Growing (Apr/May 2025 Update)

operationworth
6 days ago
5 min read

God has been helping us grow in so many ways these past two months: in number, in ability, and spiritually. And it's all God. None of these things would have happened without Him moving in and through us.

Our soccer ministry just keeps growing and growing in number! With now 25 kids AND 5 coaches (3 of them being guys who used to be on the team when they were little ♥), we have a lot to do! The kids are getting to a point where they're really growing not just in soccer skills, but in character. We're seeing more and more every week how the kids are truly learning teamwork and building each other up. It's still a work in progress, but God's moving in them! And a huge thank you to those of you who gave for our new soccer uniforms! The kids love them!

Abigail has been taking the opportunity to reach out to the few moms of the kids that come to our practices and games, and it's been amazing seeing Abigail minister and guide these moms during all that they're going through. And the team is still an amazing tool to invite the families to our church! Please continue to pray for us, as we minister to these families, and please pray for these kids and moms to see that Jesus Christ really is the answer to all of their problems.

Also, please keep praying for us, as we continue to bless some of these kids with dinner on Fridays and breakfast on Saturdays. God has been doing wonders every month with our finances to keep this new program going. It's something that we've seen a huge need for. This program isn't so much for the food we give them, but more for the love and worth we show them. A lot of our kids have huge self-esteem issues, and even a couple of them have confessed to us thoughts of suicide. Being able to spend this short amount of time with them every weekend helps us to pour God's love into their lives and help them see that Jesus has so much more for them than what they can see at the moment. If you would like to help us fund this new program, please do so by clicking here.

These past two months at Kids Church, we've been talking about The Super Squad: learning and growing in Christ together with our parents! We talked about the importance of how the kids need to learn together with their parents about Christ and how the parents need to teach their kids. We also talked about how kids and parents truly should be in Christ. Some of the kids were able to bring their parents, and their parents were ministered to, as well! Please pray for these kids and their parents, that they continue to grow together in Christ. Pray for the kids whose parents didn't come, that they see the importance of truly knowing and living in Christ.

Also pray for us, as we are starting a new series: "Why I Follow Christ," where each of us adult teachers will be sharing our testimony to the kids about why we decided to follow Jesus. Lots of our kids that come to Kids Church only come because their friends come or because of the toy store and The Grand Finale day that we do. They aren't getting the "why" behind it all. God showed me during worship time at Kids Church that the kids needed to see from us a real reason, a life example, why they should follow Christ. Please pray for the kids, that they understand and have open hearts so that God can move in them and draw them to Him. Please pray for us teachers, that we can share our testimonies in a way that the kids can comprehend and connect with to be able to receive what God has in store for them.

For three months, Abigail and I took a Mexican Sign Language class through our church to be able to extend our reach in ministry to the kids who only speak in sign language. We have a kid at our church who is deaf in one ear and partially deaf in the other, and he can speak very little. He uses sign language to communicate, so we took this class to be able to help him more, as well as other kids like him that may come our way. Our two youngest, Juanito and Meredith, took a sign language class, as well, during Easter Break to help their friend. Please keep Elias (the boy in the first picture) in your prayers, for God to do a miracle in his life. Keep us in your prayers, that God helps us to continue to learn more Mexican Sign Language to continue to communicate God's love in even more ways!

Kids Camp 2025 is coming up! We are looking at bringing 80 kids this year, along with staff for all the games, kitchen staff, and team captains that we need! We are looking at raising $6,000 USD for camp, and we already have $2,800, so we need to raise $3,200 more! It costs $50 to send a kid or staff to camp. If you can sponsor a kid or staff (or both!) for camp this year, click here to do so! All donations help!

I wanted to take a moment to talk about my brother-in-law, Adrian. Long story short, he got shot a couple months ago and has been going through a lot of recovery. During the first month, he stayed with us as he was recovering, and we were able to talk with him about Christ. Adrian didn't believe in God and didn't want anything to do with Him before we starting talking to him about God, but he started helping us with the ministry while he was in recovery, and from there he started coming to church with us. This picture above was from the March for Jesus event here in Tijuana a couple weeks ago. Since then, he's said, "It's cool that I can still have fun and joke around while being a part of a church, and it's a healthy kind of fun." He's still learning more about God and what He has for him, but he really is doing his best to find out more and grow closer to Him.

What's really on our hearts is that we want to be able to hire him as full-time staff for the ministry. He does a great job at everything he's helped us with during his time of recovery, and he has a heart to serve. He does a great job with the kids as well as all the odd jobs he had been doing. He's a great chauffer for the kids, too. The problem is, we don't have the funds in our budget to be able to pay him to be staff. If anyone would like to help fund Adrian so that he can continue to work along side of us as staff, giving us the help we really need, click here to do so. We are looking to pay him at least an average Mexican salary for now, which is $600 USD a month.

As a family, we've had a crazy and tiring last month. It's been a lot of good things, but it has been very exhausting. Prayers for rest and peace for us would be greatly appreciated. We will give more exciting updates in the next one!

"Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” - Matthew 11:28-30