November 20

"If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new" (2 Corinthians 5:17).   The work of salvation means that in our real life things are dramatically changed. We no longer look at things in the same way. Our desires are new and the old things have lost their power to attract us. One of the tests for determining if the work of salvation in our lives is genuine is --has God changed the things that really matter to me? If we still yearn for the old things, it is absurd to talk about being born again, the Spirit of God makes the change very evident in our real life and thoughts. And when a crisis comes, we are the most amazed people on earth at the wonderful difference there is in us. There is no possibility of imagining that we did it. It is this complete and amazing change that is the very evidence that we are saved.   Daniel was sharing with the group from Montana, (will talk more of them later), how it was for him when he first gave his life to Christ, what an amazing and complete change took place in his life. He no longer lived for himself, he didn't care if his boss at work changed his wages, schedule to the benefit of the company, or whatever, he was in love with the Lord, and nothing else mattered. The Lord had taken his wretched life and had given him this new wonderful one. People even thought that his happiness and contentment was due to his extreme ingestion of drugs he had done in the past, they couldn't understand his joy and peace...He tells us that the first night as a new creation, he was afraid to go to sleep, he feared he would wake up the next morning and be the same wretched person he was before. Oh, the wonderful life He gives us! It has been now 33 years since that day, and he can still wake up in the morning and have this wonderful feeling, the Lord has not left him not even for a second. We adore Him for His faithfulness!   I have been sharing with the girls about the benefits of a closer relationship with the Father through prayer. Our faith increases, we have a place to get rid of our burdens, prayer teaches us the Lord is always near to us, it drives away our fears, and prayer changes our lives!   The Psalmist says,  "Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper" (Psalm 1:1-3)   To be like this tree planted by the rivers though, we must follow a few steps, I was telling them. We must not follow the advice of evil people, we must not hang out with sinners and we must not cultivate relationships with mockers.     Warren & Jennifer,  have been bringing groups to México on missions trips for 22 years! They first came to our place in 2001. Since then, Warren has come about 27 times. Yes, he has done quite a bit of driving...The Lord has blessed us immensely through him and through the wonderful people he has brought with him over the years. They each have added, enriched and contribute to this ministry in a special way.   He brought six new people this time. We were very blessed by each one of them. They did work in Alamos with pastor Javier, they worked in San Antonio (a village where Dan does a Bible study on Wednesdays). Warren felt like he had gone almost to the end of the world, he told me. It takes Dan two hours to get to this place. Really, this is the farthest community we minister to. Although, as the crow flies,  this place is pretty close to the ranch.   Colie & his daughter Candice, also from Montana, are here at this time, together with Warren and his group, they did a lot of work around the ranch. The Lord is so good to us!   I could go on and on, mentioning names of people that have been, and still are a vital part of this ministry. How the Lord has used each church, each individual, and through them has, and continues to, shower us with His blessings. 'Thank you, each and everyone, we are so very thankful you are part of what God is doing here. We pray for many of you by name each day, thanking God for sending you to us somehow, (and even for those that have never been here.) Many of you we haven't even met...' I was thinking today how awesome our Lord is, because even those that have met us and have worked  with us over the years, those that know so well our shortcomings and our lack of skills in so many ways, still love us and support us in so many different ways. In us this Scripture is totally fulfilled:   "But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty" (1Corinthinans 1:27).   Talking to one of the ladies in the group, she was asking about the ministry here. I was reminded of a time a while back. I was complaining to my husband saying how we would do well just having one focus in our ministry, I was thinking we had enough just ministering to the communities, instead of also having a children's home and a radio station, and so forth. He asked me, 'Was I seeking to have all these things, was I striving to make them happen, or did they just happened to fall in our lap?' I had to agree with him on the latter. Truly every new community we start going to, or whatever new thing we start, it is something that happens without us striving to make it happen, we don't even think about some of the things the Lord has us do.   I have thought on more than one occasion that the Lord is biased, so many times it seems to me that He makes me be wrong just to make Daniel be right. Anyway, I am just writing this letter here, minding my own business and an e-mail comes, it is the lawyer in charge of the legal stuff in DIF Sonora in Hermosillo (capital of our state). She is wanting to send to more girls, they are 11 years old each, she tells me.   Well, again, this is His ministry, we work for Him, we ask Him every day to guide our lives, to help us do the works He has prepared before hand for us to do.   We celebrated Aaliyah's third birthday last week.         What can I say? She is a princess. All right, to us she is. Please pray for this sweet girl, for God to mold her character and for her to grow up loving the Lord with all her heart.                             Levi               Jesse reading   Continue to pray for Levi, we continue to ask the Lord to heal this precious boy completely if that would be His perfect will. He has been a bit sick lately. Jesse has a cold a this time too. Continue to lift Brian & Rochelle up in your prayers as they face such challenges every day. Oh, the Lord is so faithful and we know His hand is over their lives, but our strength so many times fails us, we need to continue to rely on Him for all our needs.    Obed has two teeth, and he figures it is never to early to start taking care of them, so he brushes...I talked to Rochelle today, she told me Jesse also started brushing his two teeth, and Levi his one also...will send pictures of them later.   Thank you so much for your prayers, your support and your love,   Daniel & Ana