Louie, one of our interpreters, received an e-mail from Pastor Miguel. They are doing fine and the church is also fine - the earthquake did not damage it. The awesome news is that they are using the church as a shelter for some families that had their homes damaged - what a great way to care for the needs of the community!
On March 26th at 7am we left for Mexicali, Mexico, located at the northern edge of the Baja Peninsula. Our purpose was to partner with a local church to bring Christ to this area through a combination of ministry endeavors. We desired to be an encouragement to Pastor Miguel and his wife Irma along with the other leaders and believers in their village.
Our large team, which consisted of 35 students from AKCS and CCS, five leaders and seven interpreters, was divided into four ministry teams: Women’s, children’s, sports, and the work team.
Well, the bus is loaded and our missionariers are off to Mexico! Our team traveled to Lethbridge where the gang from Cornerstone Christian School boarded the bus, bringing the total number of passengers to 47. They left Lethbridge about 10:20a.m. and were at the US border by noon. The border crossing went very smoothly. They will travel today to Idaho Falls, where they will spend the night.
Friday night - about 10:15 pm we arrived at New Life Assembly in Idaho Falls. They have graciously opened their church (and their internet!) to us. Plan to leave by 6:30 am! - JH
Hosanna, Hosanna! It’s Palm Sunday and God has been exceptionally good to us today. That may have not been our first thoughts as the fire alarm in Mountain View Christian School in Las Vegas began ringing at 5:00 am (or as Mr. Particular, Mac Horwood, would say 5:08). It turned out to be a false alarm, and the fire trucks kept on going, but we were already up. As a result, our eager crew, although bleary-eyed, had the bus loaded before 6:30, and we were on the road at 6:45 am.
A healthy, nutritious breakfast was provided, but not where we stopped, at the Searchlight McDonald’s, the only McDonald’s we’ve ever seen attached to a casino, aka Mr. Terribles. Mr. Driedger particularly enjoyed his two Krispy Kreme doughnuts, washed down with his orange juice. Although we were in southern Nevada, the morning was still very cold.
A typical day on the bus has included: exuberant singing, lesson preparation, testimony practice, many willing volunteers, and thankfully not many ‘voluntolds’. As we were putting in long days on the road, many people enjoyed sleeping as well, curling up in the seats, or stretched out in the aisle. The singing included English and Spanish worship choruses, as well as a rousing rendition of a song by Louie Bastos about chickens. For this song, Andrew O, Michael H. and world-renowned Zander H. sang harmonies in the background.
Today’s drive took us along the eastern border of California, through Needles, Blythe, the Imperial Sand Dunes of Glamis, then west towards Brawley, and then south to El Centro and Calexico. We pulled in at the Calexico Walmart and the team split into various groups for supper.
A big concern for prayer for today was for a smooth border crossing into Mexico. The border guards asked very few questions of Senor Rojas, one of our fearless interpreters, and our intrepid bus driver, Senor Rempel, looked in the bays, and passed us through – Praise God! We arrived at the Ejido (village) Taumilipas at approximately 5:00 pm. Yep, that was 12-hour day. The second answer to prayer for today was that we were able to pitch our tents in beautiful weather and in daylight. There was even time to help the northern Koinonia schools pitch their tents. And so, we are all set up in our silver and blue igloos, and ready for an 8:30 pm chapel.
Please thank the Lord with us for: safe travel, team unity, a spirit of willingness, really fun people to be with, and opportunities to serve Christ that we are looking forward to in days to come.
Please join us in prayer for: continued good weather, good health, solid rest in our tents and sleeping bags, effective ministry, a good source for construction supplies, courage, strength for interpreters, for the staff of YUGO, and for openness to the message of Christ in Ejido Sonora.
As you can tell, we have really been enjoying the first days of our mission trip. As we begin ministering, please pray that our eyes will be entirely focused on our mission and that we will draw our strength from Christ alone (with perhaps a little help from the Gatorade).
Monday was an excellent example of welcome to ‘Flexico’. Our work crew left with the bus in the morning to go secure materials for our building site. Mr. Horwood and Mr. Bastos negotiated a 6% discount and free delivery all the way to our village, over an hour away. They were able to purchase all the supplies to construct the church, including windows, doors, sheeting and roofing material. The delivery truck came to the YUGO base at approximately 2:00 pm, then followed us as we followed the pastor’s wife, Irma, to the village. Normally we would leave the YUGO base around 1:00 pm, so this is another part of our flexico. We arrived at the village to see that the concrete pad was nearly finished (it will be ready by Tuesday). The church had also been able to pour a pad in the front of the sanctuary, as well as pour a cement pad in the existing tiny church building. As soon as the load of lumber pulled into the yard, our team swung into action and quickly unloaded the materials. Shortly after that saws were buzzing and hammers were pounding and the wall construction began.
In the meantime, the Childrens, Womens, and Sports teams began to think of how they could move ahead. Senor Rojas suggested going into the village in teams and inviting the people with invitations, and we proceeded to do so, far out into the village. We met many gracious people and saw many sad situations. As we were very late in the day, there were not many children out for Childrens Ministry, or teen boys out for soccer so those two teams were unable to share lessons, but six women participated in a lesson with the Womens Ministry. It was great to see our work team members working hard alongside Pastor Miguel and other local workers. Pastor Miguel has a strong vision for his community and for his piece of property, and so it is exciting to join in with him this week.
Two of our interpreters had an opportunity to speak with a couple of adult men who felt drawn to the location, and pulled in and parked in the church driveway. Ismael and Noe spent the next couple hours listening to these men as they poured out their hearts of pain and ultimately made a decision to follow Christ with their lives. As Ismael said, it was obvious that God’s hand was leading this conversation, as he was not saying enough to bring the conversation to a point of decision. Both of these men offered to come Tuesday to participate with the building of the church. Please pray for these men, as part of the change in their life will include removing themselves from a very harmful lifestyle.
Richard Sharp, a missionary with Operation Mobilization came along with us and gave a short gospel message to teenagers and children. After the presentation, we talked with three or four children who were interested in hearing more. Please pray that these boys would return and we would have an opportunity to explain further. Later in the afternoon, five or six groups of leaders and students walked around the village praying and asking for God to reveal to us how we should pray. We wrapped up shortly before 7:00 pm, and by that time, three of the four frames for the walls were built, two people had given their lives to Christ, and children had heard the gospel presented.
God provided safety as we traveled back to the YUGO base, and we arrived in time for some of us to shower and for all of us to enjoy a snack and evening chapel. We spoke to together as a team about things that were hindering us in our ministry, and ask that you would join us in prayer against feelings of doubt and fear, and pray for a spirit of courage, clear focus and unity in our ministry. Everybody was dead silent by 11:00 pm – well, most of them. People were asleep shortly after. As the village water system was turned off by 10:00 pm, several of us had to slide our stinky bodies into sleeping bags for a night of rest. Hot showers greeted us in the morning, at least for those that got out of bed in time.
Morning was filled with ministry meetings, chapel, devotions and a team meeting. YUGO gave us our new t-shirts today, so be assured your son or daughter has at least one clean piece of clothing. We left the base at approximately 1:00 pm. The work team had already been on site for several hours; two walls were in place and the third was ready to go. By the end of the day, all four walls were in place and much of the sheathing was attached. The windows and door were delivered, and will be framed in and installed on Wednesday. Please pray that the assembly of the trusses will go quickly. We would like to close in the building completely by the end of Thursday and the plan with the pastor is to have our Friday evening service in the new church building.
The rest of the team kicked into their regular roles working with children, women and teens and sharing the gospel clearly with each group. The result from today’s evangelism was that 11 boys in the Sports Ministry, one girl in the Childrens Ministry, and one neighbourhood man all accepted Christ as their Lord and personal saviour. As the local pastor is given the names of each individual person who accepts Christ, please pray for Pastor Miguel and his wife, Irma, as they continue to disciple these new believers.
We had a wonderful evening service together with lots of involvement from our students and adult leaders, and of course translation from our interpreters. As Rajesh emceed the evening, AKCS choir members sang ‘Leaning on the Everlasting Arms’, Dele shared his personal testimony, and Jason shared his message from Psalm chapter one amidst the noise of dogs barking and the roving sales vehicle advertising bread at high decibels. It was as though Satan did not want the message of truth to reach this village, but many people were praying and Jason preached on. Please pray for these planted seeds to bring a full harvest in this community.
After safe travel back to the base, we ended the evening with The Cross Activity during which everyone has an opportunity to write on a slip of paper something which is keeping them as an individual from fully serving the Lord. They then take that slip of paper and press it onto a nail protruding from the center of a cross, after which we burned the slips of paper as a symbol of giving them and ourselves over to Christ, relying only upon him. It was wonderful to hear many of the students express their desire to submit their lives wholly to the Lord.
In answer to our prayers and yours, God is working in and through all members of our team – may His name be praised. Buenas noches. Dios le bendiga.
The work team left for the village by 8:30 am, intent on completing the assembly of the trusses (thank you, Dave Horwood, for engineering these trusses). For those remaining at the base, the morning follows the same schedule, including leaders meetings, ministry area meetings, chapel with Jesica Specht leading worship and Richard Sharp challenging us from the word of God. This is followed by quiet time, a team meeting, and lunch, after which we leave for our village.
This week, Richard Sharp has been speaking to us about living a life of impact and whether or not we are living in such a way that our life is necessary, or just simply nice. Today he spoke about how young people need to choose very carefully who they date, and rather than focusing on who is around us and being attracted to them by chemistry, we should rather be focusing on the Lord’s purpose in our life and seeing who He brings alongside us as we fulfill His purpose. Richard is a missionary with Operation Mobilization and does a fantastic job of weaving scriptural truth with clear and practical daily life principles.
We are continually amazed at the village, as the Lord’s hand is on our team, and how God uses the stories from scripture, the students’ testimonies and the quickly built relationships all as tools to bring the message of salvation to the Mexican people. Thus far, there have been 19 people in this village who have given their lives to Christ, from young children to teens, to adults. There are two cases in particular where it has been so evident that the Holy Spirit was doing the speaking, and tears were shed and confession was made, and new names were written in The Book of Life. It is thrilling for all of us to be a part of people moving from eternal separation from God to an eternity of praising Him.
Tonight for supper, the church people prepared a meal for us which included rice, refried beans, beef, and (drum roll please) hot, fresh tortillas. They were amazing! Joseph W. and Jonny N. were in their glory. Staff and students lead an evening service which included testimonies from Emma and Joel, worship with Louie and several students, and a message from Doug M. which truly blessed and challenged the hearers – father Barry would be proud.
We arrived back at the base after tremendously windy day to find several of our tents collapsed, with about eight broken poles and several punctured flys. Red Green would have been proud as we leapt into action, cutting up an old metal broomstick to splint the broken spots and duct taping them into place. The people who helped took it as a personal challenge to bring the camp back into order, and we all had a tent to sleep in.
Amazingly, no one pulled any pranks today, at least that we know of! Nicki R. celebrated birthday number 17 today, and it was celebrated at least three times, including in chapel in front of everyone. We’re not sure she liked the extra attention.
By the way, your kids are fine. Aside from a few nicks and bruises, and the occasional sniffles, everyone is in good health, although we could use more than about 6 hours of semi-sleep, while perched along a major highway with eager roosters greeting the morning light at about 4 am.
We woke to cloudy skies which by 8:00 am turned into a steady drizzle. The ground here at the base is a nasty mixture of sand and clay which globs onto your shoes and makes a mess wherever you go. The work team left for their job in the rain, and continued through the morning working in the rain. They were thrilled at how much they accomplished in this challenging environment. The rain was heavy enough that Mr. Rempel was not certain that he would be able to get his bus in and out of the village if we attempted to go at all. However, we, along with those of you who joined us in prayer, pled before the Lord to stop the rain and to dry up the ground so that our ministry could continue. We were very proud of the students, as they responded to a challenge from Philippians about rejoicing in all circumstances, and wholeheartedly agreed that we needed to go to the village regardless of what happened with the weather. The Lord rewarded their faithfulness by bringing eight more people to Himself today through their ministry. The ground dried up, the building continued, games were played, Bible stories were told, testimonies were shared, and people found the Lord.
Our evening service was begun with a welcome and opening prayer led by Pastor Miguel and church leader, Pedro Roaz, after which we sang, heard a testimony from Mariah W. and watched a DVD on film screen about the life of Christ.
We have one day left and so the work team is leaving by 7:30 am. Their goal is to complete the remaining trusses, sheet the roof, and finish all the wall sheeting to close in the church. Windows and the door were all installed today. The roof will be covered with tin sheets, which is a great long-term solution for roofing.
Please pray for a great and effective final day in the village. Pray for safety as we travel, and for the work team. Pray for courage and opportunities to present the gospel, and please pray for many new people to attend tomorrow. This is all for God’s glory and we want to maximize the last day that we have in this village, allowing God to use us to bring blessing to the community, and in particular to Pastor Miguel and his wife Irma as they minister in Ejido Sonora.
This morning began with the 7:10 breakfast for those who were helping in the kitchen, those going to Morning Watch and our work team, which left at 7:30. There was a lot to get done on the final day of the church building project, so they wanted to get an early start. As of Friday morning there were still five trusses to be assembled. While some worked on installing the trusses and preparing for the tin to go on, there was also work to be done in cleaning up the job site and taking off concrete forms – all with the final goal in mind of having the evening service in the new building. Those back at the base continued with team training meetings, chapel, quiet time and lunch. The day was warm and sunny.
Through the din of many hammers rhythmically pounding, the other three ministries carried on. Children were skipping and playing, others were playing volleyball and soccer, while the women finished up the study on the tabernacle and finished the bracelet symbolizing the colours of the curtain in the tabernacle. Although there were no women who accepted Christ this week, the women who attended were faithful and were encouraged and equipped through the lessons we provided. As a side note, there was one woman for whom we asked prayer, who never did accept Christ; however, her husband came to the Friday evening service and he did accept the Lord as his personal saviour.
At the Children’s Ministry, four more children gave their lives to Christ, praying with an interpreter who ensured they understood their decision. It should be noted that for every person who made a decision to accept Christ, a decision card was filled out with their personal information and given to Pastor Miguel so that he and his wife could continue with the discipleship process of these brand new believers. Please join us in prayer, as many of these adults, teens and children have a made a decision which will be very difficult to continue with in their village, and even in their own homes.
We are very thankful to the Lord for safety in this week. We had only one injury, on the first day, which didn’t stop the student from ministering, just changed his role. He is alive and well, just in case you’re wondering. Despite working up on the roof, carrying lumber, playing soccer in dirt fields, sleeping in tents and not getting enough sleep, team members are mostly healthy and still very cheerful. We all, however, are very much looking forward to our own beds!
Friday dinner was again provided by church ladies and it included barbequed beef, chicken, with tortillas and all the toppings. We washed it all down with homemade lemonade. These are very gracious and caring people and this was only one way in which they expressed their gratitude.
The church service was to be at 7, but the work crew weren’t quite finished. They finished the tin on the roof and the cap about 7:15 as the sun was setting, and they were exhausted! Mac Horwood, the work team leader, actually collapsed on the roof as they finished. We held the service in the building. It was great praising the Lord together for all he had done this week. Some of the interpreters got a birthday cake for Nicki R. so we all shared cake and tears together. We headed back to YUGO base and arrived at 10:15. Although we were all very tired, we had to pack up and head to bed. In the morning we would leave by 8:30 am.
The road from Calexico to San Diego went from just about sea level to over 5000 feet in elevation, only to drop back to zero once again. We arrived in San Diego by 2:00 pm, where friendly Donna met us, gave us a key to the rooms we could sleep in and the showers. Unfortunately, the temperature was not much different than what it was in Airdrie but we went to Mission Beach anyway, and some crazies including Michael, Zander, Andrew, Daniel, Louie, Tanya, Annelise, Caitlin, and Darci all went plunging into the icy waters, allowing the waves to crash over them. The hard part was yet to come, because then they had to stand outside in the chilly wind. They were brave indeed, and a little nuts. Others went shopping (Victoria found cool sunglasses), roller coaster riding, and of course, people watching. Elmo the roller-skater did not make an appearance.
We stayed at Mission Beach until approximately 7:30 pm, then went to find some supper, after which we praised the Lord together and shared in communion before heading to bed.
Because of the church’s programming we needed to be out the door by 7:00 am on Sunday morning and so we were on the road heading north out of San Diego. We are now beginning to drag a little harder. Through this drive we received phone calls and text messages informing us that Mexicali, in particular the area where we ministered, was the epicentre of a 7.2 rated earthquake. This was the second earthquake of the week actually, the first one occurring Wednesday night and was not even enough to wake most of us. This one was small enough that only the people in trailers and Mr. Rempel in the bus felt it. We in tents slept on. Today’s earthquake hit in late afternoon and thus far we have not been able to contact people in Mexicali to determine their safety, or the condition of the buildings. Please pray for the people of this area as they recover from this recent catastrophe. Please pray for those that are not yet saved, that they would make a choice, as they recognize the power of God through this earthquake.
We were on the road by 8:30 am this morning. Found a great bagel place in Sandy, UT. If you’re ever through, stop at Einstein Bros. Bagels. People throughout our trip have been very gracious and have expressed great interest in our group and our mission. An example of this is when we were again in Chuck-a-rama’s in St. George last night, the waitress who had served us last Friday recognized us and inquired about the outcome of our mission. We are currently in northern Idaho, planning to make it to Helena, MT for supper, after which we will head over to Helena YMCA for swimming, gym time, and maybe, just maybe, some hot showers, followed by a longer night’s rest. Mr. Rempel was given a magnetic sign for his bus which reads, ‘Silence is golden, but duct tape is silver.’ Should we have any who are not sleeping tonight, this principle will most definitely be applied. As we drive right now, students are chatting, sleeping, playing guitar and singing, laughing and enjoying each other’s company. As leaders, of course we are also enjoying their company. One particular young male interpreter from Medicine Hat whose initials are J.N. has a particular pesky personality and while he may be the first recipient of the duct tape, he will indeed be missed by all. We are truly blessed as a team. While we’re anxiously awaiting being home with all of you, we’ll have many fond memories of our 12 days together. As we are to be posting this tonight, we ask that you would keep us in your prayers as we travel, and in particular as we cross into Canada tomorrow around noon. Please pray that we would remain focused on pleasing the Lord and loving and serving those around us. We have had lots of opportunities to tell people about what we are doing, and we pray that God would use even those small interactions for His glory.
PS: We just got back from the Helena YMCA where we used the gym and the swimming pool and the showers, and now, at 10:30 pm everyone is heading to bed. For those of you coming to welcome students from Cornerstone Christian School we should be at the south Safeway in Lethbridge by about 2:00 pm. For those of you meeting people from AKCS, we should be near the Airdrie Wendy’s parking lot approximately 5:00 to 5:30 pm. We covet your prayers as we travel for safety, for unity, and for continued love and respect for one another although we’re tired of being on the bus. God Bless and good night!
HOME! Praise the Lord for safe travel, easy border crossings and a wonderful week of ministry.
So… how did the Lord use this well-prepared team? For His glory, naturally! Four men and 34 teens and children from Ejido Sonora made a commitment to Christ in this week of ministry. They will be discipled by Pastor Miguel and other believers in the church. Also, the church building (24’ x 39’) that the work team erected withstood the 7.2 magnitude earthquake that occurred two days after we left and actually was used to house some families whose houses were damaged in the earthquake. While we had prayed that the building would be spared, we also prayed that it would be a refuge in the community. We all marveled as we recognized once again that God answers prayer! Sonora is 6 km from the epicenter! There were so many times on this trip when He answered prayer and this grew our faith significantly. There were many occasions when God showed His faithfulness and allowed us to experience His hand among us. We have been touched by His hand and are eternally changed as a result! To God be the glory, great things He has done!
We are left with No Excuses! Mark 13:10