Fall Concert

Last night was a special night as we enjoyed going to the fall concert at Lakeland Christian Academy where both Kaylyn and Kathryn attend. Kaylyn was involved in playing the piano both for the band as well as for an offeratory. We greatly enjoyed watching her use her talents for the Lord! I know she was glad when it was over! I (Bob) remember those days when I played in piano recitals...especially the ones when we had to memorize our special numbers. I was always really glad when it was over!

Thanks for your prayers for Kaylyn, Kathryn, and Brent as they adjust to life here during our home assignment. They are involved in various activities which keeps them quite busy (and us as well)!

Brent's school experience

All of our kids are now in their respective schools. The girls are at Lakeland Christian Academy here in Warsaw while Brent attends Madison Elementary School. They are adjusting to life here in "gringolandia" as we call it. Plenty of adjustments but they are doing well. Although they look like "gringos" our kids definitely see themselves as more Mexican than anything else! So it has been a real adjustment for them.

Our son Brent recently had a cool experience at school. He had to share about his favorite book. He chose the Bible; author, God. So he takes his Bible to school and gets up in front of the whole classroom and shares about his favorite book. No, this wasn't something that we pushed him to do. This came totally from his own heart. We quite convinced that Brent has the gift of evangelism as we hear his comments and observe his life.

We're very grateful for the youth group at our church here. Great group of kids and excellent Bible teaching! Kaylyn and Kathryn have begun to get involved and make friends there as well as at school. They are growing in the midst of a LOT of upheaval in their lives.

Thanks for praying for our kids these days. I know they appreciate your prayers!

Here's our new "temporary home" in Warsaw, Indiana where we'll be through May of 2011 for our home assignment. Kaylyn, Kathryn and Brent are starting school and getting adjusted to life here. Lots of changes! Thanks for your prayers as we adjust to "gringo" life. We look forward to seeing many of you while we're here!!

Summer Missionary Program 2010

We are grateful for the opportunity to train over 20 youth in how to teach kids' club. As a family we went to Mexico City for the training week from July 9-15. What a GREAT time we had with the quality youth that God sent us this year.

The training involved various facets of teaching an evangelistic kids' club: teaching songs, bible verses, a Bible lesson, a missionary story.....all designed to help children learn more about what God has done for them AND helping them understand that they too can trust in Christ for salvation. Every summer several thousand children attend the 20-30 clubs taught by these youth and 100's profess faith in Christ.

This summer Sharla and I helped train the youth in the songs they would use in the clubs. Sharla came up with the motions for the songs which you can see in one of the pictures above. I was able to help in the training of the teaching of the evangelistic Bible lesson. All the youth met in small groups throughout the week to prepare their Bible lessons and then practice together before they are sent out. It's GREAT practice for them since they all learn together with us "coaching" them.

We thank God for the awesome group of youth God sent us this year. Sharla and I are grateful for the privilege to work alongside a team of both CAM missionaries and Mexican youth to organize this summer ministry! Pray that there will be long-lasting fruit from the clubs which the youth taught this summer!!

Huasteca trip: June 2010

Just got back on Tuesday from a GREAT trip to the "Huasteca Hidalguense" which is abourt 7 hours from here in Queretaro. I was thrilled to have 16 people go on this trip....some from our own church here in Queretar, several summer missionaries from years past, a dentist, a couple widows, fellow CAM missionary colleague Bryan Smith and daughter, AND most i mportantly, my own son Brent (see top photo).

We ministered in several ways....

• kids clubs taught by past summer missionaries
• free dental work to around 50-60 patients!
• teaching young people a conference on dating and marriage
• teaching leaders conferences on both Christian Education (me) and Biblical principles on communication (Bryan and another church leader from Queretaro)
• showing evangelistic movie followed by testimony and Gospel invitation
• handing out 100's of tracts and visiting people in their homes

It was a GREAT 5-day trip packed with a lot of ministry. Yes, we were exhausted when we got home! We thank the Lord for the chance to help Adolfo and Olga (church planter and his wife) who faithfully minister in this region. Thanks for praying

Having Family Close-by!!

Since arriving in Mexico, we as a family have been accustomed to living far from our family (i.e. parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, etc). It's just an aspect of missionary life that you get used to....not to say that you "like it" but it's a part of the "cost" that we knew full well when we came here. Yes, our kids call our fellow colleagues "aunt and uncle" but you still miss those family ties.

Well, in God's plan, he brought some family down to us this past spring....actually the past 3 years during the spring!! Dennis and Sharon Kirsch (my aunt and uncle) have had a wonderful ministry here since 2008 helping at our CAM-related camp close-by called "Koinonia". What an incredible blessing to have them here!!

Uncle Dennis has helped in invaluable ways at the camp with his skills in repairing, building, maintenance....well, you name it and he can do it! He did an extension on the kitchen at the camp this year....what an incredible blessing to have another third added on to the small kitchen! Now it's almost spacious!! Our house is also in much better working order due to his handyman skills that have been put to use here too! Aunt Sharon (my Dad's sister) has also been very busy helping with some data input for CAM's website called Obrero Fiel. She has done an incredible amount of work to help get a Bible study tool (called Treasury of Scripture Knowledge) online for Spanish speakers.

A couple weekends ago I traveled with them to the border just to help with any unexpected events. Fortunately, we had a safe trip with very few stops (a couple military checkpoints but that's just normal!) and basically an uneventful trip. They will soon be back "at home" in Canada. They are greatly missed here as they impacted MANY lives during their months here. I thank the Lord for the great joy of having them here and having the chance to re-connect with family!

Mega Missions Conference in Guatemala

I just returned from the beautiful country of Guatemala where I (Bob) attended a "Mega" Missions Conference in Guatemala City. The conference was held at a seminary which CAM started many years ago called SETECA. What an awesome experience to be able to attend and see how God's hand is moving to send out Latin missionaries all over the world.

Over 650 participants came from all over the world: Spain, Nicaragua, Uruguay, Costa Rica, Panama, Honduras, El Salvador, Turkey, England, the U.S., and a host of other countries as well. A variety of workshops were offered on a variety of topics related to the missionary "enterprise" specifically from a Latin perspective. The overall theme for the conference was "Crossing New Frontiers: A Great Commission". One of the highlights for me was to see many folks go forward on the last night to commit their lives to serving God wherever that might be.

Another highlight for me was to have 9 other colleagues from Mexico (both missionary and national) with whom to share the experience! Three of us went representing the missions mobilization ministry of FAMEX here in Mexico. All of us went away even more passionate about missions as well as burdened to continue to promote a "Great Comission" vision throughout Mexico. Also, we pray that God will raise up more workers from Mexico to be sent out to the unreached peoples of the world. Please pray with us to that end.