Here is a link to our latest update for Sept./Oct. Thank you for always remembering us in prayer and praise as we rejoice in all the wonderful things the Lord is doing down here....

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/100217329/Calvary-Puerto-Vallarta-News

August/September 2011 Hello to all of our beloved family in Jesus!

It is hard to believe that three fourths of 2011 has passed so quickly! It reminds of Psalm 90:12 “So teach us to number our days, that we may present to You a heart of wisdom.” How so very important it is to make the most of the time the Lord has designated for us on earth for His glory! When I get bogged down with those things that can trouble me, distract me, or plain hurt me, I have to go back to the cross and ask the Lord to direct my steps in His perfect and favorable will no matter the circumstances. Our ways are not His ways which are much higher and better than ours!

This brings me to reflect as I thumb through all the pictures of our activities for this year and I have to say overall the Lord has helped us to “knit our heart with His” in service to His kingdom. Every day I stand in awe of what He does when we come to end of ourselves. Coming to the end of ourselves being the key words here because when we die to “us” we will live in “Him” and He will complete His work through us.

As summer has come to an end, as we welcome the fresh air of fall in the evening, I am grateful for the Lord’s faithfulness to our church and to its members. We hosted two teams who were a big blessing in the ongoing construction at the school. The first team came from Atlanta, Georgia with our friends Tom and Debra Kent and Randy and Dodie Costales CC Golden Springs in southern CA. The rains had started and the roof at the school was leaking! That meant mold! Well this wonderful group of people came and installed our upstairs floor which has now sealed it completely, saving our adobe walls and floors on the first floor!

Some things seem have a bittersweet side to them; it was completed at a time that we hadn’t thought would get here so unexpectedly…We held a memorial service for our dear friend Gloria who passed on to eternal life when she was about to complete 86 ….It was a very sad time for us because she was to all of us our faithful “grandma” in church. She was a woman who always exerted herself to get to church every service in spite of her physical disabilities, because she loved the Lord and His word so much. We miss her greatly as she was such a faithful friend to all of us and always had an encouraging word for her family in Christ. The kids at the school all wrote symbolic letters to her sharing their love for her, and then tied them to balloons that we released to the heavens… It was a beautiful time and we were blessed to be able to have the service on our newly tiled floor upstairs at the school. Who would have known…

In the middle of July we had our annual VBS in a two-day camp format at the school in Laguna del Valle. The theme was High Seas. Thanks to our supporting churches at CCLV and Niceville 1^st Methodist we were able to utilize the materials they had passed on to us from their previous year VBS. We were able to pull our camp together quite quickly as they supplied all the adornments we needed! The youth prepared materials for the crafts which were all hand-made. The talent and creativity of the Mexican people certainly inspire us! We were able to hold the two-day camp at the school where the smaller children and the girls were able to sleep indoors and stay dry! Thank you Lord for our generous and hard working brothers from the teams you send down to help us! The bigger boys slept up stairs and only got wet from the breeze that blew during a torrential downpour that is so typical in July!

The youth ministered to the kids in such marvelous ways as the lead them through this high-sea adventure as their “shipmates” teaching them their memory verses, praying for them, disciplined them, and simply loved them. This was such a blessing for us to see how they are putting in action all they are learning in their Youth bible study with Miss Mari on Saturdays. They are really a great bunch of kids!

In August we hosted a youth team that visited from Lynn Valley Community Church in Vancouver, Canada. We were blessed to have these sweet kids with us that worked tirelessly in the morning making block (1608 to be exact), and then had arts and crafts, games and bible stories in the afternoon for all the kids at the school. They made beautiful bonds with the children and once again the kids were poured out Jesus’ love. It was fun for our youth at Calvary as they worked alongside them during the whole week and had a chance to do a “missions’ trip” right here in their backyard. The youth grew in their awareness mostly in the area of how much they are really blessed in what they themselves have at home compared to the children at the mission. It definitely focused them on being “others centered”.

Serving the Lord is such a privilege and it really gives you the opportunity to grow in ways you never imagined as it stretches you to do things you normally wouldn’t do. One young girl named Mavi told me as she helped clean up a house that we were prepping for the following teams project: “I felt wonderful inside when you had me do things I would never do on my own for someone else”. We had helped Luz, mother of 6 clean her house, sort through very dirty laundry, and bathed her kids. We were expecting a team from Niceville, Fl. to arrive the next week to work in this house.

I always marvel at how the Lord strengthens us to do so much more than we thought we were ever capable of doing even when we are suffering! That really to me is the beauty of going through trials and seeing Him work in spite of your trial. This year we have suffered economically, physically, sometimes emotionally, but as we continue to put our faith in the Lord to do great things. He has come through every time. The beautiful part of walking in obedience even when your physical body says, “I can’t walk one more step”, the Lord is their doing His work through us and in every circumstance we may face!

We are starting school today when last week I said to the Lord, “How?” We are at a very low point economically speaking in the church. People are out of work or struggling to pay their rent so consequently the operating budget of the church is at its lowest. But guess what? We have beans and rice for today’s meal at the school, material printed for the month, gas in the van, helpers for today, and above all the presence of our Lord Jesus to guide the way! He definitely provides our daily bread and loves to put us in a place of trusting Him literally every day for our sustenance.

I am so blessed to see how the Lord takes care of His own because when we committed to do Luz’s construction in her house we had no money in the “mission” account but I knew the Lord would make a way because she needed the help. She cooks with wood in her house, has no refrigerator, and no bathroom! Can you imagine this with 6 children? The Lord provided! 1^st United Methodist Church along with other folks, who have joined this team in the past, came for a return visit to help with this project! Juan Manuel and Luz now have drainage in their back patio, bathroom, and kitchen, a shower, a place to do laundry, and kitchen cabinets made out of cement! They no longer have to bath inside their living room with lack of drainage and the back yard no longer has grey water accumulating!

Isn’t the Lord awesome! He also made a way for us to talk to the school so they would accept her children with fewer requirements in regard to transcripts. Her boys have lost 2 years of school due to their extreme poverty. God has made a way for these kids to get back into school and for us to help them by teaching them simple life-skills that they as parents need to give their children a healthy and godly life. The eldest son Jesus has a learning disability and the director of the school went to his classroom to introduce him and told the children that they needed to accept him and help him and if they fought with him and his brother they would have to answer to her.

My point being that the Lord is always at work and we need to decide if we want to be part of that work or not. It is making ourselves available in spite of what we humanly see possible and falling into the potters hands and letting Him mold us, and use us in the way He sees fit even if we don’t see it with our own eyes. This is the true meaning of a faith that can move mountains.

It took me awhile to really be able to write you this update because of the difficulties we have been facing physically, economically, and sometimes emotionally…but the Lord has reminded me that he will turn our mourning into dancing, our tears into rejoicing, our heartache into worship, and the labor of our hands into glory for Him because it is pleasing to Him. My encouragement to you is that you let Him use all things for good in your life today and wait on Him in every difficult circumstance to shine His grace into your life as He uses you to bring others to Him!

By the way, Luz’s husband Juan Manuel gave His heart to Jesus as He saw the Lord’s love poured out into the lives of his wife and children. It reminds me of the song by David Crowder Band that says,

He is jealous for me
Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy
When all of a sudden
I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory
And I realize just how beautiful You are
And how great Your affections are for me

Down here when you talk about a hurricane, the people know the immensity of the force of the wind that brings. God’s love truly is like a hurricane and He pours out his grace and mercy in such an incredible way that when He has your number you can’t resist it! The families in the church are learning to let the Lord love them with His incredible affection and they are working on letting Him lead them into obedience. Please continue to pray for these families and for God’s provision in their physical and spiritual lives as we know that we face a battle for the saving and maintaining of their souls.

We thank the Lord for all the help many of you gave through the pouring out of service to the Lord. The teams that came in June laid the foundation for the next team from Lynn Valley. Lynn Valley block making was prep for the work on the mission school done by 1^st United Methodist Church. They laid the bricks, painted the classrooms, cleaned out the storage room, washed uniforms which was a tremendous help before classes begin today. The other part of the team provided all that wonderful work at Juan Manuel and Luz’s home. Above all we thank the Lord for the continued work that He is doing in the hearts of our congregation as they learn to love Him more and grow in the knowledge of His Word.

Praise Reports:

· We praise the Lord for His continued sanctifying work in the lives of the people that are coming to church and for the new believers coming into the fold!

· We praise the Lord for His constant provision for our church and the congregation.

· We praise the Lord for all the workers he has sent to the harvest for the fields are ripe and their help makes it easier for us to reach many for Christ.

Prayer Requests:

· Please pray for the new believer’s that come into the fold every Sunday. That they will commit to the new believer’s class and personal bible study.

· Please pray for the “Hallelujah Party”, that many will come out of darkness and into His light!

· Please pray for all our discipleships, New believer’s, Men’s meeting, Women’s bible study, and Youth Group. That the Lord’s Word would be rightly divided and penetrating to bring change.

· Please pray for our English Women’s bible study that we would like to start in late November in the book of Revelation by Cheryl Broderson.

· Please pray for our church’s finances, that the Lord will provide for our basic operating costs, for the food for the kids CCMS, and funds for our helps ministry to the people out at the Mission and so that we can hire someone to help work at the church during the week.

· Please pray for our personal finances as well as we try to subsidize the operating costs at the church when necessary…God is faithful and we are still here!

· Please pray for those who have fallen away and have been caught up in the world and sin as Puerto Vallarta is a very decadent place. Please pray that they would get tired of the emptiness and would come back to Jesus!

· Please pray for unity in the body as “body living” can be difficult at times when all are not spending time in the Word and prayer. Pray for God’s grace in the lives of His children.

· Please pray for our youth that they would be single-minded in their walks with the Lord and that they would maintain holiness, purity of heart, and a desire to share their faith with others.

· Please pray for our children, Estie, Micah and Abby in their homeschooling. That they will be able to fulfill their goals daily and would not be distracted in what they need to accomplish. Please pray for their continued walks with the Lord.

Thank you so much for your constant love and support and for always being “mindful of us in your prayers”. We love you and are so happy to be able to share with you all the Lord has done through your faithfulness of prayer and support!

If you are interested in supporting this ministry you can make your tax-deductible donations to:

Global Adventures, Calvary of Albuquerque, 4001 Osuna Rd. NE 87109. If you want to make a contribution to the Martin’s write it in the memo of your check. If you want to donate to our General Ministry Fund write “Building Fund” in the memo and Global will know what to do from there.

God bless you!