Bienvenidos

Curve balls

Fri, 14 May 2010 23:55:32 -0400

Life is full of curve balls. One moment you feel like you understand where you are going, what you are doing, and what that all looks like. As most of you know, about a week after my last blog, our lives drastically changed. It came as a shock, a total surprise. Our plans went from living in Veracruz long term to having to move away and find our lives elsewhere.
 The month following this decision that was made was probably the most difficult month of my life. Many tears were shed. There was much frustration, much sadness, much anger, hurt, bitterness, forgiveness, getting wounded, getting healed, and a ball of other emotions and feelings. We are still walking through this. It has been very difficult for both of us. To leave something you know God called you to and something you have put your own desires aside for was anything but easy to do. But the decision wasn’t made by us, and we did what we were asked to do... part ways.

So here we are, in Ohio. Our hearts to serve Jesus are still alive. Our desires to go and do what He wants from us is in the front of our mind. The first couple months were filled with, “So what’s next now?” There were plenty of opportunities open to us. Several different YWAM bases in Mexico invited us to work with them. Several churches in the US invited us to go on staff. New ministries have invited us to go and serve alongside them. But one looked just as good as any. I could do plenty of “good things”. But I don’t want to live a life just doing “good things”. I want to live a life that is doing exactly what God has me to do, nothing more, nothing less.

Ohio is what is next. Ohio may last a year, it may last 10. We really don’t know. We know that this was a place to go that we can call home for now. It is a place for healing. We are willing to follow as God leads. God has lead us here. He’s provided great jobs for us both. He provided a church family that loves us and has walked with us through this. He has provided family. He has provided for us in abundance. Thank you, Jesus.

I know this curve ball will only strengthen us in the long haul. Wounds hurt. But healing is ahead. He works all things together for our good. What the enemy chooses to destroy, God uses to build.

Are we perfect? Far from it! Will we continue to grow the rest of our lives? Everyday of them! We are all on a journey to more intimacy with Jesus.

There is a line that a song writer, Jason Upton, says in one of his live cd’s that I love. He says, “In the company of Jesus, there are no experts. There’s only beginners, and necessary followers. Cuz..... cuz in the company of Jesus, nobody knows where they’re going.”

We don’t know where we’re going, but we know this path leads to Him. As always, we appreciate your prayers as we gain further clarity. Or if He chooses to keep it a complete mystery, so be it. He leads, we follow.
-dan

We have mocha syrup!

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 17:43:17 -0500

Today Ricky and I(Dan) invented mocha syrup for our coffee shop! Being we don’t live next to a Walmart (the closest is 2 and a half hours away), it’s not easy to just go find some mocha powder and put together a drink. After much tasting and experimenting, we finally came up with a recipe for our Mocha syrup that will work! We tried it with both hot and frappe drinks. Looks like a go!

There is still so much more planning that needs to go into our coffee shop. From Smoothies to decorations to purchasing items, we’ve got our hands full between now and mid February when we’ll be opening. We’ll be taking a trip to the border in the beginning of February to purchase things for the shop. Many things are cheaper there, and when purchasing a lot at once it makes the trip worth while.

Please pray for us as we continue in the planning. None of us have every managed a coffee shop before, so our learning curve is steep. We’re stoked to get it up off the ground though and know God will fulfill his purposed in it.

All is well.

Tue, 12 Jan 2010 21:55:16 -0500

Great news! God is good!

After a long 2 days driving from Ohio, Wendy and I finally pulled into McAllen, Texas. We had a successful trip (no breakdowns, no falling asleep behind the wheel, etc) to the border.

Ricky and Tracy, or friends and now fellow co-workers, arrived into McAllen with their Jeep and U-haul. They made it by the grace of God. On their journey down their trailer went out of control once and spun their vehicle 180 degrees. Thankfully, they didn’t hit anything or roll. I really believe they had Angels protecting them on their journey.

Our trip from the border to Veracruz was one of the most smooth trips I’ve taken. We didn’t have any problems getting our visas and permits for the vehicles. Paying taxes on our items was problem free. We did get pulled over by a friendly Fed, but he was friendly and let us continue without any delay.

It’s great to be back. We’re excited to have a bigger team to be working alongside of. Kara, a friend from our church in Ohio, is here with us for a couple months, as well as a couple other short term volunteers.

Ricky and Tracy found a house to rent within a week of being here. That in itself was a miracle. There really aren’t many places to rent here in town. They found a nice 3 bedroom house in a good neighborhood. Thank you Jesus! Although we love them staying with us, I know they were really looking forward to getting settled in. Especially since Tracy is about 5 months pregnant.

The coffee shop we are planning to open has an opening date of February 17th. We have lots to do to get it ready. I(Dan) will be managing the business side of it, while Ricky will be heading the ministry side of it. We’re excited to work together and believe God has great things in store. Please continue to pray for us as we still need to raise just over half our our $10,000 one time fund raising for our first year expenses. God will supply all we need. Praise God for already raising nearly have of it!

Thank you for all your prayers! We really felt our trip was better expected, considering we had to drive 2000+ miles. We appreciate all of you.

We’re Opening a Coffee Shop!

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 13:24:08 -0500

Across from the high school sits a snugly little place to get a yummy drink and chat with friends. It’s a place to build relationships with people in the community and a place to bare openly the heart over a plate of blackberry cream cheese crepes. We’re opening a coffee shop!

This has been something we have talked and prayed about for quite a while and God has swung the doors wide open. Our desire is to create a healthy environment for youth who are surrounded by so many negative influences. We want to provide an atmosphere of hope and love to those who need it through purposeful relationship with those who come in. We want them to leave with much more than coffee, but we need your help.

We need to raise $10,000 to cover the first year’s rent and electrical expenses. This will enable the coffee shop to get started with the goal of being self-sufficient by the second year.

We can’t do this alone! If you would like to seed into this cause you can send any donations to:

CTEN P.O. Box 291307 Kerrville, TX. 78029-1307

Checks may be made payable to “CTEN” to the above address. (Our names must be on a separate note, as well as the words “Coffee Shop Fund)

**The coffee shop will be a base-wide ministry of YWAM Veracruz.

**Funds received for the coffee shop will be used exclusively for this cause. You will receive a tax-deductible receipt in the mail.

The Latest

Tue, 8 Sep 2009 13:47:11 -0400

Just like anywhere else in the world, Cerro Azul is filled with youth. Youth hungry from something more. Youth wanting to live life to its fullest. And there is virtually nothing here to offer them.

Wendy and I have been attending a small church since we moved here in January. We’ve become friends with the pastor and many of the people in the congregation. But also we’ve seen a need. The youth are hungry for something. Many are looking to fill that hunger outside the church as they feel they aren’t being filled within it. There really isn’t somebody that has taken ownership of the youth group. They have had somebody that leads them out of necessity, although it isn’t necessarily where his heart is. Wendy and I decided to take the challenge to occasionally lead the youth group. We spent the month of August leading them, and had a great time getting to know them. Throughout the month, we began to see them gaining trust in us and opening up to us more and more. It’s been encouraging to see them coming to us for counsel in their relationships, struggles in life, etc. We’ve been able to invite them over to our house to hang out, and sometimes they’ve even invited themselves over to hang out for the afternoon.

Our plans are to continue to work with the youth twice a month. Our hopes are that through spending time with them, investing in their lives, and being there when they need someone there we will see them make the right decisions in this very important transitioning period in their lives.

-Dan