Believe it or not, another year has come and gone. This year’s celebration was held at the recently updated Church at Tierra y Libertad during the Sunday evening service. There were approximately 264 in attendance with, according to Pastor Carlos’ estimation, another 100 regular attendees not at the celebration. For Richard and I, it was our 7th Anniversary Celebration with Cristo es el Camino, and just as in previous years, the joy and celebration just flowed into the surrounding neighborhood.

The night started at 6:00 p.m. Richard and I were late due to previous obligations; Pastor Michael and Laura from Cabo English Church were out of town for Thanksgiving and Richard had the honor of preaching at both services at Cabo English before rushing over to Tierra y Libertad.

Every year, the congregation does an amazing job of decorating for the anniversary. There was much time and effort given and the decorations served as a frame for the glorious celebration in the Lord. Everyone is honored at the annual celebration and it means a lot to them to be an active part of the local church. The assistant pastors were introduced and honored, and of course, Pastor Carlos, his wife Janet and their family—Paola, Carlitos and Joshua—were treated like royalty. There was great music from the praise team, soloists and from the youth band, which was led by their talented leader Escary; and since there are always many visitors invited to their celebrations, Pastor Carlos gave a powerful sermon on Christ being the door to eternity. He gave an equally powerful altar call.

I just have to leave you with one last observation of something that always amazes me. I’m an administrator by gifting and I am always amazed at what they are able to put together in a short period of time. Time and time again, I see the site at the beginning of the day and think, “We could be in trouble,” but by the time the opening words are spoken, everything is transformed and the events go on very smoothly (this is Mexico). I’ll use the transformation of the sanctuary area into the fellowship hall as this year’s example. Instructions were given to the congregation as to where to stand for the first phase of set up, then the second and lastly the third. Everyone stood up, continued to visit and within ten minutes, the large round tables you see in the photos are put up with the chairs neatly arranged around them. Just as quickly, the table cloths were carefully laid out and the serving of the food and beverages to the tables started immediately−like a well-trained army!

Just in case you’re curious, the cleanup started shortly after 10:00 p.m., with the last of the faithful servants leaving close to 10:30; and yes, they still go to work and school the next day. Things are different south of the border!

Thank-you for your co-laboring with us for the transformation of Los Cabos!

During our early years of ministry, we were taught anything done for the Kingdom of God is going to have opposition from the enemy of our souls. Satan hates God and—consequently—hates us. Whether you knew it or not, the moment you received Christ as your Savior you were inducted into the Army of the Lord. However, unlike a physical army on this earth, trying to hide would be futile since Satan and his minions know you by the Spirit of Christ who lives in you. The reality of this spiritual conflict is that−until Christ’s physical return to earth−we can expect every attack on the kingdom of darkness to be countered from the hosts of darkness. Nonetheless, attempting to move into ‘self-protection’ and draw back, does not remove us from the Army of the Lord or the enemy’s recognition of us!

I shared this preamble to let you know the enemy does not want the minds and hearts of the Mexican people being renewed with the Biblical values the Avanza sin Tranza program is derived from. We have had several counterattacks from the enemy over the last two years, but we continue to persevere.

Juan Mesa, the newly-appointed Director of Education (from the recent change in municipal government), recently gave us a call. He had previously expressed his department’s need for a value-based curriculum for the schools in our municipality, but he called with the good news that he was ready to implement the program.

With only a few days’ notice, Daniel Valles, Director of Avanza sin Tranza, happened to have an opening in his schedule and was able to fly down from Ciudad Juarez to meet with Director Mesa. Daniel, Richard and I were thrilled to be able to meet with him. Director Mesa is a very gracious man and deeply concerned about the children under his charge.

The meeting was a great success with the only remaining details being the date and time for the training seminar. If all goes as planned, the training should be shortly after the first of the year, making room for a firmly established program before the end of the school year. Daniel was also able to reiterate the importance of implementing Avanza sin Tranza in the government and in law enforcement.

Please pray that any plans the enemy has for resistance will be thwarted and pray for Director Mesa as he arranges the many details necessary for the implementation of the program in the ninety schools of Los Cabos.

The Avanza sin Tranza programming has no funding behind it apart from the modest cost for implementation, material and training Daniel must charge for the movement to continue. Please pray for the program to spread like wildfire in Mexico, along with the additional funds New Life Outreach will need for further implementation in our municipality.  If you would like to financially support the Avanza sin Tranza program, please contact us today.

May the Lord bless every one of you for your faithfulness to the work He is doing at the tip of the Baja Peninsula!