Recruiting Latin missionaries at the Rio Grande Bible Institute!

What a privilege to be invited to attend the missions conference at the Rio Grande Bible Institute in Edinburg, Texas. I was able to see first-hand how God is raising up Latins (some refer to this as the "Global South"....which also includes missionaries being raised up from Africa and Asia) to be "sent out"to the various parts of the world. Some estimates say that there are over 10,000 Latin missionaries serving world-wide...in over 20 countries. During my time at RGBI, I met many who were interested in either returning to their countries of origin to serve the Lord AND those who wanted to serve in places like Spain, Hispanic parts of the US, Uruguay and Argentina. Please pray as I follow up on the 10+ interested folks with whom I had contact.

One of those intersted was Marco Chavez whom I met during our ministry in Mexico. He expressed his interest in serving the Lord in church planting as well as children and youth work. Marco participated in our Summer Missionary Program in Mexico for several years along with his sister. Now he's preparing for ministry at RGBI and desires to follow God's leading wherever that might be. Please pray for Marco as he pursues God's will for His life. I'll be working with him on some possible ministry options for this upcoming summer.

Outreach through local church...and at TX State Fair

During these past few months Kathryn, Brent and I have had the opportunity to be involved in some various outreach opportunities. The end of October our church held a "Harvest Festival" as an alternative to other Halloween activities. I was thrilled as a Dad to watch Kathryn share her faith. Several Hispanics approached our evangelism booth and Kathryn was able to share her faith in Spanish! What a joy for Dad to watch this!!

Earlier in October Brent and I participated with a group of guys in evangelism at the TX State Fair. Again, I enjoyed watching Brent "in action" with some kids his age.

Pray for Olga, Shannon, and Joey who responded to our Gospel presentations with professions of faith. Pray that they will grow in their new faith!

Week at Sonscape Ministries in Colorado

Sharla and I greatly enjoyed the opportunity to spend a week out at Sonscape Ministries near Colorado Springs, Colorado. What an incredible place.....a place for rest, renewal and lifechange for those in vocational ministry. During this time of transition in our lives, we couldn't have picked a better time to go to Sonscape.

For any of you out there who are in ministry, we highly recommend this place! You can't beat the scenery.....and there's plenty of time to rest, get re-charged, spend time in prayer and God's Word, read good books, walk and hike, and probably way too much time to enjoy their great meals! Sharla and I benefited tremendously from this time away. Thank you, Lord, for making this possible for us!

Teaching at Hispanic Bible Institute

I (Bob) greatly enjoyed the opportunity to teach at an Hispanic Bible Institute up in Elkhart, Indiana in January and February. Latins from Venezuela, Honduras, and several states in Mexico attended the course on Christian Education. Fellow CAM missionary, Gene Lambright, started this lay leader training institute several years ago. After having been immersed in the U.S. culture on our home assignment, the chance to teach in Spanish and relate to Hispanics turned into an incredible blessing for me personally! Sharla and I both miss relating to Mexicans to whom we've ministered since '96. I think we've left a part of our hearts in Mexico!

By the way, the bottom picture is AWESOME Mexican and Honduran dishes that some of the ladies prepared. After finishing the course in 6 weeks, we celebrated with some delicious food and good fellowship. Great tostadas, seasoned BBQ ribs Honduran-style, and some HOT sauce to give everything flavor! What a great way to celebrate the conclusion of the course! Thanks, Lord, for giving me this chance to relate to these special students!

Missions Conference at Millar College of the Bible in Saskatchewan, Canada!

I (Bob) recently had the opportunity to travel to the prairies of Canada to represent CAM in a missions conference at Millar College of the Bible in Pambrun, Saskatchewan. My relatives (Dennis and Sharon Kirsch) have worked at this Bible school over the past decade. Over the past 6 years they have visited and ministered with us in Mexico. Now it was MY turn to visit them and see where God has been using them in recent years! What a joy for me to be on "their turf" and see the ministry of this school that has been cranking out pastors, missionaries, and other full-time Christian workers since the early 1900's.

You could tell that missions was a high priority for this school with 150 students from all over Canada. Great speakers, excellent dramas, informative seminars, panel discussions, an international dinner, a marketplace with foods from around the world, and other creative activities were planned to promote the Great Commission.

I enjoyed the opportunity to participate in a panel discussion with mission personnel from other agencies concerning how "Joyful Perseverance in Serving the Lord". The Kirsches and I also manned our display table with info about CAM and our ministry in Mexico. We enjoyed the chance to talk with students and other reps about how God is using CAM International throughout the Spanish-speaking world. Now I'm back home here Indiana where we're at for our home assignment. It was -13 with the wind chill this AM here in Warsaw! That's colder than it was in Canda while I was there! Nonetheless it's GREAT to be home. This weekend we travel to Clinton, Iowa where we have the opportunity to share in a church about our ministry. Hopefully we'll have good weather!

Visit to Mexico

I must say it's a weird feeling to be back here in Mexico but not have our home here. Everything came together so quickly to get our things moved up to Texas. Last week at this time I bought my ticket to fly down....now here I am with our stuff all loaded up on a trailer bound for Dallas. We're grateful to finally get our things up there!

Today I had some time to reflect a bit on how good God has been to us as a family during these past 15 years in Mexico. It's hard to put in writing all that we have experienced since arriving here in '96 with our two daughters, Kaylyn and Kathryn. We've experienced great joy in seeing people come to know Christ, see them grow, and begin to minister actively in the body of Christ. Scores of youth have grown in their heart for ministry and love for children. Churches have grown in their vision to carry out the Great Commission. Perhaps the greatest joy is reflecting on how much we have grown in our own lives. We haven't "arrived" by any means but our faith in God has been tested and has matured during our years here. God brought us here to do a profound work in our own hearts and lives.

Now as we transition back to the U.S. for this next season of our lives, we leave Mexico with deep gratitude in our hearts for all God has done. A part of us remains here....wishing we could be two places at once! We're truly excited about the future God has in store while at the same time truly grieving that we're leaving a country where we have ministered for virtually all our years as a "family". God is good...and we look forward to all that awaits us as we continue our ministry from the "other side of the border"!

Sharing about Mexico....with pre-schoolers

Last week Sharla and I enjoyed the opportunity to share about Mexico with the kids at the Presbyterian Pre-School here in Warsaw. Our daughter Kathryn went to this school back in '99 when we were up for a home assignment after our first term of serving in Mexico!

We had a wonderful time sharing about God's work there as well as some fun cultural stuff. Mexican toys are always a "hit" with kids so we showed them some of our fun things we brought up. God has opened several doors for us lately to share with kids which Sharla and I greatly enjoy doing! Afterwards the teachers organized a piñata and a Mexican Christmas tradition called a posada.