Wednesday, October 15, 2008

The October Newsletter

Rick and Tammie just sent out their October newsletter and I wanted to post it on here for all of you to read. This way you can get a quick look at what ministries we will be beginning this next year and the things God is doing.


Greetings,

We have two weeks left before we head back to Mexico. It has been a great time of connecting with churches and spending time with family. While we are up in the States, Rick needed to see a doctor. He thought he might have Gallstones. It turns out that it is not Gallstones, but it may be a couple of other things. This week Rick will get a blood test and a stress test to find out what is going on. Please pray for him, that the doctors will be able to figure out what's going on.

While we have been up in the States we have been blessed with a donated truck from Michael & Val Wedman and East Hills Alliance Church donated a bus. What a huge blessing, we are so grateful for the generosity of people and many still continue to give money for ministry expenses. For those of you who were with us last summer, you know how many people we crammed in each car to get youth to a beach outreach. This will also make it easier to transport groups.

We are all excited to go home and begin another year of ministry in Ensenada. When we return home we have several new projects we want to start with the ministry. We would like to open a coffee house and drop in center at the second floor (where our groups eat) to youth in the community. We would like to offer free Internet, games, and coffee for youth to drop in. The churches have started to work with the youth, so we want to have creative opportunities to share the gospel with the lost. With the children we will be working alongside the churches to build a healthy children's program, possibly with awana. 5 of the 6 churches are now officially Alliance Churches, with 5 official Alliance pastors. Pray as we are trying to come up with ways that they can make money and pastor their churches, we are looking at offering them micro finance loans. At this time we have two other pastors that are working toward becoming Alliance pastors, and hopefully by next summer we will be able to build them a church in the community they are working in.

We have been praying for a facility to house the groups. This next summer we have four weeks of at least one-hundred people each week. As the ministry has grown our needs have grown, God has been faithful and supplied our every need. We are Gods servants in Ensenada and want to make sure that we are in His will. One of the options is buying a facility that is ready to move in and house groups, or purchase land and build. Our need is for this summer to have a place large enough to accommadate the groups, and to be wise with our decisions. Our summer is just about fully booked, we continue to be amazed at churches who have sacrificially come alongside the ministry. One of the new opportunities we have is Praxis students serving with us for one year. Not only will they be a huge help for us, but they have the opportunity to actively be involved in missions work. We have three girls who are willing to come work alongside us, and help us do some of these new projects. Pray for Kourtney, Casey and Sarah that they will have an awesome experience and that they would be sensitive to Gods leading in their hearts. Fransisco is still continuing to run the Bible Institute at our second floor, the people are so hungry for spiritual growth. As we focus on this next year, our desire is to continue to seek Christ and do His perfect will in all. Finally, continue to pray for Juan and the boys home. It is open with three boys, but Juan continues to run into problems with the government. The government always looks for ways to get money, it gets pretty frustrating.

Thank you for faithfully praying for us and coming alongside the ministry in Ensenada. We are excited to start our fourth year in Mexico, and excited to see what God is going to do. We are humbled to be His servants, working with these Alliance Churches expanding His kingdom. We will continue to be creative and intentional using groups to help the churches, and build relationships between the United States/Canada and Mexico.

Blessings,
Rick & Tammie

1 comment:

Neal Benson said...

Im so excited that you are going back!