Christmas is full of children's laughter in every country
This morning the heavens boiled and dark clouds were driven across the murky sky. Great gusts of wind drove dust and dirt into every nook and crevasse and covering everything with grit and grime. Unexpectedly the foreboding sky never did produce the imminent rain that it seemed to foretell. Instead, what we are experiencing is a “cold front” which will hopefully bring some Christmas respite from the heat that we have been experiencing up until now – that is to say, when I checked just moments ago, the temperature has “dropped” to 74.4° Fahrenheit (23.5° Celsius) – my only comment can be “cold front”, in comparison to what?
Sometimes we experience a boiling and rolling of the atmosphere in other areas as well. Recently Theresa and I have been experiencing just such a turbulence and disquiet. Over the past months there have been things which have been taking place in some of the churches with which we relate that have brought many believers into an area of intense distress and anxiety. In fact, some have been so troubled with what has been taking place within the churches that they have chosen to break fellowship completely and go elsewhere. There have been damaged and devastated relationships in the resulting carnage.
Our Heavenly Father is never a God of disorder and ruined relationships. It is never his will that brothers and sisters should be at odds. In fact, Jesus’ commandment as recorded in John 13: 34-35 is very clear and leaves no doubt to the contrary when he stated “I give you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, so you also must love each other. This is how everyone will know that you are my disciples, when you love each other.”
I believe that God is beginning to bring a turnaround and healing, and we are very grateful to him for this. Just like this
Mama and daughter - one of Theresa's really keen students
morning, even though the darkened sky boiled and threatened, no deluge came. To the observer there was no hope that the gloomy skies would not open in a heavy downpour, but none came. In a similar way, even though there has been turmoil and unrest among Christian brothers and sisters, I believe that God will bring healing and unity again, and that the threatening clouds of continued broken and disjointed relationships will be driven away and the potentially deadly deluge will not be allowed to ruin his Church.
However, please pray for the believers here in Cd. Valles. There has been a tremendous attack against the Church, God’s body of believers across the city. Please lift us up in your prayers.
Javier and I are at a place of frustration at the moment at the Training Center. At present we are completely dependent upon being able to hire equipment and machinery to move forward. We have worked very hard to complete the harvest, and today we received word that the first payments are to be placed into the ministry bank account by Monday. This is very good news, and now we can begin to pay Javier for his labor over the past two years, as well as our other farm-related loans. But this still leaves us waiting.
Theresa showing Angel and Veronica the art of making cinnamon rolls
We spent weeks working with machetes and our backs clear-cutting an approximately two acre area of land along one side of the sugarcane field. We are now waiting for the ability to get a backhoe in to dig out the stumps so that this piece of land can be cultivated for planting. We are daily loosing ground to the return-growth trees and grasses that are once again taking over. We have equipment promised, but none is arriving.
Last week we staked out and chalked where we hope to place the Training Center buildings and septic tank and field. All of the building area will need to have the black soil scraped aside and it will then need to be raised and filled. There is a tremendous amount of soil which will need to be moved and an equally incredible amount of fill which will be needed. All of this will need equipment and money. One of the Christian brothers has expressed his desire to help by renting us his equipment. His intentions are wonderful but he is a busy man, and still we wait, and wait. Besides, we don’t have the money to pay for the equipment or labor anyway.
We are trying to get some estimates on the costs for the buildings, septic and other needed construction. We have promises, but still we wait, and wait. Besides, we don’t have money anyway.
But our God is a big God. He doesn’t seem to have any trouble with the fact that our bank accounts are empty, nor with
The test: the verdict? Delicious!
the fact that we have no way, in the natural to come up with the resources needed to build the much needed buildings. The fact remains that the vision and need is still there and he will provide if we do not “choke” or grow weary.
I am reminded of God’s rebuke in Jeremiah 12:5 where he states “If you have raced with men on foot and they have tired you out, then how can you compete with horses? And if [you take to flight] in a land of peace where you feel secure, then what will you do [when you tread the tangled maze of jungle haunted by lions]?”
I don’t have any idea how, but I know that God will provide the finances needed.
Today we have made a further decision which will affect the future of the Bible Institute Luz de Las Naciones, Project LAMBS, and in a more limited way also the future of the Training Center as well. We have closed a rental agreement on a building very centrally located in town for the offices and classrooms for the Bible Institute and the nonprofit OUpC (Obreros Unidos para Cosechar). This rental building will allow the Bible Institute to become independently set up outside of the Assemblies of God church building which has housed it until present, thus allowing it to truly become interdenominational and inter-church in focus. Until now it has been very difficult to try to remain outside of the realm of control of the denomination.
A gringo Santa visits the kindergarten
Further, with an actual physical and recognizable office for the nonprofit, the Bible Institute, Project LAMBS, as well as an in-city office for the Training Center, all of the divisions of the ministry will become more legitimized. The building is large enough to house the office as well as serve for classroom space, is well located, spacious, clean, and nicely set up for the uses that it will serve. We feel that it is God’s provision for this particular need.
This does not in any way diminish the need to proceed with building on the landsite outside of town because the schools will serve two very different functions. This simply will mean that the Bible Institute can now grow and find its wings. Further, we will have a place for the legally much-needed office space for the nonprofit OUpC.
Okay, now I will try to shift gears…
My mind has been filled with these technical and legal issues of the ministry of late, but pushing them aside – Christmas is almost here!
We have been so blessed over the past months. Theresa has developed a full-blown and vibrant ministry around her sewing machines. As I have written in other blogs – the house always is ahumm and abuzz with the sound of sewing machines and the chatter of women. Yesterday she taught friends of ours how to bake cinnamon rolls, make a variety of salads, and lasagna so that they can expand the menu of their restaurant. The results were delicious and the audience appreciative. Relationships and love are sometimes built on simple things.
We will miss our parents, children, grandchildren, and friends tremendously again this year. But God is good and in
The shops as they still sit - we continue to wait for their completion
other ways he fills the voids. We are excitedly looking forward to having our close friends Greg and Sylvia Russell come down for two weeks over the end of the year and into January. We are very blessed because they could easily have chosen any one of many beautiful and touristy areas of Mexico to spend their year-end holiday, but instead they chose dusty Cd. Valles and us. They are our Christmas gift this year.
In all honesty, I am afraid that neither Theresa nor I are finding ourselves in the “Christmas mood” this year. For one thing, it is difficult when the temperatures are in the high 80s and it is so sticky and hot at night that it is difficult to sleep. But then, also, as I alluded to at the beginning of this post, things have been rather less than “peace and brotherhood” around here as well, and it has been very busy.
Still, Jesus is Lord. It is his birth that we are remembering and celebrating during this season. Really, it matters very, very little if I feel all “warm and fuzzy” about snowflakes, Christmas cookies, Santa Clause, jingling bells, or even the delightful sounds of children’s laughter. These are all lovely and wonderful, but they are not the heart and soul of Christmas. Jesus is the essence and spirit, the only reason that any of the other can exist. Sometimes I need to be reminded of that fact, especially at times when I begin to feel myself badly done by.
Javier and Marelino chalking the area where the new buildings for the Training Center will sit on the land
May we never forget the true and only real reason for the season of Christmas – Jesus, our living Lord and Savior.
Wishing you and yours a Merry Christmas, and a wonderful season of love and friendship.
Steven and Theresa
