What's going on in:
San Diego
&
Aguascalientes
There is a lot going on and I want to keep you all informed with the highlights of each month. Thank you to all who pray for and support these ministries. We are able to bless so many people and we couldn't do it without you. To God be all the glory. Gracias amigos!
October was a very busy and blessed month! I turned a year older, and I spent time in 3 different countries with many people whom I love and care about. What more could a guy ask for!? And most importantly, I got to serve the Lord in every place that I went. It is all for His glory!
October 1st was my birthday and I got to celebrate with many people. I started off the day with Kerri, one of my best friends since childhood, and she had a nice surprise waiting for me...her dog with balloons tied to him. It was a nice touch! We went out for coffee and talked about life. After that I had lunch with my parents before they took me to the airport. The plan was to head down to Aguascalientes and have dinner with my girls, Ariana & Elvira. But there was a delay and then I got bumped off my flight. I waited 4 hours in the Tijuana airport for nothing! Happy birthday to me haha. I ended up getting a flight the next day and was able to see my girls. We still got to celebrate, just not on the actual day. Better late than never! I am very blessed and so grateful to God for the 41 years of life that He has given me.
While I was in Mexico, I got to meet Selena Faith Sotelo Palmer. She was so cute and tiny! My good friends, Luis (Junior) & Kyleigh, had their 2nd child in September and I am so happy for them. They are not only very good friends of mine, but they are also my partners in the ministry. They have been such a blessing over the years and continue to help out with my girls. They keep things in order when I am gone. Thank you Junior & Kyleigh and may God bless your beautiful family!
I checked in on friend and fellow missionary, Chevon. I was able to take care of a few things around the house and had plenty of time to visit with her. I love being able to talk with her in a calm and collective environment. For a long time her health was not good and she was in a lot of pain. Now everything is good and stable, praise God!
And I want to give a special shout out to our head nurse, Dania. She is doing an incredible job taking care of Chevon and organizing the team of other nurses. Chevon and I can rest easy knowing that she is in charge and taking care of all of the day to day tasks. Thank you Dania and God bless you!
I had to say goodbye to Aguascalientes and head home to San Diego. I got back on October 11 and was able to teach my Junior High class that Sunday. As we continue in our study of the gospel of Mark, we learned about the paralytic who was healed by Jesus. The paralytic's friends could not get into the house where Jesus was because of the crowd, so they broke open the roof and lowered him in. Jesus was so impressed with their faith that he healed the man. I planned an activity for the kids based off of that story. I brought in plywood and they had to smash through it with hammers (this represented breaking through the roof). Things got a little crazy and maybe it wasn't the best idea to give the kids hammers and tell them to smash things, but they had fun doing it. Once they broke the plywood they had to carry someone on their team to the finish line (this represented carrying the paralytic to Jesus to get healed). It was a crazy but fun Sunday.
On October 25th, I went on a missions trip to Peru with my home church, Horizon. We teamed up with the local Horizonte (Horizon) down there in Ventanilla, Peru (just outside of the capital, Lima). We had been planning a HUGE evangelistic outreach for many months and we had to get ready for the big day. We arrived a week before the event and helped promote and set everything up. There was a women's dinner for over 300 women and the men took care of serving the food and drinks. We went into many schools to invite the students to the big event. We had some BMX riders with us and they put on a great show doing backflips and 360s off ramps. We also had games/activities planned and raffles for the students to win prizes. Some of us shared our testimonies of how God has worked in our lives. We prepared hundreds of shirts to be fired out of the T-shirt cannon at the event and also prepared 10,000 bags of candy! We had a breakfast for local law enforcement & firefighters. The mayor showed up as well and we were able to pray over the leaders of the city and bless them for their service to Ventanilla. The day before the big event we went to the park where the event was held and helped set up decorations. There was a lot for us to do!
The last day of the month, on the 31st, we had our big event. Many thousands of people showed up and we were able to bless so many kids and their parents. The humongous park that the Peruvian government allowed us to use was nicely decorated with colorful balloons and flags all over the place. We had a section of inflatables for the kids, there was a BMX and motocross show (those guys are crazy by the way!), stations to get face painting and hair coloring, and other activities for everyone. Later in the event we had the main attraction with famous musical acts. A group from Argentina, "Biper y sus amigos," came and the kids went nuts! They are very well known throughout Latin America and sing Christian children's songs. Later a famous rapper from Mexico, Fermin IV, performed. And finally, Pastor Phillip Macintosh from Horizon Christian Fellowship, San Diego, gave a message and shared the gospel of Jesus...the purpose of this whole event. It was an awesome time and such a blessing to be a part of this. To God be the glory!
