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Resolved to Overcome

12/26/2014

This blog is to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year, along with a word of encouragement!

I anticipate a fabulous New Year because the Lord has a purpose and a plan in this day and time. Our Father is not taken by surprise by anything that is going on in this world. In fact, He knows exactly what is going on and what will be going on, and He is using all that Satan and his forces can dish out to bring about His purposes—that’s how He has always done it!

Surely darkness will increase, but in contrast to the enemies' best, the glory of the Lord will cover the earth even as the waters cover the sea. The only variable is whether you will make yourself totally available to the Lord as a vessel fit for the Master’s use. Scripture tells us that the principalities and powers will be confounded at what God is going to do through a Body of Believers, called the Church, that the enemy thinks is powerless. The Lord is searching to and fro throughout the earth, looking for hearts that are completely His, so that He might show Himself strong on their behalf.

In this coming year, I challenge you to not lose out on the chance of a lifetime. Quit looking at the things around you, listen to the still small voice of the Holy Spirit and yield yourself as a living sacrifice to the Lord. Prepare to do exploits and to shine like the stars in the sky! This is not the time to be overcome but this is the time TO OVERCOME and show the world what you’re really made of—the indwelling Life of Christ.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

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Tierra y Libertad - Land & Liberty!

12/15/2014

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Our friend Lupe Hernandez, along with her husband Tony, is on staff with Cabo English Church. They work with the Feeding Los Cabos Kids program. Earlier this year, around April, Lupe told me, “Rhonda you’ve got to see what we have going on in Tierra y Libertad.

My first Tuesday morning at that feeding station was the Children’s Day celebration and almost 100 mothers and children were present for the program. I was amazed! I went home and told Richard what I had seen that day and asked if he would help build a shelter for shade over the area (see previous blogs). Since that time, the program has continued to grow. There were almost two hundred women and children there two weeks ago!

Cabo English Church always tries to have a close-by, established church work with the feeding programs and provide discipling for new converts. Tierra y Libertad had been established several years ago by a previous minster but had to be abandoned due to ill health. For this reason, there was no local church near the feeding program. Our faithful friend, Pasto Carlos, actually pastors one of the closest churches to Tierra y Libertad. We asked him to pray about the possibility of starting a church plant in the canyon area, in order to work in conjunction with the fledgling work. After serious prayer, Pastor Carlos said he felt led of the Lord to start a church in the area. In fact, several of the families at his over-crowded mother church live in the area.

Richard and I felt we would like New Life Outreach to purchase the two lots next to the feeding station for the new church plant. We prayed over the lots, went to the Ehido (Mexican Indian) land office with Pastor Carlos, as well as continued to try to see if the owners of the two lots were interested in selling. Even up to the time of Hurricane Odile, we had had no success in purchasing the lots. As soon as things started to settle down from the hurricane, I told Richard we had to make sure we went to the land office with Pastor Carlos again to make sure someone else would not buy the lots. This time the Lord spoke to my heart and said, “It’s not time yet.”

The Monday before Cristo es el Camino’s 5th Anniversary special, Pastor Carlos called to tell us that one of the sisters in his church had two lots in Tierra y Libertad (supposedly near the feeding station) and that she wanted to sell. Pastor Carlos met Richard and I at the lots in Tierra y Libertad the following day. The lots were actually kiddie corner from the feeding station and on the main road leading to the station. Pastor Carlos then explained that just the week before, one of his main men, Uwaldo, asked when they were going to start to do something at Tierra y Libertad. The excitement from the Lord rose in all of us, and two long sessions at the Ehido Land Office gave us the deeds we had waited for–but for the lots the Lord had picked out! Just for trivia, I had the experience of being a legal witness on a Mexican document, complete with a picture of my driver’s license for one of the deeds!

Pastor Carlos’ men have already cleaned the lot and Uwaldo plans on starting a Sunday School program on Sunday mornings at 9:00 a.m. within the next two weeks. He is then planning on inviting the people from Tierra y Libertad (after Sunday School) up the hill to Cristo es el Camino. Eventually, they will keep adding services until they have a full church program.

If anyone feels called to invest in this project, just contact us and we will give you an idea as to what is needed for this work!

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Celebrating 5 Years - Cristo es el Camino!

12/8/2014

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It all began just five years ago…

Five years ago, as of next month, Carlos Maciel was our translator when we met with Pastor Julian Maciel (no close relationship) of the Assemblea de Dios, Iglesia Centro Familiar in San Lucas. Later that year, we got to know him as Pastor Carlos, who was the pastor of the first church plant from Centro Familiar. Pastor Carlos invited us to visit his church plant, which was in a rented building at the time, for the evening service. A few days later, we had to fly home to Michigan, not knowing when we would be able to return.

In January of the next year, Pastor Carlos was standing on a humble piece of property in one of the barrios of Cabo San Lucas, crying out to the Lord that he had purchased the property he had felt directed to buy but had no tools and no knowledge of building. We had not had any communication from Pastor Carlos since we left Los Cabos in May of 2010, but in January of 2011, Richard felt he had to return to Cabo San Lucas with our covered trailer and tools to help the area pastors. Less than a week after Pastor Carlos stood on his new lot crying out to God, Richard drove up to his rented house/church building with the knowledge and tools to finish the small house on the new lot for a parsonage and start the humble beginnings of the church, Cristo es el Camino.

A year and a half ago, Pastor Carlos’ church started their first church plant at Cabo Valle, with Pastor Miguel serving as pastor. Then a plant was started at Las Palmas (also known as Lomas). This plant has had a setback due to the rent on the lot they were using being more than tripled. They’ve had to step back on this church plant, but Pastor Carlos shared just this week that the mother church now has a nucleus of believers living in that area, with the goal to restart the Las Palmas plant next year. The third church plant was started out of one of the church families' homes in Caribe. Caribe is still alive and well even after the hurricane. The fourth plant is just now in the works and will be starting within two weeks. I will be blogging on the newest church plant shortly.

All of this to say, the 5th Anniversary celebration was fabulous! Pastor Carlos had received permission from the city to close the street in front of the church and use the street as part of the celebration. Being that the celebration had been in the planning for months, no one would have expected the city to decide to finally dig up the entire length of the street and do some much needed water and sewer repair at the same time. Of course, this would have been great news if it hadn’t been for the upcoming anniversary celebration.

In true form, though, Pastor Carlos and his faithful men and women, made a walking bridge across the chasm down the middle of the dirt road and put up caution tape along the sides of the excavation. They were still able to set up the food tables in the street and were able to expand the seating outside the building, as well. They even removed the sheets of particle board that make up the front of the church and opened up the celebration to the whole neighborhood.

There were two different praise teams: the youth team, as well as the adults. There were also women and girls praise dance groups, a youth group skit, a Christian Mariachi solo, two very dramatic testimonies of what God had done in their lives, great preaching, and an altar call where even some of the guests came forward to invite Christ into their lives and homes—in addition to the fun, food, and fellowship.

Pastor Carolos honored Richard and I for being the catalyst that enabled them to have the parsonage, church structures, and the church plants they now have. Had we not shown up, the Lord may have had a plan B for Pastor Carlos and the newly purchased property four years ago, but He chose to use us—‘Us’ being far more than just Richard, our small team and myself. ‘Us’ includes everyone of you who prays for us, supports us financially or just tells others to check out our website and the work we are doing here in Los Cabos. A huge thank-you to everyone that helped make this 5th Anniversary Celebration possible!

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Resolved to Overcome

Tierra y Libertad - Land & Liberty!

Celebrating 5 Years - Cristo es el Camino!

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