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Reaching Hermosillo, Mexico with the Gospel of Jesus Christ

Archive for May, 2009


las lomas

Published May 25th, 2009 in Uncategorized | No Comments »

This is an aerial photo of a small part of the Las Lomas neighborhood of Hermosillo.

Several weeks ago we found this neighborhood while prayerwalking in Las Lomas. The great thing about this area is that there is a public recreation area which is surrounded by several residences. We have met many of the neighbors already and have been more or less accepted in the neighborhood. One neighbor prayed to receive Christ last week and another is interested in the new church. Up to 35 children and youth from the neighborhood have participated in events that we have held.

The unique thing about this area is that there is a house that we may be able to buy or rent located next to the basketball court. I can’t imagine why anyone would want to live in a house in such a public area, but I believe that it would make a great ministry center and location for small group Bible studies. I have indicated on the photo the location of the basketball court, the rent house, and two houses of persons of peace in the neighborhood.

Would you conduct a virtual prayerwalk of this neighborhood called Cerrada Horacio?

1.  Pray for the two persons of peace.

2.  Pray for the other neighbors.

3. Pray about an abandoned house nearby where young people use drugs.

4. Pray about the rent house and possible ministry site.

5.  Pray for the basketball court and the upcoming evangelistic events that we will hold on May 31-June 2 and June 6-8.

6. Pray for our volunteer teams from Texas and Arizona that will be ministering in the area.

7. Pray for our group of faithful attenders that already numbers about 20.

8. Pray for  Pastor G. and his family

9. Pray for Alan and Donna as we minister in this area.

laslomashouse-copy1

Thanks for your prayers.

weekend report

Published May 19th, 2009 in Prayer Requests, Updates | No Comments »

We had a really good weekend and praise the Lord for what he continues to do in Hermosillo.

On Sunday, the Casa de Dios church celebrated two milestones. First, was the purchase of a tract of land. The Lord has blessed the church greatly over the last year and the church purchased this land solely with the tithes and offerings that came through the offering plate. We are humbled at how God has provided for this group and rejoice with them as they plan for the future. Second, the church presented us with a recognition of service and laid hands on us, commissioning us to go to the next place to start more new works. While our hearts are torn over our decision to move ahead with our work, we know that in the end our exit strategy will serve to strengthen the church and develop new leaders. We will continue to encourage, advise, and pray for the Casa de Dios, although our attendance there will not be every Sunday.

In Las Lomas, we celebrated Mother’s Day on Sunday. It was a week late, but we chalk that up to the swine flu. We had about 40 in attendance on Sunday including at least 5 adults that were there for the first time. Pastor Gerardo shared a Bible study with the group as the kids made crafts for their moms. We ended the service with a fellowship time. Our service and fellowship lasted from 6:30-9:30 p.m. On an exciting note, one neighbor attended and showed much excitement and interest. She participated in the Bible study, asking questions and making comments. Afterwards, as we were eating together, I shared with her how we offered “large group” time on Sundays, but we also did “small group” Bible studies in homes during the week. She immediately invited us to her home the next day at 4 p.m. We went, and at the end of the Bible study, she gave her heart to Christ. Seldom have I seen anyone so hungry for the Word and so anxious to receive eternal life. We clearly see this new sister in Christ as a person of peace in the neighborhood. We are humbled and grateful for her decision.

We are pleased to have a college student working with us for the next 5 weeks. Lauren arrived on Sunday from Virginia. She will be working with us in our ministry as well as accomplishing a study for her university work back home. Our first impression of her is positive. She is still acclimating to the extreme heat, as well as the 3 hour time difference.

prayer requests

Published May 16th, 2009 in Prayer Requests | No Comments »

Much is happening here in our ministry and we ask for your prayers.

Our new work in Las Lomas is growing. Praise the Lord we now have at least 6 adult team members and another 10-15 adults who have shown interest. Add to that the youth and children of these families and we are relating to about 40 people in all. Several in the group are receiving discipleship studies and we are organizing to involve more and more of them with responsibilites and commitment.

This Sunday, May 17 we will honor the moms in our group with a special recognition and message. We are being very informal, in order to build relationships with the seekers in the neighborhood.

In Villas del Sur we were pleased to have 8 adults and 29 children in attendance on Thursday night. We are studying a series called “Who is Jesus?” Each adult is completing a written discipleship study at home and in our large group time we are studying the four Christological passages in the New Testament. At the end of our six week study, we’ll award diplomas to those who have completed the study.We are emphasizing that these studies will help each one grow in Christ, and will equip them to share their faith with others in their circles of influence.

In both locations, we are seeking a rental property to open as a ministry center and meeting place.

Pray for us.

Pray for our team members.

Pray for those who are committed to the discipleship studies.

Pray for the people that live within our target areas.

Pray for meeting places to be found.

Thanks!

tuesday update

Published May 12th, 2009 in Prayer Requests, Updates | No Comments »

Things are getting back to normal in Hermosillo, or so it seems. All the schools were open yesterday. The Imparcial reports that 200-300 kids showed up with colds or other symptoms and were not allowed to enter. Attendance was reported at 95% for students and 98% for faculty. The University of Sonora professors are still on strike and last weekend some students staged a protest, blocking off a main street. Their banners read, “Classes, now!!!”

The state government reports that 794 influenza tests have been sent to Mexico City, and only 20 cases of swine flu have been confirmed in the entire state, including 9 in Hermosillo. All 20 cases have been treated and are symptom free and at home. Most of us think that with schools and businesses reopening, we could see an upswing in reported cases, but who knows?

The big news item this week is the weather. We’ve been hovering around 104 for about a week now. The 10-day forecast calls for a couple of days of 110-111. I am sure that we will begin to hear of some heat-related illnesses and probably some deaths. Seems a bit early to be that hot…

On the ministry front, things are moving right along. The Casa de Dios church is at the point of purchasing a tract of land in order to build a first-unit building. The process has been very “indigenous” and we’ve been scratching our heads about some of the details, but hey, it’s a local thing, right? Attendance at CDD is holding steady, but not really growing very much. We are just completing an adult study on service and spiritual giftedness. We pray that some of our attenders will catch the vision to be servants and ministers.

At Las Lomas, we have encouraging news. We selected a new ministry site recently and have held two events there. It seems that we have good acceptance by the neighbors and we are working hard to build relationships. On Sunday we had about 45 people at the event. On Monday, we did a service project to clean up the local park. There were 10 of us cleaning and about 25 neighborhood kids checking us out. So far, so good. We have a number of people in discipleship studies right now and we are working on some leadership training issues. All in all we are excited.

In Villas del Sur we began a basic discipleship study last Thursday night. Each adult is being asked to work on a discipleship study during the week. We’ll be making home visits on Tuesdays, and having group sessions on Thursdays. We found some really good materials which should take us through about 6 months of discipleship. We are still looking for a house to rent in order to open a ministry center and to have Sunday services, but as yet, we haven’t found the perfect place.Last Thursday we had about 10 adults and 25 kids.

In other news, we are anticipating some volunteer teams in June that will help us with these ministries. Additionally, a summer intern will work with us from May 17-June 25. And last, but not least, our oldest granddaughter will be with us from May 30-June 26.

Thanks for reading! Keep us in your prayers!

not the best day we’ve ever had

Published May 7th, 2009 in Updates | No Comments »

I don’t exactly know how to explain it, but it seems that there is some kind of “funk” here in Hermosillo. It’s not something physical necessarily, like an illness. It’s more of an attitude. I suspect that it’s a manifestation of spiritual warfare. I am not one who sees a demon behind every bush. But, I don’t discount that we have an enemy who wants to steal, kill, and destroy.

We first noticed this a few days ago. Yesterday, we made several home visits and found this cloud of apathy and indifference in virtually every home we visited. Even we have been somewhat “down” for the last few days. Personally, I think that the enemy may be taking advantage of all the turmoil in the country to up the ante, so to speak. First, there’s the economy and the peso/dollar situation. The money has been somewhat unstable for a few months and prices here are rising. Second, there is the ongoing violence. Not that we’ve had much happen here, but it’s all over the news and nobody really trusts the government. Then the swine flu. Many people were off work for a few days, probably losing valuable salary. They already survive on very low wages. Anything that affects that is significant. Finally, it’s the weather. We are experiencing our first real taste of heat for the year. It takes everyone a little time to acclimate again. After all, we’ve had a very nice spring, so far. We are now experiencing our fourth day of 100+ temperatures. It’s 104 as I write this, and tomorrow’s forecast is 106. Ouch!

To top that off, early this morning our dear friends and co-workers Gerardo and Aurora were involved in a rearend automobile crash. They were in heavy city traffic when a car ahead of them stopped to make a turn. They stopped behind several cars, but the guy behind them rammed into the rear of their car. Aurora was transported to the hospital by ambulance. Last word is that she is waiting to see an orthopedic doctor. Her injuries are not life-threatening, but obviously they are significant.

Please pray for us, for our ministry, for those we are ministering to, and especially for the family of our dear friends.

wednesday update

Published May 6th, 2009 in Updates | No Comments »

Several days ago I wrote that technology is great…..when it works. Well, last night as I was reading the news on the internet, all of a sudden a page popped up that said “Access Restricted” and basically that our internet service had expired. We’ve been on auto-pay for months now without any problems, so I didn’t understand what was up. I dialed the technical support number for the internet provider and got a message “I’m sorry, this number doesn’t exist”. Arrrrgh!

A quick trip to the customer service center this morning resolved the problem. Seems that the April payment didn’t go through. No one knows why and no one bothered to notify me. Oh well. thankfully I have a backup plan. I am blogging this from my handy-dandy AT&T Aircard which has been modified to work on the Telcel cell phone system. The software is showing HSDPA speed and I’m happily working away. The good part is that the aircard can be activated for 1, 2, 5, 15, or 30 days simply by sending a text message to Telcel. I activated for 1 day, confident that the cable company will have us up and running again, soon.

On to other news…..the second case of swine flu was confirmed here yesterday and the government is waiting on results for 9 others that were sent in for confirmation. The latest patient is an 8 year old boy, who is “out of danger” according to the paper. From now until Friday, all schools are being scrubbed down. Tomorrow, the livestock show and state fair will reopen for normal activities.

Nationally, it seems that most everything is getting back to normal. The government says that the economic impact on Mexico will be nearly half a percent on the GNP which is about $2 billion dollars, if I got my decimals in the right place. I am sure that will have a ripple effect across the country for several more weeks (or months).

We are fine. Thanks for reading this and praying for us.

swine flu in sonora

Published May 4th, 2009 in Updates | No Comments »

Today’s newspaper is reporting that one case of swine flu has been confirmed in Hermosillo. A young man, age 15, was tested for the virus on April 25. The results were confirmed and reported on May 3. It seems that this young man had travelled to Phoenix from April 20-24 (and presumably was sick upon his return to Hermosillo). He lives in a neighborhood not far from where we work. However, the report is that he was never hospitalized, and is doing fine now. With a 7 day incubation period, if he passed the virus to others it should be evident about now. We’ll keep watching this.

The report from Mexico City is that the epidemic is subsiding. There are now 26 deaths attributed to the flu and there have been no new deaths in the last few days.

One headline in the paper said that “not even the flu could keep people from shopping”. It appears that business was brisk in Hermosillo over the long holiday weekend. I can confirm that the supply chain has been interrupted. We were in a local supermarket over the weekend and noted several items out-of-stock. I suspect it’s a product of workers staying home. Hopefully we’ll get back to normal soon.

Many locals are taking advantage of the warm temperatures to head to Kino Bay. Kino is located about 60 miles west of Hermosillo along the shores of the Sea of Cortez. It’s all part of “Hermosillo County”, so the local police department has set up DUI checkpoints between Hermosillo and Kino in order to ensure the safety of motorists. Also, they are performing the “rolling roadblock”. A police cruiser drives from Hermosillo to Kino, or Kino to Hermosillo, at the speed limit. By the time the officer arrives at the other end, there are about a zillion cars behind him who obviously would have been exceeding the speed limit otherwise.

We plan to resume our home Bible studies today and our group activities on Wednesday.

update from hermosillo

Published May 3rd, 2009 in Updates | No Comments »

Today’s newspaper reports that except for closed movie theaters, all is nearly normal in Hermosillo. Hermosillenses (roughly pronounced like err mo see YEN sace) are enjoying the long holiday weekend by shopping and by heading to Kino Bay to enjoy the beach. We drove by several closed cinemas yesterday, but were amazed at the volume of people crowding into Sam’s Club. Downtown Hermosillo was a major traffic jam, too. The only thing we saw unusual was that Sears was closed because of the flu.

Businesses are set to resume normal hours on Tuesday and the kids will go back to school on Wednesday. We plan to have our home Bible studies as normal starting Monday and we’ll be back on a normal schedule.

Looks like summer is creeping in a bit early this year. The 10 day forecast calls for highs of 100-104 everyday. Nothing like a little Sonora heat to bake away the flu virus, huh? Thankfully, the electric rates in Sonora dropped on May 1 to the lower summer tariffs. We pay less per kilowatt hour overall. We have a three-tiered pricing system for electricity. There is the basic rate, the medium rate, and the excess rate. The first X number of kwh is billed at the lowest rate, the second X number of kwh is billed at the middle rate, and everything over a certain point is billed at the highest rate. On May 1, the basic tier allowance jumped from like from  200 kwh to 2000 kwh. I’m turning on the AC! Ha! Ha!

the flu and the local situation

Published May 2nd, 2009 in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Today’s Hermosillo paper, El Imparciál reports that 10,000 migrant farm workers will NOT be arriving in Sonora soon to work in the agricultural industry. It appears that the Mexican government is checking northbound travelers for flu-like symptoms at Sonora’s southern border. Each year, thousands of Mexicans make their way north to work in the fields. These measures are in place at least until May 10.This signals a tremendous impact since the grape crop is nearing maturity. Table grapes are typically harvested beginning near the end of May and all through June. Other crops in productions include canteloupe, watermelon, cucumber, and squash.

The situation in Mexico City appears to be improving. Yesterday was the second consecutive day with zero deaths from influenza. Health officials, while optimistic, say that the situation won’t turn around overnight. The flu will continue to spread for a time, they said.The government reports 397 total cases of H1N1, with 16 of those dying and 381 surviving. The distribution of cases is: 285 in Mexico City, 45 in Mexico state (near Mexico City), 29 in San Luis Potosi, 7 in Tlaxcala, and 5 in Aguascalientes.(All these areas are in central Mexico, 800-1000 miles south of us.)

Perhaps the greatest economic impact in Mexico will be on tourism. Tourist dollars are the number one source of income in Sonora. Not only does our state have destinations like Rocky Point (affectionately called Tucson’s Beach), San Carlos, and Alamos, the federal highway Mexico 15 bisects the state carrying thousands of people south to destinations like Mazalán, Guadalajara, and Puerto Vallarta. Obviously, hotels, restaurants, and gas stations will feel the pinch from less travelers, and that will result in layoffs or reduced income for many Mexicans who already struggle to survive.

Finally, the government is taking advantage of the long holiday weekend and ordering non-essential businesses to close from May 1-5. Essential services such as hospitals, grocery stores, gas stations, etc. will remain open but should take precautions. Friday, May 1 is labor day around the world, and is celebrated as such in Mexico. Tuesday, May 5 is the celebration of the battle of Puebla. Many businesses and government offices already had planned a Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon long weekend, but now are adding Tuesday to that.

We are fine here. No symptoms and don’t know anybody that has any. As a precaution, we’ve cancelled our weekend services at all three churches. We’ll be back on a regular schedule on Wednesday, May 6, we think.