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This week, I would like to begin our news by telling a story of something that William did a few weeks ago in which the Lord spoke very clearly into our hearts. The story begins with Juli and I searching all over the place for season 5 DVDs of LOST (by and large our favorite show to watch). As I was inside Blockbuster checking things out and finally purchasing our dearly beloved show, a homeless shoe shine boy came up to the car window and asked Juli for some money to buy his daughter milk. Juli checked around the car and in her pockets and realized that she did not have anything to give, so off the boy went. A few minutes later, Juli looked over and saw the boy digging in the garbage can. William then asked the million dollar question "Why is that boy digging in the garbage and taking out bags?" Juli then went on to explain that some people don't have very much and resort to looking in the trash for any food to eat or anything of value. William then paused for a bit and responded with a very surprising and powerful statement.."Well I have 1 coin in my room......." Juli immediately broke and searched all over the car for anything to give and luckily this time, found a number of coins to give the boy. I then returned to the car and Juli told me the story of what had just happened. After she told me the story, I could not help but think as to how a 3 year old could have such compassion, especially knowing that he still had not really seen what his parents are passionate about doing! The Lord then spoke to me something that is actually going to be a central theme in our DTS (thanks to the this story!). He said, "David, the annointing is never just placed on the parents, but on the whole family. William was just walking in that annointing"

Our First Night on the Streets
A few months ago, the Lord gave me a new idea for ministry in 2010....bringing bread and coffee to our friends on the streets and then just sitting down and chatting with them. At first, I was a bit surprised by the word as up until now, we had never felt to bring anything but ourselves to visit our friends on the streets. However, as I prayed more about it, I felt a greater and greater pull in my heart to make this happen. Once the "William word" was spoken, I felt even more peace with moving forward in meeting their physical need will also meeting an emotional and spiritual need. So, this past Monday I went out and purchased some sweet bread and coffee and that night we went out with a group to see what the Lord was going to do in the lives of our street friends. At first, we did not see anyone. However, after making a few trips around the block, we saw David and when he realized who was calling out to him, his eyes opened wide and immediately joy was all over his face! We then parked the van and before we knew it, we had about 20 of our homeless friends hovering around us eager to talk and drink their coffee! I don't think I have felt anything so right in a very long time as what I felt Monday night. In fact, there was seemingly so much joy present there that night that the guys even went into the middle of the streets and started dancing! Talk about some instant transformation! As we spoke with each one of them, it became very clear that they missed us greatly and were very happy that we were returning. As we left that night, I could not help but leave very satisfied and amazed

1. Pray for the upcoming DTS. We are in the planning stages right now and already have several students lined up and ready to come. Pray for their provision as well as wisdom for us to plan the school.
2. Pray for YWAM International as we work in 2010 to establish 4 new operations in Mexico City. The government is not wanting to give visas to Central Americans for this project and YWAM International is trying to plead for favor in obtaining these visas.
3. Pray for the people of El Salvador. We are going on a small outreach in San Salvador in April with the DTS. Pray for the hearts of the people that the fields will be ready for a great harvest
4. Pray for the homeless of Guatemala. Our return this week helped us to realize how important our role is in their lives. Pray for safety and joy in their everyday lives.
5. Pray the women of La Linea. Throughout our visits, we have made deep connections with the women and have seen the hand of God move in their hearts.
6. Pray for the Urban Ministry Department on our base. Juli and I are believing that this is going to be a year of breakthru as the Lord works in us to re-establish the ministries He has given us.
7. Pray for our finances. We have dropped down again and are having a hard time to make ends meet. We believe the Lord is our provider, however, we also believe that there are times when we just need to fight in prayer.

and how just spending $5 on coffee and bread while hanging out with someone can completely change their lives (at least for the duration of our time with them).

La Linea
Yesterday afternoon, I also had the pleasure of returning to two other ministries that are very dear to my heart. We first went to La Linea where approximately 300 prostitutes work on any given day. Almost immediately, we had the pleasure of talking with a young man named Victor who initially just wanted 1 Quetzal from me. After his introductory question, we then went on to talk for about another 10-15 minutes about his life and how hard it had been. He then decided to ask us if we could pray for him. Obviously we said yes...as soon as we began to pray, he started praying himself and repenting for everything he had done and then asked the Lord to come back into his life! As he did this, I actually stood there kinda stunned as I had not even talked about the gospel with him yet! Yet there he was...surrendering his life to the King of Kings and entering a new relationship with Him!
After Victor left, the girls of our group asked if us guys could come with them to some of the rooms. So, for the first time ever, I went with them to minister to the ladies. One particular girl, Alejandra, made huge impact on me after we spoke with her, prayed with her, and gave her a rose. We had already moved on to visit another room and when I looked back down, I saw her standing at the door like a little girl who had just been given and rose for the first time by her prince charming. She just gleaned as she stood there at the door and showed the rose off to all the other ladies. I stood there amazed as I never truly realized just how much doing a simple act of giving a rose and spending time with someone who is as broken as these women are could turn everything around for them...even if it was just for 5 minutes.

The Lord's Kitchen
Later that evening, as we served at The Lord's Kitchen, I had the joy of seeing some of our street friends that I did not see on Monday night. I was quite surprised at what I saw as several of them were all cleaned up and no longer living on the streets! In particular, what surprised me was seeing Carlitos so clean! He has always been one of the most drugged up guys in our group, and to be honest, I don't think I have ever had an intelligent conversation with him before! That was until last night. Turns out he has decided to live at home with his mother during the week and help out the street vendors during the daytime hours. Unfortunately he said that he does return to the streets on the weekends. I asked him why he would do that and he responded with a surprising response "I just like living on the streets better". He never did tell me why he liked it better, however, I did encourage him to really evaluate his plan and to really see what is better for him in regards to safety and his heath.

I also had the priviledge of finishing the evening by talking with two young men named David and Jose. They both had been struggling a great deal with temptations such a drugs, alcohol, and small crimes. As we talked, they asked if I could pray for them that they could change their hearts and get on a better path. I then began to share some truths of the gospel with them and encouraged them that the only way to true change is through repentance and the blood of Jesus. A song then came on the radio that immediately sent them both into tears and shortly there after, they prayed and gave their lives to the Lord!

Next Week
Returning back to the story of William. I shared all this as Juli and I have felt that his word and what has happened this week to be a confirmation of something that we have wanted to do for a long time...getting William involved in some way in our ministry. If the word of the Lord did not shout loud enough to us, what has taken place this week certainly has. We can clearly see that 2010 is going to be a very fruitful year for our ministry and we are super excited as to how it has started with the Urban Ministry DTS on the horizon and with the ministries that we are passionate about happening again! So, next week we are going to take one of our biggest leaps of faith yet and bring William with me to give out coffee and bread to our street friends. It is not something I saw happening so soon in his life, however, since the Blockbuster incident, he has asked the question 3 other times about people he sees begging on the streets...only now the question is "Does he not have anything to eat either?" Please be praying for us as we move out in this big step of faith that we will walk in wisdom as we bring William out and will be very sensitive to all that is happening around us.....

Well, I think that is it for now! We love you all and are very thankful for the love and support of everyone who believes in what we are doing! You are the most important part of our team as we could not do any of this without your prayers and financial support! We love you and look forward to sharing the continuation of William's story next week.