September 2007
Life has been so fast paced lately that we just cannot seem to keep up with it. We apologize for not emailing you sooner to let you know what God has been doing in our lives. In our last newsletter we asked you to pray about whether or not we should leave Rosarito to join the Festival of Life team, well through much prayer and confirmation, we officially left Rosarito at the beginning of September.
How do you sum up six years of ministry in Rosarito in one tiny paragraph? What can we say? Only that we were blessed by the work that God did in us, through us, and around us. We went from hardly speaking Spanish to preaching in Spanish. Starting the church in Pastor Juan’s drive-way to a three story building. Having a youth group with 2-3 kids to a group of 40 plus teenagers. Starting and teaching various Bible studies throughout Rosarito. We stood in awe as God provided the ramps to build a skate park where thousands of kids heard and many received Jesus Christ. Some of whom are now in the church and going through personal discipleship. We evangelized to many more through community outreaches, school assemblies, and daily living. We made many new friends and brothers in Christ. Our hearts are still in Rosarito, and it was very difficult to leave knowing that God is doing a mighty work. Right before leaving Eric was going through the book Philippians with the kids and a verse that God kept giving him was Philippians 1:4-6, “In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” This verse shows that Paul had the church of Philippi in his heart and prayers. Although he couldn’t be with them; he knew that God had started the work in them, and He was going to finish it. We also are excited about going back to visit and seeing the work that God has completed, especially with teenagers.
What now? As many of you know, we have participated in the Festival of Life with Dr. Mike Macintosh in Juarez, Rosarito, and this year in Chiapas Mexico. The Festival is an evangelistic movement that impacts an entire city for Jesus. The Festival trains and equips the local church to reach their city, friends, and family for Jesus. It can include concerts, sports, food, carnival rides, medical clinics, food, and is always guided by the Holy Spirit. God has placed it in our hearts to serve full-time on the Festival team. That means we will be traveling to each Festival city, living there for a year, and helping coordinate all aspects of the Festival. Prayerfully, we will be leaving for El Salvador in the middle of October and living there for a year. Please keep us in prayer as this is a giant step of faith. We are going not knowing anyone there, where we will stay, or, what we will be doing; but we do know Whom we will be serving. If we focus on Jesus, He will guide, provide, and move mightily in us and through us.
Needless to say we have been met with many challenges as we have been preparing for this big change. Mia was hospitalized for her asthma, ILY had to go to the doctor’s three times in one week for random issues. After which Regina was sick with a throat infection the week of our move, and this past week Regina’s mom was in the hospital and suffered a mini-stroke. Although we have faced a lot of opposition, we rejoice because the bible tells us in James 1:2-3, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.” We can’t stress enough how much we need your prayers. Thank you for supporting us.
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