Home Assignment Happenings (E-mail update): Nov. 8, 2010

Greetings from Iowa!

No, we have not fallen off the face of the earth but have driven well over 3000 miles since our last update and over 7000 since the start of our Home Assignment in June. Thank you so much for your faithful prayers as we travel. We continue to praise the Lord for no major difficulties throughout the many miles. It has been a tremendous blessing to be able to reconnect with so many of you as we have visited in Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and New York the past few months. What a joy to be able to share what God is doing in Mexico with so many people! We will be finishing up our time in the Midwest just after Thanksgiving. We will be heading for warmer climates to visit in Texas and ultimately finishing the final half of our home assignment in California. We look forward to continuing to speak in churches and share with many more people.

We would greatly appreciate your continued prayers for safety as we travel as well as for the challenges we face with home schooling in the midst of the many transitions. The kids have been wonderful troopers through it all and have really enjoyed being able to participate in Awana even while we are on the road. It has been wonderful to see their enthusiasm and excitement for committing the Word of God to memory. There have also been some great opportunities for field trips in many places including: Philadelphia, Washington DC and Chicago which have helped bring to life what they have been learning in their classes.

Meanwhile in Mexico...

· Several of our youth and their families have been going through some difficult times. Please pray that God would be honored and put first.

· Amarildo continues to share the gospel and has earned the nickname of the church evangelist. It is wonderful to hear that he is so passionate about following Christ and sharing Him with those the Lord brings across his path.

· Please pray for Phil's friend, Manuel, with whom he was meeting weekly with for Bible study. Phil has been unable to reach him by phone because his phone has been disconnected and it appears the restaurant where he was working is closed so no one is sure where he is right now. We know that the Lord knows where he is and are praying that he continues to study the Word and seek the Lord and fellowship with other believers.

· Praise God with us that Iglesia Emanuel continues to grow!

Thank you never seems enough to express how grateful we are for your partnership with us....God bless you for the sacrifices you make both in time (your prayers and encouraging notes) and financially.

By His Grace,

Phil and Pattie

Home Assignment Happenings (E-mail update): Aug. 13, 2010

Greetings from Indiana!
We are about to embark on the next part of our Home Assignment Journey to the East. After leaving California, we headed to TEAM headquarters in the Chicago area in order to have a time of debrief in the office, medical checks and a special TEAM conference for missionaries who are on home assignment as well as visit friends and churches in the area. It was a very full, but wonderful month! We feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to reconnect with so many already and this is just the beginning. The Lord has provided some excellent friendships for our children along the way which is an added blessing for them. We are excited to continue reconnecting with many of you as we travel to various regions.

Many of you already have heard via Facebook: I (Pattie) took a nasty fall from the back of our van while we were loading up to leave California, requiring a visit to the ER, some stitches and quite a bit of pain. We just wanted to make sure you knew that I am doing really well now and pretty much all healed. Thank you for your prayers as we travel, we really appreciate them so much and know that this particular incident could have been much worse if not for many people praying. I have been joking that there seems to almost always be one ER visit during our trips so it is good we got it out of the way at the beginning this time!

We recently received an e-mail with excellent news from our coworkers, Art and Vicki Reyes. We have asked prayer for Amarildo in the past who we first got to know in our cell group. He had stopped by our home various times as well, asking for prayers and counsel about some difficult family situations andd his struggles with alcoholism. Phil had been able to encourage him and share with him the SALT discipleship materials we have found very helpful. Before our departure, we could see much growth and enthusiasm about his new and growing faith. I am going to share an excerpt (bolded) from our coworker's e-mail about Amarildo. We felt like dancing with joy when we read it and we hope it encourages you as well. It reminded us that often, God uses many people and circumstances in a person's life to bring them to faith and to help them grow just like is happening in Amarildo's life.

"Art, would you come over? I am trying to explain the Gospel to Ricardo, but I need some help!" Amarildo called at 10:30 pm last Friday night.

Amarildo has just recently understood that salvation is by faith, not by good works. He is very excited and is trying to evangelize his world! Ricardo did decide to follow Christ. Now, Amarildo wants to disciple him.

Yesterday, Amarildo knocked on our gate. He had two young women with him. They were looking for work. I gave them some breakfast and groceries and began to explain how the Lord uses hard times so that we seek Him.

"I was planning to talk to them about God," Amarildo pulled out a Bible. "Let them eat their breakfast, and I will tell them. You can go back to whatever you are doing."

I was a little shocked, but quite amused!

Please pray for Rosa and Angelica who heard the Gospel yesterday.

Amarildo plans to be baptized in two weeks.

Thank you again for your partnership with sharing the Good News in Mexico and being a part of the chain that helped bring Amarildo to faith and those he will in turn lead to the Lord. Please continue to pray for him and for healing in his family in the days ahead. Please also continue to keep our youth in your prayers. There are several who are really struggling with obedience to their parents. Please pray for wisdom for the parents and that the youth would seek to glorify God above ALL else in their lives.

By His Grace,
Phil and Pattie

Bits from the Border E-mail Update: June 22, 2010

Greetings from Southern California!

After departing San Jose del Cabo a day and a half later than planned and some very long days driving, we crossed the border and arrived here late Saturday evening. Thank you so much for all of your prayers and encouragement as we finished up the difficult task of packing up our entire house for storage or to bring with us and the emotional process of saying goodbyes for the time being. We are extremely grateful for Phil's sister, Karen, who helped us so much in caring for our kids so we could complete packing and clearing out our house. Without her help, we would probably still be there working. Thank you as well for your prayers for safety in our travels. We are grateful to have had a fairly uneventful trip up the Baja.

We would appreciate your continued prayers for our children with the continuing transitions as we travel to many different places. It was esepcially difficult for Josh and Abby to say goodbye to their close friends in Mexico. We are also discovering that while Micah and Luke are not as verbal about their struggles, they are finding other ways to demonstrate the stress they are experiencing. Please pray that we would have wisdom in how best to support and help them through all fo these transitions and that we would maintain healthy, God honoring balances during our home assignment.

We are looking forward to seeing many of you while we travel. After visiting a supporting church in the LA area this coming Sunday, we will start the trip across the states that will have us ending up at TEAM's headquarters in the Chicago area around July 11th. From there, we will be making trips East, throughout the Midwest and finally through Texas before heading back to California to set up a home base for the remainder of our home assignment. We are so grateful for one of our supporting churches here in Southern California (FCC of El Centro) who gave our van a complete tune up for the next phase of our journey. What a HUGE blessing!

Please keep our youth leadership team and the adults who will be supervising them at Iglesia Emanuel in your prayers. We know that they are very capable of leading the group and are so proud of them though it was hard to say goodbye. Pray that they would continue to grow and flourish in their faith and reach out to their friends with Christ's love. Please also pray for Manuel who Phil has been meeting with weekly for Bible studies. He is so hungry to learn and filled with many questions. Pray that he will connect well with the man the church leadership decides to have continue meeting with him. The picture is of Phil with Manuel.

Thank you again for all of your love, prayers and encouragement. We could never say enough how much you all mean to us and express fully how your partnership has enabled us to serve in Mexico. Gracias!

By His Grace,

Phil and Pattie

Thoughts & Excerpts from today's My Utmost for His Highest reading by Oswald Chambers

My sister gifted me with a copy of this little devotional booklet when I was a senior in high school(1992). I have red through it many times since then and it never ceases to amaze me the depth of insight God gave this godly man and how He continues to use these words to work in my life. I just wanted to share a little of what challenged me this morning.

"It is not a question of being saved from hell, but of being saved in order to manifest the life of the Son of God in our mortal flesh, and it is the disagreeable things which make us exhibit whether or not we are manifesting His life...You must keep yourself fit to let the life of the Son of God be manifested, and you cannot keep yourself fit if you give way to self-pity. Our circumstances are the means of manifesting how wonderfully perfect and extraordinarily pure the Son of God is...Keep your soul fit to manifest the life of the Son of Gd. Never live on memories; let the word of God be always living and active in you."

O Lord, it is so easy to give way to self pity, especially when we feel we are entitled to something we did not receive or something happens that we feel we did not deserve. Help us to always live in You and Your Word and not in experiences which can change so dramatically from one day to the next. O Lord, I thank you that even when everything might be changing around us, You and Your Word will NEVER change.

Bits from the Baja E-mail Update: May 12, 2010

“It was ‘T’ that was pulling us and encouraging us to come to church,” explained a mother of one of our youth group members who began attending around the beginning of the year. They had invited us over for carne asada (steak) tacos about a week ago. She went on to explain to Pattie how much their daughter loved coming to youth group and how she never wanted to miss. She continued with sharing how most of their family enjoyed attending church when they could, however, asked us to pray for their son who is 10 years old does not like it and tries to make excuses not to go. Please pray for this family. While they are living as a family, the man and woman are not legally married and struggling in their relationship. Please pray that ‘B’ and ‘C’ would come to know the Lord in a personal way and then seek to obey Him in their relationship and as a family. From a human perspective, it is a very messy and complicated situation but isn’t it wonderful how our God delights in taking messes and making them beautiful for His glory?!

We are also thrilled to mention that we had six people desire to follow in obedience and be baptized last month (photos above). The mother, uncle and grandmother of one of our youth were part of the group as well as two of our youth. Both Josué and Arturo are part of our youth leadership team as well. We cannot even begin to describe the emotions we feel as we continue to see many of the youth growing and maturing in their faith. We will miss them dearly while away for our home assignment.

In a few hours Phil’s sister, Karen, will start her journey from Alaska arriving here tomorrow afternoon. She has graciously offered to come and help us out as we prepare for our upcoming home assignment. The days seem to be flying by and June 16th seems way too soon. We appreciate your prayers as we determine what to pack to take with us, what to leave behind, etc. We look forward to reconnecting with so many of you first hand while we will be back in the states. Please also continue to pray for our kids as the reality and emotions of leaving behind home continue to surface more and more as the date draws closer. Pray that we would have the wisdom and sensitivity they need right now as they process through this transition.

Delighting with you in the One who renews and restores!
Phil and Pattie

Bits from the Baja E-mail Update: April 9, 2010

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you do not grow weary and lose heart. Hebrews 12:2,3

As we prepared to celebrate the death and resurrection of our Savior, we could not help but be filled anew with the awe and wonder of His great sacrifice for us and be encouraged by these verses to follow his example in our lives. We pray that you had a meaningful weekend celebrating our risen Lord and his great sacrifice.

Phil had the privilege of leading a group of our youth to Rancho el Camino in La Paz where they participated in a special youth camp organized by the church there. The theme was related to Surviving and being Soldiers of Christ. We are so grateful for the clear Gospel presentation that was made as well as the challenges to believers to go deeper in their faith, living it out on a daily basis. Please pray with us that the seeds planted during the camp bear much fruit in the lives of our youth. (The picture is one taken of Phil with our youth who attended the camp.)

With the arrival of April, we also completed our first 4 years here full time. In so many ways, it seems the time has flown. We feel so blessed to be a small part of what the Lord is doing here in Mexico. With the completion of our first term, we will be making our preparations for our first home assignment beginning the middle of June. We greatly appreciate your prayers as we will need to pack up our entire house for storage while we are in the states in the midst of our normal activities and ministry. Please pray for wisdom as we decide what to take with us on our trip, what to leave behind and what we should give away. It is good to remember that this earth is not our home and an opportunity to get rid of some nonessentials and hopefully blessing others who may have need of them. We will also be driving many miles and are grateful for prayers for safety and sanity as we begin by driving up the Baja and then across the states to the Midwest, out East and eventually down South and back West again.

What a difference four years can make in the lives of our children as well. Four years ago, when we arrived, Abby insisted she would not learn Spanish and she wanted to go back to the states “to be by family and where they speak English” and she now has two especially dear friends, Regina and Elisa. Josh knew a few words of Spanish and now is quite fluent, sometimes even helping translate things. Micah wasn’t really even talking yet and is now about to finish Kindergarten. They are now experiencing the flip side as they anticipate a separation from many dear friends, their dog and the house they have come to call home. They are also excited to see family and friends so you can imagine some of the emotional roller coasters we are currently navigating. Please pray that we will be sensitive to their needs and that we would make these weeks before our departure ones filled with precious memories to carry with them while they are apart from their life here.

As always, we are incredibly humbled and grateful for your support for us in prayers, encouragement and giving. We look forward to seeing many of you in person while we are back in the states for our home assignment.

By His Grace,
Phil and Pattie

E-mail update: March 11, 2010

"So you are the one doing a Bible study with Manuel! He is often sharing what he is studying and learning here with us," exclaimed our waitress to Phil on a recent lunch at the restaurant where Manuel works. It is so encouraging to hear that not only is he learning and growing but is also choosing to share it with those around him. This is how it should be! Please keep this Bible study in your prayers. Manuel also recently asked Phil for prayer because the restaurant has not been paying him for several months. He has been living on his tips. He has been looking for a new job but the economic situation is very difficult right now. Please pray that he would find another job, especially one that would free him up to attend church on Sundays and participate in a cell group. Please also continue to pray for Manuel's friend; that the door would open for a study with him as well. He's shown interest in spiritual things and is struggling in his marriage.

We have been blessed with an overflowing youth group the past several weeks. We have had numerous visitors. It is encouraging to have our youth inviting their friends. One of the new visitors who has been attending faithfully for over a month now also invited her parents to church. They not only have attended fairly consistently but also came to a special evening of celebration for Valentine's Day at the church. They are not believers and are also having marital problems. We are confident that it is no accident that their daughter was invited to our youth group and invited them to start attending church. Please pray with us that they would first of all come to know Jesus, the great healer of their souls and then find healing in their marriage.

Last week, we were blessed to be able to take a short vacation to the city of Guadalajara on the mainland. There are three couples with TEAM who have in recent years and months begun making contacts to begin sharing the gospel. It was marvelous to see what the Lord is doing there and visit another part of Mexico we have never seen before.

In a few weeks, we will be celebrating 4 years here in San Jose del Cabo full time. Our first term has truly flown by. This has caused us to do much reflection and praising the Lord for what He has been doing and will continue to do. We will be departing for our home assignment in June in order to make it to TEAM's headquarters in the Chicago area in time for our scheduled debrief and their annual conference held for missionaries returning on home assignment in July. We look forward to touching base with many of you personally and sharing first hand what the Lord has been doing. We are not so excited about all the details of home assignment which include packing up our entire house for storage while we are gone and trying to finish the home school materials before our departure amidst our regular ministry activities. We are trusting the Lord for strength, wisdom and provision for our home assignment. If you would specifically pray for inexpensive, secure storage here in San Jose and wisdom in how best to complete school or the majority of the materials before our June departure, we would greatly appreciate it.

Grateful for your prayers, encouragement and support,
Phil and Pattie

Quick Update

Greetings from the Baja!

I (Pattie) arrived back home last Wednesday. We were all very happy to be together again. Thank you so much for your prayers and messages regarding the procedure. We are praising God that it was confirmed to be a non-cancerous cyst. My recovery from the anesthesia was also very quick and without a single negative side effect. I am convinced this was due to all the prayers being poured out on my behalf since I have never had such a good experience with anesthesia. Our return trip also went very smoothly thanks to your prayers. We were fortunate to once again have the entire aisle to ourselves during the flight as well as neighbors who didn't mind a little curly blond head peaking over the seat from time to time to say "Hola!" or "Hallo!" (his version of Hello). It was also a HUGE blessing to spend some time with my sister and her family and get to know my new little niece, Sophia Ann.

With a heart overflowing with gratefulness,

Pattie

Bits from the Baja E-mail Update Jan. 19, 2010

"Would it be ok, if my friend came and studied the Bible with us? He has a lot of questions that I am not sure how to answer and has a lot of struggles right now in his personal life and marriage." Manuel asked Phil at their last study together. We are praising God for the desire he has to share what he is learning with those close to him. Please pray that M is able to meet more regularly now that the holidays are past and his work schedule should lighten up some. Pray that his friend is also able to attend and that the time in the Word would draw him to the Lord and bring healing to his soul and marriage.

We have also had quite a few visitors to youth group over the past several weeks. Please pray for these new contacts, many of whom probably do not have a personal relationship with Christ. This month, we are teaching the lessons on the Spiritual aspect of our lives, our relationship with God, from the discipleship materials we received training on this past fall. Please pray that the Lord would use the studies to work in their hearts and lives.

On a personal note, the Lord opened up the doors in a very speedy and remarkable way for me (Pattie) to come to the states to have the noncancerous cyst removed from my jawline. The procedure will be taking place tomorrow at 3:30 pm pacific time. I would greatly appreciate your prayers. Luke came with me to the and has had a very difficult time being in a new place and separated from most of his family. He has been very clingy. Please pray that he does fine while I am gone for about 3 hours tomorrow. I am sure that Phil also appreciates your prayers since he is doing a lot of extra work while I am away including, cooking and doing the kids' home school. It will be nice when we can all be together again next Wednesday. I will be flying out of LAX at 1pm. Please pray for an uneventful return trip and ease going through security at the airport with Luke.

Thank you again for your faithful prayers and support of our family and ministry here in Mexico. As we contemplate the start of a new year, we always like to go back to one of our favorite passages that we have claimed as a personal vision for our ministry from Isaiah 61:1-4

The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners,to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn,and provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor.They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations.

Grateful to be serving with you, striving to see this vision a reality, one person at a time!
Phil and Pattie