Febuary Update

The place is reserved, a guest speaker arranged, the flyers posted, the brochures handed out, and the announcement made in church. It is becoming one of the biggest outreaches the deaf women’s ministry (all three of us !) have done yet.

Imagine our delight as we prepare for our first ever deaf women’s retreat! We have invited all and any deaf women from Ensenada and even as far as Tijuana. It will take place March 9-11 so we are at the point where we are awaiting responses from the women. Also our guest speaker is Linda Gehm. She is deaf, a missionary from Oregon with her husband, Eugene, also deaf, and have worked with the deaf in Mexico for over 17 years.

The awesome part of this is that it has been a long time prayer of ours that Carlos Suarez (our deaf pastor) would find a peer, a mentor to get some encouragement and spiritual refreshment from. And the Gehms plan to stay with the Suarez for a week over this time of the retreat, and we anticipate that Carlos will be greatly blessed by the visit.

Do, do, do pray:
· that the women come,
· that they understand the messages
· that those who don’t yet, come to know Jesus,
· those that do, pray they find a deep walk with him!
· And that Carlos be blessed by the Gehm visit and get some answers too.

Lonnie's year review

We thank God that this last year Lonnie was able to complete several projects with Baja Compassion Ministries:

End of January we finished up one of our larger projects of 6 months with Ventana Ministries. The job included the setting up and remodeling of 4 double wide mobile homes, and the installing of a commercial kitchen, food pantry and dinning area. One in particular was extensively gutted. The variety of this project has allowed our guys to learn a lot of different skills. One day we were framing, hanging up sheet rock, and painting. Still another we were installing sinks and urinals. We did everything on down to flooring (wood laminate, carpet and linoleum).

The project also included all underground water and waste piping and electrical wiring. In addition to a 10,000 gallon underground water tank and 3,000 gallon septic tank system we also constructed a pump house/storage building over the water tank. We built wooden decks for each of the homes. All wrapped up in huge chain link fence.

We were really tested by all the different aspects of this project, trying to keep 3 to 4 people busy each day with materials and instruction while at the same time keeping within the shoestring budget. In the end Ventana Ministries are very pleased to have their new base up and running and we are grateful to been given the opportunity to help them.

With Olive Tree Ministries, our second large project, is a two story wood framed structure 7,000 sq ft children’s ministry building. We are currently still in the framing phase. This past year has seen the slab go in with the wood framing of the first and second floors and the roof up. We had to use a crane to lift the trusses up to the roof. I think it was the first time anyone has ever seen a crane in the small town of Porvenir.

We have the siding and most of the windows up and are currently ready to shingle the roof and then start the interior items. This project, like a lot of projects here in Mexico, is patiently waiting for groups and money. Our ministry oversees the construction when they have groups coming down to work. I hope this will be completed some time in 2007 or early 2008. We have lots of work to do on this one.

With Casa De Paz Orphanage our ministry helped draw up a set of plans for a new toilet room 25’x35’ building. They had some large groups come down and built this rather fast 2-3 weeks. Our plans helped give the director a clearer picture of what he had in mind.

Feburay update part 3

Praise report: Now some answers to prayer:
· in December Michelle underwent surgery and had a large cyst removed along with one of her ovaries. The surgery went well without any complications and recovery was pretty close to painless – we know this is a direct result of those who were praying for her during this time.
· Now we are pleased to announce that Michelle is pregnant and due in October for baby Pfingston III. J
· In large part to the giving of Grace Community Church of Seal Beach we now will be able to have a debt free mini-van for our family! Thank You!
· Lonnie’s health (living with peritoneal dialysis) is still holding strong, we thank God for each day He gives Lonnie to continue to do His work.

Again, it is through the prayers and faithful support of each of you that lets us do this ministry God has set before us. We are humbled and grateful.