Another Day in the City

Mandy and I just wanted to say hi to everyone. We also would like to tell you about the wonderful blessing that we were given here. We moved into our new apartement and found out that we had a nasty case of bugs. We had bedbugs in our apartment. When we moved in we saw that the place had carpet, and we were excited. Then we moved in and found out why most people dont have carpet. Incase you didnt know, carpet in Mexico is not common. To make a long story short Alyssa and I prayed about what to do and left it at that. The next day Mandy was visiting with some friends about the problem. We all were covered with little red bits and we were wondering if there was anything here to help ease the pain and itching. There was a lady there from the girls school (a teacher) who said that she knew an exterminator. That morning they called him and he came over. He showed up at 11am and it was done quickly. The best part of it all was that they did not charge us for it. They said that they wanted to do it for free to help our family out, and the guy is not even a Christian. God is using people around us for His work even when they dont know it. IT'S AWESOME!! It has been such a miracle to see how He is providing for us here. It is just one more small conformation that we are walking in the middle of His plan for our lives.

Another reason that we wanted to blog tonight is to put up the newsletter of the family that we are working with here. If you are interrested in seeing the people that are training us, working with us, teaching us, helping us, and sometimes just having to put up with us, here it is: http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs018/1101376921926/archive/1102045947266.html .

We will be excited to tell you more stories about opertunities that God is opening for us here. There are things that are beginning to fall in place for us, as we learn the language. We will blog again soon. thank you and God Bless. Ross

dia de ninos (day of the children)

There are new pictures of the girls in their costumes on our flicker account. Got to the dia de ninos picture group. Hope all is well with everyone. Have a blessed day! Amanda
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rossandmandy/

The perfect day

Today was a wonderful day. We got all the things done yesterday that needed to be completed so we were able to have a family day. Our family went to find a costume for Alyssa and a crown for Zoe. The girls have to dress up for church and school a couple days this coming week. This coming week is a very important week for kids in Mexico. They have huge parties for the kids all week long. They call this week "kids hero week". When the spanish came to concore Mexico there was a group of kids that would not let the spanish take down the Mexican flag. The spanish had to kill all the kids in able for them to take the flag down. It is to remember the bravery that those children had and a memorial for them. The girls have a party at church, two at school and differnet ones around town. Alyssa picked out a butterfly costume and we where very blessed by someone who gave us a beautiful princess dress for Zoe. I am happy with the amount of spanish we can use now. Every where we went today we spoke only in spanish with the people. We are able to get just about anything we need by ourselves now. It might not be perfectly put together but people have been very good about helping us learn. We where even given a compliment on how good our spanish sounds and how far we have come since arriving here. Thanks Jesus! We had to walk about 4 miles to find the costume store and after we went there we took the girls to a play area. It was wonderful to have them playing and to be able to sit and hold my husband while watching them. After that we went home and played for hours with each other. To finish off this wonderful day I was able to watch my husband read the girls stories out of the bible as they fell asleep. Hope everyone who reads this had as great of a day as we were give. "Lord we give you all the credit" Blessings Amanda

Thinking about life

As I sit here this evening listening to the rumble of thunder outside and see the rain falling on the city I am reminded of what God showed me on Sunday. I was reading in Psalms 8 where David was talking about how God created the heavens with the work of His finger, the moon and stars He set in place. Then above all He placed us, lower than the angels yet He places the crown of life on us. He says that he crowns us with glory and honor, He places us above all that He had made. The thing that stood out more than anything is when he said, "What is mere men that you are mindful of him, that the Son of Man cares for him". This is such a true statement! I was woke up by my wife last night about 2:30 in the morning because she had a terrable headache. This I think would classify as a migrain. We were praying for her and after about an hour of her laying on the floor crying in pain and loosing everything in her stomach she was able to get back to sleep. We are not sure what brought this on but one thing that we are sure of, is how fragile we are as humans. As I read this scripture again tonight I loved how David started this out and ended it as well, "Oh Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth" There is nothing more appropiate to say than that. We need to stop and look at who we are as humans. We have so blessed by the people around us here and when I think about living this life and worrying about tomarrow I have to stop myself and realise that this life is not about us, or me. It is all for His glory, no matter what. If we die tonight it was all worth it, as long as He is the one that we lived for. I long for the day that I get to see my savior face to face, but I love every single day that He has given us on this earth. I feel like I am the richest, most blessed man on this earth. Mandy and I have been approached by people living here and they have told us that even though we are still not good at communicating with locals there is a whole community of people watching us. The locals know that we are here and we have been blessed to be accepted by some that hate Christians. Gods favor is before us even though Satan is throwing his darts. We are finding the importance of prayer and utter dependence on God lately. I just had to share that with someone and now I can go to bed. 4 hours of spanish class, 4 hours of teaching english, 2 hours of playing with the girls, spending a little time with my wife and now this I am ready to call it a night. Talk later. Ross

Our lives in the city

It has been 2 months now since we have began working in Mexico City. This week we have friends from Bethany that are here visiting. I think that we have done well showing them around. We have volunteered to show them the places that we know. It has been alot of fun. This week held something different for us. We were approached yesterday and asked if we are interrested in taking a job (with no pay) teaching english in a local school. They know that we are native speakers and we are able to communicate with them in spanish. This would be a win, win situation. They also know that we are Christians and they know where we stand spiritually. They cannot pay us because of the limitations that the government puts on us as Americans living here without a work visa. This is ok though because we are happy living on the support that we get from all of you back home and it makes our words more creditable when talking about Jesus. They know that we are not here for a paycheck but we are here to just show love to them. This is an avenue that Mandy and I have been praying about since we got down here. We were not sure how to make this a reality but God went ahead of us and is preparing the path. The school would give us an invite and that would open the doors (legally) for our family to stay here long term. This also would place us around some of the youth group range of kids that we have been trying to get involved in. The great thing is that we have been praying about staying here and they approached us. This is another conformation that God is in this and we are walking in the middle of His plan for our lives. They would be able to provide us with help pushing our immigration papers through the government. This is not a done deal yet and we will keep you posted as we move towards this step but please keep us in your prayers in reguards to this. We are so thankful for all of you that have made this possible. The girls have told us that they are going to stay here and marry Mexican men. Zoe is already married but she can't remember his name :-) and Lyssa has a little boy that makes her face light up when she sees him. SCARRY! We all love it so much down here and it is great to see what God is doing. We will be able to update more later. Ross

Cookie. Cookie, Cookies

Hello everyone I have some awesome pictures for you guys to look at. We had four kids from Alyssa and Zoe's school come over and bake cookies the other day. (Thanks Mandie for the receipe!) We made chocolate chip cookie for the CNM missions school. It was alot of fun seeing our cookies walking down the street with people:) We have some friends staying with us from Bethany College of Missions. Their names are Mario and Jeannie Benduza. They are going to be in Mexico for about two weeks. We are going to be having alot of visitors within the next month:) Ross's old school teacher and three other people are coming down to visit and go to a little village outside of the city on a missions trip. We are very excited to see them! Also Ross's mom, stepdad and niece are coming to see us! It will be alot of fun. We are starting to get busy here. We are starting to pick up the language and are able to talk to people in small sentences. We had a lady that I(amanda) go to biblestudy with offer to teach us spanish for free! She is going to tutor us three days a week and we also have another lady teaching us for a hour everyday are impatient because we want to know more but we also know that we are doing good for how long we have been here. We were so blessed last night by a mexican couple. They took us and our friends that are staying with us downtown to Mexico's city center. They walked us around and then took us to the top of a building where there was a resturant and feed us some amazing food. We have not been on a date in awhile so it was amazing. The girls were even more excited because they had their favorite babysitter come and watch them. Zoe woke up this morning and asked if we could leave again so her babysitter could come back. We have added some new pictures and videos on our flicker account. Give us a shout on our email or skype number. We would love to here from ya. Email is rossandmandy@yahoo.com / http://rossandmandy.blogspot.com/ Later Amanda

Please pray for Mexico City

I (Amanda) have been studying up on some of the demonic stautes I have seen around town. I have a Godly anger in my heart towards the lies that are being told in Jesus' name. The first one is "The Virgin of Guadalupe".
This statue is a mix between a aztec goddess and the virgin mary. The catholic church should be on their knees begin for forgivness for making this statue. 50 of the popes have came and gave worship and give honor to this discusting idol. The reason she was excepted was because it was a way for them to "convert" people to their church. Well it has worked! They have officaly helped many souls go to hell to burn for all eternity instead of telling them the truth like they "so called preach." The story is that this virgin appeared to this poor indiginous man on top of a hill next to Mexico City. She told him to build her a temple in honor of her. Then she showed a miracle too one of the bishops by having this man gather wild roses in the middle of their winter. Then she had a image of herself put on the priest robe. Wow this really should have put up red flags everywhere. There is now a building in Mexico where she wanted the temple to be built so people could come and worship her "the so called mother of God." The funny thing that the catholic church has forgotten to add in this building is a representation of Jesus any where. O'ya because they don't want truth in a den where demon manifest and lies are told. The problem with the church is that they either keep Jesus on the cross or keep Him as a baby. They forget to tell the people that JEesus grew up and He got off that cross that He was resurrected and is now at the right hand of God the Father. One question I would like to ask priests or catholics is "how many times have you been asked to read your bible other than the little scriptures given to you in church? Do they encourage you to have a relationship with Jesus. That He loves you and wants to be your best friend. That you are to go tell other people and tell them about His goodness. Also that the veil was torn right before Jesus died on the cross so we no longer have to tell our sins to a priest. That we can talk one on one with God ourselfs. Also that the virgin mary was not actualy a virgin her whole life, that she also had other children. If you don't beleive me actually look in the bible I promise that it is there. I know these questions because these where the questions I asked after I left the church. I am truly heart broken because I know that there are some people in the Catholic churches that do love God and serve Him wholeheartedly. One nun that really showed Christs love to me was Sister Rosemary. She was a example that good can come out of the lies told. She showed Jesus' love to many not just religion. I am glad that someday I will be able to see her someday in heaven and thank her.
The next idol I read about was the grim reaper. She is considered to be a women saint. Her worshipers call her the "skinny woman". The people that worship her are mostly drug dealers, prositutes, thieves, kidnapper and the poor. They say it is not satanic but they link her to the catholic virgin mary and God. They say she protects them while they are in prison or when they go commit crime. They offer tequilla, flower, drugs, music and more. There are around 500 temple or statues dedicate to her. Do you know that most religons around the world have some form of a virgin in their religions history. This is a good way for satan to come in and make people worship him instead of Jesus. It makes it seem innocent because there is still some link to Jesus involved. What does Jesus tell us? "To not worship ANY carved image" Have you seen any Chrisitan churches ever have a carved image of Jesus or Mary? If you have then you better start to question that church. We are not to worship a carved image because HE is alive not dead. He is to be our friend not a image to offer prayers to. Because He knows the condition of our heart even before we tell Him. If you have never been taught from your religion to ask for the forgiveness of your sins then here is a way for you to do that.
1. you must turn away from sin, beleive in the death and resurrection of Jesus and receive Him as Lord of your life.
2. You must consider your life and then turn away from everything in it that is contrary to what God teaches. In order to do this you have to read the word of life "the Bible". This turning away is called repentance.
3. you must ackknowledge that Jesus died on the cross to forgive you of your sins. You take Him as your savior to cleanse you. He died for you to pay the price for your sins so you don't have to.
3. You must ask Him to be Lord of your life, acknowledge openly and verbally that Jesus is not only your Savior but your Lord.
You need to remember though that just because you say this you are not free and clear. You have to actually put this all into practice. There is no quick fix way into heaven. I am not saying that Jesus died for no reason. His forgivness is there even if you are not going to practice this or not. I am saying that God asks for our whole heart, soul and mind not just what you want to give HIm. If you don't know where to start reading in your bible a couple good books to start with is the books of John and Romans. I am only sorry that it took me this long to say all this to people. It should not have taken me seeing straight out cult worship to bring me to tell people about this. I will no longer be scared to preach the only truth and that truth is only in Jesus. Please if you have a religion don't just follow it blindly. Question what you believe because some day you will be held accountable for it. Blessing to you Amanda

Revival in Mexico

Hello again from Mexico. Well, another week is gone and we are still keeping up the pace. Tonight we had another teaching session in our house and then we are having revival services at the church. We have a special guest speaker here from the states. It is weird hearing services in English. We really enjoyed his service tonight on healing and deliverance. It got me thinking about how life goes and how Satan really has us convinced that there is no hope of deliverance. This is something that has been laying heavily on my heart lately. God is here with us and in His words we are supposed to do greater things than Him. So my question is, what happens when we don't? Are we truly following God if we don't do what He says? There was a speaker here the other day that said, " that we always get puffed up thinking that we somehow chose God but what we have to remember is that God chose us". We have to have a humble spirit!! I feel like we have somehow turned this walk with God into something for us and not for Him. In the words of Paris Reidhead "We have to live this life for Him, not because of what we get out of it but because He is worthy. If at the end of our lives we die and go to hell it will still be fair because we deserve that. It is only His grace and the price that He paid that will constitute anything else." This has been something that I have been thinking about lately. As I walk the streets of Mexico City and think that God loves each and every one of these people. It just seems so unfair that they have never even heard what this Jesus did. There are so many different religions here. This country is covered with religion but few people know the true gospel!! I praise God though when Sunday morning rolls around and I can see 5,000 people on there face worshiping God. I know then that there is hope for this city. We are so excited to see God's face here in Mexico City, to see the signs and wonders that are taking place here and to see the people that are coming to Christ. I was amazed this evening, there was a special service at 8pm when Mandy and I showed up and they asked for new people to stand up. There had to be around 40. On a Friday night we had somewhere around 600 - 800 people show up. The thing that is more amazing than that is that every time we have a service here people get saved. I used to be into eschatology (study of the end times) but my perspective has really changed. I weep for the people that do not know yet. There is so much work to be done but so few people want to go!! I long for the day that I can stand before my savior but there is never enough hours in the day to reach the people that need to be reached!! I am finally understanding what Jesus meant when He said, "He is not slow in coming but He is waiting so that the lost have a chance". We have found that the easiest commandment is also the hardest but most effective. The first commandment is "love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind and the second is like it," love your neighbor as yourself!!!" It is easy to love those around you but it is terribly hard to actually like them. I have found that now as I walk down the street I am praying for these people. Especially the people we see everyday. Please keep them in your prayers as well. The only way to reach them is with the true love that only comes from heaven. I have to be done writing now or there may be no end. Thank you all again for all your prayer and support of my family and I down here in Mexico City. Peace Out! Ross

Another Weekend - Another trip

Hello again! Another week has gone bye already!! Wow, things are going fast. I (Ross) had the opportunity to go with Kerry (the missionary that we are working under) on a missions mobilization trip. We went to a smaller city north of Mexico City. I really enjoyed my time a lot. We meet some wonderful Christians working up there and it was great to see what God is doing out of the area that we are living in. It is always wonderful to drive into a town where you don't know anyone and the first people you meet, greet you in the name of the Lord. The city is in great need of the gospel but the Christians that are there are all joining together to reach there city for Christ. The area has around 500,000 people, and roughly 40 church's. The church's that are there are not large either, the two that Kerry spoke at were roughly 50 each. This week holds something very important for the little town though. A few days before we arrived there, all the Christian church pastors came together and were able to put aside there difference's and join together to reach their city for Christ. On Thursday of this week, they are having a city wide church service for all the Christians to get together and join forces. The problem with the city is not that they do not want the gospel, they have just never heard. This is something that I found hard to grasp in my mind until I drove down the streets and seen the people. My heart wept for the lost and rejoiced for the Christians that are on the front line fighting this battle daily. The reason that we went there was to motivate the Christians to "Go". The vision of the local church here in Mexico City and the surrounding area, is to send a tithe of missionaries to the field. This is not true across the board but in a lot of Christian church's it is. That was why I went. There is nothing like a missionary telling people to go to the mission field. This was big part of our plan when we found out we were coming here. Training locals in the way of the Bible. We felt love and acceptance from many people and received many, many hugs. It was wonderful, and we pray now that the words spoken are taken into heart and they act on them. I was so impacted when I was first told the vision of the church to send 10% of there members to the field. There vision is the middle east, Africa, etc. Please be in prayer for the church as it meets together this week and also as we continue teaching English at our house and we keep working on our Spanish. Tomorrow I will go get some beds and set up a building (that is close to our apartment) for people to live in. The bible schools is setting up a building for people in need to live in and we are planning to be involved in that later. Please keep us in your prayers as well while we are working with the local church. We want to be able to be used by God where he wants us with no limitations and we are praying about what that is in our lives. We are so much in love with life now and there is nothing like walking in the path that God planned and is taking us on. Thank you for all the continued support that you are providing for us as well. Without you we would not be able to do what we are doing. We pray continually that we never walk out of the center of the path that God has for us. Thanks again and talk soon. Ross