HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Below are a few shots of the villages where we distributed shoebox gifts. Esmirna, Pocho, Centro Cristo Tepic. Along with the boxes we gave the parents clothes and lots of love. There are so many things to do during this time of year…we were also able to give over 300 Happy Meal toys to the Tecuala Children’s Outreach even though we couldn’t be there to help. We also blessed Vida with several boxes of Children’s craft supplies. Coloring books and VBS supplies went to local churches near our house. It’s always neat to see them walking home carrying some of the goodies we blessed them with! Well on to 2008!!! We are beginning the new year off right… We are officially celebrating our 10th year in MX, as of Dec 22, 2007. A Decade??? We must have blinked! But it must be true because the kids are all grown up and have families of their own! It’s hard to be so far away especially at the holidays… but there is just too much work to get done! Our pastors here in Tepic are claiming this is the year of NEW BEGINNINGS. "To be prepared for the blessing of the Lord to overtake us". He likened it to a Dam being opened and the waters coming so forcefully if you are prepared it could hurt you. We can already see this happening. More villages, more Children, more opportunities to reach further into the mountains. We even have the opportunity to help build a new church from the ground up! (Esmirna is praying about buying a piece of land near their new house and building on it. There is really not a Christian church for over 3 miles and most of these people walk where they need to go. So it would be a big help. They can get the land for only $1,200 USD! Interested in helping? Let us know!) And then we found a house and moved in so no more worries about them selling it. The new house is only 3 blocks from the other one, it has a bigger yard, a place to store the trailer, and about the same space inside. Mike is talking about finishing one of the bathrooms, laying some tile and building some closets since we have at least a two year contract we can take our time. I think Satan can see it coming too…so he is of course putting a lot of effort into holding it back. Like the first part of December the car being in the shop…then the 30th of December I fell down the stairs at the new house and fractured my left ankle. We spent the 31st at the General Hospital having it x-rayed and seeing a Doctor. While we were there we were able to pray with a Huichol Brother from Pocho, Gabriel, some of you may remember him from past newsletters. He had heat stroke about 3 years ago and they thought he would die, we prayed for him, he got better, just this last March he helped a team build the children’s church in Pocho. Well he was out in the heat again. Continue to pray for him. We also got to met some really nice people waiting to the see the doctor too. This month we have already done a YOUTH to YOUTH outreach in Pocho, and we are having company down from OH, while putting the finishing touches on the Leadership Conference, the first weekend of February. We are planning for 120 people this year for the Global Messenger Service’s Annual Leaders Conference. People have already started asking for tickets at the Christian Book store! Please Pray for us…as we do what Ephesians 6:13 tells us to do… STAND. And if the Lord is touching your heart to join our team of Supporters, YOU can do what Romans 10:15 says… SEND Please do that too so that we can continue to do what Matthew 28:19 says to do…GO, MAKE DISCIPLES, BAPTIZE, TEACH! TOGETHER WE CAN REACH THE WORLD
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