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

Nice and Simple

Sometimes I just love Mexico!  Yesterday I woke up with an ear infection.  These are not uncommon for me here in Mexico.  I get 3 or 4 a year.  Back in Canada this would mean a doctors appointment - a month down the road!  Or it would mean waiting at the drop in clinic......................in the cold!  Unless you want to wait all morning, you need to be there in line outside a half hour before they open the door.  Even in a little town like ours!
Anyway I went a few blocks down the street to a Pharmacy where they have a doctor.  I had to pay $2.50 to see the doctor (which was refunded after I bought medication there).  I had to wait inside which meant air conditioning for about 5 minutes.  She said I had a fungal ear infection alright.  Right next door I bought the 2 medicines she prescribed for me which totaled about $20 and then she refunded my $2.50 for seeing the doctor.............................................

All said and done in 20 minutes or so!  And I am on the road to recovery!  Sometimes I just love Mexico!

Fruit is Coming!

            Some of the girls who come to the Drop-In-Center and some of the leaders making cupcakes
                                                   
Each Friday night is a time of satisfaction and joy for me.  It didn't always used to be that way however.

Every Friday night I go to the church to mostly observe (although the leaders have asked me to do some teaching for a few weeks) the Drop-In-Center we call “The Seed” or “La Semilla” in Spanish.  This is a ministry that we founded a few years ago.  Its purpose was to reach out to the teens of a nearby shanty town who wouldn't otherwise come to church.  My vision in this ministry was (and still is) to pour into the more mature youth in our church and train them to lead this ministry, which they are now doing.  Those first months after we started, really that first year, had its share of bumps along the road.  The youth who were running it weren’t very faithful in showing up and taking much leadership and the kids who came from the shanty town absolutely bounced off the walls!  Well times have changed!

We have mostly new leaders who are being much more faithful and responsible and the kids who come actually listen to what we have to say!  I have encouraged the leaders to focus on building relationships with these kids and that has been happening.  The female leaders will sometimes take the girls out for something to eat after the drop in centre or they plan an outing on another night of the week.  The male leaders just recently planned a night out at a local night-time soccer field for the boys.  They absolutely loved it!  Just this past Friday a mom of two of the female leaders came and began to train the girls in how to cut hair.  Her hope is to train them so that they might be able to earn some money in a respectable way and not end up on the streets selling themselves as so many in their circumstances do. 

I shared a short message from the word with the boys this past Friday and they were all attentive!  It was quite a shock for me!  This never used to be the case.  These boys are changing!  God is working in their hearts!  I have also seen a lot of maturity among the leaders of this ministry as they see that God is using them in the lives of these kids.  What a blessing for me to be a part of this and see how God is changing lives through this vision He gave me a few years ago. 

Thank-you for enabling us to be here to make a difference!