emails from Mexico

Please excuse all the whining in these emails:-) It was quite miserable there from time to time but my real reason for talking about all the hard stuff is to relate to everyone that even when it is very difficult God redeems all that for our good and His Glory!
We were in Mexico from September till the Christmas break and these were our emails to everyone.

#1
Hello everyone from the hot and dirty side of life here in Mexico. It’s been one week since we have been here and I guess it would be a good time to get an update out to everyone. As you can tell by my greeting I am especially “enjoying” the heat and the dirt.
If I wasn’t sure that the Lord wanted us to be here I might already be making plans to come home. The heat is especially hard for me to take, and Christine also struggles with it but not quite as bad as I do. Its tough being in a constant state of wetness” and just basically dirty most of the time. Any effort of any kind at any time results in the waterworks of sweat. Anyhow I really am not complaining although I have asked the Lord why not Alaska or somewhere we could enjoy our favorite season (fall) but this is where He has us and we are actually starting to enjoy our time here.
We had our first Sunday here and it really was a wonderful time of sharing in the morning at the Waag’s house and then going to their church which is on the same property as where we have the trailer set up which is also where the girls are staying etc. Bob preached a good sermon about when Jacob fought with the Angel of the Lord and then God gave him a new name. He asked us all to pray and ask the Lord what kind of new name He would give us. The name Christine got was garden and mine was conqueror. The worship was very good as anyone that has been down here can attest to. The Lord definitely showed up and it was quite a powerful time. After worship Bob asked for testimonies and Jenya got up and said how she saw a picture of God being there and walking thru the rows of people and touching each and everyone and how that God’s church is not in a building or in one specific country but that it is in each of our hearts and the coming together of those hearts is what makes up His “church.” The Lord has been using her since she has been here and it is such a blessing to be able to see her being used of the Lord and to watch Him bless her as she obeys Him. She was all excited yesterday with all that she saw the Lord doing here.
One of the unexpected blessings for me is the Kids that are here in the program. It is really a blessing for me to get to know them. We have such a wide range of personalities and it is good to watch how all of them respond differently to different situations etc. I think the Lord is really giving me a heart for young people. This is something I wouldn’t have imagined not that many years ago. Anyhow that is a whole other subject. Those of you that really know Christine know that she has a heart for young girls especially so I am sure she is not surprised by the blessing of getting to know these young people here. There are 12 girls here in the FYM program and 4 guys.
We have visited some of the local people here and it really is hard to see the poverty that they live in but it is a blessing to see how strong their faith is. Some of them can’t even read or write so they grow in the Lord by coming to church and the Spirit ministering to them because obviously they can’t read the bible. We have so much in comparison that it is hard sometimes to understand how this all works.
Just a short comment on our trailer. It really is small but what a blessing it is and a oasis in the dessert of heat and humidity. We are all hooked up with water electricity and sewer. Bob and His workers here made a small area for us to park and hook up to everything. We spent most of last week in the Waag’s driveway until everything was ready to hook up here at the place the call the “Cairo center” which is where everyone that has come on construction trips has worked.
We really do appreciate everyone’s prayer and support and the emails and letters are a real encouragement to us also. Please continue to stay in contact with us and we will try and personally answer all of them even if it only a short blurb in reply. We would especially ask for your prayers as this is the first week of the program actually starting. It will start on Tuesday because every Monday is our day off. This week will be the start of all the ministries etc so please pray that we will find our place in all that is going on and the Lord would direct us to what He would have us do.
We do miss all of you and look forward to seeing everyone soon in a much “cooler” place!!
Love you all!!!
Serving Him here in the Heat!!!
Love David&Christine (David writing)

#2
Hello everyone from “Muddy Mexico”
“Ok Lord no more will I complain about the dust and dirt now that I know what the mud and rainy days are like down here”. Wow never experienced anything like this before. Thank the Lord we put new tires on the Blazer before we came. This uhhhhhhh stuff is like driving on ice. Never have I experienced mud so slimy and slippery. It’s incredible and just packs in the tires and on your feet and is impossible to get off. Went to the car wash on Monday and it was like spraying brown glue off the car. It really is unbelievable! I’m not complaining just stating the facts, the poor FYM’ers have to walk in the stuff and it will actually suck your shoes off your feet. Thank God we can drive where we need to go and we try to help them out when we can but there are too many of them. When Bob said rainy days here are snow days up north, He wasn’t kidding! Unbelievable and when you go about a half hour north and hit Brownsville no more mud and you look strange with all the mud on your car and on your shoes. I won’t say what the mud reminds me of but if you know me well enough you can imagine what I would compare it too. If you don’t know me that well uh I guess you should go to your local dairy farm and try and walk around in the barn before they have given it a good cleaning. The rain did give us a break from the heat and the dust but I’m not sure it is worth it. Like I said the mud gets everywhere so I think it is worse. Just give me good old Ohio fall weather.
Ok got that off my chest and of course I am not complaining like I said before just stating facts. Wanted to give everyone an update on what is going on here. I don’t think I told everyone about our first soaking prayer we did here. I know I told some of you in our personal emails to you. But the first week we were here after the program actually started Christine and I felt like a time of soaking prayer was something the kids needed so we told them to bring something to lay on because at the time the floor was dirt. It since has been poured with cement. The kids really responded to it and loved it. Many of them have asked for it again and Bob is going to make it a weekly thing. It of course is something new for all these kids but they really received it. I would like to take this opportunity to ask for all of you that know about interceding in prayer to please do so for these kids here. (The students) Many new things are being presented to them and one of them is inner-healing this week. Many of them are battling with things they never knew anything about before and for some we feel it is somewhat overwhelming for them.
Wednesday nights are called family night here and this past Wednesday we had an 80’s night. What a good way for the kids to blow off some steam. It was a great time.
This week we ended up taking one of the girls to the hospital in Brownsville to get her stomach checked out because she has been having digestion problems since she got here. They gave here some medicine and she has been feeling a little bit better. Living on the same property as the girls’ dorm, there is never a dull moment. Someone is always knocking on our door needing a hug or advice or help of some sort. It actually is a blessing to be a part of their lives, struggles, triumphs or whatever is going on with them. Of course the girls all love Christine and look to her as somewhat of a resident mom. Those of you that know her will have no problem believing this. She really does care for all of them and they really do respond to that. Our days off and free times are looked forward to with much anticipation. Even though we love everyone and are glad to be here doing what we do it still is good to have time together away from everything. We do realize the importance of this and try to always make time for it. But there really is never a dull moment around here.
Well it is Thursday night and the kids are coming back from their ministry times in the colonia’s and we need to go and meet them all for dinner. Days like these dinner is not until around 9 pm because of various home groups etc.
Please continue to pray for us as things are getting more intense with the ministry to the kids here. Most of them came thinking they would be doing all the ministry to the Mexicans but you know how the Lord is they will be getting as much if not more than they will be giving. And for most of them it is something they have never experienced so please keep them in your prayers also. Hopefully soon we will be able to send some pictures to you get a better idea of how it looks here and see the kids and where we have our trailer set up and all that. We thank the Lord daily for this oasis we have here and how He provided it for us.
Ok we Love and miss you all!!(Especially the fall weather)
Love David&Christine

#3

Hello everyone
It seems that we have been getting a little break from the heat or we are getting used to it a little. Well I doubt that last thought but yeah the temps have been a little lower lately only up into the 80’s instead of 90’s and 100’s. Thank you Lord! The humidity is still high most of the times except some nites it does get cool. I think we have had two days where the temps and the humidity have been low. It was weird I don’t think I sweat for a whole day. What a wonderful feeling. This stickiness is not easy to get used to. Well since the weather has been better I have been able to think about the other things that I “love” so much about the environment!  Hey I gotta have something to complain I mean state the facts about and I realized I haven’t said a thing about all the strange odors south of the border. There is a dump not far from here and they always seem to be burning it or something, along with the locals burning there trash so there always is the smell of smoke in the air it seems. Not the good kind that I remember when we used to be able to burn our leaves in the fall man I love that smell and do we ever miss the fall weather. There is some kind of dead animal smell around rite now hard to identify but nasty all the same. Makes me laugh to think about all this stuff cuz for the most part these are all things I really “enjoy”! I have a theory about all of this but considering the mixed company I won’t relate it here but it is getting us prepared for the future I believe. God does know what He is doing but sometimes it’s hard for us to tell! Someday we will look on this and laugh (I hope) and it will all be a fond memory.
Well now to get down to business here. Lots of warfare going on rite now. It seems that everyone has gotten sick at least once. Stuff like stomach viruses earaches some kind of mosquito carried disease called den gay or something like that. It causes rashes and achy joints and is quite painful from what I hear. Stupid me sprained my ankle getting out of our trailer on Wednesday morning. I don’t know what I was doing but we have this grass mat in front of our door and I stepped on the edge of it and yup there it goes. Wow was that painful for the day. Thank God the next day it was much better but a little sore still and I have to be careful not to twist it or turn it one way or the other. Christine and I went with one of the student groups to visit that church on Sunday, we were talking about a couple of weeks ago and while we were there she got sick to the stomach but when we left she got better so who knows what might have been there as far as spirits or whatever only God knows. I don’t know if we were prepared for all the stuff that has been going on lately. I don’t know why we wouldn’t have been expecting it because we have encountered this stuff before but I guess we thought, Mexico and we are just here to learn a program etc well surprise surprise here it is and if we think about it we are not surprised at all! This is really how it works on the frontlines! These kids are experiencing new ideas about God and really hearing from Him and we know that the enemy is not pleased. Lots of kids are having breakthroughs and we believe they are under attack. So please pray for them and us as we go thru this stuff together that the Lord would protect all of us from the enemy and we would all learn how to fight him off.
I had like a breakthrough or I’m not sure what to call it but something happened to me the other nite that really reminded me of why we are doing what we are doing etc. Heard of the book “Blue Like Jazz” by Donald Miller? Man is that book good! I started reading it at around midnight because I had stomach problems and I didn’t put it down until 2:00 am I won’t tell you where I was sitting while I was reading it!  It was such a refreshing read and it reminded me of the Love and Freedom that God gives which I have been learning about the last 5 or so years. I just got all fired up and almost couldn’t sleep the rest of the nite. I shared it with the Leaders here the next morning at our daily leaders meeting for worship and time together. I ended up sharing it with the kids at their debrief time at 10 am also. It really has been bothering me lately, some of the questions the kids have and I have had trouble really having some of those answers. They have not been asking me directly but the general theme of the questions and some of the struggles they have with their ideas of God and who He is. One girl especially has been so honest in her questions and it has been so good to have her ask the questions, but the answers to her questions were bothering me. Things like if I really give it all up to God will he maybe give me a disease or something. It finally came to me reading this book that they really don’t know the heart of God which really is their Father or Daddy as we call Him sometime. Other kids are always talking about what they can give up for God and how they have to struggle to do their quiet times etc. I think what I was really reacting to was the bondage they were living in by trying to “do” for the Lord rather than trying to get to know Him. So we talked about our freedom in the Lord and that we don’t have to “do” anything at all! Maybe that stretches some of you I don’t know but it really is the truth to me! When we get a hold of the idea of the Love that He has for us we cant help but respond to that and we no longer have to do anything but we want to do those things. Wow how much better it is when we do it that way what freedom that brings. One of the leaders shared about how she was “In Love” with this guy and the Lord wanted her to give him up. It was the one thing that she couldn’t do but her point was that she would have followed him around the world and done anything to please him. That is what God wants and desires for us that we would fall in Love with Him and in turn we would do anything He asks us to do. Not the other way around that we would do all this stuff to make Him love us and somehow we will Love Him too. The bible says we love Him because He first loved us and if we get a hold of that concept it will change our whole outlook on our walk with the Lord. No longer is it sacrificing this or that but if He puts a finger on something we will give it up for Him not because we have to but because He loves us and we really do want to please Him because we Love Him. I hope you get the idea here because it was exciting to once again get that thru my thick head. Lately with the Mexico thing it has been sort of like “Ok Lord I guess we gotta go thru all this so we can do what you’ve called us too” (read this with a really holy heavy tone and you get the idea) Not what He had in mind at all but my perception of it. Man God you owe me for this sacrifice not realizing all the benefits that He wants to give us for being here and the lessons that we will learn and relationships we will form. Like I said before these kids have been such a pleasant surprise its hard to even explain. Never would have imagined something like this. Also the idea that He will give us this sickness or that or whatever. God would no more give us a sickness than you would wish sickness on your spouse or boyfriend or girlfriend or whoever you are in love with. I know He allows things to happen but He doesn’t cause them in my understanding anyway but one thing is for sure He always uses whatever is in our lives for good even though the enemy may have meant it for bad. Look at the example of Job and how his story has helped so many since the bible was written. Anyhow I really do believe that most of us have had at some time in our life the wrong idea of God and His heart for us. I don’t know how you could possibly convince people to come to Jesus if all you could tell them is what they will have to sacrifice etc and not first tell them about His love and let that draw them to Him. I think we have often felt like “get yourself straightened out then Jesus will love you and you can be accepted by Him”. Couldn’t be farther from the truth. One of the books we are reading down here is written by the pastor of this church in Austin Texas that has a “come as you are” attitude toward people. They call their congregation “seekers” and “Christ followers” because of the bad stigma these days with the word “Christians”. The book is called quite appropriately “No perfect People Allowed”. One of the things in that book is a quote by one of the members where he says “I always thought I had to get myself all straightened out to come to church but I had it exactly backwards, I needed to come to church to get all straightened out. Wonder if we could accept people like that in our churches. Not a very pretty sight I’m sure but I believe that is what Jesus had in mind. Notice He didn’t hang out with the “beautiful people” who had it all together. Ok I will stop preaching here, but I would recommend that “Blue Like Jazz” book to anyone who loves honesty and someone who is really for real! I will warn you though it may stretch some of you pretty good as he is very honest and just relays his story the way it happens. I think it is one of the most awesome books I have ever read. It really is a fun read!
Well I wasn’t really planning on saying all that but oh well there it is. We do want to thank all of you for your continuing support and keeping us in your prayers as you can tell we do desperately need. We will be taking a couple days off next week for our anniversary. Yah Happy Anniversary to us it’s been 8 years already sometimes its hard to believe that it’s been that long and then its hard to believe that we haven’t always been married and I don’t mean that in a bad way so stop laughing. The kids we are discipling are going thru some hard stuff but it is good to be there with them and help them thru different things. The guy I’m discipling (still not comfortable with that word) is a very interesting but quiet guy. I’m enjoying getting to know what makes him “tick”. First time in His life to really do anything on his own and it is good to see him grow as a man. The newness of the whole situation is really starting to hit most of the kids and reality is setting in. I think all of them have been on “short term missions trips” but this is there first time making a long term commitment to something like this. Their “mission trip” would be over by now but not this and the reality of that is setting in. It really is a good lesson to learn. I remember how it was for us the 6 months in Ukraine and how it took at least a month to get adjusted to the idea of being there for more than short-term. To some of you it does sound like short term. Someday we may look back at that time as short term but for now it is long term to us, until a longer term comes along Anyhow I hope you get the point and how it is becoming more difficult for the kids. They really do need our prayers for this especially tough time rite now. Time for us is actually going pretty fast just rough and we do need some time away so the 2 days next week are much needed. Christine is discipling 4 girls and helping all of them one way or the other so she is really worn out rite now. There are other things that cause much frustration but those are things we have to live with because we are all learning in one way or another. Sometimes it is hard when you see mistakes being made but it is not your place to fix them. If I keep going maybe you will have even less of a clue of what I’m talking about so I will stop here.
I guess the last thing to say here is that we will be having a pastor’s conference here in Matamoras Mexico at some church downtown and the speakers will speak English (yeah) and it will be translated into Spanish. All of us are going for 2 days next Thursday and Friday nites so hopefully it will be some food for us and a time of refreshment for our souls. (Wow could I sound cheesier) You get the idea here I think we really do need some recharging. It’s hard when everything is in a foreign language and you really don’t get much for yourself. Some of you know exactly what I’m saying and then others are scratching their heads oh well try it someday you’ll get the idea.
We do love and miss you all
David&Christine
Ps I reread this wow scary stuff; I think I’ve been abducted. Now please don’t give me some Christianese stuff about being abducted by the Lord or whatever let the joke stand on its own!

#4

Hey everybody,
I’m gonna do something here that I usually don’t do in my emails and that is quote something from the Bible. It’s something that most of us know and when I give you the reference you will probably think “oh I know that one” or something of the sort. But I would ask you to really hear it this time. I will quote it from the “Message” bible;
“If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t LOVE, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.
If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, jump and it jumps, but don’t LOVE I’m nothing.
If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t LOVE I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without LOVE”!! 1st Corinthians 13 1-4 (?) The Message
Maybe this doesn’t impress you like it does me and maybe you believe it more than I do. If I really think about it I don’t think I really believe it because if I could move mountains I would go into the mountain moving business and get filthy rich and never have to worry about money again We have this Love that God has given us but we don’t really value it I don’t think. Imagine the following you would have if you could have a mountain jump, people would follow you everywhere but it says here you would pretty much be worthless if you didn’t have Love. So if I have this Love what am I doing with it. I don’t know what that means to you but I think it is pretty huge. It is interesting as I was writing this, a song came on the radio by Third Day about this very subject. Kind of a cool confirmation I think. This idea about Love has been a big theme here in many ways. Sometimes just seeing Love in action or not being done reaffirms it for us. Two Sundays ago Jenya got this huge revelation about the Love of God and how big and wide and deep it is and I could go on and on but it lasted for about 45 minutes in an impromptu message at the morning service here. It was very powerful and moved many to tears. The idea that the Love we have for each other or whatever we Love more than anything else is just a very small amount compared to what God has for us. If we really think about that it’s huge and can change your whole perception of God. Ok I gotta stop preaching here I don’t know what gets into me?
I apologize that it’s been so long since we have gotten an update out. I think it’s been close to a month and many things have been happening. I could use the excuse that we have been so busy that we haven’t had the time for emails but to be completely honest I have not had the inspiration lately. I mentioned this to someone that I was instant messaging in Ukraine (Kostya) and he said that maybe it’s because the last email was so long that “It squeezed all of the juice out of me” I like that and maybe that is what happened I don’t know. I don’t really know how to start with all that has been happening here. I can’t begin to thank all of you for your prayers because I can’t imagine what it would be like without them. It has been good but very tough in many ways. Like I have said before when you do something like this it is hard to describe except that it is the best and the worst at the same time. The problems for us have actually gotten a little worse lately. I have not told anyone until lately but not long after we got down here I laid my glasses down somewhere and when I went back to get them they were gone! My regular ones and not my sunglasses so you can imagine how fun it’s been at nite here. The sad thing is that I lost a pair just before we left for Mexico. I’ve not said anything about it before because I was hoping someone would give them back but it hasn’t happened. Then the other day I “backed” into someone on the street in front of one of the houses that the guys stay in here. If it would have happened in the US I would have called the cops and let them decide who was at fault but being here we didn’t do that and to keep peace in the neighborhood we ended up paying for the repairs. I am not sure what my insurance company will do when we get home but I’m praying that they will cover it but if not it is not much over my deductible so not a huge loss but it hurts all the same. So far Christine and I have escaped most of the sicknesses around here until lately. Christine had some strange bites all over her and now I realized I have a lot of the same looking bites on me also. Also strange as It might seem we both have had bad throats and I have a cough I can’t seem to get rid of. I’m sure it’s not the smoke that is constantly around here from the trash fires. Last nite it was so thick outside it was hard to see I only tell you these things so that you continue to pray for us as it seems the enemy is not pleased with us at all.
Like we have said before the kids here (in the program) are such a huge blessing to us. It is so good to see them grow in their faith rite before our eyes. At their age I would have never even come here much less been able to take the circumstances etc. We really feel like it is a privilege to be involved in their lives. I often feel like God has entrusted us (the leadership) with their hearts and we take this responsibility very seriously! I don’t always think all of us realize what a difference we can make in their lives especially by showing them love and understanding as they go thru these changes. We both realize how hard it is going to be to leave all of them when the time comes. I believe there will be some lasting relationships made here and who knows where that will take all of us. Many of them have already shown an interest in visiting us in Ukraine and maybe even helping us in the program we hope to have there. Only God knows how this is going to all work out but I wouldn’t have even thought of the possibility of that when we came here. God is always full of surprises and that is what is cool about just doing what He shows us one step at a time. Most of these kids thought the main point of this trip down here was to do mission work but they are finding out what God’s agenda actually is and that is deepening their relationship with Him. It really is awesome the life changing effects on them when they realize who they are in Jesus. That He actually has a plan for them specifically and a destiny for them to fulfill. But the realization of how much Love He has for them is the most life changing.
For those of you who know Herb Wewer, he was here 2 weeks ago to teach for one week on the Holy Spirit and the Kingdom of God. It was really nice for Christine and I to have someone here from Church. (hint hint) The Lord really ministered to the Kids and us thru his teachings. I believe it really refreshed everyone. The schedule the kids have to keep I’m not sure I could handle it. I guess I’m getting old so the time of ministry that we had together was a real blessing for all of us. Just so everyone understands what I mean, most of what the kids learn in the classroom setting, are things that they have to learn with the help of books but with Herb it was more of his own personal story and experiences and how the Lord has been in his own life and how that relates to our own lives and the Kingdom of God. So I guess what I’m saying is that it was nice to put the books aside for a week and have more of a time of ministry. I hope I have made myself clear about what I mean. Both are good and needed but the change, I think was good for all of us. I think in general most of us don’t appreciate the ministry we receive from the Lord using other people. Speaking of church some good friends who will remain anonymous have blessed us with something that we will report on in our next email.
We are so blessed to have friends that care about us and support us as we go after what God is showing us. We can’t thank all of you enough that continue to believe in us. May we always be faithful to God and what He shows us to do. If the work we do ever becomes the reason that we go we know that we have missed the mark. It has to be about following God and the results most often will be doing for others but not the other way around. If the needs become the reason, burnout is usually only around the corner. Sorry preaching again
I’m writing this on Sunday and the morning service is usually a time of praise and worship with testimonies. Tonight at the main service, Jenya is going to give a testimony about what the Lord showed her about His Love. Actually Bob has asked her to give the message or preaching whatever you call it so I will give a report here how it went. Please don’t forget to keep her in your prayers as the schedule and conditions can be very wearisome for her. God bless her for her effort and willingness to do this program.
Wow I just noticed that I haven’t said a word about the weather here. Well thank the Lord the weather has been really good for a long time. The heat for the most part is no longer a factor, but the rain and mucky mud is still an issue from time to time but tolerable. Those of you that come down here on summer trips God Bless You! It “only” gets into the 80’s these days and somewhere in the 60’s at nite. We actually had to turn on the heat a couple of times after a rainy day. I have never put on a jacket or whatever yet but most normal people would have had to have one at least one of those days. The one rainy cloudy day it was actually cold that day and it was humorous to me to see how bundled up everyone was.
Sunday evening report;
Well I was wrong about the heat! The humidity seems to have come back in a big way. Tonite most of us ended up soaking wet with sweat during the service. Even though for the most part it is an open air meeting there was almost no breeze which is unusual so it got pretty sticky. We have 3 walls and a roof and an opening where the doors will go and also openings where the windows will go and a concrete floor so usually a good breeze will blow thru but not tonite. Oh well it was powerful in spite of the heat. The Lord really used Jenya to touch many of us tonite about how much God loves each and every one of us no matter what we have or have not done. She also touched on lots of the same points that I was speaking of earlier about how we have to learn to accept the Love God has for us and that we can’t earn it in anyway shape or form! She pointed out something the Lord guided her to in 1st Corinthians at the end of chapter 12 just before chapter 13 starts (duh?) where the writer is talking about the gifts, but ends the chapter with this;
“But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way.”
This says to me that all the gifts are great but without Love they mean nothing! Or as the Message Bible says;
“But now I want to lay out a far better way for you!”
I guess if we miss out on the message of Love we really have missed the whole point of Jesus dying for us and all that it means.
Ok enough for one email I would hope. No one has complained so far that they are too short I do apologize for going on and on about some of these things but they are so life-changing for me that sometimes I guess I get all excited about it and want everyone else to really get a hold of these ideas about Love. It just totally will change the way we live our lives for God. Man how much better can it be when we no longer “have” to do these things but “want” to in response to the Love that God has for us. If I would have gotten this idea thru my thick head a long time ago, how different my life would look like today. Thank God He redeems us anyway and turns it all around for His Glory!! Like the Bible says, “Nothing will separate us from the Love that God has for us.”(Romans 8) So if some of you are wondering He offers this Love for us no matter how good or bad we think we are or what we have or have not done!!!
We Love all of you and miss you all!!!
Love
David&Christine

#5
Happy Thanksgiving to all of you just a few days early,
This is probably the last time we will get time to write all of you until next week. All of us here have been blessed with a trip to the San Antonio TX area for a couple of days for thanksgiving. One of the kids church has invited us to come for thanksgiving and her mom and grandma have volunteered to make thanksgiving dinner for all of us etc so it should be so good I’m already eating the turkey etc in my mind! Christine Jenya and myself will also be visiting this church in Austin whose pastor wrote the book “No perfect people allowed” I believe his name is John Burke. We have been studying this book in our morning leader meetings and we want to see what it is actually like and since it will not be that much farther to go up there and the kids are supposed to be back in Mexico by Sunday we wont be offending anyone at the church there in San Antonio, we are planning on going. We are really looking forward to this break for thanksgiving.
We also just wanted to let all of you know what a blessing it was to go to the big conference in Pittsburgh and get to see all of you on Sunday. It was an experience that we wont soon forget. The Love that we received from all of you was too much for words. Also the look on people’s faces at the surprise of almost no one knowing that we were coming was really something to experience. It was very humbling to have so much love directed our way. It really is too much to put into words. All we can do is thank all of you and tell you that we really do miss all of you and Love you also. It gives new meaning to the idea of a “church family” and church home!
We would like to publicly thank the ones responsible for paying for our airfare and all our expenses at the conference. It was such a blessing to have the privilege of going to the conference and seeing our families and being able to go to church on Sunday. Their wish is to remain anonymous and we want to honor their wishes so we are not at liberty to reveal who they are. So if everyone would pray that the Lord would bless them for their sacrifice for us we would really appreciate it. We are so blessed to have the friends that we have and it was so thoughtful of them to make the offer available to us! It wasn’t anything we even were thinking of because it was something we never imagined that was possible for us to come home for.
Things here are pretty much the same and it was good to get back to see all of the people here and continue with our relationships etc. It really has been such an unexpected blessing to have these relationships with the kids that have come for this program. I believe we are making friendships that will last for many years to come. It really is going to be hard when we part ways.
The weather is so much more tolerable rite now that it is hard to believe we actually put up with all that crappy weather when we first got here.
Please continue to pray for us and the people here! The battle never lets up!
We miss and Love all of you and look forward to reconnecting with all of you when we come home at Christmas.
Love Christine and David
Ps glad I was able to keep this one short!

This was our farewell letter to all of our "kids" who as you can see really impacted our lives and blessed us. We will never forget them and hope that we remain in contact with them and are involved in some way in their lives for the rest of ours!
David&Christine
Farewell letter:
Dear FYM’ers all 16 of you (even Jenya )
We just wanted to write a short note to all of you to let you know how blessed we have been to be here with you. It has been such an unexpected blessing to get to know all of you and be a part of your lives while we were here in Mexico together. It is hard to put into words what is in our hearts when we think of all of you. We will never be the same for having been here with you and seeing the tremendous growth in all of your lives. This experience has really given us a heart for young people like yourselves. We even believe our focus will change in our ministry to concentrate on your generation! We believe that your generation will be the next one to really have an impact on our world and we want to encourage you guys to go all out for God and to show His Love to this broken world. Nothing could make us happier than to hear how you guys are living the Abundant Life and are on Fire for God. Our prayer is that what you have learned here and what you have begun here will never fade but only get more intense and that you will never go back to “normal” living whatever that is! We always want to be there for you in anyway we can and we hope that we will hear from all of you. I believe it will be very interesting to see where God takes you in the next years of your lives as you keep looking into His Face and follow Him with everything you have! Believe us that nothing is more rewarding than giving it all up to follow Him wherever He leads. Being in Mexico is an example of just that. As much as we may not have liked the weather and other conditions here, it was all worth it just to get to know you guys and develop our relationships with you. We really are not able to express how blessed we have been to know you guys. We really mean this and hope that we never lose touch with all of you. We know that might not even be possible but we want all of you to know that we do care and will do whatever we can to stay in touch with you guys and for those who are interested we will also keep you updated on what God is doing with us. This whole experience is so bittersweet, getting to know all of you and seeing your hearts for God and being in this “Family” with you and than having to part which is very sad especially knowing how some of you we may never see again on this earth. That is really a hard pill to swallow believe us! Tears flow even now as we sit here typing this letter to you. This seems to be a pattern in our lives as we allow God to take us where He would have us go. It is so hard to explain to people who have never done something like this. How can something be so hard but so good at the same time? Only God is capable of making things happen like this. Hopefully we have been able to convey how much we Love and will miss you guys as we part. Like one of our friends has said to us, this is what she looks forward to in heaven, being able to have fellowship with our friends and never having to leave each other. So when all of us get to heaven, all of you guys are invited to our place for 1000 years and than were coming to your place for the next 1000 and on and on it goes! Won’t it be awesome!? No more tears and heartache and all that kind of crap! Our hearts will always be connected to each of you and our prayers will be with you as you go on in your lives for God.
We want to give all of you our information on how to get in touch with us if you ever need or want to. The address we will give you here is David’s mothers and also her phone number. She will always know where we are whether here in the states or out of the country. She will be glad to let anyone know where we are and how to get in touch with us. The cell phone numbers we give you will be good until the end of February if everything goes according to the plans we have now.

Forever His and our hearts connected to you!
David and Christine
Ps “keep on shinin” (Third Day)

Information:
David&Christine Detweiler
10401 Market Ave
Hartville Ohio 44632
330-877-9700
Cell #s
Christine
330-714-2057
David
330-714-1787
Email address
ukrainecd@hotmail.com