Happy New Year!

It has been a quick week since we posted anything. We made a large pot of spaghetti yesterday, had Ramon and Petra, their daughter in law, Sandra, and granddaughters come in from the village to have lunch with us. Sandra served as our wonderful translator, and we had a great time. We took over a large bowl of the spaghetti to the neighbors and still have enough for a meal or two. Our neighbors, Jesus and Alicia, are a wonderful blessing. Alicia and I have been working very hard at communications. They have been very generous and we hope that we are a blessing to them as well.
Christmas week we painted Socorro and Francisco's kitchen along with Tito and Judy. After the holidays we shall jump into some more projects. One day this week we toured the city with Little Tito, a young man that Jeff met his very first trip to Guaymas. He is now 20, speaks English well, and was a great tour guide. We had a great day with lots of laughs.

Socorro, daughters and granddaughter

Jeff and Little Tito

We will spend New Years Eve. with Tito and Judy. We wish you a healthy, prosperous New Year.

Christmas under Palms

Merry Christmas from Guaymas, I thought Christmas might be a little slower paced being away from family and alot of shopping etc. but no!  With three churches its every bit as busy, Its even busier if you are the Pastor or his wife. But just the same, we give thanks that Jesus came into out world and made it possible for us to become sons and daughters of the Most High God. PTL  About 11 last night the neighbors came over with a plate fill of shrimp and crab all cooked up and wrapped in bacon and cheese Oooh la la!  They are a huge blessing!  We did just finish a turkey dinner, Judy really put on a wonderful meal. And speaking of meals, we fed the Word to the homeless and poor of Guaymas and then fed them frjoles, chichirones , eggs by Bee, bread and milk. Last week was their big Dinner. We are working hard on Spanish, using our dictionary and an electronic translator that translates one word at a time. It takes time but both sides of the conversation grow. We are planning on talking with a contractor about finishing up the back wall of the church that was blown down in the storm some time back and maybe putting the rafters back together and getting them back up. It all depends on finances and as it says in Psalm127 "Unless the Lord builds the house They labor in vain who build it.   So, in the Lord's time.  More later... Jeff y Bee

Christmas Eve sunset over the Sea of Cortez

worship

more woship

back wall of church that came down during hurricanes, we are hoping it will be repaired while we are here

Tito and Judy

Montanans and Candadians

good food

yum!

I tried to send some pictures of Sunday evening's service and Christmas meal in the village of Los Cerritos. I don't think that the pictures attached correctly! Hopefully I can learn how to do this. If we weren't hearing Christmas music and seeing the lights and decorations, it would be hard to believe that it is really Christmas. This is the first Christmas that I have not been with family, although we are with friends and family here. We wish you a blessed Christmas. Feliz Navidad!

This morning was the Dream Center Christmas celebration. As I looked back on this blog, I realized that the last time we posted was after last Saturday's Dream Center service. This week has been filled with activity from preparing for this mornings service, reuniting with many people from Guaymas that we have gotten to know over the years, services at the Cento Cristiano church in Guaymas, evening services at the village of Los Cerritos last Sunday, trips to the market, and food, food, food! They have an old school bus that everyone loads into to go to the village for the evening service. The village is about 40 minutes away. Jeff was designated the driver while we are here. He did a pretty good job, if I may say so. I hope that the pictures that we posted tell the story.

Dream Center Christmas Celebration 12/18/2010

Dream Center Ministry

This morning we went to the Dream Center for worship and serve a meal to the homeless and poor of the area. This ministry has been going on every Saturday for the past eight years. To me, it very humbling to see how little some have. I know that I am blessed with so much more than enough. The willing servants that fix the food, worship, and serve the food are so amazing, loving, and giving.

Thursday December 9th

We have been in Tucson for a couple of days. We have shopped for supplies and items for the people who come to the Dream Center ministry. Mostly, we have had wonderful times reuniting with Tito and Judy Villanueva. They have been serving as missionarys in Guaymas for about 12 years and in other areas prior to coming to Guaymas. They are wonderful mentors and very committed to serving our Lord! Jeff and I are so excited about this opportunity to serve along side of them.
We will be leaving Tucson and crossing the border in a couple of hours. We will be in Guaymas this evening and reuniting with the people of the city.
One of the immediate needs is a pickup for Arturo ( Arthur) the pastor who serves at the church in the village of Los Cerritos. The village is about 40 minutes from the city and the roads are not always well maintained. The sound equipment is hauled from the city to the village as well. Thus the need for a pickup. If anyone knows of a good 6 or 8 cylinder pick up, please let us know. This would be a great tax write off and more so a huge blessing for Arturo. Luke 6:38. Again, we thank you for your support and prayers. 

Tues. am  Went for an early walk and was singing "Blessed be the name of the Lord" while admiring something bright in the southeastern sky when the drum part of that song went thru my head. Thank you HoJ praise band. No troubles in our travels, altho Bee was a little white knuckled as we drove up to the top of our mtn in N. Mex. Another blessing has been the mileage my truck is getting. It started at 17.1 then 18.5 then 21.5 and this next one looks tobe even better... thank you Lord! Today will be taken up with gathering supplies for this coming month (Dec) and all its activities.  oh yeah, the weather has been great, our little faces are already blushing. Be blessed and a blessing and keep the Lord Jesus first in your life. We'll talk later... time for some am coffee.  JK

It's the eve of the leave. We are excited about this opportunity to serve in His kingdom. We are so thankful for all of the support and prayers. Because of these, you are all a part of this. We are anxious to be reunited with our brothers and sisters in Guaymas and Los Cerritos. We received an email asking us to be prepared to hit the ground running when we arrive, as December is going to be a busy month. We will preparing for the Christmas celebration for the Dream Center, a ministry for the homeless and poor. There will Christmas services at the Centro Cristiano church in Guaymas, as well.

Again, we thank you for your prayers and support. We will keep this blog updated as often as possible.