Current Events and Updates of the Ministry

Doctor Carl Heinlein standing on church roof (where VitW staff housing now stands). Circa 1998

This past weekend Theresa and I had the opportunity of going on a rather grueling, twenty hour each way trip with Ezequiel and several of the people from the local church. The objective was a men’s retreat in Villahermosa, Tabasco. The actual distance was a mere whisker under 650 miles to the south east of us, putting us about 1,000 miles into Mexico.  The reality of the trip though, was a bone-rattling, vertebrate-crushing excursion over at least one million “topes” (speed bumps), and more suspension-destroying potholes than can be numbered. The totals most certainly demanding one to move into exponential figures.

There is much that could be written about our time in Tabasco as it is a state of beautiful coastlines, Mayan ruins and verdant tropical vegetation. For me it was a return to friends from previous visits, all relatives on Veronica’s side of the family. However, there were several things which left an impression on me which I choose, rather, to relate. I do so none-the-less with hesitation, fearing that I will sound as if I am trying to exalt myself in the process. On the contrary, I am very keenly aware that all of the glory belongs to God, and anything accomplished, any visions, any dreams, and any forward movement comes from him alone.

First of all, I was impressed throughout the long drive home how God has given us the privilege of being in critical, and perhaps pivotal locations in his plan over the past months. I believe that the men’s retreat that was being attended by Ezequiel and the others was much larger in God’s radar than I understood when we left. It was a part of weekly inner-healing retreats which are being organized by a local church in Villahermosa. This church is the epicenter of a powerful revival movement which is shaking southern Mexico, changing the lives of men and women and transforming them into Jesus’ image.

Although I did not attend the retreat myself I did get an excited rundown of the weekend. There were about 160 men in attendance. Only a handful of these men were Christians, the vast majority of them were there only because their wives, uncles, girlfriends, or someone else had either paid them, threatened them, or coerced them into attending. Many of them came with the accouterments of their sinful lives clinging to them. Some arrived so drunk that they could not stay awake the first sessions. Many were profane, violent, haters, and vocal. There were two hundred men around the outside of the camp who were in prayer non-stop for the full weekend. There were another one hundred plus men who were in minute-by-minute attendance inside the retreat center. There are two months of prayer before each weekend retreat, specifically for it, and 24 hour a day, 365 days of the year, non-stop prayer going on at the church for the last several years for revival.

The reports were astonishing. During the first evening session many of the men were booing, heckling, and profane. Fights broke out across the campus. As the sessions continued, as teaching was given, and as the Holy Spirit began washing lives clean of the strongholds of the Enemy, lives were being transformed. The same violent and vile men were weeping and confessing the stranglehold of the Enemy in their lives, publicly renouncing wife abuse, child molestation, bestiality, homosexuality, and every other perversion under the sun. Instead of the blasphemous men that entered the doors, there was a sweet spirit of repentance, forgiveness and worship which permeated their lives. According to the reports of Ezequiel and the others who went, the change was 100% across the board, and every man’s life, down to the last, was changed.

The amazing thing to me though was to hear of what then happened when they arrived back at the drop-off spot at the church on Sunday night. There family members waited for their men to return. All longed for change. Many felt that their men were beyond all hope of changing. As the transformed new believers began to step off of the buses they spontaneously began to ask their wives for forgiveness. Many of them publicly begged their children to forgive them for the abuses of the past. Many of the couples were not married and were living in a common-law relationship only. These publicly begged their women to forgive them, and to marry them. The men were so radically transformed, and the Holy Spirit moved so strongly there at the pick-up spot that three hundred family members gave their hearts to the Lord that evening.

The purpose of the whole trip to Tabasco I learned, was to bring the techniques learned there back to the Huasteca.

Something curious is happening for Theresa and me. I don’t have answers, but I do have questions, and I have my eyes open. Why is it that God is leading us into relationships with men and women such as Allen and Aase Owens who run OSY camps south of Mexico City, or men such as Pepe and Israel Quiros who have a passion for youth of the streets – the very “castaways” of the world? Why has he specifically brought us into relationship with Hector Sr. and his son Hector, both from Puebla, who jointly founded ECO and who have a passion for training others how to evangelize through an age-old, but often neglected method – story telling, or orality?

All of the places where God seems to be leading us over the past months seem to be “outside-the-box” in thinking. On one hand he seems to be blocking the “normal” doors for us, and we seem to be pushing against deadbolts. On the other, he appears to be leading each of us, Theresa, Ezequiel, Veronica, and I, into new places. Is it possible that He is desiring us to think in other directions than the “normal” Bible Institute and Vocational School which we all believed to be His will? I don’t have the answer, but we are all praying, and will continue to do so.

Then, somewhere around hour sixteen of the nineteen hours that I drove home, Ezequiel began telling a story. It began with bitter-sweet humor in the retelling of how he was given a car by an Hispanic American. This was his first car, and ended up being a curse rather than a blessing to him. The account of how they finally got it to Cd. Valles and its rather ignoble demise was funny in the retelling, but he stated that it was one of the strongest testing that he ever went through. In the end he was broken and beat-up, wondering where God’s love and provision were.

Somewhere during this painful time he was rejected and blocked by leaders in the denominational church. However he was invited by an old pastor, a friend, to join him in ministering in another part of Mexico for several days. While there Ezequiel was introduced to two American men who faithfully helped the elderly Mexican pastor. While there Ezequiel prayed that God would allow him to also have missionary helpers who could assist him in the ministry in the Huasteca. The battle had been long and wearisome and he was tired.

Ezequiel then related how he had returned back to Cd. Valles, and somewhere around this time Dr. Carl Heinlein passed through with Mitch and Kathleen Medina on their way back to Texas from Campeche, in southern Mexico.  Dr. Heinlein and I had arranged a rather large medical outreach there in 1996, and although most of us flew down, Doc and Mitch and Kathleen had driven down, taking with them many of the medicines and medical supplies for the several-day outreach.  While returning north after the Campeche outreach, they stopped in Cd. Valles where Mitch and Kathleen had previously lived and ministered, and spent several days. Although most of their time was spent with another church, Doc was introduced to a little church on the “wrong side of the tracks” by the name of Esfuerzo Magdiel.  They did a day or two of clinics with the pastors Ezequiel and Veronica, and then headed north. All of this time Ezequiel was asking God if this was an answer to his prayer for missionary helpers, but the answer seemed to be “no”.

Ezequiel then stated that a year or more later he and Veronica and the children were given an invitation, and their way paid to a vacation in Merida and the Cancun area of Mexico. While there, it was arranged for Ezequiel to preach for three nights in a church on the island of Cozumel. The island is beautiful, and the relatively wealthy church was actively praying for, and seeking a pastor.  On the third night Ezequiel was asked outright to please consider coming as their pastor right away. He felt that God’s answer was that they were to return to Cd. Valles and fast and pray for God’s clear hand and leading for the next month. By the end of the month he would have a definitive answer for the church. Also, he needed to make arrangements back in Cd. Valles for another pastor to take over the work there.  Besides this, they also needed to sell some of their things and make preparations to move. The plan seemed good, and the church happily sent them home, everyone confident that they would return the following month to pastor the work in Cozumel.

Meanwhile back in Houston, Texas, Doctor Carl Heinlein had only recently been operated on for what was assumed to be a mercy surgery to make his last struggle with pancreatic cancer less excruciating, and his death less painful.  God had big surprises up his sleeve however, and to everyone’s surprise, most certainly the surgeon’s, Doc’s cancer proved not to be the fast-growing malignancy that it was first diagnosed to be, but rather a very rare, and slow growing tumor.

At about the time that Ezequiel and Veronica were fasting and praying for helpers to assist them in the work in Cd. Valles, Doctor Heinlein and I were looking at a map spread across his hospital bed – once thought to be a death gurney, now his recovery bed. In retrospect, God’s leading (at least in my life) has been very interesting. At this point our planning had taken a sharp turn. Only months before Doc and I had made plans that I would resign my work in one of the hospitals in Houston, and he would train me in “jungle medicine” in Guatemala where he had spent many years in mission work. Only shortly after these exciting plans were made, his son Carl Jr. called me and said that his dad was dying in a hotel room in southern Louisiana, and if I could help, he would fly to Houston and together we would drive out to get him and bring him back. This began the swift downward cycle in Doc’s health which culminated with the certain kiss of death that is imminent with late pancreatic cancer.  As I have already stated, Doc then received palliative surgery so that his death would be less painful.

But God had surprised us all. Now we were planning where Doc would train me on the field. Guatemala was out of the question because he would continue to need to be able to have follow-up care at the hospital in Houston over the next years. However, Mexico seemed to be the obvious choice. But where? We literally had an atlas spread out on the bed. We looked at one possibility and then at another. One had a nice looking lake, and another had coastline or mountains to draw our attention. To me any place would work, I had no reason to pick one over another since I did not know the gulf side of Mexico at all. Finally Doc said “There is a place though that I think that we should consider. I was there last year on my return trip from Campeche and did clinics with the pastors of a little church there. I was very impressed with them, and I believe that they would be good people for us to work with”.

Shortly thereafter, in fact eight days into the time of fasting and prayer for direction by Ezequiel and Veronica, Doc Heinlein and I stood outside their door in Cd. Valles knocking. We asked them if we could join their work in the region by holding medical clinics.

I asked Ezequiel what went through his mind twelve years ago when the two crazy gringos were standing outside his door. His answer was a little laugh, and the statement “I knew that this was God’s answer to our prayer for his direction”.  I suppose, as the saying goes – “the rest is history”.

In no way am I relating this story to you to try to impress you with how great I am that God should place me here in that way. Rather, I am awestruck once again at his mercy and his unmerited favor in my life. I feel like the children of Israel when God told them to set up markers and monuments at strategic places where great victories were won in battle, or where God had marvelously moved in some way. The reason was this – so that in the future when their children would ask, “What do these stones mean?” they could clearly give an explanation of God’s mighty acts.  My only desire is to point to God’s mighty acts so that you also will be able to praise him for his faithfulness over the years.

I believe that we will be able to look back in another twelve years and see even more clearly where his hand is leading us. Things that seem cloudy now will be made plain as he continues to open and close doors.

God surely is the same yesterday, today, and forever!

By the way, for those of you who may be wondering where Doctor Heinlein is now – he is currently residing with his son and daughter-in-law and their family in El Paso, Texas. Due to his health he is no longer able to be actively on the field, but his heart is still very definitely in the work.

On Saturday night the windows of heaven opened!

For those of you who have never had the opportunity of experiencing a tropical rainfall, let me tell you that it is both a thrilling and a frightening thing. Our rainy season may well have begun already – a good month or so early. At any rate, the thunder boomed and roared, and the rain pounded in an unbelievable deluge. What made it all very exciting though, was the wind – tremendous gusts that drove the rain into almost vertical sheets – straight into our living room and kitchen, not to mention the water which cascaded off of the roof in a Niagara Falls onto the neighbor’s roof and from there into our hallway.

This all began around midnight, on a hot and muggy night with thunder rolls which virtually rattled the teeth in ones head. When the rains then began, we – Len, Leona, Theresa and I – armed ourselves with whatever we could find; brooms, mops, sheets of plywood cutoffs, and began the three-hour task of fighting the torrent. We could not keep the ankle-deep water from flooding the living room and bathroom, but we did keep it out of the bedrooms. Unfortunately the storage rooms were invaded and needed to have the bilges operate.  All-in-all it made for an eventful night. At around 2:30 am when we were finally able to sit down and look around at the carnage, we all decided that it was too bad that we had no pictures to show. Unfortunately, cameras were the last thing on our mind at the time.

The following day we walked around the area and noted the flotsam lodged in the bridges some six to seven feet above the usual dry riverbeds. It was quite a storm – not quite the perfect storm, but none-the-less, a good one!

Through this all I have had a monumental enlightening – an epiphany of sorts – there are reasons why people have windows in their houses, especially if they live in a hurricane prone area!

However, diluvial water levels do not happen all the time, nor indeed, most of the time. Most rains require only some mopping and pushing of water out of the living room and down the hallway and into the minuscule drain along the side of the walkway. Most times the bathroom, kitchen and higher ground are spared. The storage areas however, do take the brunt of the onslaught all the time. But, just one more fun thing about living in Mexico. At least one knows what he will be doing on a nice, muggy, hot summer night when the heavens rumble, and spill out their furry.

I will write a more serious column soon. I must admit yet once again to being a victim of the tyranny of the urgent. I will never understand why there is always a pile of “to-be-taken-care-of-in-the-most-urgent-manner” items on my desk perpetually, and why I always feel as if I am behind the 8-ball.  I have the best of intentions always, but as one knows from dear old auntie Gertrude – “twixt cup and lip t’is many a slip”.  Just about the time that I think that I have chiseled out a few minutes to sit down to the keyboard something new pops up which needs to be looked after.  Am I complaining? No – well, maybe a little – but it sure does make for a very interesting life. At the end of the day it is easy to lay back into bed and see that God’s hand has been present throughout. It is invigorating!

By-the-by, my buddy Jason has done it yet one again! Some of you faithful have asked if there was a “comment” area on the blogs.  As of this posting, there is. Keep it nice I get embarrassed easily!

Painting Completed Meeting Room

In my May 2^nd (my birthday) Blog, I mentioned that a work team from Landmark Christian Fellowship had been here over the last week of March and through the first week of April to complete a building on the top floor (the roof) of the church which had been begun last year.

Any of you who have been to Cd. Valles, or to Mexico in general for that matter, will know how building is done here. The roof of the church, as almost all buildings here, was simply poured concrete.  Many times rebar from the columns still extends through the cement roofs. The uncut rebar allows for a subsequent level to be added if the need were to arise.

Indeed, this is exactly what was done when the second story was added onto the then-existing roof some twelve years ago when Doctor Heinlein and I first arrived in Cd. Valles.

Roof of Church Circa 1998 - Where VitW Staff Housing Now Sits

At that point the only thing on the roof of the church was the pastor’s house. All of the rest of the roof was open floor.

Steven in Front of Ezequiel's House On the Roof of the Church - Circa 1998

The need at that time was housing, and Dr. Heinlein and I asked if it would be possible to build rooms onto the front end of the church roof.

Work on VitW Staff Housing in Progress Circa 1998

These have been extended and improved over the intervening years, and there is now very adequate staff housing, and storage rooms on the second level, along with the pastor’s house.

VitW Staff Apartment Hallway Today - Looking Towards Ezequiel's House at End

VitW Staff Apartment Living Room Today

Last year the need was for Sunday school rooms and meeting room facilities for the church.

The church – Esfuerzo Magdiel, has grown over the past years, and was bursting at its concrete seams.  There was simply no room for the many, many children who came for Sunday school and other church functions. The nurseries for the little children already occupied the cramped space under the stairwell, and there was no other place than the street. Many times indeed, the children were forced to sit outside in the roasting sun in order to find space for their “classes”.  There is also very active evangelism outreach happening in the church, and facilities were needed for new-believer classes. Also, each Saturday morning new-believer breakfasts are held at the church to welcome those who have made a decision to accept Christ’s offer of salvation at one of the various meetings held throughout the week.  New believers who have made a profession of faith during the week are invited to come to the breakfasts. There they receive an invitation to cell groups, and other church related activities where they can continue to grow in their faith. Of course, this also requires some sort of facility.

With these needs in mind the church in Landmark, Manitoba, Landmark Christian Fellowship, decided to do something. At the end of 2008 they began to raise funds to build a metal structure on the roof. It was to cover the whole width of the existing building, and run from the back of the roof almost 100 feet towards the front of the building, leaving only a relatively small amount of space for hanging out laundry, and other activities that required access to the outside.  The fund raising and preparation continued on into the beginning part of 2009, and in March of last year a team of twelve or so men and women came to Cd. Valles and began to build.

A Building Takes Shape - 2009

Amazingly, the whole structure was put up in the span of two weeks, and all inside partition walls were in place. What was lacking though, was any wall coverings or insulation.

Uncompleted Interior - 2009

This year, a team from LCF returned to complete the work which had been begun last year.

The team was again headed up by Larry Reimer. Larry kept us all working and “whipped into shape” as the heat continued to rise, and sweat ran freely.  But the job got done – and done well.

Dustin Reimer Spraying Insulating Foam - 2010

The finished product is a beautiful building with five Sunday school rooms and a large front room which is being used for multiple uses from English and Bible Institute classes to new believer breakfasts.

Larry Reimer - The Sheeting Goes On 2010

Over the weeks since the Landmarkteam has returned home, the remaining staff here has been finishing off the odds-and-ends of work which remained. Walls and ceilings were painted, doors hung, and concrete work completed. The only thing remaining is window and door jams and frames which need to be cut, installed and painted. The new extension is a tremendous blessing to the outreach of the church.

A matter of prayer for us, and something which I would like to present to you, is the need for a kitchen facility and bathrooms in the upstairs. The need for bathrooms is obvious since there is heavy use of the third floor rooms, and the only available bathrooms are on the entrance level.  The little children can not always make it down the full four flights of stairs and across the whole building to get to the current bathrooms.

The need for the kitchen is to facilitate church functions, but more specifically to be able to be used for the new-believer breakfasts. There is a wonderful area in the new front room which would lend itself beautifully to an “L” shaped kitchen.  The staff and volunteers of VitW (Ben and Anna, Len and Leona, and Steven and Theresa) have been able to raise half of the money for a kitchen range / oven for the new kitchen project upstairs. It is felt that the church itself must be willing to raise the second half so that it can feel ownership for it. However, there is still a need for a refrigerator, kitchen cabinets and cupboards, a sink, as well as chairs, dishes, cups, cutlery, etc., etc. to make a kitchen operational.

If any of you feel God tugging at your heart to help with these projects specifically, please contact either Pastor Fred Erb (Canadian givers), or Pastor Marty Dyer (U.S. givers), or me, and we will direct you from there. If you tab over to the www.vitwministries.com website you will find contact information for both pastors.

I will close off now until next time…

P.S.   Incidentally – as a total non sequitur – I knew the other day that I would jinx myself if I began speaking about the “coolness” of the weather. Well, May has indeed struck with its usual vengeance, mocking my words.  We have been sweating our way through days in the very high 30s and into the 40s (for our American friends, this means into the very high 90s and low triple digit figures) – hot on either scale. The trouble is that this comes with a relative humidity in the high 70s. The rather wilting news is that there is only more to come. There is no point in complaining as there are about seven months of this, and much hotter to look forward to, and constant complaining makes no sense. In fact, we can only wait until the actual heat comes – and it most assuredly will. Sigh!

I will begin a new blog, but I don’t know how far I will get. Just a bit ago, right after we got up from breakfast, there was a huge explosion right outside the kitchen window as the transformer blew up with a mighty BANG! Fortunately this time there was no associated fire, and all is well. One time several years ago when it blew, there was a fire as the oil and flames spilled down onto a parked van below the power pole. That time the pastor jumped into the flaming van and drove it to safety. Today’s excitement is less heart-thumping, and rather bland after one got over the initial explosion.  Interestingly though, Pastor Ezequiel had just walked down the steps and out the door. He had just stepped into his car at the time that the transformer exploded. Theresa, in shocked panic quickly looked out the window convinced that someone had set a car bomb to kill him. Of course it was not a bomb, but it does sober ones thoughts to realize that such a thing would not be completely out of the possible. Thank God, nothing worse took place than the inconvenience of not having power until who-knows-when.

Interestingly, from the pastor’s perspective – he had just sat down in the car and put it into neutral to start the motor. At that moment the explosion happened only feet away, and he too was convinced that it was a bomb. In his words “he took off like a bird”. He shot out of the car in a sheer panic while it rolled backwards onto the street. The car was in the middle of the road before he had collected his wits and realized what had actually happened.

Thanks to owning a laptop computer, I can begin this letter and work until the battery runs out of power (in my case, this is not very long since my laptop is getting rather elderly – rather like its owner – and the “juice” doesn’t seem to last as long as it once did).

Today I want to bring you up-to-date with what has been happening with the purchase of land for the Bible School and Vocational School.

The past year has been an interesting “ride” for Theresa and I. We returned to Cd. Valles around a year ago convinced that we had a pretty straight-forward mandate, and a rather clear understanding of what God had for us for the next several years – we were to quickly acquire a good property for the schools and begin, and oversee their construction. However, we saw almost immediately that the vision to build a Bible Institute at the little plot of land at La Pimienta (which we had purchased many years previously) was too small, and that God had bigger plans which involved the training of pastors and students in vocational trades as well as in a strong biblical foundation. (Take a look at the VitW website, vitwministries.com to catch this unfolding vision).

Miraculously, we returned to Cd. Valles last September with the unbelievable (in the natural) having happened – friends, having heard God’s prompting, had donated enough money to buy a piece of land outright! By that point we had already found a location which we felt would be good for the school, and had released the need to God. Although I must admit that my faith was small, God miraculously moved through these friends, and we got back to Mexico with money for the purchase waiting in the bank.  We were elated, and as my newsletters at the time reflected, we were sure that we would be in possession of the land within weeks / months, and that the building of the schools would begin before, or by the new year.

Sometimes God opens and closes doors in ways which surprise us. How hard can it be to buy a piece of land when you already have the cash in the bank – right?  If you are honest with me, I am sure that question has gone through you mind now-and-again whenever you have considered the work here. What is Frey up to anyway, and why is he taking so long?

We ceased considering purchasing the first piece of land when it became clear that there had been some things that the owner had not been upfront about – such as the fact that there were ongoing plans to build a gravel crushing plant just outside of the front door of the property. However, immediately another acreage opened for us, and it had all of the ear markings of being God-directed. We were excited to begin, and indeed, even before the paperwork was completed we began surveying and preparing the land for the building of the Bible School and Vocational School, sure that we would very shortly be in full possession. If you will recall, in one of the last blogs I mentioned my friend Allen Ko who drove all of the way down from Houston in order to donate a week of his valuable time to survey and map the landsite – this was the property. We were excited and chomping at the bit to begin the work at hand.

God apparently had other plans. We soon ran into a title transfer issue, and it became evident that we would not be able to receive clear title on this land, or at least not without a long, drawn out procedure.  The issue is that the land is “ejido” land, or co-op land which the government had partitioned out years ago. In order to change ejido land into a clear title involves years of paperwork. Once again we had run into a door which seemed to be closing for us.  About a week ago the owner went once again to the Land Titles Office to see how things were going with the land transfer paperwork which had been applied for over half a year ago. He was told that there was no record of any application at all, and that there was nothing in hard copy files, nor in computer records.  This, despite the fact that application and payment had been made in the same office, and with the same person six months previously. When Pastor Ezequiel spoke to the owner the next day, it was mutually agreed that it seems that God had given us a sign that we were no longer to pursue the purchase of this property.

Interestingly, two things must be mentioned in regards to this: first of all, we had set aside most of the month before this to pray specifically for direction on the purchase of this property, and for complete clarity as to what we were to do. We had been praying throughout April for God’s answer by the 30^th of the month. On the 29^th, the owner, unaware of our prayers throughout the month, went to the Land Title Office. Secondly, what merits mention is that the owner, although sympathetic, is not a Christian. We had already proceeded to a place in the land transfer (we thought), where there was no easy turning around. We thought that Ezequiel’s name would already be on the land title application, and that any change of direction would be extremely difficult, and that it could cause very hard feelings with the owner. What happened in fact, is that the owner was the one who was in complete agreement that God seemed to be saying something, and that if we simply returned the paperwork to him we would be released from any, and all verbal commitments that we had made on the purchase of his land. Wow, talk about God answering prayer in clear language that even I have no problem understanding!

But now we are still landless… however, in January we had begun looking at, and exploring, the possible purchase of another piece of property about eight miles out of the city towards the west. It is located in a small town called Coyoles, and has a main road running in front of the property, water access, as well as electric lines just outside the property. We were assured that the paperwork was all in order and that we would be able to receive a clear title right away. The price was good, and the location seemed to be ideal for the schools.  Since that time, we have found that this door is also shut. Although the land is titled, the owner has sold off “chunks” without having the title reflect his sales. Now, it is impossible for us to purchase what remains since this is no longer reflected on the title. To get the title changed over to what actually exists would take years of paperwork, and once again this door seems to be closed, and we still do not have land.

So what is God saying? Well, I’m not exactly sure…

There does seem to be a bit of a “shift in the wind” however. We are beginning to look seriously at trying to purchase an already existing building and renovating it for the schools. Or, perhaps God is wanting some of the original ideas to be modified all together in how the schools should be structured and run. We are looking at some very interesting new ideas “outside the box”, and are getting excited to see where God takes us. It is premature to include any of these ideas at this point because they are only thoughts which are being birthed. However, I will keep you abreast as things begin to mature.

Nothing has died. The vision and commitment is strong. God is opening many doors, and closing others. We are in no way discouraged, and we know that God is busily at work. It is just interesting sometimes, to watch as God shifts one’s direction. If a person sticks his foot down and refuses to budge from his preconceived plans, he can miss what God is doing. But the flux can be uncomfortable (and hard to explain to others).

This is where we are. We covet your continued prayers.

Yesterday I referred several times to an English Language school, and promised that more information would follow. This entry will bring you up to date on the much eluded to, but elusive school:

While Theresa and I were in Manitoba this past summer preparing for our extended return to Mexico, Theresa was able to enroll in an on-line TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) program. Upon returning to Cd. Valles she worked very hard to finish the intensive coursework involved in the curriculum and completed with very high grades as a certified instructor in English at several levels. For many years she has harbored the desire to teach English abroad. Theresa is a natural-born teacher, and will do extremely well.

Sometime during the latter part of 2009 I got the “wild-hair” idea to begin an English Language school. Over the summer in Manitoba we had been given a number of used, but very functional computers by PowerLand Computers in Winnipeg. These we now had in Cd. Valles. We had also been given software for an excellent computer-based English language program. With the help of our young friend Kalen (K.J.) Plett who came down from Manitoba to join us last fall, all of the computers were loaded with the English program, and all equipment was prepared for a language school.

I put pen to paper and began crunching numbers. I did an informal market study and was assured that there were many who would gladly take English classes if they were offered. We looked into the feasibility of renting a building, paying staff, and beginning a school which, although primarily focused for the Bible Institute students, would be open to the churches across the city. It would be a school which would charge a minimal per-hour rate, which would make it possible for us to keep the doors open. Any, and all profits above costs, would then go back into the Bible School. In fact, since one of the fundamental founding tenants of the Bible School is that it is to become self-supporting – a truly Mexican school run by Mexicans, and for Mexicans – this language school would be the first step in self-funding for the Bible School / Vocational School.  In fact, it would be the model that we could then build on for the rest of the Vocational shops.  The numbers looked great, the excitement and commitment was high, and we were ready for blastoff.

Miraculously, a wonderful two story building became available for rent only minutes from our place at the church building.  We took over rent as of the first of January 2010 and began renovating and painting.  Ben Sawatzky began building desks custom designed for a computer-based classroom setting.  By the middle of February we had moved desks and computers into the building and were ready for the maiden run. God gave us two wonderfully efficient young ladies to take over the day-to-day running of the school.  They were trained, and we pushed off into the current excited to embark on the voyage.

What a tumultuous expedition it has turned out to be! Even godly things are not guaranteed to be easy. The initial excitement soon dwindled when it was discovered that language learning actually took work. The minimal fee was a problem for many (however, it simply brings to light once again that anything that you do not value is too expensive, regardless of the price), and students began dropping off like flies.  We made enough profit to pay the rent and our staff once – the first month. From then on it has been a red financial hole that just kept getting deeper week-by-week, and month-by-month.

About two weeks ago I needed to make some hard decisions. Were we wrong in hearing the need in the first place? Should we simply pull the plug and call “uncle”? Could we make changes and still make the idea work? Was there a need for an English language school in Cd. Valles? Was there enough interest here to make it work?

Our conclusion to the fundamental question was “yes”, but with changes. So, my first difficult executive decision was to lay off one of our girls as of the 17^th of April. We simply could not continue to pay her when there was an empty classroom. Len and Leona, as well as Theresa and I are now covering her hours.  Secondly, we were going to begin a heavy advertising campaign. Instead of focusing on the churches (who had proven to be uninterested in the program), we decided to make the shift from church-focused, to being outward-focused.  We decided to take any church-referenced signs and verbiage out of our thinking, and simply shift to becoming a language school run by Christians. In this way, we believe that we can be open for those who will not darken the door if they feel that it is a church-driven program.  If we are given the opportunity to witness, so much the better, but it will not be an overt, in-your-face program.

We then shifted our thoughts to advertising. Theresa and I got the help of one of the young men from the church gifted in computer graphics, and spent some days trying to come up with a proper logo and slogan for the school. We developed one which I am very happy with:

We then petitioned for permission to advertise through flyers and signs on the street. We designed several signs and banners which will advertise the location of the school, and got them printed. We placed the signage onto the school, and will hang the banners on the street as soon as I can get a couple of the young guys to help me. We then got 1000 flyers printed off and stamped as approved advertising. We have begun distribution today, and will continue to do so until we see some kind of results.

We are further combining oral, teacher-based classroom time with the computer classroom time. Tomorrow, Monday, Len and Leona and Theresa will begin offering the classroom-based language classes. These will be taught on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.

We need your prayers for the school. I believe that it will, and can be a successful tool for witnessing as well as preparing men and women for the future. We are giving it another month, or at most two, before we will once again check its vital signs and see if its pulse is any better than it is at the present moment.

We will work hard in the mean time, but we will wait and see…