Would you pray with us for the following prayer requests?
1) That God would do a mighty work in our city and that many souls would be saved.
2) That our mission leadership would receive wisdom, and especially for the process of selecting our new president.
3) That the missionary families affected by the violence in Mexico would receive an extra portion of God’s grace
4) That our son-in-law Casey would be safe on his 18 month tour in Iraq.
5) That we would all be faithful to the task.
A difficult decison has been made. I suppose it was inevitable, but that doesn’t make it easy.
As you have probably read in the news, one of the most dangerous cities in the world (that’s right, the world) is where part of our team works….Juárez, Mexico. During 2009 the death toll from drug-related murders rose to more than 2,600. The killing is senseless and widespread. And it appears to be getting worse. Although 2009 was the worst year on record, January and February 2010 are outpacing it.
As a result, after much prayer and discussion, we’ve made the decision to evacuate our personnel from the city. We really don’t know what will happen to the work that our people have been a part of for many years. Hopefully, it will continue and it will grow stronger. Doubtless, we will lose some of our preaching points. Perhaps some others will be raised up. Only God knows.
In recent months several religious groups have received extortion threats. The demand for “protection money” is growing and a host of burned out businesses (who apparently weren’t paying) is the evidence. Ultimately, our leaders just did not feel they could continue to allow our personnel to live in such dangerous conditions.
May God bless our personnel who are relocating, and may God bless the local brethren who can’t leave. May this violent and sinful city one day be transformed by the power of Christ.
As the saying goes, the more things change, the more they stay the same. At least that what some believe. I ain’t buying it.
Right now, it’s all about change in the organization. We have new structure, new bosses, new policies and procedures, and new goals. There is not much that hasn’t changed, in my opinion, and that makes it difficult. Don’t get me wrong, I am not against change. It’s just when everything spins into confusion and into uncertainty, ministry suffers.
Several months ago we were told that the closer to the field a missionary was located (us peons as opposed to the ruling class) the less we’d notice the change. I think that was not exactly accurate. Change is all over all of us and some are handling it better than others. We were told to “expect confusion” for the next few months.
I am sure we’ll get through it, but we could all sure use your prayers right now!
February was a month of travels for us. Hopefully, March won’t be.
In early February, Donna and I flew to Mexico City to attend a team leader meeting. It rained and was cold almost the entire time we were there, making the situation less than ideal. We had a couple of days of meetings along with a couple of travel days. We were guests of some of our missionary colleagues in the D.F., since this meeting was done on the cheap! (Cutting costs seems to be the buzzword this year)
Later, I (Alan) flew to Guatemala City, Guatemala for a week of leadership training. I spent several days along with my colleague David studying with our regional leadership consultant. The time was truely rewarding and I think I came away with some useful information to put into practice. I enjoyed seeing Guatemala for the first time, although honestly I wouldn’t want to live there. This was another meeting done on a tight budget, and that was reflected in our meals. We didn’t really have any bad meals, but as I like to say, nothing just really knocked my socks off……except maybe for the frozen coconut lemonade that accompanied our last meal. Yum, Yum.
For the last several years we’ve had meetings or other commitments that have separated Donna and I on our birthdays (mine is 2/20 and hers is 2/22). Late last year we decided, Lord willing, we’d plan something special to celebrate. We waffled on the idea (or maybe that was just me waffling) several times. I thought about how much we’d already been away from home, and how much a little celebration trip might cost and a few other things. Ultimately, I decided that Donna was worth it and that the other trips were all about work. So we headed out for a couple of days in the mountains of Arizona. We enjoyed snow-skiing, a musuem visit, and several good meals. One of the highlights was finding one of the restaurants featured on Guy Fieri’s TV show, “Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives.” We really enjoyed the weekend and will have to say as southerners, we’ve never seen that much snow in that little time. It was great!
February is over, and we are back at home and back to the real world. Lot’s of work coming in March. Pray for us!
Thanks for your prayers for our church planting institute. On January 30 an excited group of potential church planters gathered in our home to register and receive orientation about the institute. After a couple of hours of fellowship they got their books and were on their way.
On February 27, our first class met from 6 to 10 p.m.. Each student had completed the first three lessons in the workbook. Our three “professors” each facilitated one of the lessons and a lively discussion ensued. We are grateful for the dedication of these students and for their participation. Would you pray for students, A, M, V, M, J, and I, as well as leaders, A, M, and G?
Would you pray for us as we launch a church planting institute? We hope to train at least 10 church planters in Hermosillo in 2010. Our next effort will be a course in church planting that will meet about once a month on Saturday from January to May. We hope to have some graduates planting churches by late spring/early summer. If all goes well, we’ll either repeat the course with new students in the fall, or we’ll offer a second, more in-dept course to the spring students.
Welcome to 2010! I can hardly believe that we are entering a new decade. Time flies. Things are off and running here in Hermosillo. We enjoyed time with family over the Christmas holidays, but we are glad to be home and back to work. Our partners did a good job in our absence and for that, we are grateful.
The changes at IMB continue. The arrival of 2010 has brought a new round of administrative changes, mainly in the area of funding. We are in a “wait and see” mode as the financial gurus get a new electronic reimbursement system up and running. In summary, it appears 2010 will be the year “to do more, with less” as we’re experiencing budget cuts, reduced personnel,…and even salary and benefit cuts. On the personal front, Donna and I are tightening our belts a bit, cutting out some things that we really don’t need. Among others, we’ve pledged to eat out less in 2010. No big sacrifice there.
Our church plant in Las Lomas is going pretty well. We’ve been meeting in the open air for several months now and lately have suffered due to cool weather. It seems that the folks from Hermosillo will sit through 100 degree weather, but don’t let the temps drop below the 80s. They vote with their feet, saying it’s too cold to sit outside for any length of time. (All the while, Donna and I are enjoying the weather in short-sleeved shirts and dreading the return of triple-digit heat.) Our prayer is that God will lead us to a suitable location soon.
In Villas del Sur, the news is not as good. We have struggled to develop leaders or even develop commitment among the adults. The kids are still coming by the droves….they are so hungry for love and attention. Most of the families in the area seem to be “surviving”. That’s about all we can say. Donna remarked that when she asked the kids what they got for Christmas, many said “Nothing.” While we understand that Christmas presents are not essential items, I think most of us expect to give or receive something, allbeit something modest. Our plans for 2010 include some new strategies for Villas as well as much prayer.
The big news items for us right now are violence and water.
Our team members in other cities are facing some of the most violent conditions in the world due to the war on drugs. In Juárez, for example, the death toll was 191 deaths per 100,000 during 2009, making it statistically the most violent city in the world. For those of you from Louisiana, Juárez surpassed New Orleans, according to the news report! That’s comforting to know, isn’t it? Our leaders are studying the situation and we’ve already taken some steps to protect our missionaries who live and work there.
In Hermosillo, the big news item is water. We’ve had a scarcity of water for years now, and the previous mayoral administrations have put band-aids on the problem. One mayor bought water rights from the farmers and constructed wells and pipelines to bring water in from the aquifer west of the city. That seems to be running dry. The next mayor constructed a dam along the Sonora River and created a new, larger reservoir. The problem is that it’s not raining anywhere east of here, so the lake isn’t being replenished. Back in December, the city began water rationing by going from 24 hour a day service to only 16 hours per day. That caused some chaos as the water mains were put through cycles of pressure/no pressure. Leaks sprang up all over the city. I am not sure if they saved much water! Now, the announcement is that we are going from 16 hour a day service to only 8 hours per day. At our house, we have a water storage tank on the roof that holds enough water for a day or two. What should happen is that our tank will fill during the eight hours of service, and then gravity will draw the water into the house when the city service is turned off. We still have water, although the pressure is greatly reduced. Donna and I joke that we can only do one “water function” at a time. Don’t try to turn on a faucet in the kitchen if someone is showering. Don’t expect the washing machine to fill up in less that about 2 hours. (And if you wash more than one load, the storage tank will be depleted.) Such is missionary life in another country. ….
On another note, I have been amazed several times this week. First, the renewal notice came for our vehicle license plates. This normally means going to the office and standing in line for hours, only to be told you need to go home and get more documents. Beleive me, it’s frustrating. This year, however, there was an option to renew online. I went to the webpage, verified the data, and entered my credit card payment information. About three days later, a courier knocked on our door, hand delivering the renewal stickers. Is this Mexico?
Yesterday I was out and about in the city. After making several stops, I went to the car to start home and it wouldn’t crank. For some reason after six faithful years of service, the battery was dead. Anyway, I got some guys to give me a jump start and finally got the car going. I attempted to give the guys a tip…and they wouldn’t accept it. I drove on over to the auto parts store, bought a battery, and the young man installed it for me. I tried to tip him, and he refused the tip. Twice in one day? This is Mexico, where most everyone has their hand out for a tip. What’s up with that?
Thanks for your continued thoughts and prayers for us.
Thanks to all of you who are reading our blog and are praying for us. We deeply appreciate your interest and your love for us. We thank our Southern Baptist friends for your gifts through the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering and the Cooperative Program.
From our house to yours, may you have a blessed Christmas season!
November has been a month of ups and downs in ministry here in Hermosillo. We ended the month encouraged by what we saw, but we certainly had some moments!
A couple of posts back I wrote, “Summer, summer go away!”. It did….The weather has turned out to be really nice. However, what is comfortable for us thick-blooded Americans, is considered “cold” by Mexican standards. We are running around in short-sleeved shirts and occasionally wear shorts (not for ministry, but for relaxing). Our Mexican friends are wearing hoodies and scarfs and mittens and such. We are finally able to have a Bible study without sweating through our clothes and are praising the Lord for it. Our friends are passing around the hot chocolate and warning us that drinking a cold beverage will certainly make us sick. What a contrast.
In that respect, we’ve seen our attendance drop somewhat at our house church events. Since we meet outside and are subject to afternoon breezes and quick desert cooling at sundown, some have elected to stay in. We’ve resorted to erecting the tents and tarps…I refer to our mobile facilities as the “Tabernacle” and everyone seems glad to have some makeshift shelter.
One of our partners told us that October and November are particularly difficult months for ministry here, precisely due to the “change of weather” as the Mexicans put it. For us, it’s been a great transition to fall….but for many, it’s been a source of apathy and depression and a general bad attitude.
On the other hand, we’ve had some new attendees during the past month and our mid-week group has devoured some deep doctrinal studies. They’ve been asking some hard questions and we think that we have a solid core group now with clearly Baptistic beliefs. For that, we are grateful.
As Team Strategy Leader, I’ve had to do some traveling this past month and have a calendar full of upcoming trips that will take me well into the spring. As it was put to me, I am wearing two hats….one hat is that of front-line missionary. The second hat is that of team leader for three cities. I enjoy both hats, to be honest, but it’s hard to switch from one to the other.
All in all, we are encouraged. God is at work here and we are fortunate to be able to work alongside Him.
We at IMB are in the midst of a mountain of changes. Some of the changes are due to the reorganization of the board this past year. We have new leaders, new support centers, new strategies, and new priorities. That’s not to say that we have changed everything…..We are still focused on reaching the world for Christ. What HAS changed is how we will do that, and perhaps, thinking about who should get the opportunity to hear first. More about that second comment….
On top of the structural changes at IMB, we are feeling the pinch from the global economic crisis. It seems that offerings are down and the cash flow is slowing. We are facing personnel cutbacks, reduced ministry funds, and even salary and benefit cuts. It seems clear that 2010 will see a leaner and more efficient missionary force. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. I think as a whole, we’ll be more aware of our DAILY dependence on God. To use a good Baptist saying, “Where God guides, he provides” will be something we’ll be depending on more than ever.
With that in mind, we are making some hard decisions about WHERE to preach the gospel. From one point of view, there are lost people everywhere and one place is about as good as another. But from what we are told is more “strategic” thinking, there are obviously places in the world that will NEVER hear if we don’t go. This is going to hit close to home for us missionaries in the Americas. Some of us are working in places where Christianity is at 5%, 10%, 15%, or maybe 20% of the population. Yet there are places in the world where the percentage of known Christians is virtually 0%. The tough question is “Should we continue working in areas that have significant numbers of believers, or should we exit and redeploy to the least-reached peoples of the world. These are truly hard questions. For someone like myself, who is working where the percentage is about 5%, that means 95% of the people are lost. But that also means that I am not working among the least-reached peoples of the world. What does the future hold? Good question…….
movilizando méxico