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 :)