Happy Birthday Jesus :)

Philippians 4:13Amplified  I can do all things [which He has called me to do] through Him who strengthens and empowers me [to fulfill His purpose—I am self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency; I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him who infuses me with inner strength and confident peace.](AMP)

Wonder twin powers activate:  the form of a believing believer

Jesus said to him, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes."  Mark 9:23 Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.  Mark 11:24

Greetings children of God, love and blessings to you! Happy Birthday to our Lord and Savior Jesus. I am privileged to share with you all that has gone on down here in our little section of God's kingdom. Ron and the team from "To Mexico with Love" came down for our outreach/Christmas celebration and to hand out 125 blankets, yay God!!  We were blessed to give blankets to four different church's and a rehab center that we help with donations. It is getting very cold here and these blankets are so appreciated by all who receive them. Your donations make a real difference in peoples lives.

But seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.  Matthew 6:33  Then the righteousness will answer Him, saying "Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You?" And the King will answer and say to them, "Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me" Matthew 25:37-40. Wow, so powerful: And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. Colossians 3:17 We can show our love for Jesus by loving others, helping others in their time of need. To live as an example to those who are still not believing. To help them to receive the Lord and learn to Love Him. Then they will become self sufficient in Christ's sufficiency. They will no longer rely on "us" for help they will turn their eyes to the Lord and He will fulfill all of their needs. Yes, He will use "us" to help them but they (the new believers)  will see that their help is coming from above and we are only the vessels that carry the Glory of the Lord. 

Four families were sponsored for Christmas this year from "To Mexico with Love" the ministry is a multi-church ministry out of Bishop Ca and we receive donations from Church's in Inyo and Mono 

counties, also we have been receiving donations from a new Church in Nevada. Praise God and thank you Jesus for all who are involved with the ministry.

We were blessed to be able to go to Sister Juanita's house for posole, some say the best ever. She is an excellent cook and each time Ron brings a group down one of the highlights is to go to her home and have a meal with her and her family.

 It is so super special to have them open up their home to us and a wonderful experience for all those that get to come with us.

The Christmas outreach also became a quinceanera, we were blessed and honored to have two events on the same day. Thank you to all who were involved with making this special day possible.

Congratulations Monica we were honored to be able to share your special day with you!! We were also blessed by the wonderful food that the ladies of  Pastor Ezekiel's church prepared and decorated the dining area for us. We were able to hand out gloves, scarves, toys and blankets. 

 One body, many members all being needed and necessary. God is Love and we are so blessed to be vessels for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Happy Birthday Jesus, so look forward to see what the new year holds for all of us. I look forward to seeing some new faces down here in Baja California. Love and hugs and many blessings to all!!

Oh how He loves us!!

"This is my commandment, that you love one another as  I have loved you."  John 15:12 

Greetings children of God; so happy to be sending an update to all of you! I have been blessed to be able to share what the Lord is doing  in our part of the Kingdom. I headed back to Bishop CA for the wedding of my dear friend Jena Erickson in October so happy for Jena and Micha.  While I was   there I  was able to share at Church on the Mountain in Crowley Lake, I have not been there since they sent me out to Mexico two and half years ago. Thank you Mike and Heather for allowing me to spread the good news of all that is going on down here.  Due to all of your generous donations we were able to purchase 100 blankets to hand out at our yearly Christmas celebration. It gets very cold down here and most of the homes do not have any sort of heating. So blankets and warm clothes are such a blessing to these families.

In November I was blessed to head to Elk Grove CA at Life point Church to share with them. A team from Life point comes down every year and builds homes for the needy. This year coming up they will be building a Church in Rosarito and Frank and I are blessed to be included in the VBS (vacation bible school) that they also do along with the building projects. My first time at their Church, the Lord placed on my heart to share about the needs down here in Cerro Azul, Baja California and He would take care of the rest. To be an instrument for His glory, a light in the darkness. His light, His love, His joy flowing from me to others so that they could see that there is another way.  Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except  through Me."( John 14:6)  Showing our love for God by loving others. Thank you Laura and Ryan Kerbs for opening your home to me, also thank you Pastor Chris for the opportunity to share with all you at Life point.

While I was in Elk Grove I had a huge surprise. My sisters from my Dad's first marriage that I had only seen twice as a child and then at our Dad's funeral 25 years ago. Lived in Sacramento and they said that they had been looking for me for along time, off and on. My sister Rhonda decided to look again one week before I was headed to Sacramento. She was successful  she had found me and her and my sister Kelli both live in Sacramento, yay God!! His timing is always perfect,  so blessed to have found them. I got to meet both of them but did not take any photo's with Kelli we were doing so much talking it slipped our minds. This is me with my sister Rhonda :) also Rhonda speaks beautiful Spanish. What a blessing they both are to me. Since I lost both of my parents and I had grown up an only child I was really missing family. The Lord knew the desires of my heart and along with my two sisters He also placed my first cousin Christi back in my life we had not seen each other since we were little kids. All of this happened on Facebook, social media can be used for good. God is good all of the time and He loves to give gifts to His kids, He always has our best interests in mind. At times it may not seem like it, but being in the airplane I had a realization of course on a much smaller level but  Father God sees the big picture all of it from beginning to end. We only see right in front of us and what we think might be the best way, He can see the outcome. So when you say "why are my prayers not being answered in a particular area" Well it is because He knows what is best for us. When He says to "rest" I believe it means to "rest" in the comfort that only He can give us. To jump in His arms and rest in the truth that all things will work out for the good, even if at the moment it does not seem like it. Not that nothing "bad" will ever happen to us but that He and He alone will guide and direct us on the right path." To trust in the Lord with all of your heart, and lean not on your own understanding." (Proverbs 3:5)

Ron and the team from "To Mexico with Love" came down November 17th-20th. Wow what an exciting visit. We had Ron and Wes and a newbie first time here his name is Michael, also from Fernley Nevada Ruben and his Mom Nichole. What a blessed trip we were able to have one prayer meeting on Friday  at Journey Church in Valle de las Palmas the ladies cooked a wonderful meal for us.  We were blessed to  spend some time at Ranch Milagro with the babies and then to sister Juanita's house for tamales.   Saturday we held a prayer meeting at Pastor Ezekiel's Church with hot dogs and nachos. Thank you to all who were involved with helping us to spread the Love of Jesus.  A lot of kids showed up to the prayer meeting, Wes shared an excellent point "Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not enter the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it" (Mark 10:15) Lots of parents just bring their kids and drop them off any time there is an event at the Church. The children are our future, Frank spoke on how they could pray for their friends and their family on how all of us have been given authority by Jesus.  "Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give." (Matthew 10:8) We were blessed by all of the children.

Ron also informed us that "To Mexico with Love" was going to be sponsoring three families for Christmas this year. The Lord led us to a new family, when there is so much need all around you, we must rely on the guiding of the Holy Spirit to direct us to who to help. God and only God knows the hearts and we must rely on Him for guidance. The Lord showed me a mental picture of this family and Frank and I went several times to their home but could not find any one home. One day we tried again and they were home and we had a bag of food and asked if we could pray for them and also told them that the Lord had led us to their family and we wanted to sponsor them for this Christmas. Of course they were in a state of disbelief and we assured them we had no alterior motives except to spread the Love of Jesus. We prayed for them, we got to love on the little kids. They later attended the prayer meeting at Pastor Ezekiel's church and both parents accepted Jesus to come and live in their hearts, yay God!! One person at a time, one family at a time always following the prompting of the Holy Spirit. Letting God handle the big picture of us and only looking right in front of us for the next step to take. As we help Jesus take care of His people He takes care of us.

Ron and the team will be down for the Christmas party which will also be held at Pastor Ezekiel's  Church on Saturday December the 17th. We will be handing out blankets, toys, stuffed animals, hats, gloves and scarves. Also the ladies of the Church will be preparing a meal for the families that attend and Pastor Ezekiel will be sharing a message with us. We so appreciate all the help that we receive from this Church and it's members. "To Mexico with Love" has been coming to Mexico for almost 30 years and the Lord continues to bless us. Frank and I are honored to be hands and feet for the Ministry living down here on a full time basis. Thank you Rich and Barbara from Escondido for the clothing donations and we look forward to seeing you both at the Christmas party.  Also thanks to my sister Rhonda, the ministry has rented a house two doors down from where Frank and I live. With some TLC and some furniture it will be available for groups to come stay for short term or if someone was interested in coming for a school vacation or summer break for an extended mission trip. Also we have been blessed with so many donations that we can now use it for additional storage. Love and Blessings, in the name of Jesus Christ :)

Ambassadors for Christ

Greetings children of God; "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, Nor shall the flame scorch you."   Isaiah 43:2  God will take care of us,  when we pass through the rivers they will not overflow and through the fire we will not be burned. He is with us all of the time.  When we take our stand for Him regardless of the consequences when we place Him as the first and foremost important thing in our lives He will always take care of us. When we stop striving and just "be" one with Him in His Presence all things will fall into place, Yay God!!

Father God has been doing some amazing stuff through us down here in Mexico. This year in February we began the school sponsorship program, we began with one child and now we have grown to seventeen full year sponsor ships for the kids down here. Some of the sponsor ships are for the College students but the majority are for the elementary school and junior high and high school age kids. It is approx. 150.00 dollars for all of the needs for one school year, includes two uniforms, one for PE and one for regular days, two pairs of shoes and all of the school supplies. In addition we were able to hand out 73 backpacks along with pads of paper and pencils, crayons and pencil sharpeners. None of these things are provided by the schools down here so inless the children can afford these things the teacher has to contribute or they are asked to leave the school. We have also partnered with a local elementary school and were able to supply paper and pencils to the sixth grade class there. 

These children were so happy to receive paper and pencils we do not appreciate all of the things we have in the United States. So much is taken for granted but I can not stomach kids not getting an education because they could not afford paper or a uniform or shoes for PE. I came out here to Cerro Azul full time last year in October with the plans to help send kids to College. Not realizing that a lot of these kids were not even going to school past elementary due to a lack of resources. So we began praying for wisdom and direction for the ministry, these young people are our future. We live as examples to them, we carry Christ in us. We have the authority to light the fires of God's glory wherever we walk, a container of Christ. Wow, it is all so much bigger then we make it, to get out of our own way and let God drive us.  The smallest donation can make a huge difference. I was able to go to Bishop in July and share at the Neighborhood Church and at my church " the River" and also at the "Upper Room" at Penny McCoy's house.  I am so blessed to be able to share with all of you the progress and the fruit that has been growing since I came to Mexico in June of 2014.  We can all make a difference never think you are anything less then completely capable to achieve all that the Lord has in store for your life and the lives of those whom He places in our paths, their is need everywhere. Thank you to all of you who contributed toward the education fund for "To Mexico with Love". Thank you to the Neighborhood Church for the shoes also we were able to hand out shoes to some of the most needy kids at the elementary school. Thank you Father God for the in to this school what an awesome opportunity to help these kids with their future. The Principal said that all funding from the government has been frozen and they have not been able to get any help for these kids. They have a leaking roof in the eating area and it is a super small room for 130 kids to eat in it also has holes in the wall and the kids get wet when it rains.  

Frank and I were blessed by a visit from Ron in August,  originally he had said he would not be here in July and August due to the heat.  He was able to stay with Pat and John and they have air conditioning and a very cozy guest room. He really wanted to visit Selsa she is a lady who has been a faithful servant of the Lord and a long time friend of Ron and his wife and of Sister Cora. She is in our prayers she has been having some health issues, but praise God she is feeling better. The Lord is always faithful. 

 We were able to visit Carmen and her family and purchase fresh produce to hand out to those families that the Lord placed in our paths. We were able to bless her with help for three of her children in need of resources to go to school. She has ten children but all of them are grown except for three are still of school age. We are so blessed to be able to help them with their needs and in return hand out very fresh produce along with rice and beans and tortillas. Yay God!!

 Frank and Bernardo

 two of Carmen's kids

 Ron and Pastor Ezekiel

 Pastor Ezekiel

Our wonderful friend Yvette purchased a small trailer for the ministry she cleaned it up and registered it got new tires and made additional repairs as needed to ready it for travel. Then our wonderful friend Ruben Perez brought it all the way down here from Bishop and he lives in Fernly Nevada. He brought his daughter and his Mom with him we were so blessed by all of them. We got to take them to "Rancho Milagro" an orphanage in Valle de las Palmas and Ruben's Mom Nicole was so touched by the wonderful work that they do out there. I know it was a life changing experience for her. We are so grateful for all of the hard work that took place to get the trailer here, I must say it was a little "iffy" at the border but as always God's hand was in all of it and eventually they let us cross with it. 

Ruben and his daughter Adina :)

We now have a place for guests right here on the property. Please feel free to come and visit any time you would like. We would love to see you!!

 Alex is in College for Engineering

Your donations are making such a huge impact on people's lives. All of these lives have been changed by your prayers and donations. We are here on earth and Jesus lives in us and we are His representatives. The question will be "did you learn to love?" We will stand before Him and without a doubt be able to say "YES".  God's love to all, your brother and sister in Christ, Frank and Deborah :)