Settling In For the Work Ahead

It's that wonderful time again to share with y'all the goodness of God in our lives!

As I sit here writing this Ryan is on the other side of Mexico in Merida (near Cancun). Please keep Ryan in prayer this week, as he flew out to to teach at a discipleship conference while still recovering from some sort of an intestinal infection (probably food poisoning.) God graciously provided the means for the pastor of CC Los Mochis to accompany him and join in the work there. May their efforts bring about much lasting fruit of equipping disciples to make disciples until the Lord's return. In the meantime, the kids and myself have been learning how the locals here use the bus and taxis to get around.

As we have been settling in to our new home here in Guasave. We relish the extra space and have quickly filled up all the closet spaces with the things we had been storing in various containers and boxes the past year. It felt good to open and go through all that we actually brought with us from California (especially our kitchen gadgets and cookware because we went from having a two burner electric stove to a six burner stovetop and working oven!)

While the girls have a much easier time with the new online school and it makes it that much easier for me (Esther) in no longer needing to grade any of their work, the move has left them friendless in the city. As we have been fellowshipping in the city nearby (currently an hour drive as Ryan's truck has some mechanical issues that keeps us driving slower than usual on the highways), there's an adjustment time as we figure out how to integrate our kids with getting to know the other kids here in this city.

In Palos Verdes, however, we are excited to see kids coming to play games with us at our new hang out spot. It gives our girls the chance to interact and brush up on some of their Spanish, and it gives us the chance to spend time with them and help them discover the love of God. We've also had the excitement to see a couple new people join us for the bible study! Please continue to pray for the work God is doing there!

In our new hometown of Guasave, we have been scouting for a location to start a church. Currently we are hosting bible studies in our home on Wednesday evenings. but we look forward to having a place where we can easily make posters and invitations that give the location without any reservations about it being our actual home address. In the meantime, we are grateful for the church planting course we are taking in Los Mochis, and trusting the Lord to build up a team to join us as we wait on God to bring all the elements needed together in harmony! From an actual building, to a team to lead worship and the help we'll need with the children and the youth, we know God will be faithful. But we covet your prayers, that God will send (and prepare) the laborers that are to join us!

Meanwhie the month has been eventful in other ways as well. Not the least of which was a great visit from our Alvaro from California. He was such a great help around the house and in all the ministry projects we participated in. Unfortunately, he missed both the church gathering and the church planting class as a result of hurricane Norma. But on the bright side, he can say he survived a hurricane in Mexico. Just before he left, and just after the hurricane we had the privilege of celebrating Jasper 10th birthday. We all went to the movies and spent the day together in Mochis despite the hurricane carnage.

We have also been taken aback by the multitude of people that celebrate Halloween here in this quaint little city. Normally, our street is super quiet in the evening, but the past couple nights, we've seen a parade and motorcade of people chanting "Halloween" and honking their motorcycles dressed in costumes on the "scary" side. it's been eye-opening to realize the attraction here to the darkness and the openness of celebrating it. May the Lord give us boldness and wisdom in how to shine His light most effectively with the gospel of Jesus Christ.