Joni and our daughter Kim flew out to Miami, FL for the taping of “The Cristina Show” at the beginning of this week.  The Cristina Show is aired throughout Latin America and in the US on the Univision Network and is watched by millions of Spanish speakers.  For you gueros, Cristina would be best described as the Latin American equivalent of Oprah.  For us Latin Americans Oprah is the English speaking equivalent of Cristina.

They contacted us through our Facebook group “Living With Lyme” and wanted to do a special on Swine Flu and Lyme Disease.  Joni and Kim were on the panel of “experts”.  There were two doctors, a Lyme patient (Joni) and a family member (Kim).  During the taping Cristina did a good job of representing the facts about Lyme Disease.  Cristina’s goal was to raise awareness of Lyme Disease and it sounds like she did a good job.  We want to thank “The Cristina Show” for the invitation and for treating Kim and Joni so well during their stay in Miami.  Joni and Kim played a small part of the show but were able to have concrete input to the panel and were able to have a signifiacnt effect on the show’s staff and audience.

The lights and sound of the studio affected Joni to the point that she folded (one of her seizures) almost immediately after the taping.  They helped her and Kim back to the hotel (a suite bigger than most homes) and she came out of it as usual in about 3 hours.  Joni was able to rest until her flight back the next day and was good until about 3 hours into the flight and had another seizure.  All the traveling, taping and excitement was too much, too fast for her.  American Airlines has a lift team that got Joni off the plane and brought her all the way to the car and lifted her in so we could make the trip home.  (Thanks American Airlines!)  By the time we got home she could get up on her feet again.

Two seizures in this short of time have drained her physically and neurologically.  I expect that she will need more than a week to recuperate.   Joni was thrilled to be part of such an opportunity to make Lyme Disease known better by the general populace.  Though she sufferd the 2 seizures she considers it a privilege to be honored with this invitation to represent Lyme Disease patients internationally.  Joni says, “It was worth all the difficulties of the siezures just to know that people will be better informed and aware of Lyme Disease”.

If you have not seen the documentary “Under Our Skin” (underourskin.com) we’d like to encourage you to view it.  The producer of this film does a fine job of researching and following Lyme patients through their difficult lives and treatment, as well and educating the public on how widespread and difficult it is to treat Lyme.  He chronicals the struggle that many Lyme Literate doctors face against the medical status quo when they treat Lyme as it should be.

Until Next Time,

DAVE & JONI

In the mid 1800’s there was a “gold rush” in California where a great deal of gold was dredged from the rivers, hills and mountains.  Rumors reached the east coast of the Americas that nuggets of gold could be found lying around on the ground.  Thousands of fortune seekers headed for California as a result.  The truth was that those who became successful prospectors were the men who had tremendous patience, endurance and a will to suffer under the yoke of hard tortuous labor.  Some unearthed fortunes, many found encouraging but limited strikes, other a handful of gold flakes, but the majority more painful work than they could endure. 

How does this relate to the present section of Proverbs?  As we will note in the verses that we are about to view it is a good illustration fo the necessity to persevere as we dig deep into the Scriptures.  Great treasure is to be amassed to those who mine it with diligence and perseverance.

Proverbs 2:1-9  (1) My son, if you will receive my words and treasure my commandments within you, (2) make your ear attentive to wisdom, incline your heart to understanding; (3) for if you cry for discernment, lift your voice for understanding; (4) If you seek her as silver, and search for her as hidden treasures; (5) then you will discern the fear of the Lord and discover the knowledge of God. (6) For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding. (7) He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk in integrity, (8) guarding the paths of justice; and He preserves the way of the godly ones. (9) Then you will discern righteousness and justice and equity and every good course.

The perseverance of seeking the wisdom of God is clearly seen in the use of focused phrases in the first 4 verses in this chapter:

• receive my words
• treasure my commandments
• make your ear attentive to wisdom
• incline your heart to understanding
• cry for discernment
• lift your voice for understanding
• seek her as silver
• search for her as hidden treasure

Like a miner who labors with infatigable pains so should our efforts be to unearth the immeasurable riches of the Scripture.  How often have we seen the picture of the solitary prospector with his pack animal and tools?  This solitary pursuit of the riches of wisdom found in the Bible should be a picture of us.  Most likely we will find ourselves off on our own searching the scriptures, working patiently and diligently with the tools of interpretation, word studies and commentaries crying out within our hearts for a golden nugget of truth and understanding.  In this labor of love our fellowship with God in prayer will grow.  Just as the prospector hopes and prays for a valuable mineral find, we too will find ourselves crying out to God for wisdom in the midst of this pursuit.  The pursuit of of these riches will thus deepen our prayer life in communion with God.

THEN you will discern the fear of the Lord and discover the knowledge of God. (vs.5) I ask students entering the seminary where I teach the reason that they are there.  I write the numbers 1 – 10 on the white board and ask for a list of reasons why they have set aside this time of life to study with us.  Once the answers begin to flow I start writing at number 2 and then erase 3 and write 2, then erase 4 and write 2 and so on.  Many come to know the Bible better (2), or to be a good pastor (2) or to teach children better (2) or to learn to expound the Scripture well (2).  They sit curiously as I number all of these answers with a two while the number 1 has nothing written beside it.  Finally when someone says, “I came to get to know Jesus better,” and I fill in the number 1 spot. You see, knowing God precedes everything else.

In verse 6 we read that it is the Lord who gives wisdom.  In verse 7 it is He who stores up sound wisdom for the upright, and it is He who is a shield for those who walk in their integrity.  When we are seeking first the King in the Kingdom of God then all other things are added unto us. (adapted from Matt 6:33)  After all the kingdom is all about the King.

What a Way to Live,

Pastor Dave

During our mission trip to Ghana this past month we saw some needs that I believe we help to meet.

1. Less than 1 in 50 church members in the huge rural awakening own a Bible.  Some places the ratio is even less.  A simple hard cover Bible costs $7 and can be purchased from the International Bible Society in Accra, Ghana.  Anyone who can donate toward that should contact me and I’ll be glad to share with you how you can send donations to Ghana.

2.  Pastors and evangelists (now 1000) usually own a simple Bible but are praying that they can come into possession of a study Bible.  I gave my Ryrie NASB to a pastor as we had lunch one day and found out that he had been praying for this.  A study Bible is a rare thing and would be a great pleasure as well as a great tool for these men.  I’m sure that there are thousands of these lying around households that could be put to good use and glorify God in Ghana.  I’m checking into to the cost of shipping books.  Prince Paul’s ministry has been given an examption form import duty for all that they are doing for the Ghanian people.  Good study Bibles would be ones like:

Ryrie Study Bible – McArthur Study Bible – Reformation Study Bible

Life Application Bible – Thompson Chain Reference Bible – etc.

3.  Transportation to remote villages takes a huge amount of time.  The pastor who I gave my Bible to walks 35 kilometers to one of 2 churches that he pastors.  Evangelists travel by foot to many remote locations on narrow paths as well.  As a result bicyles and motor bikes would be a very useful  for them to be able to get to these locals easier.

Here’s what I am proposing:  Find a 20′ shipping container and pack it with bicycles and motor bikes as well as Bibles.  I’m sure that there are loads of bikes and motorbikes or motorcycles collecting dust which are drying up and becoming useless.  Before corrosion sets in why not donate them to Ghana.  I’m hoping that they would be in good condition and am willing to store and work on shipping them.

Please Pray for:

A 20′ shipping container.

Study Bibles.

Good used Bicycles.

Good used motorbikes, motorscooters, or motorcycles.

Thanks for your prayers,

DAVE

How in the world am I supposed to write about a 21 day mission in Ghana in a blog?  There is just too much to tell.  I’ll just start writing and see where it goes.

In America we are lamenting the regressive moral state of the union looking back to the “good old days” but not really knowing what to do next.  Here’s a thought: Visit Ghana.  Yes, visit Ghana West Africa and see what a nation living with the fear of the Lord looks like first hand.  I’d heard stories about awakening in Ghana but after seeing the sovereign hand of God I am even more perplexed about the condition of the United States.

After hundreds of years of occupation by foreign powers Ghana attained it’s independence in 1957.  Through the first several decades struggles for stability plagued the new nation.  By 1980 it seemed to begin to settle down.  The past influence of the English church had had a great effect on the nation and it chose to use the Bible as its guide book for governing and reform.  They seemed to adopt a cultural Christianity and then the Charismatics and Evangelicals arrived.  Through the preaching of these Christian evangelists and the coastal communities already having a healthy respect for the Bible began to embrace Jesus Christ in mass.  The evidence of this can be seen in the numerous churches that fill the coastal regions and the naming of businesses with Biblical titles.  I observed a beauty salon with a sign out front stating, “With God All Things Are Possible, Beauty Salon”.  Almost every taxi has a Christian slogan painted across the rear window. The signs of an evangelistic movement are everywhere.

Prince Paul came to Christ as a result of this great move of God but he noted that though many people were coming to Christ, not so many were becoming disciples and carrying the message of Christ back to the villages where most of the new city dwellers originated from.  These account for more than 50% of the population of Ghana.  He also noted that the movement was decidedly foreign in its worship style.  As a result Prince Paul decided to plant a church in the capital city of Accra that was a disciple making Bible teaching church.  In 1995 Bible Baptist Church started as a small meeting with Prince Paul Konu, his wife and children.  It has grown to 300 adult members at the present.  But just teaching the Bible was not enough.  Prince Paul was burdened for the villages all over Ghana with little to no Christian witness.  In 1998 he began to visit the tribes in the Western Ashanti region because they had been dislocated from their native lands when the Volta River dam flooded their homes forcing them to move.  Not being able to own property there, they became a type of slave to the new tribes where they were relocated or they slipped away into the dense jungles to live off the land.  This is where Bible Baptist Church began its first church plant.  Between daughter and grand-daughter churches there are now 32 strong established churches among tribal villages throughout Ghana.  Using the cassette evangelism system of Village Evangelism there are now about 1000 evangelists walking through the countryside sharing Christ and seeking to gather the elect into churches.  It is an amazing site to behold.  It reminds me of the stories of the circuit riders of early America.  In addition to the church plants of Bible Baptist other church movements including the Assemblies of God, the Ghaha Baptist Conference and various Pentecostal movements have sought out Pastor Paul to instruct them on village evangelism as well as church planting methods.  The result has become a network of numerous churches working in concert, unified to complete the great commission and make disciples through Ghana and among tribes as far away as the Sahara Desert. 

One of the seminars was held in the city of Tamale which is about 90% Muslim.  This was a short notice meeting but still 64 pastors attended.  At the beginning of each seminar we ask the question, “What does it mean for God to be sovereign?”  In most seminars we received initial answers that described characteristics of God but not in Tamale.  Here we had 64 converted Muslims all pastoring and planting new churches in the face of much opposition but fearless because of their grasp of the sovereignty of God.  Each had been given a funeral by their families.  Men stood up all through this group expressing the clearly Gods’ reign in affairs of men.  Their Muslim background made this a clear doctrine that they had grasped immediately upon coming to know Christ.  As a result the Tamale group started where the others seminars normally ended.  Did we ever have a great time together.

Our job this past month was to meet with 370+ of these church leaders throughout rural Ghana and hold 2 day training seminars to help these evangelists and pastors grow in their knowledge and relationship with Christ.  We held 3 seminars in the northern region and 2 in the eastern Volta region as well as spending time visiting the western jungle churches.  Every seminar was filled with men and women who had great expectations to learn more of the greatness of God.  We had the pleasure of serving up a banquet of delights from the Bible that touched each person deeply.  What a delight to have so many hungry disciples with such enthusiasm and focus on the great commission.  I have had some wonderful experiences as a teacher of the Bible but have never seen such depth of commitment and strength of character in so many people all at once.  When the northern seminars were over we were each given chieftain titles that we were told would be registered with the main tribal group of the north that extended as far north as the Shara Desert.  My Ghanaian name is Naa Ziniah.  (One who brings light to the minds of our people.)  

Though we worked or traveled non stop for 21 days with little rest, often sleeping between potholes in the back of a van we have to say that a trip like this gives one much more energy than it takes.  My partner in ministry, Joe Vogel, will be putting together a Power Point soon.  When it is complete we will make it available for you to view via this blog and or our web site.  What a pleasure it has been to be able to join God where He is at work.

What a Way To Live,

Pastor Dave

Later today I’l be leaving for Ghana West Africa.  I’ll be meeting Joe Vogel at Heathrow in London and then together we’ll fly to Ghaha to meet Prince Paul Konu.

The trip is being made to primarily teach in three pastors conferences through out Ghana.  Our text will be the first volume of Letters To Prince Paul.  During this time we will concentrate on the character of leadership including issues of humility, pride and walking by faith in our identity in Christ.

Prince Paul let us know that he has a full schedule for us. Please keep us in prayer as we travel.

How can you pray?

1.  Always pray that we would love God with all our hearts and hate sin.

2.  Pray that the men we meet would realize a sense of their utter depravity and a realization of the grreat mercy that God has toward.

3.  Pray that our purpose for existing is understood clearly in the midst of these conferences:

        What is the chief end of man? – To glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

4.  Pray that we would we wise and humble tools of God to help the men we will meet to demonstrate God’s glory above else as they walk the highways and biways of Ghana in search of the elect of God.

Lord Bless,

Pastor Dave

I think I’ve been a little remiss in writing about Lyme Disease.  Since I have just returned from 25 “dives” (treatments) in a hyperbaric oxygen tank, I’m reminded of how well they  worked for Joni.

I suffered a TIA the Monday before Thanksgiving and was not healing well so I made the trip to Chico, California to the Chico Hyperbaric Center, where I under went 25 sessions of “diving” at 1.5 atmospheres while breathing pure oxygen.  The result?  A clear mind, now numbness on my right side, good balance, returned peripheral vision, etc.  Two other guys were treated with me and had equally satisfying results.  I had been treated before when I had my first stroke and had good results also.

Joni was treated a the Chico Hyperbaric Center (hbotoday.com) several years ago and had tremendous results.  She seemed to be going down hill rapidly and her condiotion was grave but after hyperbarics she began to improve.   She was experiencing 400 – 600 violent tremors per day before her treatment and now has dropped to an average of 6 per day.  That is a huge improvement. 

Dr. Kurt Johnson is a Lyme Literate Medical Doctor (LLMD) who has seen many cases of Lyme Disease and has been very successful treating them with O2 and antibiotcis in concert.  Dr. Johnson has help us greatly and I would recommend a consultation with him.  Joni and I are very happy with the results of her treatment.  She still wrestles with third stage but is under very good management with Dr. Johnson.

Several years ago when I began to write letters to Prince Paul Konu of Ghana West Africa, little did I know what the results of this relationship would lead to.

First, let me step back to the early days of my life in Christ.  One of the prayers that weighed heavily on my heart from the time I came to know Jesus Christ has been, “Dear God, please let me see a great awakening and please let me have some part in it.”

Many years have gone by and I had begun to think that I would not see this and may be like like the brethren in Hebrews 11:39 “not seeing the promises.’  BUT GOD is answering my prayers!!!

Writing to Prince Paul came about after a divine appointment several years ago.  Our hearts were knit and we have kept touch since.  My recent health problems with strokes forced me to slow down in ministry to Mexico and begin to write.  Prince Paul needed help, so I began to write to him about the things God has taught me.  Little did I know that the first series of letters would have no small part in an awakening that is taking place in Ghana West Africa right now.  “Letters To Prince Paul – Volume 1 – Foundations For Your Life in Christ” can be downloaded and read for free from our web site: davenjoni.googlepages.com.

Prince Paul informs me that more than 300,000 people have come to Christ in this recent move of God.  His question to me was, “What do I do with all these people?”  My answer was, “Start churches!”  so I began to write another series to Prince Paul describing the essential functions of the church.  This past weekend I finished the series and the final copy will be available to download for free also at our web site.  It is entitled: “Letters To Prince Paul – Volume 2 – The Six Essential Functions of the Church”.

NEXT- I plan to visit Prince Paul and a friend from Minnesota and I will lead three conferences around Ghana to encourage and train leaders for the new churchs that are forming.  We are scheduled to do this February 10 – March 1.

How do we pay for all this?  The trip will cost around $8000.  That is more than half of my annual income so we naturally need help with funding this enterprise.  That is where supporters and donors can join us.  If God so moves your heart to help you may send a donation to:

• The Theological Seminary of Baja California, PO Box 729, Tecate, CA 91980 and note that it is for support pastor Dave Kolb’s mission trip to Ghana.  The seminary will send 100% you gift on to us for trip expenses.  They do not charge any of their missionaries any accounting fees so that every penny can be used for ministry.

Costs for the trip incude about $3000 in expenses for travel, food, lodging and materials for 200 Ghanan pasoral leaders to come to the conferences.  $2000 for travel and living for seminar leaders while in Ghana and about $3000 in airline tickets.  This is not an inexpensive trip when I consider the economy that I am used to but considering the way that God is working in Ghana it is a wise investment in a great movement that is having profound effectiveness.  We would be trilled if God so moved your heart to join us in this life changing project.

Lord Bless,

DAVE & JONI

Proverbs 1:20-33 may be some of the most important verses you ever read.  What these verses have to say can make or break you.

So how do we get the topic of repentance out of these verses?  First lets talk about what repentance is:  to repent means ‘to turn around and go the other direction”.  Biblical repentance is turning around from going my personal sinful, self centered way and moving in God’s direction.  It takes place in the inside of a person with a deep and profound conviction of my sin and a sense of how great and holy God is.  It is more than just intellectual.  Repentance is so deep and so profound that it shakes us at the core of our soul and our old value system is torn completely from the moorings of our sinful self centered nature.  I agree with many theologians who say that it is so contrary to our sinful nature that it takes a special work of God to bring it about.  When God visits our heart with a gift such as this it both tears us apart and completely heals the longing of the inner man at the same time.  For those who have experienced true repentance it is both wonderful and terrible at the same time, and those who have embraced it by the grace of God will not do without it.

In this second half of the first chapter of Proverbs we see Wisdom call.  Previously in Proverbs 1:7 we read that the fear of the Lord was the beginning of wisdom.  Now in verses 20-23 Proverbs cries out everyone, “Wisdom shouts in the streets,… How long Oh naive ones will you love simplicity… Turn to my reproof and I will pour out my spirit on you…”  The wisdom of God is all around us.  The economy of the glory God is seen clearly around us in all creation.  It is manifest in the wisdom of godly parents, in natural order and more than any where else on every page of the Bible.  How long can we as individuals, as families, as cities, or counties, or states and nations turn a blind eye to the Wisdom of the Ages? 

• My prayer, as is that of many, is that a great spirit of repentance would visit our world with such conviction that no amount of rationalization could stem the tide of the Spirit of God driving men to their knees in remorse over their sin. 

Such is the call of Proverbs and as well as all of the rest of Scripture.

Wisdom warns us of the results of true and false repentance.  Verse 24 and beyond gives us the horrific results of turning a deaf ear to the warnings of the Scripture: “Because I called and you REFUSED…”  calamity comes.  So what then?  When calamity comes we are motivated to “repent”, but why?  Because it serves us well to try to get out of the trouble we have brought upon ourselves by not listening in the first place.  False repentance appears to turn around so that it can receive relief from the trouble that it has brought upon us.  True repentance turns to God for God’s glory and God’s sake, and not for it’s own sake.

• True repentance is God-centered, God-focused and God-honoring.
• False repentance is self-centered and self-focused and seeks relief from self-invited consequences.

Make Godly repentance a way of life.  Look at verse 33: “But he who listens to me shall securely…”  We should not repent to get what we can can from God but, to give what we should to God. 

GIVE GOD GLORY! 

Give Him alone the glory.

Pastor Dave

Maybe you thought that Proverbs was nice little book full of pithy sayings.  It sure doesn’t start out that way.  The more I have reviewed the wisdom found in Proverbs the more I enjoy its genius.  (Should we expect anything less from God?)

V8. “Hear, my son, your fathers instruction.”  You are going to see this phrase repeated over and over in Proverbs.  It may be easy to overlook and pass by, but it is absolutely vital that these words are burned into our hearts.  There is nothing like good advice.  One of my children asked if she could speak with Joni because she had “something important to tell us.”  She had us sit down on the couch as we normally did with our children when we were about to have a talk with them about something serious.  She had decided to watch her brothers and sisters very closely and when they did something good she was going to copy that behavior, and when they behaved poorly she would be careful not to do the same.  To our great satisfaction she has followed through with these plans.  The result is that she is wise beyond her years.  I have also witnessed children who have decided that they “want to learn from their own experience” and the results are not good.

Listening to wise counsel leads to maturity and strength of character.  Going it on our own leads to long term debt and remorse in many areas of life. (see vs 9)

Now, please take some time to read verses 10-18.  Don’t be lazy, read those verses…

OK, now that you have read them, what do you think?  Do these verses sound a little violent for Proverbs?  I titled the first study I wrote on Proverbs, “God’s Counsel on the Facts of Life.”  The Bible states the facts of life clearly.  The drama described in these verses is real and it is necessary to prepare our young people for just such an encounter.

Some may be naive and refuse to believe the situations described in these verses exist in our environments, but let me propose that this scenario is a daily occurrence in the culture we live in as well as in every other culture around the world.  I grew up in a rural community in a isolated setting.  Presently, I live near a major west coast city known for it’s gang violence, ethnic divisions, foreign drug and mafia connections and dangerous inner cities.  For the rural family these verses seem rather radical but for the populace of large cities they represent a common struggle.  Gangs use similar rhetorique to enlist and enslave naive young men and women every day.  Lest we think our children are immune let me warn you that con artist of the grossest perversions have been targeting churches and christian colleges for years.  I have met many times with men from a sexual recovery group who shared how they tested ‘the simple” to recruit unsuspecting participants and find naive partners to marry so as to look normal while the lead a double life.  They were masters of manipulation and experienced con artists.  This targeted spouse is called a “front person”.  ( I speak from personal experience in this matter.)

Most of us are aware of the gangsters in the 1930’s who are famous for ruling Chicago, the Sicilian mafia of the mid to late 20th century and more recently the Russian, Latin, and African mafias.  While movies glorified them, television has made mini-series these characters have not relinquished their diabolical schemes to control peoples lives.  To think that you will never be affected by them is “magical thinking” which they depend upon.  The sons and daughters of those with such naivete and inexperience are their targets, using riches and acceptance as their bait to lure the unsuspecting new recruit.

Does this sound radical?  Read verse 10 -18 again.  The warnings of Proverbs have to do with the nature of man and as a result are timeless.  Read and ponder these verse closely.  Teach their content to your children and arm them with godliness and virtue to protect them from such threats.  Our nation is experiencing a growing problem and good men must take a stand to protect their families and communities.

I told you Proverbs would be good for you.

Lord Bless,

Pastor Dave

To all who have been following  the “Simple Faith Blog” we want to say THANK YOU for your notes of encouragement and your faithfulness to read and apply the truths of God’s Word.  Every year starts with the feel that December is a long way off and then; here we are again.

This year has been one in which it has become clear on how God is moving us toward a goal.  The goal was to move us to the place of putting more time and effort into writing.  God has used the following process to move us along:

About 18 months ago I suffered a stroke which left parts of my brain looking like black holes on the MRI.  My speech was not affected and my thinking came back to normal within several months.  Body strength to my right side has never fully returned and when stresses come our way, which none of us can avoid, physical weakness manifests itself.  In all this, those close to me kept saying, “It is time to write!”  Joni wants me to write a book entitled “The Servant Husband”, and one of my children wants me to write about “Spiritual Warfare”. 

But most pressing was the need for help to be sent to Prince Paul Konu in Ghana West Africa.  He has seen nearly 300,000 people make professions of faith and has very little in the form of resources to work with.  This prompted me to begin to write letters to him that would help with his growth spiritually so that he could share spiritual growth principals with converts and leaders in the churches that were so quickly developing.  That culminated in “Volume 1 of Letters To Prince Paul – Foundations For Your Life In Christ”.  Later in the year I wrote a study guide that was also incorporated into this first volume.  Prince Paul stayed in close communication with me as I wrote.  He wrote back to me that a great revival had broken out among his leaders that spread to the villages and that this was in no small part due to the letters he had received and shared.  What a priviledge to part of a great move of God!

Prince Paul next asked what he should do with all of the people who were coming to Christ.  My answer:  “Start churches”.  His reply: “How?”  That lead to another series of letters to help him teach his leaders what the church was all about.  I am close to finishing this series which we have entitled:  “Letters To Prince Paul Volume 2 - The Six Essential Functions of the Church”.

Our goals for this next year include:

• Visiting Ghana to evaluate the progress of these churches.
• Writing Volume 3 to follow up on this evaluation.
• Start an Internet pastoral leadership training and disciple program with lessons for pastors to download and study wherever they are.
• See letters To Prince Paul translated into French for the rest of Africa, Spanish for Latin America and numerous other languages for developing movements of God in the Far East.
• Partnering with other missions to carry these lessons around the world.
• Hosting short term mission trips to Mexico during spring break and during the summer.
• Help with the development a short term missionary assistant.

Just as my initial stroke and family encouragement prompted me to begin writing, so a recent second stroke this past November 24th has moved me to continue in this direction.  Doctors have warned me that each successive stroke will do more damage so I am really motivated to put my efforts into writing while I can.

During this past year we also worked with discipling young Mexican pastors and seeing one of them start a church in a new colony of Tijuana which has started out very well.  The camp also made good progress and we look forward to seeing retreats and short term mission trips again this year.  I am praying that my body can stand my presence at the ministries in Mexico and travel to Ghana as well as southern Mexico, but we’ll see how I come out of this most recent stroke.

Our support has gradually diminished, but at the same time our ministry has greatly expanded.  We live as frugally as possible and have cut every corner in our budget to continue to move in the direction that God in leading.  We learned to love all the ways God provides for us.  Our job is to “Seek first the Kingdom.”

We are grateful to all who pray for us and encourage us in so many ways.

We are praying for workers for the harvest in Mexico, Ghana and any way people can help in Kingdom work around the world.

Lord Bless,

DAVE & JONI