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Living at the Ranch
Daily Work, Multiple Ministries, and Facility Advancement
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We have now been living at the Ranch for one month, and in many ways, it is incredibly satisfying to wake up, enjoy the sun coming over the mountains, feed the horses, enjoy the cool air before the sun scorches the day, and thank God for the way He’s led us to these moments. Three years ago we moved to Mexico, and it feels simultaneously like it was yesterday and like we’ve been here for much longer! It's a joy to be living at the Ranch, to complete our daily work to maintain and advance the Ranch, and to run or serve the various ministries that pass through the Ranch. Last Monday, we had the privilege of being on the Ranch to welcome multiple groups: our staff was working to prepare the kitchen for upcoming activities, we had several people from the local horse community working with Emily and the Ranch horses, a local church and a local orphanage brought kids out to help clean up the Ranch for camp, and all the missionary kids were playing in our home while their parents worked on the property with the various young people. Our kids club kids came out for a movie night at the Ranch two weeks ago, and they are eagerly looking forward to coming for a few weeks of horse ministry and Ranch adventure days before summer programs start. A Mexican couple who work with youth in the colonias has asked us to host youth nights on Fridays and give a series on dating to youth who desperately need to know that God has a beautiful and good plan for their lives, and a group of youth want kayak beach days over summer vacation. The opportunities for ministry here are limitless, and we find ourselves ever more dependent on God for wisdom and guidance. He is actively working and it’s our privilege to be able to be here face to face with children, youth, and adults who have become so dear to us! Please join us in prayer…many of the children we work with are growing older and the pressures on them to join in with destructive activities is strong; pray that the work of the Holy Spirit would touch their hearts and empower them to live for Jesus and follow Him. Pray that we are able to communicate love and truth to each of these children and that God would work through our programs, relationships, and interactions with all of those who come to the Ranch and our programs in the colonias!
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Ranch News
Easter Camp and Summer Preparations
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We cannot express the amazement we feel at being able to watch and be a part of how God uses the Ranch to bless His people and give those who don’t know Him yet a chance to hear about Him and experience Him for the first time. This past week, we hosted over 100 youth at a camp for TEAM related churches and 2 orphanages from literally all over the state of Baja California Sur! Next weekend, there is another youth retreat, and over the summer we will host and lead 4 short term teams, over 10 interns, and 3 weeks of summer camp! In the midst of all this ministry and preparation for the summer, we have been working hard to get the Ranch facility ready for all of these activities. We have almost finished the outside kitchen and have made a number of finishing touches to existing buildings on the property. It’s been exciting to see the initial vision of these buildings coming to completion! Your donations help to serve the churches, groups, and youth that come visit the Ranch and the Ranch can be used for all of these ministry activities because of your prayers and your generous giving! We want to thank you for your participation with us in the many ministries of the Ranch.
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Family Update
We imagine you are all wondering how our family has adjusted to life at the Ranch! The answer: we are at peace. There are, of course, adjustments to make and a lot to learn, but we are content and joyful in how God has led us to this ministry and to this place, bugs and heat and all! The girls love the Ranch; they love the freedom they have to run and run. They play with the dogs and visit and ride horses when we are working with them, and they need long showers at night to get clean. Our prayer for them is that they will continue to learn to enjoy the freedom they have within their safety limits at the Ranch. They each are fearful of rattle snakes and some of the bugs, so please pray they can rest in peace at night, which is when they tend to miss their city house the most. The girls continue in their activities (ballet and gymnastics) and schooling is going well for each of them. Pete and I take a lot of time to laugh at ourselves as we find ourselves doing a lot of things we never would have imagined…wearing cowboy boots being the biggest one! Good thing Pete fell in love with me at the Wheaton College square dance!
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Reading Resource
"Foreign to Familiar: A Guide to Understanding Hot and Cold Cultures" by Sarah A. Lanier is a staple in cross-cultural reading and understanding as it is a short, easily understandable book packed with great principles in understanding various concepts between hot and cold cultures. Lanier briefly describes the difference between hot and cold cultures and then spells out 7 different orientations and concepts between these cultures; relationship vs task oriented, direct vs indirect, individualism vs group, inclusion vs privacy, concepts of hospitality, high context vs low context, and concepts of time and planning. Each chapter ends with a helpful summary page and the book itself ends with 10 practical suggestions on how to implement the concepts learned in the book in your own cultural experiences.
We recommend this book for any budding sociologist or anthropologist, for anyone who likes to travel internationally, and definitely for anyone who chooses to go on a short or long term work experience in another culture.
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Prayer Requests
1. Emily will be attending a training seminar for the prevention of human trafficking in Mexico City the last weekend of April.She is going with a good Mexican friend and then they will come back to La Paz to present the program in schools in the La Paz area.Pray for safety and for open doors in the schools in La Paz. Mexico has some shocking statistics regarding human trafficking; internationally, only Thailand is worse. We pray that this program can be a benefit to the young people throughout the country.You can see the webpage for the prevention program Emily will attend here: http://www.1a1.com.mx/portal/
2. Pray for our continued adjustment to life on the Ranch, especially as the weather continues to heat up!
3. Praise the Lord that we now live at the Ranch and that the move went smoothly.Praise God for internet and the ability to do some work that needed to be done!
4. Pray for our summer schedule and the teams who will be working with us, the kids who will attend summer camp, and the interns who will begin arriving in June!
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