Struska Missions Update December 2020

Family

As you know from our last update, Ron has decided to have back fusion surgery to try and help alleviate the severe back pain he has been experiencing for almost a year now. It was supposed to take place mid-January. However, due to COVID-19 restrictions, non-essential surgeries are being postponed. It may happen as early as the end of January, but we have no way of knowing at this point. Please pray with us that it will be allowed to take place soon!

Church Planting

This past weekend, our church, Calvary Chapel Rosarito, had the privilege of sending out its 26th church plant. Pastor Elmer Cardenas was ordained, and he and his wife, Crystal, will leave shortly to plant Calvary Chapel Loreto in Loreto, Baja California Sur (South). They will be starting a bilingual church in this coastal, resort town of about 20,000 people.

We have the opportunity to support them next month! We will be traveling to Loreto with our 24-foot trailer to help Elmer and Crystal move. It is a 16-hour trip south, without traffic and without pulling a large trailer, so we will be taking a couple of days to drive there. We are excited to be able to help them out in this way. We will also be moving some belongings of Juan, who is going to be serving with them. There are two other couples who are moving there to serve at CCL as well.

Please pray for all of us for safe travels, and for the start of this new church!

Ministry & the Coronavirus

Here at Connections House, we feel very confident in our decision to resume ministry on June 29th of this past year. When teams began canceling in March and details of COVID-19 were still very vague, we had made the decision to temporarily cancel ministry. Once we had more knowledge on the subject, we decided to reopen.

We have been called to reach the people of Rosarito, Mexico and the surrounding area. We were not called to serve only when it’s easy. God did not tell us to, “spread the gospel, but shut things down when there are too many obstacles”. We have witnessed several ministries and missionaries who have packed things up and gone home this past year. We have been condemned and criticized for our decision to remain open and accept teams. However, God’s opinion is the one that matters. Since the arrival of our first team in July 2020, restaurants in Rosarito may have had limited capacity, but they have been open for business and most of them open for dine-in as well. This is just one of the things that helps to reassure us that it was a good choice to resume ministry.

We are doing our best to be safe and careful. Connections House will be continuing with its extra efforts in the cleaning and sanitization of our facilities and ministry materials. We will remain committed to following all social distancing and safety guidelines of our churches, ministry sites, stores, etc. Anyone that is the high risk category of COVID is strongly advised not to come. We will also continue with our rules of greeting with elbows and wearing masks.

Ministry will likely continue to look different this year, especially in the beginning. This past year, all of our ministry included COVID relief – giving out food and/or cleaning supplies. We remained steady in sharing the gospel and trying to encourage the local people as much as possible. In 2021, we would like to add construction ministry to our focus. We have a great opportunity to use this time to help churches, feeding kitchens, and orphanages in the construction or repair of their facilities. This is something that can be done with very little to no contact with the local people in order to help promote safety and good health.

Please join us in praying that the Lord will work in the hearts of many to come and serve! Contact us if you have any questions at all about ministry or bringing a team to serve during this global pandemic.

End of the Year Giving

We would like to thank all of you that have partnered with us this past month to help continue our 3rd floor project. Our Upper Room is looking awesome and as of today, we have two functioning bathrooms! With a little bit more paint and some wall tile, they will be completed soon! The next step will likely be the drop ceiling in the dining room and/or kitchen.

Please consider a small donation of $30 to help us continue this work. Since the beginning of December, you have helped us to raise $1548! We’d love for you to help us out with the remaining balance of our short-term goal of $2952. That’s just 98 more people at $30 each! If many people are able to give small amounts, it is not only a lighter load for people to carry. It also means that that many more people will get to share in the fruit of this ministry! Lord willing, we would like to have this project completed before our spring teams arrive! Click here to learn more about Connections House.

give.connectionshouse.org