I am Free...

"I have been in bondage for over 20 years... and now I am free."
"I am leaving here a changed woman... I am choosing to forgive."
"All of the bitterness and anger and hurt stays here, I am not taking it with me. I am Free!"
Over and over testimonies like this were shared at the closing session of the women's retreat held last weekend in Atlacamulco, Mexico. I sat in awe at how big and great God is.. how He works and changes lives in powerful ways...I praise you Lord Jesus!
It had been my awesome privilege to speak and minister at this conference alongside fellow OMS missionary Shirley Carlson. The theme, selected by the women's leadership committee, was Choosing Forgiveness and we watched God work in miraculous ways as woman after woman had encounters with God... and as they chose to forgive those who had hurt them...and to move forward in their walk with Jesus.
Our message to the women was simple:
God's word is clear.... we are commanded to forgive. Luke 6:37 tells us "Forgive others and you will be forgiven." Did you read that clearly? Jesus is telling us that we are expected to forgive others and if we do so that we too will be forgiven. Clearly choosing to not forgive means that a barrier is put between us and God - that we loose complete, unhindered access to Him and His all encompassing forgiveness.
How about in the powerful Lords prayer... you know it... "Father forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors..."
What if God only forgave you to the same degree that you have forgiven others.... For me, the thought of this is terrifying... yet God's word is clear. There is no room in the Christian walk for unresolved anger, bitterness or hurt.
Perhaps you are thinking, "But surely you can not mean that I should forgive so and so for the horrible, terrible things they have done?" Yes, even them says God.
Consider one woman I counseled at the retreat. She came near me and asked for some advice. She wanted to forgive her husband but needed help. She went on to explain that for the past 15 years her husband has had two families, two wives in a sense, 3 children with each of them (she was the first wife - having been married to her husband for over 20 years) and he spent alternating days with each family. Her pain was so great... She wanted him to just leave her and the kids- but he wouldn't and she needed his paycheck (the portion she received) to survive and feed her children. Over the next hour she shared how he forced her to have sex with him to have money for groceries, how he manipulated her and abused her. The story was so terrible I had a hard time really grasping all she shared...
At the end she said - help me to forgive him..... and all I wanted to say was, "NO, God doesn't mean this terrible man - he does not deserve forgiveness...." and yet God even asks us to forgive him. I shared with this dear, sweet, broken and battered woman that the only way she could forgive was in Jesus' power... and that as a child of God she has access to the same power of God that raised Jesus from the grave! Imagine - you and I have access to this power and clearly there are many, many cases in this life that we must access this power to fully forgive someone. There are offenses so great and hurts so deep that only the supernatural grace and power of Jesus make it possible for us to experience the peace that comes from a life free of anger and bitterness - a life characterized by forgiveness.
How I praise God for the way He worked in the women's lives that weekend! It was an awesome time....

The women gathered together at the retreat! We were in the beautiful mountains.. it was cold! (and there was no heat!)

A big focus of our time at the retreat was seeking God in prayer....

Sharing with the women...

In addition to the weekend retreat I had the privilege to share with the pastors wives at a breakfast, at a gathering of women in the Campanario church and with the leadership teams of MOPS and womens ministry. In every encounter I was blown away by the way Jesus is working.... and more importantly by the way women are responding. There is an intense hunger to love God more, to know Him more, to grow close to Him.... How I pray that I too can cultivate a heart that craves more of Jesus!

Wednesday night, speaking at the Campanario church.

After the speech Wednesday night the women were invited to break in to small groups and share how God was speaking to their hearts.

Meeting with the women in leadership.... (there is always food!) YUM!

Campanario Womens Retreat...

I am so beyond excited and honored that in October I will have a chance to return to Mexico to minister to the women of the Campanario church at their women's retreat. Will you pray for the Lord to move in mighty ways during the 16- 18 of October as we meet together. I have invited our dear friend Tania, an amazing women, but resistant to the message of the cross. Please join me in praying for her salvation.

Alan & the start of a new ministry

It has been an awesome joy to have our dear friend Alan here from Mexico. Alan is family to us and while he is in an intensive training seminar we are soaking him up every chance we get - we have enjoyed spending the past two weekends with him. Last week we took Alan to a very authentic Mexican area of Indy and enjoyed a Mexican meal. The Lord led Christian and Alan and some others from the training back to that same location today to share Jesus with the workers and to sow some seeds for future ministry. We praise God that three Mexican's accepted Jesus today through the groups efforts. We covet your prayers as we seek the guidance of the Lord for future ministry.

Christian and Alan

Christian and a church planting worker from Spain pray with this man as
he gives his life to Jesus.

Mexico....

While we have physically left the beautiful country of Mexico, we have stayed incredible busy working with OMS over the past few months. We were excited to have four couples attend the three week cross training session that will be serving as missionaries in Mexico. We loved getting together with them, answering questions and praying over them. Steve and Helen and their baby girl Nisha came and spent a Sunday afternoon with us...it was lovely to get to know how we can be praying for them.

Nisha and Helen with Maddie in our front yard.

This past week we had the opportunity to speak at OMS chapel (Christian pictured below) and to share our hearts with the missionaries working at headquarters here in Indiana. It was a beautiful chance to re-connect and share how God is working in our lives. Robin stayed for a two day coaching seminar...watch for future updates about how the Lord is guiding her to use all she has learned.

We wrapped up our week with a supporter dessert on Saturday at OMS. Thank you to all who attended. We are humbled by your friendship and love. It was a wonderful time to re-cap our four years in Mexico.

Friends gathered and enjoyed delicious desserts. Below, Rita worked our registration table...thanks Rita!

You are Invited....

Who: All of our friends, family and supporters
What: are invited to a dessert reception where we will share with you news of our term in Mexico and future plans we have in ministry.
When: Saturday, August 1st, 4:00 - 5:00 (we will speak at 4:30pm)
Where: OMS Headquarters in Greenwood, IN (941 Fry Road)
Why: We want a chance to share the way Jesus has worked in Mexico, to update you on our ministry plans, to thank you for partnering with us and to introduce you to some options for continued support.

We hope you can make it!

OMS conference

Today was the final day for the OMS International Conference here in Indianapolis. It was great for us to get to see everyone and to hear all of the reports from around the world in OMS. We praise God for how He is working through this organization. It was also a special time for us to be present for the commissioning of Jonny and Julie Pollock. It gave me chills to hear the President of OMS, David Long, give a charge to the missionaries being commissioned..... That they serve a Holy and just God that loves them dearly and that will provide all that they need.

Jonny and Julie speaking at the OMS conference.

It was wonderful to visit with missionaries from all over the world and working in all areas of OMS....

Missions in the Midwest Conference and the Pollocks are here!

This weekend is the OMS Missions in the Midwest conference here in Indianapolis. Christian attended last night and was blessed by the opportunity to see so many dear friends and colleagues. We are still in the process of defining what our role will be with OMS and how we will serve the organization - one thing we know for sure, we are thankful to be a part of the OMS organization and we praise God for so many willing servants who serve Jesus through OMS.
Some of those whom we praise God for are the Pollock family... We have blogged about them often in the past. They served with us in Mexico and we have grown to love them dearly. What a treat to have them staying with us this week while they attend the conference and prepare for three weeks of training at the OMS headquarters. Please pray for them and for baby Ben as they live out of suitcases for the month of July and as they endure the Indiana heat!

Setteling in....

"Wow", exclaimed our son Ethan, "You can park your car in the house?", he asked as he watched Christian pull the car into our new garage..... This is just one of dozens of cultural changes we are all going through as we adjust back to life in the US. (Garages don't exist where we lived in Mexico City!) We also can not walk by a water fountain with out every kid stopping for a drink (or a soak) and the fact that you can drink water from the faucet is still a fascination.
It has been fun for us in the past two weeks to watch our kids as they slowly take in their new surroundings.... and at times it has been hard as well. We are all missing our dear friends in Mexico...(a LOT) and there are so many things about our life there that we mourn. But we are keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus and focusing on His plan and desire for our lives. We look forward to this new chapter in our lives as we trust completely the One who is directing our steps.
We hope to post in the next few weeks details about an open house that all are invited to attend so that we can share with you about our time in Mexico and our future ministry involvement.
Your prayers for our smooth transition are such a blessing and we are so grateful for them!

A quick update

Wanted to share with everyone that Christian has arrived here in Indiana and we are now all catching our breaths as we come down off of a very intense, stressful month! (see Robin's blog for more thoughts!)
Jonny and Julie Pollock and sweet baby Ben are staying with us until Monday and we have really enjoyed our time with them. We praise God for a successful closing on our house yesterday.... we will begin moving in tomorrow. (Jonny and Julie did not realize they would have to work so hard here!:)
We appreciate your prayers as we continue to adjust back to life in the United States. Our kids are thrilled by water fountains....(these don't exist in Mexico due to water safety issues) We can not walk by a single fountain without them stopping and proceeding to completely drench themselves (drinking from a water fountain is a new skill they need to develop). They are bathing twice a day (we did not have a bath tub in our last house in Mexico....) and Ethan can not believe that there are hand rails to help you go up and down stairs!
Lots and lots of adjustments to be made and it is fun to watch our kids and to see the United States through their eyes.
In addition to lots of laughs and smiles, there are also tears. We are missing our friends in Mexico and our church..... and it hits all of us at different times. Joshua (normally not a crier) broke down the other day saying he missed his friends Esteban, Edgar and Miseal.
Maddie has asked us to promise we will return for a visit soon....
We take comfort in knowing that Jesus is in control of all that is happening and that He has plans to prosper us and to care for us. And we take comfort in knowing that so many are praying for our transition back to the US. Thank you for your faithfulness.

A Note from Robin

Hello all from Indianapolis,
We have arrived safely and are catching our breath after a dizzying last week in Mexico. We have not had regular Internet access yet so I am not able to respond to emails... but wanted to get online and update the blog quickly.
We are trying to stay low for a few days to be sure we do not have the swine flu and that we do not contaminate anyone... so far, praise God, we are all healthy! Thank you for your prayers... Christian will join us in Indianapolis next week.
For those of you in Indy..... I look forward to connecting soon.
Blessings, Robin & the kids

MacKinnon Family Update

Dear friends,
Thank you so much for your prayers and concern for us over the past few days..... We wanted to post an update.
As we are preparing to leave Mexico and return to Indianapolis permanently our days of "don't leave the house" have been filled with packing and sorting and in just an hour a moving company will come to load up all of our things. We had planned to stay in Mexico a few additional weeks to wrap things up, say good-bye and participate in a few final ministry opportunities.... (Robin was scheduled to speak to 4 different women's groups.... but only got one completed before the swine flu outbreak)...
Due to the current health situation here in Mexico we have decided that it is best for Robin and the kids to leave Thursday morning and get back to the United States. Christian will remain here in Mexico a while longer.
Thank you for your prayers and your love and concern. We ask prayer for our safety and health and for our hearts - as they are hurting deeply at our departure. It is especially difficult to need to leave so suddenly without having a chance to say our proper good-byes.

Swine Flu

Today the atmosphere around us was one of much panic as news of the swine flu virus in our area spread rapidly. All schools in our area have been closed as have museums, colleges, church activities -really anything that involves the gathering of lots of people.
Please pray for the protection and health of all of the missionary kids.... and that the Lord will calm the hearts of the people who are afraid and in a state of panic right now.
We thank Jesus for His amazing protection and we thank each of your for your prayers.

Annual Retreat

We just returned last night from the annual retreat of Pastors, missionaries and church planting workers. What an amazing time it was.... although hard for us as well as we said good-bye to many. We have been truly blessed by the four years we have been able to serve here in Mexico. Never would we have imagined the heart-break and pain we are feeling as we prepare to leave. We leave feeling excited though about all the work that will carry on here. Indeed, Jesus is moving hearts here and people are accepting Him and growing in Him. God is good!

Gathered together for a time of awesome teaching about evangelism.... We are excited to put to practice all we have learned!

A poolside meeting.... as often happens much brainstorming took place during free time. Here Christian meets with Miguel (our national church President) and Alfredo (the national church secretary). It has been a great joy for Christian to work with these two men that he has grown to love and respect greatly.
We said lots of good-byes....and shed lots of tears. Here we are pictured with a dear family that works planting house churches in a near by town. We are humbled to have had the opportunity to work alongside such tireless servants of Jesus.

Praise GOD!

Last Saturday we had the wonderful privilege of accompanying some house church members (over 100 of them!) to a near-by water park for baptisms! What an amazing day..... 12 were baptized and several others accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior. After the baptismal service everyone stayed and enjoyed the day playing in the sun! We always say that our Pastor (Alexis) is an expert at two things..... glorifying Jesus and having fun! This day was a wonderful combination of the two!

Everyone gathers to sing praise music and prepare for the baptisms.

Alexis and Heriberto baptize a young boy.

As soon as the baptisms were over everyone jumped into the pool and played!

Huatla

Christian recently lead his last team as an OMS Mexico Missionary. He has worked for about 9 months setting up the next mission project for the H2O Church in Oklahoma. The purpose of the trip was to determine the needs of the Huatla community in the mountains of Hidalgo, Mexico. Huatla is pronounced "Whatla." Six people went along on the trip to investigate the possibility of assisting the UNIFAM Church there with the construction of the local church and training local farmers in increasing their crop and animal production. The local language is Nauhtl (Na-what-el) and although many do speak Spanish, there were times that Christian could not communicate with the locals due to the language barrier - even right here in Mexico there are some who can't speak Spanish!
The area is very poor. Most houses have only dirt floors. Few have running water. Most do have electricity, but its really spotty. The local church was planted by a local UNIFAM church here in Mexico City. There have been two missionaries assigned to this area over the past 18 months. BUT, these missionaries are Mexicans from the Mexico City area. We believe this is a great sign of maturity in the Mexican leadership because they are starting to send out their own as missionaries. We PRAISE God for this!

The local church has started to plant house churches. Here is a church service we visited.

Here Steve (from H2O Oklahoma Church) and Martin (a missionary from Mexico City)
discuss the plans for the church roof.

Church service with a plastic roof. There were about 70 in attendance.

We don't think the standards are the same between US churches and
Huatla churches regarding the admittance of stray dogs - All are welcomed!

For Christian coming from a farm background, a very satisfying part of the trip was seeing how open the locals were to accepting the agricultural expertise from the states. Here Steve shows how to design a drip irrigation system to Memo, a local farmer and a leader of the community. The team from Oklahoma hopes to train him so that he can train his community.


This video is a clip of the worship service at another house church.
They are singing in their native Nauhtl language. Can you guess the tune?

Our future plans....

Dear friends,
It is with lots of mixed emotions that we send you this news about our future plans. It is with heavy hearts that we announce that we will be leaving Mexico City in May to return to the Indianapolis area. WHY? Have we struggled with the country and our Mexican co-workers? Absolutely NOT! We are in love with this country and we have made some of the very best friends in our lives with the Mexicans here. What a privilege it has been to serve here. Is the work stagnant and frustrating? NOT at all! The ministries here are booming, people are coming to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior….. OMS is having a mighty impact here for the kingdom of God! Are we discontent with OMS? Are you kidding? We count it an unbelievable honor to serve with such an amazing organization…alongside so many talented people. Indeed the last four years here in Mexico have been some of the most precious years of our lives so far.
Then why?
Our simple answer is that we are confident that God is calling us back to the Indianapolis area. And we are thankful to share that He has provided an amazing job opportunity for Christian with Elanco Animal Health. Christian will have the privilege of working for a company he has long respected in a job he feels was custom made for him. The blessings of Jesus are plentiful indeed! We are also excited to see how Jesus will use our love for the Mexican people (and our imperfect Spanish) to reach out to the rapidly growing Hispanic population. Over six years ago God gave Christian a clear vision of a plan for ministry in the Indianapolis area to Hispanics and we are excited to see how the Lord will bring this plan to fruition as He directs our ministry involvement.
We are also excited to keep our affiliation with OMS and hope that we can volunteer in the organization as the leadership sees fit.
For those of you that support us financially...we would ask that you would pray about continuing to support us through the month of June at which time we hope to have a get together to share in person (we will also be communicating through email) with you about the work here in Mexico and some ways you can continue to support the ministry. We also have some friends that serve with OMS that we would like to present to you for your consideration.
Thank you for the prayers, support, and love you have shown us over the past years. We appreciate your prayers as we prepare to transition back to the states. We will be updating our blog lots in these next few weeks with updates and of course with reflections on the many lessons Jesus is teaching us as we begin to walk through this major transition.
In Jesus,
The MacKinnon Family

A new MOPS group!

What an incredible joy to report to you that the second MOPS group started yesterday at our church in LaLoma. It was a wonderful first meeting! The team of Mexican women who have gathered to provide leadership are incredible and they did an amazing job. Alicia, the woman who co-coordinated our first MOPS group with me spoke at the meeting and her words touched my soul. She is our pastors wife and she shared that of all the ministries they are involved in (and there are a ton) MOPS is her favorite because it has ministered to her as she mothers three small children. She shared about the blessing MOPS has been to our Campanario church, to the moms that attend from the community.... My heart was filled with praise to God for the amazing gift he has given us to serve the Mexican people over these last four years! A group of moms meeting together for the first time....

Alicia sharing a message about the blessing of motherhood and the blessing of being in MOPS.

Craft time! The women learned to make little bunny rabbits from cloth.

The team had so many creative ideas! Each mom was sent home with a box of craft supplies. Their assignment was to go home and make something with their children and then bring it back next time where the "most creative" project will win a prize. They even included an announcement inside reminding of the next meeting date!
The children had a blast as well. Amelia, who does not often enjoy going to the nursery was very happy and even participated in getting her face painted. Here she is pictured with Carol, the missionary coordinator for MOPS LaLoma. Carols philosophy is that if the kids are happy and having a blast the moms will keep coming back! I can definitely say that these kids were thrilled and I am certain the women with return - and bring their friends!

Urgent Prayer Request

Please pray for the son of two of our church members. The day before his 16th birthday he was in the wrong place at the wrong time and was mistakenly arrested and has now been in prison for 2 weeks. His conditions are terrible and today a ruling was made that means he will be kept in prison for at least another 6 weeks. Although there are many inaccuracies in the accusation made against him he is up against corruption.

We know of no higher authority than our God and so we want to make an earnest plea that you would remember this kid and his family (We are omitting his name for security reasons). Please pray for his safety and for a quick release contrary to normal procedure. He is an amazing kid and has been part of our English classes ever since we got here. We need to pray for a miracle for God's glory. Please stop now to pray and then ask your friends and prayer groups to pray.

A Whirlwind.....

Things have been so absolutely crazy lately that we have gotten behind on providing ministry updates.... Here are a few of the highlights of the last few weeks....
1. Christian recently traveled with two or our pastors, Miguel and Alfredo to help celebrate the 11th anniversary of the UNIFAM Renacimiento church in Acapulco. There they installed Carlos Ramirez as Head Pastor and the church was officially handed over to UNIFAM - meaning it is no longer under the governance of OMS but is now governed by the national denomination. This is our goal with all churches started by OMS here - that they will become self-sufficient, mature churches and that they will move from under the leadership of OMS to the leadership of Mexicans. The work in Acapulco is incredibly hard and our churches there need prayer coverage.
2. We praise God for continued fruit from our church planting teams... we are desperate to see the effort explode.... we are praying for revival for Mexico.
3. Next week, the second MOPS group in Mexico will open at our LaLoma church. We are praising God for all He is doing through this ministry which continues with much fruit at the Campanario church. Thursday is the first meeting of LaLoma MOPS. Please pray for the leadership team as they finalize details.
We praise God for your interest and prayers in the work here in Mexico. What an honor it is to serve here and we are very aware that we could NOT be here without your prayer and support.

Drop In Center Opening and a face with a name...

This past Thursday evening we were blessed with a visit by yet, another team....(We had two teams here at the same time!) This team was from Waco, Texas and we were so thankful to have a full evening to spend with them in our home. Perhaps the biggest treat for me (Robin) is that a couple on the team has been supporting us financially since we arrived in Mexico - and yet I had never met them! What a joy to put a face with a name and to get to thank them personally!
Then, on Friday we celebrated the "Grand Opening"of UNIFAM LaRaza (the drop-in center). It was an amazing time. First we had a short (by Mexico standards) service followed by a meal.

The drop in center will serve as the head-quarters for the Proyecto MEFI ministry.
Here is a little information about the ministry of Proyecto MEFI that will then work in conjunction with the LaRaza church that will be started in the drop-in center very soon. I have "stolen" this excellent write up from the website of Steve and Helen Cosslett - a couple funding to serve in Mexico.

Proyecto MEFI is a social outreach ministry of UNIFAM; it exists to enable the people of Mexico to reach out to the street children of Mexico City, through practical, psycho-social and spiritual means. Our greatest desire, however is to see those children come into the Kingdom of God, grow into disciples of Jesus Christ, and be filled with the Holy Spirit, so that in turn they can reach out to others.

The abbreviation MEFI is taken from the name of Jonathan’s son Mefi-boset (in Spanish), who was crippled in both feet, and who David took into his palace and treated as if he was his own son. Many of the underlying principles of the project are taken from this story which can be found in 2 Samuel Chapter 9 in the Bible. Some of these principles are spelt out in the acrostic MEFI:

M - Misericordia (Mercy)
E - Esperanza (Hope)
F - Fe (Faith)
I - Integración (Integration)

Each letter represents a different step in our outreach to street children. Mercy being our initial contact providing food, first-aid and shelter. Hope being the hope of Jesus Christ and all that it means to be in a relationship with Him, including a hope for the future. Faith represents the journey that they embark on as they seek to trust God and others. Lastly, integration back into society is our desire for these street children, so that they can in turn impact their families (if possible) and other street children by the changes they see in them.

Team visit and Drop-in Center Update

This week is an exciting one here in Mexico. This Friday we will celebrate the official "opening" of the Drop-in center and to help add some final touches and celebrate with us on Friday a team from Ardmore, Oklahoma has returned. More than half of the people on this team have worked on the construction of the Drop-in center several times in the past few years. We are beyond thankful for their help.... and we are always so encouraged by them. Last night Christian and I had the chance to eat dinner with the team and to share with them about the future plans OMS has here in Mexico. It was a wonderful evening .... what a joy to be with our friends from Ardmore!We will certainly post photos of Friday's celebration but here is peek of the Drop-in Center. The Drop in Center (now called UNIFAM La Raza) will be a church targeted toward street kids but also aimed at reaching the surrounding community. The street kid ministry (MEFI) will operate from this location as well. We praise God for the hard work by Carol and Andrew Agnew, Pati and Alex and Fidel and Juana - and the many who have volunteered alongside them to make this dream a reality!

Pati and Alex standing in the main meeting area (where church services will take place).

Christian at the front door of the Drop-in Center.

The Chandlers are Here!

We are so thankful for a visit from our dear friends Ted and Angela . We have been friends with them for 11 years now (starting out in a young marrieds class together) ... but no, they are not only here to visit us - They are here to pray through their next ministry assignment. Ted and Angela and their three girls served with OMS in Haiti for four years and now are praying through serving in Ecuador or Mexico. We are completely excited to have a visit from our dear friends. Please join us in prayer for their future direction.Ted and Angela read our kids a bedtime story.

Seminary Focus Group

This morning Christian facilitated the first of 4 focus group meetings for the Seminary. So much effort has been placed on the new department of evangelism and church planting since August. Our attention will now turn to the Seminary so that national church will have more buy-in and influence over how the Seminary operates. Our hope is for the Seminary to provide the personnel and training needs of the national church (UNIFAM).

Today our focus was starting with the end in mind. Below key stake-holders are answering the following: "What does the Seminary look like assuming we are in the year 2020?" From the answers given (and they were big!) we asked, "How did we get here?" The answers to this question will become key steps in our new strategic plan. We are excited to say the least!

Pray for us during the month of February as we consider the Lord's will for the Seminary and its role in reaching Mexico for Christ.

Happy 10th Anniversary!

On Sunday we celebrated the 10th anniversary of the UNIFAM church in LaLoma. It is an amazing, Spirit-filled church and the service was a true praise offering to Jesus. We felt so blessed to be there to celebrate all God is doing. This is not your typical American church - services usually go 3 hours or longer! During the celebration Christian brought greetings (pictured below) and congratulations on behalf of OMS. We thank you Jesus for the congregation of LaLoma, for Pastor Miguel and his family, for all you are doing in the lives of the people. We give you praise!

Mission Accomplished

So, we finally taped Miguel's preaching. He gave 3 sermons that lasted about 30 minutes each. We will use these DVD's that will have the sermons and worship in traditional and house churches in Mexico. The project is all a pilot, which means that we are just "trying it out" to see if it will fit in the Mexican culture, but we believe there a many ways that this could help build the kingdom in Mexico and beyond.
The moment Miguel finished he was almost in tears with joy. He said that he felt the Holy Spirit was in the studio helping him along the way. The previous day was a frustrating one for him as we practiced in Ardmore. He mentioned that several times through the day he told God, "I can't do it." He asked God for perseverance and the ability to communicate to an audience that he could not see. He prayed for hours during the night and asked God to give him peace and to guide him with the words to say and expresiveness on his face to communicate the message with excellence. When he woke up at 6 a.m. he felt total peace. The plan was for the first sermon to take about an hour with re-takes, etc., but he nailed it on the first go. We never once had to redo even part of one of his sermons. God was in it! You can see Miguel's joy as he finished.

Rett became a good friend of Miguel.
He will be on the trip to Mexico representing the Ardmore team.

Chuck is the pastor at H2O Ardmore.
Miguel and he had a great time sharing about life as a pastor.Special thanks to Steve and Vicki, and Barry - the Lead Pastor of H2O. Thanks for a great visit! We will never forget your hospitality!

On the Way to Video

Today we finally arrived at an official studio to tape Miguel's sermons. Plan A, B, and C have all failed us, but we know that God's plan never does! So, here we are in Oklahoma City - a city that was never part of our plans. We can say now that we are thankful for our time waiting, because it has given us time to pray and plan.


Along the way I had to take advantage of the situation by snapping some photos of Miguel in the snow and other things that he is not accustomed to like round bales, and snow balls.

traveling through the ice

....We received news today that Northwest Arkansas (our destination) had lost all electricity due to ice on the power lines.....Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails!!!

So we were forced to stay in southern Oklahoma at the Ardmore H2O Church. Miguel was able to practice preaching and being video taped. Our new plan is to go to Oklahoma City tomorrow morning and do the professional taping. There seems to be many obstacles on our road here, however the Lord has blessed our time as H2O and UNIFAM were able to do some strategic planning and helping solve each other challenges.

The biggest praise in this came as Christian and Barry from H2O were able to plan out how our seminary in Mexico could use technology developed at a local university to start teaching online courses for Mexican church planters and pastors.......for FREE! Creating online courses to offer Mexicans a seminary education has been a dream of OMS and the Seminary due to the obstacle of distance, traffic for many of the potential seminary students. There now exists the possibility of starting online courses as soon as March of this year. The possibilities could be endless.