A note from Greg

Hola from Hermosillo!

Well, I’m sitting here in being reminded again of the blessing it is to have such a wonderful wife, mother for our kids and servant of God in Shelli.  She’s off right now in Sacramento, California in a God-ordained opportunity to love and give hope to kids that have been burnt in a “burn camp” put on by Shriner’s Hospital.  She’s with 14 families from Hermosillo whose children were victims of the daycare fire last year serving them at the camp as an interpreter and as a therapist.  This is just another amazing moment in a long list of the ways God is using Shelli and other ladies in our church to bring about things we have been praying for since the tragedy.  From the very day of the fire we, as a church, have prayed that we could be used to love and bless these hurting families and share with them the hope that we’ve found in Christ.  We have seen a constant stream (river!) of answers to our prayers ever since.  Blessed be the name of the Lord!

So, here I am with the kids, missing Shelli but not bored.  Another family in the church had some emergency type commitments come up and so I am also taking care of these friends of our kids for a few days.  Lots of fun!… and pizza (and other food that can be eaten with a minimum of dishwashing)!  The great part is the joy I feel in being in Christ!  God has been working in me lately (actually since before I was born) and I’m loving it.  It has meant less sleep, more prayer, denying myself, loving people, sharing my faith with strangers, memorizing Scripture, being more patient with others and less with myself, more repentance, more praise, less fear, more humility and being quite likely happier than I’ve ever been as Christ eclipses everything else.  I’ve been challenged lately by powerful profetic (in the sense of God’s word being preached with the goal of repentance and with no sugar-coating)messages, by books that I’m reading, by hours in God’s word and by people that God designed to be part of my life before I was born.  I’m loving it!!!

Just so you know about some of the other exciting things that are going on here (Shelli’s been better at keeping you up-to-date on her ministries), let me share a couple things.  The land deal that we have been working at to buy the property next door to the church for the last year+ is very close to being closed.  Hopefully this coming Monday I’ll have more news.  Don’t hold your breath though…  I’ve learned to breathe much better living here in Mexico where “holding your breath” when something is supposed to happen right away would be fatal on a daily basis.  This isn’t a negative comment.  I like the improved, better-breathing me because it means less stress and more trust in God.  Thank you Mexico for being part of God’s plan for molding my life in this journey of becoming like Christ!  Anyways, we are very excited to see the dream of having room to expand very close to being reality!  A major blessing has been that the owner of the adjecent land has let us use it over the years and just recently we flattened it out and put up some goal posts and as I write there are praobably about 40 youth over there playing soccer in a new ministy we’ve called “La Semilla” (the Seed) which our youth are running to reach out to the youth of the surrounding area.  It’s exciting, but not without some nerves as we are surrounded by a needy areas with much addiction, violence and poverty.  Just where Jesus would set up shop, I guess, eh?  Good thing He’s in control of it.  He saw whoever stole the two guitars from the church last week and is teaching us to have Him as our only treasure. 

There are other blessings like Lupita, a young lady from 2 hours up into the mountains, who is living with us studying in university.  She was taked under the wings of some pastor friends in a town called Banamichi where we have ministered with our youth in the past.  She comes from a difficult past, but Christ shines in her face and it is a privilege to take her in as a member of the family for the forseeable future.  When our friends approached us about finding a place for her to live while she studies, I assumed we would find another home for her and then when no other options opened up we said she could stay with us for the time being.  But the day that Nacho and Jetsa dropped Lupita off, Annelise said excitedly to Shelli that she had been hoping for a sister, and I’m not sure what happened when I heard that, but God tripped a switch in my heart that changed my attitude from simply boarding Lupita to one of taking her in as a daughter for as long as the Lord sees fit.  I also realized why Nacho had been so concerned about finding a good home for her as she is like a daughter to him and his family.

I wrote the above yesterday and then had people drop in until late.  I will post this now even though there is more I’d like to go on about so that the news doesn’t get too old too fast.

Thank you for your prayers in all these things.

Joyfully serving Jesus,

Greg