Greetings in the Name of Jesus to all of our brothers and sisters around the world!
It is that time of year again! The time of year when everyone is a lot more aware of the Goodness of our King, the time of year when we are more aware of Him working on our behalf all along ,(even when we thought He was not) and the time of year when we are all a little more kind and a lot more generous to each other because of the Gift we were given from the beginning of the world.
Thank you Yahweh!
This has been a year of challenges and a year of victory over what looked to be some pretty dire circumstances. I highly doubt that I personally would be alive if it wasnt for precious people like those of you who are reading this praying for us and if not for His shed blood and broken body.
Its time for us to shout a huge THANK YOU to everyone who has sacrificed time on their knees praying for us, and hard earned money to keep this Mission going.
Please know how thankful we are for your love and prayers,your encouragement during times that I thought I just couldnt go on, and thank you for your obedience in giving!
It is also that time of year when I sit at the dining room table and go through the records that we keep so that we can share the accomplishments made here in Mexico.
This past year we served 3925 free nutritous meals .(Those are the regular daily meals and do not include the spontaneous Ramen feast, the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and the scores of watermelons that are given to the 10 kids who came late and missed the meal because they are 6 years old and lollygagging home from school with no concept of time…….or the passel of toddlers whose tummies cant wait until 1pm.)
There are always these and we are honored that the Lord has entrusted us to feed them, no matter the hour. It doesn”t reflect the few times that I am sure angels disguised as tired travelers wandered into the Mission either.
We were oh so blessed to give away staples to take home as well. This part of the helps ministry is near and dear to my heart , because it enables families to stay together. Here in our area (within a 40 mile radius at least, we are the only ministry that gives away uncooked food to take home. Other than Pastor Frank’s gift of discernment,there are no prerequisites to receive food. We do not require that they sit through a sermon with a growling stomach first or that they be unemployed. We believe that if they show up asking for food that they must need it and beyond that it is between them and our Father. You see, it is very common here for families to be split up due to lack of food. Many a mother has been forced to leave one or more of her children in an orphanagme “temporarily”because there is not enough food . Sadly, most of these temporary situations end up to be permanent as the systems in place are not set up to handle what ,in tbe USA, is a foster home type of arrangement. It is heartbreaking to see children lose contact with parents and siblings because Mama just needs a hand up. Yahweh has called us to be that hand and He flows through YOU to enable us!
Let us look at what the Mission gave away in 2017-
1800 lbs beans,
1450 lbs rice
2000 lbs flour(!)
850 lbs oatmeal
1000 eggs
190 lbs sugar –
52 liters vegetable oil-
1200 lbs powdered soy milk 300 liters of boxed milk Drinking water= 29,000 gallons
400 lbs chicken thighs&legs
200 12 oz. Cans salmon
300 units self heating US Military rations
200 16 oz cans crushed stewed tomatos
We give these foods weekly to aid approximately 49 families ( an avg of 9 people per family.) on a regular basis.
This does not include the people who come from farther away (town) for staples only 1 or 2 times.
HEALTH CARE-
10 Free Medical Clinics were held and 72 patients were seen and received appropriate medications.
Over 100 women and children received vitamins. We distribute the vitamins
in 15 day increments.(This helps us to know whether the children are taking them once daily or whether they gobble them all up like candy as soon as they are out of sight. We stopped purchasing the tasty gummy vitamins and went back to the yucky tasting cartoon type for precisely this reason.
).
Be fruitful and multiply!
I personally attended 63 healthy births this year!!!
27 were home births, at which I was blessed to pray for the infant before the umbilical cord was severed! Thank you Jesus!)
Prenatal care remains a powerful evangelical entrance into families lives.
We enrolled 29 children in school in 2017. For the first time we have 5 kids who have progressed beyond 6th grade!
21 school uniforms were provided for and everyone whom needed one got a new backpack this year.
Advocacy for indigenous people navigating through governmental requirements and institutions also remains a huge part of the ministry. Be it obtaining birth certificates, school enrollment, or applying for Mexicos new pension or scholarship programs; the people we serve more often than not need a helping hand, and have come to know that Frank will accompany them through these mazes. A big milestone for advocacy this year was helping two Mixtec women obtain their DRIVERS LISCENCES! PRAISE JESUS!! As our neighbors have gotten the revelation of giving the Lord has been faithful to prosper them and they are now purchasing vehicles.
Most important of all ,is our relationship as neighbors who love them and that is thriving.
I am still giving people B 12 injections and getting out the doppler to let young mothers to hear their babies first heartbeats and finding the occasional toddler asleep in tbe playground. Frank still gets up and takes people to the hospital or the bus station when we hear someone cry out for help at midnite under our bedroom window. I put some rather crooked sutures for the 1st time in a little boys knee and it healed rather nicely . WE returned to prison visits and Frank baptized
over 50 men on one visit!
The mission was a temporary home to 3 separate families who otherwise would have been homeless. The last family moved into their own apartment on Thursday.
Gosh, so much has happened.
JUST as we have been encouraged by new fruit……last month I was contacted through Facebook by a young mother of 2 living in Dallas Texas. She messaged me and I could not ,for tbe life of me, figure out who she was……until I saw her.It was a long lost daughter. A 12 year old girl who had lived with us the first year we came to Mexico………lost and now found! She was contacting us to thank us for leading her to Jesus 18 years ago!! What a rewarding , joyful ,albeit tear filled reunion. She is serving God in the USA , now leading others to the King of Kings, voing to college and living her American dream!7
Most importantly the Church has continued to grow,not as an institution but as a FAMILY. A living Bride that breaks bread together every Friday. I believe around 40 plus people confessed Christ Jesus as their King so far this year. Holy Spirit has blown in and filled MANY as angels danced and ministered.
Tribal walls have fallen by the Power and Love of Jesus and people that would speak to or even look at each other now help each other carry their staples home and sit and laugh in the playground and allow their children ,our future, to8 play together.
Sure , there have been hard times. Scary times. In August a nonprofit that partnered with us and made up a big part of our budget-folded, leaving us with about a weeks notice. Our flesh screamed, ” Stop, pull back, slow down!”
While Abba remained silent……because He knows that we already know what to do. For where do we turn Lord, when only You offer eternal life?
And yes, Gods Word remains true……….What man intends for evil, YWVH always turns for good!
But once again looking back II am stunned baffled , and awed by YWVH’s grand Provision. The balance sheets don’t add up. Once again the accountant will be confounded and maybe wonder if we are cartel members.
Obviously, YAHWEH IS STILL IN THE MIRACLE BUSINESS!
Really I’ve only scratched the surface of this past years wonders…..I know after I send this I will remember a bunch of stuff I meant to say. I am excited for 2018.
But I’m writing this to let each of you who pray for us, each of you who give faithfully, that YOU are part of something bigger than it looks. You are part of the grand work of pushing back darkness with His Light, you are here with us. FOR that we shall be absolutely ,eternally grateful!
We love you and we thank you for enabling us to live this life. We thank you for loving the people we live to serve.
May the Lord bless you and yours. May lack stay far from your door and may the health and the prosperity of the King rule. May you and yours have the Merriest of all Christmases and a very abundant and miracle filled New Year.
With Love eternal ,and gratitude undescribable,
Pastor Frank and Sister Deedee
And tbe Church who meets in our home.
