Dusty outing with our teammates and Director

This is what our day outside of the city looked like. We went out with our teammates Greg and Shelli Neufeld and our Director Steve and his wife Myra Neufeld. We had to drive about an hour to find a creek (the kids loved it), however it was a windy day and in the desert, even in a "nice spot" in the desert, well the video shows what we got!

Olds Koinonia Christian School comes to Arbol de Vida Church in Hermosillo!

It has been a blessing (as always) to have OKCS with us again this year. Their trip will wrap up on Tuesday the 5th. Much ministry has taken place, from orphanage work, to a kids camp especially for the young victims and their families of the daycare fire that happened over a year ago, to ministry with kids from a poor neighborhood, to the construction of a temporary tent structure where our future sactuary will be located (we are meeting under the new structure in the video- for the first time)!
The group did a great job on "Jesus Messiah" in Spanish! Thank you Olds Koinonia!

A Calm in the Storm

These last few weeks have been trying ones. I (Lane) have been really stressed about various things. You know how sometimes it seems like everything falls at once? Like when it rains, it pours? Well it hardly ever rains here in the Sonoran Desert, but these last few weeks have seemed like a steady downpour in some ways.
There have been a number of things come up that need my attention and it just sometimes seems overwhelming. On top of that it, I feel like I am getting stretched thin in regard to dealing with people. That is me being brutally honest. Dealing with imaturity over and over again just plain ol gets tiring sometimes. Also Sheri continues to struggle with her health. She has been doing alright (no more pain associated to the stone they removed from her bile duct) but she still deals with frequent bouts of muscle ache in her shoulders, arms and legs and a heavy tiredness. These bouts last for a day or 2 and happen every week or so. The doctors are trying to get to the bottom of it. We are off to a new doctor this coming Monday.
This blog entry is not a whining session, although it may seem like it so far. You might be wondering what the picture above has to do with everything I have been saying so far!
Well this past week God gave us a break in the "storm". We escaped for a day to San Carlos (a beach town about an hour and a half from where we live). I had to pay my car insurance there and it was a good reason to take the family, take a break from home schooling and just rest on the beach! So the picture of the kids above is them playing on a sand dune right beside the ocean (the water is behind me when I took the pic). We just layed on a blanket and ate some munchies and the kids had a blast building sand castles! We then went out for lunch at a taco stand and then back to a different beach for family devotions. It was so good to read His word and just breath in His emensity looking out over the ocean! The kids finished our time by throwing rocks at jelly fish!

Psalm 23:1-3 The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.

This verse truly came alive to us this week! God is good and He knows just when we need a "calm in the storm".

Pray for Miguel

This past Sunday our friend Miguel Angel moved out into his own place. He had been staying with us for the last 3 months. Miguel is a New Believer in Jesus and Lane has been discipling him. It is wonderful to see the steps of faith that Miguel is taking and seeing his new faith grow.
Those of you who follow our news letters may recognize the picture of Miguel, perhaps you have been praying for him as well. Miguel is waiting for a kidney transplant as neither of his kidneys are functioning. He is in a tough spot being unable to work any job that comes along due to his health condition. He can work, but it needs to be the right job, and not a physical job.

Miguel has been making good decisions lately and we pray that those good decisions continue now that he is on his own. His house is on the other side of the city so we won't see him as often now that is for sure. The enemy will certainly take every opportunity to tempt him and there will be more opportunities now that he is living on his own. We pray that his new found faith would continue to grow and that he would be able to continue to have wisdom to leave behind the negative influences that have impacted him in the past.

Please join us in praying for a job for Miguel, for a kidney transplant, but most of all that God would continue to grow Miguel into a wise and passionate follower of Jesus!

Current Goings On

It has been a hard few days. It can be a roller coaster when you are ministering to broken people with difficult pasts. Just yesterday one of the men we have been helping out as a church decided to leave town. He struggles with alcoholism and had recently come out of a rehab centre. Well he fell off the wagon again, lost his job because of it and decided that he was getting on the bus and leaving town. So he did. I am not sure where he went or if or when he is going to come back. Please pray for him!

On another front, the Tuesday and Thursday bible studies are going well. Tuesday nights I (Lane) get together with a young married couple who I met at the gym, they both work at that gym. They approached me and started asking questions etc and so one thing led another and now each Tuesday night we go through a basic discipleship book. They have many questions and it is fun to see them discover truths in the bible, especially as those truths relate to their marriage – they have been married for one year.

The Thursday night bible study consists of University students from our church. There are about 8-9 each Thursday night and we are studying “Experiencing God” Henry Blackaby. The study has been really good. I knew they would benefit from it greatly as I did the study some 10 years ago or so, but this is my first time leading this study, in Spanish none the less! Their eyes are being opened to how God leads in their lives and how they are to respond to him.

Please pray for the things mentioned above and one more as well. I am in the process of turning the leadership of the Youth Drop In Centre we run over to the University students. Last Friday was the first time that they were in charge of it and there were some rough spots. I guess that is to be assumed. Please pray that they would “own” this ministry and not wait for someone else to do what needs to be done, but rather take it upon themselves to do it as for the Lord. There are 6 of them on the leadership committee.

Thanks so much for your prayers! We are grateful!

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!