Los otros días iba en mi auto y de pronto se me ocurrió encender la radio para escuchar música. Sintonicé una estación de FM en Español y el locutor anunciaba "el éxito romántico del momento". Por la voz y el tono en que lo dijo, me pareció algo sarcástico y en realidad, no me equivoqué.

La canción decía que "ojalá te mueras, que las puertas del cielo se te cierren y que cuando llegues al Infierno, el diablo te entregue tu carguita de leña para que hagas un infierno aparte y no perviertas a los demás demonios que están allá".

Me pareció una aberración y cambié a otra emisora, también de FM, y estaban cantando algo que decía: "gracias por recordarme a mi madre y sin hacer mucha bulla, yo también te recuerdo a la tuya".

It seems like only yesterday it was October and we were welcoming Nico, Nekane, Irene and Saray. This last 9 Month La Industria had three ContraCorriente events (April in Vigo, May in Valencia and June in Madrid) helped to make it one of the busiest 9 Month courses ever.

It was a year full of everything from very happy moments, like the Birth of Jack and Luke to Darren and Mariberta—to very sad moments, like when Jack went home to be with the Lord. We miss Jack.

So this year will stay in our memories forever. We hope and pray that the spiritual investment that we made in Nico, Nekane, Irene and Saray will last forever as well.

On another note we also just finished our 10 day La Industria camp with a record high number of students. Marsela and Carolyn stepped up to the challenge of feeding 108 people 27 meals! As always God surprised us with His mercy and grace. Starting from the very first night the teens at the camp responded to the messages which mainly focused on commitment to Jesus and obeying Him.

Please continue to pray with us as we are still looking for a warehouse or old factory to purchase. As prices on real estate continue to drop it seems easier to buy but on the other hand banks are much stricter on whom they give loans to. In short we need a miracle.

Thank you for standing by and for praying with us to see this nation change for the glory of God.

JOHN HILL

Hello Everyone,

I wanted to thank everyone who worked so hard to make the picnic a success. It really was. I think it was our best one so far.  Besides the face painting, food, and overall fun, this was indeed a life changing event for many people.

Reconciliation Wedding:  Adela and Paul Alvarado had been divorced. Within the last couple of years , even though they were divorced, they started coming to New Life Oak Forest. During that time they both surrendered their lives to Christ. They got mentored and joined small groups. God continued to work on them and they realized that they still loved each other and wanted to be together. What you witnessed at the picnic was a reconcilation wedding. Paul and Adela got remarried to one another and then followed that up by being baptized.

Baptisms: I asked each one of you to bring a gallon of water to fill the baptistry and we did it. Over all we baptized 9 people at the picnic.  Each one of the baptisms represents a life that has been changed by the power of God.
Please keep the following recently baptized people in your prayers; Paul,Adela,Mario, Crystal, Carol, Lori, Jill, Scott, and Dana.

Salvations: To top it all off we had two people surrender their lives to Jesus during the service at the picnic.

In case you haven't realized it, God is up to something at New Life Oak Forest.  And we get to be part of it!


He is Awesome!


Pastor AL

One of the greatest things about living and working overseas is meeting fascinating people from all over the world..  Our organization in Mongolia, JCS, has missionaries from 19 countries.  A couple of years ago I met an Australian guy named Dave Andrews.  He is a fine Christian man with a wonderful sense of humor who thinks Great Thoughts.  He writes books. The really impressive thing about Dave is that he does things in addition to thinking and writing.  He is passionately active doing things about injustice.  Like God, Dave hates sin and injustice.  For him, the great commission is all about correcting false notions of God.

God is Good.  But most people are looking for evidence on this point.  How might they find it?

Christ Jesus “. . . gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.” (Titus 2:14).  The evidence of God's goodness is in the self sacrificial nature of His children, their service to others in the name of God, their compassion in the power of the Holy Spirit.  An act of love motivated not from the resources of human nature, but from the heart of God is impressive.  This is the kind of thing that resonates with fallen human beings.  Inwardly they may be asking, “Who cares about my issues here and now? Who helps me? Who is self sacrificial? Who tells the truth? Who knows my name and all about me, and yet still cares?”

Jesus' people are zealous for good deeds.  This is how the general public can tell that God is good.

We NewLifers are busy with good deeds.  It is, however, ridiculously easy to be distracted.  All it takes sometimes is to NOT FEEL APPRECIATED.  All it takes is an offensive comment.  All it takes is a presumptuous demand, and we Christians can be at each other's throats.

The other day I was feeling very annoyed with someone.  I wanted to disobey God and do something unkind.  Wasn't there some special allowance to retaliate, especially if you are in a bad mood?  If a fellow “missionary” does something really irritating and unChristian, wouldn't it be OK for me to just smack 'em?  Do I have to walk in the Spirit, and “be at peace with all men” in this case?  Can't I behave according to human nature if somebody is really, REALLY annoying?  I was looking in the Scriptures for some kind of disclaimer.

I couldn't find one.

Instead I found that I'm not supposed to grow weary in doing good.  I decided to ignore the enemy's ranting and get back to work demonstrating that God is good.

It is my prayer that many souls would find ample evidence of God's goodness in the concern and action of NewLifers – in Chicago or Mongolia or wherever.  May we all get busy, as Dave Andrews would say, “restoring the reputation of God in the eyes of the confused.”  God is good.

Sucedió en el "Coloso de Santa Ursula", en la capital mexicana.