The house as it stands today – still not quite finished, but a long way from where it was when we started
Theresa and I bring you greetings from Mexico. Theresa arrived back on the night of the 13th after having spent two weeks in Canada. It has been some time since my last blog entry, and I would like to bring you an update on what is happening here in Cd. Valles.
Let me begin though by making the following statement – it is my personal opinion that many times there is a parallel in the natural realm and in the spiritual, and that if we are open to see it, the natural often reflects, or mirrors the spiritual condition. This became very evident to me for the first time some years back when I spent an extended time in Haiti. If you take a look back through my old missionary letters under the “Archived Letters” tab on the website and read the December 1998 entry you will see my attempt at explaining the touching of the spiritual world into the natural in Haiti. In that instance it was a negative impacting into the natural realm.
Over the past several days there has been a glorious “turning of a corner” for the ministry of Obreros Unidos para Cosechar, Casa del Obrero, and the work of Voice in the Wilderness Ministries. Let me explain:
As you are aware, if you have been reading my blogs at all over the past months/years, it was becoming heavy slogging
Marcelino plastering the walls of the new house
here in the trenches. We have been facing increasing opposition and negativity in the natural as well as the spiritual realms. In the spiritual we have had increasing opposition from some of the pastors and others who have not understood the direction and vision that the work is going, and the burden that God has laid on our hearts. As a result of this we have often faced discouragement, and at times have wondered if the struggle was worth the effort, and if faith in the vision was even worth the bother. In the natural we have been faced with many setbacks in weather, struggling with mud, non-ending rain, poor prices on sugarcane, lack of willingness on any ones part to help us, mechanical problems with the tractor and van, etc., etc.
And then God blew the doors off!
In my last entry I mentioned that Javier and I were hoping to go to the new Christian radio station to see about setting up air time for Javier on a twice-weekly basis. On the cold and windy morning of January 7th Javier and I took a bit of time off from the construction site and headed over to see if we could locate the station in order to place a petition for airtime with the station director. We were in our work clothes and covered with mud from our old work boots up to our faded baseball caps. But, we reasoned, all we needed to do was to ask to program the setting up of air time on the station.
Marcelino preparing to place the door into the storage room
We located the building without undue difficulty and introduced ourselves to the receptionist. We were quickly taken to meet pastor Moises, the director of the station and the person responsible for setting up Cielos Abiertos 102.1 FM in Cd. Valles. We apologized about our muddy boots and dirty work clothes and spent about a half hour visiting with him and explaining the vision that God has placed on our hearts for the Huasteca region. He became increasingly excited and suggested that we head out immediately so that he could see the farm. We pounded and bumped and slid our way back down the muddy, rutted road to the farm and showed him around. We shared our tortillas and beans with him and had a time of prayer and a divinely-appointed prophetic word spoken through Brother Moi.
And God did something! There began to be a change evident in the heavenlies – something that broke through into the natural and began to bubble up in our heart in new hope.
After our prayer time at the construction site I felt God urging me to have pastor Moi drive a wooden stake into the ground of the farm as a prophetic symbol of the fact that this day was a day of new beginnings and a point of breakthrough for the vision of Casa del Obrero. From this point onwards we were going to see a change. This we did in faith, our eyes as yet seeing nothing.
Our new friend then said “We will have a festival here on the training center grounds where we will celebrate what God
Welding in the steel joists for the attic area
is doing. We will call it Koinonia 2014”. From this proclamation made in blind faith something has burst forth. Neither Moises and the newly formed radio station Cielos Abiertos, nor us had any money to put together a gathering for hundreds of people, but our brother proclaimed in reckless faith that it would be so. A date was set for Saturday the 1st of February for a huge celebration bash on the Training Center site.
Javier was scheduled for airtime every Monday and Tuesday from 4:00 o’clock to 5:00 o’clock during which time he now gives a very clear and to-the-point evangelistic message and well as being able to promote the work of the various aspects of the ministry of the Bible schools and the Training Center. Pastor Moises as well as Javier began to announce the upcoming Koinonia 2014 event over the air. And people are responding overwhelmingly.
To date we are looking at the probability of hundreds of people coming out for the event. There is food being donated from all over, and from unexpected places. Pastors and individuals from many denominational backgrounds are committing to assisting by donating food, drinks, disposable items, portable toilets, etc., etc. We are planning on the mayor of Cd. Valles being there personally in order to take part in the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Training Center building and ministry.
All of this is overwhelmingly a gift from God when you remember that up until only weeks ago we were an unwanted third cousin.
Javier places a window into the new building. There is no easy shortcuts when one works with concrete
You can tune into Cielos Abiertos 102.1 FM on line by going to: http://www.cielosabiertosfm.com.mx. If you listen on Mondays and Tuesdays from 4:00 – 5:00 o’clock you can hear Javier Santos speaking about the work, and catch his evangelistic message (in Spanish of course).
On the 10th of January Obreros Unidos para Cosechar hosted the Intercity Alliance of Pastors at the Bible Institute facilities. Javier had invited Pastor Moi to come for the breakfast and to present his vision and a little bit about the ministry of the new radio station. It was a genuine time of breakthrough for the work of Obreros Unidos para Cosechar. Whereas up until now we have always been viewed with some suspicion and tolerated at best, it became evident that the pastors were now beginning to finally see that we are independent of denominational ties and truly nondenominational in our purposes and ministry. This also was a day of new beginnings for the work. Some of the pastors even expressed interest in teaching at the school.
Fred Erb and a team from Listowel, Ontario will be arriving on Friday of this week to finish off the inside of the newly constructed building on the Training Center – Casa del Obrero. We will actually be ready, the Lord willing, to have them finish off the interior. This has not been accomplished without a lot of chewed fingernails, sleepless nights, and many, many long hours of work on our part. But if there are no unforeseen wrinkles along the way over the next four days we will actually be done with our stage, with just minutes before they arrive. No time to spare, but done!
While Fred is here we will also be setting up a new Board of Directors for Obreros Unidos para Cosechar. We have
The view of the Sierra Madre Oriental Mountains to the west of us
received an acceptance from those whom we feel that God has prepared for this role. We look forward to seeing what God will do with the new talent and vision of the “fresh blood” of the new Board.
The rains have finally stopped and things are drying up. The road has finally dried and hardened again. Harvesting began on one of the farms just down the road from us. Because of the impending harvesting along our road the graders have come through and scraped it into a “super highway” again, (well, in comparison to what it was anyway). It is now navigable without the constant fear of leaving half of your vehicle in some mud hole somewhere along the way.
They have also begun clearing the right of way for the new highway which will pass within about a kilometer of the Training Center farm. I am praying that this will bring a better road to us as well. At any rate, it cannot get any worse than it was.
Please continue to pray with us that the right couple will become evident to take over the work on the Training Center farm. This must be a God-appointed thing and not simply something put together by man’s thoughts. We continue to pray that God will lay it upon the hearts of the couple that he has already chosen to run this aspect of the ministry.
We have been very, very blessed over the past weeks. We have also been working long and hard hours in order to try to finish the building in time for the arrival of the Canadian team. God has spoken very plainly in a prophetic word to Javier through Pastor Moi, giving him new hope and strengthening his faith and confidence that the season of pain and sorrow is passing, and that a time of new beginnings is bursting forth. We move forth in this confidence and hope.
The miracle happens – the road is being graded
As I mentioned in the beginning of the letter, even the natural environment is reflecting the spiritual turn around that we are seeing – the roads have dried up and are now plowed. The sugarcane is growing, and harvest has begun. The new building is almost completed and looks wonderful. The Ontario team will arrive in days to a building that is ready for them to finish out the interior. Where there was once suspicion and lack of openness to us amongst some of the pastors of the city, we are now finding open sharing and cooperation. The work of Casa del Obrero is fast becoming a household topic of discussion due to the ministry of the Christian radio station Cielos Abiertos.
God is truly doing something unexpected. We are experiencing something altogether brand new. Praise God!
Please continue to pray for us. We need your prayers especially now over the next several weeks. We cannot afford to let up the pressure on the gas peddle until the Canadian team has completed their job and has gone home, until Koinonia 2014 has become a thing of blessed memory and history, until the sugarcane has all been harvested and the
Sunrise across flowering sugarcane field
work of post harvest is all done, until a staff couple has been settled into the new building on the Casa del Obrero Training Center, and until ministry students are being trained in the Word. Maybe then we can take a breather.
Thank you for being a part of our lives. We thank you for your prayers, love and support. We are blessed to have you as our friends.
Blessings,
Steven and Theresa
