God's mercies are new every morning...It is a time of new beginnings!  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all our brothers and sisters in Christ throughout the world!  On December 21^st, we celebrated 25 years of marriage…where has the time gone?  Our children are young adults now and are beginning to become independent.  These are bittersweet times for sure.  Estie lives in Centralia, Washington and working and serving her church there.  She has been able to save to buy her first car!  What a blessing to watch the Lord provide as He always has for us.  She also works at a ballet school teaching small children and beginners dance!  God does give us the desires of our heart if we earnestly seek Him!  Micah graduated from CCBC in Murietta, CA and was accepted for their intern program on campus.  He is really in his element at the Bible College!  For any of you that know my son, you know how personable he is!  Nobody is a stranger to Micah and God still blesses his servant heart.   Both Estie and Micah thrived at CCBC and it was a great place for them to integrate back into American culture and truly grow in their walk with the Lord.  We are so grateful for that wonderful school.   Abby…what can I say?  Of all three of our kids she has had the uncanny way of getting us to step out and be adventurous!  This year she has accompanied me on many of our missionary ventures…from planning tea parties for the adolescent girls from church to hiking up the river with our young boys as we took the time to teach the lessons on having a pure heart for the Lord.  The older two left home and she naturally stepped up to the plate and has helped Bill and I with every aspect of the logistics of the church such as sound, kid’s ministry, maintenance, and youth ministry! 

As our children embark on their own adventures and individual callings, we remember the promises of God and we thank Him for His faithfulness to complete the work He has begun in each one of them.  It is hard to imagine that we have been on the mission field for 18 ½ years already.  Looking back at what the Lord has done is so wonderful and gives us strength to believe that He will continue to do His work through us as He wills.  For it is by grace through faith that we are saved, not of ourselves that any of us can boast! 

The church continues to have people come and go…we are a very transient community, full of snow birds and people moving to Vallarta for work, foreigners and nationals.  In that movement, we see many come and experience Worship and Expository teaching of the Word and their lives have been changed.  Many have come to faith and continue to grow in the Lord and are learning to serve Him!  We continue to work out in Laguna del Valle at our Mission School and are seeing sweet results of laying up Scripture on the hearts of the children and youth.  We have a great team of teachers who give of their time to these children.  Tuesdays and Thursdays, we teach English, math, reading and writing.  On Fridays, we have worship and Bible Study.  God continues to send awesome volunteers to help serve the children their meals and in our tutoring program.  The ministry at CCMS is three-fold.  1.  Ministry to the children through Bible Study, worship, and our tutoring program.  2.  Ministry to the servants in the kitchen as it is cross-culture.  The folks in the body get a chance to serve together and experience a comfortable place to learn a new language and what it means to submit one to another which helps us grow in our body-life.  3.  Finally, ministry opportunities we have to expose the unsaved to a Christ-centered helps program to the less fortunate.  Meaning that volunteers come and get to see the Gospel shared and we have the opportunity to minister to them as well.  

This really is the Hallmark of the ministry at Calvary Chapel PV.  We want to help without hurting.  We want to teach others to serve in the name of Christ making the Bible central to all we do because works without faith are dead.  Meeting the needs of others is one way to teach Christ's love.  During these incredible 18 ½ years on the mission field, we have seen the Lord provide the resources to complete the vision the Lord has given us as a family.  It hasn’t all come without opposition but without that opposition, we wouldn’t be able to say that it was God who has done the work. He has done great and marvelous things and has given us the privilege of seeing His hand in everything!  He has worked all things together for good because we love Him and are called according to HIS purpose!

We want to take the time to thank the Body of Christ at Calvary PV and across our borders.  We thank the Lord for your tireless service, your compassion, your faithfulness, your prayers and for your investment in His kingdom through your support!

We will be in Mexico until the Lord says otherwise…we are blessed and feel His presence here with us day by day as He continues to work through us and in us His will and great pleasure!  Emmanuel, God with us means more to us this season than ever before…life with Jesus only gets better!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,

Pastor Bill, Renee’, Estie, Micah, Abby and the Church at Calvary PV

God is so good all the time!  With the approach of the second largest hurricanes recorded...keep ing in mind the flood of during Noah's day, some asked why aren't you leaving?  Can't you evacuate?  With this in mind, we knew God had not called us at the time to run from the impending danger or from the enemy but to "stand" and then,  to "stand therefore"!  We stayed because this is where He showed us that this is where He wanted us to be by His grace alone, to help those who would have been dismayed, worried or worse, crushed from the full impact of a hurricane of such magnitude.  We are called to be on the front lines and we are not about to defect or retreat until He tells us to move by the pillar of fire by night or the cloud by day.  Such a beautiful picture of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament...I am glad we listened and got to see Him glorified so tremendously in this place when he turned the hurricane from it's original trajectory!  There is no better place to be then in the center of His will, dying to ourselves and ready to bring others to the foot of the cross in prayer, service, and in sharing the Gospel!  Church was full yesterday after the big faith tester we all had this weekend!  Thank you all for your prayers, willingness to come if needed, and encouragement!  The whole ordeal really brought to my mind Job when God and speaks this to him:

“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell me if you have such insight.
Who determined its dimensions?
Certainly, you know!  Who stretched a measuring line over it?
On what were its footings sunk?
Who laid its cornerstone
when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
"Who shut the sea behind gates
when it burst through and came out of the womb,
when I clothed it with clouds
and wrapped it up in dark clouds,
when I set a limit for it
and put up bars and gates,
when I said, ‘You may come this far but no farther.
Here your proud waves will stop’?
"Have you ever given orders to the morning
or assigned a place for the dawn
so that it could grab the earth by its edges
and shake wicked people out of it? Job 38:4-13

The Lord in His mercy is giving the unbeliever the opportunity to turn from their wicked ways and choose to follow Him.  Pray for this community that they will draw close to Jesus and acknowledge Him in all their ways while there is still time to recognize His mercy...may the people of our community not get back to business as usual and forget the second chance the Lord is giving them to repent and give their lives to Him!  Pray for our future Outreach on the Malecon.  We expect the Lord to use this great testimony of His power to reach many for Him!  May they see the One who laid the foundations of the earth and accept our Great Creator God into their lives!  ~ Renee'

    ….They are a group of “Radical” young people in love with God’s Word….they love spending time together at church, serving at the Mission or collaborating at our outreaches!  We love their hearts and their energy to see others won to Christ for His name.  Some we have watched grow in Christ from a very young Pre-school age who are now becoming responsible young adults, moving on to College and University. 

          Rolando and Eunice left last year to study at Calvary Chapel Bible College in Ensenada, Baja CA.  Eunice stayed on through the summer, serving at Genesis, a ranch for special needs children where she was a great blessing.  She will return this summer after completion of the two-year program
to serve in the church, using her gifts and talents to bless the Body.   Rolando came home this summer to serve in the church and at CCMS.   They both will finish up this May and will be returning to PV to serve at Calvary PV.   We are so excited, watching them both continue to grow leaps and bounds in Christ and in the knowledge of His Word.  We are so grateful the Lord has made the Bible College available to young people down here in Mexico who want to continue to serve as missionaries to their own culture!  It is truly an answer to prayer and a part of the completion of the vision the Lord has given us for the church's spiritual growth.

Eunice and Roland with a friend at CCBC Ensenada

     Micah and Emmanuel will be leaving to CCBC in Murietta, CA  in January. Both have served consistently on the worship team for several years.  They are teaching the youth music and Worship in hopes of raising up others that can take their place when they leave.  We know are God is faithful and even though these two gifted young men are leaving, we know He will provide others.   

     We have other teens come to Christ as adolescents and young adults.   What a challenge it is for them in a world that is completely up-side down culturally and spiritually.   To see them break free from religious tradition, social and cultural pressure in this “Party” community has been such a blessing.  Please keep them in your prayers as the enemy is not happy for them to be flourishing in God’s Word.  

     This excerpt taken from In My Father’s House, The Years before “The Hiding Place” by Corrie Ten Boom expresses our deep desire to bring children and the youth out from the fiery flames of a life without salvation.

     “In the Bible,” Papa continued, “we read that Jesus has promised to come to this world to make everything new. The world is now covered with hatred, but when Jesus returns, the world will be covered with the knowledge of God, like the water covers the bottom of the sea.”  Thinking of that wonderful day, I knew why Papa prayed for it so often. “Oh, Papa, then everyone will know about Jesus! I’ll be very happy when He comes.”

     Decades later I was speaking to a group then challenged parents to “bring their little ones to the Lord Jesus. He has said, ‘Let the children come to me; the kingdom of God is theirs.’” (Matthew 19:14.)  Then I told how I made a decision for Jesus when I was five years old.

     After that talk I left the platform and went into a small room in the building where I found a father with two little boys, all on their knees. The father had an arm around both of those boys, and I moved back quietly while the man told the boys tenderly that they were not too young to ask Jesus to come into their hearts.

     What a wonderful heritage those boys have, to know that their father cared enough about them to lead them to a knowledge of their heavenly Father!

     Later I received a letter from a lady who told me the results in her life of that evening.

     “I went home after that meeting and went directly to my little girl, Mary, who was in bed, She knew about the Lord because she had been to a Sunday school, but that night, in her bed, she gave her heart to Jesus.

     The next morning she said, ‘Oh, Mommy, I’m so happy that Jesus is now in my heart. He made me a child of God.’

Mary was singing the whole time before she went to school, and I was amazed that she sang many songs about heaven.

      My husband went to school to pick her up that day, and as he approached the schoolhouse, he noticed that a great many people were standing around, and there obviously must have been an accident. Then he saw what had happened.

     Mary was on the street, her little body crumpled like a rag doll. She was dead.”

As I read that letter my eyes were so filled with tears that the words blurred.

     “Mary had passed behind a big transport truck and had not seen another car, which was coming toward her from the other direction. She was killed immediately.

     My husband brought her little body home. He was in deep despair, but then he remembered the songs Mary had sung that morning. I told him what had happened the evening before, and right then, my husband, who had never made a decision for the Lord Jesus, accepted Him as his Savior.

    On Mary’s burial day many children of her class came to the Lord.”

     I sat for a long time with that letter on my lap, realizing that I must have a new sense of urgency to talk to parents about the joy of leading their children to the Lord. What a wonderful assurance Mary’s parents had, to know that someday they would be with her again. 

                                                                          ~Corrie Ten Boom

    Won’t you join us in prayer for these precious young ones that the Lord has committed to our care?  What a wonderful way for those enjoying this Blog can take part in lifting up these young ones.  We are blessed by every class we share God’s Word as we watch these young ones take home their love for Jesus and share it with their families.

     One young boy named Danny went home after a Wednesday night service and told his aunt and uncle who claim to be aethists, that he couldn't wait to get to heaven so he could play with all his favorite toys and be with Jesus!  They said, “No Danny, we don’t want you to go, you have to stay right here with all of us!”   His sister Valeria, one of the youth in the church had her headphones in listening to music but then noticed Danny had a confused look on his face about something.  She took out her earphones and asked him what he had said.  He told her, “Hermana, I can’t wait to go to heaven because I can play with my favorite toys and it will be so fun all the time!  She said, “That’s right Danny we are going to heaven one day to be with Jesus and we are going to have a lot of fun!”  He had been to class one time and he understood the plan of salvation and believed!  It is so precious to Jesus when we come to Him with such a child-like faith! 

     What a privilege it has been to be able to see the Lord completing His work in the lives of these young ones!  Charles Spurgeon once said:  “But do the little ones forget? I suppose the events which we best remember in advanced age are the things which happened in us in our earliest days.” Well, that is what is happening right now in each little life weekly as we allow God to minister His Word....What a blessing!

“ Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”  I Corinthians 15:58

 What do we have planned for the the rest of this year?

We will celebrate Thanksgiving a wonderful tradition the Church here is learning about!  It is a time we allow the Body to share what the Lord has done in their lives the past year....We all have so much to be thankful for!

The children and youth at Calvary Puerto Vallarta are getting ready to start choir and drama practice for our annual Christmas Outreach in Laguna del Valle. Our theme this year will be "My heart, Christ's home."     
       
     They will sing songs in Spanish and English.  There will be music, puppet shows, and youth dramas emphasizing the importance of inviting Jesus in to our hearts making Himself at home in our lives.  We continue to pray for God's direction in our planning and in our teaching of God's Word through our Children's and Youth ministries, preparing young evangelists through their gifts of the Arts.  
      
     Please pray for our team of volunteers that come here seasonally to help out with this Outreach and for our trip to Guadalajara to purchase gifts for the 500 children who will be invited.  Pray for a Harvest of many souls and for spiritual growth for all of those who are participating in the program, children and well as the adults.

These photos are such a beautiful representation of what the Lord is doing in the lives of our kids at CCMS and at the church.  They are always so happy being in the refuge the Lord has given them in His house.              Please pray for the keeping of their souls as the battle rages in their homes.  We love their hearts and are so blessed to watch the Lord increasing their faith!  We hope you can come someday and experience it with us.  It is a great place to bring your Youth teams from your churches so they can experience the love of the Lord as they love and feed His sheep.  If you are interested in sending a team down please let us know by emailing us at:  wmartinmex@yahoo.com.  or by visiting our webpage:  CalvaryPuertoVallarta.com 

May God bless you and keep you and make His face to shine upon you and give you His Peace as we work together, sharing the Lord's love with others in our homes, workplace, and every place the Lord may take us!

If you would like to be involved financially, supporting Calvary Puerto Vallarta or the Martin's, feel free to do so following this link at Calvary of Albuquerque Missions 

http://www.globaladventures.org/gettoknow.asp?UnitID=39

"I am thankful for all the Lord has done and continues to do in Calvary Chapel PV.  Here is a wonderful recap of what the Lord did last year through his servants at the church and then an update of current happenings."
 -Pastor Bill Martin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aKQiaUTt2U&feature=youtu.be

August 2014

"Naked I came from the mother's womb, naked I shall return, the Lord giveth the Lord taketh away, Blessed be the name of the Lord!"

The words of Job gives the Christian a healthy perspective during times of trial and during times of blessing....
It is Monday and the beginning of school for many children and young adults. Our Church service was such a joy yesterday as we prayed with Rolando, a CCBC Ensenada  student and the others who will be starting classes.  It is such a blessing because these young people have such a great hope and promise for their future because of what they have in Jesus.  We saw others this weekend receive Christ and others prayer for healing.  One brother who hadn't slept in three nights was touched and finally slept and received and answer to prayer.  In Vallarta, as I am sure in many parts of the world. many are being affected by the poor economy.  As a result everyone is really tightening their belt and live under a tremendous amount of stress because of it ....but the Joy of the Lord is our strength and God truly is our provider and continues to be glorified in His church!

In spite of tough times the church has been able to pay the rent, gasoline for the vans that transport people to church,  and all the other expenses we incur to keep the doors open.   We praise the Lord for His faithfulness!  The teaching of God's Word to the people of the body has brought strength to their faith and a trust in the Lord that He is able to provide for all their needs when they are faithful to Him. They can still pay their bus fare to make it to church on Sunday!  Please pray for this seemingly small need...it is a very big factor for many!

This year we were able to hold our usual yearly outreaches to the community and the Lord faithfully provided what was needed just at the right time to cover all the expenses!  We just completed Vacation Bible School, Jungle Safari, where we ministered to approximately 60 children and 20 youth!

We had a great team of servants in the church that gave their all to bring the Gospel to these kids in a very creative and colorful way.  We had a team of artists that transformed the church into a very pleasant and beautiful Jungle theme.  We had wonderful worship and great actors that lead the way into making the adventure captivating and interesting to the kids.  We all had a great time!  A special thanks goes out to Roxy and staff from Calvary Albuquerque Bible Island who supplied us with all the files so this years VBS could be translated and brought to life here in Calvary PV!

 
With the support of the Church body and Lynn Valley Christian from Vancouver, Canada, we were able to feed the kids, provide them with Hygiene packs, and School supplies for this upcoming school year! It was a quite a learning experience for our youth and theirs in true servanthood, fellowship, and Bible study!  We did a blitz job in three days with a 5 day program!  Sun up to Sun down the kids worked extra hard to keep the excitement going as the kids learned that God truly is our Creator, Protector, Provider, Savior and King!   They even learned the theme song "I can count on God" in English!  We all had so much fun and the most exciting part is that 12 new kids came to know Jesus as their Savior!  Aren't they beautiful kids?  And now even more so with the love of Jesus shining through!

The kids played water games in Jaguar Junction, they visited the Craft room at Lizards Leap, had snacks at the Shark Attack, and most importantly they visited Zipline Bible Time as they watched the Bible come to life through dramas that took them on a Explorer's adventure into God's Word!  Many were blessed and got a deeper understanding of how much God loves them and wants to be their King!

Miss Mari leading kids to Jesus in
Zipline Bibletime!

JUNGLE SAFARI 2014
"LOS TIGRES"

The Children's Ministry at Calvary Chapel has been such a great way to reach adults because in Mexico if you love their children you have an open door to the hearts of the parents!  We have seen so many of the kids that have been reached for the Gospel continue to follow the Lord and have then become servants in the church.  Please keep praying for their continued growth and commitment to our Lord!

Lynn Valley then had the opportunity to make bricks with the compressed block machine at the Mission School.  The adobe blocks will be used to make a wall at the side of the property bringing the whole complex almost to completion.  This team stays on site every year and loves being a part of the community out at Laguna del Valle where our mission is located.  It is truly a wonderful way for the youth in North America to learn how to show God's Agape love as they provide a great need in the building ministry at Calvary  PV.  Let us know if you would like to send a team down.  We can provide inexpensive housing and great ministry opportunities to help the church reach out to those that are less fortunate.

                                                                                                             

   

The block can be laid as soon as it is produced.
Anyone can help making it an excellent job for teams!

We praise Jesus for all He has done this first half of 2014 and for giving us the opportunity to serve Him in such beautiful ways.  This is a little of what we are doing in our part of the world.  Our prayer is, as we wait for the coming of Christ, that all His church would be about the things of the Lord, preaching, teaching, and making disciples in the name of Jesus!  We live in perilous times and now more than in any other it is imperative that we shine Jesus to a lost and dying world.  May He find His church being about the Father's business, sharing Jesus love with all those we meet.

Please pray with us for this ministry and open hearts to hear the message of God's love during all our Service and discipleship times and during all our outreaches.

Please pray for continued financial support for the ministry at Calvary PV and for the body of Christ during the low season here in Puerto Vallarta.

Please pray for the New believers to grow in their commitment to Christ and for their faithfulness in church attendance.

Thank you to all those who continue to support our family personally and at the church!  May the Lord continue to bless you as you become the ministry arms of Calvary Puerto Vallarta!  

If anyone would like to contact us you can do so at our Facebook page:  Calvary Chapel Puerto Vallarta  

If you would like to support this ministry you may do so at Calvary Albuquerque Missions .  Make your tax-deductible donation using this link that sends support Calvary Puerto Vallarta or the Martin's personally.  

Thank you again for your continued prayer support for this ministry!

Sincerely,

Pastor Bill, Renee', Estie, Micah and Abby Martin
and the Body at Calvary Chapel Puerto Vallarta!

"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." Galatians 6:9

As we start off the Holiday season we have no better way to express our thankfulness then to share this photo of those that were baptized late this summer.....  Isn't the Lord good?  This scripture verse in Galatians has sustained us during a very difficult and challenging year.  As we keep our eyes on Jesus and are faithful in helping others to do the same, the Lord has given us the privilege of seeing the fruit as we wait on Him.   In the book of James he tells us that trials produce patience, and patience perseverance which allows the Lord to complete His perfect work in us!  This year has been extremely difficult for many in the body financially, physically, and even for some spiritually.  Those who have committed themselves to learning God's Word have seen the blessing of maintaining there eyes on Jesus even during the most difficult of times.  
These have been a few of the many who have taken that step to completely surrender to the Lord's will in their lives.  


We had a Ladies brunch closing our Spring study in the book by Ann Graham Lotz, "The Magnificent Obsession", a study in the book of Genesis about the life of Abraham.  It was extremely wonderful and very challenging to these ladies to give up everything to follow the Lord.  Many women here live in un-wed relationships.  There are usually children involved which makes it difficult for them to change their living situation. Several have felt the conviction of the Holy Spirit and have gotten married and right with the Lord.  Please pray the Lord would keep convicting hearts and draw the ladies into obedience.  Many decisions were made to follow the Lord. Now the tough part comes in, leaving everything behind to follow Him!  But many are doing it!  We praise the Lord for His power to save us from even those impossible situations!


Life continues to bloom in the lives of these kids at CCMS.  They grow with each passing day and we have the pleasure of being able to sow into their spiritual and academic lives!   These children come and learn English, Math, Reading, and Writing 3 times a week.  Thanks to our faithful supporters they are able to eat a balanced meal after class.  They are learning to pray and honor the Lord in their behavior, speech, and testimony.  The church vans go out to the Colonia's of Laguna del Valle and Salitrillo on Sunday's to bring the kids and their families to hear the Word of God shared by Pastor Bill and our Sunday School teaching team. What a blessing to be able to have open hearts committed to hearing the Lord's Word so readily.  





Sarah and America our Kinder Teachers play Twister with the kids!

 

The Youth at our Lock-in doing their Bible study in the book of Ephesians





The church continues to grow...new people and new decisions for Christ!  Pastor Bill continues in the book of II Timothy on Sundays and Ezekiel on Wednesday.  The body is thrilled with God's Word and we are so blessed as we know it is a challenge to stick in there week after week.  The Youth continue to grow and serve the Lord and fall in love more and more with Jesus as they face so many challenges in the World...He sustains them.  In about 3 weeks we will be having our Christmas Outreach for the Colonia in Laguna del Valle.  Please keep us in prayer as we have less resources this year to make these outreaches happen...we are trusting the Lord for His provision as we see Him time after time show up.  If anyone of you would like to help in this please follow the instructions to make your tax-deductible donations at the bottom of this letter.  




For all of you who already support the ministry of Calvary Chapel Puerto Vallarta....Thank you, thank you!  May the Lord bless you and keep you and make His face to shine upon you!





We are in the process of getting ready for our Thanksgiving meal this evening so I will continue our update tomorrow as I will have a chance to report what others are saying in the Body about the blessing the Lord has shared with them this year.  I pray that the Lord grace abounds and is sufficient for everything you may be facing in your life at this time, and that He will continue to help you draw nearer to Him in these coming days even though you may be facing great trials....they will bear fruit if you keep your eyes on Him!  God bless and see you tomorrow!




Love, Pastor Bill and Renee' Martin

For your tax-deductible contributions you can go to this link: http://www.globaladventures.org/  If you would like to donate to our Christmas Project choose Calvary Puerto Vallarta Building Fund.  If you would like to support the Martin Family you can do that as well on the same page.  

"Whoever believes in Me, as the Scriptures say, rivers of Living Water will flow from within!"  John 7:38

This truly has been the “The Winter of our Contentment”…  This would be the title of a play we could write in regards to the wonderful things the Lord has been doing in the Church body at Calvary Puerto Vallarta.  We have been challenged to reflect on the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ through the smorgasbord of messages Pastor Bill has presented to our body from the book of Revelation and the Minor Prophets.  We are amazed at the quickening of the Spirit in the believers in the church.  We now have two Sunday morning services; one in English and the other Bilingual with translation.  Many of our seasonal visitors come back to the church because of the Expository Bible study of God’s Word.  The Lord has then moved these beautiful visitors to get involved with the native believers in the church by serving them while they are here in our outreaches, serving  breakfast to the kids at the church on Sundays, working on the house building project making bricks, or by serving at CCMS during the week helping in our after-school program.  So many come and pour into the body through prayer and service that we are blessed to watch the body grow as one big international family of God!We recently have had some changes in workers in Sunday school, at CC Mission School and at the church which in the beginning brought much concern to my heart.  I normally don’t like change…that in itself is completely funny when you think about where we live!  Living in Mexico is completely unpredictable and change becomes just a way of life.   But once again the Lord guided us to “walk on the water” so to speak and to trust Him to provide the support we would need to keep the children's ministry moving ahead.  Wow!  The Lord has been completely faithful!  I know, I know, I should expect that by now but I am but a frail human sometimes slow in my understanding….! 

He has so blessed the church through His servants the Costales, the Kents, the Cruz’s, the Hansens, Doctor Robert and Mara, Gary and Gail,  and the many other brothers and sisters who bring down school supplies, clothing, a stock pot and whatever can be a blessing to someone in the church and at the school. The team from Crossroads Community Church in Yelm, WA came to partner with us in the construction of a home of a needy family out in the Colonia.  In turn the Lord continues to send brothers and sisters to help make more adobes for the house as we watch the walls go up.  So many have been a part of our effort to share Jesus’ love with the people out in the Colonia where our Mission School is located and the Church.  So many have been a prayer support to all of us, standing in the gap asking for the Lord’s strengthening of our weary bodies that come with a busy schedule.  So with that I can say that it truly has been “Our winter of true contentment”! 

Debra Kent was a lifesaver!  She kept track of
all 500 presents separating them by age and gender!

We thank the Lord for the toys
provided by two separate donors!

We had a wonderful Christmas outreach in the Colonia with the Calvary Kid’s and Radical Youth group who presented a musical drama presenting the true meaning of Christmas.  We then had a gift distribution where 500 children and their parents were blessed by the Lord’s love.  We thank the Lord for blessing these families in this way and for giving us all the privilege of representing Him in this manner.  God provided the money to make our annual trip to by toys from Guadalajara and we were also afforded a bunch of gifted toys by Davis and Susana Birks which we were able to give the children along with the toys we purchased in Guadalajara!  Everybody left with something in their hands!  I love how the Lord always multiplies the fishes and the loaves!  

Bill carrying toys donated by Davis and Susanna!
Thanking the Lord for your lives!

There were many, many decisions for Christ as we watched the Lord move through the Youth and the Children in the church to touch the crowd.  The Gospel message was shared and God moved in the hearts of the people.   It reminds us of the scripture verse in the Book of Acts where it says that the Lord added to the church daily!

Praying for God to move....

Listening attentively to the Gospel...

"Somos La Luz!"

.....and He did move!  The Harvest is ripe!!

Before Christmas we received word that Bill’s father Jerry was very sick and diagnosed with Prostate Cancer.  After flying up for two weeks Bill saw the Lord work in the life of his father miraculously.  By the time Bill left his father was pain free and back at work!  He still has been diagnosed with terminal cancer but through a prayer effort of the body of Christ here and in many parts of the world, we have seen the Lord give an opportunity to his dad to have more time to get to know Him.  Bill shared the Bible with his father and took him to church twice.  He couldn't hear the service because of his hearing loss but we are waiting on the Lord for an answer to our prayers for complete surrender.  God knows his heart and we trust in the Lord to do something mighty in His life.  The Lord showed His grace to us here at home in Bill’s absence by providing teachers for our English and Bilingual services on Sunday and Wednesday nights.  The body really stepped up.  Over and over again He shows us that great is His faithfulness!  We sure love Him! 

Alejandra and Maria Fer at our Ladie's Brunch....
what a blessing to watch them grow
in their hunger for God's Word!

We were blessed to have our daughter Estie home with us for a month and half….  She has now returned to school at Calvary Chapel Bible College in Murrietta, CA.  She is thriving there and we were so pleased to have her home for Christmas.  She was here to help us in the church and also at the Women’s Ministry brunch that we hosted in our home.  What a blessing she is to me as we work together to serve Jesus in the kitchen!  She is surely gifted with the gift of hospitality and is always so sensitive to making people feel welcomed.  We had a wonderful time of fellowship with the Ladies from our church as we began our Spring Bible study into the life of Abraham using Ann Graham Lotz’s book “The Magnificent Obsession”.  We are studying the verses Ann refers to using the Inductive Bible Study method in our devotional time.  It is such blessings to watch the Lord transform these precious ladies study time as they grow in the Word of God!  

They had so much fun!  True Die-hards...these were only
 a part of the Youth that stayed and stayed and stayed after the youth lock-in was over! 

Under the direction of the Molina's the youth are preparing for our outreaches every Saturday by having Music and drama workshops as we prepare for Easter and other events.  Micah leads them in worship and Jose Luis is teaching the biblical definition of Worship.  It is such a blessing to watch your children grow in the Lord and in His Word.  We realize that the Lord definitely is the Lord of the Harvest.  He completes the work He started in our children, and if we are faithful to lay up scripture in their hearts and teach them how to be Christ centered, He takes care of the rest!  The youth are growing in the knowledge of the truth and are drawing other kids to His throne room!  We now have about 30 youth attending bible study.  So many returning visitors comment on how servant oriented these kids are.  To God be all the glory because it is Him who is doing the work in their hearts through His word! 

Calvary Chapel Mission School continues to grow as more volunteers have been added.  The high season brings true believers who not only want to be a blessing materially but also spiritually in the walks of these children.  The world is full of people doing good deeds but what is necessary is the Gospel message always being at the forefront of every Christian helps ministry.  This has always been our goal; to see the children and the adults truly transformed by Jesus by not being conformed to the world's standards but by His Holy Spirit. 

The kids from Crossroads Community Church attended
class with our kids while their dads made bricks!  The fit right in!

Our preschool and elementary class has doubled which has required more teachers.  It is a different season and now the Lord has added 3 teacher assistants; young girls who were previous students from the school!  We made changes in the advanced English class by placing another teacher which freed  me up to able to oversee the  younger children’s class of 35.  This change has been such a blessing for me personally fulfilling one of my heart’s desires!  When we first began the Mission School in Laguna del Valle we had many, many little ones attending.  We had one class of combined ages from preschool to middle school adolescents.  At that time Bill and I were the only teachers.  We would go out on Saturday and Sunday with our own kids.  We were yet to have our present location in town.  I love the Lord’s sense of humor as he used two people who had a very limited vocabulary to share His love with this mixed age group of children through song and simply reading through the Bible!   After worship Bill would teach the adults and I would teach the kids.  The part that makes me smile so much is to see some those little ones now in high school and in college or getting married!  Many are still coming to church with a heart to serve!  Once again the Lord has given me the privilege of working with the young ones, laying up the Word, instructing, correcting, teaching, encouraging these babies in Jesus!  Laying a foundation when they are so young is so essential to be able to guarantee an abiding relationship with the Lord in the future.  We absolutely love it!  Two of our teacher’s aids are girls who were previous students that fell away for a while and now are coming back to Jesus.  They are going to be mothers themselves.  What a blessing to see them interested in teaching these children.  Two of our other teacher aides are young moms of small children who are learning how to give a math class to 2^nd and 3^rd graders.  This really is a two-fold ministry as we disciple these women as young mothers and also availing an opportunity for them to serve the children.   On Friday’s three of them attend our Women’s Bible study given by Miss Mari Molina.  We are so blessed watching these ladies grow in the knowledge of the Truth! 

We are amazed at how the Lord gives so much grace to Jose Luis and Mari Molina by making it possible for her to come and teach the women with all that their full-time business requires from them!  We thank the Lord for their maturity and commitment to come alongside us.   We are now able to have Calvary PV open everyday as Paco Sanchez is now on staff helping out with a lot of the administrative activities that are required to keep the church open.  He and his wife Bertha came from Semilla de Mostaza en Mexico City and are a complete blessing to the church as they have come alongside our discipleship programs we are providing to the body.  This is the real work...teaching the body of believers that the most important thing they can invest in is their own personal bible study.  We have a New Believer's class on Wednesday, a men's and women's discipleship on Saturday night, the "Truth Project" on Thursday nights, and our Women's study out at Laguna del Valle on Friday night.  It is such a blessing to watch the Word transform His children right before our very eyes!  I know many of you know this blessing in your fellowship so I would ask that you would continue to pray for these discipleship classes and for all the new believers that God is bringing into His kingdom!  As always, we invite you to come down and be a part of what the Lord is doing as volunteers are always welcomed!  Thank you and God bless all of you for your prayer and financial support that you put towards building God's church here in Puerto Vallarta!

Sincerely, Pastor Bill and Renee' Martin

Praise Reports:

• Thank you Lord for all the new believers that are growing in their faith!
• Thank you Lord for the volunteers and for the servants in the Body that are serving in the Church!
• We praise you for the strength you gives us to continue daily with our busy schedule !
• Thank you for the servants you are raising up to help run the church!
• Thank you Lord for your provision of resources to feed the kids at the school and for church operation.

Prayer Requests:

• Please pray for Bill's father's salvation.
• For continued growth in the spiritual lives of the Body at Calvary Chapel PV
• Please pray for our Parent's Dinner we will have next weekend for the Parents of the children at CCMS.  Pray the Lord would open their hearts to Jesus so they can give their children a godly foundation!
• Pray for the Children and Youth who are being bombarded with garbage on the internet through their cell phones!  So many young children down here have smartphones!  Pray for a decision to take a stand against impurity!
• Pray the Lord's will for a future Soccer outreach to the kids in the school.

If any of you would like to support this ministry you can do so by making your tax-deductible check to: Global Adventures, Calvary of Albuquerque, 4001 Osuna Rd. NE 87109.  If you want to support the church and mission please indicate that in the memo part of the check and if you want to make a donation to the Martin Missionary fund you can do that online at this website:  http://www.calvaryabq.org/ministry.asp?MinistryID=67