Home at last

Well, we finally made it, we are back in the US for a short spell of time. We have only been back for a few days and have begun the whirlwind schedule that we have over the next couple months. We actually arrived home a week early because of the airlines moving our date on us. This is ok because we need to finish our presentations, support cards, and all the things that we have to have ready by next week. We are so excited to meet with all of you and thank you personally for all the help over the last 18 months. We will only be here (North Dakota) until August 4th then we are headed back to Mexico. We are excited to be home while at the same time we are excited for August to get here so we can get back on the "street" doing what we love to do. This last few months have been difficult but rewarding and our love for our daddy and Savior is so much stronger than before. We would love to sit and talk to all of you one on one if time and schedules permit. Please feel free call us at Linda Hammonds (572-9486) or Ed and Polly Jeannottes (572-) to set up a meeting if you would like. We also are going to try and contact many of you to come and tell you about the blessings that you created and what we are going to do when we get back. What blessings you made possible and what plans we have for the next few years.
We have to be honest, with all the stuff that is going on in Mexico right now many people from here, and there, have asked us if we are going to pack it up and head home. While this is a very attractive option we feel that there is too much of Gods work that needs to be done. The swine flu, the war of drugs, the rising level of violence, the economic collapse, medical problems and many other things make our job even more important. We feel that in times of adversity and struggle people are more willing to listen and accept the truth of the gospel. This is prime time for Mexico right now, we are seeing Gods hand moving across the face of Mexico and there is nothing more rewarding that watching lives transformed and changed to the truth and reality of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We want to say thank you again and we look forward to seeing you and meeting with you to show you the faces of the people that you have changed.
See you in a little while and God Bless. Ross

We are very excited!!!

Hello everyone, we will be coming to Williston a week earlier than planned. We have been dealing with Aeromexico. They have changed out airplane tickets 4 times on us. We to make a long story short we were able to move our tickets up because of it. Alyssa is taking here finals this coming week and I(Amanda) have not been able to work because of the surgery, so this was a perfect time to be able to come earlier. We just had Zoe's birthday on Wed. She was not able to have a birthday at school because the government band all parties because of the swine flu. This was ok though, we went out to eat as a family, picked out toys(thanks Mr. & Mrs. Purkey and Family for money for gifts)and then went to our friends house for cake. It was a fun day! Both girls were in there princes dresses. I have never seen someone go so crazy in the toy aisle as Zoe. Watch out Barbies here she comes. Well better go, hope to see some of you guys soon. We will be in Williston for 2 months on furlough. We will return to our home in Mexico the 1st of August. Blessings Amanda

O it feels so great to feel good!!!!!!

Hello everyone, I am writing with such a happy heart. I have not felt this good in 3 months :) I am recovering fast from my hysterectomy. We just had a check up with the doctor and he said, that I am recovering better than he thought I would. What great news!!!! We have been stuck in our home for about two weeks now. The girls have not had school and many companies and businesses have been closed down. It felt great to leave the house for groceries two days ago. The doctor has also given us the green light to allow friends over to the house. Everyone here in the city has felt caged up, we are all excited to see each other again. Zoe's birthday is on Wed. May 13th. We are going to have a small party at the school for her with her friends. I am doing well but not good enough to through a normal party yet. Also we are going to be returning to Williston on June 3rd. We are very excited to see family but I am also having to heal up before the trip home. I am learning not to push it (this is unbelievable hard thought:) Pleas ebe praying for our health these next two weeks. We cannot get sick because they will not allow us on the plane if we are. Trusting in Him!!!! Praying you all have a great week. Blessings Amanda

thankful for Him

Hello again. Wow, what a story. As some of you know Mandy and I just got back from the hospital a few days ago. Well, its been almost a week now. She was bleeding internally the doctors said for probably a few years, just getting progressively worse. She has been struggling with this problem for sometime, but things are getting way better now. She went in on Saturday because of intense pain and many other complications. The doctors said that she was on her way to having another convultion again. Her oxygen levels were down, and she was running out of energy. They took her in and said that they needed to do emergency surgery on her "now" and not wait. Well, she went in and everything is great now. There were some complications with the medicines but everything ended up well in the end. She is doing way better now, just recovering. We are so happy to be living in the will of God and letting Him use this whole thing to further the gospel of His kingdom. We were in the hospital when this thing about the swine virus broke into the public. Also during a 5.8 earthquake. We were in the middle of the place where people needed to hear the most about the gospel of peace. This is something that we have had from the beginning with these medical problems. Peace is not something that you can fake, or make up, or try to immitate. You either have it or you don't. I was told by a spiritual giant one time, as long as you have peace about what you are doing, you are living in the will of God. Not to be confused with comfort, just peace. Well, from day one my wife has been telling me about the peace that passes all understanding she has felt, even from before this whole thing started. Well, as you know, we were in the hospital and the swine flu began its destructive sweep across Mexico City. At first I couldn't figure out why God would bring me here, at this time, but now it is all coming together. At a time when people need to hear the most, we have relationships and ways of communicating. What a blessing!! We even had internet in the hospital, that does not have internet!! Now, that was a miracle in itself!! It's funny how God does things like that. I would love to tell you more about it, but there just isnt words to define the feeling of falling into the loving hands of my daddy, while I lay there helpless and alone. He was the only way that I have made it through this, sustaining me when I had nothing left. Twice now I have felt the embrace of my daddy so much that I knew there was no way humanly possible to recreate the feeling that He gave me. His embrace is the love of all loves and the peace of all peace. I was able to sit in the hospital and tell the nurses that no matter what happens in this life, we can live in peace and communion with the creator of the world who desires nothing more than to hold us and love us. If we are failing physically, its ok. Because He wants a deep heart to heart relationship with us. This is not something taught here in the majority of the church's. People are taught to do this and that and you are "saved". But there is no relationship, they are missing so much, basically everything!!! If we are just living to do this and that, or get this and that and miss the relationship, what is the point of living at all??? We are sitting here in the middle of groud zero for the swine flu epidemic and all I can say to Him, is "Thank You". We are SO blessed!! We have so much to be thankful for!!! There are not words enough to explain the love, gratitude and thankfulness for Him. In the words of my hero count Zinzindorf, "If I am forced to give it all up for Him, my home, my family, my life and I still go to hell, May the Lamb receive the reward of His suffering". You see, He is teaching me, its not about me, its not about my life, its not about what I think I am entitled to or what I think I should have, its all about Him. He is willing to and has blessed us more than anything I could have asked or imagined. It doesn't change the fact that it is not about me or us. I hope that I do the best with my life, with the time that He has so graciously blessed me with. I look around at us and think that one year ago we came to this country with only 4 suitcases and now we have all these things around us, friends, a home, and a life that we love. God is so amazing!! Well, something to think about. I need to go now and get some sleep. Take care and God Bless you all. In Him, Ross

The Joy of Life:)

Ok once again we are needing to apoliges for not keeping up on our writing. I (Amanda) have been feeling better and we have been busy trying to catch up. We have had friends over more and we have went on a couple trips. Here in Mexico the kids get two weeks off from school for Holy week and their spring break. We did a lot of running around town, bought a vehicle, been helping out other friends and we took five young adults camping over the Easter weekend. Also Alyssa and I caught a good bug over this vacation. We are all doing better now though. Need less to say our the girls time off from school went very fast. O ya we celebrate Easter during that time also :)

The girls started school again today. They were very excited to see their friends again. We are also able to celebrate our friends birthday today. We are going to go eat with the and then having them over for cake and ice cream at our home. What a great way to start our week off. We are starting to prepare our presentations and slideshows for our time home on furlough. We are having to start a little earlier than we thought because on the 3rd of May I am going into the hospital to have a historectomy. The doctors figures it was for the best to take it now because of all the problems I have been dealing with. This is a six week healing process for me. Our mothers are coming the end of the month to help us out while I am in the hospital. Need less to say we are very busy now trying to prepare for furlough and surgery.

Within these next two weeks we have two trips planned. Next Friday and Saturday we are going up to a mountain village to take up food and clothing. We are very excited about this trip. Please be in prayer for us that we could build strong relatonship with the people and the church there. Also our mothers are coming down and we are going to celebrate Zoe's birthday while they are here. In two weeks we are going with a family to a town called Cornavaca for the day. Hope to also show our mothers some of our everyday places we go and some fun areas of the city we have found since the last time they where here. We now have a vehicle so this makes it a lot easier to go and do things. Also to see so crazy new parts of town.

We are excited to go to Williston and see family and friends during our time of fundraising. Every weekend we have a meeting planned. We are trying to keep our fundraising and teaching to two or three days a week when we are home. This way we can see our families and friends, but if you would like a meeting with us send us a email and we would love to come and visit.

When we return to Mexico we have many things that we are planning on doing. My oldest niece will return with us for about a month to help us. We already have three villages we plan on going to visit while she is here. Ross will also be starting to teach english in a school here. He is able to do a 30minute Bible study before class everyday. Him and his students are excited for school to start. We are going to still be helping in the social help area with our good friend and his wife. We will be going to CIFAM houses and little villages every other weeked. Also we made some connections with an orphange that is wanting someone to come in and teach Bible studies. This is something we are in prayer about now. Please also pray for us so we could see God's next steps clearly when we return. As you can see we will be very excited to return to our home and work. Thank God for time away though. He knows everything that we need, even before we ask of it.
Blessings in His name! Amanda

From the Hospital -

As many of you know, Mandy and I were in the hospital the other day because she had internal bleeding and it was causing many problems with her body. Well, after they found out what was wrong with her, they took her into surgery around midnight. While I sat by her empty bed I began praying and writing. As I began thinking about what to blog about today, I felt like I was supposed to just copy what I was feeling while sitting there all alone, spending time with my Jesus. Here is word for word what I was "journaling" about.

"As I sit here tonight in the hospital with my wife in surgery and my children at a friends house my mind is flooded with thoughts of frustration, confusion, unknown and many other things. I am pouring my heart out to God and then I feel His warm embrace. As I sit the storm in my soul begins to calm and I become conscious of the cool breeze coming in the window behind me. While we live in one of the largest cities in the world it is remarkably quiet outside the hospital tonight. There is only an occasional car going by and I hear the gentle rustling of the trees. Somewhere not far behind me I hear the sound of an ancient Aztec flute being played. It fills the air with the gentle, joyful, sound that only a wind instrument can make. I wonder if it was sent here by God to calm my spirit. It is times like these that I realize that we are truly living in the center of His will. I know that this is a strange place to thinking about the will of God, but I know that this is the truth. I think about all the places in the world that I could be right now, but I don't want to move. As I sit here writing this I become keenly aware that I am scared to move. Not because of the circumstances around me, but because I am afraid to loose the embrace of my Father the King. I came into this hospital tonight wishing that I was just about anywhere else in the world, but now I don't want to be anywhere else in the whole world. It has been a lifelong process learning to follow the will of God, and I know that I am not done yet. I am slowly learning that the most important thing to say to Him is," yes". I can't imagine where my life would be at right now if I would have told Him no, when He told me to "Go". I know that from this point on the answer to Him will always be yes. He is not done with us yet, and I look forward to what He has for us here in Mexico. They have a saying in here about Mexico that goes, "Anything is possible in Mexico". Now as I sit here tonight, alone, I am beginning to change my vision of my God. I am starting to see the truth of that statement. However, I have the desire to add just a couple words to this statement. The truth looks like this, "With my God, anything is possible for Mexico". I love this city, I love these people, and I love this place. It is no accident that we are living here at this time, and in this place. We are a long ways from being done with what God wants us to do. I know that the surgery will be fine and she will be better off after this."
Now I have to say, I wrote this while my wife was gone, and I had not heard anything from the doctors. I am happy to report that God has confirmed in our lived what He so gently whispered in my ear that night. Yesterday we went and visited with one of our great friends, and a leader in a program called "Social Help". You will probably be hearing more about this as more time goes on. We are now moving from a position of stalking shelves, and counting cans, to a position of taking and distributing food, cloths, and necessary items to people all over Mexico, and Mexico City. We have a great couple that love God with all there hearts, souls, and mind, that will be working with us. I believe that this is the plan that God is moving infront of us for, "Such a time as this". We are excited to get out there and get our boots dirty. Right now it is difficult for us because of medical limitations, and God has been telling us to wait on Him. We are however getting ready and helping to areas close to our house, now. Also I have the wonderful opertunity to help in the Christian school here teaching english. I took the whole month of March and taught for 1/2 hour every day on Matthew 5:1-12. I am humbleded to teach the leaders of tomarrow about what a life of following Christ looks like. This is one big aspect of what God told us we were coming here for. This for me is one of the most joyous things in the world to do.
Thanks to all of you that have spent time praying for us and helping us reach Mexico City for Christ. Ross

What a great day!

Today we went to our friend Karla's baptism! This was so wonderful!!! There was also some of the teenagers from Tripolantes that were baptised. My heart was overflowing with joy watching the commitments made today. There are times when you share the love of Jesus with people and you know that you are the planter of something. Then there are times that you are the waterer and weed picker. Finally there are times when you are part of the harvest. You get to see the fruit of your love and sharing. Today was that day for me. We have work with a lot of different types of people. Some people who only want Jesus to make them feel better about their sins. Some just want to go to Heaven for themselves, But then there are the people who want to love Jesus because He deserves to be loved, no questions asked. That is the kind of person our friend Karla is. She loves Jesus because He is her Savior. What a encouragement to us and a privilage to have her as a sister in the Lord. Please pray for our friend as she walks out her faith. We could all us a prayer for that.
Now my health, on Wednesday I had a series of seizures. I had four of them before we got to the hospital. When we got to ER our doctor that is a friend was there waiting. He seen that I was anemic right away when I was brought in. They started to look for internal bleeding. Well they found some. My uterus was bleeding internal. They took an ultra sound and found a large tumor that was about the size of 50 cent piece with more little tumors in my uterus. They took me into surgery right away. I was given iron shots. Wow those hurt:) Well after all the drama I was released from the hospital. I am feeling so much better now. I am sore because of the seizures and the surgery but all is well. I was wobbling a little at the baptism today but I would not have missed it for the world. The doctors found out why I have been having seizures so I should be recooperating a lot faster now. I feel like my own crazy self again. What a blessing health is! Don't forget to put it on your list of things to be thankful for. What a happy day! Blessings in His beautiful name!!!!!!!!!!! Amanda

Walking with Jesus

Hey, I know that it has been a while since I have blogged. I wished that I could give you all a great excuse, but as I sat here doing this I just couldn't think of one. So, I will just blog.

Well, I want to tell you all about some crazy things that God is doing in our hearts. As many of you know Mandy and Iour schedul has been lowed down. Mandy had a seizure for over an hour a while back and she is now in the recovery period. We are not doing the same amount of hours as we were before. We are learning to regulate our time while we are at home. We are having to learn that our time is our time. When we have some evenings open, we take the time to be together as a family now, instead of trying to fill every minute of every day. This was something that we have talked to other missionaries and they all told us that they had to do the same thing. The problem with our line of work is that we see a need and feel like we have to help it. The problem with Mexico City is that we could be with people every hour of every day and still not help everyone that we want to.

Anyhow, I want to tell all of you about somethings that we are looking at taking on. We are still working with AINDAC but it is not taking as many hours of our day as we hope for. We are having to wait for people to get there stuff done so that we can go ahead with what we have to do. This is very discouraging for us, and hard because we want to work. However, since that is just the reality of living in a laid back and relaxed society. We are now looking at giving our time to some other local ministries. We are already helping a group of doctors that are medical missionaries. This is fun and exciting, but it is just a a lot of making connections for people. We are in the middle of trying to get medical equipment from the states down here to open up a free medical clinic for people that cannot afford private hospitals, and are rejected from the government hospitals. Also it will be a Christian Hospital which gives a great opportunity to tell about the love of our Lord to those that are in need and willing to hear.

Also, I have taken on work at the local Christian school teaching English. I recently was authorized from the gov. of Mexico to teach English here in the country. This opened up a lot of doors for me. I will begin working on my teachers certificate now while I am teaching class. The class that I am teaching now is 2 hours long and I was authorized to give a bible study before class everyday. This is wonderful because we are doing exactly what God told us we would be doing, working with Christians and discipling. We are blessed to have the opportunity to do this on Sunday mornings, with the youth and now daily in the class room. It is an amazing experience. I would have never imagined the opportunities that are available to tell about God while teaching English. I can now see why this type of work is so productive in countries that are closed to the truth. I love is as well.

Well, I would love to tell you more because we have so much more that we are getting involved in, but because of the sensativity of the people around I cannot share more. Please keep us in your prayers as we pursue the will of God. Also please pray for us that we could hear what He wants from us here in the city. We are here and held accountable to Him and there is nothing that we will not do for Him. We just have to be sure that it is from Him, because if it is just of us, or for someone else it will fail. Thank for for all your prayers and time spent praying for us, it has been a stressful, but great period of growth this last couple months. In Him, Ross

An Eye Opener!!!!!

Hello everyone I have some great things to share with you that Jesus has been revealing to me. These last two months have been very challenging for me. Everything from pinched nerves in my spine, to a hour long seizure that I am very thankful to be alive from, has happened. Through all of these things I know that God was trying to teach me something. I knew a part of it was patience and another part was learning how to balance life. The thing I was not understanding was the thing that Jesus was speaking to me the most, TO BREATH!! Did you know that everytime that we take a breath we are saying the name of God. Try it! Take a deep breath, breath in YAAAAA-then breath out, WEHHHHH. We are literaly saying His name everytime we take a breath. YAWEH. I was real frustrated yesterday(Thursday),because, on Monday I had another small seizure coming home from visiting a friend in the hospital. I have been very tired and have had a headache again this week. Finally I said to God, "what am I not getting", "What am I not learning that you are trying to teach me". It was amazing how He literaly taught me that all I needed to to was breath.

Ever since I became a Christian I have always picture myself at the feet of Jesus, washing His feet with my tears. Always thanking Him for the sacrifice He made for me and the love He has shown me. I would always pray to Him and say, "Lord what can I do for you" and "How can I be a better person so others can believe". My prayers always had these six words in it: What can I do for You! I know that He has been telling me the answer, but I have been too deaf and to busy to hear it. He has always told me to just breath, and to picture Him as a Daddy not just as a Savior. It took two months and a lot of miracles to finally understand Him. He spoke it so kindly and so gentle into my spirit. He also in these last two months has used a people that are so dear to my heart to teach me. I have had people come up to me who have had visions, dreams and special words to help me understand the depth of love He has for His people (me included). He has really taught me to just breath. By this I am being what He wants me to be. This seams like it is a easy thing to do but just try to live it out. It is easy to understand it in your mind but it is a lot harder to allow it to go to your heart. When I study about the New Jerusalm I always think that is when I will be able to sit on His lap and just be able to enjoy Him. I have been wrong. He wants us to also enjoy Him now. Can you imagen a God like this? One who tells us to be like servants to Him but He also tells us that He wants us to be treated like His most loved sons. That we will be kings and Queens in His kingdoms.

I am so glad that all this has happened. It has taught me to trust in Him (even with my life....literaly), patience, to listen, thankfulness (for my husband and my kids), to except and most of all to allow myself to be loved by Him.

I would like to challenge you guys to just BREATH!! Remember that He is the one who breathed life into you. Are you living a life that gives Him glory or are you just expecting your next breath to come from Him without giving thanks? Do you want to live just expecting breath or do you want to give thanks to the one who created life. We live in a world that has enough things to make us worry about. You can be sure that if you except Him into your life, you won't have to worry when the breaths are no more. It is the easiest but one of the hardest choices you will make in your life. Allow Him to be your best friend, to spend time with Him, and to ask to be forgiven of all the sins you have commited in your life. Know He is the Son of God and that he was raised from the dead and is seated at the right hand of God. Also know that just saying these words don't make you His son or daughter but that you need to live the life that He has commanded. He didn't just leave us guessing what this life looks like. He Himself gave us the perfect example to learn from. Also He gave us the Bible. Know that religion is not a relationship. Think of how you want a best friend to treat you. This is how you need to treat Jesus. You can't build a life long friendship over night but it only takes a few words to start one. He don't expect perfection but He does expect dedication and commitment. Like a true friend is always there for you, He is the one who made us understand what friendship is. He will never leave you. Take a deep breath and just BREATH!!!!!!
Blessings and thanks for all of your dedication to our family. It don't go unseen! Amanda

Newsletter Update

We have just recently sent out our new newsletter. If you want to view it online we have it posted here at the bottom of this webpage. Just click on the place that says "Our Newsletters Past and Present", or you can click on this link here http://johnstonupdate.blogspot.com/ .

We are sorry that we have not been able to blog as much as we like lately but we are starting to get back to normal and hope that things will be more like they were before. Thank you very much and God bless you all. Ross

Today is the day.

Hello again. We are coming to you this time with wonderful news. We had been experiencing a "lull" lately. It hasn't been that there is no work or anything, there had just been difficulties in everything that we were doing. Satan was on the prowel, but greater is He who is in us, than he who is in the world. I was just reading that other day in Ephesians and it says, "together with the Lords people we may grasp how wide, and long, and high, and deep the love of Christ is. His love surpasses all knowledge and we may be fulfilled". Imagine what that statement says, it is incredible. This is something that we can't fully comprehend while we are here on the this earth, however, there are times that we see this in the middle of struggle, and then there are times that we see this in the middle of victories. This last week was a time of victory over the forces of darkness. On all sides it seemed that Satan was trying to attack us. He knows that he cannot touch us directly because of the Blood of the Lamb that is over us, however, he can manipulate the circumstances around us to directly effect us. I want to add at this point a big thank you to all the people back home that have been praying and fasting for us, you know who you are!!! This week was a direct answer to those prayers. I want to first start out telling you about the status of our immigration paperwork, we are finally accepted. We are going this weekend to take our photos for our Mexican Passports. Thank you Jesus, you are faithful. We will hold dual citazenship with the States and Mexico. This will allow us the freedom to live here, own a vehicle here, get insurance here, and travel freely into the States. With our American citazenship it allows us the same rights as a normal American citazen. Then secondly we went and found out that the car that we bought is ok. We were told by a mechanic here that the motor was wrecked and needed to be fixed for over $1,100. There is no way that we could afford this, so we just had it towed to our house. I was telling a friend of ours about it, and he told me he has a mechanic friend that is a Christian. We took is and after all the work he told me it was $157!! This is still alot of money for us, but thank you Jesus for the people who gave to us extra this month. We got the exact amount of money to fix the car and pay for an emissions fine we received because of some wrong information we received. This exact amount of money came from extra people who are not monthly supports. God is our provider!! Then after that we went to the chiropracter and he worked on Mandy's back. We found out that she has scoliosis. Also her spine was out in four places and she had pinched nerves. He spent over an hour working on moving her back and muscles around. After we left the appointment she is much, much better. She is so much better it is incredible. She has had two doctors working with her these last two weeks. They told us that they are doing all the work on her for free because we are here helping their people. Thank you Jesus for the knowledge of these men and their giving hearts. These guys are wonderful brothers in Christ. One of these doctors went on my last missions trip with me, and I will continue to go with him, on the trips to the Indiginous villages. He told her that it will take about 3 weeks of not carrying heavy things, and no running, to repair it fully. Our God gave us time to "rest" and study His word more fully, and spend time with Him. Now we are ready to start all over again, getting back into the "normal" swing of things. This leads me to the final thing that God allowed for us. We meet with the people from AINDAC that we are working with and they told us that they have authorized us to move into some new places. Not only that, we were given some shelving units, and locks and things to give us a place to organize, count, seperate, and make a detailed inventory of what we have. We have had very little shelving and actually very little space as well, so this is a huge development for us. We are now starting to take in donations, and seperate them, organize them, put them in boxs or bags and have them ready to ship out. This makes life alot easier, and alot more organized. Then when someone needs a donation of food, we have it ready to go. Or they need a donation of bathroom supplies, it is ready to go. We have pictures (on our Flickr account) of this idea from when we went on our day of social help. We will take a clear bag and put in it, a kilo (2.2lbs) of rice, a kilo of beans, a kilo of sugar, 2 cans of refried beans, a bottle of oil, a bag of cereal, a bag of cookies, maybe some suckers, or other little candies, two bags of pasta, and some powdered milk. This is one time "donation". We are trying to get set up, to give out these donation every month to the people that need help the most. For example, this Friday our friends at one of the CIFAM integration houses came and got 140 donations. This will then be taken to the houses and the people that need the food the most will be given one of these to take with them if they have a house, however, only after they sit through a service, and listen to the gospel message. This allows them to hear the good news of the gospel, and not just take the food and run. Then for the people that accept Christ, the houses are there all the time to provide discipleship, and trainning. We also, on a diffent level with AINDAC, go and take cloths, and other items out to these houses as well. I told you this, because the more room Mandy and I have to work, the more donations we can take in, and the more help we can provide to the people that need it. Thank you Jesus for your faithfulness. This weekend we moved shelving units into our building and next week are ready to go building them, moving things, and starting to organize.
I just want to say thank you Jesus for your faithfulness, and also those of you that are supporting us in prayer, financially, and through all the kind words and emails. We miss all of you very much back home. Because of your faithfulness, there are people that are entering the kingdom of Jesus, one meal at a time. In Him, Ross

Alyssa's birthday party.

Hey again we have yet another blessing to tell you guys. We were able to have Alyssa birthday party in a big garden that the Church owns and rents out for large events. This is not your normal garden. This place is beautiful. A little excape from the city. At this garden that we were allowed to us for free was a beautiful tent that had been rented for a fancy wedding the night before. We were also able to us this for free. Tables, chairs and all. What would have costed someone $1,000 to use, the Lord gave it to us for free. It was a wonderful party. It was a costum party for the kids. We had 30 adults show up and 20 kids. Lets just say we were glad that we were serving hotdogs, not steaks. This was the first birthday party here without family with us. Zoe had a party in May but we here blessed to have Linda, Harry, and Amber here with us. I (Amanda) was missing my family a lot during this time. I was thankful for all the people that came but they will never replace family. I was very busy to say the least, thankfully that helped. I was very glad the girls had such a wonderful time. When they can home they fell asleep immediately. They ran and played a lot. There is not alot of places in the city that they can't do that. Alyssa was Belle from "Beauty and the Beast" and Zoe was Snow White. They were very precious. I am once again on the couch though because of all the running and work yesterday. I am unfortunately paying for it today. I go to the chiropractor tommorrow to get the places in my back corrected. Thank you Jesus for that situation also. We have two doctors that have been helping me for the last two weeks. They are doing it for free. They told me that we are here helping their people so the least that they could do is help us. God is our provider. Soon those disc's in my back will be healed and I will be back to my normal self. Thanks again for those of you that gave money for Alyssa'a b-day. She was very blessed by it. Her real birthday is on the 28th of Jan. but we did the party earier. We will have been here exactly one year on the 28th of January. We get to celebrate two special things on this day. To all our family back at home: We love and miss you!!!!!!!!!!!! Amanda

Jewish Post on the war in Gaza

I took the liberty to take this information from the Aish.com post, as I felt it was very touching. Please allow me to share this post written by an IDF Rabbi.

At the beginning of the Gaza ground offensive, I had the privilege of accompanying the soldiers of the Golani Brigade's Regiment-12. I am the regiment's rabbi, in reserves, and I was called up to serve just like all the rest, to "aid Israel at its time of tribulation."

We spent most of the week in "wet tents" with the terrible cold preventing me from sleeping at night. I wasn't working as hard as the other soldiers, because they fell asleep the second they hit the pillow.

When the Golani Brigade soldiers were about to go out to war, there wasn't a soldier there who didn't equip himself with a Book of Psalms in his pocket or combat vest. But the big surprise we had was when we gave out tzitzit. Usually only the religious guys take them, but this time, every soldier there seemed to want one.

"Rabbi, bring me some tzitzit, my whole tent wants." Here, achi (my brother), take one of these, it's better than the ceramic vest!" These were the type of calls we kept hearing over and over. Every package of tzitzit that we opened was snatched up within seconds.

There was one young fighter who came to the synagogue whose face fell when he heard that there were no tzitzit left. He was totally bereft, until one of the officers who wasn't going out to battle took off his own tzitzit and gave it to him, saying, "Take it, achi (in the Golani Brigades, you can't say something without achi), you need it now more than I do."

Friday evening Shabbat prayers were simply unbelievable. The Rabbinate realized that the synagogue was too small to fit all the hundreds of soldiers, and so it turned the soccer field into an impromptu synagogue, with prayer books, Holy Ark, and everything else.

Almost the entire Golani Brigade, officers and soldiers, yelling out the Kaddish and Tehillim prayers. If it wasn't for the uniform I was wearing, I could have almost thought that I was at a Yom Kippur service in a large yeshiva!

Our Father doesn't ask, "Where have you been until now? Why do you remember Me just when you go out to war?" He welcomes all His children and embraces them with love.

After the Shabbot meal, we were privileged to hold an Oneg Shabbat "social gathering" for the soldiers. We sat outside in the cold eating cake and sunflower seeds, but inside our hearts it was warm.

When it was time to go, the Regiment Commander gathered everyone for last minute words of strength, and explained about the "corrective experience" we were about to impart to the enemy.

Then the Deputy Commander read aloud the prayer before going out to battle. "Repeat after me," he ordered, and a whole regiment of hundreds of soldiers yelled out, "O God, save us! O God, grant us success!" After the prayer, the Deputy asked me to blow the shofar, just as thousands of years ago when we conquered the Holy Land.

Though I've blown the shofar in public before, this particular time was something that will remain with me my whole life. And then, in perfect coordination, the moment that I finished blowing the shofar, our IDF planes bombed the enemy area, as if to signal us to begin the ground offensive.

The soldiers lined up in two columns, & as I parted from them with handshakes, I thought to myself, 'What a special nation we have! This is how a Jewish army looks as it goes out to war - not with boastful 'We will win' stickers, but rather 'We will win with God's help.'"

Where I live in Modi'in Illit, we have a clever interpretation of the verse "God's voice is powerful" - the word for power (ko'ach) is spelled with the letters kaf and chet, which we say are the intitials of kova and chalifa - hat and suit, our usual yeshiva garb. But now I know they are also the initials of the kumta chuma - brown beret, worn by the Golani soldiers. There, too, the voice of God is heard. We are truly united as one nation, may the Almighty protect us.

I hope that you are as deeply touched by this first hand report as I am. I was among the very first outsiders (tourists) to be allowed to visit any military base in Israel, ever, in February of 2005, just as they were preparing to evacuate Gaza. I still have vivid memories of the young faces and how they told me that they hated to remove their own families from their own homes to be invaded by the enemies of God. I have photos of those faces and I can remember them without having to look through my album. How much more does YHWH remember not only their faces, but everything about them? I pray that none of the ones to whom I spoke have lost their lives. I still remember them sometimes and pray for them, where ever they are.

I shall never forget the shock of an experience there as I was about to depart. The Commander of the base at that time was a Druze. They are a branch of Islam, but they are faithful to Israel. He spoke no English. I had been asked to help a young soldier who had expressed hate for YHWH because he had lost his beloved father. The person who dragged me off the bus at the last minute to "help" the soldier thought that because I was the only Jewish person on the tour that I spoke Hebrew. The rush over getting to that soldier prevented that person from understanding that I do not speak Hebrew. I just prayed very fast that YHWH would help me. When I got to the young man, I realized that he did understand a very little of English. I mostly used hand language. I made him look into my eyes. When he looked back down, I would lift his chin and point back to my eyes to make him look. I references the Psalm about his father being in the palm of YHWH's hand and no man can snatch him from there. I added that he too was in the palm of YHWH's hand and that YHWH knows how angry he was, but YHWH is not angry with him. It worked! He collapsed in my arms. This was bringing much attention and gathering of other soldiers. Then I looked up and saw the Commander (the rough looking Druze as big as a grizzly glaring at me) because we are forbidden to witness to the troops. I had been very careful not to mention the Name of Messiah. Then YHWH told me to witnesses to that Commander! HOLY COW! Talk about being scared about being punished and all future tours being cancelled! I found myself unable to control anything. My body straightened with my back straight and my shoulders back. I could feel resolve on my face. I felt my boots hitting the ground hard and fast. I quickly was in the face of the Commander and he wasn't smiling. Other soldiers were looking at me in amazement at my boldness. All I could do was pray the same prayer I had just prayed before. When I got to the man, the soldiers told me he speaks no English. I asked for an interpreter and quickly a young man in the IDF, but from New York came. You should have seen all the looks and running to be there. With the interpreter, I told the Commander, "You see that man over there in the cowboy hat? He is my husband. I am a Jewish woman. My husband is a rubber manufacturer who does military contracts. That HumVee over there. When it takes a direct strike, you can survive. The windows can be kicked out with your combat boot. My husband manufacturers the rubber window seal that holds it in place, but allows you to kick it out." He looked at my husband who was unaware of all of this going on. Then he looked at me. He grabbed me up off the ground and bear hugged me so tightly that I almost couldn't breathe. He told me in my ear in perfect English, "I love you." As he did so, he kissed me on the check. I though he would never put me down. When he finally did, he was shaking and tears were running down his face. All the soldiers were standing around stunned by what they saw. I must explain to you that a Druze man MUST NEVER TOUCH A WOMAN IN PUBLIC, NOT EVEN HIS OWN WIFE. He just picked me up, hugged me, kiss my check and told me that he loved me.

Lesson: NEVER, NEVER, NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF A SIMPLE PRAYER AND THE ABILITY OF YHWH TO ANSWER IT IMMEDIATELY, OR TO MAKE YOU DO SOMETHING YOU CANNOT CONTROL, OR TO TOUCH THE LIFE OF SOMEONE NO ONE ELSE CAN TOUCH.

This is what Torah living is about. It is about being what you say you know in your head. It is about living on the edge. Torah is about more than hope, it is a profound and assured knowledge that you are in the kingdom of YHWH!

Blessings to all, Rivkah

Here are also 2 quick videos from the aish.com website showing the reality of what Israel (God's Chosen People) have to live with every day. Please stand up and show your support for them.
In the words of one my friends, "While there are thousands upon thousands of people may be protesting Isreal's actions, there are millions of Christians that are standing with you"
Go Israel.


If the video doesnt work follow this: http://sderot.aish.com/SderotPetitions/15Seconds.php


If the video doesnt work follow this: http://sderot.aish.com/SderotPetitions/MissilesFromGaza.php

Falling In Love all over again.

Hello, HOW ARE ALL OF YOU??? It has been a while since I have taken the time to sit and do this. I recently took a personal profiling test and found out that I am the type of person that finds my most satifaction in doing things with my hands (Shocker), and I decided that doing things with my fingers doesn't count. Therefore I don't feel completed while blogging. Just Kidding. I am putting more pictures from the last couple months on at the same time as well, so I have the time. Anyhow, since I do have the time today and do this, here I go.

I was just sitting here this morning thinking about all the things in this world that surround us. I seen that Barack Obama is taking the helm of our country this morning. This is such an exciting time in the history of our world. I know that this presidency will be filled with twists and turns as our world changes very rapidly. As many of you know, my wife and I are avid students of eschatology and are even more excited about the things that are happening in other parts of the world. I am bringing this point up because if there ever was a time in our lives and the lives of the people around us to experience Jesus all over again, this is it. Things are happening on such a global scale in our world that it is impossable not to see the fact that the only peace possible is in the hands of God. I was asked this last weekend where in world I most wanted to go, or live. I thought about it for a little bit and then gave my most honest answer. The only place that I want to be is in the middle of Gods will. I am taking a class on the weekends with a group of people from all over that are all missionaries, or people getting ready to leave for the mission field. It is interresting to see how the Holy Spirit is quickening the spirits of His people all over the world and drawing us all in one direction. I love to see how we all are being united in love, kindness, and a desire to fall in love with our bridegroom Jesus all over again. It is time that the Christians learn to, or return to, the first love that we had for Jesus. There are things coming, and times coming that will challenge, stretch, push, and pull us as Christians, in this world. We need to be prepared. I was reading in Matthew, Daniel, and Revelations about how the love of many will wax cold, and there will be a great falling away from the faith, one that has not been seen since the beginning of the world. That tells me that they were in the faith, and they willingly chose to walk away, or fall away. I was given a revelation as to what that meant, and it scared me to death. As I sit and think about this more and more, I realize the need for us to press in more and more to Jesus. If we think for one minute that our actions some how justify us unto salvation, then we are kidding ourselves and stand condemned. I was just reading Mark 16 where Jesus gave us a clear defination of what believing in Him is. I challenge you all to go read that. If you don't have a bible there is one on the web http://www.biblegateway.com/ just type in Mark 16 and hit "enter". We are not saved by works, but when we are saved, these sign will follow. By default they will just happen. Jesus gave us these signs to judge ourselves by. I looked at this and cannot tell you how many times I have prayed these words as I sat down to a meal with people that I didn't know, eating food that I didn't know, in places that I didn't know, only for the brief opportunity to share the love of Christ with the company around us. God in His loving grace has placed us in many wonderful situations, being able to share His love with many wonderful people that I love from the bottom of my heart, that openly confess that they don't like the Christians. I am saddened to see that even among many brothers and sisters in the Lord there is a lot of religious mumbo jumbo that holds us down and does not allow us the freedom to walk in close communion with God. I myself am guilty of this, and I am trying to find out what is of God, and what is of man. You see, the things of man will pass away and be burned up, but the only things that will last will be the things of God. This presidency will eventually end, this country will eventually end, this world will eventually end, but our love for the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit must never end. If there is a time that we feel ourselves growing cold toward the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, we better check ourselves. I was saddened to read a report that came out that said that 90% people that confess to be Christians have never share there faith with anyone. How is that possible???? I stand back when I read the passage about the love of most will growing cold (Matt. 24) because of the increase of sin in the world, and the words of Jesus saying that many false prophets coming in the name of Jesus will lead many away from the faith. Listen, "Away from the faith". Not just in another direction, or a seperation of people, but literally away from the faith. You can't be in something and away from something at the same time. Jesus himself said these words. This has struck me to the center of who I am. I have been given a renewed spirit for searching for the face of Jesus. I am learning to not find my faith in somebody, or emotional teachings from somebody, but to seak for the face of God personally. Learning to listen to the Holy Spirit in my soul, and confirm His words through the Bible. This is the only way that we are going to stand firm and find our place in heaven, with Him. There is a reason that Matt 7 says that Jesus not only told us that the gate is narrow, but also the road is narrow as well. He specifically told us that many will walk in the road to destruction, and only a few will find real salvation. "The road is narrow and few will find it", what does that truly mean????? Don't search for the answer from somebody, seak the face of God for that answer. He is the only one that can answer that for you. I am so happy to report, however, if we push into our heavenly Father, there is nothing that can seperate us from the love of the Father, neither height, nor depth, nor powers, nor principalities, nothing above, or below the earth, nothing, nothing, nothing. If we live in the center of His will, in His loving hands there is nothing, nothing, nothing that can touch us. We just need to check our motives, hearts and what we love and make sure that we are on that little, narrow path that leads us home. Now is the time to stand up foryour faith so in the end we will hear, "Well done good and faithful servent". Why because in the end, that is all it is about.

We love you all, and can't wait to sit and visit more about our first love, Jesus.
Ross

Here is a video we thought you all might enjoy. Paul says in about one hour what we are truely trying to teach here in Mexico. Like the Lord told us when He brought us here, "This is a time of teaching us, and discipleship of younger believers". This is exactly our hearts and what we feel. Enjoy

If the video doesnt work click here ---> http://mx.youtube.com/watch?v=uuabITeO4l8

O when O when will we not be sick?

Sorry for the lack of writing lately. I (Amanda) have been on bed rest for the last 4 days. I have 4 places out in my back and my nerves are pinched in these areas. I have been on bed rest since last Monday. I just returnedfrom the doctor and I am allowed to walk around a little bit now but in seven days I need to go back to the doctor so he can check out my spine again. Then another doctor friend is going to move my whole spine back into the right location. He has to move it about 10 degrees to make it correct again. These guys are so awesome they are doing this all free for us. They told us that we where here helping there people so they wanted to help us in return. God is so good! Then to fix the whole cause of the problem they are going to help me get fitted for shoe inserts because of my flat feet. Also they are fitting me for a knee brace to wear because my knee is also part of the problem. Well in all I will be corrected with physical therapy and two great doctors help. Thanks for your prayers. I do also think this was God way of saying slow down. I just wish I wasn't so stubborn and would have listened so I could have bypassed the pain. Well I need finish now because it hurts to sit up for to long. We will catch up with all our photos and the ministry we have been doing as soon as life go back to normal again. Blessings Amanda

A couple links we thought you might like to read.

Here are a couple websites that explain the different holidays we have been dealing with here in Mexico. Since Oct. 31st we have seen alot of new things that keep us asking"why do you celebrate this?" Some of these holidays have the right idea just really twisted and take the truth about Jesus out of them, but then there are some pure demonic celebrations happening. Today is the "day of the magicians" or "the three wisemen". I can sure tell you a little country girl has learned alot about the different cultures of our world since I left home. The thing that amazes me though is that alot of the traditions (expecially the demonic ones) are all over the world just with different names. It makes me sad to see the people that God has placed so close to my heart celebrating such lies. If it hurts me I hate to see what it does to my Father in Heaven.

We will also be posting new pictures and blogs within the next couple days. We have been busy and I (Amanda) pinched a nerve in my back and some othe things that I have had to go to the doctor for. This has slowed us down a little. I once again realize that God will slow us down even if we are stubbern and don't like to. He knows best. I just wish it didn't have to hurt so bad :) Well better go many blessing to you all this new year. Amanda
http://www.inside-mexico.com/featurereyes.htm
http://mexico.pinnacle-travel.org/culture.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_of_the_dead Wow this one was really crazy and disturbing.

O where O where have we been?

Well I finally got time to sit down and share some amazing things with all of you. God has been amazing and faithful during this holiday season. We both were a little worried about December this year knowing this is a tight season for many people and with the way the states are going we just said God its in your hands. WE have also been praying quietly for money to come home for our airplane tickets this summer for fundraising. We, like all of you, got hit with some big bills that were do around the first. Thanks to the love of our brothers and sisters in the Lord we are all caught up with them, money for airplane tickets and are being bought. Plus a little extra blessing for our childrens Christmas. We have been blown away by peoples thoughts and generosity. We see we are not down here alone. We never like to talk about money on our blog but this was such a huge inspiration and incouragement to us we had to tell of God's faithfulness and His peoples goodness.

We work with alot of new and older Christians here doing disipleship and counceling. We also work with non-chrisitans. At times it is 100% harder working with the Christians but even thought we all have our regrets as a lukewarm Chrisitan for a time we always are shown by Jesus HIs faithful children. We get frustrated at the religiousness in people but He always balances out His children in our eyes. It can become unbalanced at times when so much garbage surrounds you. You can look at the Christian bubble and become discouraged but that is always when He comes in and shows that many people are truly living a Christ inspired life not just the so called "Christian life". There are so many time we look for your emails to write and personally thank you for supporting our lives and ministry. Please if you have given at any time and are reading this now please email us at rossandmandy@yahoo.com. We want to personaly thank you for your support and tell you how your money helped us. We rememebr them all. I am also not just talking about financal gifts either. We know that alot of you are praying for us as well. This is just as powerful to us. When we have people that are faithfully praying for us this is also as beautiful as gold. We need both types to keep on going. Thanks from the deepest parts of our hearts.

We have had parties at our home, alot of counceling, many people we are with looking for a place to live, sick kids, Ross's best friend here within this last month alone.. We have set three days aside after this last crazy year here in Mexico City. We are locking our doors, closing our shades and shutting of our cell phone. We are going to spending time with the Lord, each other and our kids. Everytime we have had a break from school or work we have had large amounts of disipleship at our home and have not really been able to just take a deep breath and breath. We are very thankful for this time alone. Please be praying the next three days for us to be re- strenghtened, refreshed and most of all to be able to hear His voice speak to us. We all seem to get to busy with all the things around us to just let Him have front stage and quite time. I think even more in ministry this is true. There are times that we are doing everything for Him all the time and temporarily forget to let Him have intimate time with us personally.

Once again we would like to thank you all for this last year. Without your sacrifices we would not have been able to build heavenly friendships with many people who have not heard the great message. We promise we are wise with the money we recive from you and we make it strech as long and far as we can. Our hearts are overflowing with thanks and prayers for all of you. Thanks and we wish you a Happy and Blessed New Year or in spanish Feliz Ano Nuevo.
Ross, Amanda, Alyssa and Zoe Johnston

Interrsting article on combating hate with love

I was reading tonight on a Jewish website that I frequently visit and thought you all might want to read this as well.

Former terrorist tells 'Post': Counterbalance the brainwashing tactics that are used by teaching love.

When we were in Minneapolis and we became friends with some people from the northern Africa, and they really changed my minds about the Muslim people. I used to think that most Muslims were full of hate and rage, and there was no way to control "them". Like they were a plague or something. The more that I got to know them, and the love they had in there hearts for "God" or "Allah" it became clear to me that they don't want to commit radical acts, it is just false teaching. We see some of this in our own modern day societies in our religious circles. As I sit here I can think of more than one abortion clinic bombing, or gay rites bashing. When we stoop to the level of violence and hate, we as Christians are no better than anyone else. We have the truth and we need to share it. I loved how this article put this, "You have to teach love. You have to counterbalance the brainwashing tactics that are used." I was compelled to write this on the blog tonight because this is the first time that I have ever seen anyone write about loving those that are against us as a form of combating it. Here is the link.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1228728114280&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
If this link doesnt work, just cut and paste it into your web browser.

Thank you and have a blessed night. Ross

Esta tiempo es un tiempo muy bueno en nuestras vivas, y para el Reino del Dios.

(This time is a very good time in our lives, and for the Kingdom of God.)

I know that I have to keep up on my blogs, but to be honest this is not easy. I keep falling behind, and then when I seem to find time, something always comes up. I cant hardly remember the last time that I sat down to blog, and I have so many stories that I don't know where to start. I will just fill you all in a little bit of over history from the past few weeks.

I want to fist start out by saying "Thank you Jesus, we have water again..........................kinda" We have been without water now for about 2 or 3 weeks. Well, that is not entirely true, we have had water on and off for about the last two weeks. It was 10 days with no water all, then the last week or so it has been on and off. One hour on here and half an hour there, or maybe 15 minutes, or whatever it feels like. As soon as everyone in the building flushed there toilets, we are about done. It was all good though. God is faithful and it was a miracle that we had water at all. Of all the neighbors around us, we were the only building getting a little bit here and there. God is so awesome!! Talking about the neighbors we have to tell you about our friends.

When we first moved into Mexico City we had several people that did not like us. The first reason was that we were Christians and the second was that we were Americans. We tried and tried to make friends with them. It has taken along time to get into the these families, but I have a story of something that happened a couple nights ago. We were sitting at home getting the kids ready for bed and getting ready to call it day for us as well. Soon there was a knock at our door, it was our neighbors (across the hall), and they told me somebody was downstairs waiting for me in front of our building. So I went down there and found a neighbor from across the street waiting for me. This is one of the guys that we have been talking to since we first got here. He told me to come to his house. I was kinda apprehensive at first but then I realized that this is what I am here for. When I got there his wife and kids had supper waiting for us. He told me that he had remembered me talking one day about our favorite food here in Mexico. His wife and kids had prepared us a homemade traditional Mexican supper. Mandy and I spent the night eating and eating until we were stuffed!! He told me that we were so different from all the other people in the church because we would stop and ask him about his family, his kids, and ask him how he is really doing. He said that we would stop and take the time to care for him, and because of that he was welcoming us into the community. Another neighbor told us that in 18 years this family has never given anything away to anyone. We were blessed to have that warm welcome by him. He is not a Christian and makes it very clear to everyone what he believes. We were told by the church, in the beginning, to just be careful because of the clash of religions here in Mexico. Now the very people that we were told to be careful of, are the ones that have accepted us into there homes. It is so wonderful to see the hand of God working in the lives of those that He has chosen to place in our path. I feel humbles that He is using us to touch the lives of the people that are geographically close to the church that have rejected "Christianity". I have decided that they have not rejected Christianity at all, they have just rejected the lifestyle of a "Christian in the the church, but a sinner outside the church". They all want to know the true savior they are just looking at the actions of the people that call themselves Christians and are rejecting that lifestyle. This is a HUGE open door for us because we are saying the same thing. These friends are listening, and this also keeps us accountable.

I also wanted to talk a little bit about the missions trip that I just got back from and the next one that I am planning now. We went to a place called Tlapachaloya, in the mountains of Mexico. While we were there, we did a church support mission. We went to basically the end of the road to offer support to a struggling church. While we were there we did a training program for the leaders of the children's ministry (all 3 of them) and we put on a children's activity time concurrent to the adult training time. We had stations with dancing, music, arts, games, crafts, teachings, and etc. We got the whole community involved in what the church is. We also had a doctor and a dentist with us. They worked tirelessly for 3 days helping as many people at they could while they were there. There is no doctors, no hospitals, no medicine, no police, no nothing that we consider "necessity". It did however, much to my shock and horror, have Coca Cola, and Pepsi. This was a church started by a Christian missionary from the U.S. about 20 years ago and now I have the privaledge to carry on that torch a little further. The Americans are now gone, but the church still remains. It is a testament to the importance of the American people and the opportunity we have in our country to send missionaries in the middle of nowhere with the ability to help. With our technology and money in our system we are able to bless others with that and see many people enter heaven because of it. I am humbled and blessed to be a part of it.

Anyhow, we went there, and we are now planning another trip back up there. This trip however will be a bit different. We are going into that village and meeting up with the pastor. I connected well with the Dentist and he asked me if I would go with them on trips in the future. We are going under the leadership and guidance of CNM (Christ for the Nations, Mexico). We are going back to the village and putting all our stuff on pack mules, and horses. Then we are going to walk into the jungle from this village. There are mountainous tribal people that have no connection to the outside world. It is hard to think that there are people like that living so close to us, but in the jungles of Mexico they are definitely there. There is a group of 3 ladies that has been coming out of one of these villages looking for help (food and when we were there medical). They found that church was open and willing to help them, and they have accepted Christ because of it. Because we have helped them, told us that they would come out of the jungle and get us, and take us in with them. We are prayerfully considering this, and planning on going in, around the middle of Feb. Please keep us in your prayers as we work towards making this happen. We want to do medical and dental work first and foremost because most of these people have never even seen a doctor before. If this goes well and we get this accomplished we are going to go back in a few months after. Our goal is to first help with food and medical, and second reach them with the gospel. Lots of these people don't speak Spanish, but we are blessed that the doctor speaks the native tongue. God is SO AWESOME how he is connecting all our paths and making Himself famous in the world that we live in. They told me that they need someone who knows about mechanical, and electrical on there team because this is a huge problem they have with all there equipment. Keep in mind all the doctoring and dentistry equipment needs to fit on the back of a mule, but it isn't there first time doing this. They just got back from Morocco Africa doing this so it isn't completely uncommon. I will tell you more as the time draws closer.

I wanted also real quickly to tell you about the food and ministry program that we went on in the north part of the city. We were blessed to take around 30 pre-teen, and teenagers on a day of social help. We went into a part of the city that is much less fortunate than we are. I was surprised at how different parts of the city are so much different. When we were about 20 minutes away from the place that we were going (driving time) my eyes started watering, my neck started getting itchy, and I started feeling bad. This was because of the amount of pollution there. It is bad here, but it was horrible there. We blew our noses for 2 days after that and had black stuff in our Kleenex's. It was amazing! We once again did a children's ministry running stations for the kids to go through. Before that however we did a time of praise of worship to get things started right. Then after the time with the kids we went back inside and did a drama. While we were outside with the kids, the pastor of the church gave a message to the parents. We then did a drama about how it isn't important if you live on the street, or what you have, but what is in your heart is the most important thing. This was a reality for the people that we were working with. Then we fed everyone, nobody was left out. The food was not exactly what Mandy and I thought was good or actually even edible, but the people there, and our friends Loved it!! ((For all our friends from Mexico reading this, I am sorry, but in my culture, this is just wrong))They said that it was great. It was a traditional meal of spicy salsa covering soggy pig skin cut into strips. (People here love it, it just is hard for me to understand some things.) That wasn't what was important however. After they got done eating we took bags of food that we had prepared before hand, working at AINDAC. We had a bag of cereal, a kilo of beans, a kilo of sugar, powered milk, some crackers, some soup, and some candies in every bag. We then handed them out to the people as they left. This included the people that worked in the church because a lot of them were just as destitute as the people coming for the help. What a blessing that was to do. I was brought to tears as I watched the smile on the faces of the people that were going to be eating a hot meal that night. It is quite possible that except for the meal at the church this may have been the only hot meal that they have had in a long time. I have pictures of my kids drinking coffee. That is because all the kids there drink coffee. It is cheap, and warm. They have no milk, and the water needs to be boiled to kill some of the disease in it, so they just make coffee. I was amazed at all the 3, 4, and year olds drinking coffee running allover. My kids thought it was great!! This is a hard thing to grasp for us because we came from an area of such wealth and blessing. I have more photos of that on our flicker if you want to see them as well.

People often ask me what the hardest thing about living here is, and I am beginning to think that the answer to that is the injustice in this world. When we as humans begin treating people like dogs in the streets, or garbage that needs to be taken out. That is the hardest thing. I have many, many other stories about that as well, for instance my wife picking the local drunk up out of the road and cleaning the puke off his face, and giving him bread and coffee because, "He is a person before he is anything else". This has made even me stop and think, what is the hardest thing in this type of life that I live? I think it is that. Because of us living in the biggest city in the world we see the biggest crimes against humanity here, and that is the hardest thing. The thing that drives me the maddest is when it is seen in the homes of the "Christians". We are supposed to know better. I never dreamed, when I said that I would take this job, about the amount of ministering I would do in Christian homes. I should have known, but my eyes are being opened to reality the longer that I do this job.

Thank you all for the love and support that you are showing our family here. I can assure you that your prayers and sacrifices are being felt in the south of Mexico City. This is not because of how cool we are, or any amount of anything like that. It is simply because living in the center of God will in the most rewarding, most fulfilling, and the most powerful place to be. When we learn to submit to God wholeheartedly he will begin using us for the furthering of His Kingdom way beyond anything that we could hope or imagine. As the passage in the Bible says, can a pot look at its maker and say that it doesn't know what is best for it? This is the same in our lives. We cannot look at our maker and say anything about our lives except for I am Sorry, because when we pull away from Him we will always fail. But when we walk in his path, and let Him lead the way we can become a very powerful tool to reach many for His Kingdom.

I want to finish tonight repeating the words of My Lord and My Savior, "My King I worship you, not for me, but because you are worthy and you paid a price for me which is far over and above anything that I will ever have do. I dont want my will, but your will to be done, right here in this life at this point in time, just like it is being done in heaven at this time. If you choose to give to give me food and life for another day, it is yours, and if you choose to take this food, or this life from me, it is yours to take. But please forgive me from all the stupid things that I have done and all the times that I have turned my back on you and hurt you. As you forgive me, I also forgive those that done anything painful, hurtful, and evil against me. Please help me keep my eyes, my hands, my mouth, and especially my mind clean before you and free from evil. Keep me pure and search my heart O God, and know that every breath I take has your name written on it." Amen

Luke 11:2-4
Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”
Lucas 11:2-4
Cuando oréis, decid: "Padre nuestro que estás en los cielos, santificado sea tu nombre. Venga tu Reino. Hágase tu voluntad, como en el cielo,así también en la tierra. El pan nuestro de cada día, dánoslo hoy. Perdónanos nuestros pecados,porque también nosotros perdonamosa todos los que nos deben. Y no nos metas en tentación, mas líbranos del mal".

A little catch up.

Hello have not talked in a while. Our lives have been very busy lately. I (amanda) am sick again. I think it is God way of telling us to slow down sometimes. Besides the stomach flu or food poisoning I am very blessed tobe ab;e to preach tomorrow for two services. Within the two services we will be able to talk to about 70 teenagers. God is so good. Last Sunday while we were praying in the Tripolantes group we work with, God revialed a sermon for me to preach on. Just thought that I could share it with you guys. I need to go now to get some more rest.
Blessings in His Name, Amanda

What is a Christian?
What does the world see a chrisian as?
How do we need to change? And Why?
By the help of who?

I honestly am amazed when I see someone comitt to Jesus whole heartedly. Why because of how a majority of the christians in the world present themselves. We are far from the body of believers that Jesus tells us to be like in the Bible. Now before anyone gets all upset about this comment please think of the question I asked you guys a couple weeks ago. I asked for you to look around for one week and see how many christians lived a life of love to the people around them. How many did you see? It is time for the true christians to stand out from the church crowd and start to live the life that Jesus has comanded us to live. If you did look and see people living a life of love “praise God”. But that number I can guarentee was less than one percent of the believes in Amistad alone. How is that suppose to look to people when the 99% of the church lives like the unchurched. The world has a reason not to want to become a chrisitan if they look at the so called chrisitans actions. But they don't have a excuse when they watch the life of a true born again beliver whose whole life has been transformed by the love of Christ. Why because then they would see the LOVE OF THE FATHER. This was Gods plan. He knew that the majoity would fail Him. That is why He talked about the road being narrow and that few would pass through it. Also He spoke of the great falling away in the end times. It is not because He didn't know that there would be a false religion that had nothing to do with Him. He knew it very will. It is because He knew that their would be that 1% that would truly live the life of Love. Just like He showed us when He was on this earth, and is still doing to this day.
To answer my first question “What is a Chrisitan” I want to open up in prayer first. Lets ask Jesus to reveil in our spirits the places that we are all failing in as a body of believers.
The requierment of a christian is this;
Love the Lord your God with all your heart soul and Mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. Then love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets are in these two commandments. Mathew 22:37
I understand that you need to believe that Jesus died on the cross for you and that He raised from the dead and is seated at the right hand of God the father. That He will come to judge the living and the dead, but after that? What are the requirements? Mathew 22:37 is the requirment. LOVE
Look at our generations. What do you see? I see a bunch of people that have been rejected from someone and they are searching for love in any place that they can find it. People see movie stars and want to be like them because they are famous, many people love them and they are never alone. How many people in this room feel the need to be loved? Raise your hands. Everyone of you feels the need to be loved because God put that in your heart. He put it there so that HE could fill you up with His love. Know can you see why God gave us the command to Love. Now if all the people who claim to be Christians did this then we would not have the reputaion that we do.
Now to answer the second question “What does the world view a Chrisitan as”
Well I was very sad to read that the four most common things were Hypocritical, Angery, Judgemental and anti-gay. Everyone of these words goes against the number one commandment the Jesus gave to us. LOVE I understand that we are suppose to confront sin but I also know we are to do it in LOVE. Chrisitans are really good at pointing a finger at someone but they forget the whole love thing when they do it. Yes we are against gay relationships but we are not against the person. Yes we are against abortion but we are not against the person. Jesus has the same kind of love for these people as He does for us, but He also has the same Hate for the sins that they do, just like He does for our sins.
Now I have another homework assignment for you this week. Instead of looking for Chrisitans who showed love for others. I want you to look in the mirror and look at yourself. See if you are the 1% christian or if you are the 99% chrisitan.
Now to answer the third question “How do we need to change and Why” This answer is simple to say but one of the most difficult to do. LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF. I know that you guys all love Jesus or you wouldn't be here today. But my questions for all of us is “ARE WE LOVING JESUS THE WAY HE ASKED US TO LOVE HIM” and “ARE WE SERVING HIM THE WAY HE WANTED US TO SERVE HIM”? Why because we don't want any more people to go to hell then is need. God gave all of us a great task to help accomplish. Go out and preach the gospel to the whole world. That don't mean you have to go across the ocean but the person you withness to might need to.
Ok so how do we do this. First we need to clean house. Now by that I mean we need to know how to except love before we can give it wholeheartedly. Ask the Holy Spirit to take out all the walls that don't allow us to truly feel Gods love for us. Because we need His love to penatrate others hearts. On our own we are unable do help lead a person to Christ but with His love and His Spirit guiding us we could help change the path to hell for a person and help lead them down the road to Heaven . Like one of my friends told me “Let's make Jesus famous” Lets get rid of the religious spirit that has tried to push Jesus to the side. Lets give the world the answer that they have been asking for! Lets give the love of Jesus. Instead of us asking “Will the true Jesus please stand up”! Let's say “will the true Christian please stand out”. Let's now end in pray. I will like if my husband lead this prayer.