Fifty five years ago this world was blessed with the birth of a beautiful baby boy –
Stevie Ray. Today he officially becomes a senior citizen – go figure! Happy Birthday to me.
…Okay the chit chat is over – down to business!!
I am going to try to bring you up to date with what has been going on here in Cd. Valles over the past months since my last formal mail-out. Of necessity, this will be an encapsulated, and somewhat generalized birds-eye overview. From here forward we can keep you up to date on a more blow-by-blow basis.
In my last blog I eluded to the fact that we have been blessed to have had quite a number of visitors and mission volunteers join us over the winter. Taking the risk that I may miss someone, I will attempt to list them:
– Allen Ko joined us in December, bringing along his surveying equipment and skills. We surveyed boundaries, cleared the job sites, and took elevation readings on both the properties for the new church auditorium, as well as the one which we were in the process of purchasing for the Bible School (more on this later…).
– Shortly after Allen left, Theresa was overjoyed to have her sister, brother-in-law, and niece join us. They were with us for Christmas and New Years, taking some of the sting away from her first Christmas season separated from our children and grandchildren.
– Very shortly following their arrival at the end of December our friends Ben and Anna Sawatzky arrived with the purpose of staying until the latter part of April. They were joined for a couple of weeks over New Years by their niece Jessica as well. Ben and Anna had been in Cd. Valles for a number of months several years ago, and came back to a very warm, and much anticipated welcome. Ben, an excellent finish carpenter by trade, and an all around jack-of-all-trades, made a tremendous contribution to the work in many areas. He will always be remembered for the fine quality desks that he built for the English School (more on the school later…). Anna, much loved by everyone for her generous and gregarious personality, once again made friends with everyone who passed through our home, fattened many a happy passerby with her delightful cinnamon rolls, and encouraged many in their walk in the Lord. As of this posting, they have only recently returned to Canada.
– On the 9th of January Fred Erb, his daughter Bethany Erb and Jeremy Little arrived to teach “The Life of Christ” and “Galatians” in the Light Abroad Mobile Bible School (Project L.A.M.B.S.) portion of the Bible Institute. As always, the two weeks that they were here were good, intense, and exhausting for everyone involved – most certainly for the instructors as well as their students. It is always good to have Fred Erb here in Cd. Valles, as many of the directive decisions of VitW Ministries go through him and the board of elders of Listowel Community Church, and it is necessary to have him here on occasion to appraise situations first hand.
– While the LAMBS team was here our friends Cliff and Colleen Martens arrived for a quick visit for five days. Despite the whirlwind nature of the visit, we packed a lot of living into the days that we had with them. They returned to Manitoba taking with them our love and best wishes to the friends which we left there.
– Only days after Fred and the team headed back to Canada, Theresa and I headed up to Texas. We were on our way to San Antonio, Texas to pick up our friends Len and Leona Gerbrandt. However, on the way there we took a slight detour and headed to Houston and Gladewater, Texas where we spent several intense days of meeting with a variety of people and ministries. It is always amazing to watch as God opens doors, making a network of like-minded believers wherever one goes.
– Upon picking up Len and Leona Gerbrandt at the train station in San Antonio where they arrived after traveling from Grand Forks, North Dakota, we headed back to Cd. Valles. We have a special link with Leonardo and Leonarda (collectively called “los leones”, or “the lions”), since their daughter married our son, and we share grandchildren. Len and Leona have been a great asset to the work in many areas, not the least appreciated of which is Len using his skills and love for playing with Excel to make beautiful, clean spreadsheets for the ministry books. They have been extremely helpful in beginning the English Language School – Easy English (once again, more on this to follow…). They also came to Cd. Valles with the intention of teaching ESL (English as a Second Language) classes – a much appreciated skill which they will begin utilizing tomorrow when our first teacher-based classes begin.
– A little later in the month of February, Clinton Miller from Oregon arrived for a visit. Clinton, an RN, returned to Cd. Valles for his third visit in order to continue exploring the possibility of introducing Church-based, or Parish Nursing to the local believers. Clinton is also studying Spanish, and took the bold move of requesting that he be able to stay in a local home while he was here rather than staying in staff housing with us. His stay is much remembered and appreciated by his hosts Roman and Lupita and their family.
– As the saying goes – “it never rains but it pours”. Only days following Clinton’s arrival, the Project L.A.M.B.S. team – Winston Penner and Cleo Yoder arrived to teach “The Church, The Body of Christ” and “Church History” for two weeks. Erwin Friesen accompanied them and we were blessed to have his help as well.
– On the 4th of March I dropped Clinton Miller off at the airport in Tampico, and hurried back to Cd. Valles to pack my own suitcase to leave for Manitoba the following morning. As things turn out, it is necessary for Theresa and I to return to Manitoba every six months in order to reestablish our out-of-country health insurance. We also need to leave Mexico every six months in order to get a new visa and vehicle permit. This also allows us time to visit family and children, as well as churches along the way. On the 5th Theresa and I turned the wheels northward and began the 2,000 plus mile journey back to Manitoba.
– This time we had some deadlines to meet as well. First of all, we needed to be in Grove, Oklahoma by Sunday where we had the opportunity to share with our friends at NewSong Church. Then, we also wanted very badly to go through Indiana to meet with our new friends Dan and Gloria King from Elkhart. Earlier in the fall God had placed it upon their hearts to supply all of the windows which would be needed for the construction of the new schools, and we desired to meet them in person. We took a bit of an easterly detour and were able to spend a wonderful evening learning to know them, and to be blessed by their love for the Lord, and their untiring passion for missions. From there we headed quickly up to Manitoba where we spent a non-stop couple of weeks cramming several months of “stuff” into days.
– On the 25th of March we turned the wheels south again and made our return trek. This time we had “in-tow” a team of workers from Landmark Christian Fellowship who were returning to Cd. Valles to finish the addition which had been begun one year previously. The next two weeks were busy, exhausting, and glorious in many ways. Polyurethane foam was used to insulate the building, and OSB sheeting was used to cover the walls and ceiling. It looks great!
– The LCF team headed north on Friday, April 9th and drove like mad-men to arrive back in Manitoba for work on Monday. The only downer of their time here was that I managed to have an accident where I broke my right wrist in two places. I am still being slowed down with a bum arm, and realistically, I know that it will take an extended time to completely heal.
– On the 14th of April Theresa and I left for Puebla, Mexico for an “Orality Evangelism” conference. (There will be more on this later…).
As you can see, life has been full – but that is certainly enough for one Blog. I promised short-and-sweet, and I will try to deliver. So, adieu dear reader – until a later entry…
