Our son Tim is working with Life Challenge in Juarez, Mexico

Hola, just a quick update on how things are going down here in Juarez, Mexico.

These past 2 weeks have been interesting in dealing with a specific situation. I’ve had the opportunity to work with a married couple who are 18 and 19 years old, the girl Carolina already has 3 kids with 3 different men. They come here looking for food because neither can get work because their parents wont give them their papers. Right now we are dealing with how we can help them get on their feet but also not only give them the food that will make them hungry again but the spiritual food that will fill them for life.

We also just finished building a house for a family who’s mother has cancer and daughter has special needs. We took them out of a pallet house and built them a 24 by 24 house which for Mexico is a BIG house. Continue reading update from Tim

Hey everyone, thanks for checking in.
The last two days have been very busy, lots of walking, exploring and fun-having.
Sorry about not posting pictures these last few days, you will have to come on Sunday to see and hear more.
Today was a great day at the Six Flags America park.
We hope to leave at 7am tomorrow morning.
So off to bed I go, a good night sleep before the long and winding road.
Please pray – thanks for a great week, ongoing impact in the lives of all of us, especially the youth, and for safe travels home.

The last day of dcla.
We got an early start – 9am – for our last small groups and the last big session.
We talked about being, loving and serving – today was about serving.
Starfield led the worship session – it was loud and awesome, the floor was shaking.
You could sense the presence of God, and we didn’t want it to end.
After lunch, we practiced our drimes (drama + mime).
Then we broke into small groups to practice what we learned. Continue reading dcla day 5

Today was much like yesterday.
We started with the Labs (small groups) from 10-12, then did lunch on the lawn outside of the center.
While we did lunch, we practiced the street play (same one that Senior Wave did at church).
While we were doing do, it got a double ace approval from an observer with mental health issues, who excitedly recognized God as the helper, and wanted to take out the man (Jesse) who was chasing the lead person.
By the way, we are eating packed lunches, saving money!
Afternoon sessions followed, though we’re getting information overload. Continue reading dcla day 4

Starting to get tired, these are long days!!!
Back at 11:45, then sharing highs and lows.
We arrived at the center for 10am, where we broke up into Labs, our assigned small groups for the weekend.
They are led by student leaders, which is neat, though a number of our youth found their groups too quiet, not much personal sharing.
We ate lunch on the lawn of the Museum of American History (they took our picture for their newsletter, we’re now a part of American history!) Continue reading dcla day 3

The first day was great!
We started with continental breakfast.
A slow start to the day, a unexpected scenic tour of Washington.
We got there late for the 10:30 opening, only to discover that we were four hours early (they changed the time of registration).
So, we went on a walking tour to the White House.
We ate lunch there, and watched the protesters – for peace, banning bombs, baking bread, universal health care, Tamil refugees, and one man opposed to Tamil protesters.
We rang the doorbell, but Barack could not come out.
We went to the museum of natural history, part of the Smithsonian.
All museums are free here!
Then to registration.
They have a huge activity room with inflated slides and bungee jumping and ping pong and four square and basketball, as well as some displays and stuff to buy.
We first went for dinner, then the big session began.
They are going through the bible from Genesis to Revelation – really well done, short sections, a variety of mediums – speakers, bands, skits, media presentations.
Final concert was Family Force 5 – very loud and wild (moshing and body surfing).
(Instead, I went to a QA with Shane Claiborne (very quiet and inspiring).
Back at the residence at 11:45, a time of sharing the highs of the day, and then to sleep.

Our drive to DC went well, uneventful, which is how we like it.
We met the Belleville group at 8:30, and we followed them (they have GPS).
The van ride was pretty quiet, the group is still gelling, but by the end of the night it was better.
They are mixing with the Belleville group fine, though that group is younger.
We arrived at 7:30pm, traffic into DC was not as bad as feared (thanks for praying).
We found our rooms – the elevated plastic mattresses will take getting used to, but the rooms are air conditioned.
The lady who manages summer accomodations is also a tour guide for the Catholic University of America (which is where we are staying, in the residence), so she gave us a walking tour, nice.
We had pizza for supper, ironed on our logos onto our t-shirts, and played Jungle Speed in the lobby.

One of my God-moments was stopping at a gas station and filling up – on caffeine.
I made myself the biggest cappuchino I could get, but when I went to the counter the lady said, `have a good day, its on the house`.
She said they randomly do this for customers, to give them a good day!
I thanked her for giving me a God-moment, an experience of unexpected grace!

Church Cancelled!

Tomorrow our ‘service’ is being canceled, so that service can happen.
Crossroads people are spreading out in Durham region tomorrow morning to perform a variety of community service assignments.
These are not projects planned by the church, just individual and family initiated efforts.
Handing out flowers at the hospital, picking up garbage, planting trees collecting donations for the Oshawa animal shelter, car wash for Ajax-Pickering food bank, bike repair clinic at Falby Court… and more…
So cool, the creativity and enthusiasm are inspiring me!!!
Please pray for God encounters.
Please pray that we are impacted, as well as our community.
Please pray that this is just the beginning of an ongoing relationship with the community.
We are meeting tomorrow afternoon at Falby Court (Bolton C. Falby) for a BBQ, and to look at the facilities for a possible new location for our ministry efforts.
Check out www.crossroadsinajax.org for more information!

My wife’s cousin Ruth and her husband Nitin, who is from India, sent out this request for prayer in the volatile religious, political and cultural tensions in their area. Please pray for the whole community, as well as for our brothers and sisters in the Lord who face unbelievable conflict and threats for the name of Jesus. — Norm

Dear faithful friends and prayer partners,

Greetings to you in the name of the most High God.

On Sunday, 19th of April there was an attack on a church about 40kms away from Nagpur. The name of the village is Saoner. The church is in the center of the village. A fanatic Hindu organization first made a police complaint saying that forcible conversion is taking place. Ten minutes later they attack the church wielding swords and guns as well as knives, sticks and stones. They verbally and physically abused the women and children. They vandalized the churches instruments and a school bus. They pointed the gun towards the pastor and threatened that he would be killed if they continued having church. The attackers brought a TV camera and showed it on the news just to please their leaders and bring terror to the minorities. As elections are going on they want to use this to consolidate Hinduhood. They also aim to get political party ticket to contest election. This 150 year old church has only 60 members. There was no conversion going on at all. To get famous, to get Political ticket and to prove their patriotism and to satisfy their nationalistic pride they do these evil things. Continue reading pray for the church in India

Today I went prayer walking in the Falby Court area.
This is the area that we are looking to relocate our services at Crossroads.
Its south of the 401, Harwood and Bayly.
At first it was nothing deep or profound… until I asked the Spirit to pray through me [Romans 8:26].
I really had no clear thoughts about what to pray for.
So I asked the Spirit to pray for me.
And what came from that was the Names of Christ.
I prayed the Names of Jesus over the apartments, the school, the vehicles, as well as the people that I saw.
That was cool, it left me with a deeper sense of how this community needs Jesus, and the ways that they need Jesus.
And also me, a deeper sense of how I need Jesus!!!
Care to join me in prayer walking?