News May 2011

Dear Friends and Family,
Every year it seems like the time of the evangelism at the fair rolls around all too soon—that is related to the effort to prepare everything for that time. Practice begins about 1 ½ month prior to the fair time. Planning is done related to who will do different things—dramas, puppetry, testimonies, brief messages, setting up the stage, doing decoration, erecting the outer wall, doing electrical installation, personal evangelism, intercession while the presentations are taking place, people to stay there at night and during the day, cleaning, and so on. It seems that we drop a lot of things that we are doing to carry out all this every year, but we have experiences to talk about afterward.

This year the city had given us extra space. So what do we do with that? You probably figured it out by now, that we were praying about what to with that space. Sure enough, we would offer family counseling to those who have need. And then, those from the church that took the year long course on counseling last year would give the counseling! Amazing!! Yes, it was truly amazing to see people go to the chairs that we had set up where they could receive counseling. Numerous ones opened their hearts, and prayed as well to receive Christ and received help from the counseling.

This year we had some new families come into the church as a result of the evangelism. We also saw Santos,” the commander of the State Police that was here again to make sure everything was safe at the fair.
Please pray for the people who received the Lord at the fair.
You can see the video below of Libéreme (Set Me Free) showing with drama all the things seeking to destroy one young man's life, and how Jesus frees him. Our hats off to the many young people and the adults for the excellent job that they did.

Dave & Becci

The photos from top to bottom.
The Stage Just Prior To The Program
Becci Helping Some Clowns Get Ready
The Clowns Ready To Go
The Unseen Job At The Sound Board
Dave Giving A Brief Message
Some Clowns Waiting To Participate










Video Libérame

News January 2011

Hello to all,

Camp Meeting

How did five years get away from me? We had our first ever camp for youth up in the mountains five years ago. It was beautiful and had a powerful impact that has lasted all these years, but how could I wait so long to do another camp? One deterrent that held us back was the violence that has raged unremittingly these past years. I knew the parents would never allow me to take their teens up to the mountains again. So, the location would have to change, but how could I tell the kids that I was just taking them to a house—no mountain river, no lake, no swimming pool, no beautiful scenery. Well, I landed upon an idea...DO NOT TELL THE LOCATION UNTIL THEY ARRIVE! YEAH! IT'S A SURPRISE!!!! We drove 30 minutes away to our other house that we had lived in for 11 years when we were located in Coacoyul.
Somehow this camp was strangely reminiscent of our first camping experience—take every single thing that you will need for the next four days to feed and house 35 kids—every spoon, cup, food, stove, gas tank, (sorry, no water heater), pots and pans. There were four beds available but lots of space on the floor! Oh, yes, do not forget the first-aid kit, chairs and tables, and please, oh please, do not forget the toilet paper!!! Exactly how much should one buy for 40 people (including counselors and cooks) for 4 days? Hmm...Oh, did I tell you about our refrigerator? We used a huge cardboard box, a big block of ice and sawdust. Amazing, that box did not leak one drop of melting ice in 4 days and it was NOT surrounded by plastic! We kept all the beef and chicken cold along with other perishables as well as getting sodas cold!
So, on our first afternoon right after two hours of softball and volleyball we had exactly one hour for everyone to clean up and be ready for the evening service. Ok, all the guys outside to get washed down with the hose, and girls, you have five minutes apiece in the two showers.
What can be accomplished in four days? A lot, a really lot! Several learned how to swim. They learned all the countries in North America, Central America and South America. They learned about several countries, specifically Guyana, Equatorial Guinea, Spain, and India, taught by a college-age youth, Saín. They learned the books of the Bible; had approximately 5 hours of teaching on finances (they loved this class); an English class (taught by me, Becci) and learning how to read maps (taught by Dave). There was a two hour teaching about electricity and an hour teaching on Susanna Wesley, taught by Jonathan, a college-age youth.
Then there were the services at night. Madaí Hernandez, a young pastor from Mexico City, along with his wife, Maria Luisa, preached and gave their testimonies. Madaí had been raised from the dead when he was 11 years old so that had a powerful impact, as well as Maria Luisa, a girl from our congregation who is now in full-time ministry. The most significant things that happened at camp were 35 kids renewing their vows to walk with God and serve him! One night those who had received the call of God for full-time ministry or missions came forward, thus declaring openly that they had heard His voice and were surrendering to His will. They then had their feet washed, which was very moving. I never thought that the little retaining wall on the property would be converted into an altar, but it was a fantastic place to have an encounter with God.

Charapan

In our newsletter in the month of August we shared about 13 young people who went up into the mountains about 6 hours from here to have a one day children's meeting. At that time they invited us to come back and do a Vacation Bible School. We had been planning it for several months and a group of 5 young people had been working on preparing the classes and handwork for several weeks. The scheduled date to head north to the Sierra Madre Mountains and the descendants of the Purepecha people group arrived but after prayer and debate we canceled the trip. The level of violence escalated prior to Christmas. Barb Sobol, the FCA missionary who works in this town, said we needed to cancel the group as worse violence seemed impending. One thousand federal police officers besides army were controlling Uruapan expecting a major gun battle with the drug mafia. Several people had been killed a few days prior. The youth were so desperate to go they began to fast, and God responded. There was a window of opportunity, so we put them on the bus heading out-of-town on the 26th of December.
The pastor of the little mountain church had left on vacation having heard the last word that the group was not going to go to conduct the VBS. What a surprise he had when he came back from vacation! There never had been any young people in this little church. So, the decision was to work with children. The first day 27 children showed up and it steadily increased up to approximately 48 children on the last day. But our youth had made friends with several young people while they were there and decided to have a youth group. They had 10 youth come from the town—several of whom prayed to receive Jesus. So, on the last day of the event the little tiny church was BURSTING with life and totally packed out. The pastor arrived and was stunned! He kept saying; ”Where was I when all this happened?”

Dave & Becci

Photos from top to bottom
A Ministry Time In The Evening
A Foot Washing Ceremony For Those Feeling A Call For Christian Service
Studying The Maps
Some Young Praying After The Message
The Team From Agua Viva
The Children In The Charapan Church
Young People From Charapan With Members Of The Team
Some Boys Praying
A Couple Of Girls Who Attended

November 2010

Dear Friends and Family,

Los Morros—Rounded Hills

I look past the pristine beach stretching to the left and to the right and I gaze straight ahead towards “Los Morros” lying approximately 5 miles from shore, huge white rocks that stand immutable against the power of the waves and ocean currents. Just recently towards sunset a fisherman brought his little boat too close to those mammoth rocks in his search for fish. The waves threw the boat onto rocks that were just below the surface of the water. The hull of his boat was damaged and within minutes it sank, fortunately a nearby fisherman heard his cries and was able to get to him on time and pull him from the water into his boat, saving his life. This struggle for life itself after an unexpected shipwreck consumes many hours of our lives lately. And we are not alone in this struggle to save families, marriages, and individuals' lives when they are despairing of life itself.
November 11 through the 13 we had our first ever pastors' retreat. For two and a half days the weariness and the weights of ministry rolled off their shoulders and ours as well, as they played in the pool with their children or bared their hearts in the conferences and the devotional times. It was AMAZING! Words cannot tell the totality of what happened in those couple of days. There were 13 couples and 8 children along with a few singles that are involved in the ministry full-time. As they shared we realized that the WAVE of attack of the enemy was a lot more wide-spread than what we had been experiencing. On one hand the violence that surrounds us is unimaginable. All of the pastors had received threatening phone calls demanding “safety” money to avoid kidnap or worse. All pastors had refused to pay.
Pray for the continual violence here in Mexico. Pray for “Mexico without blood.”
May God's blessings be on you. Thanks for praying for us.
Dave & Becci
Photos (1) The “Rounded Hills” (2) One of the sessions in the Retreat (3) Wayne & Sharon Dent who shared in the Pastor's Retreat

July 2010

July 2010
Hello to all,

June was a time of the final activity of preparing for a special event—Jonas and Bethany's wedding. Many leaders and others from the church had spent time painting walls, steel work, and doors in preparation for the annual conference in July—but getting it done ahead of time so that it would be ready for the wedding as well. Some of the temporary dividing walls in the sanctuary were taken down to allow for the seating of those who would arrive. We also acquired some more chairs—in preparation for both events.

The Lord supplied different things for the wedding—from the 600 pieces of chicken to all the tableware and table covers; from the cooks to prepare the meal to the musicians who participated in the ceremony. Many things came together like a miracle from on High.

The ceremony began with Pastor Phil officiating, and Sam doing the translation to provide for both an English and Spanish ceremony. The presence of the Lord was manifest in this wedding, perhaps in a similar way as in Cana of Galilee many years prior. We rejoiced with them both.
After the ceremony we went to a large hall that was rented to accommodate the people who attended—around 540. Here some people commented about the wedding. A doctor said: “The ceremony was so beautiful, like nothing I had experienced before. The words touched my heart and I couldn't stop crying, wishing my husband had been there with me.”

May the Lord, who was present in this wedding, truly be with Jonas and Bet in their marriage, helping them to be one in His purposes in life. May he use them in the way that He chooses.

Pray that what God did in that ceremony would continue to have an impact on those who were present.

Pray for Jonas and Bet who are working on transitioning out of the work in Agua Viva—Youth Ministry, Praise & Worship Team Ministry, and Cell Groups—and will be going to Elim Bible Institute where Jonas will study two more years.

May God's blessings be on you and multiply what you have given. Thanks for praying for us, and also for being partners together.

Dave & Becci

If you want to see: (For best results, download on to your computer.)
The Vows http://agua-viva-living-water.org/mp3/2010-06-25BodaBetaJonas03.avi
The Declaration of Man & Wife http://agua-viva-living-water.org/mp3/2010-06-25BodaBetaJonas04.avi Their Song http://agua-viva-living-water.org/mp3/2010-06-25BodaBetaJonas05.avi
The Charge http://agua-viva-living-water.org/mp3/2010-06-25BodaBetaJonas08.avi

The pictures from top to bottom
Dave Walking Bet Down The Isle
Pastor Phil With The Ceremony And Sam Translating
Jonas & Bet During The Ceremony
People Entering The Reception Hall
Bet Seated At The Reception
Our Relatives At The Reception

The exhortation at the beginning of the wedding

News Brief August 2010

June 2010
Dear Friends and Family,
We all have dreams about what we want to accomplish in different ways in life. Many times these are the very things that we think about, talk about, and then live for. Well, in a similar way we have desires of what we want to accomplish as believers and as a church. One of these areas is to evangelize others—simply to be able to share with them the good news about what Jesus Christ has for them.
Bethany—who has been pastoring the young people over the last four years—made an emphasis in this area of evangelism this year, when she took the young people to an event in Zamora “Potencia al Máximo” (Maximum Potential). They do this event with the intent of preparing the young people to evangelize on the street. Of course, part of that vision is to return and get the young people and others involved in street evangelism.
Things were rolling regarding this evangelism in May and June. Bethany asked adults from the congregation to get involved as well. Provision was made to reach the children with a special class at their level. The places that were chosen to evangelize coincided with areas where we had cell groups—to provide follow-up.
Without a doubt this would have an effect on people's lives. They told me that many left their names and addresses to receive a visit at a later date. One cell group that reached out to another area as a result of this evangelism. Our hats off to all who participated in this outreach!
Pray for:
Those who received the Lord as a result of this evangelism.
Those who became open to consider Christianity—faith in the Lord.
For the evangelism to continue.
May God's blessings be on you and multiply what you have given. Thanks for praying for us, and also for being partners together. Dave & Becci

P.S. Want some excitement? Here is a lady in her seventies, who was also “run over” by a car about two years ago and recovered, getting baptized in the ocean!

[Pictures top to bottom]
1. The Drama “The Good Mariachi”
2. A Children's Class During The Same Time
3. The Song Jesus Is My Super Hero
4 & 5. Piedad and her baptism

The Good Mariachi

The Good Mariachi Part One
El Buen Mariachi Parte Uno

Jesus Is My Super Hero!

Here is the song "Jesus Is My Super Hero!" that we mentioned in the news brief.
The Chorus:
Jesus is my super hero,
My friend, He is the best!
El Coro
Cristo es mi super héroe,
Mi amigo, es el mejor.