Missions trip with home church to Pachuca, Mexico

Teaching English classes in the Good Shepherd Bible Church

Learning how to lay concrete brick

Making progress!!

Enjoying pastes together...a "hot pocket" type thing that's unique to the Pachuca area

The team from Pleasant View Bible Church

Hanging out with Obed....one of our summer missionaries
who now helps to train other youth!

Some of the training team along with summer missionaries

One of the small groups....preparing their Bible lessons
prior to getting "sent out" to teach clubs

I (Bob) recently had the opportunity to travel down to Mexico to accompany a work team from my home church in Warsaw, Indiana (Pleasant View Bible Church). Always a joy and privilege for me to get back to Mexico to see what God continues to do there. The pictures above give a general feel for what we did during our time down there.

We traveled to Pachuca, Mexico (about 1 1/2 hrs. NE of Mexico City) to help the Good Shepherd Bible Church where we served as a family for almost 10 years. Land was purchased a LONG time ago (almost 10 years ago!) to build a church but lack of permits kept the project on-hold. Recently permits were finally granted so a part of our work was to help build a perimeter wall around the property. We got the majority of the work done....and learned how to lay concrete brick at the same time! Very hard work but seeing the progress was very rewarding. We also held English classes in the church for 3 nights....with great attendance every night. Fifteen students expressed an interest in evangelistic Bible studies (in English) in the future! Pray that many will come to Christ as a result!

Toward the end of the trip I traveled to the camp near Queretaro (where we lived for several years) to observe how the training was going for the summer missionaries. We're thrilled that this ministry continues in our absence. The training team (about 10 people) were doing a superb job teaching the youth how to teach kids' clubs.....now these youth are all throughout Mexico teaching evangelistic clubs! Appreciate your prayers for them as they travel and share the Good News with kids!

God recently gave me the opportunity to travel to the countries of El Salvador and Honduras. During the first part of the trip, I attended the FAM missions mobilization meetings in San Salvador to hear exciting reports of what God has been doing in raising up Latins to be sent out around the world. God continues to raise up missionaries from the "Global South" to serve in areas where oftentimes "gringos" are not well-received.

The Sunday following the meetings we were sent out to visit churches in various parts of the capital city (San Salvador). I had the privilege of leading in communion (1st picture above) in one of the "Iglesias Centroamericanas" located there in the capital. What a joy to worship and enjoy fellowship with this group of believers! The welcome was warm...and of course the temperature was a bit warm too!

Then....on that same day I traveled to Tegucigalpa, Honduras (2nd picture above) to share about a ministry that we helped to start in Mexico called the "Summer Missionary Program". The hope is to initiate such a ministry for the national church in Honduras. I shared the opportunity with several church leaders...and the desire to start such a ministry there was evident. Pray that God will give wisdom to know when and where to begin such training in January 2013.

The bottom picture illustrates the new "face" of missions. Business as Mission (BAM) is growing in many parts of the world including Honduras. Above are some sheep being breeded to help to fund both national pastors and missionaries on a seminary campus in Siguatepeque. Pray that God would multiply their efforts and that their initiatives (raising sheep being just one of several initiatives) would yield much fruit for the kingdom! Thanks for praying!

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!