new believer who accepted Christ at a church family camp about a week ago. It has been a joy to see him jump right into ministry with the Didsbury team this week- orphanage ministry, fun outings and outreaches with our ministry in the poor area where he used to buy drugs. He has done all this with English speakers from Alberta even though he doesn't speak English!

Anyway as we were at the beach I was translating for one of the leaders and Memo. Memo told me a story that they write books about! Here is what I mean. Memo said that he was involved in a plan to assault a man who was going to be carrying a bunch of money. It was a simple plan, just jump the guy and take the money. These simple plans can sometimes go wrong as we know, and lives can be ruined forever. The plan was made and Memo was to be the guy to carry it out. So he was set and ready as the appointed day neared. Then he started doubting the plan and he began wresting within himself with doing such a thing, even though theft etc had been part of his life for many years.

Thursday night came along and the 2 friends that Sheri and I have been pouring into invited Memo to the church family camp over Easter weekend. Memo accepted, relenting to the still small voice inside that had been calling him for the last few weeks. He wanted to come to the church and see what it was all about. Once he arrived, he found a caring family with open arms. Of course not everyone was waiting with open arms, but he got to know some people and I was blessed to be one of them. He felt like people cared and he felt like he was starting to belong. This community felt so much more authentic than his "gang" in his neighborhood. Memo was becoming attached.

Then Friday night at a camp fire, the gospel was presented and a call to surrender to Christ was offered. Memo willingly gave his heart to Christ with tears streaming down his cheeks. He had found purpose and a place to belong.

As we wrapped up our talk at the beach Memo finished with this, "the assault was supposed to happen on Saturday , (he pauses- his eyes watering), look at the goosebumps on my arms".

Isn't God good? Wow, again, I marvel at how He works and His timing. Christ saved Memo from the trap Satan had set for him on Saturday, and He used His church to do it! Shouldn't love and accpetance and a sense of belonging in the church be replacing those same things young men look for in gangs? Memo is now experiencing the authentic version of what he was seeking.

Pray for him as he overcomes his addictions. He told me he has good days and hard days. The youth team leaves on Monday as I mentioned and the activity level will go way down as people get back into their routines. That might even be harder for Memo as he will have to go back home to his neighborhood where all the temptations will be. PRAY FOR HIM! He wants to find a job and start university, studying to become a Physed Teacher. I can vouch for him, God has certainly gifted Memo with kids!

Thank you for praying and lifting up Memo.

Easter means New Life!

Where to start, wow! The last 12 hours have been the culmination of something the Lord has been doing recently. I am not sure where to start. I know, I will start with Memo.

If you have been a frequent reader of our blog and or prayer letters, you will know who Cesar and Marcela are. They left a life of drug abuse and homelessness just over a year ago after losing their 18month old daughter. One of the members of our church reached out to them in their need and their lives have never been the same since. They know what it is like to go without food, eat out of dumpsters, beg on the streets and be addicted to drugs.

That brings me back to Memo. He is someone who lives not that far from where Cesar and Marcela live. They saw him at the park hanging out with “the boys” which means the gang he runs. Cesar could see the signs that they were a gang and that drug abuse was common place for them, as he knows what to look for. So Cesar and Marcela started forming a relationship with Memo with the hopes of leading him to the Lord. They felt like if He would give his life to the Lord then the rest of the guys in the gang would maybe follow in short order.

Onto Alejandra. She is someone who lives in the poor area where we have been reaching out. She is 18 and still lives at home with her mom helping out. She came out to one event we had and played soccer with us. We have encouraged her to come to church and keep coming to the soup kitchen etc. She has done so and has attended church a few times. She has professed a faith in Christ but it seems she knows very little about her faith nor the bible.

Onto George. George is a man in his 50’s who got in trouble with the law in the US where he has lived all of his life. He was born in Mexico and moved up to California with his parents as a young child. He never bothered getting his papers and so lived his life there in California as an illegal. He got into trouble with the law and after a lengthy jail stay, he got deported to Mexico. George has no family in Mexico and Spanish is not his first language (man can I relate to that!). The first day after arriving in Mexico, George fell and broke his leg (compound fracture). So he arrived in Hermosillo where the main hospital is and received medical care – surgery. He was put up in the homeless shelter and has been there since. Shelli Neufeld, our colleague, has been doing therapy at the hospital and came across George, who was drawn to her because he heard her speaking English. Shelli invited him to church and he accepted. He has been coming for about a month or so.

Ok, fast forward to this weekend. A team from a church in Didsbury is here and we have just finished a weekend family camp at the church. Memo was invited by Cesar and Marcela and accepted. George also wanted to come. I called Alejandra and encouraged her to come and she accepted. Last night we had a campfire and one of the leaders from our church gave a great message. God started moving, tears started flowing, and hearts started breaking. Memo gave his life to the Lord! George wants to take his newfound faith more seriously and Alejandra does as well! All three of them are going to get baptized tomorrow! Wow, what a testimony to the changing power of the Lord!
Today we went out into the poor area with Memo and Alejandra, Cesar, Marcela and group of the youth from Didsbury. Alejandra was giving out sandwiches in the name of the Lord to her neighbors and Memo was passing out Bible tracts to his suppliers (drug suppliers)! Surely they thought he was coming to buy more drugs but instead he was coming to give them the good news about his new faith! They offered him drugs and he replied “no I am done with that stuff”. I am overwhelmed by what the Lord is doing right now!

When we finished our distribution of tracts and sandwiches, we returned to the church. Cesar said, “I have done all sorts of drugs but nothing compares to the rush the Lord gives me when I see him use me like this”!

Pray for Memo, George and Alejandra tomorrow. It will be a big step for them! Pray for the guys in Memo's gang who will really be wondering what has changed in Memo. Continue to pray for Cesar and Marcela to stand up against the old temptations of the life they have left behind. God is using them and so Satan will continue to attack them.

Thank you for standing in prayer with us!

Lane for Sheri and the kids

Langley E-Free comes to Northern Mexico

We just finished a busy week with the youth from Langley E-Free. They were here from the 6th to the 13th. This was my (Lane) first time planning and hosting a group largely on my own. We spent 2 of the days ministering in a little village about an hour outside of the city called "San Juanico". Our intention was to bolster the ministry in this village that an organization called "Partners in Christ" is doing there. We did a kids club and built a small one room house for a man in the town.
In the pictures above you can see the before and after images of his home. His name is Esteban and he has some health issues including diabetes. The pastor of the church there and the representative of Partners in Christ asked us if we would be willing to improve Estebans living conditions.
It was so good to see Esteban helping here and there in the construction of his new place. On the second day as the contruction was nearing its end, he even went and got a haircut to celebrate the occasion!
We gathered around the house holding hands and dedicated the house to the Lord and thanked him for Esteban. Right after one of the people from our church asked Esteban what he thought of his new place and he just choked up and tears welled up in his eyes.
What a blessing the youth and leaders of Langley E-Free were to this town and ministry, not to mention our own ministry as well.
Another evening we did a "Hot Dog" night at the soup kitchen and near 200 people showed up from the community that we have been reaching out to! What a blessing!

Thank you for your prayers and encouragements!

Lane and Sheri

The Beginnings of Transformation

Sunday was a great day! Have you ever left a church service and just felt like God was absolutely working in it? I sure hope so. Well Sunday was like that for me.

You see Sheri and I and some of the people in the church have been trying to reach out to a poor community beside our church. We have done this in various ways although the principal way has been the soup kitchen that we have been involved in running. Sheri and Marcela (one of our friends from the church) have visited in a few of the homes in this area. Jeseña and Maria are two of the ladies we have been reaching out to.
We first met them when they came by our house looking for baby clothes. They each have 4 children. We told them the clothes that we had were all at the church and were available to be given away, they just needed to come by the church to get them. So we invited them to the church and the next Sunday they came! The each took some bags of clothes home and since then we have seen their kids wearing these clothes which is a blessing in and of itself.
They continued coming to church here and there and then we offered a sewing class at the church (led by a volunteer from Alberta who was here for 3 weeks) and invited them to it. They both accepted and Jeseña particularily flourished in learing how to sew. We are exploring the possibility of connecting her with a seamstress here and maybe helping her to possibly start into sewing as a way to supplement the household income.
Fastforward to yesterday. Jeseña and Maria along with their kids were both and 2 other families that we have had some contact with as well. The message was a salvation message and when the pastor said that salvation is found not found with anyone (Buddah, Confusious, Mother Mary) except Jesus, I saw Jeseña say "amen". Sheri and I both felt burdened to pray for Jeseña's salvation at that point. The message continued and I could see that Jeseña was hearing every word. Then the end came and the pastor prayed a salvation prayer and asked everyone who had prayed with him in their hearts to stand. Jeseña stood up! Sheri and I both rejoiced in our hearts!
After the service I went up to Jeseña and asked her if she had given her heart to Jesus. She said that she had and I told her that if she kept seeking Jesus, her life would change as mind had 17 years ago when I made that same decision in my life. I told her that Sheri and I and Marcela were available to help her in her new faith and I gave her a bible.
Sheri and Marcela are making plans to start a bible study with Jeseña and I am so excited to see how God will be changing her life in the weeks and months to come! God is bringing about fruit and we are blessed to be a part of it!

Please continue to pray for Jeseña and for Maria and the others from this same community that have been coming to our church. They need Jesus and our church needs to be His hands and feet! Pray that Jeseña would grow in her new faith and that all the new comers would feel loved and supported by the people in our church.

Thank you for being part of our ministry- the transformation of the lives of the poor by Gods love shown through His kids, the local church. We continue to covet your prayers!

Lane and Sheri

Dream Come True

Yesterday a dream came true for our family. We were part of a Samaritans Purse Distribution of Shoe Boxes!

Each Saturday we help run a Soup Kitchen for a poor community close to our church. We do this in conjunction with a Methodist Church close by. For a few years in a row, this church has received shoe boxes filled with toys from Canada and the US from Samaritans Purse.

Well yesterday after we had played with the kids, and taught them Bible Stories and songs and after they had eaten, we passed out the shoe boxes and then just let our eyes feast on the joy filled kids as they torn into their boxes! It was great to see them so excited and the sound that came from all of them was good and loud!

It was great to see our kids help out with passing out the boxes as well, they were so excited to finally be part of something that our family has participated in back home (buying toys for shoe boxes and sending them). In fact we have also visited the distribution centre in Calgary (before leaving for the mission field) and that got our kids really excited as well!

Each box was passed out with a pamphlet explaining the Christmas story cartoon style in Spanish. Now we must pray that Gods word takes root in the homes of these children. Please pray for us as we build relationships with these kids and their parents. We are starting to see a few of them attend church and we need your prayers! Thank you for partnering with us like this!

For more pictures from this event please visit www.flickr.com/photos/elliottspics