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.

News March 2010

Dear Friends and Family,
“They were the best of times, they were the worst of times.¨ So, do you want the good news first or the bad news? It is interesting here in Mexico if you pose that question to a Mexican they will almost always pick the bad news first. But I am going to give you a sandwich this month, I will try to surround the bad news with good news, both before and after! We already know Who wins in the end.
We have seen a steady rise in attendance the past several months. Sunday services have above 300 for the past two months and our Wednesday night service is always packed out. Praise God we rejoice for the new people that are coming out to the services and beginning their walk with God but we also rejoice for the prodigal sons that are turning back to the Lord. There are several people that are going through a process of restoration. This makes for many counseling sessions, mainly for Dave but Bethany and I are also involved meeting with several individuals. Praise God!
Dave is going out to Coacoyul on a weekly basis giving a class from the Ministry Institute to more than 30 people, many of whom are leaders in the Coacoyul church. I finished a class on Personal Evangelism last month and Dave is giving a class on Spiritual Gifts. Dave has also been very busy with repair work on the roof. His main job is supervision to the three men that are doing the work. Not sure how many of you have ever had to repair your church roof for multiple stone holes and bullet holes???? We are often in service when large stones are hurled at the roof...Oh yes, I was on the good news track, sorry about that! The repair work is coming along just beautifully! We had a major scare when a heavy board was dislodged and fell 7 meters zig-zagging off of the scafolding on its way down to hit Jonathan standing at floor level. His nose was broken, he had a major cut on his forehead and suffered with whiplash for several weeks but he is doing great now and has resumed his normal activities. We Praise God for His mercy because the results could have been very different. Thank you as well to those that have been praying for Jonathan, he has mended very quickly.
A nearby pastor recently made the comment that if you grabbed a local newspaper and wadded it up and squeezed it, blood would come out. Daily the pages are filled with horrendous murders. Right about when we thought the situation could not get worse, it has. The normal police force in the town was at 80 policemen but has recently dropped to about 10. There have been mass resignations after several policeman have been killed. Two chief of police have been viciously murdered as well as some of their family members. Last week 5 policemen were killed. State police have come in to help the situation but it continues very tense in this city and all along the coast. Pray for us and for all the Christians that our faith would not fail and that we would be witnesses for Christ during this time when fear dominates the hearts of many.
In our last newsletter we shared about the young couple that has come to the Lord recently, Esther and Armando. We are really excited about the good news they received about Armando's health on their last visit to their Dr. in Guadalajara. Amid mounting fears that the brain tumor had grown back and expecting another surgery, all tests came back negative. No sign of the tumor! Praise God! They both have decided to become home group leaders so they are now interns and being trained to lead a group. Their thankfulness to God knows no bounds and we rejoice with them.. If you are ready for more good news just take a peek at what God is doing with the youth. Bethany will give you all the news in that department.
May God's blessings be on you!
Dave & Becci
[Pictures; top - Dave teaching the Spiritual Gifts class; bottom - Working on the roof in Agua Viva.]

News January 2010

Happy New Year to all of our friends and family!!
During these days of celebrating the birth of Jesus we have been especially busy...I guess that would also be true of everyone that receives this letter. Typically days and evenings are so busy with special meals and get-togethers, wrapping gifts, special Christmas programs and the list goes on. Our activities began early this season. We initiated a new service this year. The 12th of December is one of the most significant celebrations for non-Christians in Mexico. An altar to worship the “Guadalupana” (Mexico's version of the virgin Mary known as Guadalupe) is prepared with several days anticipation with a huge picture of the “virgin”, colored lights and lighted candles. The night(all night long) is spent in celebration. Those that especially do it up big are those women whose birthday coincides with this date and who were most likely named Guadalupe or Lupe in honor of the Virgin. Firecrackers and guns are going off all through the night. Seeing as it was a time of family get togethers and parties we decided to do something on this day to counter-act the trend. This time of year has recently gotten a new name “Guadalupe-Reyes”. It refers to the 11th of December until the 6th of January. We got together to pray for the individuals who begin a drinking binge from the 11th of December and runs straight through the 6th of January. A time of prayer was followed by a movie called “Faith Like Potatoes”and then we had a meal together. The church packed out and we had a wonderful time.
Our once-a-year major youth event was held the 19th and 20th of December. God met the kids in a beautiful way. The focus of the messages was about being changed by the heart of God. We all came in contact with the heart of God. Jack Greenwood from Decatur, Illinois, shared powerful words right from the heart of God. Dave Rice from Zamora, Michoacán also challenged us! Wow! were we blessed!
God brought us a young Mexican woman who has been working in the Middle East for the past 2 years as a missionary. Our lives have truly been changed as we were challenged by her commitment and sacrifice. We felt His heart beating for the world. The young people along with the rest of us were impacted to see a young Mexican dressed in a burkah with only her eyes peeking out and to learning that she daily wore that burkah in 120 degree weather and risked her life to share Jesus. Often she reached out with friendship for over a year before the first opportunity presented itself to share Jesus.
New Year's Day found us on the beach with joy unspeakable! We would like to tell you the story concerning 2 of the 9 people that were baptized. Five months ago a young couple (both lawyers) were at the end of their rope. Armando had just had surgery a few months prior for a brain tumor. Although they had fought valiantly research on the Internet had just dashed their hopes as to the prognosis for Armando. Esther had grown up in the Gospel, a pastor's kid, but since college had slipped away from a relationship with God. “Lets just get in the car and drive,” Ester said, “but where to?” “No idea...just drive”. As Esther drove down the highway she felt an overwhelming desire to turn in to Agua Viva. “Was that all made up... about just getting into the car and driving?” “You were planning to bring me here, weren't you?” murmured Armando “No, really I had no idea,” stated Esther. They stepped into our July Conference and never stopped crying through the whole service. Armando received Jesus into his heart and Esther came back to the Father. What rejoicing they had and we too, as joy instantaneously swept through the crowd of onlookers at the beach on New Year's Day!
Dave & Becci
[The pictures; top - The lady with the burkah; middle - One of the baptisms on New Year's Day; bottom - Esther praising God after her baptism.]