Current Events and Updates of the Ministry

Steven and a little Huastecan cutie. We were able to give this little girl a doll that was donated from a friend of ours from Oklahoma

My friends, be glad, even if you have a lot of trouble. You know that you learn to endure by having your faith tested. But that’s not all! We gladly suffer because we know that suffering helps us to endure. And endurance builds character, which gives us a hope that will never disappoint us. All of this happens because God has given us the Holy Spirit, who fills our hearts with his love. (James 1:2-3, Romans 5:3-5)

 More than a month has passed since my last blog entry, and some of you must have been wondering what has happened to the Freys. We are still here, and both well. However, we have been going through “a lot of trouble” of late as James speaks about in the verses above. I have not wanted to write anything over the past month because too much was in limbo and we had no idea what the outcome would be. Further, I just didn’t have the heart to sit down and write a blog.

Now however, although the fat lady has not yet sung, she is certainly nearing the microphone and we are feeling confident that the conclusion will end well for us, and for the ministry. With this in mind, I will give you some details of what we have been going through over the past several months, and how you can continue to pray for the work. After that, the Lord willing, we will close this chapter and not speak of it again.

You will recall that over the past year or so some of my blogs have spoken about the

“Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children”

opposition and antagonism that we have been facing as a ministry. Unfortunately this has come through one specific couple with whom we once worked very closely, and who were leaders on the Board of Directors. Because of the years of ministry together and trusted friendship with them, several years ago we unwisely placed power into their hands that in the end they proved unable to handle. The relationship with them continued to fragment over the past year and a half as they began to vocally abuse, and actively work against the rest of the leadership of the Bible Institute and Project LAMBS, as well as Javier Santos and I as we developed the Casa del Obrero (the Missionary Training Center).

Because of Mexican laws specific to the type of land that we had purchased for the Missionary Training Center farm, at the time of purchase we needed to place the title of the property into the name of an individual until we could receive clear title on the land and it could be transferred directly into the name of the non-profit Obreros Unidos para Cosechar (Laborers United to Harvest). With the full understanding of everyone, the land title was placed into the name of this person in trust until it could be transferred. Documents of trust were signed and legalized. Because of the years of Christian ministry of this person, and because of the years of trusted friendship with him we felt confident that there would never be an issue of greed or dishonesty within our relationship.

Church planting team headed up by pastor Javier Santos in the village of San Antonio Huichimal

Mexican laws are very difficult to understand on occasion, and at times seem very convoluted. Over a year ago this person renounced his position on the Board of Directors and signed a letter of resignation stepping down. However, he then subsequently refused to relinquish his position and control of power over it.

 In February of this year, Fred Erb, from Listowel Community Church was here to oversee the closing out of old ministry business, and the stepping forward into new. Part of this involved the voting in of a new president of the Board, as well as a second officer who had asked to be relieved of his role as treasurer on the Board.

At this point the bomb exploded and the former president again refused to release his power despite several signed documents stating that he had resigned and given up his role on the Board. He further refused to hand over the original documents of the non-profit – clearly the property of OUpC, and worse yet, he claimed himself to be the rightful owner of the land and refused to sign over a release of rights to the Board of Directors. This, despite the fact that he had signed legal documents with this promise when the land was originally purchased three years ago, and despite the fact that he clearly knew that he was simply holding the land in trust for OUpC.

Due to the nuances of Mexican law he held the title in his name, and was now claiming that

Traversing the pathways of the village. This is how churches are planted – house to house – along the dusty pathways

he and his family were the legal owners of the property. Legally this may have been true, but morally, as everyone across the whole city knew, this was a blatant lie. He had not put even a penny into the purchase of the land, and worse yet, had attempted to work against and block the vision of the ministry for the property for the past several years. In the end it came down to a conflict of power, control, greed, and abuse of confidence and trust. However, legally he held the cards in his hand and knew that he did.

This all transpired in the months since February. It has never been our desire to take legal action or to publicly bring charges against our brother even though his actions have been unconscionable and blatantly corrupt. What we did instead was to send a petition for help to the directors of his denomination laying out the facts, as well as those of the sixteen years of ministering with him and the denomination. We did not seek to expose or humiliate him, but rather to ask for sanity and godliness to prevail in this issue, and that they would pressure him to act correctly and justly and to sign over the property to the rightful owners, namely OUpC, and the person designated by them to hold the title.

Pastor Javier is waiting outside a house to receive an invitation to enter. This is real-life church planting

We had no idea what would happen due to our request, and we waited and prayed for God’s hand to move hearts. We were well aware that legally he held the cards, and also that he had some powerful friends in high places among his denominational leadership. However, we also knew that we have a God who holds ALL of the cards.

We continued to wait.

About one week ago we received the news from his denominational Board that they had ruled in our favor, and that he had received the mandate to sign over all rights to the ministry land to the nonprofit, its rightful owners, and that he was to cease working against the ministry of OUpC and the Bible Institute, Project LAMBS, and the Missionary Training Center.

Sometimes I get the feeling that Theresa and I needed to be here in Cd. Valles “for such a time as this” as it speaks about in Esther 4:14. Certainly the past months have been a time of intense trouble and testing, not only for Theresa and me, but even more so for the other brothers and sisters that we work so closely with in the ministry. But my prayer is that the truth of Romans 5 will become real in all of our hearts through this testing – that because of the suffering we will learn to endure. And that that endurance will build character in us which will give us a hope that will never disappoint us. And that this will all happen because God has given us the Holy Spirit, who fills our hearts with his love.

Certainly we have grown by leaps and bounds since the Board of Directors and the

Life in the village of San Antonio Huichimal. This grandmother is sweeping her dirt patio

nonprofit civil association was first formed some four years ago. At that time we were an ignorant and visionless bunch of mute sheep. Today when I look at the Board I see men and women representing a variety of different denominations across the city, various language and cultural backgrounds, different socioeconomic roots, a richness in the variety of experiences and vision that each one brings, and perhaps most importantly, men and women with the desire to see God’s Kingdom advance in the Huasteca and beyond through the work of the ministry that we are all involved in. Much of this freshness has come through the honing of the trials and pain of the past months. There is certitude and conviction that we dare never allow a loophole or way that the sins of greed and desire for power displayed over the past months ever have a way to corrupt a member of the Board again. With this in mind, the constitution has been rewritten with better checks and balances in place, a surveillance committee has been established, the Board has been expanded, and multitudes of other safeguards have been put into place to protect against even the possibility of another rogue member attempting to take over power and control. Truly, God does work all things together for good. It has been directly due to the pain that we have grown.

“And I have opened a door for you that no one can close”

So, like I said earlier in the blog, although we have not heard the sweet melodious song of the fat lady yet, she is certainly near the microphone now. And we are working hard to get everything taken care of legally so that when the papers are finally all signed, and all of the “i’s” dotted and the “t’s” crossed we will not have missed anything that will give the enemy a change to once again manipulate someone away from the path of righteousness and into greed for personal gain and power.

 Please pray for all of us as we continue to seek to walk for him. Also, please pray fervently for the couple who have allowed themselves to be blinded, and to be used as a tool of the enemy in this way. Please pray that God will bring them to repentance and a change of heart before him once again.

Although much of our time and energy over the past months has been taken up with the

Village housing in San Antonio Huichimal – this is the real world here

legal issues involved with the land, over the past weeks we have also begun to take on new projects at the farm again. As you know, our harvest has been concluded for the year. We are finishing off work on the galera house at the Training Center. I have been doing tractor work and cultivating. Tomorrow I hope to begin painting the interior of the building and setting up shelving and storage area for tools and equipment. We are finishing off the venting and windows. And getting ready for someone to live there and continue the work on site. Further, over the past months I have had the privilege of working together with Javier and some of the young men from his church in Solidaridad to begin to plant a church in the little Tenek village of San Antonio Huichimal. Last Saturday we had a family open their home to us to meet. This means that a church plant has begun. We continue to be excited to see what happens in this community as God begins to open hearts to receive his Word and healing in their lives. There seems to be a hunger in this community for God, although there is also evidence of the abuses of alcoholism and other vices that so often present themselves in these indigenous communities. San Antonio Huichimal is very close to the Missionary Training Center farm and a natural ministry point for it.

Javier and Cristina’s children’s ministry in Buenos Aires

We need you to continue to pray that God will bring the correct couple to live and teach at the farm. It must be a couple called by God for this ministry as it will be a difficult role to fill. They must be people who love the land and know how to work and teach, but they must also be people with the ability to teach the Word. They must have lives squeaky clean and above reproach as they will be living and working 24 / 7 with the missionary trainees. Above all, they must love the Lord with all of their hearts and exude this passion to the trainees that they will be serving.

Then, finally, I will end with a financial request. There is a well drilling rig sitting about a half mile from the Missionary Training Center. They arrived last week and are in our area for only for a couple of weeks. They are rather hungry at the moment and are offering us an 8 inch diameter, deep well drilled for $1,000 pesos a meter rather than their usual $1,200

What a beautiful little girl. This is the daughter of friends of ours from one of the poor villages in which Javier and Cristina minister

pesos. This translates to about $85 dollars per meter of drilling (depending upon the dollar exchange). We expect to need a maximum depth of 20 meters which will be $20,000 pesos, or about $1,700 dollars. Then we will need about $6,000 pesos worth of metal casing which is about $500 dollars. This means that we need roughly $2,500 dollars, but even better, $3,000 dollars would put in the well and provide the pump also. We are praying that God will lay it on hearts to give for this need. Without a good source of water running a Missionary Training Center becomes impractical. Certainly, the dream of running greenhouses and agricultural projects so that the Center can become an economic base for the ministry becomes impossible without it. We are believing God for the impossible. We do not have $3,000 dollars. God must lay it on the hearts of his children to give if he wants us to have a well.

Theresa also wishes to point out that if someone wishes to take on this project and give the money so that a well can be drilled, we would be delighted to name the well after that person – placing their name on it as a reminder of their love for the people of the Huasteca and of Mexico. Wouldn’t that be cool!

I will close. Please accept our thanks for your continued prayers and for you love.

Your friends,

Steven and Theresa

The last of the sugarcane being lashed down in order to be hauled off the field in the mud

This blog is going to be a bit different than most because I have a personal bone stuck sideways in my craw. I need to vent some bile, as it were, and get this thing off my chest. But then, maybe it is just because I am a tired old man tonight, and not a little crotchety at the moment. But, at any rate, bear with me on this one please.

I will set the whole “sideways in the gizzard thing” into perspective by saying that we finished our harvest on Saturday morning, watching as the last load of sugarcane was loaded and hauled off the field. On Monday morning Javier and I began the brutal post-harvest work of pulling the cut off tops of the cane into rows for burning, and cutting the several inches of stock remaining sticking out of the ground down to the top of the root ball. We had a heavy rain on Sunday evening that lasted throughout the night. The conditions in the field were pretty nasty yesterday. Last night we had even heavier rain throughout the night, and now a steady drizzle all day. We were wading around with 25 pounds of sticky muck on the bottom of our boots today as we continued to clean the field. But, today we did have three guys working with us that we hired to help. We still have several more days of brutal labor before we are finished with this part of the job.

So, to put it into perspective for you let’s create an image that is easier for you to imagine.

This is an agarron of sugarcane – a laborer’s pile of cut cane. He will be paid by the amount of cane that he will cut

Let’s suppose that you have a field of 13 ½ acres in which you were growing corn. But this corn is a little different than normal in that it is a perennial, and it is actually the stock that you want to harvest. So, from there on the similarities are actually quite striking. Sugarcane is not dissimilar from corn, either in the stock itself, or in the height that it grows.

To begin your harvest you burn the field in order to eliminate the dead leaves that are chocking the bottom ¾ of the stock, leaving only the green top of the plant on the singed stock.

Next, you have 20 – 50 men congregate on your field to cut the corn stocks, leaving the topmost, green 3 – 4 feet of tip in rows in your field. The stocks are all placed into piles, each worker being paid for his own piles of “corn” which he has cut from “his own rows”. (More about this later – this is part of the “crosswise bit”).

A cutter takes a water break beside his pile of sugarcane

Now, the piles are all loaded onto trucks and hauled off of the field. Voila, harvest is done for another year!

Or is it?

Now, the real work (for us) begins. The cutting, piling, hauling, and actual harvest sweating was done by other men, not by us. Now, however, the post-harvest work falls onto us.

Remembering our hypothetical perennial corn harvest again – as soon as the crop is off of the field you will need to pull all of the tops into rows so that they can be burned. The problem with them is that they are very course and durable, and since there will be very little moisture over the next months they will not break down. Also, if they are left on the field they will become a breeding ground for rats and other rodents that will eat your sugarcane. So, despite the loss of organic matter, the best solution is to burn them.

But, since your crop is perennial, sending multiple new baby shoots out from the root ball,

The sugarcane tops are placed into rows

you need to cut down each stub of stock that is still left after the crop has been cut off. These need to be cut down as close to the ground (the root ball) as possible. This also needs to be done posthaste because in a matter of only days the tender shoots are already forming out of the roots. If one dilly dallys around before you cut the stock stubs down, or before burning the tops you will destroy the new, tender growth, and hence next year’s crop.

Okay, the thing is, remember our 13 ½ acre field? All of this work has to be done by hand with a crooked stick, bent back, and a machete. The stick is to pull the tops into rows for burning, and the machete to hack each stock-end back to the root ball. After a half hour of this work your lower back starts to talk to you, after two you can’t straighten up any more. After about three your hand “freezes” onto the stick and you can’t open your fingers any more. Thirteen plus acres may not seem like much until one works every inch of it with a bent-over back.

Okay, so, there is my little word picture. I am not telling you this so that you can pull out your violins and give me a pity party, or so that I can look like a hero. That is not the reason. Rather, herein is “my bee in the bonnet”…

A field worker cuts sugarcane stock down. Note the machete in one hand and the crooked stick in the other. These are our tools of the trade

I find it very difficult to deal with people telling me “how cheap it is in Mexico” (quote unquote). Let me explain what I mean:

First of all, it is not cheap to live in Mexico. It may have been at one time, but so was Canada. During the depression my grandfather worked for 25¢ per hour, or per day, or some such thing. But that was a long time ago. Certainly, no one would consider Canada to be a cheap place to live now. Besides perhaps a head of broccoli or some such locally grown veggie, nothing is cheap here, and I challenge anyone to find much of anything that I cannot buy cheaper in the States than I can buy here. Any manufactured product is much more expensive here than in the States. Gas is now close to $1.10 dollars per liter ($4.10 per gallon). I don’t know how much diesel fuel is, but the cost of everything is reflected in the ever-increasing cost of fuel.

Okay, okay – gripe, gripe! But I do have a point in all of this. This is my point:

For many men in our area the harvest is the main income for much of their year. They are paid by the amount of sugarcane that they cut. They receive $14 pesos per “agarron” (the piles of cut cane) from the sugarcane mill – their employer. The farmer whose field they are harvesting must make up the rest. This year the harvest laborers are receiving $20 pesos per agarron (ie., the farmer pays the difference between the $14 pesos and the $20). Each pile (the agarron) weighs approximately ½ ton. Depending upon the conditions of the field, the sugarcane, the skill and experience of the cutter, the thickness of the rows, and many other factors, a good harvester can cut somewhere between 6 to 10 piles per day – that is to say, somewhere from three to five tons of sugarcane per day. This is all cut with a machete, and then hauled onto piles by hand.

At the end of the day that laborer has made somewhere between $120 pesos to $200

Javier working on placing the tops into rows. Note the Casa del Obrero house in the background

pesos for the day of backbreaking labor. So, what does that mean in currency that is more recognizable to North Americans? Well, in U.S. dollars the exchange now is somewhere around 12 to the dollar. That means that our worker has made around $10.00 to $16.65 per day depending upon his skills and the luck of the field that he is cutting.

Oh, and have I mentioned that we routinely have temperatures that run in the triple digits, dropping down into double digits only at night, simply to soar again as soon as the sun breaks the horizon? Did I mention that last summer we officially reached 57° C (134.6 ° F)? True, that was a bit of an exception from the norm, but not so unusual as to make much more than an item for casual conversation for several days.

Then, let’s take the guys that Javier and I worked beside in the mud today. We are paying them a fair wage; the going rate, and perhaps even on the top end of the going rate for field laborers – $120 pesos per day (in U.S. dollars this is about $10.00). Remember, this is per day of field labor. But one must pay within the wage scale of the norm or else you end up not helping in the end, but only building an unattainable expectation in the workers. If we were to pay an unreasonably high wage to our laborers, then that person would not be happy to work within the wage scale of the country. Although it may sound big hearted, in the end it would do more damage than the short-term good that one had tried to accomplish.

Our lunch in the rain. Even Pancho looks like a drowned rat today

So, back to my shtick – please don’t tell me that living in Mexico is so cheap. It certainly is not! Again, almost anything that I can buy here in Mexico I can buy cheaper in the States, with some things being much cheaper there. Please don’t patronize my friends and say “Well, they are happy and don’t know any better.” That questionably may have been true 100 years ago when people had little exposure, but I doubt that it was even the case then. There have always been class differences, and people have always desired to improve their own lot in life, and that of their children. Don’t tell me that it is just cheaper for them to live because they expect so much less. Of course it is! It would be for the typical North American as well if they would eat only beans and tortillas and an occasional egg or two when they could afford the extra cost of buying them. It isn’t because the poor like to eat only cactus and tortillas that they do so, it is because that is all that one can buy on an income of $10 dollars per day where that money buys the same as your $10 dollars does.

So there, my bile is spilled, my chest has the weight removed from it, and I have spoken my mind. But let me add this little bit to the end, (just to be redundant I am sure). I am afraid that too often we as North Americans forget the incredible gift that God has given us by being born where we were. Certainly Mexico is not the poorest nation in the world, and is not even close to being so. There are many places where the economic conditions are much, much worse than here. But it is here that I live, and it is here that I see my friends and fellow workers. It is here that I see the unfair conditions under which they must live.

Whenever we complain about how hard done we are, and how unjust our state in life is, we need to get out heads out of our little, tiny, privileged bubble and see how so much of the real world lives every day. And I don’t mean from the window of our $200 dollar per night Hilton either, or from the back seat on a $50 dollar taxi ride from our luxury time-share resort so that we can see where the natives live. I mean the real world where billions of people struggle each day to feed their families and simply to survive one more day.

Too many hours working in the rain and mud for an old, tired man? Maybe.

But, maybe God also wishes to wake us all up a little as well. Are we trying to keep up with

The mountains to the west of us in a low cloud cover

the Jones’? Have we become complacent and self centered? Are we taking our petty little preferences and demands too seriously? Do we need to get a bigger picture of the real world?

In a more enlightening way, and spoken better by a much more knowledgeable man, I would refer you to K.P. Yohannan, the founder and president of Gospel for Asia. His book “The Road to Reality” is a must-read. Also, by going onto the Gospel for Asia website (http://gospelforasia.org) and then scrolling down to “free resources for you” you can download many of his soul-searching messages free of charge. He, unlike me, is much gentler in his approach, but nonetheless, no less to the point. That point is not Guilt, but rather Reality.

God, open my eyes please to the reality of the real world. May your Kingdom come. May it come soon!

Your weary and sore friend,

Steven

A year’s work up in flames

Actually, it was a planned burn of the sugarcane. Yes! We are in the middle of harvest again, after everything in the whole area was delayed by months due to the incredibly wet rainy season which just would not end. We burned half of the field on Tuesday night and had a beautifully dry day on Wednesday to begin the harvest. Last night we burned the second half of the field in order for the rest of the sugarcane to be harvested today.

If you remember from my description of last year’s saga, we don’t have a choice in the matter of when we burn, or when the harvest will be – this is all dictated by the sugarcane buyers – a huge monopoly that controls every aspect of the growing, harvest, buying, and prices.

I have long-since stopped trying to figure out God. We have had long weeks and months since January of hot and dry weather. Everything has been bone dry now for many weeks. This morning we awoke to rain – not much, but just enough to make the field slick mud so that the heavily overloaded trucks could not get out. This meant that we had to hire a tractor in to pull each truck out of the field again – completely at our expense.

Then, this evening it began to rain heavily. Now the question is no longer whether we will

Lighting the fires

need to rent a tractor again tomorrow to pull out the trucks, but whether the road will even be passable. Remember, we have 72 hours after the burn to get the sugarcane off of the field and to the mill.

But, it is all God’s sugarcane, and his money. If he chooses to spend it all on renting a tractor so that we can pull the trucks out of the muck in the field, then I guess that is his choice.

I must confess that I am a tad more than exhausted tonight because I spent ten hours today being beaten around on an 8N tractor cultivating heavy, hard clay soil trying to prepare it for seeding. After being smashed around on a little tractor as it lurches around, having my knees bashed into the dash with every hard clog of clay that it pulls out of the rock-hard field, I am reminded that I am a lot closer to 60 than 25. Also, the metal bucket seat is, well, let’s just say – it ain’t no padded seat in an air conditioned cab. So, if this blog sounds a bit disjointed, well, it probably is.

Theresa has been running her classes again. She now has two students that she is privately tutoring as well as the sewing classes that had taken a break over Christmas, and during the time that the Canadian teams were here. One of the new women wanted to learn baking and cake decorating. The other one is getting private sewing lessons. Theresa is also planning on starting up a new beginner sewing class again as well. This should keep every waking hour busy I think.

Javier silhouetted against the edge of the burning field

I have recently come across the writings of Alexander Maclaren, a Scottish born Baptist preacher and expositor who lived from 1826 to 1910. I find his writings difficult to read because of their old-styled format. However, they are wonderfully full of wisdom and life. I would recommend his writings to you. You can easily find them by simply “googling” his name online. You can also find many of his sermons and writings by clicking onto the following biblehub link: http://biblehub.com/sermons/authors/maclaren.htm.

I am going to paste a section from one of his sermons on I Corinthians 3:9, entitled “God’s Fellow Workers”. I know that it is very long and somewhat tedious to read. However, if you can stick it out I believe that you will receive a rich blessing:

____________________________

The characteristic Greek tendency to factions was threatening to rend the Corinthian

Cutting sugarcane by hand will either kill you or make a man out of you.

Church, and each faction was swearing by a favourite teacher. Paul and his companion, Apollos, had been taken as the figureheads of two of these parties, and so he sets himself in the context, first of all to show that neither of the two was of any real importance in regard to the Church’s life. They were like a couple of gardeners, one of whom did the planting, and the other the watering; but neither the man that put the little plant into the ground, nor the man that came after him with a watering-pot, had anything to do with originating the mystery of the life by which the plant grew. That was God’s work, and the pair that had planted and watered were nothing. So what was the use of fighting which of two nothings was the greater?

But then he bethinks himself that that is not quite all. The man that plants and the man that waters are something after all. They do not communicate life, but they do provide for its nourishment. And more than that, the two operations — that of the man with the dibble and that of the man with the watering-pot — are one in issue; and so they are partners, and in some respects may be regarded as one. Then what is the sense of pitting them against each other?

Piles of cut sugarcane ready to be loaded onto the trucks

But even that is not quite all; though united in operation, they are separate in responsibility and activity, and will be separate in reward. And even that is not all; for, being nothing and yet something, being united and yet separate, they are taken into participation and co-operation with God; and as my text puts it, in what is almost a presumptuous phrase, they are ‘laborers together with Him.’ That partnership of co-operation is not merely a partnership of the two, but it is a partnership of the three — God and the two who, in some senses, are one.

Now whilst this text is primarily spoken in regard to the apostolic and evangelistic work of these early teachers, the principle which it embodies is a very wide one, and it applies in all regions of life and activity, intelectual, scholastic, philanthropic, social. Where-ever men are thinking God’s thoughts and trying to carry into effect any phase or side of God’s manifold purposes of good and blessing to the world, there it is true. We claim no special or exclusive prerogative for the Christian teacher. Every man that is trying to make men understand God’s thought, whether it is expressed in creation, or whether it is written in history, or whether it is carven in half-obliterated letters on the constitution of human nature, every man who, in any region of society or life, is seeking to effect the great designs of the universal loving Father — can take to himself, in the measure and according to the manner of his special activity, the great encouragement of my text, and feel that he, too, in his little way, is a fellow-helper to the truth and a fellow-worker with God. But then, of course, according to New Testament teaching, and according to the realities of the case, the highest form in which men thus can co-operate with God, and carry into effect His purposes is that in which men devote themselves, either directly or indirectly, to spreading throughout the whole world the name and the power of the Saviour Jesus Christ, in whom all God’s will is gathered, and through whom all God’s blessings are communicated to mankind. So the thought of my text comes appropriately when I have to bring before you the claims of our missionary operations.

Now, the first way in which I desire to look at this great idea expressed in these words, is

Loading of the trucks begins

that we find in it

I. A solemn thought.

‘Labourers together with God.’ Cannot He do it all Himself? No. God needs men to carry out His purposes. True, on the Cross, Jesus spoke the triumphant word, ‘It is finished!’ He did not thereby simply mean that He had completed all His suffering; but He meant that He had then done all which the world needed to have done in order that it should be a redeemed world. But for the distribution and application of that finished work God depends on men. You all know, in your own daily businesses, how there must be a middleman between the mill and the consumer. The question of organising a distributing agency is quite as important as any other part of the manufacturer’s business. The great reservoir is full, but there has to be a system of irrigating-channels by which the water is carried into every corner of the field that is to be watered. Christian men individually, and the Church collectively, supply — may I call it the missing link? — between a redeeming Saviour and the world which He has redeemed in act, but which is not actually redeemed, until it has received the message of the great Redemption that is wrought. The supernatural is implanted in the very heart of the mass of leaven by the Incarnation and Sacrifice of Jesus Christ; but the spreading of that supernatural revelation is left in the hands of men who work through natural processes, and who thus become labourers together with God, and enable Christ to be to single souls, in blessed reality, what He is potentially to the world, and has been ever since He died upon the Cross. ‘It is finished.’ Yes — because it is finished, our work begins.

Javier counts up loads and double checks the workers figures

Let me remind you of the profound symbolism in that incident where our Lord for once appeared conspicuously, and almost ostentatiously, before Israel as its true King. He had need — as He Himself said — of the meek beast on which He rode. He cannot pass, in His coronation procession, through the world unless He has us, by whom He may be carried into every corner of the earth. So ‘the Lord has need’ of us, and we are ‘fellow-labourers with Him.’

But this same thought suggests another point. We have here a solemn call addressed to every Christian man and woman.

Do not let us run away with the idea that, because here the Apostle is speaking in regard to himself and Apollos, he is enunciating a truth which applies only to Apostles and evangelists. It is true of all Christians. My knowledge of and faith in Jesus Christ as my own personal Saviour impose upon me the obligation, in so far as my opportunities and capacities extend, thus to co-operate with Him in spreading His great Name. Every Christian man, just because he is a Christian, is invested with the power — and power to its last particle is duty — and is, therefore, burdened with the honourable obligation to work for God. There is such a thing as ‘coming to the help of the Lord,’ though that phrase seems to reverse altogether the true relation. It is the duty of every Christian, partly because of loyalty to Jesus, and partly because of the responsibility which the very constitution of society lays upon every one of us, to diffuse what he possesses, and to be a distributing agent for the life that he himself enjoys. Brethren! there is no possibility of Christian men or women being fully faithful to the Saviour, unless they recognise that the duty of being a fellow-labourer with God inevitably follows on being a possessor of Christ’s salvation; and that no Apostle, no official, no minister, no missionary, has any more necessity laid upon him to preach the Gospel, nor pulls down any heavier woe on himself if he is unfaithful, than has and does each one of Christ’s servants.

So ‘we are fellow-labourers with God.’ Alas! alas! how poorly the average Christian realises

Meet Pancho our farm mascot. Actually, he is supposed to grow up to become our watch dog. We found him in the dump as a very little puppy full of mange and other nastys. He has become quite famous

— I do not say discharges, but realises — that obligation! Brethren, I do not wish to find fault, but I do beseech you to ask yourselves whether, if you are Christians, you are doing anything the least like what my text contemplates as the duty of all Christians.

May I say a word or two with regard to another aspect of this solemn call? Does not the thought of working along with God prescribe for us the sort of work that we ought to do? We ought to work in God’s fashion, and if we wish to know what God’s fashion is, we have but to look at Jesus Christ. We ought to work in Jesus Christ’s fashion. We all know what that involved of self-sacrifice, of pain, of weariness, of utter self-oblivious devotion, of gentleness, of tenderness, of infinite pity, of love running over. ‘The master’s eye makes a good servant.’ The Master’s hand working along with the servant ought to make the servant work after the Master’s fashion. ‘As My Father hath sent Me, so send I you.’ If we felt that side by side with us, like two sailors hauling on one rope, ‘the Servant of the Lord’ was toiling, do you not think it would burn up all our selfishness, and light up all our indifference, and make us spend ourselves in His service? A fellow-labourer with God will surely never be lazy and selfish. Thus my text has in it, to begin with, a solemn call.

It suggests

II. A signal honour.

Suppose a great painter, a Raphael or a Turner, taking a little boy that cleaned his brushes, and saying to him, ‘Come into my studio, and I will let you do a bit of work upon my picture.’ Suppose an aspirant, an apprentice in any walk of life, honoured by being permitted to work along with some one who was recognised all over the world as being at the very top of that special profession. Would it not be a feather in the boy’s cap all his life? And would he not think it the greatest honour that ever had been done him that he was allowed to co-operate, in however inferior a fashion, with such an one? Jesus Christ says to us, ‘Come and work here side by side with Me,’ But Christian men, plenty of them, answer, ‘It is a perpetual nuisance, this continual application for money! money! money! work! work! work! It is never-ending, and it is a burden!’ Yes, it is a burden, just because it is an honour. Do you know that the Hebrew word which means ‘glory’ literally means ‘weight’? There is a great truth in that. You cannot get true honours unless you are prepared to carry them as burdens. And the highest honour that Jesus Christ gives to men when He says to them, not only ‘Go work to-day in My vineyard,’ but ‘Come, work here side by side with Me,’ is a heavy weight which can only be lightened by a cheerful heart.

Is it not the right way to look at all the various forms of Christian activity which are made imperative upon Christian people, by their possession of Christianity as being tokens of Christ’s love to us? Do you remember that this same Apostle said, ‘Unto me who am less than the least of all saints is this grace given, that I should preach the unsearchable riches of Christ?’ He could speak about burdens and heavy tasks, and being ‘persecuted but not forsaken,’ almost crushed down and yet not in despair, and about the weights that came upon him daily, ‘the care of all the churches,’ but far beneath all the sense of his heavy load lay the thrill of thankful wonder that to him, of all men in the world, knowing as he did better than anybody else could do his own imperfection and insufficiency, this distinguishing honour had been bestowed, that he was made the Apostle to the Gentiles. That is the way in which the true man will always look at what the selfish man, and the half-and-half Christian, look at as being a weight and a weariness, or a disagreeable duty, which is to be done as perfunctorily as possible. One question that a great many who call themselves Christians ask is, ‘With how little service can I pass muster?’ Ah, it is because we have so little of the Spirit of Christ in us that we feel burdened by His command, ‘Go ye into all the world,’ as being so heavy; and that so many of us — I leave you to judge if you are in the class — so many of us make it criminally light if we do not ignore it altogether. I believe that, if it were possible to conceive of the duty and privilege of spreading Christ’s name in the world being withdrawn from the Church, all His real servants would soon be yearning to have it back again. It is a token of His love; it is a source of infinite blessings to ourselves; ‘if the house be not worthy, your peace shall return to you again.’

And now, lastly, we have suggested by this text

III. A strong encouragement.

‘Fellow-labourers with God’ — then, God is a Fellow-labourer with us. The co-operation works both ways, and no man who is seeking to spread that great salvation, to distribute that great wealth, to irrigate some little corner of the field by some little channel that he has dug, needs to feel that he is labouring alone. If I am working with God, God is working with me. Do you remember that most striking picture which is drawn in the verses appended to Mark’s Gospel, which tells how the universe seemed parted into two halves, and up above in the serene the Lord ‘sat on the right hand of God,’ while below, in the murky and obscure, ‘they went everywhere preaching the Word.’ The separation seems complete, but the two halves are brought together by the next word — ‘The Lord also,’ sitting up yonder, ‘working with them’ the wandering preachers down here, ‘confirming the words with signs following.’ Ascended on high, entered into His rest, having finished His work, He yet is working with us, if we are labourers together with God. If we turn to the last book of Scripture, which draws back the curtain from the invisible world which is all filled with the glorified Christ, and shows its relations to the earthly militant church, we read no longer of a Christ enthroned in apparent ease, but of a Christ walking amidst the candlesticks, and of a Lamb standing in the midst of the Throne, and opening the seals, launching forth into the world the sequences of the world’s history, and of the Word of God charging His enemies on His white horse, and behind Him the armies of God following. The workers who labour with God have the ascended Christ labouring with them.

But if God works with us, success is sure. Then comes the old question that Gideon asked with bitterness of heart, when he was threshing out his handful of wheat in a corner to avoid the oppressors, ‘If the Lord be with us, wherefore is all this come upon us? Will any one say that the progress of the Gospel in the world has been at the rate which its early believers expected, or at the rate which its own powers warranted them to expect? Certainly not. And so it comes to this, that whilst every true labourer has God working with him, and therefore success is certain, the planter and the waterer can delay the growth of the plant by their unfaithfulness, by not expecting success, by not so working as to make it likely, or by neutralising their evangelistic efforts by their worldly lives. When Jesus Christ was on earth, it is recorded, ‘He could there do no mighty works because of their unbelief, save that He laid His hands on a few sick folk and healed them.’ A faithless Church, a worldly Church, a lazy Church, an unspiritual Church, an un-Christlike Church — which, to a large extent, is the designation of the so-called Church of today — can clog His chariot-wheels, can thwart the work, can hamper the Divine Worker. If the Christians of Manchester were revived, they could win Manchester for Jesus. If the Christians of England lived their Christianity, they could make England what it never has been but in name — a Christian country. If the Church universal were revived, it could win the world. If the single labourer, or the community of such, is labouring ‘in the Lord,’ their labour will not be in vain; and if they thus plant and water, God will give the increase.

____________________________

I know that this has been a long reading. But if you have stuck it through to the end I know that you will have been as blessed as I was in reading it.

I think that I had better get to bed as we have another heavy day tomorrow, and even more so because of the rain. However, before I go, let me ask you to please specifically remember us in your prayers. We are facing some very strong opposition from the enemy. I don’t want to give details, but please know that this is an issue which will either advance the ministry or make it impossible to continue. Please pray that God’s purposes will be accomplished.

Your friends,

Steven and Theresa

Casa del Obrero Centro de Entrenamiento. The House of the Laborer Training Center. Our new sign and logo. There is much to be said about the meaning of the logo, but that will be done elsewhere.

According to Got Questions Ministries, “Koinonia” is a Greek word that occurs 20 times in the Bible. Koinonia’s primary meaning is “fellowship, sharing in common, communion.” The first occurrence of koinonia is Acts 2:42, “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” Christian fellowship is a key aspect of the Christian life. Believers in Christ are to come together in love, faith, and encouragement. That is the essence of koinonia.

This may be the denotation of the Greek word, but we lived it on the first day of February.

As I mentioned in my last entry pastor Moises, the director of the new Christian radio

The team from Listowel Community Church lays out the interior floor plan

station Cielos Abiertos FM, planned and organized a “blow-em-out-of-the-water” event on the Training Center farm which he dubbed Koinonia 2014. It was to be truly nondenominational, and indeed was not designed to be an overtly religious event, which would draw both Believers and nonbelievers to enjoy a day of shared fellowship together. It was to be a day of food, live music, festivities, clowns and gifts for the kiddies, and generally a good time to be together in shared communion to celebrate what God is doing through Cielos Abiertos FM and what he has done, and will continue to do though the ministry of Casa del Obrero.

The interior walls begin to go up

To set the stage properly let me backtrack to the last couple of weeks of January just before the 1^st of February and the Koinonia 2014 event. You will remember that we had lost almost two months of work on the building due to the non-ending rains. This placed an incredible time pressure on all of us because Fred Erb and a team from Listowel Community Church were due to arrive on the evening of the 24^th of January to finish out the interior of the new building. This meant that we absolutely needed to complete everything in the outside walls and roof in order for them to build the partition walls and place the drop ceiling. The pressure was on.

Since the building has a corrugated metal roof we decided to spray the inside of the metal

Fred Erb preparing for the electrical wiring. It might not be 100% code, but it will work

with polyurethane spray for insulation. I had found a business here in Cd. Valles which would spray it, but they did not have a generator large enough for the application. We searched for days to find one that would be adequate for the job. Time was ticking!

We also needed to place the tiles onto the floor before the Canadian team arrived since this would make the job of tiling much easier than having to cut into each room after the interior walls were placed. Our “floor guys” came and began, but then took a couple of days off just when we really needed them most. Time was ticking!

The walls get a primer coat of paint to prepare for the Koinonia 2014 event on Saturday

On Thursday morning I finally found a generator. On Thursday afternoon the polyurethane guys arrived to begin applying insulation to the roof (this needed to be done before the interior walls were put in, and certainly before the drop ceiling was placed). The Ontario guys were to arrive the following day. Time was indeed now really ticking!

But we had a little overlap problem. On Thursday morning the floor guys returned to try to finish their job. This meant that part of the floor was uncured and could not be walked on. So what were the insulation guys supposed to do? Time was now flying by!

As it turned out, the polyurethane guys got some of the work done and then had a breakdown and couldn’t complete the whole job anyway – they would need to come back the following day. This meant that the floor would have a chance to cure before being walked on – this was good, but time was definitely ticking by now!

On Friday morning the polyurethane crew arrived to try again. This time they were able

The ecological toilets take shape (the labor-intensive way). This gives a whole new meaning to “sitting on the throne”

to finish. It was now Friday noon. I would need to leave for Tampico to pick up the Canadian team at about 3:00 o’clock.

But Friday had another problem as well. In a week we were going to be having an event on the site where potentially hundreds of people might attend. We had no toilets. No one approved my (very simple and logical) idea of offering the surrounding sugarcane fields as the only facilities available, and we needed to build toilets. We had looked into renting a couple of Porta Potties for the day but soon realized that this was not a viable option. I spoke to a local Christian builder who told me that he would have his men build us two ecological toilets using the style that they build them in the Huastecan villages where there are

Setting up for Koinonia 2014

limited sources of water. He would donate one outright, and I would pay for some of the second one. Wow, what a blessing. However, it took days to build these toilets because they were completely made from concrete block and poured concrete work. Time was again (or perhaps, still) ticking!

On Friday morning the work of preparing the site for the toilets began. A Huastecan father and son team set up their bed rolls in the shell of the Casa del Obrero house and would dedicate the next week or so to building our ecological toilets – we prayed that they would be able to complete them before the 1^st of February and Koinonia 2014…still ticking!

The ribbon cutting. Officiated by a guest from the government, and including Javier, Fred and me

On Friday night Fred, Rick M., Ralph, Pedro, Rick K. and his wife Barbara, and Heidi arrived into Tampico from Listowel Community Church in Ontario.

On Monday morning the team began full throttle. Walls went up, drywall was placed, drop ceiling beautifully hung, and a house was artfully crafted out of a concrete shell. By Thursday some of the guys began painting the walls around the rest of the crew who were completing the ceiling work. By Friday night the whole inside was done, complete with primer coat of paint – five days start to finish – wow, what a great job guys!

On Friday evening the father and son team who were building the toilets were also picked up. Job completed! The concrete attaching the doors to the frame was still curing, but the job was done and ready for use the next day: Saturday the 1^st of February – Koinonia 2014!

There were somewhere between 500 – 800 people at Koinonia 2014. What a victory

On Friday evening we also put up the 24’ X 45’ Bible Institute tent in preparation for the following day’s events.

On Saturday morning Roberto applied paint to the exterior front of the house while the rest of the guys cleaned up the site. Stage, tents, and chairs arrived and the grounds were prepared for the soon arrival of the celebrating crowds. Roberto finished painting just in time for the guys to hang the large sign and logo onto the front of the house minutes before the first bus load of guests arrived. The paint was still wet to the touch, but would soon dry in the intense sun and midday heat of this toasty 1^st of February.

And Koinonia 2014 began! There was somewhere between 500 to 800 guests. Several

Luz de las Naciones Bible Institute graduates

Government representatives arrived and officially participated in the ribbon cutting ceremony. Pastors and the churches that they represented came from all over the city and the region, from as far away as Rio Verde and Hidalgo, and throughout the Huasteca.

What an incredible victory, and what a memorable day!

Everyone had plenty to eat. The sun was hot and the weather good. The music was enjoyed. The drinks were satisfying. The fellowship was wonderful. Christians from across denominational lines, as well as non-Christians, enjoyed a day of koinonia, hospitality, and communion. Praise God for victories.

On the 8^th of February we celebrated the graduation of the Instituto Biblico Luz de las Naciones and Project LAMBS students. This is the first graduation of Project LAMBS students from a 100% nationally directed school. Praise God for the successful culmination of this vision.

And then the attack began.

Theresa presents pastor Moises with the puppet that she has created for his children’s ministry and radio show personality “Super Sapo”

Please pray for Theresa and me as well as the national directors of the work – Javier and Cristina, and Alejandra and Mario, as well as the others on the leadership of the Bible Institute, Project LAMBS, and the Casa del Obrero. The attack is strong, directed, severe, and potentially deadly for the ministry. Pray that God will quickly silence the enemy and that those supposed Christian leaders who have been blinded to truth will have their eyes opened to the words of Jesus when he instructed us to walk in humility, unity, and harmony – in koinonia and love.

Today, Sunday, I will once again head over to Tampico to pick up friends of ours from Canada. This time they will arrive from Landmark Christian Fellowship in Manitoba. They will be here for a little over a week and come specifically to build a septic system for the Casa del Obrero Training Center. We look forward to spending time with them as friends, and also are grateful for the answer to many prayers that they are in coming to build the septic system. Thank you Lord.

It may be a while again before you hear from Theresa and me. As you can see, it has been busy, and it looks like it will continue to be so. As soon as the team from LCF is taken back to Tampico for their flight north again we will host friends from Grove, Oklahoma who will be staying with us for several days in the beginning of March. It is all good, and all a blessing. I am thankful though on many a night for a good bed to crash until the alarm clock rings in the morning.

Blessings,

Steven and Theresa

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 13^th 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 7^th 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 1^st 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 10^th 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