Part 1... from Garrett
First of all, let me say thank you to everyone that showed us great hospitality while we visited in December. A special thanks to Buddy and Liz for allowing us to stay at their house for the entire month. Thank you to everyone that has been diligently praying for us over the last year while we were in Mexico. Thank you to everyone that slipped to us cash, anywhere from $10 to $100. Thank you to those who donated via PayPal or to the Knights Of Mexico account at Shindler. We would not be where we are now without your support.
This post is more about information than anything else, so if you want pictures, you'll have to wait until Brittany writes "Part 2", but I do encourage you to read this to make sure you understand. I want to be open and honest about our financials as most of you give openly, which we are incredibly thankful.
I feel the need to write this because while we were visiting I was having a conversation with someone and to my surprise they were under the impression we are financially supported by the International Mission Board (IMB). This is NOT, I repeat, this is NOT the case. NONE of the support we receive from the IMB is financial support. ALL of our support is from people who donate by either using PayPal, giving through Shindler, and my (Garrett) employment at Communications Solutions (CSI). I still work for CSI doing remote support for telephone systems and network support. I am blessed beyond belief for a company that is so flexible and giving to its employees. Working for CSI has allowed us to move to Mexico and function for a year, without having to wait for the necessary donations to support us. However, as the time goes on, I am looking to depend on the CSI paycheck less and less. I want to be able to do missions full time, and the ONLY way to do that is to gain your financial support.
Lastly, I wanted to explain our financials… Our monthly operating budget is right around $2,900. Shocker, I know right. I know, your first thought is probably wow, I thought people lived off less than $20 a day in Mexico. You would be correct in that the person barley scraping by trying to live day to day lives off less than $20 a day. However, we are not just trying to scrape by here in Mexico, we are and want to continue to be financially equipped missionaries here in Mexico. If we want to be able to go out to talk to a people group, it takes a lot of extra time and money to make that happen. We want to make things enjoyable for teams that come and help us, we want to be able to provide for and help those that NEED it whenever the opportunity arises. We want to be able to do nice things for the community to gain respect and friendships. We want to be able to run our AC for just a few hours during the day it gets over 110 degrees (I know I’m stretching it with that one). There are many more things that come up every week we are here. The last thing we want to do is worry about money and with a $2900 budget per month, that makes ministry a lot easier and allows us to do a lot more.
Once again I want to thank everyone that has given over the last year or more. There were a lot of financial unknowns this last year, with having to get new passports, visas, returning home to honor and remember a great friend and mentor that passed away, taking two trips to the border for truck permits, selling and buying a new truck. All of this wouldn’t have been possible without your financial support.
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Part 2... from Brittany
We had a great time on our trip back to the states. We feel refreshed and ready to start this next year of mission work.
Most of you know that we got a chance to meet with the president of Ojitlan and we couldn’t be more excited about the outcome of that meeting. For the first time in the 3 years or more that we have been working in Ojitlan we have shared with the president that we are Christians and that we are here to share the love of Christ. Why did we do that now all of a sudden.. Well because he is a Christian too! This means we have a big responsibility the next 2 years (the length of his term) to utilize this giant open door! More than ever we need to be sensitive and obedient to what God is calling us to do.
This means more than ever we need your partnership and your prayers. I want to share my devotion from a few days ago..
Gain What You Cannot Lose
Devotional by John Piper
Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.” (Mark 10:27)
Here are two great incentives from Jesus to become a World Christian and to dedicate yourself to the cause of Frontier Missions. As a goer or a sender.
1. Every impossibility with men is possible with God (Mark 10:27). The conversion of hardened sinners will be the work of God and will accord with his sovereign plan. We need not fear or fret over our weakness. The battle is the Lord’s, and he will give the victory
2. Christ promises to work for us, and to be for us so much that, when our missionary life is over, we will not be able to say we’ve sacrificed anything (Mark 10:29–30).
When we follow his missionary prescription, we discover that even the painful side effects work to improve our condition. Our spiritual health, our joy, improves a hundredfold. And when we die, we do not die. We gain eternal life.
I do not appeal to you to screw up your courage and sacrifice for Christ. I appeal to you to renounce all you have, to obtain life that satisfies your deepest longings. I appeal to you to count all things as rubbish for the surpassing value of standing in the service of the King of kings. I appeal to you to take off your store bought rags and put on the garments of God’s ambassadors.
I promise you persecutions and privations — but remember the joy! “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:10).
On January 8, 1956, five Waorani Indians of Ecuador killed Jim Elliot and his four missionary companions as they were trying to bring the gospel to the Waorani tribe of sixty people.
Four young wives lost husbands and nine children lost their fathers. Elisabeth Elliot wrote that the world called it a nightmare of tragedy. Then she added, “The world did not recognize the truth of the second clause in Jim Elliot’s credo: ‘He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.’”
We are keeping this quote from Jim Elliot in the forefront of our hearts as we press on to do what seems like the impossible “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” John Piper says the conversion of hardened sinners will be the work of God. Our prayer is to be His hands and feet, and to lead us to these sinners.
The Domingo family is doing well. We are excited about what the new year will bring for them. I few of them actually read their Bible while we were on vacation. This was very encouraging for us. Please continue to pray for them that they will grow in Christ this coming year, and pray for us that we would be clear in teaching them the Bible.
Thank you for your prayers and support. We are excited to have some new faces join us in Mexico this year!
click on the pictures for details:
