Sharing the Love of Christ in the Amazon

Calvary Chapel Playas has gone to two services. It is so exciting to see God’s word honored as people come to learn and fellowship with one another. Our 9am service had a great turnout and it was a blessing as people were excited to serve. We have concluded our first session of the School of Ministry courses and will start back up in the fall. Calvary Chapel Living Water out of Corona, California came down and blessed us during our men’s breakfast as well as with the day of fellowship. We had a fellowship and baptism day at the beach, what a great time! People from church came out as we baptized 8 people and barbecued up some burgers. It is such an encouragement to have brothers in Christ come and minister to our body of believers, what a blessing.

Calvary Chapel Saving Grace has started a “School of Missions” and we were blessed to spend a couple of days doing ministry with their future missionaries. It was so much fun, we evangelized in the park, ministered to mentally handicapped people who have been abandoned by their families and spent some time getting to know the team. They are a great group of young men and women who are waiting for God to confirm the call he has on their lives. They will be the next generation of those who will take the Gospel to the unreached nations. We were blessed to be a part of what God is doing in their lives.

Our family has been busy this summer. We have been blessed with hosting many families and groups who have come to Mexico to serve alongside us. Jamie and Brian have been working hard and saving to prepare for the next season in their lives. RJ was in La Paz, BCS, Mexico for 5 weeks and served at Rancho El Camino this summer. He was also able to visit our dear friend’s Basketball Camp, offered through their ministry, Transformados, when he was in La Paz. Mackenzie was blessed with scholarships to be able to attend a Christian Camp in Northern California called Hume Lake for a week. As people are being discipled through God’s word, it is amazing to watch the transformations that are taking place in the lives of the body of believers here at Calvary Chapel. Please keep our family and the church here in Playas de Tijuana in your prayers. We appreciate you all very much!

It looks like we will be going to two services, the first week of August.  We are excited for this next step as we see God blessing His word and His body of believers.  Our school of ministry was able to participate in a Medical Outreach in June and it was great.  We have local swap meets in Tijuana and we had a brother bless us with his spot within the swap meet.  There was a great turn out. We were able to pray for people, help them with their medical issues and above all, share the gospel with them.  You can be praying for us as we will be doing a medical outreach again on the 18th of July.  

Calvary Chapel Living Water, out of Corona California, came down and blessed us with a day of fellowship at a local park.  It was a great time of encouragement for our body of believers. We ate, we played games, we worshipped the Lord in song and in His word.  We had a great turnout and we are looking forward to our church beach day and baptisms on the 27th of July. Living Water will be coming down again!  What a blessing it has been to have connected with this sweet fellowship of brothers and sisters.

We officially have two High School graduates and two more to go.  Brian graduated this past month and has been working full time. Very proud of that young man.  Our kids are getting so old, where does the time go? RJ continues to play basketball and in July R.J. will be heading down to La Paz, Mexico to serve at Rancho El Camino. Their ministry is focused on reaching the local impoverished areas, RJ will be serving at a summer camp that will reach the local youth for Christ.  Mackenzie will be heading out to Hume Lake for a youth camp as well. This is the second time she will be going, she is super excited. CC Playas youth group was invited to serve at a local conference for youth and some of the worship team from CCPlayas led the youth in worship for one of the days. The kids continue to serve in children’s ministry at CCPlayas. We were blessed this month to have my two nieces and nephew come down to visit, as well as a friend from Calvary Chapel Buhl Youth Group in Idaho, came down to serve with us for two weeks. We also had friends from California visit, they encouraged us in the Lord and blessed us greatly! Our family is doing well, what a blessing to serve the Lord with one another especially as the time we have left with our children at home is drawing to a close, as they prepare for the calling God has on their lives.

Please keep us in prayer as we have been offered a small building to rent for 150 dollars a month.  It is right next to our Church building and we are praying about what we can do with it. Maybe an extra children’s ministry room, a youth room, a coffee shop and/or a bookstore.  We have no idea what the Lord wants to do, but we know he wants us to have it. The owner was asking 500 dollars a month, and we countered with 150. Apparently the lady just wants the building to be used to honor the Lord, and we are the blessed recipients of His favor. Thank you Jesus!

Please continue to pray for our weekly Bible studies, Mom’s in Prayer, and our Men’s and Women’s Bible studies, as well as the Deportee Ministry and Men’s discipleship homes. It has been a very slow process and we want to work within the timing of the Lord. We know, He has a plan, He knows the timing, and we just need to walk by faith.

Posted on June 18, 2019 by Ryan Gause

Family in Christ, thank you so much for your physical and spiritual support for our family as we have been serving the Lord in Mexico for 6 1/2 years now.  How the time flies! Brian and Jamie have graduated from High School, R.J and Mackenzie will follow in the next 2 years. It has been a journey of ups and downs and all arounds. Wouldn’t trade it for anything!

We have been reaching out in a local colonia called Hiberito.  It is an area where we are partnered with a men’s discipleship home.  The purpose of the home is to help men who are deported, men who are struggling with addictions.  Our church has been gathering every other week to play soccer with the local youth. It has been awesome.  We are inviting the community to come down to where we live, about 15 minutes away, to come have a day of fellowship and fun.  Our ultimate hope is that we would plant a home church in the area. How exciting!

Starting July 7, 2019 we will have two services on Sunday, please keep our leaders and faithful servants in prayer as we step out in faith. We also teamed up with a Doctor to have a medical outreach.  We have trained 15 people from the body to participate and are hoping more come to serve.  That will be June 10th, 7a.m. We will be doing the outreach in a local swap meet, called a Sobre Ruedas.  We have a space to put up 4 tents and are expecting the Lord to save many! 

We were blessed to celebrate all of the moms on Mother’s Day and our good friend, Timothy who is moving back to the states. Please be in prayer for the Lord to direct his next steps in serving the Lord.

Jamie got a new job at Hel-THe and although the minimum wage in Mexico is $8-10/day, she is blessed to have some extra money as she is praying about her plans for the future. Brian is working hard at finishing up High School and working while RJ continues to play sports any chance he gets. Mackenzie celebrated her sweet 16 and got her drivers license. So we now have 4 drivers in the house!

The Gause family is very thankful to have a community of believers that supports us in the mission field, meeting both our physical and spiritual need.  We have been so blessed to represent our Lord as well as those who support us. May the Lord bless you and guide you as you minister to the least and the lost.

  When we think about serving the Lord, our thoughts often turn to what we can accomplish or what work needs to be done.  This is definitely a part of ministry, but it is the people that we minister to that are the objective within ministry. I was reminded of this throughout the month of March as our family was blessed to minister alongside other churches while serving those who have great need.  

 
 We were blessed to help out at a medical brigade in early March.  We went to downtown Tijuana and ministered to the homeless while others attended to their medical needs.  My good friend Gil Garcia brought some brothers and sisters from Calvary Chapel Rosedale to serve alongside us.  The body of Christ was able to meet the needs of more than 500 people, truly a blessing.

    In late March Calvary Chapel Buhl brought 20 youth and 10 adults to come and serve for a week here in Playas, Tijuana.  This was an incredible group of youth as they were bold through evangelism and effective in outreach. They performed a biblical drama at a public school, shared the Jesus film and drama in local colonias, served people at the Tijuana dump and ministered to families in tent city, did construction at a nearby church plant and ministered to our body of believers as well.  The objective to minister to the hearts of the lost as well as the saved were met, through God’s provision, for God’s glory.

    Our family is doing well. The Lord is so faithful to provide, He seems to know just what we need, when we need it. Ryan has enjoyed building relationships with people at the local parks through the handball/racketball ministry and local rehabs. Karen stays busy with homeschooling the kids and being involved with women’s ministry. The kids have been able to visit Bible colleges, participate in the SoCal Harvest Crusade, and build homes for people in Tijuana and Rosarito these past few months. Jamie is excited to work at a local health food cafe in Playas. Brian is almost ready to graduate and is working at a produce store started by a couple from church, their heart is to share the love of Christ to the community in Playas. R.J is busy with basketball, and soccer. Mackenzie is a diligent student and has volunteered to do children’s ministry for the school of ministry at church. We are a blessed family to be supported by such a great group of brothers and sisters in Christ. Thank you so much as you serve the Lord through your physical and spiritual support of the Gause family, serving the Lord in Mexico.

Gause Family Serving in Mexico

January has been a month to pray and seek vision from the Lord. We are excited to see what the Lord is going to do with our deportee ministry. We really have a great need here in the northern border of Mexico to help the thousands of men and women who are being deported.  We have hopes for a home to house people, businesses to employ, and a school to educate their kids as they come from the United States to live in Mexico as a family. We will need to connect with chaplains in the Federal Prison system who can get us in contact with prisoners who are serving the Lord.  If you would like to be involved in this great ministry, please contact me.

Starting in March we will begin our School of Ministry.  It will be a 16 month program that will help to equip believers to serve the Lord with their giftings and callings.  We are very excited to see the body of Christ united in doctrine, vision and service of our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus.  One of our goals through the School of Ministry will be to identify those who have a call to church planting and missions. What a great opportunity we have here in Mexico to reach people with the gospel through church planting.  Southern Mexico, specifically the Circle of Silence, is just as unreached as areas throughout Asia and the Middle East. Please pray that God would put the call to church plant upon the hearts and lives of those who come through the School of Ministry.

After a nice little vacation, the kids are back in school. I am very proud of our 4 children as they have been a great blessing to our family as well as the church body.  Brian and R.J have started their own basketball team with some friends from Rosarito. I am officially the coach, but it is just a title I wear with no real authority. The boys are running the team and I get to go watch.  It has been fun to watch these boys grow into men and we are excited for their future in Christ! The girls are doing well. Mackenzie has become quite the baker and her sweet treats have become dangerous for our waste lines.  Jamie is still debating what she will be doing this upcoming year, whether she will work or go to college. Please keep the kids in prayer!

    It was a wonderful 2018 as we were blessed to serve the Lord in Playas Tijuana.  Over the course of the year we have seen people saved by God’s grace, discipled through obedience to the faith and serving in the local church.  What a testimony to the power of the gospel as it alone can take dead men and make them alive!

The month of December was exciting.  We were blessed to have Calvary Chapel Heyburn come on a mission’s visit.  Their church body blessed us with backpack presents for the church children and others in the community.  We are very excited to have them on board as a mission minded church that wants to get their body involved in serving across the border.  On December 16th we were able to have our celebration for the birth of our Savior. Our outreach leader put together a great day for the kids, teaching them about John the Baptist and the coming King.  After the service we were blessed to have Calvary Chapel Rosarito come up and do a Christmas play for our church and invited our women to their annual Christmas Women’s Dinner as well as the youth Christmas dinner. We are so grateful for their support as well as the many churches that support us personally and the ministry as well.

    Please pray for us as we embark on a New Year with vision for the deportee ministry.  We have a family in the church who are researching what it would take to open a call center.  What we would do is make contacts in the federal prisons with men who will be deported, we will pick them up as they are deported to Tijuana, we will house them, employ them and help them as they make the very difficult transition into Mexico.  Please keep this in prayer, it will take many open doors and much patience. We trust this is the Lords heart for men and women who will be deported, as they are often overlooked and rarely cared for. Just the people Jesus would minister to.

    Please keep the Brechtel Family in your prayers as we partner with them in planting a church in Oaxaco, Mexico. Thank you for your wonderful support and please keep our family and ministry in prayer.

The Lord has been so faithful to provide!  

It is such a blessing to be serving the Lord in Mexico as a family.  We have been in Playas de Tijuana for 3 years now, wow how time flies!  We have almost finished the first phase of remodeling on the Church building and after adding more seats, more people keep coming to hear the gospel. It is definitely a work of the Holy Spirit. We have tiled, built a sound room, run electrical, drywall, and painted but, we are slowing down for a bit until we have the finances to finish. 

Things have been going great at church. As we have expanded the sanctuary, the Lord continues to add to the church. We have had many professions of faith and are excited to see people grow in their faith as they come to discipleship studies at the church. We are organizing a women’s discipleship group which should start in November. We have a great group of Godly women who are excited to minister, encourage, and train the younger sisters in the Lord. 

As a church family, we had a fun night of celebrating Mexican Independence day with God’s word, delicious food, music, and fun games. We were also blessed to have some dear friends visit us and we are so grateful for their loving support and friendship.                                                               We have been reaching out to a local community, Laureles, every other month and are preparing to do a Thanksgiving outreach. Calvary Chapel Joshua Springs came down this past month and we were blessed to see a family come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Their family has been faithfully attending church and are growing in their faith. Would you pray with us, as we believe God is leading us to start a bible study in Laureles. It is a very poor area, with lots of drugs, suicides, and corruption. We know that Jesus wants to shine the light of His Gospel on this place, we just need His wisdom to lead us!The church body was blessed to hear a special message from Pastor Raul Cervera from Peru, about not getting distracted when God has called you to serve Him. It was a great reminder to stay focused on the calling God has on your life.

                                             The kids are doing well. Homeschooling has begun, so the kids are very busy. Mackenzie and Jamie love to help out in the nursery at church. RJ and Mackenzie are both playing soccer with Calvary Chapel Rosarito’s  Youth Group team. Brian continues to practice his guitar skills. After graduating, Jamie is still praying about what her next step will be. We believe God will give her direction in His time. The other kids are working hard and already looking forward to Christmas vacation. We are so thankful for our children, they serve the Lord, they are growing into adults, and although it is a bit scary as parents, we know the Lord is in control.

Summer 2018 Update 

It has been a busy and exciting couple of months.  

The church is doing great as we have been blessed to see many people come to the Lord over the last few months and have had about 15 people baptized.

We had a men’s conference that went well as we had Pastor Gil Garcia from CC Rosedale, Bakersfield, CA and also Pastor Martin Garcia from CC Las Delicias, Tijuana, BC, Mexico come and share powerful messages from the Word.  

We have begun a construction project at the church. The plan is to knock out a wall, expand the sanctuary and create a bigger space for fellowship.  Calvary Chapel Hagerman came down with their youth group and helped us with some of the construction. The air conditioning is finished and working well, praise the Lord.  

July has been busy as we have had family night every friday, watching movies and playing games.  Our Vacation Bible School went well as we were able to minister to 30 kids over the course of 5 days.  We are looking forward to having a women’s conference in October, please keep that in prayer.

Our oldest daughter Jamie had the opportunity to help Baja Christian Ministries with building homes for people in Tijuana.  We are so proud of her as she has excelled in her studies and is deciding what her next step might be.  

Brian and RJ have been doing well in basketball and enjoying their summer. RJ’s basketball team won the championship in a church league we were involved with at Calvary Chapel Rosarito.  It was a great time playing with the boys in basketball. The boys also had friends from Idaho come stay for a few weeks, during summer break.

Mackenzie has been hanging out with her friends, she always stays busy with little craft projects and loves worshiping the Lord as she listens to her favorite worship songs. Jamie and Mackenzie attended a girl’s retreat with Calvary Chapel Rosarito.

Many of you know my grandma, Barbara, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.  Karen has been taking care of her for the past three months. We have just moved her up to San Jose where she will be well taken care of by my uncle.  It will be great to have Karen back at home full time, we have definitely missed her much. Keep Barbara in prayer, she seems to be doing well in her battle with cancer, the Lord is in control.  

We are so excited to share with you what has been happening in our lives as we serve the Lord in Mexico.  Thank you for your spiritual support as you pray for us and also your physical support as you provide for us financially in the mission field of Mexico.

April and May have been great months! It was wonderful to celebrate our Risen Lord during our Easter service. As well as celebrate new life with Baby Dedications, Beach Baptisms and we had a special day to celebrate kids for “El día de los niños”, “Day of the kids”.                            

We are so blessed at Calvary Playas to have a great team of servants and leaders. The midweek studies are going well. It is great to see the body of Christ growing in their relationship with the Lord. We have begun teaching a midweek series on the “Pillars of Our Faith”. Thursday nights we have started providing “pan dulce”, or Mexican sweet bread, for the congregation.  We want to make Thursday nights a little more intimate for the church as we learn about the foundational doctrines of the faith. Food and fellowship unite the body of Christ (Acts 2:42).

            Jamie graduated from High School and we are so proud of her diligence as well as her love for the Lord. We are praying for her as she is deciding what her next step. Brian has started serving more on the worship team at church, he has worked very hard playing the guitar and is a talented young man. Our prayer is that he will continue to serve Jesus with his musical abilities. We have a traitor in the family! We are going to be involved with Calvary Rosarito Basketball League, and Brian and I will be on the same team, but R.J is jumping ship and teaming up with friends from CCR. Mackenzie recently had a birthday and we have been encouraging her to practice with the worship team, she can sing really well. 

So proud of these kids. It is not easy to be missionary kids as well as pastor’s kids, but they are faithful servants.

Some of you may know that my Grandmother, Barbara, has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.  The doctors will begin radiation treatment shortly, but we ask that you would continue to pray for her.

Thank you for your prayers and faithful support!