December Update

2014 Struska Christmas Photo - Low

Feliz Navidad and Happy New Year to all of our family and friends!

Well, Christmas is right around the corner. We are very blessed to be able to spend Christmas with family in Colorado this year. This is the first time we will be gone from Mexico for Christmas since we moved here.

In our last update we mentioned that we had a missions trip to Mexicali. We took a team from Calvary Chapel Rosarito to minister to a church that was planted by CCR about a year and a half ago by our former youth pastor. Mexicali is 2-3 hours east of Rosarito through the mountains. It is a desert area where daytime temperatures in November are beautiful, and night time temperatures are very cold. Keep an eye out for the * throughout, as these are thingsCCR Team we saw God in control of.

 

 

We left Rosarito on a Friday afternoon and headed east. On our way there, we began having transmission problems with the church bus. *The transmission problems didn’t start till after we reached the top of the mountain. Had they started sooner, we would not have reached the top. When we were only about 30 min from our destination, the transmission was getting so bad that we had to stop frequently to put in fluid and let it cool down. What was supposed to be a 2½ hour drive turned into more like 5 hours. *Pablo, our bus driver, is also a mechanic and said that he would work on the transmission the next day. He thought he should be able to get it going again. *The church there is 3 doors down from an auto parts store, and they had EVERY part we needed throughout the weekend.

We made it to the church to find out we had no cooking facilities to prepare meals for everyone.  One of the interns that came along on the trip is Carlos, *a former chef from the U.S. He was, however, a little concerned that therePraying in the Park was no kitchen, stove, or even a sink. The church people came through for us and provided a propane gas single burner, and a charcoal grill for us to use. Those two things, a folding table, and hose spigot became our kitchen.

Saturday we sent our team out into the streets to invite people to the church service on Sunday. We ended up singing worship songs on a corner at a park, as well as inside a second-hand store, while talking with people passing by. The church decided that they wanted to provide lunch for us. We had however brought lunch stuff with us in coolers that needed to be used. Instead, we were able to make lunches for all the kids that came out for the church’s kids club that day. Normally they have 20-25 kids for Using Truck to Put Up New Bannerthe Saturday club. *The day we came, the Lord brought 40!  It was a great day of ministry with those young ones.

That evening, we also hosted a marriage conference for the adults in the church. *All seats were full for this event! We have found this to be a great encouragement in churches we work in. Healthy marriages lead to healthy families, and healthy churches.

Sunday morning, we again hit the streets inviting people to church for that afternoon. The church had a new banner signSinging Worship Songs on the Corner that they needed to have put up, but no ladder or tools. *We had tools with, and I drive a large truck. I was able to back my truck up onto the sidewalk in front of the church, while some of the guys stood on top of it to install the sign. We set up coffee and cookies in front of the church to share as we talked with people. We also set up to play some music with a little speaker and a guitar we had brought. While this was going on, a man stopped by with a pickup truck that had loud speakers mounted on top. *He asked if we would like to plug into his truck for a while. He parked and allowed us to use his equipment for over an hour. Worship songs could be heard from blocks away. That Sunday, God packed out Truck With Loud SpeakerCalvary Chapel Oasis with people standing in the back. It was an amazing sight, to see this little church packed out. God is good, and we all made it back home safe!

Financial update: With moving this summer, and no longer living on the ministry ranch where we were before, our expenses have gone up by about $400 per month. I mention this to you as our support team to keep you informed of where we are. God is faithful, and has always provided for our needs in this area. However, we know that we have a responsibility to communicate those needs as well. Please keep the ministry here in mind as the end of the year approaches. If you are looking to do an end of year, tax deductible donation, we would very much appreciate you considering partnering with us. Thank you all for your faithfulness over these past years, without you we cannot do what we are doing here in Mexico. You share in the fruit of the ministry here!