Newsletter 2008

This shall be a sign to you: You shall eat this year such as grows of itself, And the second year what springs from the same; Also in the third year sow and reap, Plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them…take root downward, And bear fruit upward.
Isaiah 37:30-31

Dear Friends,

It gives me great pleasure to be able to greet you on the cusp of this brand new year of 2009. I pray that you have had a wonderful christmas. I am sure that you can hardly believe that this past year has zoomed by. This coming March will mark three years of service here at the Roca Blanca Mission Base. The verse that God gave me for my third year here at the base was Isaiah 37:30-31. My first two years here, I was learning the language and the ropes to my position here. There was a lot of ministry done in my first two years even as I was learning and training, just as these verses mentioned eating for oneself and it does not really talk about sowing or reaping or working towards the harvest. But in my third year I felt God showing me that it was going to be a very fruitful year. I had a sense that I was going to “take root downward,” which was to deepen in my relationship and trust of the Lord and I was going to “bear fruit upward,” or rather that there would be visible and enduring fruits of my labor. I knew that people would come to know the Lord, be discipled, and because of my passion for the Lord and his work that others would essentially be touched by that passion and have a passion kindled in them as well. I knew I would sow and reap in my third year and there would be fruits and I would find my satisfaction and fulfillment from this fruit.

How can you portray a years worth of ministry. For the left brain people out there I was involved in ministering to 11,110 people through medical treatment, dental treatment, children’s ministry, food and clothing distributions, evangelism, and church ministry. There were 757 confirmed salvations, 253 water baptisms, and 27 physical healings. Success in the kingdom of God is so much more than mere numbers but this is just to give you an idea of the fruit that God gave me the privilege of being a part of.

For the right brain people I have a few photos of some of the ministry I did in this past year.
(children's ministry in Mixteco area)

(prayer for sick during a medical outreach, this little lady was blind and had diabetes)

(Baptism of a young girl from the base's high school)

(preparation for children's evangelistic event in San Pedro Amuzgos)

(Me translating in a church service in San Pedro Amuzgos)

These girls are in my discipleship group. I meet with each one every two weeks. I pray for them I give them advice. Here are five lives that I have had direct and eternal impact in. And with the help of God I have watched them grow and mature and absolutely flourish.
Her father recently died while she was studying. But she returned and has caused the words "peace that passes all understanding" to have a whole other meaning. She has demonstrated that our God is the God of peace that passes all human understanding. She wants to be a praise and worship leader.

This young lady is the most helpful and encouraging person I have had the privilege to pastor. She has overcome many hard obstacles and is bound to be a mighty woman of God. She would like to be a missionary.

I love this girl. I have seen her grow so much in the Lord in the past two years she has studied here. She has an amazing call to bring economic healing and growth to her village. She is a young woman of faith and will go onto study in university someday.

This young lady used to be excruciatingly shy and timid. The more she learns who she is in Christ and find inner healing through the word and direct pastoring and discipling the more confident she becomes each and everyday. It is a sheer delight to watch her in praise and worship and she dances before God with total abandon. She wants to go back to her village and be a children's pastor.

I absolutely cherish this young lady as we have very similar pasts and very similar callings. She has a heart for worship and for expressive arts and will use this for the kingdom. I have watched her during this time rise from the ashes of a broken home and past to use it as a testimony for the kingdom of God. She wants to be used in praise and worship in the future.

The girl in red is Estella, another one of the girls I pastor and am financially providing for her tuition. She is 18 and she is attending the high school. She is dynamic. She has been unofficially pastoring the girls in the high school. She plays several instruments and helps lead worship in her church. Last summer she and I partnered together to help bring the children (over 25) from her children's church to a christian summer camp here at the base. She is definitely been good ground to sow into.

As we head into this brand new year of 2009, let us put to one side all the usually vain and easily-forgotten resolutions and sincerely "Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest." Let us all put our hand to the plow, work the land or the area of influence that God has given us. Let us sow our seeds so that we may reap. Let us each and every one this year take up our CROSS and follow where ever the Lord may lead.

Thank you so very much for all of your support this year both financially and in your prayers. Please continue to pray for me as I continue my service here at the base as I will be praying for you. If you have any needs through out the year at any time please feel free to email so that we can join together in prayer. If the Lord places in your heart to support me financially you may contact me or go to the site of my sending agency (http://www.bgitulsa.org/). God bless you all and Happy New Year!

Street life in Oax

So this little man is blind and was playing an accordian for tips. Your probably thinking how random, but let me just say that he was one of like ten people playing the accordian for tips. Poor lil guy... unfortunately some people were paying him not to play anymore. There were other blind people that had a strappable portable karayoke machine walking through the city singing for tips they were not very good either.

A fake christmas tree in the center of the town square...sigh... the closest thing to christmas.

A shot of the corridor of the hotel we stayed in.

Last random note. Last week two japanese men in a black Altima came strolling through the fishing village of Cacalote. Random japanese man number one is older and works for the embassy in Oaxaca City. Random japanese man number two is his 20 something year old handsome and tall son (or so says the proprietor of the beach cabin where he stayed). Random Japananese man 1 speaks fluent spanish and begins to translate for his non-spanish and english speaking son, and asks where I lived. They both asked for me by name and were absolutely certain I lived in Cacalote. The big mouthed proprietor tells him "OH Danbi runs by here almost every morning." (Thanks Ernesto, nice to know you got my back in case random people want to hunt me down) So Random 1 drops his son off, to go stay in a nice cushy hotel in Puerto, and leaves his son to wait for me to randomly run by in the morning. Day two, still no signs of the running korean chick, so the father takes his son to the gates of the base but they decide not to go in. Random number 2 stays one extra night and then his father comes and picks him up in the morning and they both drive off into the sunset towards Oaxaca city. Craziness huh? Ernesto, big-mouthed proprietor of the beach cabin, does not ask what they wanted but was sure quick to tell them all about me. So I head to Oaxaca City and as we are traveling through downtown. I see an usually large Japanese guy. He gives me the one over and I immediately thought of the random japanese man number 2. He definitely fits the description, but let it pass as random coincidence, until I see him like two other times as we shop through out the city. Random Japanese man number 2 until we meet again.

Trekking Monte Alban

There are some Zapoteca Ruins right out side of Oaxaca that I got to visit. They were built about 500 or 600 years B.C. The pictures I have seen did not seem to do it justice. The place is huge. We got to climb to the tops of the pyramids. Let me just say that the air was a little thin.

The pyramid to the left was one of the places where sacrifices were made.

View from the very top of a pyramid

Looking down the steps. They even added a hand rail, kind of ruined the whole effect of the pyramid but very much appreciated on the way going down. The average height of the people during the times of these ruins was like 5 foot for a man so these steps were a beast to climb up, because they were about a foot or more in height. My gluts were screaming at me towards the end of our tour.

Feliz Navidad Oaxaca City!!

So I've been to Oaxaca City (Wa-ha-ka) a couple of times but it has always been for a wedding or some kind of business. This was my first time to be able to go just a tourist. So here are a few pictures from my travels. I also got to attend "La Noche de los Rabanos" which is the a festival called "The night of the Radishes." Organizations from all over the city made figurines and elaborate scenes out of radishes. The most impressive was the last supper of Jesus. I got to walk all over the center of town and see all the really impressive and beautiful architecture. As much as I love small town Cacalote, to have a little culture for a change was really nice.

The weather there was awesome too. In my village on the coast it is about in the 80's still... daily, so to have cooler 70 and 40s weather made it seem more like Christmas. I also got to reunite with a family that is now pastoring in the city that I used to teach English to. This is their daughter Elisa, who is enamored with some random band called the Jonas Brothers.

This was on the street downtown that is blocked off to traffic. The flags are a common decoration during many holidays. Mexicans on the whole are a very festive people. I once had a Mexican tell me that the have parties for just about anything weddings, birthdays, baptisms, and even when a kid loses their tooth. Any reason is reason enough to celebrate.

All of the older buildings downtown have an open area right in the middle of the building. this is a rug and tapestry shop with the open court area.

A famous catholic cathedral, I forget what it is called.

Everyday Miracles

Why is it that we love hearing about miraculous events? We continue to listen with mouth-opened wonder...even if the story seems incredulous or some what exaggerated. Its because the eternal and divine calls to us through these incredible accounts. I have personally had the privilege of meeting someone that is a walking, talking, and laughing miracle. His name is Aran. He is only about 4 o 5 years old but he is the cutest little kid you could ever meet. He laughs and smiles easily, he loves to play, but he tends to be a cry baby. As a matter of fact he cries at the drop of a hat, literally. As cute as he is his cry-baby tendencies cause him to be a little trying at times. Because of this slight consternation people quite easily lose sight of the fact of what a miracle he is.

"The onslaught of tragedy or trouble is the perfect condition for birthing a miracle. " Aran is the result of a brutal assault and rape. His mother was already married, so imagine to her horror when she found out that she was pregnant and that is was her attackers child. She decided that she would abort this baby as not to have a constant reminder of her assault. After the first abortion she still found herself pregnant. She went the second time and then ultimately the third time. After the third attempt she had her regular monthly cycles. It was not until the seventh month that she noticed swelling in her ankles, which had been a sign from her first pregnancy that she was still some how miraculously pregnant.

By the third trimester it was too late to attempt another abortion. Had she have known earlier in her preganancy that she was still in fact pregnant she was very sure that she would have attempted yet another abortion until Aran's life had been extinguished. But she then realized that it had to have been God sparing Aran's life. She is very sure that God has a purpose for Aran. Even now he is always praying for people or talking about God. Just having met him, played with him, and walked with him to school one day my life has been indeliably touched by his testimony and his pure and amazing faith in Jesus. I and the whole world look forward to the amazing young man he is sure to become one day and the mighty exploits he will do on the Lord's behalf