On Monday morning, October 1st, our new Presidente (Mayor) of the Municipality of Los Cabos, Armida Castro, conducted her first Patriotic Ceremony in the San Jose Plaza.

To give a little background on the election:  the Mexican people—desperate for change—voted in an extreme leftist-socialist president for the country.  He is commonly referred to by the acronym of the first letters of his four names: AMLO. AMLO represents the political party MORENA and is the first president of Mexico from that party to ever be elected. AMLO’s people flooded the poorer areas of Mexico encouraging people to vote, as well as reportedly paying people to vote for him and the MORENA party. From what we’ve been told, this is one of the factors that led to the loss of the election of our former mayor, Arturo de la Rosa, and the victory for the MORENA party in Los Cabos.

As a ministry, we will be in continual prayer for Presidente Castro, and will also be offering our services to her administration in any way we can. Pastor Carlos and Isidoro were actually the first people in line for an appointment with la Presidente for the opportunity for us to congratulate her, present the availability of Avanza sin Tranza for her administration, and to offer our services to her in any way we can. We have also been in contact with the new Director of Education. He loves the Avanza Sin Tranza program and is sending the material we gave him to every one of the principals of the ninety schools he oversees. We are looking forward to working with him, as well.

Please spend much time in prayer for Presidente Armida’s team as they establish this change of government in Los Cabos. There are many decisions to be made before she is officially sworn in on December 1st.

We just recently returned from Transform Our World’s 28th Global Conference, which was attended by over eight hundred delegates from over thirty countries from around the world. It was held this year at the Marriot Santa Clara Convention Center near San Jose, CA. Ed Silvoso, at age 73, offers programming throughout the conference that is the conference equivalent of the most engaging extreme sport. The participants leave spiritually charged and inspired for another year in the trenches in their particular sphere of influence. TOW’s tag line is, “Ordinary people doing extraordinary things with God.” The conference videos are not yet available online, but if you would like to sample some of the inspirational videos available on the TOW website, check them out at: https://transformourworld.org/transformationondemand/

I can’t possibly even begin to fill you in on all the magnificent testimonies of what God is doing around the world, so my only hope is to peak your interest with personal highlights. The opening night speaker was Loren Cunningham, the 83–year-old founder of YWAM, who is still flying from country to country, leading the ministry in great exploits. We heard Loren for the first time last year at the conference and we can’t hear enough of his amazing testimonies from around the world. We’ve known of YWAM for over 30 years, but we had no idea of the impact that YWAM and Loren Cunningham have made in world events. Last year, we heard him give an account of a current national event that only God could have arranged and that we’ll never forget, but since we heard it at one of the un-taped meal sessions, I’m not allowed to share it here. The next time you see me, if you ask me about Loren Cunningham, I can share this tremendous “God story” with you.

The emphasis at this year’s conference was the impartation of the anointing of the Holy Spirit to the conference delegates in order to enhance their results for transformation in their many different spheres of influence. We were blessed to receive many prayers of impartation from brothers and sisters from around the world, but one such prayer left me with a lasting memory. This impartation came from the very large delegation from Hong Kong, led by retired Judge Barbara Chan, YK Chan and Pastor Wong. When they got up to report what they, as one of the oldest and strongest moves of transformation with TOW, could impart, they gently declared, “We carry humility,” and they−with many influential delegates−certainly did! Humility was an amazing ‘God empowering” attribute to choose to impart to the delegates from other parts of the world.

The next moment that was especially meaningful to Richard and I was to hear Pastor Norberto Carlini from Resistencia, Argentina. Pastor Carlini was, and still is, one of the foundational pastors of the powerful revival that swept over Resistencia in the mid-1990’s. This revival was largely due to the (then) relatively unknown evangelist, Carlos Annacondia. Ed Silvoso was a part of that move. Cindy Jacobs was called to the area in the early days of her ministry.  These, along with a handful of believers we have just ‘come across’ in Los Cabos, were all called to the area during this time. Ever since working for an entire year to host the Carlos Annacondia Crusade in Los Cabos, we have been amazed at what God used Carlos Annacondia to do in Resistencia and the change it made in the brothers and sisters who were a part of that move of God.

Ed had Pastor Carlini come to the conference to share what has happened in the city since God began to change the city. Ed asked for the privilege to translate for Pastor Carlini and the power of the presence of the Lord flowed between them like fire. That was at the morning session, with a teaching luncheon following—with Ed again translating for Pastor Carlini. It was during the luncheon that Richard and I rushed over to tell Pastor Carlini about Carlos Anacondia’s crusade in Los Cabos in 2016. We then told him we knew of the unction of the Holy Spirit on the Argentine pastors, and asked if he would be willing to impart the fire to us. He was delighted to pray over us and we are grateful to God for that moment!

In order to share our last ‘special’ experience, I need to quickly share that while we were in Michigan in August for our annual excursion to our home base in Muskegon, MI, I was in a severe auto accident and our mini-van was demolished. I was miraculously spared serious injury, apart from extensive bruising, 18 stitches, a broken left thumb and a broken right arm. We were scheduled to fly back to Los Cabos one week after the accident, and all the American doctors were very helpful and told Richard how to remove my stitches, along with giving him instructions for caring for me during recovery. I only share the story of the accident to tell you that I had a cast on my right arm during the conference and that is key to what I am going to share next…

I had been asking the Lord to have mercy on me and heal my right arm faster than the predicted three to four months but, of course, I did not have confirmation that He would choose to do a faster work of healing. Pastor Kris Valloton, associate lead pastor of Bethel Church in Redding, CA, had just taught in the morning session. Bethel Church originally had a mission school two hours north of us in Mexico in our state capitol of La Paz until not long before we first came to the area in 2010. We heard through the grapevine that there were several encouraging prophetic words spoken over the Baja at that time, so when Richard saw Kris Valloton in the hall after the session, he asked Kris if he remembered any of the words. During that short pause in the hall, Kris, who also runs the School of Ministry, looked at my cast, asked what had happened and said, “I’ll have to pray for you tonight.” This was special because Kris carries a heavy anointing for praying for the sick, even though the purpose of this meeting wasn’t for personal prayer.

The session he referred to was actually late afternoon and we were ready. We ran right up to him after the teaching. He quickly, but gladly, prayed for my arm and then had to rush to catch his plane home. From that time on, my arm felt much better, but we do not have confirmation. My orthopedic surgeon from Muskegon, MI had already told me just to get an x-ray in Mexico and send the DVD via the internet to him and he would read it for me. We still haven’t figured out a comfortable and economical way to get an x-ray yet, but either way, this was a special divine appointment with Kris Valloton.

I need to bring this to a close since I am typing with one hand—and my left one at that. Check out the material on the TOW website and enjoy the photos from the conference. A big thank-you to all of you that made it possible for us to attend this year’s conference!

While at a recent Monday patriotic ceremony, Presidente (Mayor) Arturo’s right hand man made a point of telling Richard the administration wanted to honor us as a couple at the weekly ceremony on Monday, September 24. Regretfully, we had to share that we would be in the San Jose, CA area for the Transform Our World Global Conference and would not be able to attend the ceremony that Monday. The timing was also important since Arturo del a Rosa was defeated in the July 1st National elections, even though, in Mexico, the newly elected officials are not sworn in until December 1st and fade out of office somewhere between the election and December 1st. Mayor Arturo’s administration wanted to be sure to honor us on his last day as acting mayor.

As we shared in previous blogs, Presidente Arturo has honored “those who pray for him and the city,” before the public on several previous occasions, but this particular offer was a precious gift for our two years of faithful prayer for his administration, our attendance to the patriotic ceremony, and because of our ministry’s financial gift of paying for the values-based program, Avanza sin Tranza (see previous blogs), to be taught in all 90 elementary schools in the Municipality of Los Cabos. They also especially wanted to honor us for our patriotism to their country, as well as for our concern for the well-being of the Municipality of Los Cabos, even though Mexico is not our homeland. We have often been blessed to hear this from various members of his administration throughout these past two years. They have even graciously likened our faithfulness to the city we are called to, to that of a handful of foreigners in the history of Mexico who physically fought for the country—to fight for a land not our own.

All of you who pray for us, support us financially, and continue to encourage us, you are honored, as well.  May the Lord richly bless you and give you peace!

Along with our ministry reports, I like to give those of you who have visited Los Cabos updates on the area from time to time. Many months ago, the plaza in front of the Municipal Palace and the historic Catholic Church in San Jose del Cabo was completely torn apart, including the infrastructure. I am sharing just a few photos of the ‘new look’ for the sake of those of you who were familiar with the ‘old.’

For over two years now, we have made a point of attending the San Jose del Cabo governmental patriotic ceremony, which is held in front of the Municipal Palace at 8 a.m. on Monday mornings.  Our prayer is to make our presence in the community known to the government officials, to pray for the government, and to pray for the San Jose Central area.

The photos showing parts of the ceremony are significant for two reasons. The first deals with the special presence of Presidente Arturo de la Rosa and his wife Vianney. The second is the visit of Bill Hodges from Christ the Rock Church in Muskegon, along with his friend, Ben Culbertson from England, who recently spent a week with us. Bill and Ben came to our area to pray with us over specific geographic locations.

Enjoy the photos and please pray over the area as you look!

This project has been a progressive one—as the funds have come in and the help has been available.  The new addition of a permanent fence and entrance area, which was started by Shane and Tracey Crowley during the first part of the year, is complete!

Richard had expressed his desire to Pastor Carlos for the last stage of the church at Tierra y Libertad to be finished—if Pastor Carlos could find help with the thin-coat, painting and gate. Not only did Pastor Carlos find help, but he and his youngest son, Joshua, helped as well.  One of Pastor Carlos’ associate pastors, Escary, rounded up a couple of his youth and the group finished the entire project in one day. The project looks wonderful and we want to give a special thanks to Pastor Carlos, Joshua, Escary and the fine young men from his youth group!

Pastor Carlos calls his church plants ‘missions’ and Tierra y Libertad is one of them. The church has an outreach breakfast on Sunday mornings at 9:00 a.m., followed by Sunday School. The worship service, which we have been attending for almost a year, is held at 4:00 p.m. The mid-week bible study is held on Wednesdays at 7:00 p.m. and prayer meeting is held on Fridays at 7:00 p.m. The church is only running an average of thirty people, but the presence of the Holy Spirit is heavy and the worship is passionate.

Please remember to pray for all of Pastor Carlos’ churches; the mother church (Lomas del Sol), Valle del Cabo, Caribe, and Tierra y Libertad.

We again would like to thank the generous donor from West Michigan who helped fund this most recent phase of the church at Tierra y Libertad. Thank-you all for your prayers and generous giving that makes all we are able to do in Los Cabos possible! Great blessings to all of you.

Back in January-March 2011 when Richard and I came for our first work project in Los Cabos, Pastor Carlos had just purchased a small, humble partially-built home. His plan was to “camp” on the property with his family of five (including his baby at the time, Joshua) and to build his first church building in front of the house. Having not much, if any, construction experience, he was crying out to the Lord for direction.           

Within a few days, Richard drove up with our trusty Blazer and covered trailer, along with his expertise and a plethora of tools. I arrived a little over a week later with my ability to shop for building products (and paint when the time came). When we left in mid-March of that year, there was a humble addition added to Pastor Carlos’ house, running water, wired electricity, and the foundation and beginning of the existing church. From that leap of faith at the Lomas del Sol property, Pastor Carlos and his wife, Janet, have realized they needed more space and a home not located in back of a church in a Mexican barrio, where the needy, the bored, and the lonely are often at the door day and night.

It was just a year ago, when we came back from our Christmas break in Michigan, that we found out Pastor Carlos had bought another “fixer-upper” in that short period of time. Since that time, Pastor Carlos−as he has been able to save a little money−has been hiring brothers from the church to work on the house. Then, the blessing from Shane Crowley’s diligence in Michigan surfaced just before it was time for Shane to come. One of his material suppliers in Michigan offered a generous donation for the mission work Shane would be helping with. A good part of that blessing was gladly budgeted for Pastor Carlos’ house.

With funding, Shane and Tracey, and the brothers from Pastor Carlos’ church, who we were able to hire with the donated funds, made great progress laying the blocks for the upstairs of the families’ new home. In addition to the construction, the donated funds were also used to purchase a stove and refrigerator for the home.  We were able to take Janet and her family shopping for appliances. 

It may seem like very slow progress to anyone not living in Mexico, but with all factors considered, this project is moving along quickly. Pastor Carlos and his family have now been living in the home for several weeks and there is an end in sight.

The labor pool necessary for all the finishing, electrical and plumbing virtually dried up this spring/summer. We have had so much new construction in the area over the last year and a half that anyone who wants to work can be working.  Pastor Carlos hired a couple of men who helped Shane and Tracey, but when Shane left, their work ethic left with him. With Pastor Carlos in such a desperate situation, Richard knew he might be the only one who could get Pastor Carlos and his family into the home. Consequently, Richard added countless hours of work on Pastor Carlos’ house to the work he was already doing, including the finishing of the latest phase of the church at Tierra y Libertad.
There are still some finishing touches that will have to wait for the workman who has committed to do the thin coat over the blocks; as well as the welder who still says he will make the front gate (which is badly needed to secure the home). However, even in this condition, Pastor Carlos, his wife Janet, and their three children Paola, Carlitos and Joshua, are thrilled to be in their new home!

We all send a huge thank you to the generous donor from West Michigan that made the majority of this project possible. Thank-you, Tom, and may God bless you and your business!

We were blessed to have the honor of hosting a crusade with Pastor and Healing Evangelist Gamaliel Sosa this last month.  The event was originally scheduled to be a three-day crusade held June 14, 15 & 16. This, however, is Mexico! Our warnings for Hurricane Bud started early the week before the crusade, when the storm was far away in the Pacific Ocean (and for the record, this isn’t really the time of year we expect hurricanes). The hurricane was downgraded to a tropical storm by mid-week, but, by that time, its path had switched to a perfect beeline towards Los Cabos. We knew this was nothing to be concerned about and we do get most of our badly needed rains as a result of tropical storms, but we had a three day crusade starting on the day Tropical Storm Bud was scheduled to hit.

The winds were not bad and we received a manageable amount of rain, but obviously we had to cancel Thursday night’s crusade. The rain had slowed down by late evening on Thursday, but the sun didn’t come out until Friday afternoon. Since many of Pastor Carlos’ faithful workers live in housing that is not waterproof, they couldn’t be asked to be at the crusade site early Friday morning to begin preparing the property for a crusade. The property owner graciously agreed to allow us to use the property for Sunday as well as our previously reserved day of Saturday the 16th. This turned our three-day crusade into a two-day event. We did gather on Friday night, the 15th, to scout out what would be needed for additional power, as well as what was needed for the restrooms to function, since we were planning on using an abandoned restaurant building on the property.

It Was a Powerful Crusade

Pastor Carlos had put together seven teams of ten persons each.  The teams worked on evangelism and publicity a month ahead of the crusade (which is a long time in Mexico); and as usual, his people were trained, efficient and faithful. Gamaliel, who we call Gama, flew in from the mainland the Wednesday before the crusade was to start.
Richard estimated crusade attendance at close to four hundred people for each of the two days. The worship team and Gama’s preaching were both powerful. Several people came forward for salvation or to recommit their lives to Christ. Even more came forward for a fresh infilling of the Holy Spirit and many came forward for prayer for healing. As of this writing, we do not have a head count of first time commitments to Christ or any testimonies of physical healing, but we will definitely share those we might hear.

The reason we chose to have the crusade on the Quinta Real property was to ‘marinate’ the property in the Holy Spirit. We are still asking the Lord to make a way for Pastor Carlos’ main church to be able to have use of the property by the end of this year; at which time he must vacate the empty lot next to his church that he has been renting for several years. Whether we just receive permission to use the property, the funds to rent it for a year or the funds to purchase the entire two and a half acres, we still believe this is the direction the Lord has faithfully been leading us these last eleven months.

Again, events like this are made possible by the generosity of all of our ministry friends. Pastor Carlos’ church and his mission churches help as much as they can, but your faithfulness continually makes up the difference.

The photos definitely say more about this event than a blog can describe…

The Lord just gave us a major breakthrough by placing the Avanza sin Tranza program into all 90 of the elementary schools in the Municipality of Los Cabos; and it was made possible by each of you!

The Lord just opened a huge door—one we have been knocking on for a long time—this last Tuesday! Richard and I (and whoever we can bring with us) have been traveling to San Jose del Cabo (just northeast of Cabo San Lucas) for the governmental patriotic ceremony that is held each Monday morning at 8:00 a.m. for just over two years. We started attending on Mondays to fulfill a commitment to our precious Mayor, Arturo de la Rosa (Presidente). We had promised to pray for his administration and our municipality, and we still have not felt released.

In the last six months, we have been blessed by Mayor Arturo as he has publicly thanked “those who pray for him on Monday mornings” in a televised speech. We have been in one of the local newspapers, are graciously thanked by members of the government and press for praying, and, if the mayor is at the public ceremony, he always smiles and nods to us. In addition to praying for the administration, we have also been praying for the timing to approach Presidente Arturo with the offer to pay for Avanza sin Tranza for the heads of the municipality’s departments. The Lord, however, had a different idea—one involving doors only He can open!

Daniel Valles, the head of Avanza sin Tranza, had arranged to visit Los Cabos last week.  Since Daniel was going to be in town, Richard brought our last Avanza sin Tranza packet with him and asked God to have someone walk up to him. This was exceptionally interesting since the mayoral election is this Sunday and very few members of the administration were present this last Monday. Actually, Richard and I were standing out in the open by ourselves. All of a sudden, it was like a ‘spot light of favor’ came upon us. One brother in the Lord, who is high up in the government ranks, came right over to talk with us. Then another dear brother who we have often prayed for came up, and then−out of nowhere−a young man came up to see what we were showing them. At, just a glance of the program material, he told us he was a teacher and they needed this in the schools. Then he asked if we wanted an appointment with the Directora of Municipal Education, Marlen Carballo. We tried to tell him that Daniel wasn’t arriving until late afternoon the next day, but the appointment was made for 11:00 the next day at Municipal Education Office and we were not going to miss it.

We called our faithful friend Jonathan−who always helps us at a moment’s notice−to translate for us. Mrs. Carballo was excited to see us, since she has tried to get a program on values and basic life skills into her elementary schools for four years. But the funding had never been there—until we walked into her office. We left our ‘one last packet’ with her and she graciously gave us an appointment two days later when Daniel could be there.

On Thursday, when we arrived with Daniel, Pastor Pasalagua from La Paz (who is an old friend and also a lawyer), and another brother from La Paz (who has committed to being the Avanza sin Tranza liaison for their city), Senora Carballo and her team were ready and excited. Daniel explained the typical cost of the program, but then told Senora Carballo that our ministry had committed to pay for the program because of our love for the children and our burden for the reprogramming of the minds of the Mexican people. Neither she, nor us, could believe this was happening, as she expressed the joy of a new hope for the future she now has for the thousands of children in her care. None of this would be happening without us, and this would surely not be happening without all of your prayers and financial help.

Daniel will be back in mid-October to train 80 teachers from her administration, who will train the students in this powerful material containing biblically-based values and life skills (although not stated as such). Senora Carballo holds an appointed position in Mayor Arturo’s government and the news of this powerful program will spread quickly. As the students bring home the material and talk to their parents, these values will spread into their homes and touch countless families.

Please keep praying for the spread of Avanza sin Tranza in the Municipality of Los Cabos. Since we are transformed by the renewing of our minds, we have a vision of this program spreading to train law enforcement, government officials, the business community, and every sector of society—first with Los Cabos and then with all of Mexico!

Warming up for our crusade with Evangelist Gamaliel Sosa on June 14, 15 and 16, Pastor Carlos and his team held a “pre-crusade” on April 14 in the Colonia (neighborhood) of Las Palmas. The official starting time was 7:00 p.m. (before dark), but as you can see in the pictures, the crowd really didn’t arrive until just after dark, around 8:00 p.m.

As we learned and experienced from the Carlos Annacondia crusade in April of 2016, extensive training of a crusade’s ministry teams is essential. We were required to begin preparation for the Annacondia crusade one year in advance. Although the preparation included more meetings than we would have ever chosen to attend or host, we saw the positive results—the power of the prayer and the excellence of the ministry teams.

With this experience in mind, Pastor Carlos began sending out teams−made up of a total of 70 of his people−to evangelize the area around the Colonia of Las Palmas. Armed with flyers, they went from house to house introducing themselves to area residents and inviting them to church and the upcoming crusade.  In addition, those in the ministry teams began relationships with many new people. These connections included the offer to pray for any specific needs the families had.

An estimated 350 people attended the crusade, with close to 150 receiving Christ for the first time! Many also requested prayer for healing, the results of which have not yet come in.  This “practice run” began to prepare the spiritual atmosphere of the area for the larger crusade in June. It also trained the workers for the many committees necessary for the upcoming crusade.

We believe the time has begun for the reaping of the last day harvest (with only the Father knowing the length of time this will be). In response to the cries of His people, the Lord will be sending an increased presence of His Spirit to earth. This increased presence will lift Jesus up and will draw all who will come to faith in Christ. This drawing will include the removing of the veil from the eyes of many who presently do not acknowledge Jesus as God or as the Messiah; or as the only way to renewed fellowship with the Father, resulting in eternal life.

In response to what we believe God has begun in many locations around the world, including Los Cabos, we want to be ready for our part in this great outpouring. The relatively small crusade at Las Palmas was just the beginning of what we believe will come to Los Cabos, Mexico, and to the ends of the earth.

If you have not read about our ‘Perimeter People’ initiative, an effort to cover the area of Los Cabos in prayer each and every day, please read the blog posted just before this one.  Pray. Ask the Lord which day you could commit to praying for Los Cabos.  Then, e-mail us and let us know when we can count on your prayers. Please, do not wait.  We will begin to put together a calendar of prayer partners and commitments roll in.

We can never thank-you enough for every part each of you play in the transformation of Los Cabos. We would not be here without you!

We published an article in the last newsletter entitled, “Consistent, Intentional Prayer.” We are now ready to launch this extremely necessary initiative in an attempt to bolster a continued, systematic prayer covering for the Municipality of Los Cabos.

In that article (available on our website), I shared the origin of the term “Perimeter People.” I also shared the difficulty we have had in organizing consistent prayer in our area. We desperately need committed Christians who have a passion for the power of prayer and have a burden for the area of Los Cabos−even though living elsewhere. If you are reading this article, you may be one of many the Lord may prompt to commit to this initiative (For those of you who live here and are willing to commit to consistent prayer, thank-you as well. At this time, please send an email to info@newlifeoutreach.us. I will notify you when we launch our local prayer initiative).  

• The Purpose of this project is to have consistent prayer coverage for each day of every month of the year. This prayer coverage will be as a canopy of glory, which will begin to protect the Los Cabos area from the influence of the enemy and will reverse existing enemy strongholds.

 

• We will try to assign your day of the month on a first-requested basis. For any months shorter than 31 days, the prayer partners for the unused days for that month will pray on the last day.

 

• You may commit to praying for the Los Cabos area as an individual, a couple, a family (immediate or extended), a small group of friends or coworkers, a youth group, a Sunday School class, a Bible study group, or an entire church or business. We are asking for a minimum of fifteen minutes of prayer on your assigned day—up to coverage throughout the entire day for larger groups.Please feel free to be creative and have fun with your commitment.

 

• We do ask that at any time you find you are unable to continue to fulfill your or your group’s prayer commitment, simply let us know so we can reassign that day of the month. We are extremely grateful for any amount of time you are able to cover the Los Cabos’ area in prayer.

 

• I will attempt to send each person/group an email each month (near the end of the month) listing the following month’s prayer requests.

 
Since there is no time or distance in the spirit realm, the future of the Municipality of Los Cabos can be touched by caring members of the Body of Christ from around the world—just as though you lived here! Please start praying now as to what part the Lord would have for you in this project.

To get started today, please send us your name, along with your contact e-mail address (in the case of a group, please e-mail the name of your contact member, along with his/her contact information). Even if you are unable to make a commitment to be part of the “Perimeter Project,” we still want to thank-you for your concern with what the Lord is doing in Los Cabos, Mexico!