September 13, 2012

The rain is here!  The roads have been flooded and students have been slow to wander into the classrooms.  When school is closed, Richard and I often head off on our own ‘field trip.’  Picture here are large waves near the house we rent in the Pueblo de La Playita.  The waves have been drawing in surfers and have been unusually large (due to the rain and storms). One picture actually caught one of the yellow butterflies that have been swarming like flies for the last couple of weeks.

On Friday, September 14, we drove up into the Sierra de La Laguna Mountains to explore. We didn’t find the road up the mountain until it was time to go home. We also discovered the rains (since the day we arrived in Cabo) have washed out the narrow mountain road to the top. We drove to the first “water across the road spot” and turned around. We were able see the Santiago Zoo (very small and in the middle of nowhere) and some gorgeous Brahma Bulls standing and laying on the ‘Highway’ - as usual.

This rain – by the way – is a miracle.  Stories have varied, but from what we gather, it has not rained substantially here for more than seven years.  To have to deal with flooding is a blessing.  It is also a sign of what God is doing.  He promised His rain.  The day we drove in, it began to rain and it has been coming down since!

September 9, 2012

Pastor Mike Galles of the Cabo English Church in Cabo San Lucas had to make an urgent out-of-town visit this past weekend. Richard was honored when Pastor Mike asked him to preach on Sunday, September 9 at both the 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. services (the p.m. service is not a bible study but is actually a complete repeat of the morning service for those who cannot make it in the morning).  Pastor Mike has met with us on several visits and we really appreciate his heart and his ministry.

Several people responded to a message on revival from Psalm 119 during both the morning and evening altar calls.  The call was for those who wanted the Lord to create a new heart in them. The presence of the Lord was exceptionally heavy in the morning and the Lord gave several significant words of knowledge.

In the evening service, two teen girls came forward for new hearts.  During the translation, Tony Hernandez (one of our Cabo friends) realized they had never accepted the Lord and led them in a prayer of salvation.

September 6, 2012

Pastor Rueben (one of the pastors from the weekend Bible Institute) and his wife Olga Medina Miranda graciously invited us to minister at their church – Templo Getsemani – Sunday.  Richard spoke and I was asked to minister afterward. 

Richard could feel the glory as he spoke (he delivered a powerful message – translator and all)!  Several came up to share their testimonies afterward.

We then prayed for people.  I prayed for one man.  After prayer, he looked at me amazed – telling me there had been great darkness in him before, but that there was no more darkness in him now!

When praying about children with Olga Medina Miranda, the pastor’s wife who desires to have a baby girl, we both felt extreme warmth going into and throughout her womb.  Both the word for her, as well as the word Richard had while preaching was – ‘The Time is Now.’ 

We eagerly look forward to ‘now’ even as we believe the time has come – The Day of the Lord is Upon Us!

August 27, 2012

In addition to teaching students at the school, Richard and I were asked to lead a pastors’ training study – to help train, equip, and grow our fellow brothers and sisters.  We attended our first classes last weekend.  The pastors are currently working through the curriculum:  Vida Discipular 3: La Victoria del Discípulo (MasterLife 3: Disciple's Victory).  The course includes week-long studies the pastors work through individually.  The class then meets on Friday evenings and Saturday mornings.  I was able to speak this weekend on intimacy with the Father.  It was such a joy - speaking with the pastors on prayer, hearing the Father, and true intimacy.

August 10, 2012

As I was lying in bed asking the Lord for direction or insight for the day, there was nothing alarming that needed prayer nor anything necessarily highlighted. As soon as I popped out of bed, however, an unction from the Lord hit me and I started dancing with great joy – twirling and going back and forth the length of our hotel room (For you men, you have to imagine Dick, still in bed, waking to his wife dancing and singing prophetically back and forth in his hotel room. After twenty-five years of being married to an intercessor, this was a first but certainly not too surprising)! I was singing a song that felt like Miriam’s song on the far side of the Red Sea or like several songs in scripture that express the overwhelming joy, purpose and magnitude of a significant move of or from God. Below is a record of the thoughts of the Lord as I sang and danced in our hotel room.

“It’s a glorious day. It’s a glorious day. It’s The Day. I’ve (as in the Father) have been waiting for since before time began. In My longsuffering, mercy and tender love for all mankind, I have withheld ‘the culmination of all things,’ but now that great time has come and I will have many ‘Vessels of Mercy’ that will rise up in great glory. These are the sons and daughters of God that I have long not only waited for but yearned for. This Day will be like nothing anyone has ever seen, for I will pour out My glory upon the earth and there will be a great harvest of souls like no one has imagined! A great army will arise from the captivity of this world and will show principalities, powers and all mankind the exceeding great wisdom of My plan - from before time began - and at last I will see the glorious fulfillment of that plan. What a glorious Day!”

August 2012

With around 2,400 miles under our belt, we will cross over into Mexico tomorrow morning at Tecate. We pulled into Yuma Arizona around 9:00 pm and will leave early in the morning for Tecate. The Mountaineer has done a stupendous job pulling our 6 X 10 trailer, totaling around 3,500 lbs (between the trailer and contents). For those of you praying for the wheel bearing on the trailer, we traveled all afternoon and evening with temperatures up to 115 degrees across the Arizona desert and the bearing remained cool (if a bearing is not right it gets really hot). Thanks for all the prayers and all the love!

August 2012

God is good – all the time and in all His ways.  We say this as we look back through the past three years and think about how Operation Cabo began and the many divine appointments along the way.  From the beginning, it has been God’s heart to reach His people here in Los Cabos.  It is His desire to bring about a great revival as never seen before. 

As God has led us from divine appointment to divine appointment, we have met with many pastors and many believers.  We’ve worked with Pastor Carlos Maciel of the Cristo es el Camino Church – helping him build a new church and parsonage.  We’ve been blessed to visit area feeding stations and see the MVP program in action.  What we never anticipated, though, was teaching at a local school – then came God’s divine appointments.  One appointment after another led us to meet Elsa Aramburu, the owner of a Bi-Lingual Christian School in San Jose Centro – the only Christian school in the area.  Elsa shared her need for English-speaking teachers with American accents and then God began His work of tugging on our hearts.  The next thing we knew, we were packed and ready to begin full-time mission work and a new leg of Operation Cabo.

God continues to bring divine appointments across our paths as we meet with old and new friends, and continue to minister wherever God leads.            
       
So, once again, we are on our way to Mexico, but not before receiving an incredible send-off! 

Thank you to everyone at Shiloh Tabernacle for the incredible love offering and gifts.  Your prayers and support are greatly appreciated. 

Another huge thank you to our friend and partner - Steve Smith of Revival Fire Ministries, the catalyst for revival in West Michigan.  Not only did he personally commit to supporting us on a monthly basis, but he encouraged others to match his support as well.  The one-time and monthly commitments received have been no less than overwhelming.  In addition, we are proud to carry the West Michigan revival fires to Mexico as the first official missionaries going out from the revival – what an incredible honor!

As many of you already know, we left San Jose del Cabo around 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 12. We crossed the U.S. Border the night of Tuesday, March 15 and finally arrived at our home in Michigan at 7:00 a.m. on Monday, March 21. We drove through the night when we crossed the border and again through the night when we arrived home. After Richard’s drive down, two months of working on construction, and the journey home, we know we’ve been on a marathon fueled by the grace of God!  As is commonly our experience, once we do not need special grace to overcome, the Lord draws back that which is no longer necessary. This means that after we arrived home, we literally ‘crashed’ and slept for many extra hours! It has only been the last two days that we are up to par.

We certainly want to thank everyone who has been praying for us during this trip. For Pastor Carlos and his church family, we want to thank all of you who gave to build on the church/parsonage site on Nieve St. (Snow St.). Words cannot express what a miracle it was for Pastor Carlos and his family to have God answer his prayer for help only a few days after it was uttered—“exceedingly abundantly” above all he could ask or think.  He never even dreamed of the financial provision the Lord sent through all of you.

As for us, Richard has a new job at Nestle Products (Gerber) just a few miles from our house, which is the amazing provision of the Lord—even while we were on the mission field in Mexico. We are thankful the Lord has found us faithful enough to be allowed to be an expression of Himself in other parts of the world.

We have been waiting to publish the specific declaration the Lord has given us for Los Cabos until I write the accompanying article, “Understanding the Need for Prophetic Proclamation.” With the heavy rush of finishing the parsonage/church project this may not be until much later, though, so here is the proclamation:

Proclamation of the Lord’s Desire to Redeem the People of Los Cabos:

JESUS LOVES YOU

He is drawing the attention of

“Believers in Him” from many parts

of the world to Los Cabos. He has heard

your cry & He is sending His Holy Spirit

to Los Cabos for a special “visitation.”

In Luke 4:18 of the Holy Bible, Jesus speaks:

"The Lord's Spirit has come to me,

because he has chosen me to tell the

good news to the poor. The Lord has sent

me to announce freedom for prisoners,

to give sight to the blind, to free

everyone who suffers”

In May of 2010, through prophetic unction, the Lord clearly issued an invitation for the people of Los Cabos to turn to Him as Savior, Lord and Healer. He promised a special visitation of His Spirit to draw many to Himself, which will result in freedom from their former way of life. He also declared He was drawing believers from many parts of the world. We still wait for this outpouring.

Now in February of 2011, again through prophetic unction, the Lord is clearly stating, that not only has he been drawing the forerunners (the workers) from many parts of the world, but that when His Spirit falls upon Los Cabos, even as with Azusa St. at the turn of the century, people will come from around the world - from the North, South, East and West - to partake in what He will be doing in Los Cabos.

On Sunday, February 27, I kept hearing a very distinctive and needed word of knowledge while praying over a couple at the altar. I asked Pastor Carlos to interpret after the service so the wife of the couple could be encouraged. Later Pastor Carlos shared with me that the words I spoke to the lady were the exact words that he had spoken to this women (whom he works with at the RIU resort). She cried with joy when he explained that he had not told me these words but that the Holy Spirit had. During that time of sharing, Pastor Carlos realized she and her husband were not born again and led both the husband and wife to the Lord. Since the husband and children see demonic spirits both in their home and elsewhere, I asked if they would like for their home to be prayed over. Pastor Carlos and I (with Carlitos and Paola staying in the car this time and Richard staying at the worksite late before flying to Michigan the next day) prayed over the house, with several confirmations of what the Lord was doing. Please pray for these new believers: Javier, Marta and family.