On March 15—the Sunday morning at Cabo Church that turned out to be our last morning service for a season—Richard and I were greeting at the door. Near the end of the already small crowd (as a result of news of the coronavirus in North America) was our precious drummer, who is just one of a special group of younger adult overcomers that we are blessed to have at Cabo Church. As I said goodbye with the usual, traditional Mexican greeting of a hug and a kiss on the cheek, I looked right into his eyes and said, “The darker it gets, the brighter you will shine” (with reference to Daniel 12:3). The Holy Spirit used me to say something that was beyond my understanding at the time. In fact, I discussed why I had said such a thing with the Lord several times during the following week.  Then, the fanning of the fear in the United States hit Los Cabos as our tourist industry shut down—from our most opulent resorts to the taco vender on the streets. Since this affected the majority of our population in the lower income brackets, the gloom quickly spread over our municipality.
 
Never Fear the Dark
 
In response to the growing darkness in Los Cabos, on April 1, the Lord shared a mini-teaching with me for the Body of Christ—Never Fear the Dark.
 
There are no opportunities in life without darkness. Even in a time of peace and tranquility, if we launch out into something new or different, there is no guarantee of success. In this dispensation, we really never know what the future holds. Uncertainty, itself, is a form of darkness. However, we do have multiple scriptures which give us the assurance that God always goes before us, that He is always with us, and that we will always be given the strength to overcome whatever might stand in our way! We will never be left to our own resources. The life of the risen Christ abides in us, we are temples of the Holy Spirit, and nothing ever happens to us that our Heavenly Father has not allowed!
 
Our job on this earth is not to flee from darkness, but as ‘carriers of the light,’ we should rejoice in overcoming evil with good (Romans 12:21). We have been given “authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy,” (Luke 10:19). Where light is, darkness flees; it has to. When the light is turned on, there is no more darkness. It’s that easy.
 
Darkness does bring a feeling of oppression and the antidote to this sense of doom is the joy of the Lord. Pray for joy over your assigned area (you all have one even if you haven’t thought about it)! Wherever you go, share a big smile (possible under a mask) so that at least they can see the light in your eyes. Whether those around us see our smiles or not, it does not negate the effect. When we release the joy of the Lord in this way, it helps dispel the gloom and doom over people’s lives, whether they are aware of it or not. Joy cuts through darkness like shafts of light and touches their hearts with a glimpse of a better day.
 
One Glorious Light in Los Cabos
 
As I shared in my previous blog, Pastor Carlos immediately went into action to organize his churches as soon as the ability to meet together was suspended. They organized the entire church family of between 250 to 300 people by What’s App (which is available in other countries, but given that it is free, it is a mainstay of Mexican communication). Pastor Carlos had already sent out ideas for how the head of the home could establish a ‘family altar’ in their home. You will notice in the photos that some even have a container of tithe envelopes on their altars and a box in which to place the envelopes with money in. These brothers and sisters are not doing this under compulsion; they love the work of the Lord. Pastor Carlos still consistently sends an outline of the message for each Sunday service, with instructions on how to lead their families in worship. You will notice in some of the photos that there appears to be guests in the homes of the lay leaders. They are very careful to include single person households, along with the elderly or anyone else in need of special care. Thursday night is their mid-week service and, again, everyone is sent the teaching for that night’s service in their homes, as well as a list of suggestions as to what to pray for on Friday night’s prayer meeting. Pastor Carlos makes himself available to pray—by phone—to anyone who needs prayer or has a need of food or other items. He told us just this week that to date, there are now 120 homes represented on Cristo es el Camino’s What’s App chat. They have actually grown in confinement!
 
I wanted to send the photos to show you how serious these wonderful brothers and sisters are, even though most of them either have little to no money left and have no guarantee of quick return to employment when they are released to go back to whatever it was they previously lived off of. Their joy and lack of complaining is amazing, and most of them definitely are a glorious light to their surroundings.
 
One last thing—for all of you who prayed for Los Cabos to be protected from looting and crime, our police and military are doing a spectacular job. In fact, there are very few “street people” out in the open, and we have only heard one specific report of an attempted personal robbery, which failed! I’m sure there must be some, but the overall atmosphere is very peaceful. Thank-you so much for praying! 
 
Continue to shine—Light in the darkness!

I want to thank those of your who have expressed concern over our well-being in Los Cabos. We are doing excellent. Mexico has a tendency not to react until our reputation is at stake and then we tend to over-react, so the strict sanctions which closed down much of the city didn’t hit until April 8; with the lesser sanctions starting less than a week earlier. Our city is blessed by being relatively small and isolated from most of Mexico.
 
The sanctions on public meetings−which affected our ability to meet for church services−didn’t officially start until March 29, at which time meetings were immediately limited to 20 in attendance. Cabo Church made the switch to taped services on March 22. After the 20 person sanction, Pastor Carlos quickly started a What’s App chat for his churches, and carefully divided his flock of 250-300 people among his three churches, missions, and home churches. We still somehow ended up with over 200 people at Tierra y Libertad that Sunday at our 6:00 p.m. service. They had had 40 first-time visitors just the week before!
 
Due to the crowd at Tierra y Libertad−by April 5−Pastor Carlos sent instructions to his people on preparing “home altars.” They prepared altars in their homes and posted photos of themselves on the church chat.  They did the same for the Thursday night mid-week services, as well as the Friday night prayer meetings.
 
Pastor Carlos and his people have still been carefully providing for the needs of others; especially with the closing of Cabos Church’s feeding station at Tierra y Libertad. As a ministry, we have also supplied Pastor Carlos with funds for outreach, which we will continue to do as we are able. The mandate to “stay at home except for essentials and only one person in a car” didn’t come out until April 8. However−with so many in need−ministering to others in the barrios will not likely be suspended apart from a direct order from the governor of Baja California Sur.
 
So far, we have not had any major shortages of food and staples in Los Cabos. Fortunately, most of the North American population headed for the United States and Canada as soon as the news of Covid-19 broke out. What we do have is a large percentage of our population with no jobs and little to no money saved (due to the closing of all non-essential work, all tourist activities, many of our hotels, and finally all of our sit-down restaurants). The poorest of our poor usually buy food one day at a time and even one meal at a time. This would include the “day-workers” who are picked up by businesses or locals to work at an extremely low wage, one day at a time. Many of the members of this group are addicted to drugs and alcohol and were roaming around looking for what they could find (legally or illegally) within a week of the economic slowdown.
 
The largest problem we will face−apart from a miracle−will be crime and/or looting (many of our businesses have already placed plywood over their glass and pulled down their metal safety shades. The looting after Hurricane Odile in September of 2014 did help prepare us for this). There will be no government checks issued from our troubled, Mexican government, and our major ‘industry’ is tourism, which was just devastated with the early return of our ‘snow birds’ to North America and the loss of revenue we typically receive from Spring Break.
 
Please Pray
 
As you continue to pray for your countries and the world to conquer the Covid-19 threat, please pray exceptionally hard for the people of Los Cabos, most of whom do not know the Lord and are not ready to enter eternity.
 
We have been waiting for the start of the promised harvest of souls to come in for more than nine years. Please pray for the ability of our churches and various ministries to minister to the spiritual needs of large numbers of new converts. The Lord has been assuring my heart for quite a long time that He has an amazing plan for handling the outpouring of His glory and the resulting harvest in Los Cabos, but it will take a God-sized plan to do it!
 
Also, please pray for jobs and financial provision for the people of Los Cabos—especially for our brothers and sisters in Christ, many who have now been without work and/or income for several weeks.
 
Finally, please pray the safety of our city from increased criminal activity or looting.
 
Thank-you for your faithfulness to what God is doing in Los Cabos and may peace and God’s blessings surround you!

Originally, we hadn’t planned to share our newest Avanza sin Tranza update (the values program we have been working with for over three years) until after the training that was scheduled for March 30-31, but the coronavirus burst onto the scene and our dates for the training for 80 teachers and educators in the Municipality of Los Cabos has been postponed. Nevertheless, it was officially scheduled!
 
In our last blog, I covered the Monday morning at the Political Ceremony where our friend, Captain Juan Zamorano, head of all our security forces in Los Cabos, was honored by the city. This was worth blogging about, but there was another, very important breakthrough not reported in that blog. Almost a year and a half ago, Captain Zamorano expressed the need for a mandatory values training program for his police officers, and thanks to the investment of one of our faithful supporters, we were able to offer the initial training for the area’s police officers—free of charge to the city (Avanza sin Tranza has been embraced by multiple municipalities in Mexico, but someone must pay the cost of the program and that is a problem in Mexico). After that initial conversation with the Captain about Avanza sin Tranza, we had a complete change of government, his responsibilities on Monday mornings changed, and nothing more was said for more than a year.
 
But God Once Again Intervened
 
On the Monday morning when the new police vehicles were handed over to Captain Zamorano, Richard and I arrived just in time for the ceremony; most of the participants were already in place and we ended up standing at the far end of the plaza. When the Captain saw us he stepped out of the crowd to tell us how excited he was with the new vehicles. When he finished, I asked him if he still had a need for values training for his officers and he immediately answered, “Yes.” Then, Richard asked what would be the best way for us to help him make this happen and his answer was for Daniel Valles to make an appointment with his assistant. We were able to make immediate contact with Daniel. Daniel was able to immediately secure an appointment with the Captain, and a visit to our area the following week was scheduled.
 
On the following Monday morning, Richard and I had already finished “prayer walking” the area and were on our way out of the plaza when, much to our surprise, Captain Juan was still standing in the plaza. We were able to have a wonderful talk with him; including having the time to ask about the topics he had asked us to pray for when we first talked to him. One of those prayer requests had been answered and he said our prayers must have worked. We told him that Daniel had an appointment with him two days later and that the Director of Education, Juan Mesa, was working with us to get the program for the school system. The Captain smiled sweetly and said, “We’ll see what we can do.”
 
We said goodbye to Captain Juan, and as we turned around to go, Director Juan Mesa was right in front of us (remember, there were only a few people in the entire plaza by then). We told Director Juan that Daniel was flying in to talk to Captain Juan and asked Director Juan if he would like to see Daniel again since he would be in town the following Wednesday. Director Juan had us call his assistant and both of these precious men were scheduled within a couple hours of each other with Daniel Valles.
 
The Happy Almost Ending
 
Richard, Daniel, and I were excited when we headed to San Jose del Cabo the following Wednesday. Our appointment with Captain Juan was first. Daniel told him that our ministry was paying for fifteen people to be trained as trainers. The Captain smiled and said he wanted fifty law enforcement officers trained and that he was going to pay for the other 35. Now that was exceedingly, abundantly above all we could have asked for or thought! We rushed over to the office in charge of making Daniel an official ‘vendor’ of the Municipality of Los Cabos and, within a week, Daniel had shipped all of the necessary paperwork to us to bring back to the city. He was instantly approved.
 
After all that, we still had our appointment with Director Juan. We were greeted at the door to his office with one of the Avanza sin Tranza decals we had given him.  It was proudly displayed on the front door of the Department of Education. Director Juan sat down across from us and questioned Daniel about several things, but we soon found out that he already knew he was ready to schedule the training when he sat down that day. The training was scheduled for March 30-31, but you already know the rest of the story—we are postponed for the time being.
 
Both of these directors are ready for action when we are cleared of COVID-19. Please pray for protection and wisdom for both of them, as well as for their families, and—of course—keep praying for the implementation of Avanza sin Tranza.

New Police Trucks and More!
 
We never know what to expect at 8:00 a.m. on Monday mornings in front of the Municipal Palace in San Jose del Cabo where we go for the weekly patriotic ceremony, which is held in the plaza in front of the Municipal Palace (main building of our municipal government).
 
We were recently in for an extra special surprise since it honored our security forces in the area, along with our dear friend, Captain Juan Jose Zamorano, who is the head of all security in the area. He is a man of great character, and the Municipality of Los Cabos is blessed to have him here. As a ministry, we have promised to pray for the continuation of Captain Zamorano’s assignment to the Municipality of Los Cabos, for his safety and that of his family, along with exceptional blessing and well-being. We invite you to join us in praying for Captain Zamorano. As you look at the photos, he is the gentlemen receiving the symbolic ‘large key’ to nine new police trucks and two new police motorcycles. The lovely lady handing him the key is “la Presidente” (mayor) Armida Castro.

Annual Flag Day Ceremony
 
This day is always one of our favorite days at the Patriotic Ceremony. Several schools are always given the honor of participating and the flag corps and the drum and bugle corps arrives in full parade dress. It is a sight to behold! Patriotism is a wonderful thing! This particular year was special because−as far as we could tell−the participants appeared to be university age, which is a grade level we had never seen participate in the annual ceremony before. Los Cabos actually has several universities (which is the word translated for what we would call colleges; the Spanish version of ‘college’ is usually just attached to a trade or specialty school).  
 
The annual ceremony also includes certificates of merit for a handful of outstanding students. Pride just radiates from each of them. Mexico is excellent at giving honor to whom honor is due.

Women Awareness Month
 
Women’s Awareness Month is always a special event at the Patriotic Ceremony, as well. One of the biggest highlights this year was a large, very impressive, traveling display; giving a pictorial account of the evolution of the rights of women in Mexico. The reason I’m sharing this with you is because I love antique photos that show the history of an area. These particular photos are not from the Los Cabos area, but they do show a part of Mexico’s past that we had never seen. I did try to include the date and explanation in Spanish for most of the photos. You may not be able to read the captions but the date of caption will help you put things into perspective.
 
An awareness of the physical and sexual abuse of women in Mexico is also highlighted every year. This is definitely a problem in the United States as well, but in many parts of Mexico, such activity is considered an unspoken right of the men in the home. Captain Zamorano once told us that the largest demand on law enforcement in Los Cabos is domestic violence, and from the Mexico Daily News on the mainland of Mexico, there are still areas that embrace horrific practices with their women and children. We have no idea of how blessed we have been in the United States because of our godly foundation and biblical beginnings.
   

For those of you who have followed our blogs for any length of time, you have seen many photos of the Lomas del Sol Church (Iglesia Lomas del Sol). Nonetheless, you may not have realized the church had spread from the original foundations we poured, blocked, and filled in during the spring of 2014, to the lot next to the church. Pastor Carlos has been renting the lot for just a little under eight years now. During this time, there has been talk of purchasing the lot, but the owner wanted top dollar and−just in case you don’t know−land is a very limited commodity on our narrow peninsula and many times the property prices seem terribly unreasonable for very humble pieces of property. Each year, Pastor Carlos would contemplate whether or not he should move the church to a different location or stay at Lomas del Sol. During this time, however, nothing opened up and many times—even with the lot next to the original church—there has not been enough room and people have been overflowing into the street.
 
Finally, just last month, the “mother church” was moved from this original location to the Tierra y Libertad location. Lomas del Sol gave up the lot next to the original building, and Lomas del Sol became what Pastor Carlos calls a “mission church.” Tierra y Libertad has continued to be added to and improved on since its original construction and is now Pastor Carlos’ only church that can fit 200 to 300 people when all of the “missions” are together. Since we purposely did not build walls around the sanctuary area so there would be more available room, I must share with you that nighttime services from December to March are quite chilly. I often had so many layers on I could hardly move. With this new arrangement, I might actually have to break down and bring a lightweight winter coat to Cabo San Lucas−I know, if you come in the tourist season, it is hard to imagine.
 
When there is a special service with all of the churches and missions together, we can just barely fit. We are still praying and negotiating over the Quinta Real property, and Pastor Carlos was recently given the use of a large tent in great condition, which can seat 500. Watch this story closely, it is guaranteed to reveal God’s working as far as the land at Quinta Real!

Shane and Tracey Crowley of Fremont, Michigan have faithfully labored in Los Cabos during the winter season since 2014. Shane is a cement contractor and his wife Tracey is his faithful assistant. The two of them have made a significant difference in the homes and churches/missions under Pastor Carlos Maciel and his team from Iglesias Cristo es el Camino (Jesus is the Way Church). I’ve said it before, but it’s worth repeating, they are helping to transform Los Cabos—one project at a time.
 
We also cannot thank Tom Sturris of High Grade Concrete of Spring Lake, MI, enough. Three years ago, Tom offered to donate 50 cents for every bag of cement Shane bought from him to the charity of his choice—and we are blessed beyond measure that Shane chose New Life Outreach!
 
Before you look at the pictures, let me give you a description of what was done in just four weeks:
 

• The Church at Tierra y Libertad−The church was first built with a large vented roof in order to be more hurricane resistant.  The church also had a cement auditorium area and, eventually, a cement platform. The wall area was purposely left open so there would be room for all of the missions and churches (mainly smaller in size) to meet in one place. This year, Shane and Pastor Carlos’ crew of faithful men were able to cement in the remaining ‘floor’ areas around the main auditorium. This was a lot of cement and a lot of work, but the results are amazing (and easier on everyone’s dress shoes).

 

• The Church at Valle del Cabo−Last year, Shane and company put an entirely new front on this small church and this year they were able to block up the side walls, giving greater security to the church property. They dug foundations for the two parallel side walls, blocked the walls up, and poured cement on the remaining parts of the floor, which were still dirt. This year’s work gave a significant boost to the usefulness of the church!

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• Pastor Carlos’ house in Las Palmas−Pastor Carlos originally bought a partially built home with the intent of finishing it as his family of five lived in it. Last year, Shane and company were able to move them far beyond their building or financial ability; with Richard coming alongside for the finishing after the annual building frenzy. Janet (Pastor Carlos’ wife) was still in need of some material to use as a counter top in her kitchen and Shane just happened to want to start pouring colored cement countertops as part of his business in West Michigan. You’d have to ask Shane or Richard for the details, but Shane was pleased to bless her, as well as to be able to polish his skills in pouring cement counter tops.

 
Enjoy the pictures and please pray for the continued prospering of High Grade Concrete of Spring Lake, MI and Shane Crowley Masonry of Fremont, MI.

Just after the first of the year, Pastor Carlos Maciel told Richard and I, “We are having an event for children at the church in Tierra y Libertad this Saturday. I’ll take pictures for you.” He just happened to mention this to us as we were saying good-bye, so neither of us really knew what to expect.

Towards the end of last year, Brenda, one of our dear friends from Cabo Church who is working with Cabo Church’s feeding stations, asked us if we could talk to Pastor Carlos to see if any of his ladies could help with the feeding kitchens at Tierra y Libertad. Pastor Carlos talked with his faithful ladies, and since that time, he and his faithful team have been working with the kitchen and teaching the women and children on Wednesdays and Thursdays. The ‘event’ he mentioned was something that had been in the works that we knew nothing about.

Los Cabos had not been a part of the Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child program for as long as any of us knew, but in 2014−due to the devastation in Los Cabos from Hurricane Odile−the churches in La Paz, who had been attending all of the mandatory trainings and meetings necessary to be given “shoeboxes” from Samaritan’s Purse, asked if their shoeboxes could be given to Los Cabos.

Unbeknownst to us, Pastor Luis Corello, who does the 1:30 p.m. Spanish service on Sundays in Cabo Church’s building, has had a team holding a “Five Day Children’s Club” at Cabo Church’s building on Friday evenings. Due to their participation with Samaritan’s Purse, Cabo Church received a shipment of “shoeboxes” this year. Not only were they handed out at the Five Day Club, but we also receive shoeboxes for Cabo Church’s feeding stations; this included the station at Tierra y Libertad where Pastor Carlos’ team has been ministering.

Tickets had been given out to the children who regularly attend the feeding stations, in order to receive a shoe box. Tierra y Liberad had fewer than fifty of those, but due to the graciousness of an anonymous donor, Pastor Carlos was given the money to purchase gifts for any other children that attended the Saturday event.

The church at Tierra y Libertad ended up hosting and feeding 250 children! As usual, they know how to decorate and host amazing children’s events and this was no exception. It was extremely successful, and we have no idea what ministry may develop in the future from this event.

Pastor Carlos had his daughter, Paola, take pictures and she did a great job. Enjoy the pictures and please pray for the continuing ministry at the church at Tierra y Libertad.

In Part I, we shared how the Lord connected us to Neil and Lee Woollacott, so just in case you haven’t read Part I, I would certainly suggest it, or you will miss the importance this couple is to what God is doing in Los Cabos.

Neil and Lee’s impartation to Los Cabos included going to one of Cabo Church’s 14 Feeding Stations, the Feeding Station at Tierra y Libertad. Brenda, a very precious sister from Cabo Church, asked if some of the women from Pastor Carlos’ church at Tierra y Libertad would consider teaching the children, as well as their mothers at the Tierra y Libertad Feeding Station. It was almost six years ago when Lupe Hernandez asked me if Pastor Carlos would consider overseeing a church in Tierra y Libertad that would train the women and the children at the nearby feeding station, so Richard and I were very excited when Pastor Carlos told us that he and his ladies would be checking out the feeding station the day we were there with Neil and Lee. It was a great joy to my heart to see part of the original vision for the church at Tierra y Libertad finally coming to pass!

The following day, Richard, Neil, Lee and I traveled to San Jose del Cabo for a service at Palabra de Vida; the drug and alcohol rehabilitation center run by our dear friends, Bill and Jacki Glaubitz from Canada. When Neil and Lee accompanied us to our monthly service during their first trip to Cabo two years ago, Lee came out of her shell and prayed and spoke powerfully over the men in attendance. Their teaching and ministry to the men in Palabra de Vida was again a blessing to everyone involved.

The next day, Janet and Carlos invited the four of us to come for breakfast, and Neil had asked to pray over each of the family members. The Holy Spirit was present in a very powerful way, with the Lord giving Neil some very special words to speak over the family, along with speaking over our faithful friend Jonathan, who had also been asked to enjoy the special time.

The next event was totally social, but for any of you who have ever visited us, you know about the fun time we have most Sundays after Cabo English Church, enjoying Christian fellowship at the restaurant, Pollo de Oro.

After Pollo de Oro, Neil was the guest speaker for the evening service at Pastor Carlos’ main church in the Lomas del Sol neighborhood. The Holy Spirit again blessed us with a powerful service, with Neil and Lee gladly ministering to everyone in the congregation that asked for prayer.

While we were ministering at the evening service at Lomas del Sol, Pastor Carlos’ brother-in-law, Victor, asked for the privilege to have us as his guests at the restaurant where he is the chef and onsite manager. The next morning, we arrived at the restaurant, Fisherman’s Landing. Victor’s dishes are very special. Victor is not just a cook, but is an accomplished chef. As we were there, we were able to see how he cared for his employees and how he carefully brought the best out of them. Victor is definitely doing ‘Marketplace Ministry,’ even if he himself might not call it that. Again, the Holy Spirit was present, there in an open-air restaurant, built on a dock, at the edge of the famous Cabo San Lucas Marina. As we closed this special time in prayer, a very significant word of knowledge was shared with Victor−a word that confirmed God’s desire for his future that none of us knew anything about.
 
Richard and I are continuing to ‘What’s App’ call on a regular basis with Neil and Lee as Neil works with us on details for the future of the Quinta Real property, along with other ideas Neil has for the future of Los Cabos.

We want to thank Neil and Lee for the gift of their time and financial expenditure to journey to Los Cabos for these ten days of impartation!  Thank you!

Two of our daughters and their families have again asked us to use the money we would normally spend on gifts for their families to bless a special family in Cabo San Lucas. We are especially close to this year’s family as the single father is Pastor Carlos Maciel’s nephew, Gilberto (Beto for short) Mendoza.
 
Beto grew up between the United States and Mexico, but is another example of parents who never bothered to get citizenship for their children. By the time he was in his late teens, he was well engrossed into ‘gang life,’ including criminal activity. He was imprisoned in the United States and was eventually deported to Mexico.
 
When Beto was first deported, he lived with Pastor Carlos’ family for a period of time, but he wasn’t ready for the lifestyle of Pastor Carlos’ family−or their rules−and was soon on his own in Cabo. It wasn’t long before he was arrested and placed in our local prison. He served three years there, and during that time, Pastor Carlos faithfully visited him on a regular basis and faithfully kept talking to him about Christ. Eventually, Pastor Carlos led him to the Lord. When he got out of prison, he was able to quickly get a job at one of our larger hotels since he is bi-lingual. He is now blessed by the Lord. He is very personable and gentle, and we have greatly enjoyed our times together with him.
 
After he was released, Beto took on the responsibility of raising−not only his son−but also Betito’s stepbrother. Pastor Carlos’ family is providing childcare for the two boys while Beto works six days a week.  They are also allowing Beto and the boys to stay in the former church ‘parsonage’ in back of the church at Lomas del Sol. Through God’s favor, Beto’s employer also has arranged his schedule in order for him to take a bus from where he works to where the boys go to school; then they all take the bus home to the church at Lomas del Sol.
 
Shopping Day

We took Beto and the boys out for pizza and then headed directly to the local “professional” skateboard store in Cabo Central. The boys had both previously had inexpensive skateboards from Walmart, but they were quickly broken. When Beto and the boys heard about the chance to buy something they wanted, they quickly choose quality skateboards. With the budget we had, the boys could only afford to get the boards (without the “trucks” (wheels)). They hugged those boards like a little girl does a doll.
 
The boys didn’t have to wait long for the wheels. As soon as one of our close friends heard this story, the husband asked us how much we thought the wheels would cost and handed us $150 to cover the cost of the wheels!
 
Along with their boards, Beto bought some ‘winter’ clothing for the boys and a Lakers’ baseball cap for himself. For Beto’s daughter in the United States, Candy, we purchased a “sling bag” in the United States and sent it to California with some spending money and a Christmas card from Beto.

Thank-you for everyone who made this Christmas special for Beto and his children!

If you follow our blogs, you may recognize the names of our dear friends Neil & Lee Woollacott from western Australia. Just in case you are not familiar with their story, though, let me share how God brought the four of us together.
 
As a part of the 2015 Transform Our World Conference in San Jose, CA, we traveled north to Redding, CA for an optional visit to a well-known Bethel Church pastored by Bill Johnson and Kris Vallotton. After the opening dinner, we were instructed to leave our tables, form circles, and pray individually for each person seated at our table. Neil and Lee were two of the people who were at our table, and during that prayer time, their hearts were connected to ours. Later on while still in Redding, Neil asked that if they were able to travel to the US again for the TOW Conference in 2017, would it work for them to travel back with us to Los Cabos after the close of the conference. It did and so they did. They returned to the US in 2017 for the conference and flew back with us to Los Cabos for a 10-day visit. During the 10 days they spent with us in 2017, Neil and Lee developed a burden to help us with our vision of the transformation of Los Cabos.
 
One of the possible projects they were interested in seeing established in Los Cabos was the start of a Christian leadership academy (in addition to basic education from public schools), utilizing Transform Cambodia as a model. After returning to Australia after their visit with us in 2017−with Los Cabos in mind−Neil flew to Cambodia to talk to the founders of Transform Cambodia (https://vimeo.com/15589876) to see if the founders of the trust that supports the work in Cambodia would consider expanding their mission to Los Cabos. Although this may or may not come to fruition, Neil still has the vision for the first Transform Cambodia prototype in Los Cabos; dedicated to training powerful, pure, Christian leaders for Mexico’s future. Neil and Lee returned once again to Los Cabos this last October, after a 36-hour flight from their home in western Australia.
 
For eight full days, they imparted to, ministered to, and prayed over brothers and sisters in Christ in the Los Cabos area, as well as prayed over the geographic area itself. The first day of action included the Sunday morning service at Cabo English Church, our traditional Sunday chicken dinner with Pastor Michael and his wife, Laura, at Pollo de Oro, and, for Lee, a special appearance at my Sunday evening prayer class. I had prepared the class ahead of time to be ready to receive personal prayer from a special guest from Australia. The Holy Spirit blessed us with His presence and it was a memorable experience for everyone present; as well as an opportunity for Lee to be coaxed out of her comfort zone.
 
The next day, Neil traveled to San Jose with Pastor Carlos, Richard, and myself for the 8:00 a.m., Monday morning patriotic ceremony in the town square in front of the Municipal Palace. After the ceremony, the Lord brought attention to the four of us in a unique way. Our current mayor, who was elected just one year ago, had introduced the singing of the Baja California Sur state anthem to the patriotic ceremony several weeks before. We soon found out that almost no one in the government or crowd knew the words to this song. Richard−as the statesman of the family−made a point of talking to the mayor’s secretary in order to get a copy of the anthem, and after that time faithfully carried the copy of the words in his portfolio each Monday morning. When the time came to sing the state anthem during the Monday morning program with Neil, Richard and I were familiar enough with the tune that we sang with gusto (even if we didn’t pronounce all the words exactly right). Our efforts were noticed that morning! As soon as the crowd was dismissed, La Presidente led her entourage of reporters−including a TV camera−over to our little group. She very graciously took time to come over to Richard and I to thank us for caring enough about her state to work on learning the state anthem. I’m sharing this here because Neil, along with Pastor Carlos, Richard and myself, was on live footage in Los Cabos, MX.
 
After the ceremony, the four of us went to our favorite “meeting” breakfast restaurant where Neil pulled out his plans and research ideas for the location of a Christian leadership academy, as well as the layout of the Quinta Real property (that I often make reference to). The financing is not there at this point, but Neil is faithfully doing the groundwork for possible presentations in the days ahead. With Lee joining us later in the day, we proceeded to the Quinta Real property for prayer and discussion of what God’s plans for that land could include.
 
This is the end of the first part of Neil and Lee’s ‘missionary journey’ to Los Cabos. Part II is yet to come!