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The Laguna Torch
| September 27, 2006 | Recording the spread of God's fire in the "Laguna" | Volume 5, Issue 2 |
Greetings!
Greetings, Friends! May God pour out His rich and abundant blessings on each of you!
It's time for another quick update on the wonderful things God is doing in the Laguna! We've got a big announcement about a huge change that God has made in our ministry, and a report on an exciting new program that we've started!
Be blessed, and keep in touch!
Larry Goes Full-Time
We're glad to announce that Larry has now left his secular job and is devoting his full time to the ministry. Larry had wanted to do this for a long time, but our finances hadn't allowed it and God simply hadn't made it possible. But we're entering a new time of growth in the ministry here in the Laguna, and Fred Collom, the head of missions for the Vineyard in Mexico, saw that a change was needed. We're planning to have many more missions groups visit and participate in the ministry here, and there has to be someone to coordinate and take care of those groups. So Fred asked Larry to leave his secular job and offered to cover the minimal salary he had been receiving there.
We asked God for confirmation that this was what He wanted, and we got it! A few days later when Larry's boss arrived after being out of town for several weeks, he said he was upset that Larry had taken time to travel to Texas, and so he let him go. You should have seen the big old grin on Larry's face as he walked out of that office! :) Of course, it was clearly God's doing, because a week later the boss was asking Larry to work on several different projects, and Larry did help him a little bit until they found someone qualified to replace him.
If you'd like to be a part of our ministry, please consider supporting us financially every month, because the funds Fred is using to cover our expenses are limited. We currently need about $600 a month in addition to the financial support we already receive in order to stay financially sound and not be a burden on Fred's funds for missions groups.
Please also consider coming to visit, either with your family or with a group from your church. We will gladly receive groups of adults, youth or both, and there are many different ways that your group can contribute to the advancement of God's Kingdom here. Contact us to let us know you're interested and we can help you plan everything!
Children's Feeding Program Starts in Catorce
Larry's newest project has been to start a Children's Feeding Program in
the Catorce neighborhood. We've had the project in mind for a long time,
but didn't have the resources to do it, but God has finally brought things
together. Our biggest shortage was time, because between our secular jobs
and the ministry we were already committed to there wasn't any extra time
available. But now God has allowed Larry to leave his secular job and devote
all his time to the ministry. God also provided the finances for the Feeding
Program through a very generous donation, so we're now going full steam
ahead!
click here to see more photos
We started the Feeding Program a little more than a month ago on August 13th, and it has been a delight! It's been a bit of a challenge, because it has been a long time since Larry has done any serious kids ministry, so he's out of practice, but even rambunctious kids are a delight to work with, and it's incredibly satisfying to see them begin to receive and respond to the love of God!
Thankfully Larry has a great team of people to help do the Feeding Program. Several people from the home group in the Catorce neighborhood, including some who only recently started coming, are helping, and they're doing a great job! And there are also some women from the community who liked what they saw and volunteered to help.
click here to see more photosWe do the Feeding Program on Saturdays,
and basically what we do is a simple Kid's Church Service followed by a
meal. We sing some fun and active songs that also teach about the God's
love, we teach a simple lesson from the Bible along with a Bible verse,
and we do some sort of craft. Then we serve them a super-nutritious meal
with lots of vegetables. You see, none of the kids in the Catorce neighborhood
are going hungry, but very few of them actually get nutritious meals because
their families either can't afford or don't know how to cook healthy.
It's wonderful to feed and teach the children, but we want to do much more than that. We take every chance we get to pray for the kids, and to pray blessing over their homes, because we know God will honor that and will start to change the spiritual atmosphere of the neighborhood. We have two overriding goals. One is for the children to come to know Jesus and to grow strong in their faith, growing up to be wholehearted servants of Christ. The other is to reach the families through the kids, and to draw them to Christ.
We have a photo album on our website where you can see some of the activities with the Feeding Program as well as some of the individual kids we're ministering to. Please pray for these kids! Please pray for the team of adults who are doing the work as well. And most of all, pray that God would accomplish His purposes in the children and in the entire neighborhood!
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