What's going on in:
San Diego
&
Aguascalientes
There is a lot going on and I want to keep you all informed with the highlights of each month. Thank you to all who pray for and support these ministries. We are able to bless so many people and we couldn't do it without you. To God be all the glory. Gracias amigos!
I spent time with fellow Horizon missionary, Chevon. We spent a lot of time talking, I fixed some things around her house and I took her to her doctor's appointment with her neurologist. Chevon has Parkinson's and her symptoms are getting slightly worse. Her doctor upped her medication dosage and we are going to see if that helps. Please keep her in your prayers.
February has been a very busy month! I went on a couple of missions trips and got to spend time with lots of people that I care about. I was blessed to be able to go back to the Philippines for a visit and to see/help out with all that is going on there. Serving the Lord truly fills my heart with joy!
I started off the month down in Aguascalientes. Elvira started her 6th semester of medical school and I wanted to be there to take her on her 1st day back. She is now officially past the halfway point of her classroom studies! I'm proud of her and happy to see her get back to work after a nice, long winter break.
I flew home to San Diego on Saturday, February 7th. It was a great trip to Mexico but I didn't want to miss too many Sunday classes with the youth.
I had an interesting introduction planned for the youth. We are going through the gospel of Mark and in chapter 11 we came to Jesus in the temple. Jesus saw things going on that were not supposed to be inside of God's house. Jesus got angry and overturned the tables of the money changers and drove them out. I started off the class by flipping a table and it definitely got all of their attention! After I flipped the table, I casually started reading the verse Mark 11:15 so it all made sense. They were all very focused that Sunday!
I finally got to go back to the Philippines after 6 years of being away. I used to be a missionary there and spent a total of one year in Manila, the capital of the Philippines. I am excited to see everybody and help out in the ministry that I was involved with. I left on February 23rd. Thank you Lord for this blessing!
I am staying at the He Cares Mission Center. This is the organization that I was volunteering with while I used to live in Manila. It is an incredible ministry that is focused on helping the poor street children of the Philippines. The founder, Joe Dean Sola, drove me to some of the areas where they are trying to help. These people were living in some of the worst conditions! Right in the center divide of a busy street or under the highway bridge. It was filthy and covered in garbage. We hope to bring the love of Jesus to these kids and help/educate them so they can have a better life.
Joe Dean also started a farm project many years ago. My last trip to the Philippines, in 2019, I was able to pour some of the first concrete for this project. His vision is to create a sustainable community where he can get families off the street, give them a home at the farm and pay them for their labor. It was awesome to see all of the advances they have made. The church on site was finished with a beautiful rock design and I was able to attend his weekly Bible study for the community. They are raising pigs, chickens, catfish (which they caught and served us for lunch) and doing so much more. There are 6 families on site, all of which were rescued from the streets and extreme poverty. This is going to be an amazing village when it is 100% finished. I was so blessed to see it! And I also had lots of fun learning to drive their back hoe.
And finally, I helped out at the He Cares Mission's weekly feeding program. Every Saturday they help out hundreds of kids & youth. About 100 kids showed up in the morning and we played games, sang worship songs and taught them a message from the Bible. Afterwards we had them wash their hands and then the volunteers prepared the plates of food and passed them out.
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Later in the afternoon the youth/scholars have their event. We did worship and later a Bible lesson. I was the guest speaker for the day. It was an honor! I spoke to around 100 people and encouraged them to put the phone down a lil bit each day so they can reserve some time to spend with God. In this day & age we are so distracted, so we have to find time to read our Bible and pray. These things are powerful spiritual tools that we can use in our everyday lives. I demonstrated this by cutting a piece of steel with a power tool. It made the job so much easier (and it shot sparks everywhere which got their attention). As Christians, we have powerful spiritual tools that we need to be using. We need to know God's Word and pray to Him so we are not doing things in our own strength. I will be here for a couple of weeks so please keep my trip in your prayers!