Summer Is Upon Us...

The weather is beautiful down here and summer is almost upon us.  With that, also comes three of the busiest months of the year.  We are working hard, fast and gearing up for another wedding, 3 missions trips, a 3-4 day VBS, church baptism, women’s quarterly dinner and anything else that comes along as well. My step-mom, Jenny, has been down here for a few weeks now.  She came down to help with the two weddings as well as come alongside Kim Vargas, to assist and serve in anyway needed.  Ayantu was ecstatic to finally see “gamma Jenny” after patiently waiting her arrival.

My dad and a small team from our church back home, will be joining her in a few weeks for Jose Nieves and his fiancee, Karen’s wedding on June 22nd.  This is actually the 2nd wedding we have had down here in the past month.  We recently celebrated the matrimony of a young lady named Magaly and her now husband Andres.  Magaly is a wonderful young woman who loves the Lord, her church and the Vargas family.  The Vargas’ actually took her in a number of years ago and she became like another daughter to them.  She recently finished up at Calvary Chapel Bible College in Ensenada Mexico, and now, being married, they will return back to that area to continue serving and working over there.

Waiting for the ceremony to start...

Photo courtesy of Ayantu Faith...using an iphone 5...(new talent?)

 One of the most exciting parts of that special day was that we were able to host the reception at the orphanage.  The only other building in town, big enough for an event like that is the gym, which is usually not accessible.  The Lord worked things out, for us to get the orphanage up and running by the time the wedding came.  Although we still don’t have the main power hooked up yet...we were able to hook up enough lights and run things of the generator.  It was amazing to see the orphanage filled with over 100 people.  I was so proud of all the work that has gone into that facility the past 8 months, and seeing if full of people, children, laughter, worship music, it made me all the more excited for it to be officially opened.

Good looking lights are working...

So, in regards to the orphanage being officially opened, here is an update of what’s going on.  As I’ve been sharing before, 2 main pieces are left..our ‘non-profit’ (civil association OR AC) paperwork, and the government (CFE) giving us the green light to install the power.  The paperwork, process and waiting time has taken months.  However, it does seem like we are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  We have signed all the final documents necessary for our AC.  The lawyer’s office has now submitted that to the government for approval, which we should hear back from in the next few weeks.  We have also begun the work with our accountant (who happens to be a christian lady).  She will be handling our taxes and financial records each year.

Signing the final 'AC' paperwork...

The paperwork that CFE (electric company) has told us is necessary for approval to install power, has been completed and signed.  As is the case a lot of time, when we went to notarize those documents a few weeks ago, we were told something else.  Basically, this particular notary place is telling us one way to do it, and a director for CFE is telling us a different way.  This is very frustrating, but an everyday part of life here in Mexico.  The left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing.  The lady at the notary place said she would notarize the documents, but there’s a chance we could get denied.  After some prayer and talking, we decided to just go ahead with it...putting NOT our trust in people, but in our Great God.  Yesterday, Cornelius and his sons, who will be installing all the poles and power lines, came out to the property yesterday to measure things and take our paperwork.  He will now submit that to CFE for approval.  Once they approve it (which we trust and are praying they will), the work will take about a week to do!

Our friend Cornelius explaining how things will go down...

 Here are some specific dates and requests, if you would like to join us in praying for them.

• June 18th-25th - Team from SHCC here for wedding
• June 22nd - Nieves and Karen's wedding
• July 1st-4th - VBS @ the orphanage
• July 13th-20th - Missions team from HCF church and Immanuel Christian School
• July 20th-July 28th - My trip to Seattle for sharing and our golf tournament
• July 28th - SHCC annual 'golf tournament' benefiting the House of Blessing
• July 28th-August 6th - SHCC and Cottage Grove missions tream

"Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my meditation. Give heed to the voice of my cry, my King and my God, for to You I will pray.  My voice You shall hear in the morning, O Lord; In the morning I will direct it to You, and I will look up" (Ps 5:1-3).

House to House...

The church here in Bachiniva has a special in-depth, discipleship bible study that we do on Sunday nights.  Its been awesome seeing the group of 15 or more come out faithfully and grow in God's word.  I really missed being there, while we were gone in the states...especially after hearing that they had been having the study at Pancho's house. Pancho continues to get weaker and weaker.  His most recent trip to Chihuahua was very difficult.  His pain continues to get worse and his wounds keep opening up and are not healing, especially in his jaw.  Because it is not healing, any fluids he drinks just drip out of the hole in his jaw.  The doctors once again have said there is nothing they can do for him.

He spends most of his day, at his small little house, to weak to move around and trying to endure the pain.  We decided since Pancho can't make it to bible study, we'll bring the bible study to him.  After all, the church is not about a building, but a body of people..right?

"For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them" (Matthew 18:20).

My aunt, sent me these pictures, while we were gone, of one of their bible studio and worship times on the rocks behind Pancho's house.  What a blessing it was to see...

This past Sunday, we headed out to his house again.  The weather did not permit us to meet on the rocks, so we began to cram into his little house.  People kept coming and coming...and by the time we started, there were over 25 of us packed in his house.  We had an incredible and anointed time worshipping and studying a few verses in James chapter 5...

"Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord" (James 5:13-14).

James continues on to write this..."...the effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much" (James 5:16).

We will continue to fervently pray.  We will continue to worship our Creator.  We will continue to search the scriptures for comfort and encouragement.  And, we will continue to let the JOY of the Lord be our strength!

Here is Pancho's little house...

Worship, bible study and prayer with Pancho...

"So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved (Acts 2:46-47).

Road Trip...

I apologize for not writing a blog post for over 2 weeks.  Time has flown by and I’d love to give you a little update about whats been going on lately. Jackie, Antu and I were actually gone, for 13 days on a road trip, traveling through El Paso, New Mexico, Colorado...making our way to Utah.  An organization in Utah had donated 65 chairs to the orphanage a few months back, and it was time to go pick them up.  Though the orphanage is not open yet, we have been running out of chairs at the church on Sunday’s, so they were much needed.  God also orchestrated a number of different meetings regarding the ministry in Mexico as well as opportunities for me to lead worship at a few different churches.

We spent 3 days in El Paso, getting supplies, fixing up our truck and then attending Horizon Christian Fellowship on Sunday.  Pastor Clift Barnes and his church have been a tremendous blessing and support to our family since moving to Mexico.  Its always wonderful being with this fellowship and it was especially nice, getting to lead worship in english again!

We left on Monday April 29th and started driving the 858 miles to American Fork Utah.  We split the drive into 2 days, mainly because of Antu, who I will say did a fantastic job, sitting in that little carseat for 9 hours a day.  I drove the entire time, Jackie slept the entire time (HA) and Antu basically talked the entire time.  She has entered a new phase of life where she is constantly asking us, “..mommy, daddy, you tell me a funny story?”  After about 2 hours of telling stories about growing up, I had nothing left.  I was hoping that she would fall asleep, however, the question, “daddy, you tell me a funny story?” kept coming out.  I figured I might start telling her bible stories, and probably won’t run out of them.  So, I started sharing, beginning in Genesis chapter 1.  About this time, we were driving through the breathtaking, unbelievable city of Moab.  I loved the timing, driving through this incredible place, with amazing rocks, canyons and arches, and sharing with her about God creating the heavens and earth!

The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork (Psalm 19:1).

We arrived safely in Utah on late Tuesday afternoon and spent  6 wonderful days, hanging out with family, having meetings about the ministry in Mexico and leading worship at Calvary Chapel Mountain View.  One of those meetings, was with 2 wonderful ladies, Kathy and Debbie, who work for an organization called Children’s House International (CHI).  CHI is an adoption agency which is currently applying for licensing, to adopt from Mexico.  Unfortunately, Mexico is one of the hardest countries to adopt from.  Kathy actually helped Jackie and I with our adoption of Ayantu.  We got to know her well over lots of phone calls and emails and feel so blessed to have finally met her in person, 3 years later.

Anyways, long story short, we got reconnected and Kathy happens to live in Utah.  They heard that we had moved to Mexico to start an orphanage, and wanted to connect with us.  Debbie, who is the executive director of CHI happened to be in Utah as well and we spent 2 wonderful hours with them.  As we talked, I was amazed at how the Lord orchestrated things.  Here are two organizations, wanting to make a difference in the country to Mexico, now being reconnected.  CHI wants to be an avenue for adoptions from Mexico and Casa de Bendicion is a soon to be opened orphanage in Mexico.  How exciting is that?...oh the possibilities! I don’t know what this means in the future, but I know we serve a big God who wants to do amazing things!

We were thankful for this opportunity to travel, be refreshed, encouraged and spend time with family and friends.  Thank you so for your prayers for us, especially during this trip!

The way we roll...and lunch in the middle of nowhere...

Spending time with her new "cuzzie" (cousin) Violet and hanging out with grandma...

Thank you for these chairs Lord.  Please fill them with people who need to hear your word at church and orphans who need to be cared and loved on...