Jump to:

Mission Trip Report

Christmas 2017 Happening Now

Meet Our Co-Laborers - Vasquez and Perez

Cherish Every Moment

Merry Christmas everyone! That’s spelled Merry C H R I S T mas. He really is the reason for the season. 

In the next two newsletters, we’ll be sending you reports of our Christmas activities. By the time you read the news in our newsletter it will actually be history. In my thoughts of recent history, I want to share two very newsworthy events that took place in October and November.

October 22nd we had the joy and privilege of participating in OASIS, an outdoor worship event at our Airport Park. No specific church was recognized because the focus was entirely on spiritual worship. Even though numerous churches were represented, none were mentioned, as all credit and glory was focused on the presence of God.

Much of the success was due to the participants of the New Generation Bible Club from our Douglas High School. These beautiful young people representing many of our area churches definitely set the example by their pure uninhibited worship. see OASIS worship event photos below

Another recent event came in the form of shock and faith. At Wednesday night service little six-year-old Marcus was running, laughing, and playing with his friends, then on Saturday, he’s having emergency brain surgery to remove a large tumor.  Sometimes the unexpected will jump-start our faith. I want to share this amazing word from his mother, Jessica Terrell:

I haven’t had much time to post and express my gratitude for what everyone has done for me and my son. We have had so much support and so many people don’t know us personally but have gone out of their way to help. I thank you all for the donations, the encouraging words, offering me a shoulder to cry on, and most importantly your prayers.

With so many bad things going on in the world, we sometimes don’t focus on all of the good in the world. Even in a difficult situation, I still focus on the good.

Being in ICU I have seen parents rushed in with children who have had severe traumas, I have seen the faces of parents who have had to go home without their children who passed away. There are people who are going through worse things than I am.

Our lives can change in an instant and you never think it’s gonna be you. I never thought I would see my son’s face all over donation posters and fundraiser posters, but that’s a reality right now.

So many people complain about the small things in life, but do they really matter? Something your kid’s school does? If you have to wait in line for a long time? If you have to wait at the doctor's too long?

In Marcus’ unit in the hospital, there are so many children fighting cancer, yet they still run around and play and find joy in everything. Why is it that as we become adults, we forget about the joy in things? We are always too busy, we are always too preoccupied, we always feel we need to be better than someone else, we care too much what the world thinks of us and that stuff doesn’t matter.

What matters is every day we wake up, we have a purpose, and we have another chance to do something great. We have a chance to make a difference. Complaints get us nowhere. Actions do.

I encourage you all to Cherish Every Moment in life, even the annoying moments, even the bad moments because you are still here to enjoy them. Enjoy your kids and cherish them, because you just don’t know when your world can change forever. I am blessed, my son is recovering, and I have faith in God’s timing. Don’t take anything for granted and I encourage you all to find joy in every moment.

Let’s pray that Jessica, her husband Magic, and their sons Marcus and Jaden will continue to grow in strength and faith and for Marcus’ complete recovery.

Calvin and Barbara

	OASIS Worship
... "and I will pour out My Spirit on all people"... - God

Mission Trip Report

October Mission Team
From Sterling, IL, Tulsa OK, and Douglas, AZ

The power of God was strong in our prayer times and in the churches of Aribabi, Nacozari, Divisaderos, Moctezuma, and Cumpas as we ministered. This team has worked together enough to learn to operate in the Spirit as a team. Everyone listens to the Holy Spirit and as soon as one person sits down someone else jumps up to share what God has placed on their hearts. It all unfolds into a beautiful, timely message from God.

Throughout the week many people were filled with the Spirit and touched by God in special encounters.

During the week, 2,500 gift bags were filled for the Christmas Outreaches in the area around Cumpas and the team worked on various projects at the mission house.

The Team

Christmas 2017 Happening Now

Please be in prayer for the Christmas programs this month; for an anointing to touch the hearts of the children with God’s presence and love.

Also, pray for the safety of the teams going out and the children attending.

	We will not hide these truths from our children; we will tell the next generation about the glorious deeds of the Lord, about His power and His mighty wonders. Psalms 78:4 NLT

Meet Our Co-Laborers

	In Navojoa, Sonora, Mexico: Felipe and Carmen Vasquez
We met Felipe and Carmen in 1993 in Navojoa, Sonora. They were attending Bob and Miki’s El Shaddai Bible Training Institute. Through the years, they became Bob and Miki’s right-hand representatives. While living in Navojoa, Bob incorporated a Mexican humanitarian organization, Centro de Orientacion Familiar. Carmen serves as President. Some of the poorest people in Sonora live in that region. This organization helps coordinate help for medical emergencies, and also help provide food for many children in need. Felipe and Carmen also oversee FMI’s VBS and Christmas outreaches for that region.  They oversee 23 teams that provide programs for 59 pueblos reaching a total of almost 5,000 children. Many of these are small, rural areas that so appreciate the love and gifts. Before Christmas, they turn their house into a warehouse where the various teams come every night to prepare the gift bags they will give out in the specific areas of ministry.
Felipe ministering to children at Christmas time.
Christmas gift bag assembly line.
Carmen teaching Vacation Bible School.

	In Aribabi, Sonora, Mexico: Armando (Patricio) Perez
*Patricio who? Armando Perez, that’s who! In 2005, we were holding meetings at the mission house in Villa Hidalgo, Sonora. Attending were visitors from surrounding pueblos.  Among the first time visitors was a tall man in his thirties who greeted me in English. As I started to converse in English, he stopped me saying, “Hold on! I don’t speak English, but I know greetings and a few bad words that I picked up while in jail.” As our visit progressed, we found out that he knew many of the places and the remote roads in Torrance County, New Mexico where I grew up. Before he met the Lord, he used to make regular dope runs all over the same territory I was so familiar with. We kept saying to one another, “You look familiar, seems like I’ve met you somewhere.” Well, we never could put our finger on time and place, but based on our past in New Mexico, it is pretty obvious our paths had crossed at some time or the other. *After Armando (nickname Patricio) came to the Lord while incarcerated, he found a lasting freedom from both jail and the sin that had put him there. Through the course of time and events, the Lord had brought him to the little town of Aribabi, Sonora where he was pastoring a small group of new Christians. They had bought land and were proceeding to get a church building started. The locals of Aribabi, having never had a Protestant church were quite resistant to this new religion invading the community. At one point a group of men actually came at night and tore down some of the first progress on the building project. This year they have rebuilt and finished the walls. Now they are ready for a new roof which will cost about $6,000. Pastor Armando has faithfully preserved in faith, building first of all the spiritual church and as money comes available they progress with the physical church. He is an amazing, anointed, and talented man of God and a joy to all who meet him. Pray for Patricio and his church to find favor with local residents and city authorities. They still have some hurdles to jump as they run the race of faith.
Patricio and Calvino putting together a cement mixer.
Aribabi church ready for a roof.

Back to Top

Subscribe to our monthly newslettes.

You will find information about Missions Trips, Christmas Outreaches and Vacation Bible Schools by clicking on the Evangelism link to the right under the Main Menu.