Julian is part of our young adult's group....He is welding the frame for the new roof!

Chuy and Carlitos helping take down the old roof.....

The poverty in Puerto Vallarta's outer population can be debilitating for some families....The needs can become overwhelming to meet so I am glad we can come before the King of King's and ask Him to give us direction to help those who are in need of economic help. He faithful has lead us to a group of families in Laguna del Valled who we can than funnel help to from our visiting brothers and sisters from the US and Canada. Today we will start on a roofing project to help our sister Luz and her husband Juan Manuel and their 6 children. The awesome thing is that He has provided the funds through our visiting brothers and sisters and the labor will be done by our Mexican brothers and sisters! What a blessing this combined effort is as we see His love manifested by His church from both places! We are thanking the Lord for letting us be His eyes, hands, and feet in seeing this need met! The family has improved greatly from the time we first met them... Juan Manuel is taking more seriously his role as father, drinking less and working more. We are still praying for His salvation. Luz faithfully attends bible study and church, no matter the conditions she and her family live in. She doesn't limit herself to going because of shame of appearance or other things that normally stop the ladies from the Colonia from attending church. The biggest...."I have to wash clothes and cook for my husband so I can't make it today". Pray for Luz and her children and for her husband's salvation. Her kids are rejected in school because they are very poor and kind of wild. The director told them to come back next year....Pray that we at CCMS will be able to help the boys work on their reading, writing, math, so that they won't be so far behind next year and that they can continue improve in the area of discipline so they will be accepted by their peers...

Thank you our faithful prayer warriors!

Calvary Chapel PV May/June 2011 Newsletter

It is 12:00 and time to get ready to go to school at CCMS in Laguna del Valle. What a blessing it is to be able to serve the Lord’s children! We are always amazed that they keep coming back…I don’t know why we are surprised, because it is the Lord that is doing the work in their hearts…and we just get the privilege of being His hands and His heart. What an awesome privilege that really is.

There are times when we get overwhelmed with the trials so many of our people face in our church….Economic struggles, struggles with sin, disappointment with other believers, lack of clothing and many of the creature comforts so many of his don’t even consider because we take them for granted. It makes my heart fill with gratitude every time I see the Lord provide for one of His own with one of these simple things in life. I am broken by God’s goodness to my family in the provision of the basic needs He fills in our lives. I am more broken by how He blesses our cup to the point of overflowing so we can share with others who are so needy. I always try to encourage others to have a generous heart because we can never give more than God gives us… as a family we are living proof of how He manifests Himself through His provision. We never have too much nor do we ever have too little so as not to defame God’s glory. Of course we try to live a simple life focusing on things eternal more than on things that are earthly, but our basic needs are important to the Lord and we are able to clothe, feed, and give our kids a life that doesn’t leave them wanting. For this I am eternally grateful…
Life on the mission field for a child can be a blessing or very difficult depending on how you help them focus when it comes to things eternal. I am reflecting on this because my children are in the advent of becoming independent adults and discovering the calling God is putting on their lives as they use their gifts to bless others.

Estie, Micah, Abigail, and our adopted daughter Sarahi are such an important part of our ministry as we are seeing the fruit of our labor as parents as their lives bear fruit. They serve in Worship, maintaining the church clean, preparing for service, children’s ministry and all the other things the Lord calls us to do to build his church. I am presently teaching a woman’s study where we are learning the truth of God’s Word in order to combat the lies of the enemy in our marriages, child-rearing, and our relationship with Him. It has been such an awesome time to me personally and I know the Lord is working in the lives of our women. God’s Word is really the only hope we have when it comes to planting good seed into the hearts our children. Of course this may sound repetitive as we have all heard it in messages throughout our lives but if we look in retrospect we have looked for instruction in many places other than the Word of God: example of friends as we compare kids, books, television, culture, and the many other things that affect our unconscious perception and influence us.

About two years ago we made a commitment to disciple the youth and challenge them to a deeper walk with Jesus…We committed to teach them the true meaning of worship using the beautiful illustrations we have in scripture such as Isaiah 6, the Psalms of David. We committed to teach them how to pray using the Lord ’s Prayer, John 17, and other scripture as models. We committed to teach them how to serve the needy at the mission and at the church. Even those youth from mission who ARE the needy have learned to have a compassionate heart to others as they are learning that there is always someone else that is more needy than they. We are seeing the fruit of the labor now manifested in our own children and in the children and youth of the church.

Those who have come to serve alongside us always are amazed at the servant hearts these young people display. Only Jesus can make that change in our hearts…for this we rejoice and thank the Lord. We hope to have our youth camp this summer. We haven’t confirmed the dates but we are looking forward to it as we will use the book “Crazy Love” as the theme. Please pray the you will be inspired and motivated as we challenge them to continue to grow and be strengthened as soldiers of Christ.

I will not venture to say that the work of the ministry has come without challenges, trials, and discouragement as we see others struggle in their lives as they have chosen to openly transgress against what the Lord has taught them. I believe that this is the hardest thing for us as missionaries to see and it burdens our hearts greatly to watch them struggle so. But I must say that we don’t lose sleep as we trust the Lord with those He has begun a good work in. Henry Blackabee says it the best in “Knowing God”: God is always at work, even when we don’t see it. We pray and rest as we put these in His hands knowing He loves them and will complete the work in them as well. I believe this is the heart of anyone who disciples others as to see them grow in the “full knowledge of Jesus Christ” as was Paul’s heart in Romans chapter 10. Bill has done an incredible job teaching the Body the writings of Paul and we are seeing them respond as they mature in Christ.

As summer has begun we are really, really hot! It is a time when the body has to adjust greatly and it is difficult not to be overcome by the heat as we serve the Lord. I don’t know how the kids in the public school can concentrate as they are finishing out their school year. Please pray for super-natural strength for all of us to not let this affect us and the work the Lord has us. It makes you want to be in air-conditioning or to stretch out in a hammock and take a way to long siesta!

I accompanied Bill to the CC Pastor’s Conference in Murrietta (He attended and I shopped with my friend Evelyn Tan, wife of Pastor Jon in Singapore). One of the things that I was able to do with him was attend a dinner at a nearby ministry called “Far Reaching Ministries” to Sudan where they focus on training Chaplains for the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army. Their vision is to train up leaders and soldiers of Jesus Christ to put on the front-lines of a place that lives under constant threat of war. One of the things I was so impressed by was a scroll they had painted on their wall which was written the “Knight’s code of Chivalry”. I loved it because it applies very well to what the Lord wants to do in “His People’s Army” no matter where we are. Here are the Words I leave with you and that we hope to use as part of our theme for our youth camp as we train up soldiers for Jesus:

KNIGHTS CODE OF CHIVALRY
To fear God and maintain His Church
To serve the Lord in valor and faith
To protect the weak and defenseless
To give refuge to widows and orphans
To refrain from giving offense
To live by honor and for glory of God
To despise the love of money
To fight for the welfare of all
To obey those placed in authority
To guard the honor of fellow knights
To despise meanness, unfairness, and bereft
Never refuse challenge with innocents in peril
To keep faith
At all times to speak the truth
To persevere to the end
To respect the honor of women
Never to turn the back upon a foe

Our Praise Reports:

• Thank you Lord for continuing the ministry at Calvary Chapel PV. We praise You for the spiritual growth we see through the discipleships. We praise you for the work of salvation You are doing in the kids at CCMS. We praise You for putting our church on the hearts of all our supporters and for providing for our family. Thank you Lord for those prayer warriors that have been praying for the struggling brothers and sisters....they do come back to church or we have the opportunity to cross their paths! For this we are grateful!

Our Prayer requests:

• For those we have lead to Christ throughout the years to continue to grow in their walks with the Lord as was Jesus’ Heart in John 17.

• For the kids at the school who have continued to be committed to finish out the school year at CCMS that they would grow in faithfulness to Christ.

• For those youth that struggle as the world wants to pull them in and make them compromise their walks with the Lord. Pancho, Juanita, Conchita.

• For the struggle the Body faces in hard economic times. It’s expensive to live here!

• For the Church finances that God will continue to provide for the rent, electricity, and all operating expensive. For continued support for the ministry.

• For continued work at the mission as teams come this summer. For safety and blessing on the work at the school. For spiritual- life changing experiences for team members.

If you are interested in supporting this ministry please go to
Global Adventures, CalvaryAlbuquerque.com
or if you would like to designate your donation to a our general fund in
Puerto Vallarta call their office at
505 344 0880 and speak to Trudy Waddleton for instructions.

God Bless you from The Martin's in Mexico