REBECKA FRANCES 2 1/2 MONTHS
EMMA ROSE 3 MONTHS
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Rebecka and Emma
Rebecka was wiping her face from the bugs that were surrounding her while she was playing in the dirt. What a Princess!!
Don't see this too often, a 3 1/2 month old saying hello...
Pictures from the Retreat
Here is the meeting place that the youth met in daily. 104 youth in total attended and most of them were really into the camp experience.
Here's the guys. There was an intersting thing that happened in the youth group. There has always been a rivalry between towns. This week was a week of reconciliation.
One of the most incredible things that happened was the last night at a worship concert, our youth filled the front row to worship God. You can see all of them here with their hands raised in Worship.
Here's the 15 youth from Cofradia, Arrayanes, Santa Fe, and Paso Real. Four towns including Cofradia were represented in our group. The van in the background is the new van we got for the ministry.
Testimonies From Camp
Here are some testimonies of the students…
Juan Diego was touched by the Lord the night the parents showed up. Even though his parents weren’t there, he was able to allow God to touch him, forgive his parents, and be freed. He cried for a long time and later said that it’s been a while since he’s been able to cry. He said he feels like a big weight was lifted off of his life and now he feels free and joyful. He doesn’t feel anger towards his parents anymore. Praise the Lord!
Jesus (Chuy) is the oldest of the Pastor Gollo’s four boys. He is also the last one of the boys to draw near to God. As we all shared testimonies together in a group on Saturday morning, he said that on Wednesday night he was able to open himself up to God something he’s not been able to do before because of his own pride. Wow! God touched his life and he has a sweat heart for the Lord. On that same Wednesday night I had a chance to pray with him. Chuy is a strong leader. Everyone follows him, the Lord told him that he wants him to lead people as a good influence, using that gift for Him. Praise the Lord!
Jose Angel (Chupa), a student that I’ve talked about a lot, was also touched by God. The final night at the concert, the worship leader at the piano called out a “Jose Angel.” He was in the front row dead center of all the youth. The leader gave him a specific prophetic word about his future. As an only child, with no mom and a drunk for a dad, this is something he needed. Lately he’s been a little distant from church. This was a true blessing!
Sandra is one of our older and more mature youth in the Lord. She was touched by God the night the parents came as well. As she went forward to receive a hug from one of the pastors, she said that she really felt like it was the hug of her father. She said her father has never hugged her nor told her “I love you.” The Lord dealt with her and the attitude she had towards her father. Praise God!
Juan Diego was touched by the Lord the night the parents showed up. Even though his parents weren’t there, he was able to allow God to touch him, forgive his parents, and be freed. He cried for a long time and later said that it’s been a while since he’s been able to cry. He said he feels like a big weight was lifted off of his life and now he feels free and joyful. He doesn’t feel anger towards his parents anymore. Praise the Lord!
Jesus (Chuy) is the oldest of the Pastor Gollo’s four boys. He is also the last one of the boys to draw near to God. As we all shared testimonies together in a group on Saturday morning, he said that on Wednesday night he was able to open himself up to God something he’s not been able to do before because of his own pride. Wow! God touched his life and he has a sweat heart for the Lord. On that same Wednesday night I had a chance to pray with him. Chuy is a strong leader. Everyone follows him, the Lord told him that he wants him to lead people as a good influence, using that gift for Him. Praise the Lord!
Jose Angel (Chupa), a student that I’ve talked about a lot, was also touched by God. The final night at the concert, the worship leader at the piano called out a “Jose Angel.” He was in the front row dead center of all the youth. The leader gave him a specific prophetic word about his future. As an only child, with no mom and a drunk for a dad, this is something he needed. Lately he’s been a little distant from church. This was a true blessing!
Sandra is one of our older and more mature youth in the Lord. She was touched by God the night the parents came as well. As she went forward to receive a hug from one of the pastors, she said that she really felt like it was the hug of her father. She said her father has never hugged her nor told her “I love you.” The Lord dealt with her and the attitude she had towards her father. Praise God!Youth Retreat Report
For some reason, this blog site is not downloading pictures right now. I have some pictures to show and testimonies of the youth. I'll try again later. In the meantime, here is a report of last week at the youth retreat...
The youth retreat was awesome! We took 15 students, packing the van, to a small ranch near La Cruz, Sinaloa for 5 days. At the moment the first speaker walked up to the stage, I could feel the Holy Spirit and had great anticipation for what was going to happen during the week. The first two days were incredible, I have never seen a camp where everyone is participating in worship. I even saw some of our youth who are very, very shy, go up front with others and dance before the Lord. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. During the next couple of days, there were a series of great sermons. Thursday evening, the speaker shared about how we are to honor our parents. He challenged the youth to go to their parents and ask for forgiveness. He mentioned that many of them are probably thinking, “for what?” And sure enough, there was a show of hands and many were thinking that. He explained that holding grudges against our parents wasn’t right. They sometimes don’t know what we want…a hug, an “I love you,” time well spent. Many of the youth present had never received any of those things. At that moment, the parents of the youth from La Cruz showed up and they stood in a line in front of the meeting area. As they youth shot out of their seats and ran into the arms of their parents, everyone was crying. The pastors stood up front as well, standing in for those youth who’s parents weren’t there; from three other locations. It was powerful. All of our youth were impacted. I hugged a number of youth, even youth I didn’t know. Then, I had a chance to go with some of our youth still sitting in their seats, doubled over, in tears. We hugged, we prayed, I told them they were loved, and no one wanted the night to end. Incredible!
The next day was the final day. They finished their games and one more speaker shared. That night, we had dinner at some the tables that were surrounded by the lit torches. As we ate dinner, one of the pastors put together some pictures and video of the week’s events. The next day, we left for the city of La Cruz where there would be a concert that evening. We spent some time at the beach, had lunch and went to the concert where the winning team (out of eight) was to receive their prize. It was all worth it. I’m so glad we were able to go and especially see the youth being impacted by God during the week. It was powerful!
The youth retreat was awesome! We took 15 students, packing the van, to a small ranch near La Cruz, Sinaloa for 5 days. At the moment the first speaker walked up to the stage, I could feel the Holy Spirit and had great anticipation for what was going to happen during the week. The first two days were incredible, I have never seen a camp where everyone is participating in worship. I even saw some of our youth who are very, very shy, go up front with others and dance before the Lord. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. During the next couple of days, there were a series of great sermons. Thursday evening, the speaker shared about how we are to honor our parents. He challenged the youth to go to their parents and ask for forgiveness. He mentioned that many of them are probably thinking, “for what?” And sure enough, there was a show of hands and many were thinking that. He explained that holding grudges against our parents wasn’t right. They sometimes don’t know what we want…a hug, an “I love you,” time well spent. Many of the youth present had never received any of those things. At that moment, the parents of the youth from La Cruz showed up and they stood in a line in front of the meeting area. As they youth shot out of their seats and ran into the arms of their parents, everyone was crying. The pastors stood up front as well, standing in for those youth who’s parents weren’t there; from three other locations. It was powerful. All of our youth were impacted. I hugged a number of youth, even youth I didn’t know. Then, I had a chance to go with some of our youth still sitting in their seats, doubled over, in tears. We hugged, we prayed, I told them they were loved, and no one wanted the night to end. Incredible!
The next day was the final day. They finished their games and one more speaker shared. That night, we had dinner at some the tables that were surrounded by the lit torches. As we ate dinner, one of the pastors put together some pictures and video of the week’s events. The next day, we left for the city of La Cruz where there would be a concert that evening. We spent some time at the beach, had lunch and went to the concert where the winning team (out of eight) was to receive their prize. It was all worth it. I’m so glad we were able to go and especially see the youth being impacted by God during the week. It was powerful!
Monday, July 17, 2006
Youth Retreat
We leave tomorrow EARLY for Sinaloa. There are about 12-13 youth that will go to the youth retreat. Please pray that God will impact their lives during this time. Please pray for wisdom for me as I will be the only leader from our mission taking them. We are excited about this, it should be very fun!
Church Service
Last night one of the youth, Martin, preached in the service. He has been at Bible College for a year now and has one year left. His plan is to be a missionary to the Indigenous people of the Sierra Mountains near where we are located. He did a great job! He spoke with confidence, clarity, and authority. He shared about the spiritual gift he recieved when he was at school; speaking in tongues and interpretation of tongues. He did an excellent job of explaining what the gift is all about; how you can speak in an unkown language and he used his gift while ministering to others at the alter. We are very proud of him.
New Church Project
The new church construction is coming right along. There are four brick layers working along with their hod-carriers, plus a few youth who have been raising money for the youth retreat. I took a couple of pictures this morning...
This is a shot of the southeast corner and east side of the privacy wall. Towards the right, you can see the entrance.
From the inside, facing south, is the future sanctuary/basketball court. It will be covered there will be a stage along the wall. There are two rooms to the left; the storage room for chairs and tables, and an engineering room for the water and electrical supply for the property. On the left, there will be another storage room/office for the musical instruments and whoever needs an office.
We're excited about the progress of this project. It will soon be a huge blessing to the church and community.
This is a shot of the southeast corner and east side of the privacy wall. Towards the right, you can see the entrance.
From the inside, facing south, is the future sanctuary/basketball court. It will be covered there will be a stage along the wall. There are two rooms to the left; the storage room for chairs and tables, and an engineering room for the water and electrical supply for the property. On the left, there will be another storage room/office for the musical instruments and whoever needs an office.
We're excited about the progress of this project. It will soon be a huge blessing to the church and community.
Monday, July 10, 2006
We're Here!!
We have finally made it! It took 18 days of travelling and visitng family and friends, and we're finally here. 2,700 miles! We're excited to be back. Right now, we're getting things cleaned up after having the house dormant for a while. Yesterday was a good day at the church, great to see everyone again. We've got a lot of work to do with the youth. They're doing great, yet some could use some encouragement. We plan on going to a youth retreat this next week in Sinaloa. It should be a lot of fun, they're excited about the new van for the ministry! Thankyou for your prayers and we ask for your continued prayers for the youth. Please pray against attacks of the enemy...however the Lord leads you, there's a pretty broad spectrum of ways the enemy tries to mess things up. Pray especially for their strengthened relationship with Christ!
We're all doing good. Emma is adjusting pretty well to the heat. We arrived Saturday afternoon just in time for a vicious monsoon rain and wind storm. Our bedroom got flooded from water entering the window. Yesterday, it was my office, hopefully nothing is damaged. Rebecka is so excited to see her cousin Luis. They've been playing together every minute they get a chance.
We're all doing good. Emma is adjusting pretty well to the heat. We arrived Saturday afternoon just in time for a vicious monsoon rain and wind storm. Our bedroom got flooded from water entering the window. Yesterday, it was my office, hopefully nothing is damaged. Rebecka is so excited to see her cousin Luis. They've been playing together every minute they get a chance.
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
Happy 4th!
We're in Phoenix tonight watching the fireworks on TV from Tempe. We were able to visit with Steve and Veronica Clark this evening which was really nice. We're staying with Henry and Cheryl Ong while we're here. Cheryl works with Alternative Missions and some of the teams that join us in ministry. We'll be off to Tucson tomorrow and cross the border on Thursday. Please keep us in your prayers as we'll be travelling for the next few days in Mexico hopefully arriving in Cofradia this weekend. We'll post again when we get there.
Sunday, July 02, 2006
Visiting
We've been visiting a lot the past couple of days. Rebecka is having a wonderful time with her cousins and Gena with her sister. On Friday, we went to Oxnard to visit with Frank Jimenez and his family. We did the same last year and I spelled Frank's youngest daugher's name wrong and she didn't let me forget that. Sorry A-M-Y :)
The next day we visited with a friend of Gena's from the Cofradia area that lives in Hollywood now. It was nice to see them again, it's been a couple of years. We even got to see the HOLLYWOOD sign on the hill.
Last night we visited with Staci and her husband Lonnie. I met Staci in Mexico when she was a missionary. I thought we took a picture of them, but the only one I can find is the one with Rebecka and Lonnie's kids. That was a nice visit. It's been a long time since I've seen Staci.
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