Monday, November 17, 2008

Bits from the Baja E-mail Update

It is hard to believe we are half way through November! October seems to have just flown by on us. As we prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving in less than two weeks, we can’t help but reflect on all that we have to be thankful for and you are definitely at the top of the list. If you were not allowing God to use you to help pray, support, encourage, etc. we would not be here. You are an invaluable part of our team and we are so grateful for each of you. Our fall prayer letter will be completed soon, so I won’t go into too much detail and spoil it for you but here are a few updates and prayer requests:

SPECIAL VISITORS:
In October, we were blessed to have several visitors. The Schwaabs, friends from our supporting church in Anchorage came down and braved the heat to help us paint most of our house. They were such a joy and encouragement to our family as they helped make our house seem much more like a home and were able to see firsthand what the Lord is doing here. The day after they headed back to Alaska, we had a group from another supporting church in Baltimore come and provide a wonderful evangelism and discipleship workshop using the evangacube. It’s thrilling to see people excited to have such a practical tool for sharing the Gospel with others and using them. A huge thank you to Warren, Jack, Ruth and Rich for their hard work and workshop presentations!(More stories about this and pictures will be in our prayer letter.)

CELL GROUP: In our last update, we were praising the Lord for Pedro’s willingness to start leading the Bible study portion of our time and asked prayer for him as he was going to be doing that for the first time. He did a wonderful job and continues to improve and grow in confidence as he shares the Word. Please, continue to pray for him and for our group. We recently had a meeting of all the core members from the 4 different groups and it was encouraging to see some of the wonderful results but there is still so much to do and so many who are still in darkness. Please pray for boldness and opportunities to invite unsaved friends, neighbors and co-workers as well as open hearts for those being invited.

YOUTH GROUP: Thank you so much for praying the Lord to provide co- leaders for the youth group. There is a newer couple in our church who is very willing to help. This is great news however; they may have no choice but to move at the end of the month back to the mainland. The economic situation in the states has affected many here. This couple was relocated here about a year ago for work but his job may have to move him elsewhere since the project he was brought over for has been put on hold due to funding problems. Please pray with them and us that if it is the Lord’s will that they would be able to stay.

FAMILY NEWS: The room is done…almost! J Thank you so much for your prayers. There are still a few things that need to be finished but we were able to move our furniture in this past weekend. (We ended up having to move in because the room is shorter than the others and the kids’ bunk beds would not fit very well.) Over the course of the next week or so, in our spare time we will be painting and moving the boys to their new room finishing up with painting their current room where Abby will be staying with a new roommate….Luke! (We think she is excited about this as she is always so eager to be mommy’s helper with him.) Thank you also for praying regarding the raising of our rent with the room’s completion…in answer to your prayers, our landlords graciously accepted only a $100 increase rather than the $250 increase they originally had mentioned. While the extra room helps in the short term towards our space problem, we appreciate your continued prayers for wisdom and guidance as to what the future might hold.

With overflowing and thankful hearts,
The Eager Family

Friday, October 3, 2008

Baja Update...what's happening

CELL GROUP:
Pedro and Irene, a couple from our cell group, had been attending Iglesia Emanuel for several years but had never become members or involved beyond attending. Several months before initiating the new cell group outreach, they felt the Lord working in their hearts and approached our co-workers and essentially said that they knew they needed to stop being parasites…they needed to become members and more than that, to be involved in ministry and outreach. Since their commitment to be involved, it has been wonderful to watch them grow. Their excitement at inviting friends, neighbors and co-workers to cell group meetings and especially seeing their friends, Edgar and Lala, attending our cell group is great. Pedro has also committed to helping lead the studies for our group. Up until now, Phil has been leading the studies. While he does not mind leading the studies, we feel it is more beneficial if a national can lead them. Pedro is nervous as he has never done anything like this before, but we know that he is able and only lacks confidence. Please, pray with us for him as he will be giving his first study tonight.
One of the major benefits of the small group setting is that you have a chance to get to know people on a more personal level than at church on Sundays. You also are able to be more involved in each other’s lives in deeper ways. Last week, Irene shared with us that their visitors, Edgar and Lala, are not legally married even though they have been together for years and have two children aged 6 and 4. (This is very common here…people will be introduced as husband and wife when in reality they are not.) The wonderful thing is that they have decided to get married and asked Irene and Pedro to be their witnesses. While Edgar and Lala have not yet made any professions of faith, we are thrilled to see that they are being influenced to start making correct decisions in their personal lives. Please pray for their family to continue to make God honoring decisions and most importantly yield their hearts and lives to Him.


YOUTH GROUP:
We greatly appreciate your prayers for the youth group. Because of over-commitment, the couple who was helping to lead the youth has had to resign. Please pray for another couple to help lead the youth alongside us as well as determining a clear vision for the future. We are holding a meeting with the parents and helpers later this month to discuss this. Please pray that a clear vision and plan for the future to be developed that everyone can take ownership of.

WOMEN’S STUDY:
Pattie has helped take over leading the women’s study and has really enjoyed the times of study and fellowship with the women. There seems to be consistently 6 or 7 women although the exact women who attend often change. There would probably be 12-14 if everyone came at the same time. Our greatest desire is to instill a hunger and thirst for studying and applying the Word among the women which will be contagious. Thank you for your prayers!


We can never say enough how grateful we are for each of you who make up part of our team. Without you, we could not be doing what we are doing! God bless you this coming month as you continue to serve Him.

By His Grace,
The Eager Family

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Abby's Song



One of the things that I love most about being a parent is witnessing my kids' creative sides emerge more every day. I also love the simple faith and love that a child has. We adults so often complicate things. I think that sometimes, we need to be more like a child when it comes to faith and love.


Below is a song written by our daughter Abby. It did my heart good to hear her sing it to me and I wanted to share it with you.
(Note: It's typed exactly as written in her journal)






Abby's Song

I love you God.
I love you God.
Win I'm alon
and I love you in the rane
and I love you in the sun
and I love you God
becus you are so pawrful
and I love you Lord
and I love you God
the Eend

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

E-mail update~03 September 2008

Please forgive us for not sending out an update sooner. We have been kept very busy these days. Below is a brief update on recent items we have requested prayer.

Thank you so much for praying for Cher! We are happy to report that the initial results of the cancer not having spread were confirmed. Please, continue to pray as she heals from the surgery and for wisdom as they will be meeting with several doctors in the coming weeks to determine the next steps of treatment.

Housing....Unfortunately, the house we mentioned in our last e-mail will not work so we continue the search. Thank you for praying for this as well. In the meanwhile, we are praying that our landlord will complete the addition to this house which began in May. Our landlord has also informed us that when the new room is completed, they would like an additional $250 in rent a month which is more than we had anticipated. According to them, it is open for discussion. Please pray for us as we try to negotiate with them regarding the increase. It is becoming clear that we need to move and possibly purchase as the cost of renting a larger house are astronomical here and purchasing seems a wiser investment.

Ministry...Please, pray for the people we have invited to our cell group. There were several weeks in a row without any visitors which has been discouraging, however, we knew that there would be ups and downs. We can definitely see how the Lord is using the cell group to mature the members of our group as one of the men has stepped forward to help lead the studies, alternating with Phil. It is exciting to see people taking more ownership of the ministry and using their gifts as never before. We were praising the Lord last week when one of the families returned to the cell group who had visited previously. The other groups have had some great turn outs which we are so thankful for. We are especially thrilled with several of our youth who have become more involved and interested in participating in the groups.

By His Grace,
The Eager Family

We are also posting the latest edition of our prayer letter, Eager Steps, at the link to the left.

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Here, There and Back Again!

*The following is an e-mail update sent out last Monday, Aug. 4th that we did not have time to post before our conference.*

SPECIAL PRAYER REQUEST: Before we begin to update you on what has been happening with us the past month, we have a very important prayer request. Our good friend and fellow TEAM missionary in La Paz, Cher Gatto, needs your prayer. Without going into all the details, she was flown back to the states last week with some health issues and today it was discovered that she has a cancerous tumor. Surgery to remove the tumor is scheduled for this coming Thursday at which time they will know how far it has progressed. Please pray with us for Cher, her husband Pete and their five children as they go through this very difficult time.

HERE…
Before leaving for our trip to the states to visit with family as well as several supporting churches, we were beginning to see some of the first fruits of our new cell group outreach. Here is a brief summary of some of the exciting results from our first three months of meetings:
~We are seeing believers take more ownership of the ministry and maturing in their faith.
~We are seeing our members become more aware of the needs around them.
~We have had approximately 70 adults & 58 children visit the 4 different cell groups during the initial 3 months of meetings.
~We have had an increase of visitors to our Sunday service from the cell groups.
~We have had 3 professions of faith.

THERE…
While in the states, we had the privilege of travelling to Alaska to update supporters on our ministry as well as spend some wonderful time with Phil’s family. It had been almost four years since our last visit and it was a special blessing that all of Phil’s immediate family could be together, including his brother and family who are missionaries in Poland. We were able to make a lot of good memories with them as well as share with the church during a special fiesta night and in an adult Sunday school class. During our travels, we were also able to connect with Pattie’s family in Arizona and California and Phil’s aunts in southern California. As always, the time with family and good friends goes by fast. Our last Sunday in the states, we were sitting in a church before giving a report and Micah looked up at me and said, “Mommy, I want to go home. When can we go back to Mexico?” We were all ready to get back into our own home and routine.

AND BACK AGAIN…
Thank you so much for your prayers as we travelled the many miles in such a short time. God’s hand of protection was on us as we drove, especially on our travel down the Baja when a tractor trailer dumped half its over packed load of hay bales right in front of us. It was a very tense few minutes for all of us but we definitely knew that the Lord was with us and know He protected us from what could have been a very tragic accident.
We are happy to be back and look forward to getting back into the swing of things. It was great to be back in church on Sunday and greet all of our dear brothers and sisters here as well as worship with them again.
Please pray for the cell groups. Summer can be a hard time to get people to come, especially with the heat. Please be in prayer for two families in particular that have attended our cell group in the past: Edgar & LaLa and Juan & Judy.
We leave again today for our field’s annual conference of missionaries where we give our reports on various ministry areas throughout Mexico. TEAM’s director has also come to help us work through a field vision and purpose. We are excited to hear what the Lord has been doing the past year in other ministry areas as well as clarify the vision for our field so that we can more effectively minister and work better as a team.

As always, we are overflowing with gratitude for your faithfulness in praying for us and supporting the ministry here. We pray for you as well and enjoy hearing how things are going with you and how we can pray for you!

By His Grace,
Phil and Pattie

PS-We will send out some pictures soon!

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Continue Praying for "M"

The following is our most recent e-mail update sent out last week on June 12th. Sorry it is late in getting posted.

Greetings from a cooler Baja. We enjoyed an unexpected break from the heat yesterday with a fairly cloudy and cooler day which was a definite blessing for us. We hope that all is going well with you in whatever part of the world the Lord has placed you today!

A brief update on our friend "M"...we recently received the sad news that she attempted suicide and has been admitted to a facility by the govt. agency our people have already been in contact with. More information has come to light regarding her situation. The man who allegedly attacked her is claiming that those are lies and that she is a drug addict. It is really difficult to know who to believe. Regardless, we know that she is a very lost and hurting young woman and there is only one person who can truly heal the wounds she has. Please, pray with us for opportunities to reach out and help show Jesus to her. Pattie is hoping to visit her soon with at least one of the ladies from the cell group. Pray for wisdom and for her to see His love in them as well as her need for Him.

While our particular cell group has fluctuated in our attendance, we are seeing some maturity in our core group of believers. One of the results of the situation with "M" has been that they have acknowledged that they have become closed in with regards to only having friends in the church or what they said were "good folks". They are seeing that there is a lost and hurting world outside the walls of their homes and the church and are becoming motivated to do more to reach them. This is incredibly exciting for us and a huge answer to prayer as we had mentioned previously, the church having become so ingrown. Wonderful things are happening through the new cell group ministry and it is a great place to see the Lord working in the lives of our church people but also their friends, neighbors, co-workers and families as they reach out to invite them to the groups. This past Sunday we had 7 new visitors in church from the cell groups. We have also had three professions of faith. Tomorrow night, the leaders of the groups will be presenting the Gospel message and giving an invitation. We would appreciate your prayers especially that those we have invited will come and that their hearts will be open to the message.

Please, continue to pray as we seek to reach this city and surrounding area with the Light it so desperately needs.

By His Grace,
The Eager Family

Monday, May 19, 2008

Keep Praying

Below you will find the most recent update we sent out via e-mail.

Thank you so much for the notes telling us you are praying for the situation with our new friend “M”. We appreciate all the prayers so much. We wanted to give you an update and ask for your continued prayers for this situation.

She is a very scared young lady right now and unfortunately is not thinking too straight as a result. She decided amidst their protest to leave the house of the family from our cell group because she knows that the man knows where they live and she is afraid because of that. She has chosen instead to spend some nights sleeping in one of the Catholic churches which really is like being on the street or has stayed with other friends from work. She has also made comments that lead us to believe that she is suicidal. The two sisters from our group, Lina and Irene, pleaded with her on Saturday to come back and stay with them when she returned for some clothes she had left behind but she would not. They are very torn for “M” as they really care for her, yet they cannot force her to stay with them either. So, this is where we are at with “M” right now. Please, pray for her safety and for more clarity in her thinking. Pray that she will realize most of all her need for the Lord and that we can continue to minister to her as she will allow.

The Lord has brought another sad situation into focus through our cell group. Lina had invited another woman from her work to our cell group this past Friday. When she went to pick up the woman and her children for the group, her abusive husband had returned to the home (he had left the family a few weeks ago) and asserted his control over the family, making many threats to his wife, children and Lina. Please, pray with us for Lina’s friend “I” and her children. That He would protect them and that she would have the strength and resolve to remove herself and her children from such a dangerous situation. Pray for Lina and our group to have wisdom in how best to reach out to this family.

Our hearts are so saddened by what we have been a witness to these past couple of weeks…the evil that people will do to others. It definitely gives us motivation to keep doing what we are doing yet is also frustrating because we wish we could do so much more. Would you please also pray with us that the Lord might bring more people to work in the harvest here? There is a great need, especially for a shelter ministering to abused women and children in this area like our co-workers in La Paz helped to begin there. It would be such a blessing if we could have that to offer to women like “M” and “I”….a safe place where they can be ministered to and experience Jesus’ love in tangible ways.

Thank you for your continued prayers….we firmly believe it is no accident that the Lord brought these ladies into our lives and we will seek to show them Jesus as much as we are able. By His Grace, Phil and Pattie