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Good News from Mike
Grace Walk Canada is entering a ‘new season,’ a reboot if you will. Stay tuned as we launch new resources, conferences, and speaking dates over the next two years. It is time to take this message of Grace beyond the church walls and bring it to people who have never heard it before! This has been sparked by a number of conversations with the Grace Walk leaders, by asking the question ‘who are we trying to reach’? One of the discussions involved the importance of including and stimulating the youth of our generation to hear, believe, and understand the message of Grace. This means that we need provide them opportunities to practice and learn how to share the love of Christ. Hence the birth of the “2016 Mexico Missions Trip”. This trip took place during March break and I want to invite everyone to watch the video in the following link, which summarizes what happened, personal experiences, and what we learned from the trip. (CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO)
As a result of our trip and speaking with village leaders, teachers and townspeople, we realized there are some very practical and inexpensive things we could do to ‘love this village with the love of Christ’.
- The village is bare and gray, hardly any colour. We had 12 homes painted and began giving the gift of colour and joy to this little village.
- We found out that the public Jr. High School was functioning without even basic supplies such as:
- ‘Missing and broken glass’ in the school windows, causing dust and wind to blow through each classroom everyday, causing dust piles, blown around papers, a lot of dirt.
- Hardly any desks for students to sit at, and the few that were there, were broken bent and fragile.
- The teacher had hardly any tools or resources for teaching.
- No working fans in the classrooms to cool them down
- Bathroom facilities were in a dangerous state: they had to go to a water pit outside, let down a pail on a rope, bring the pail in, use it to pour in the toilets, and this was for every toilet.
- The water hole had a large enough opening that a smaller youth could ‘easily’ fall down, creating a constant danger.
- They lacked any sports equipment, soccer balls, basket balls, Frisbees, bouncy balls, skipping ropes,
- This village lacks hope and encouragement. They struggle with such a low income level that they simply cannot afford a single improvement.
- They were very, very open to the message of Grace and Love we shared with them.
Next Step: 2016 Mexico Missions Trip – Part Two (July)
I’m going back to this village ‘El Limon’ this July and would like to invite you to participate with a financial gift so we can help this village in a practical way. I believe by doing this, they will see our love and be even more open to the message we bring. We need to raise $3300-$3500 to fulfill the purpose of this trip. When you see what these funds will do, your heart will be warmed, I hope you will partner with me on this second trip!! Click here to donate now.
Purpose of the trip:
- Discipleship training of leaders
- Replace all the glass
- Install rooftop water tank and pumps to have flushing toilets in the public school
- Bring resources for training
- Bring fans into the classrooms
- Begin painting a few more homes
- Extra chairs for a grace house church
This village has been put on my heart for a number of reasons.
- The need is great, and for very little expense as Canadians, we can speak deeply into this village with simple help.
- This village has already been exposed to the message of Grace and needs to have this message cultivated so it can grow and reproduce
- This is the town Gerardo Vasquez’s wife Gloria grew up in. It was a missionary who came to the village that allowed her the opportunity to hear and believe in God. Let’s continue the work that has already been started and be the missionaries who bring even more good news.
You can’t control everything, but you can give up control! That is exactly what you may have to do if God chooses a ‘different method’ of dealing with your problem, as in, ‘different from last time’. Enjoy this encouraging talk about how David had to deal with TWO Giants in his life and God used different methods for dealing with each one!
When God Messes Up Your Plan: SERIOUSLY GOD? WHAT ARE YOU DOIN? What do you do when it ‘feels’ like He messed it up? Suddenly everything you planned goes out the window or looks NOTHING like what you had hoped? This message could be exactly what you need to hear! ENJOY!
Grace In The Face Of Fear & Darkness: When trouble, sickness, difficulties, pain and suffering come our way, we can easily be tempted to believe we are alone or even abandoned. It is in times like these, we need to focus on TRUTH! The Truth is we are NOT alone and that Jesus will NEVER leave or abandon us. When the waves of life are crashing in on us in a big way, it is then we need to be reminded of our one-ness with our Saviour Jesus Christ! I hope today’s message will encourage your heart and bring the reality of God’s Grace to the forefront in your heart and mind!
What do you REALLY believe? Have you REALLY thought about it? Is it the same stuff you were told as a kid? Have you ever thought through every belief that has been handed down? It is time to visit each belief, challenge every thought and question the answers you have been given since childhood! Some will come out just fine, some will be headed for the ‘garburator’, which is a good thing!! Enjoy today’s message of HOPE and encouragement! Once and a while it is important to visit the basic and exciting truths that have given us clarity and zeal for life!!! DON’T FORGET the good news you ALREADY know!! Enjoy!!
It is hard to describe the amount of good news we are experiencing on this incredible trip! Each day seems to just get better and better! The team is really becoming comfortable with each other and sharing their observations each day as to what they are seeing and learning. So far we have been very busy travelling, preparing for ‘teaching meetings’ where the team shares ‘from the heart’ a short 5-10 min description of what God seems to be putting in their hearts, Story book time, (reading a kids story to the children, only to find the adults like it more than the kids), singing as a group, and teaching the profound love and Grace of Christ to the group we are visiting. The van rides are crazy, and very enjoyable with healthy bantering, silly songs, worship songs ….all sung together with really cool harmonies!! The personalities of EACH person are being realized and their TRUE identity and character seems to be coming out more and more…..which is a beautiful thing to witness! To say one day is better than the other is unfair as EACH DAY has a profound impact on each of us in a unique way.
Another highlight of the day was Gerardo Vasquez sharing his story of how he came to believe the joyful good news of Jesus. It was a LONG story, and yet the ‘short version’. it was the most silent the time in the van and EACH ONE OF US listened intently to every detail of Gerardo’s deeply impacting story, one we are sure to never forget, WE LOVE YOU AND DEEPLY RESPECT YOU GERARDO!
A Grace Journey of Learning to Live Loved 