Hello everyone, we had a wonderful tiring week. We helped work in the childrens summer bible school. Amanda was a teacher of ten year olds and Ross worked in lighting, maintance and sound. The girls learned a lot also during this time. They were both able to be in classes. If you would like to look at pictures and videos of the work we helped with this week you can go to our flicker and youtube account.
This was a wonderful week for our spanish speaking. This whole week was in spanish, no english at all. The students and teachers that I worked with knew no english at all. This was wonderful because so many people want to practice their english with us. We have needed to ask them to speak to us in spanish so we can learn the language. This has been wonderful because we have been able to do a lot of ministry with people in our native tounge this early in our time here but it is not helping us with spanish. We do all our shopping in the markets and on the street so we can find people who only know spanish so we can practice with them. The girls are doing wonderful in spanish but still need prayer to make school and life go smoothly.
We were very blessed today from the people that we are here to help. We had a game today between all the teachers, staff, pastors and other helpers. There was about 2oo helpers there. The game was to give ribbons to people that you thought deserved them. They we different colors, the meanings of the colors were: yellow (obedients to God) red (courages & brave) blue (faithful to the Lord) white (trustworthy) green (a person that is careful with peoples hearts). We had so many people come up to us and give us all the colors but the ones that we got the most (a full hand full) where the yellow , red and blue ones. All that gave them thanked us for leaving our culture, family, homes, food and security to come and help them. There were many tears and lots of hugs. All we could tell them was that it was the desire of our hearts and that God has given us a overflowing amount of peace here. It is very hard at times being away from our families but we know that they will be richly blessed because of it. It is wonderful that we were with them for many years and we have a lot of memories that we will never forget with them. God showed us once more a lesson on how to be humbled before His throne today. It is a blessing that the people see us differnet than many christians and that they want to know what a true walk with God looks like. We have found that people here don't want to reject God but they are tired of lukewarm christianity and religion. We know that God has sent us here to show them that religion has nothing to do with a relationship with God.
Here is a short video showing some of the week and the work we were involved in. There was great ministry going on during the week and there were children that caught the fire of God and it will effect there lives forever.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Trip to El Salvador
July 17th 2008
Friends and Supporters;
Hello everyone, all is well here in Mexico City. The girls are out of school now for the summer and we are busier than ever. Our language learning is going awesome. The girls are doing even better. We hope all of you got our first newsletter a few months ago. You can also keep up with us on our blog account. We write at least once a week. We also put on a lot of videos. http://rossandmandy.blogspot.com We are excited to see what God is doing here and how He is really showing Himself to us and those around us. We have many stories of Gods goodness, provision and protection for us and our family in Mexico City. We are so glad that God has brought us here, and we look forward to continuing our service to Him for a long time in Mexico.
With this in mind, we recently received a letter from some old friends in El Salvador asking for some short time help. As Gods hands and feet we feel that this is something that God has ordained for us and is asking us to go do. They are asking for help to deliver the gospel to some indigenous groups in the mountains of El Salvador. We have felt a very strong urge to go and help them out. Many of you many know the story of El Salvador and why we went there seven years ago. For the ones that have not heard the story let me tell you a short version of it. One night Ross and I prayed to God and told Him that we didn’t feel we were living out our purpose in life. We felt tired of not feeling the peace of God in our lives. The next day Ross went to the church we were going at that time to copy some papers. When he got there the pastor’s wife came and told him if he could get his passports within three days he could have a free ticket to El Salvador to help on a missions trip. He came home so excited but then he decided that he was not going to go if I was not able to go. Right after that we got a call from the pastor’s wife again and she said that another ticket opened up and asked if I also wanted to go. Many people didn’t think that we would get our passports and everything in order within that short of time. God got it done even sooner. A long story short the FED EX truck was late and they forgot our passport package but God had not. We got our passport within three days and we were off to El Salvador to help out the victims of two terrible earthquakes. While we were there God showed us this was what He wanted from us in our lives. God always works great things in numbers.
We landed back home from El Salvador and we both cried out and told God that we didn’t want to be back home. That was on Jan. 28th 2001, Jan. 28th 2002 Alyssa was born and exactly seven years later we landed in Mexico City Jan. 28th 2008. Seven is God’s perfect number. We will be going back to help in El Salvador again with those same passports we got and also with two beautiful girls.
We are praying for the money we need to be here by July 24th 2008. We want to go down July 26th thru August 9th. This is only a week away but we have seen God do great miracles within even shorter amounts of time. We ask if there is anyway that you could help our family financially. We have just received 10% of our money that is necessary to go. We had a lady here in Mexico walk up to us and give us a letter written in English with some money in it. She said she doesn’t know what the money was supposed to be for but that God will provide the all the money that we need. She said that the money she gave would multiple. God sent us once to El Salvador with a miracle and we believe that He will do it again. There will be also another attachment sent with this letter telling you the things that are happening in El Salvador. All we need help with is the money for airfare. We will also include information with who we will be working for. If you would like to donate to us, you can send money to our mission’s agency or you can get a hold of Ross’s mother Linda Hammond or Amanda’s mother Polly Jeannotte and give them your donation. They will be able to put it in our account immediately, but this way is not tax deductible. Their phone numbers are 701-572-9486 (Linda) 701-572-5582. The mailing address for our missions company is:
I.M.F. Missionaries
P.O. Box 32366
Minneapolis, MN 55436
IMF’s telephone number inside the U.S. (1-763-571-5967)
(Please don’t put our names any where on the check, place a extra piece of paper in the envelope with our name on itJ Please make donations out to I.M.F.) They also accept credit card donationsJ
Thank you for keeping up with our family, and many blessing to you and your family.
Dios Te Bendiga!
Ross, Amanda, Alyssa and Zoe Johnston
rossandmandy@yahoo.com
Friends and Supporters;
Hello everyone, all is well here in Mexico City. The girls are out of school now for the summer and we are busier than ever. Our language learning is going awesome. The girls are doing even better. We hope all of you got our first newsletter a few months ago. You can also keep up with us on our blog account. We write at least once a week. We also put on a lot of videos. http://rossandmandy.blogspot.com We are excited to see what God is doing here and how He is really showing Himself to us and those around us. We have many stories of Gods goodness, provision and protection for us and our family in Mexico City. We are so glad that God has brought us here, and we look forward to continuing our service to Him for a long time in Mexico.
With this in mind, we recently received a letter from some old friends in El Salvador asking for some short time help. As Gods hands and feet we feel that this is something that God has ordained for us and is asking us to go do. They are asking for help to deliver the gospel to some indigenous groups in the mountains of El Salvador. We have felt a very strong urge to go and help them out. Many of you many know the story of El Salvador and why we went there seven years ago. For the ones that have not heard the story let me tell you a short version of it. One night Ross and I prayed to God and told Him that we didn’t feel we were living out our purpose in life. We felt tired of not feeling the peace of God in our lives. The next day Ross went to the church we were going at that time to copy some papers. When he got there the pastor’s wife came and told him if he could get his passports within three days he could have a free ticket to El Salvador to help on a missions trip. He came home so excited but then he decided that he was not going to go if I was not able to go. Right after that we got a call from the pastor’s wife again and she said that another ticket opened up and asked if I also wanted to go. Many people didn’t think that we would get our passports and everything in order within that short of time. God got it done even sooner. A long story short the FED EX truck was late and they forgot our passport package but God had not. We got our passport within three days and we were off to El Salvador to help out the victims of two terrible earthquakes. While we were there God showed us this was what He wanted from us in our lives. God always works great things in numbers.
We landed back home from El Salvador and we both cried out and told God that we didn’t want to be back home. That was on Jan. 28th 2001, Jan. 28th 2002 Alyssa was born and exactly seven years later we landed in Mexico City Jan. 28th 2008. Seven is God’s perfect number. We will be going back to help in El Salvador again with those same passports we got and also with two beautiful girls.
We are praying for the money we need to be here by July 24th 2008. We want to go down July 26th thru August 9th. This is only a week away but we have seen God do great miracles within even shorter amounts of time. We ask if there is anyway that you could help our family financially. We have just received 10% of our money that is necessary to go. We had a lady here in Mexico walk up to us and give us a letter written in English with some money in it. She said she doesn’t know what the money was supposed to be for but that God will provide the all the money that we need. She said that the money she gave would multiple. God sent us once to El Salvador with a miracle and we believe that He will do it again. There will be also another attachment sent with this letter telling you the things that are happening in El Salvador. All we need help with is the money for airfare. We will also include information with who we will be working for. If you would like to donate to us, you can send money to our mission’s agency or you can get a hold of Ross’s mother Linda Hammond or Amanda’s mother Polly Jeannotte and give them your donation. They will be able to put it in our account immediately, but this way is not tax deductible. Their phone numbers are 701-572-9486 (Linda) 701-572-5582. The mailing address for our missions company is:
I.M.F. Missionaries
P.O. Box 32366
Minneapolis, MN 55436
IMF’s telephone number inside the U.S. (1-763-571-5967)
(Please don’t put our names any where on the check, place a extra piece of paper in the envelope with our name on itJ Please make donations out to I.M.F.) They also accept credit card donationsJ
Thank you for keeping up with our family, and many blessing to you and your family.
Dios Te Bendiga!
Ross, Amanda, Alyssa and Zoe Johnston
rossandmandy@yahoo.com
Friday, July 04, 2008
Splitting the Red Sea
I have heard people say that if God only would work miracles again like he did in the Bible they would be able to believe in Him. For me this was the case in times past, but a while back I was challenged by God to see things for myself. I began praying for little things that were possible, but hard to get accomplished. I then started seeing these things being accomplished for us. I have lately been pushed by God to give this message to those around us. This is a hard message to share if you are not seeing miracles happen in your own life. I was not content to be telling people, "Do as I say, not as I do". Lately God has been doing great things for us and our family. I wished that I could include all the miracles in people lives that are happening around us, but I can't. I can however tell you about the latest thing that just happened to us.
As alot you know Mandy and I have seen a great need here in Mexico City for the discipleship of people that are coming to Christ. In order to be able to stay here legally we need to apply for immigration. We found attorneys that work for the church that said that they would help us with it. Somewhere around 3 months ago we gave them the paperwork for it and really nothing has happened. Now lets move forward to Wednesday. We had a friend, talking to his friend a couple days ago and God told him to ask that friend about immigration. He thought it was crazy and blew it off. This feeling that came over him just got stronger and stronger. He then finally submitted and asked her. The lady that he asked told him that in fact she did, her sister worked for immigration. A few minutes after that I just randomly walked into my friends office as they were sitting around talking. They explained everything to me and set up a meeting at the immigration office for Thursday morning. I know that God parted the Red Sea for the Israelites, and it was similar for us. There were hundreds of people standing in lines at the immigrations office here when we walked in. We talked to the front desk people and told them we needed to see a particular immigration agent. They took us, walked right past the crowds behind the front lines and we stood there visiting. They are able to help us out, and get this all taken care of quickly and effectively. Also there are some hang ups that we have with the file, but they are able to help us move around the problems for a quick approval. At this point we are just having to trust God for the final word from the governement, but we are seeing His hand moving all around us. I have other stories of Gods provision and guidance that are equally as important and amazing. As I look around I see that God is opening doors for us, and is bringing people into our lives that are not only a blessing for us, but also an encouragement. I have been told alot by people around us how amazing it is seeing Gods provision for our family but now we are seeing what living a life of expectancy is.
As I do with the people that we are talking to here, I also encourage you to seek out God and find out who He is. Find out what He can be in your life, and what His plan for your life is. Too many times we are just happy doing what we want to do with no reguard for the souls of the people around us. I am not willing to stand before God in the end and have Him say, "Saved, but life wasted!" There will be no negociating, no swaying, no arguing with the eternal label that God puts on us. For this reason I encourage everyone to push into God and see who He really is. Don't listen to the voices of man, because man will always fail us, dont listen to the voices in the street, or those in front of us. Listen to the voice of God and see what He truly wants from us. This is my word for the night, and I hope that it encourages all of you, but even more I hope it stretches all of you to finding out what God wants from you.
As alot you know Mandy and I have seen a great need here in Mexico City for the discipleship of people that are coming to Christ. In order to be able to stay here legally we need to apply for immigration. We found attorneys that work for the church that said that they would help us with it. Somewhere around 3 months ago we gave them the paperwork for it and really nothing has happened. Now lets move forward to Wednesday. We had a friend, talking to his friend a couple days ago and God told him to ask that friend about immigration. He thought it was crazy and blew it off. This feeling that came over him just got stronger and stronger. He then finally submitted and asked her. The lady that he asked told him that in fact she did, her sister worked for immigration. A few minutes after that I just randomly walked into my friends office as they were sitting around talking. They explained everything to me and set up a meeting at the immigration office for Thursday morning. I know that God parted the Red Sea for the Israelites, and it was similar for us. There were hundreds of people standing in lines at the immigrations office here when we walked in. We talked to the front desk people and told them we needed to see a particular immigration agent. They took us, walked right past the crowds behind the front lines and we stood there visiting. They are able to help us out, and get this all taken care of quickly and effectively. Also there are some hang ups that we have with the file, but they are able to help us move around the problems for a quick approval. At this point we are just having to trust God for the final word from the governement, but we are seeing His hand moving all around us. I have other stories of Gods provision and guidance that are equally as important and amazing. As I look around I see that God is opening doors for us, and is bringing people into our lives that are not only a blessing for us, but also an encouragement. I have been told alot by people around us how amazing it is seeing Gods provision for our family but now we are seeing what living a life of expectancy is.
As I do with the people that we are talking to here, I also encourage you to seek out God and find out who He is. Find out what He can be in your life, and what His plan for your life is. Too many times we are just happy doing what we want to do with no reguard for the souls of the people around us. I am not willing to stand before God in the end and have Him say, "Saved, but life wasted!" There will be no negociating, no swaying, no arguing with the eternal label that God puts on us. For this reason I encourage everyone to push into God and see who He really is. Don't listen to the voices of man, because man will always fail us, dont listen to the voices in the street, or those in front of us. Listen to the voice of God and see what He truly wants from us. This is my word for the night, and I hope that it encourages all of you, but even more I hope it stretches all of you to finding out what God wants from you.
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
Our school presentation
Hello again! The school presentacion went better than we could have ever planned. We had twenty students who were listening. We know that they had to listen too us because it was one of their final tests for the school year in english class:) The outline went something like this: our family, where we were from, where we have been, why we were there, why we are in Mexico and four challenges at the end of it. The challenges were; to come and ask us about our testimonies, to ask God what their purpose in life is, to be willing to see miracles in their own lives and to see Christianity for what it truly is meant to be(without legalism and religion). We have already had eight of the kids come up to us and start asking questions or questioning how to do the challenges that we gave them. We are finding that many people here have heard about the Lord but need a lot of discipling in their lives. Amistad is a wonderful church, but it also has 12-15 thousand people involved in it. Praise God He is working such awesome things through a mega-church. We feel God has sent us here for this very reason. To show what Christ is really all about, unlike many of the churches and luke warm christians have made it out to be. Please keep praying for these teenagers and for the relationships that needs to be built. We laught after we gave our presentation. Because, the things that we felt God wanted us to say were the things that the kids have been getting taught through other speakers. God is showing some of these kids who He really is before they leave for high school. There is not a christian high school around here. The high schools here are very different than the states. The kids are not kept track of like they are in the states. It is more of a honor system. If you don't go to class that's your problem. They also teach against the things the Bible teaches us to be. We have four of the students we spoke to that live really close to our home. A couple live right across the the street.Praise God for His goodness. It makes me laugh because we were not even suppose to be living where we are. It was only because of God that we got our apartment. We wouldn't be able to be doing the ministry that He has us doing right now if we lived in the apartment that was planned for us (just about a hour away). I hope all of you have a great 4th of July. Eat a yummy hamburger and some smores for us.(A good tan wouldn't hurt either:) Tell a soldier thanks also during this week. We are free because of so many of these brave men and women.
Blessings in His name,
Ross, Amanda, Alyssa and Zoe Johnston
p.s.(Amanda)I love and miss all of my family back at home. Dad and mom, I love you:)My sisters, I really love you and miss being with you. Kids, auntie loves you guys abunch, can't wait to make another movie:):)
Blessings in His name,
Ross, Amanda, Alyssa and Zoe Johnston
p.s.(Amanda)I love and miss all of my family back at home. Dad and mom, I love you:)My sisters, I really love you and miss being with you. Kids, auntie loves you guys abunch, can't wait to make another movie:):)
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