Sunrise over a sugarcane field on our way to the Missionary Training Center landsite
Another wet rainy day in Cd. Valles!
Yesterday I was at the point of thinking that maybe in several days I would be able to get the tractor out onto the land again to begin cultivating for weeds, when somewhere in the middle of the night I awoke to hear water pouring off of the roof through the rain gutters. Mercifully the front has also brought cooler weather with it, so the temperature this afternoon is a “cool” and overcast 71° degrees – much appreciated – still, this sets us back once again on our work.
But, let’s start further back and bring you up to date.
In the last blog entry dated October 19th we had just begun the footings and foundation work on the staff house / storage room building on the Missionary Training Center land. Following two weeks of backbreaking labor we were able to get all of the basic foundation work finished on Saturday, October 26th and were then ready to pour the floors. We decided to wait for a week or so at that point in order to let things dry out so that we could get the truck onto the work site without having it sink and disappear in the mud. We all had plenty of other work to be involved in until things dried out and we could continue at the building site.
Javier and I took advantage of the still very wet land and began planting more fruit tree
Preparing the base for the footers
seedlings on the farm and getting some weed control taken care of. Then, just about the time that I thought that we would be starting in a day or two the skies opened again and we got hit by another deluge.
Then this week on Monday I was finally able to get onto the land again, working by hand to begin clearing weeds and grasses along the edges of the sugarcane field. It would still take a week of so of good drying before we could even begin to think of using the tractor to cultivate, but at least I could begin by hand.
And then, as I already mentioned, I awoke to another torrent during the night and throughout the morning (and now again in the evening as I write this blog). We are happy for the moisture, since, as I have often mentioned before, we are completely dependent upon the wet season rains to take us through the dry part of the year. Still, at this point, a bit of drying would be very welcome.
Laying the block for the footers
We have been very blessed. It looks like the Lord is providing the funds which were needed so badly in order for the team from Ontario to come down at the end of January, and for the missionary staff house to be built. We are amazed at how God has been working out the details, and are blessed at the faithful generosity of those who are making it possible. As I once wrote in an old news letter dated March 2009: “I know that although God owns the cattle on a thousand hills he uses people to provide the means through which he brings his provision”. This is another example of his provision through the generosity of his people.
Onto a rabbit trail – I really encourage you to go back and read the old ministry news letters filed on the website under “Archived Letters” (at the top of the webpage right under the big red dot). These letters will once again bring the work into an historical perspective and show how God has been working over the past sixteen years – perhaps through twists and turns along the way – but always in a forward direction. I think that you will enjoy the read if nothing else.
We still very desperately need someone to come down to put a septic system on the
Tying the footers together
Missionary Training Center for us. This should be done now over the winter months sometime before we go too much further in construction on the site. We are praying that if this person is you, that you will hear his gently nudging and will come down to help us in this need.
We are sensing that God is doing something new in the work as well. For one thing, we will be having a change very shortly on the national Board of Directors of Obreros Unidos para Cosechar (OUpC), the Mexican nonprofit which covers the ministry of the Bible Institute Luz de Las Naciones, Project LAMBS, as well as Casa del Obrero (the Missionary Training Center). Change always brings some stress with it, but we feel that God will bring forward people of his choice to fill the openings on the Board.
Our multi-use tractor and very useful pond
Further, as I mentioned in another blog as well, we are looking at the feasibility and ramifications of placing the Bible Institute under the academic and credentialing covering of an American Bible University. We still don’t know with certainty that this is what God has for us, but we continue to pray for absolute clarity in his direction.
We also continue to pray that God will lay it on the heart of a couple to come down to help us here in Cd. Valles. Ideally, I believe, this would be a couple who would come under the covering of their own North American sending church and who could work with Theresa and me, along with the national leaders in charge of the various areas of ministry, beginning to assume a directorship role in the work. We have been praying for this over the past months, and have been letting the need be known. Please pray with us that God will send someone to help us soon.
The past months have been a time of certainty that God is with us, and that he is blessing
Packing the base with a bailarina (a ballerina) to prepare for pouring the floor
the work. They have also been a time of struggle and spiritual confrontation for the ministry. As I wrote in my last blog, many of the leaders, as well as Theresa and I have been facing opposition and antagonism. Please pray with us that there will be a breakthrough in this area, and that relationships that have been strained and broken will be restored and healed.
I believe with all of my heart that it is God’s purpose that men and women will be trained as servant leaders through the various aspects of the present ministry – the Bible Institute Luz de las Naciones, Project LAMBS, and the Missionary Training farm (Casa del Obrero). I believe that Cd. Valles will become a hub from which men and women will be trained to go out into the harvest – prepared in servanthood, and equipped for ministry. But it is not easy, nor will the enemy give over the ground without a struggle. Please pray that apparent brick walls of resistance will crumble under the wrecking ball of the Holy Spirit.
Preparing the mesh for the floor pour
Also, please pray with us for a very specific miracle that we urgently need. The Missionary Training farm is tied up presently in a legal situation in which we need God to intervene. Because of the location of the land and the legal jurisdiction under which it falls we have as yet been unable to get clear title for it so that the nonprofit can own the land outright. Until this happens it cannot be placed into the name of Obreros Unidos para Cosechar. Please fervently pray that God will quickly provide the miracle which will make it possible for clear title to be obtained on the land, and that it can then very swiftly be able to be transferred into the name of the nonprofit. The actual legal title in Spanish is “dominio pleno” – please pray specifically with us that God will work a miracle and that we will receive this legal position without further delay.
Theresa has been very busy with her sewing school and it has been going extremely well.
Theresa’s sewing school class in the Bible Institute building
She currently teaches classes five days a week and is prepping and preparing for her next class every night. There never seems to be a down day, and she is always glad to be able to grab a moment here or there to relax for a minute, or to catch her breath. Still, I figure that it is good to fall into bed tired at night – it keeps one from getting bored.
We appreciate all of you. We thank you for your prayers, love, and support. Especially, we covet your prayers.
Your friends and fellow servants,
Steven and Theresa
