GONZALEZ UPDATE

Video Slide show

2009-11-10T17:31:00.000-08:00

Jeremy made this video for our deputation trip.

Enjoy!

Yay, an Update! Aug 17, 2009

2009-08-17T16:14:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! I know, it's been just about forever since you got a new update. Here's what we've been up to!

We started up the children's ministry again when Caleb was 2 months old. After numerous schedule changes, we have settled in to one that works for us and the kids. We now meet again at 3 pm Monday through Thursday, alternating groups of kids every other day. We are getting around 30 a day, which is fabulous! They're still learning how to pay attention, which makes it a challenge. I've just started giving them a snack right before the story so their mouths are full while I'm speaking!

Jeremy has started a Wednesday night soccer game for the youth in the area. The teens are excited! Soccer is pretty popular out here. We're hoping that through this, the teens can build some positive relationships and it will be a way for them to be introduced to the church and ultimately, Christ.

I'm starting an English class on fridays. It will be small, under 5 people, but for now I think that's best! We'll see how it goes. We have a bunch of donated English as a Second Language books and workbooks that look like they will help, but for now we need to master the alphabet!

We've learned a little bit more Mixteco, which sounds like an Asian language to me! But slowly and surely we are getting it. The kids like to laugh at our attempts, but they promised to teach me some in exchange for some English words.

Jeremy got the chance to help build a house for one of our friends here, which was such a great experience! She and her two kids were so happy to have a "real" house now. It was an incredible week!

Caleb is 4 1/2 months old now. He's just adorable (of course!) He's finally learned how to take real naps, ones that last longer than 20 minutes or so, which is FABULOUS for Mommy! He's rolling over and trying his hardest to sit up. We love his big, gummy smile!

We will officially be coming to California from September 19-October 30thish. Here's the breakdown:

September 19-October 4: San Diego
October 4-19: Santa Clarita, with a stop in Orange County on the way up and Upland while we're there.
October 19-26: Mammoth Lakes, with a stop in Clovis on the way
October 26-28: San Francisco

And then we head back, with a stop for sure in Santa Barbara, possibly in Paso Robles as well. If we're stopping somewhere near you or going though your town, email us at jgonzalez@yugomail.org and we can see if we can set it up to meet you!

Long trip! Hopefully we'll come back with more supporters. We're getting closer to the goal, but to get our living visas we have to show proof of income of (I believe) $2,100 for three consecutive months. We really should have these visas.

Ok, I think that's all we've been up to! Hopefully now that we have internet at home (YAAAAAY!) we'll be able to update more often.

Love ya all and Adios!

Some pics to enjoy

2009-06-05T17:57:00.000-07:00

These are from our trip to SD to visit family. Enjoy!

Slowing things down a bit April 29 , 2009

2009-04-29T12:05:00.000-07:00

Anybody ever have one of those experiences where you have no clue what is going on but in the end you realize it is God telling you to slow down a bit?

Obviously a birth of child puts someone on "vacation". Well it's definitely not play time. So after two weeks of helping out around the house and making sure Melody will be ok before I go back to work, Tuesday of last week I returned to work.

Seeing a lot has been done since I left... just about the whole building has been painted and painting of the ceiling is being done. So I jump in and start helping. We were in the kitchen putting up tarps at the tops of the wall so we wouldn't paint a different color on the walls. I was all the way up the ladder and for some odd reason the ladder slips from the wall and I fall down with it, landing on the kitchen sink, bruising ribs and shin in the process. I thank God that nothing was broken.

Now a week later, still on the mend, I am taking things a bit slower. Soon Melody and I will be starting the children's ministry back up and are very excited to be having our first team working with us in June.

Other news Caleb is such a wonderful boy! Don't worry I am not biased or anything ;)
God Bless
Jeremy

Caleb arived!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-04-10T19:48:00.000-07:00

Born April 4th 9:20 am 8 lbs 2 oz 20.5 in. Mommy and daddy are happy!

2009-03-19T15:48:00.000-07:00

Hey someone showed me this and I felt it was worth passing on.
Lets Worship and serve the right Jesus.

Ok, here's an update! 3/11/09

2009-03-11T18:17:00.000-07:00

The baby's almost here! We are so excited to meet him soon! :)

For now, we have stopped the children's ministry. It was getting to be a lot with how tired I am and with finals for school! We had a fabulous fiesta (party) with a pinata and lots of candy to celebrate the end. We're planning on starting up again in May or so.

Jeremy is working with the guys both out there at the camp and here at the church. He and the pastor are talking about starting a sports ministry with the youth, which is very exciting! They'll probably start after the baby is born.

I have finished with school for this semester, (YAY!) and now I'm just trying to clean house! A lot has been neglected while we were so busy. Lots of fun there.

Well, that's what's going on here! We're praying for more people to partner with us financially. Things are definitely tight. The economy is affecting here, too. The exchange rate is up to 15 something pesos to one dollar, as opposed to the usual 10. Prices are going up like crazy to keep up.

Anyway, hopefully the next time you read this, our family will be a little bigger! :) 9 days until the due date and counting.

The Milk Story...

2009-03-11T17:50:00.000-07:00

Ok, so if you've already gotten our prayer letter and come looking for the milk story, sorry it hasn't been posted until now!

So. It was the week of Thanksgiving. Things were tight, but I thought we could make it through the month. My family was coming for Thanksgiving, so we had set aside a little extra in to our food budget. But it was a few days before Thanksgiving, and we had somehow run out of milk. And money. It was one of those weeks where you ask God, "Ok, what now?". All I kept hearing from Him is that lovely verse about the sparrows not wanting for food.

I tried not to worry too much. Later that day, a friend of a friend came in to where we were working and said he was running to Costco, do we need anything? Without thinking I say "MILK!" Five seconds later I'm metally kicking myself, because how it the world are we going to pay him back? Ok, maybe we can scrape together enough change between our American and peso collections.

He comes back a few hours later with two gallons of milk and says "Here you guys go, don't worry about it." I think I almost cried. God always provides for all our needs, even the silly little ones.

PICTURES 2/11/09

2009-02-11T10:27:00.000-08:00

Hello all sorry it has been so long! But here are soMe pictures of the ministrY Melody and I are involved in. Enjoy!

God is Working 1/29/09

2009-01-29T08:55:00.000-08:00

Hello again to all!

I want to tell everyone about the things God is doing! Many of you know Melody and I have started a childrens ministry in the area of migrant camps, with the conection of a local church. This local church has a ministry area that is called 'Campo Esperanza', which means Village of Hope. We started with one small village and just begain going there twice a week and picking any kids that want to come and hear a story from Gods word. To our surprise we have averaged 15 kids. Recently we had decided to Open this up to another area. So we picked another 2 days of the week and begain going to another area to pick up kids. And here too we are averaging about 15 kids. God is amazing! Not only that God has provided some 15 year olds that come occasionally to assist with the 'crowd control'. Our hope and prayer is that these stories from God's word become real to them and they may come to a saving relationship with Christ. Please pray with us. Also pray for my (Jeremy) patiance. For working with kids can be a trying time. But it is all to His glory!

Other news....

We are having a boy.
Melody and I are excited of this blessing God is giving us and expanding our family. Please pray for Melody's health as the due date aproaches, end of March. Pray for a healthy baby. And please pray for guidence things begin to change for us.

God bless you all
Jeremy

R&R 1/23/09

2009-01-23T12:45:00.000-08:00

Well The Yugo retreat was just at the begining of this week. The theeme of the retreat was the fruits of the spirit. It was an encouraging time where fellow misionaries shared what God has been doing in their lives and through their lives. It was also a wonderful time of rest and relaxation physically. Revival and restoration spiritually is something else God did at the retreat. Which helps prepare His servants to continue to serve.

Thank you all for you continued prayers and to everyone that made the retreat possible.

Building more than a home

2008-11-18T10:44:00.000-08:00

So this last week was a wonderful experience for me (Jeremy). At the outset of the week I was a little bothered by not being able to go with my wife to the migrant camp but also excited about building again. The week started off wonderful with the team from Canada ariving and dinner with the family receiving the house. I was there and available to serve. I met my team and was able to introduce them to the family. The relationship building began. The week continued and the house was built, but more importantly relationships were built. I had a wonderful time with that group of Canadians. The relationships built with the family that received the home are strong. But I believe the most important building is the bond and strength of our relationship with God. God touched me in a special way that no words can give it justice. For the first time I translated for a house dedication. I was nervous to say the least. relaying what each member had to say to the family went well. Then came the mothers' turn to share. Relaying her thanks and gratitude to the team was a dificult task and one I could not accomplish without emotion. This family felt the love of God through the actions of this Canadian team. It was a beautiful thing.

Captured by God
Jeremy

Out of the Boat!

2008-11-06T20:34:00.000-08:00

Ok, so like Peter we are stepping out in faith... we are starting (from scratch!) a children's ministry! Hopefully we won't sink like he did, but Jesus helped him back up! :)

We are working with the children of the migrant field workers. These are the poorest of the poor in Ensenada area. Field owners pay for them to come up from the state of Oaxaca. When they get here they are put in large chicken coop like structures with a dirt floor and no way to keep warm. Then part of what they are paid from working in the fields goes back to the owner to pay off their passage up here. Some of the parents we see don't even speak Spanish, they speak Mestaico (which I probably spelled wrong), an Indian dialect nothing like Spanish.

So our first day was last week. It was utter chaos! We weren't really sure what to expect as far as the number and ages of the children, so we brought a lot of games to play and decided to keep it simple. Turns out, this wasn't such a good idea.

We got to the center and there were no children. There was one guy working on the building, and he asked what we were doing. We told him the pastor said we could start a children's ministry out here and that there would be kids out about now. He jumped in his car and came back with about 6 kids from a nearby camp. At first they were scared of us, mostly Jeremy actually, because he's so white! Most of them warmed up to us, and then they started running wild.

So now we're a little more prepared. We tell them Bible stories, and color a LOT! They love coloring. It's not something that they get to do at home or school. At first, some of the kids tried to give us back their pictures when they finished. They didn't understand that these were for them to take home. They have so little personal belongings.

Once the days are light longer, we are going to try to start some programs with the youth as well. Right now, they all work until 5 pm, when it gets dark. Since there is no electricity out there, life pretty much shuts down then.

So pray for us! We need materials and more hands to help! Right now we are only working with children from one camp. There are many, many more in the surrounding area that we want to reach. It is now dependent on us to pick them up, bring them to the center (which is a central location) and take them back home. With only two of us, we are apprehensive to add more children, but want to see them all there! We need more materials if we are going to be able to work with more children. Right now we have about 6 small boxes of crayons. We trust that God will provide for all of our needs!

Ok, so this was a long one. I'll update you more about the other exciting things going on in our lives later! Oh, and pictures should come soon!

God Bless!
Melody

New New NEW! 10/25/08

2008-10-25T20:41:00.000-07:00

Well as you can see our blog has a new look. We added some new features that will make it easy to update everyone on baby news. Along with some other pages of fun and pics. Make sure you come by and check the blog often. You can subscribe or become a follower to know when we post something new.

Some more new thigs going on. Melody and I put a deposit on the doublewide trailer we were looking at to rent. In one week we will be paying our first months rent and getting the keys. YAY! Please be praying for us although we are getting a bigger space we still have some needs to fulfill to make it a home.

We thank you all for your prayers!

Spreading the NEWS 10/21/08

2008-10-21T12:53:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody!
So Melody and I figure it is time to let the news completely out. We are expecting our first child. Yes Melody is pregnant. She is about 4 1/2 months along. Please pray for her health, and pray for both of us as we embark on this new adventure in our lives.

Check out http://www.youtube.com/user/pastorspeedy for a couple of ultrasound videos. More videos will be posted as we get more.

Gods Blessings! 10/10/08

2008-10-10T15:57:00.002-07:00

As I sit back and reflect over all that has happened in the last year I am overwhelmed by the blessings of God. Through these blessings I am reminded how much God loves me. And that in and of itself is a huge blessing!

Ways I am and have been blessed:

- I have a wonderful wife and life partner who truly is with me through thick and thin.
- I saw Gods hand work in and through many people around me to show and share His love.
- Being a part of a wonderful community. Surrounded by people whose lives reflect the greatest commandment.

This is just a short list of the many blessings in my life! I look forward to see his list continue to grow as this year comes to an end.

-Jeremy

Grace Like Rain

2008-07-19T09:11:00.000-07:00

Grace... there is so much to God's amazing grace.

This last week I saw grace

in the smiles of thirty little mexican girls who were getting a day of princess treatment...

in the joy of a pastor handing a family a key to their new house...

in the eyes of a mother who saw a solid roof going on her house...

in the tears of a woman who saw the child she gave up in the child sitting on her lap...

in the lives of a group of people forever changed.

God's grace abounds.

We just have to look for it.

One Semester of Spanish Love Song

2008-07-18T17:24:00.000-07:00

Ok, this video is just hystarical. Don't worry, even Jeremy can speak more Spanish than this!

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Time moves too fast...

2008-07-08T15:06:00.000-07:00

Well the summer season is about half over for us. There have been moments that touched my heart and made me cry, and other times where I just wanted to pull out my hair from frustration. But within all of this organized chaos, God has been working and it is awesome to see!

One week here is over before you know it, but seems to last a lifetime. Building relationships with the teams, serving them and the mexican people around us, and then boom, they're gone and we're starting over again. But in that week you make friendships that can last you a lifetime.

We've been so busy, we've been neglecting our blog, so sorry you haven't heard from us in a while! It's hard to be able to pull out of this world and update those outside of it. Unless you've been here, you wouldn't understand how quickly time flies. But we do miss you all. I've started a personal campaign to get my family to plan a trip down here. Feel free to come anytime! We miss seeing people that we have relationships built up over more than a week. :)

Before we know it, the summer will be over, the interns will be gone :(, and the camp will be quiet for a couple months. I'm trying to savor the moments, and remember why we get so bored when there are no campers. Although we do get more sleep when they aren't here...

Pray for us as we keep serving and growing. God keeps pushing us out of our comfort zones, which is good but sometimes painful! And I'm serious about that visiting thing... give us a call. Or send us a real, honest-to-goodness paper letter, that's pretty exciting too!

Love you all.
Melodia

Summer Begins

2008-06-04T03:31:00.000-07:00

So we have returned from our trip in California. Back in Mexico for the beginning of our summer season. Thank you to everyone that took the time to see us, spend time with us and allowing us to be with you. We were truly blessed by you all.

We are now in the middle of our first week of the summer and things will get busier from here on out. We have new interns joining us later this month. Please keep us in your prayers as the summer continues.

Praise update: I, Jeremy, have been waiting on a program that will enable me to update the EOC web site and Blog, upon my return from California it was waiting for me here. So I have been busy on the web site. Please feel free to visit the EOC's Web site just by clicking HERE.

Please enjoy the following slide show of our trip in Cali.

Thank you all again for your continued participation through prayer and finances in the Ministry which God has called us to.

We've Moved!!!

2008-04-09T11:59:00.000-07:00

We are finally in the apartment! What a great blessing! It is SO wonderful having our own space. So we are all settled in now! Yay! (Can you tell I'm excited?) :)

Anyway... things are winding down here. This week is our last week of groups until the first week of June. We are now planning to spend the majority of May travelling around fundraising, all the way from San Diego to Mammoth Lakes! Several of the churches that have come to the camp here have invited us to come visit them. We are so excited about this opportunity! Now there's just the matter of living out of our suitcases for a few weeks straight...

We have more great news... our monthly support is up to 53% of our goal! God is awesome. Thank you to everyone out there for your prayers. We appreciate and need them all!

Let's see, what else has been going on?

I've been translating all over the place for both the groups and the Canadian family that has moved down. They're just finishing building their house, and are having me call all over trying to tie up loose ends for them! It's been a stretching experience for my Spanish!

We're heading to the States for the day on Monday to run bunches of errands and spend some time with Jeremy's family. It's going to be a long day. We're thinking about leaving around 5 a.m. to get everything done.

So that's our life in a nutshell right now! Catch you later!

Happy Easter

2008-03-23T09:22:00.000-07:00

As I sit here this morning I think about this day, this holiday and all that it is. The stone was rolled away and He has risen! Our Lord is alive not dead. AMEN!
I am excited that I serve a God who is alive. Not only is He alive He is also active in our lives, He is active in my life. My prayer is that we all allow Him to be active in our lives.

For those of you who do not receive our prayer letter, here it is online!

During my Bible reading I (Jeremy) came across a familiar story that I thought I’d share with you. It is a story from the Israelites’ wanderings in the wilderness. Like many times before, the Israelites were again complaining before God and Moses. God, in His justice, sends poisonous snakes to the Israelites wandering in the desert. It happened that anyone who was bitten by one of these snakes would die. Now the Israelites, realizing their error, came to Moses crying out for him to pray for them. They wanted Moses to ask God to take the snakes away. So Moses prayed. God told him to put a bronze snake up on a staff. Anyone who was bitten could look at the snake on the staff and live. This story is found in Numbers 21.

As I read stories like the one above I try to place myself in it. If I were an Israelite bitten by a snake I would do everything in my power to see the snake on that staff. If a friend or someone nearby me was bit and they were unable or refused to look for the snake on the staff I would do anything in my power to save them! For I would have the knowledge of what heals and saves.
Now we read in John 3:14-15, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”

My wife and I realize that we have been given an incredible gift! Eternal Life! Through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we have this incredible gift: Life! Without Christ, we are dead. We look around where God has placed us to minister, and we see people dying all around us, like the Israelites dying in the wilderness. The people around us do not need to see a snake on a staff, but they do need to see Jesus. We pray that we are worthy of this calling God has given to us. We also challenge you in your lives to show Jesus to those who need to see. For every Christian is called to the mission field. For you, that may not be in a foreign country. Your mission field may be to the person next door, or to the coworker that you see is hurting, or even the person in the grocery line in front of you! Wherever you are is your mission field. It is where God has placed you to minister!

Busy, busy, busy

2008-02-26T10:16:00.000-08:00

Things are starting to pick up here! Last week we had around 120 campers in. It was a really busy but awesome week. They built 6 houses and had a couple of VBS and other ministries going on as well! I (Melody) ended up translating for a different site every day! It was fun to get to know people from all over North America. And it sounds like we'll be getting a few more sponsers too!

Things are quiet for these next two weeks as we prepare for more groups, but then March will be packed full!

We miss all of you back home. There's never enough time in the day to talk to all our loved ones. Keep us updated! We rarely hear any news of what's going on in the outside world, especially with what is going on in all of your lives!

Randy and Sandy have offically arrived with their family to stay for good. We are excited to have them around again!

Please continue to pray for us as we minister here!

Hmmm...

2008-02-03T14:05:00.000-08:00

It's quiet in the house right now, except for the sound of rain outside. Yes, it is raining AGAIN! The streets are only slightly flooded so far.

Praise God, our support continues to go up! Another person contacted us just Friday about supporting us. We are SO encouraged by this. It is a nice reminder that God is always faithful, and that we are where HE wants us to be.

We have three new interns, all from Canada, for the next three months. They are very cool people (so far) :P . Its only been a couple days, but they are fitting in great!

I've decided to cut back on the amount of classes I'll be taking online next semester. It has become too much to "go to school" full time as well as be as involved as I would like to be in the ministry (and have time to breathe!). So I'm going to go to a half time (?) load, with two classes per semester. The classes I'm taking now are facinating (psychology and youth ministry) but SO much work.

We did all the shopping for the breakfast programs the other day. One time, I am going to take a picture of the enormus amount of food that it takes to run five programs for a month. It always gets a little ridiculous when we are trying to check out at the local Costco. Or when we run to the dollar store and get over 20 bags of cereal. We get a few laughs! But it also opens doors to share about Christ, which is always AWESOME!

So things are busy, but good here. Kinda cold. Can't complain too much. We have a roof over our heads that doesn't leak. After seeing the conditions here, you are thankful for each little thing that God has blessed us with and heartbroken for those that do not have even solid walls around them.

New Year!

2007-12-31T21:18:00.000-08:00

Well in about two and half hours it will be the new year! This past year has been full of so many adventures. We've gotten married, moved to a different country as missionaries... who knows what this next year will bring? :)

At the moment we are hearing a million fireworks go off outside. They sound like bombs! One of the joys of living in Mexico.

We are hoping to move in to the apartment by the end of February. By then the house will be done so the people living in the apartment can move out and in to the house! It will be so nice to have a little place of our own again.

The youth leaders meeting went well. Six churches attended! We are very excited about this new team of people we have to work with. We are planning to attend their youth groups and build up relationships with the teens while working on support for the youth center.

We pray that this next year brings many blessings for all of you!