Dear Ones,

There are times when I stop and just really wish that you were here with us. Here in a foreign land (to me) where the Creator of the universe set me…..in all honesty there are times when I really miss the USA and truly question if I am in fact in the perfect Will of Yahweh or if maybe I just got emotional and convinced myself that the Lord spoke to me all of those years ago.
Then will come a time such as this-
Today was a normal day of cooking for the kids, then driving into town with frank to get the massive grocery shopping done as well as taking care of paying the light bill and all of the thousands of other little things that must be done if things are to run smoothly or even at all. I was grumpy and weary as we unloaded what seemed to be 100 grocery bags and hauled them in, then the cats had to be fed, the house was in disarray and the heavy fogwas rolling in over my freshly washed clothes out on the line and we had to get those down.
I had just slipped into some comfy clothes when I heard them calling from downstairs. It was nearing dark but we didn’t yet have the generator on, just a couple of candles in the kitchen. I thought, “Dear God, what can they want NOW?” in an attitude quite unbecoming to any godly person I am sure.
It turned out to be the family of Mario, the little boy for whom we are trying to arrange cataract surgery. I had totally frgotten that we had sent a message for his parents to come up after work to discuss the next step in this process.
We brought these two very humble Trique people up into the house and began to explain what needed to be done next and how we needed to take the mother and child into town Friday for an appintment to finalize there Mexican Government insurance. It was a LONG process as they understand precious little Spanish and do not read at all. We explained the surgery and hw fortunate it was that it was being caught now before Mario was totally blind. The father then asked us how much it would cost.
Frank explained that Yahweh, the Father of Jesus and God that we serve had opened doors for the child to obtain this surgery free of charge. Now we knew the mother was an believer because she was saved in our church about 1 year ago. We asked the father if he believed in God and if so what was the name of his God. He said he believed that Jesus was his Saviour. But as we spoke of Yahweh’s Provision and how He could meet all of their and our needs I could just see that the father was not getting it. Not understanding and not believing. It lit up for both Frank and I at the very same moment, these people have ONLY heard of Jesus as Saviour of our souls and didn’t in any way relate to Him as anything else. The father told us how they had once taken the boy to a specialist in Oaxaca and were quoted a price of $50,000 pesos for the surgery back then to save his eldest son’s sight. (Understand that $50,000 pesos might just as well be 1 million dollars to these
very very poor people) He pronounced this amount with great wonder and hopelessness. Frank then asked him if he understood that Yahweh was going to essentially pay that amount by providing this surgery. The father just sat there wondering, with no answer. I had to give it to him for being honest instead of just saying what he thought would satisfy us which many people will do.
So Frank told him about Yahweh owning ALL of the silver and ALL of the Gold and the cattle on a thousand hills and he said now if YOU had all of that you could pay it right. The guy laughed and said well of course! Again Frank told him that Yahweh was the owner of these resources. It was the colset thing, Uncle Richard, sitting in the candlelight with these people who hail from attally different world basically than we do and watching as the Holy Spirit quickened this information in this man’s heart. I mean you could see it just as sure as you see a light come on and chase away the darkness. Faith came on in this guy like that and chased away the doubt and I wished you were here. I thought of you and how had shared the Gospel with me as a child and in essence armed me for life’s battles. And I know you have the same experiences sharing with people there in your church and you enjoy it but still there was something so wonderful about that I truly
fervently desired your presence. I guess just knowing that you would appreciate the mment just as fully as I did…..
So Frnk went on and got out his little matchbox truck on which he had set his faith to obtain that big truck he had and he proceeded to teach this couple on faith and the Lord’s Provision and it was AWESOME. I know that they went home tonight thanking almost a different God if yu know what I mean. I mean still thanking Jesus but now seeing Him as their Provider as well. And I have faith that they will come to knw Him as their Healer and as EVERYTHING else that He truly is, but at least it is a start!
This does cause me to see the injustice that religion does by preaching mainly or only salvation and in essence crippling people’s relationship and limiting it severely.
So, i’d better go unpack my groceries BUT wish you were here and love,
detra

Hey. Well here I am thoroughly worn out yet unable to wind down totally. Thought I was use this last energy to let you know how things went today.
Today was our Fifth Annual Gigantic Christmas Fiesta in the Brechas del Mirador Church Building. I know I say this all of the time and I hope ya’ll never get bored of hearing it, but once again I stand in awe of the goodness of Yahweh!
Everything went just wonderfully and a joyous time was had for all but mostly by all of the little ones to whom the party was directed. We started at about 9am with two of those big bouncy houses for the kids to jump in. Then we were blessed by a visit from a Mexican drama team who presented the Christmas Story in Spanish and Mixteco alto which was very awesome. Frank led all of the children in a prayer of thanksgiving and worship and I was not the only one with tears on my cheeks. “Our kids” , the ones from the work camp by the mission home were just so attentive and prayed loudly and just generally showed out the rest of the supposedly more “sophisticated” children in attendance, I was so proud of how much they have learned.
THEN we proceeded to dserve lunch to some 172 people!!!! This in itself was truly miraculous. We had been expecting and prepared for 150 and I thought that we had overestimated but no……..
We rounded off the day with games and 4 piñatas. Every one received a new toy. Last Friday we had still received not even one donation and were planning on just giving out candy bags and chicharrones. BUT, on Monday two guys from the Sacramento area who came to work on the classroom roof showed up with literally one truckload of brand new toys and Tuesday a church from Arizona brought down 24 shoeboxes stuffed with new toys, clothes and candies. We are awed and overwhelmed again at the generosity and thoughtfulness of my fellow countrymen-Americans. So much thought obviously went into these gifts that I just can’t get over it-makes me glad to be able to say I am an American really. So from two sources otherwise totally unknown to me before this week the Lord made awesome Provision flow. EVERY child received a toy and candy bag and more PLUS when it was all over we were able to send down the remnant of gifts (about 40 all together) and candy bags to
Harvest of Faith Mission Maneadero which is the other little church we are covering. We were also able to bless them with three stuffed piñatas for their Christmas Cantata which is tomorrow night! The young Pastor and his wife were just so shocked and excited to get this blessing, I think it was beyond their wildest expectations and a real faith booster for them. I am so happy to know that all of the fun and blessings of today will also be repeated at that church tomorrow……..hopefully another 40 or so people will experience the Kingdom through their event and know how the Lord loves them!
So, again I am in awe. We had plenty of help, the Church really came through (both of them) and the whole thing was actually almost flawless-praise the LORD.
It was a lot of work preparing for it, but definitely worth it as i watched the children’s big eyes as they received over and over and over again today, it was just so sweet.
Can’t help but keep thanking the Lord for enabling us to give so much away. It is just so much fun to give stuff away you know and to be able to touch the lives of children (and mothers) whose lives are so hard so difficult makes me so darn satisfied……..
We have come a long way in the 12 years since we arrived in this country with literally nothing, imagine to go from barely being able to get enough to eat ourselves to being in a place where the Lord funnels through us a Christmas blessing to 170 people? It’s awesome and it is all God and we just thank Him for the chance to be His Hands and his Mouth today.
Thank so much to everyone back there who keep us in operation with their financial gifts. This blessing is every bit as much yours as it is ours!
Much Love and Merry Christmas-
Detra and Francisco

Pray Up Your Immune System!
1 Corinthians 14:4
4He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself…

Many Charismatics believe that when you speak in tongues, you edify or build up your spirit man. Well, that is only one-third true. The Bible does not say that the speaker edifies his spirit. No, it says that the speaker “edifies himself”. This means his entire self — spirit, soul and body. So he who speaks in tongues builds up his spirit, soul and body.

Does this include building up your immune system? Yes, it does! Brain specialists at Oral Roberts University’s hospital found out through research and testing that when a person prays in tongues, his brain releases two chemicals that are directed to his immune system, giving it a 35 to 40 per cent boost. Interestingly, these secretions are triggered by a part of our brain that has no other apparent activity and which is activated only when we pray in tongues.

Now, your immune system is your first line of defense against diseases. During the SARS outbreak in Singapore in 2003, not everyone who had the disease died. Only those whose immune systems were weak succumbed to the disease and died. Therefore, many people resorted to vitamins and herbs to boost their immune systems.

A 74-year-old church member decided to build up his immune system against more heart problems. Two of his arteries were 70 per cent blocked and five smaller vessels were 80 per cent blocked. So during a church service, when I asked those who wanted to be healed of heart problems to stand up, he stood up, placed his hand over his heart and prayed in tongues.

He shared that at that moment, he believed that the Holy Spirit touched him and he became a different person. When he went for his medical check-up, his surgeon found that all the blockages in his blood vessels were gone! Even a scheduled heart-related operation was cancelled as there was no longer any necessity for it. Indeed, he was a different person. He literally had a change of heart, a new heart from God!

Beloved, you may not have a heart condition, but you can still pray in tongues and pray up your immune system!

Dear Ones,

Hope this finds ya’ll snuggled up, keeping warm………………..

We are resting up a little from some rather big doings. As you know weather in Baja is either gorgeous or a non-issue for the most part , but El Nino visited us on Monday and things are still a mess! The rain came down in a constant whirlwind for literally hours, knocking down power poles (7 on the dirt road alone!) leaving hot wires strewn across it and effectively knocking out incoming vehicular traffic till yesterday afternoon. Frank had to leave the truck at the bottom overnight as the other road up was washed out totally. The wind blew the roof clean off of Frank’s generator shed, water came in and that night we were without electricity totally. Much f the sandpaper on our roof(house) came off in small pieces and it must be replaced before more rains come and fall directly onto the wood of the subroof. We need to believe Yahweh for about 24 rolls of that darn paper. Remember Walter??(the cabbage pastor) well, the entire roof blew off of his
building and into the highway…………Frank and Marcial spent the last 24 hours moving their stuff out of what is left of their building.
I went into t Ensenada to get supplies today and had a harrowing experience. I was stopped by the State Police (coming home) who were doing “random” stops to check for drugs, guns and fugitives. It scared the hell out of me. My hands are literally still not so steady. I was stopped by a truck full of 8 cops in riot gear wearing their ski masks (why? I do not know.) They were not nice at all, not friendly, not chatty. They had me step onto the side of the road (main road in Maneadero) lean up against their truck and they proceeded to frisk me with my hands over my head- they put their hands inside the waistband of my pants, made me remove my shoes etc. It was the most thorough search I have ever had and totally uncalled for in a random stop. They acted as if I was a real threat to them. It lasted about 45 minutes. They ripped the inside of the truck apart, dumped my purse and wallet, dumped my groceries all out in the truck bed. Obviously they do not
help you put it back together so I just drove home with crap rolling all over
the place. Somebody from the little store who saw the whole thing came over to see if I was okay to drive after the cops left. He said that he had watched them do the same thing to 4 other people today and he was scared himself just being in close proximity.I have been angry and afraid since but mostly just grateful that it is over and nothing worse happened.
Things are unfortunately getting worse here. I have hesitated to say much of it to you for fear of stressing you out, but it is not so good. And, they just announced last week that we are getting an additional 1,000 “officials” (officers and soldiers) here in Baja Norte. Supposedly it is to subdue the cartels, but honestly there just is not THAT much cartel action going on and therefore the soldiers and cops are bored and frustrated and feel the need to make things happen.
This is my second time being stopped in three weeks and Frank was stopped twice in ONE DAY last week. It was the sldiers who stopped me the other time and it wasn’t as invasive but still scary. Soldiers invaded Rancho Tamayo about 6 weeks ago for the SECOND time (our neighbors down on the dirt road where the dairy cows are)- busted in in the middle of the night and literally gave old Senora Tamayo a heart attack. She had to be rushed to the hospital. And that is it. they just bust in, wreck everything and leave and if they find nothing illegal, as in this case both times-oh well too bad for the resident. The news tells everyone this is the price we must pay for security. Just a real live reminder that alice ain’t in Wonderland any longer…..
But, praise the Lord all is well. Thank you for the great offering. It sure felt good to recieve it as things were on the desperate side, but as usual, Yahweh is ON TIME.

Much Love,
sd

Hey. Yesterday was a great day in the Lord. I went over to the building a little early to get in some personal worship time. BUT, as is usually the case , when people see us going over they go as well, never heeding the actual hour. So, honestly, I was feeling a little selfish and aggravated that I was not going to get that worship time alone, just me and Yahweh. I set up the sound and by the time I had finished most of the chairs were full. There were 4 or 5 ladies with babies ( great I thought, they (the babies) will probably cry the whole time.) And there were about 25 small children, most under 7. I turned on the music and began to just pray in tongues a bit and got very convicted of my selfishness and my religiousness. I turned to see most of the children just quietly sitting and hearing the music. One little guy was restless though and kicking his grandma! I beckoning to him and offered a microphone. Of course heran up and snatched the microphone and I asked him if he wanted to sing. Then I put a very simple song on and started teaching HIM line by line…… It went like this….. Yo vengo al lugar mas santo (I come to the holiest place) Atravez del Cordero de Dios (Through the blood of the Lamb of God) Yo vengo solo a honrar (I come only to honor) El gran Yo Soy (The Great I AM) Dios te adoro a ti (God I worship you) Pues solo To eres Santo (For only you are Holy) Line by line we went over and over, after two times thru I looked up to se that everyone was so attentive and EVERYONE was following. The women as well. We went thru the song 4 times more and the presence came and some were lost in it and all were at peace in it overwhelmed by it to the smallest infant each one , mexican, Trique and MIxteco all alike………it was awesome and I declare it was the beginning of a new thing and I believe we will begin to see the Power of Yahweh manifested in these people, because that is what I saw yesterday. I saw walls coming down, prejudices broken and as a testament afterward the Triques were actually mingling with the Mixteco and this is something that I have not seen…… Now, something else has been on my heart all day and I just had not gotten around to sitting down to write it till now. But I want you to know how much you all’s financial generosity affects my life. Of course it provides for the work that goes on here but also it blesses me, us with a quality of life we otherwise would not have. I/we are so blessed because of your generous spirit and I just want you to know that I thank God for that and am aware of that all of the time. It is a good thing to be able to be such a blessing in so many people’s lives and I thank you all and I strive to be like that because I respect it in you. Much love and Blessings, detra

How are ya’ll? The “devil winds” are in town again, the Santa Anas that is-those hot dry winds that wreak havoc in these parts every year at this time. The range of mountains behind us (not the first ones behind the house and church building but the second big row behind) are burning tonite so we are taking turns watching. The balcony actually has a light layer of gray ashes covering it and the air stinks of burning. and you can actually feel the heat coming from over the hill. The fire is not TOO close but it is not TOO far either about the same as it was the time it tried to devour us last time-2 years ago?? So yes we are watching because it can happen so fast. Frank wet down around the house as much as he could before dark for what it is worth and praise Yahweh he and Chrlie and <Marcial were working on the fireline on Wednesday just because its that time of year. But in the end as always it will be the Lord that keeps us and although it is wise to watch I am TRUSTING in HIM.
Frank has been working on getting phase two of the classroom project done all week-the walls and columns-he is doing it in block this time so it will be equal to the existing arquitecture on the school grounds. When the principal returned from her summer vacation and saw all of the work done so far on this classroom she literally broke down in tears and thanked God. (remember she is not yet a Christian) She did not expect it to happen so rapidly and is so happy that soon they will not have to teach on egrade in that old school bus they ahve been using which is HOT in the summer and wet and cold in the winter. I think it is an awesome testimony again of the Kingdom of our Lord.
We have set out sights on really fixing up the playground area here at the mission. We've painted the slide and swings red, yellow and green and they look really cool. The wet paint seemd to send a special inviation to children from all around and we finally had to post Charlie down there for the duration of it's drying time as obviously a sign would not work with our "special" kids…….still, Charlie has a short attention span and many an indian child went home with striped booties that afternoon. But anyhow, I am seeking building instruction sfor a seesaw and a wooden type jungle gym to build and at the same time appealing to folks we have known up north who might have old equipment to donate. Since so many children use the existing playground area as skimpy as it is we really think it would be worthwhile to make a little "park" down there. I mean we have the property available to make it really nice. We are going to start by faith as we usually do working with what we have….in this case (as it was also when we started the house) we have access to lots of rocks. So we will delineate the area with painted rocks and do some landscaping. I believe it will be a real blessing. i mean this is the only area like a "park" that the kids ever come in contact with and they use it a lot.
If in your internet perusal you run into anything pertinent please fwd it.
It has been so warm here and with no electricity there are no fans at night, so we've been sleeping on the balcony. Oh, BURD and AP-wish you were here to do this. The stars last night were so amazing . I saw half dozen falling stars and EVERY constellation, it was so cool. literally too. Had my heart set on it tonite but the ashes are nixing that plan….Anyway, you guys must try it, it is much fun.