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Yesterday, Shelli and I spent the morning at the funeral and burial of our dear friend, Javier Guzmán.  He pastored our church, Agua Viva, 9 years ago, not long after we had arrived in Mexico, and we had many opportunities to work together in evangelism and other ministries.  When we arrived back home here in December we heard that Javier (he was just 48 years old) had suddenly be diagnosed with cancer that had taken over his lower spinal cord and thus leaving him paralyzed and with little time to live.  We were able to visit him a number of times over the last two months and were encouraged to see his steadfast faith despite the suffering.  I’m sure he’s enjoying being with his Lord and being reunited with the many he shared Christ with in his years of ministry as a missionary and pastor. Please pray for his wife and for his three university-aged sons who have been carrying the ministry of pastoring their church over the past months.  Please pray for God’s provision (the family had no health/life insurance nor pension), strength and comfort through this difficult time.  Thank you.

In Christ,

Greg Neufeld

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Hola from Mexico! 

Blessed be the name of the Lord Jesus Christ!  His mercy and faithfulness endure forever!

We have much to share from the last few weeks.  God has been at work showing Himself in many ways.  Saturday, Feb. 13, Shelli led her team of volunteers in the first information and therapy session in a nice facility that the government is letting us use for the therapies that will be going on Satudays.  It was a great time with 6 families (we are expecting around 20 families to be involved as the therapy develops) that are going through the recovery of their kids affected by the day care fire.  Thank you for your continued prayer and support for this exciting ministry!

What God is doing spilled over from the SMILe project into our first ever marriage retreat that was this last weekend as 2 of the couples that are in the SMILe ministry participated in the retreat along with 6 couples from Arbol de Vida!  I have wanted to write about one of the moments since it happened last Saturday.  Shelli and I were sitting visiting with one of the couples with a burnt child and all of the sudden I had an overwhelming feeling as I realized that a little over 8 months ago in the same room (in the retreat centre “House of Hope”) in the first session of our youth retreat we learned of the then 26 dead children (49 kids died in total) killed in the day care fire in Hermosillo. In that retreat last June, our hearts were broken and we cried out to God for comfort for our mourning city and for a way to share His hope and love with the devastated families.  Here we were, last Saturday, sitting in that same room where we first heard of the tragedy, counselling a couple that we didn’t even know a month ago but for whom we have been praying for for months!!!  We shared in their tears through the marriage retreat and saw God touch their hearts.  Writing it out here just doesn’t do this amazing miracle justice.

Our speakers (pastors from Mexico City and good friends) Antonio and Becky Muñoz were lead by the Lord to do an amazing ministry with the couples from our church and the others that participated.  We expect to see much fruit from the work that God did in the hearts of all who attended.  We had a young couple from San Carlos (the coastal town where we hosted the retreat) that the local church sent to us.  He had just come to Christ a couple days before the retreat and she gave her life to Christ during the retreat as they dealt with some deep pain and an unbelievable past that they’ll need God’s help to get through as they start out in their young marriage.  God has been faithful and merciful and we just are overwhelmed by His perfect plan that ended surpassing our wildest expectations.

There is much on the go right now in life and minstry here.  We are sad to see Jack and Lucy Vogt head home to the Yukon tomorrow after serving our local church and us since November.  Our EFCCM Area director, Steve Neufeld, is here right now with the Hermosillo Ministry Team and the local church as we look to God for direction for future ministry.  We are getting ready for some exciting ministry with a ministry team from Langley, B.C. coming next week.  Shelli is training the volunteers for the SMILe project and working with Cynthia Romo to get Safari Biblico moving ahead. 

I need to sign off here.  We appreciate so much your prayer during these exciting times!  There is so much need and so many opportunities to bring the Kingdom of God to this broken world.  Thank you!

Joyfully serving Christ in Mexico,

Greg Neufeld

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Greetings from Hermosillo!

Just wanting to update you all on what is going on here!  This year in Arbol de Vida we are focusing on the family (marriages, parenting, etc) and so we are getting ready for a marriage retreat (Feb 19-21) that will be a first in our church along with other discipleship and teaching throughout the year.  We are looking forward to this important weekend for the couples and have had a great response from the family of God abroad to help sponsor all the couples that wouldn’t have been able to go due to finances.  Thank you!!!  Please pray for our marriages in Arbol de Vida and that all will attend this retreat.  Just like everywhere else these days there is a great spiritual battle being fought to hold on to our marriages. 

Shelli is busy these days with homeschooling, working out the vision and involving people in Safari Biblico (the Sunday School and VBS curriculum ministry) and reconnecting with the hospitals and doctors in the SMILe ministry (Child Life Therapy with burnt, disabled and sick children).   Please pray for my dear wife, that the Lord would give her direction, wisdom, patience, called co-laborers (by the Lord of the harvest), time and energy to see what He wants done done.  And to not do what He doesn’t want done.  Confused yet?  Basically, that His perfect will would be done.

Please pray for me (Greg) as I work with the church leadership in preaching, counselling, youth minsitry, worship ministry and administrating in the local church.  Please pray for wisdom in some difficult and complicated situations we are trying to help our brothers and sisters through.  I need wisdom to lead the missionary team here too.  Please pray also for Lane Elliott and I as we start an adult youth leadership discipleship study focusing on preparing servants for being great in God’s kingdom (where servants who never stop serving are the great ones). 

Please pray for the Soup Kitchen that we are partnering in with a Free Methodist Church just a few hundred metres from Arbol de Vida with help from both churches (and Lane and Sheri putting their passionately compassionate hearts into it).  Every Saturday there are 50-100 kids attending that may or may not otherwise have had a meal that day.  Lane has more info on this ministry (with videos even!) on his blog.  www.laneelliott.blogspot.com.  Take a look!

We are enjoying the servant hearts of a group of Canadian couples right now.   Paul and Esther Weeks are here for a month.  They are living in the dorms at the church and serving in many areas that are right in their giftedness!  For example, Esther is teaching sewing to a group of ladies that could make it into a business to support their familes, Paul is building storage for the soup kitchen supplies and other wood-working projects.  Jack and Lucy Vogt are here till the end of February and are serving in teaching English, cooking classes, Bible studies and much more.  Again just letting the gifts God has gave them be useful to Him!  And then we are so happy to have Reg and Linda Toth back till May or June with the blessing they are to the ministry here in many ways which among them include construction, teaching English and compassion ministry.  God’s family is amazing!

Well, I need to wrap this up.  God is great and I love seeing it more everyday in His Word and His creation.  I’ve enjoyed the privilege of seeing some the universe closer-up since we got back with a telescope that a dear friend sent along with us to Mexico.  It seems that God continually wants me to see His greatness lately whether in His word or in the work of His “fingers (Psa. 8:3)” when I see galaxies milliones of light years away.  To think that He is WITH ME is all I need to keep serving Him joyfully.

In Christ,

Greg Neufeld for Shelli and the niños

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We arrived home to Hermosillo Dec. 22 after a great trip with God providing safety and great time together as a family.  It was a warm reception at church with many fiestas, great food and fellowship with our family in Christ here.  We had about 35 friends for Christmas dinner which included 5 Mexican families and our fellow Canadians here (Jack and Lucy Vogt from Dawson City, Yukon and Lane and Sheri Elliot and their children).  We celebrated Christmas, Greg’s birthday (26th… unfortunately that’s the date not the age…), our anniversay and New Years on the 31st and Shelli’s birthday on Jan. 3rd.  Fiesta central!  But it doesn’t end there!

Monday the 4th we left for Caborca, Sonora, a city about 4 hours northwest of Hermosillo with 8 of our youth and our family (our kids were part of the team and did a great job!) on a missions trip to the workers in the asparagus harvest.  Workers from all over Mexico (mainly remote regions in the south)come to Caborca in the different harvest seasons (mainly asparagus and grapes).  They usually live in camps where families live in small dorm-type rooms.  The workers make about $60 (Canadian) per week.  This was the 3rd time over the last 2 years that we have joined with a group from Phoenix to reach out to the unreached in their indigeonous languages.

Workers watching film

The workers come from remote areas of Mexico where they speak one of the 60+ still spoken languages represented throughout the country.  Gospel Recording has recorded the Gospel of John in all of the known languages of Mexico and so when we visit a camp we divide up into different teams, diagnosing languages and sharing the Gospel with them in their native tongue.  Most know enough Spanish to communicate and to understand but the goal is that they would hear the Gospel in their native tongue.  We did children’s ministry in the camps sharing with 200-300 children over the 5 days.  Every night we showed a new film that shows the life and ministry of Jesus through the eyes of Mary Magdelene (http://www.magdalenamovie.com/en/index.html).  We would give an invitation to receive Christ after the film (Greg one night and the other nights, the pastor (Alfonso) of the local church we were staying at and helping).  It was amazing to see the hunger to listen and respond to the message.  We gave Bibles to all who made commitments to Christ as well as the Gospel of John in their language.  I’m not sure of the numbers of languages represented each night, but one night the production team (the group that would make the CDs) said they had given out the CDs in at least 6 languages.

Shelli in children's ministry

Our team from Arbol de Vida!

We’re sorry we didn’t get a chance to get out an update before this mission but we would appreciate your prayers for the many who put their faith in Christ.  The main thing is that they would get connected to a healthy church, a very difficult thing in the conditions and locations they live in.  Pray for the local pastor, Alfonso, and his church as they seek out and minister to these new believers.  Our youth are putting together a video for the reporting time we will be doing this coming Sunday in our church.  I’ll try to upload it here so you can get a better idea of what God did through the week!

We have much to do to start out the year in ministry.  Many challenging situations, many exciting projects, many short-term teams coming, many needy people.  A lot of stuff that is impossible for us in our power but totally possible for God.  Please pray for us as we depend on God to do the impossible and to be able to trust Him and rest in Him.  To Jesus Christ be the glory and honour and power forever!!!

Joyfully serving the Author of salvation,

Greg, Shelli, Talson, Annelise and Caleb

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Merry Christmas everyone! 

I’m writing from Denver, Colorado after driving all day from Montana.  We enjoyed a warmer day not having to add gas line antifreeze everytime we filled the tank like the first few days.  We really enjoyed Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning with our dear friends, Todd and Jenn and their kids, who we hadn’t seen for years.  They serve in a closed country on the other side of the globe and this would be our only chance to visit for the forseeable future.  They drove out to meet us in Regina from south of Winnipeg.  We are always inspired by their faithfulness to spreading the good news in the most challenging circumstances.  We thank God for the precious friends He has given us in this life and the moments He lets us share.

Tomorrow, we plan on visiting the Focus on the Family campus in Colorado Springs.  Our family enjoys the Adventures in Odyssey radio programs that they produce (and their other ministries) and so will visit Whit’s End as well as the other ministries there.

We plan on visiting our friend Michael From in Arizona before heading into Mexico as well.

These days of travel always turn out to be precious family time  that serves as a refocusing and refreshing time as we go between cultures and emotional departures and arrivals.  Thank you for your prayer as we depend on the Lord to protect us and keep our vehicle running over the many miles.

We look forward to getting home to Hermosillo.  There are many things on our mind and in our hearts as we head home.  Loved ones, new projects, needs, plans, challenges and dreams wait our arrival.  One very important prayer request we have is that God would pour out His wisdom upon us as we come back into ministry there.  Please pray that we would know what ministries and roles we should resume and what ones we should entrust to others that are ready.  Our desire is to see our church grow through the service of many in the ministries and responsablities that the Holy Spirit gifts them to take care of.

We always leave Canada regretting that time and circumstances haven’t let us visit all the friends and family we hoped to.  Please forgive us if we weren’t able to visit you or your church this time.

We have been amazed and humbled by the overwhelming generosity of God’s family over the last months.  The list of people we are forever indebted to is too long to begin mentioning names.  We simply have the best family in the universe (both our physical and spiritual families)!  THANK YOU!!!

I’ll sign off for now, thanking you for your prayer and hoping that you and your family enjoy celebrating the birth of our Saviour this Christmas season wrapped in His peace and joy. 

Joyfully serving the King of kings,

Greg Neufeld for the family

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Hola from Hermosillo,

Just getting in here at 2:00am after 16 hours of working through business items in the Evangelical Free Church of Mexico National Conference that we are hosting in Arbol de Vida in Hermosillo.  It is a joy to see God at work in Mexico and it is such a privilege to be part of it!

I was called away from the meetings in the afternoon to visit one of our youth girls in the hospital.  Eunice had been suffering fainting spells which was complicated by the flu (their treating her as if it was H1N1 – I don’t know that it is a confirmed case) and was admitted to hospital last weekend.  Eunice is one of the  youth that came on the mission trip to Canada in 2007 and for her age (15) is an amazing athlete, teacher and leader.  We have been praying for her for days and seeing God at work, not only in her but in her family and others.  Last night her dad came to the church and had the leaders pray for his daughter and then today they got permission for me to pray for her in the hospital.  With very limited access it took special permissions and a lot of convincing at the security access point to be able get in to see Eunice.  God directed the visit in a special way and I left sensing the hope and joy that only He can bring to a tough situation.  Yesterday, the cardiologist told the father that they would have to operate and implant a pacemaker to regulate Eunice’s heart rate to keep her from passing out.  José, the father, found me back at the church later in the evening and overwhelmed by how God is working and that Eunice had such joy after our visit that she was singing praises with her mom in the hospital room.  He said that the Psalm that I read to Eunice (Psa. 139) was the same one he had read to her just before I arrived* (see update below).   God confirmed His message of His perfect care and design for her life to her as she realized that we (her father and I) had unknowing shared the same message with her in the same afternoon.  God is amazing!!!

Please pray that Eunice will leave the hospital free of the flu and of heart problems and that this trial will serve to strengthen her faith and that of her family for the glory of Jesus Christ.

Joyfully serving the King of Kings,

Greg Neufeld

*I talked to José later and found out that he had shared the same thoughts (from Psalm 139) with his daughter the day before, not just before I came… just want it to be accurate.

I talked with José today (Nov. 23) and they have been reassured (after various tests) by the cardiologist that Eunice will be fine and will not need a pacemaker after all so we are all rejoicing with them!  Thank you for your prayer!

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Good morning!

Just wanting to pass on a few news items and prayer requests.

Mexican Fiesta/Silent Auction!   Tonight at 7pm at the Olds Koinonia Christian School we are looking forward to a great evening with many of you who have been touched by God’s work in Mexico over the years.  Please see the invitation on our blog for more info. www.knowgst.ca/blog

Prayer Requests. 

1. For God’s blessing on the event tonight and that Christ would be glorified.  Please pray for the all the details that need to come together and for the Lord’s blessing on each one who serves in different areas.  Thank you!

2. Greg has been under the weather for the past 10 days and still hasn’t totally got his voice back.  We share this Sunday in Bethel Evangelical Missionary Church (Carstairs) and then Greg flies to Hermosillo Monday morning to be part of the National Conference of the Evangelical Free Church of Mexico which we are hosting in Arbol de Vida.  Please pray for that the Lord would unify the churches that meet in Hermosillo to seek God’s direction for the future and for Greg, that his health would clear up enough to preach and travel.  Thank you!

3. Please pray for health, safety and protection for Shelli and the children during the week that Greg is gone.

Thank you for lifting up the Mexican people and our family in prayer!

In Christ, Greg

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Just a few quick news and prayer items.

As you can see we’ve been renovating on our blog here.  To the right you can see a spot to subscribe to our updates automatically.  Just type in your email address and everytime we post something new it will arrive in your email automatically!  You can also connect the posts here to your home page in Yahoo, Google, MSN or Facebook through the RSS thingy.  Please take advantage of these new ways to stay in touch.

Getting ready for the Evangelical Free Church of Mexico National Conference in Hermosillo from Nov. 12-15.  We are hosting the conference this year with representatives from 11 Mexican E. Free Churches in Árbol de Vida.  Greg will be attending and helping out with hosting the exciting weekend.  Please pray for the preparations the church is making before I (Greg) arrive to help. 

Please pray for our brother and sister Cesar and Marcela in Hermosillo that God would provide a much needed job for Cesar. 

A praise item here in Didsbury!  Last night, my (Greg’s) dad was hospitalized with extreme pain in the abdomen.  A couple years ago he had to have surgery to correct a strangled bowel and feared the same thing was going to have to happen again.  We prayed with him last night and shortly after the problem corrected itself (the Lord was merciful) and he is doing well.  Praise the Lord for His help.

We thank you for your prayer for us and for our dear church family in Hermosillo. 

In Christ,

Greg Neufeld

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You’re invited!!!  We are putting on a Mexican Fiesta/Silent Auction for you our team on Friday, November 6, 2009 at 7pm at Olds Koinonia Christian School (directions see www.oldskoinonia.com) and we’re hoping you can make it.  Proceeds will be going to the SMILe and Bible Safari projects.  Mexican snacks and lots of fun provided!  See you there!  For more info please call or email us at agentgst@yahoo.com.

Greg

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Hola from Canada!

Just updating you all on the current prayer needs we have. 

1. Shelli heads to Mexico City early next week to present in a national children’s ministries conference.  She has developed over the past 9 years many Sunday School programs and VBS programs and is putting them into a package called ”Safari Bíblico” (Bible Safari) for churches in Mexico.  This involves a ton of work, writing, translating and publishing.  So we are working hard to have as much material possible for the conference and would appreciate your prayer.  Please pray for our computers to cooperate and that our time would be used efficiently.  Pray for Shelli and the 6 other teachers from our church, Arbol de Vida in Hermosillo, as they teach workshops and learn from the others that are teaching there.  Please pray for safety with all the travelling involved too.

2. Please pray for the life of Arbol de Vida church as they seek to grow and meet the many needs of the people of Hermosillo through Christ.  As we communicate with our loved ones there we hear many great testimonies of God answering prayer (jobs for the unemployed, healing, encouragement, reconciliation).  Praise the Lord!  We miss our church family a lot and pray earnestly that this time apart will be a time of blessing for all despite the distance between us.

3. Please pray for us as we share what God is doing in Mexico and in us with God’s family here in Canada.  We are visiting churches while here on home assignment.  Here are some upcoming dates:

ZION Evangelical Missionar Church (Didsbury, AB) – Sept. 27

McDougal Chapel (Sundre, AB.) – Oct. 23-25

Global Impact – ZION Evangelical Missionary Church (Didsbury, AB) – Oct. 31-Nov. 1

Bethel Evangelical Missionary Church (Carstairs, AB) – Nov. 8

West Zion Mennonite (Carstairs, AB.) – Nov. 20-22

Bergen Evangelical Missionary Church (Bergen, AB) – Nov. 29

We are waiting to confirm dates with some other church we hope to share in.  Lord-willing, we plan on being back in Hermosillo before Christmas.

Thank you for your prayer!!!

In Christ,

Greg & Shelli Neufeld

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