A team from our church traveled to the small fishing village of Boca del Rio, Sinaloa in Mexico for 10 days around Easter to support the local church with ministry and evangelism.  It was an amazing and blessed time- though busy! 

We participated in many aspects of local church ministry: Paco and another man on our team preached at the two local churches while I translated the sermon, Daniela and I led two children’s classes during services, a group from our team directed worship, our team witnessed a both a funeral and river baptisms led by the local pastor, and all participated in a fellowship Easter gathering between the two congregations. 

The highlights of the week were the hours of evangelism along the beaches, where hundreds of Mexicans flocked to spend their Easter holiday vacation time.  Our missions’ team performed skits of Jesus' crucifixion and preached the Gospel to the crowds upon crowds of tourists there.  I marveled to share with women so interested in the gospel, and watch Paco confront even the toughest-looking youth who actually became convinced of their sin. The Lord used the experience to convince me of the great need to evangelize, as well as disciple others, as I longed for more time to follow-up with so many women and youth who heard the message.  My heart broke when a few shared that their village did not even have a Christian church. 

 Obviously,the Holy Spirit was guiding us through this experience in evangelism, because after our hours of sharing on the beach I had the courage to preach to the whole bus on the way home! (I would never never have imagined that possible for me!- it is only by the power of the Holy Spirit through me!)

  We thank God for His work in the hearts of the people of Sinaloa, and for using us in His  ministry there!

 March was full of lessons for church ministry- first with a women’s leadership conference, followed by a women’s discipleship conference. 

 “Called for His Purpose” was the three-day women’s conference I attended at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa with Catherine and a couple of my church friends.  With main messages focused on responding to God’s calling to leadership, and workshops on counseling, ministering to hurting women, marriage ministry, and evangelism, the conference was very practical and encouraging.

The following women’s discipleship conference was held at our church, Calvary Chapel Rancho Santa Margarita, and taught the importance of discipleship (training other women in the faith) to ministry, as well as the specific steps of how to prepare a Bible study.  God’s timing for the conference was perfect (as always!) as I had to prepare a Bible study the very next week for the Spanish women’s ministry, and had the opportunity to immediately put into practice the skills taught at the conference.  I was thrilled to discover amazing truths in God’s Word and reveal them to other women through the practical steps I had learned!

 Valentine’s Day is a unique opportunity to celebrate God’s union of man with his helpmate…and to evangelize!!  Our church held a Valentine’s Day Couples Dinner for couples of the congregation to bring their non-Christian friends to hear gospel (the best love story ever- God’s love for mankind!).  I was impacted by Pastor John’s message from Proverbs 15:17 “A bowl of soup with someone you love is better than a steak with someone you hate”,explaining how a relationship with Jesus surpasses any other joy on earth. 

 God was further glorified during the evening with a time of testimonies, where different couples shared how the Lord had orquestrated their marriages, followed by a special time of worship music. 

With its Mexican theme, the evening was complete with a fajita dinner, flan dessert,and live mariachi band.  I actually won the contest for best female Mexican-  yell! (which made my Mexican husband very proud).  We also enjoyed having my sister, Catherine, and her husband, Brent, join us for the time of fun and fellowship.

Paco and I are thankful to experience the planning and execution of these evangelistic church events where the name of  God can be glorified!

       Compton Initiative is a huge community restoration project which takes places every 3 months in the Compton neighborhood of LA, where churches, businesses, and residents unite to paint and beautify this high- crime area in hopes of transforming it with Christ’s love. 

        Calvary Chapel RSM, including Paco and I, participated this month, along with other hundreds of volunteers, to paint houses and a middle school in the area.  What an amazing ministry!  All the volunteers are divided among different work sites where they spend the morning painting house exteriors and beautifying landscaping.  Though we were working in the hot sun, and climbing high on ladders, it was a joyful time of fellowship among all the volunteers from different organizations.  A prayer team even met with the house owners to pray for their needs and share with them the message of Christ!

        We praise God for raising up His people to serve and share His love in this area of need!  We pray that this workday allowed His light of love shine in the community even more.

       We are officially “Californians”!  We arrived in Orange County, CA to the city of Rancho Santa Margarita in mid-January for our new ADAPT discipleship program through Calvary Chapel Rancho Santa Margarita (CCRSM for short J ). 

        God has blessed us and taken care of us in abundance- as always!  Already, a special family from the congregation has offered to house us during our whole stay, and are treating us with love as if were truly family!  Plus, my sister and brother-in-law, who live in San Diego only 1.5 hours away, frequently pop in to bless and care for us as well.

        The church leadership team is awesome!  We are both challenged and encouraged by their examples of a strong relationship with the Lord, and their active faith through prayer, Bible study, discipleship, and evangelism.  Boy, do we have a lot to learn!  Already, our schedules have filled up between church services, home fellowships, discipleship classes, and outreach opportunities. 

Speaking of outreach, one evening, we even joined the young adult group to open-air evangelize in a local mall.  Though scary, these are the acts of obedience to the Lord that we want to experience and perfect in our time here.  May the Lord continue to train and sustain us!

        We joined a team from our church in California to serve at the tiny fishing village of Boca del Rio, Sinaloa.  What a whirl of ministry!:  an evangelistic visit to the local prison, community outreach event with Christian concert, a women’s breakfast, a couples’ dinner, children’s games and gifts, and more- all accompanied by the message of Christ.  It was obvious that much of the congregation had been involved in donating all the supplies necessary to bless this little community on the trip.

Paco and I enjoyed serving alongside the team.  I shared the Bible message at the children’s gathering; it was fun to witness their captive attention to Jesus’ parables!  We also cleaned out a couple storage areas of the Boca del Rio church building. 

The highlight of the week was our attendance at a brand-new Bible study in the nearby town of Guasave, where the local pastor is praying to plant a new church.  We witnessed church-planting in action from stage 1!  God continues to provide opportunities for us to grow and learn!

        Levi- the Pan de Vida youth group- held a special farewell dinner for Paco and me to celebrate our time with them as their youth leaders as well as wish us the Lord’s blessing on our new church ministry adventure.

        Besides the spaghetti dinner, we enjoyed a photo presentation of the different group activities we have shared, as well as personal thanks from individual members.  Our hearts rejoiced to hear testimonies of how the Lord had used us to form these youth into more mature believers!

        Our teens are indescribably special to us!  During the four years of serving the youth group, we have formed bonds of friendship with them, and they will be greatly missed now that we are leaving the orphanage.  However, we are excited to see how God continues to grow and work in Levi through our co-leaders, Kike and Ginger. 

        Christmas is a joyous, family occasion at Pan de Vida! 

The preparation for the celebration on the 24^th started in the morning, as the whole orphanage worked together to ready the dinner feast, holiday punch, and auditorium decorations, and ended with a Christmas service in the evening.  Each of the Sunday school classes participated with a holiday presentation- either a skit, song, or acronym.  Some of my youth girls and I presented a dance to the song “Voice of Truth”, which was very fun.  The kindergarten Christmas skit was also very memorable, with the littlest members of Pan de Vida dressed as Joseph and Mary, shepherds and sheep, wise men, King Herod, and of course the star.   The Tio, the orphanage director, gave the Biblical message, and together as a church we sang Christmas carols. 

The feast following the service was classic- with turkey and ham’s leg donated specifically for our Christmas event, as well as many of the traditional trimmings!  The celebration continued around a bonfire in the girls’ dorm, and then the kids spent the whole night watching holiday movies. 

Paco and I thank the Lord for the “family” celebration we shared here at Pan de Vida!

The whole orphanage staff of Pan de Vida is composed purely of volunteers: adults called by the Lord to freely give of their time to serve these children from abusive pasts.  It is a very special group of people! 

As a show of appreciation for their heartfelt service during this past year, the director’s wife (“Tia Elena”) prepared a holiday dinner celebration for the orphanage staff.  She, with the help of some of the older girls, truly outdid herself preparing food and desserts (lasagna, paella, potatoes and gravy, flan and more!) for the dinner, as well as decorations and personalized gifts for each volunteer. 

The evening was especially memorable for Paco and I, as it served as a going-away party for us as we transition to a new church ministry outside the orphanage the end of this month.  With nostalgia, we enjoyed this time of fellowship with our good staff friends, who have really become more family than just neighbors. We, along with the directors, thank the Lord for these brothers serving at Pan de Vida!

        For teenagers, Christmas is a time of GIFTS- new clothes, tennis shoes, soccer balls, novels...  However, our desire is that the youth of Pan de Vida would recognize the amazing gifts that await them in God’s Word: BIBLICAL PROMISES.

        As a conclusion to our youth mid- week Bible studies of 2011, we celebrated not only a gift-exchange, but also a “promise-exchange”. Each youth came with a beautifully-wrapped gift and beautifully decorated Bible verse stating one of God’s many promises to bless another in the youth group. 

        After our white-elephant-exchange, Paco shared a Bible message emphasizing God’s unwavering faithfulness in fulfilling His promises, which is the very source of our faith both at Christmastime and all year long.