November's Newsletter

Dear Friends,

I hope this newsletter finds you well and at ease. I am sure this is the busiest season of the year for everyone, and perhaps the most joyous. The cold chills are all over, but thinking about the season when families and friends come together to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, has warmth in its self.

As I mentioned in my previous newsletter that I will be going to England during the last week of December, I have been very much in preparation. Also the trip to Southern Mexico being a week away, we have been doing a lot of Drama Practice and singing.


Ministry news

November passed really so fast. At the start of the month I decided to dedicate time to the Delicias ministry. I spent the first week of the month in the village, praying and fasting during this time.


This is a picture I took one early morning about 5AM while praying, the light reflection looked like a descending Angle.

As a result of spending a lot of time praying and fasting in the Village, more villagers have been inviting me to their houses to ask more about What Christians believe.

I have had the opportunity to really get into the lives of the young stars in Delicias. As we played football(soccer) together, and talked about other major topics in the environment, which are drugs and Alcohol. I remember a young man once telling me that when they hear Christian phrases such as Jesus went on high, when someone tells them that He loves and died for them, they say NO! He went on high; meaning He had taken a drug of sort, which opium smokers call being on cloud 9. But praise God for his goodness that a number of these same people are bing touched my those who care to minister to their needs.



This is a photo from one of the rehab-centers where we minister.

Prayer request
1) Just Pray that God will continue to use me as I minister to these young stars.

2) Pray that the seed sown will not return void, but will grow and produce.
3) And please pray for my safety as I travel, and that God will use me to minister in other people's lives.

May God bless you as you celebrate the greatest Gift ever on this planet, given on the night when strands of Angels stood up and proclaimed Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will towards men, JESUS CHRIST.


Love and Peace
Donald

October's Newsletter

Dear Friends.

The time now 21:20 Central Standard Time (CST/GMT-6) October 31st 2008. A year ago, this is the same exact time a flight from London Gatwick airport landed in Torreon City North-central Mexico with a 23 year old guy, who believed God was calling him to serve in Mexico as a missionary, even though he had never been there. Time moving on as it does, I still have memories of that flight; flushing back I just remember embarking on it without any idea what I was to expect, but just trying to figure out what the unknown was holding!

It has been an awesome year, I couldn't have had it any better, its been truly a journey of faith, at the same time having the time of my life ever. I remember right after arriving here spending the first few days just getting to know people, and before even a week had past, invited on a mission trip in the desert to this place called Delicias (which sounded like Delicious to mehahaha), but getting there wondering what could be Delicious about this small brown village not having anything special than a few donkeys making noise, and brown dust everywhere. Even though at that moment I could hardly comprehend what kind of impact and influence this trip was later to have on my life, we went on camping in the place for 3 days, and spending another 3 preaching and performing dramas in a near by town called Monclova. At the end of the trip in less than 2 weeks of being here seeing 3 ladies coming to Christ was awesome, and just thinking what kind of impact I would have in a year.

Its so amazing what God has done in the past year of my life;

-seeing over 90 soul's coming to Christ,

-About 60 of them being baptized with a total dedication to follow God

-Being able to speak Spanish to the level of preaching and enlarging my capacity to reach more people for Christ

-And a total dedication and dependency on God for everything.

Ministry News

In my first few ministry newsletters since the beginning of this year I have been talking about Delicias, If you have just started receiving my newsletters you would like to know this. For a brief history, I take care of a small congregation of about 8 people and a door to door ministry about 1hour and 30 minutes drive in the mountains of northern Mexico from San Pedro where he lives. I started going there in January of 2008. Delicias is a small village with a population of about 270 people, it has no public transport, so the nearest public bus stop is 8kms away, which means its necessary for me to walk or at times ride my bike to the place, with my guitar and a back pack.

Since January I have gone back at least twice each month, a part from the recent 10 weeks I spent traveling the the United States. The first time I went back after coming back form the US I was so full of joy, to find all the 8 people who come to the cell/church regularly that they had continued in the word of faith, and having invited another lady who had recently given her life to Christ, so going back this coming week I will be honored to give her her first bible to start her journey of life. I mentioned about the 24/3 prayer weekend that God was inspiring me with, during my visit in Delicias I was able to spot a good site where to erect the tent, I took some pictures, and I will be uploading these to my blog at www.loveissign.blogspot.com.

The Missions school is going really very well with Paul doing really a great Job,, we have made a number of changes for this semester, including the decision that I won't be teaching any regular class as I was doing during the last academic year until next year in February. One of the reasons is that I am planing to spend 6 weeks in England including the entire month of January, and another one is that even though my verbal Spanish production is on a good level to deal with anything I need to, Marcela advised me to take some Classes to help me brush up my non-verbal such as reading and written Spanish for the students to be able to benefit the most from my classes next year. I have already started taking my classes, and just starting off reading the bible chapter by chapter in Spanish.

Future Plans

I am planing a 6 week trip to England, I will be heading off on the 22nd of December, and coming back on the 9th of February next year. The trip come along as I had a return flight that was supposedly to be expiring in January. And so Originally I had planed to visit England during this time, but a few days ago to find out that the airline mis-informed me to state that the ticket could be extended until January, yet it was running out on the 6th of October. Letter when I called and handed in a complaint as its a mistake they had made, I was granted a grace period of 6 days where by I would have had to fly out by the 31st of October, I declined it as I had not made any plans at all, and so later on I had to purchase another air ticket. The main reason why its necessary for me to go to England at this time, its that I need to raise support for me to continue to do what I am doing here.

We are also planing a trip for the mission School, this will be running from December 13th to the 21st , we will be visiting Tepic and Guadarajar Southern Mexico, sharing and performing dramas. The youth Pastor has asked me to put together and teach a hip hop dance routine, which we will be performing with the youth.

Thank you very much for all of your support and prayers, for most of you whom I have had the pleasure of being able to communicate with this month, just to say that your emails have been of a very good encouragement to me, and I am looking forward to keep hearing from you in the future. I still have a quest calling for prayer, if you would like to pray for me this coming month, just drop me an email, and I will let you know which day is most suitable.

May God bless you richly,

Love and peace

Donald

September's Newsletter

Dear Friends,

I hope this newsletter finds you well and in good health, enjoying all that God has for you.

*Standing at the US-Mexican boarder in Laredo Texas, I am just thinking “ what a long trip it has been”. Its Just 10 weeks ago when I went through this exact same place heading to my first destination Corpus Christi through San Antonia Texas, having no idea how the trip was going to turn out, and everything I would experience during the entire time. It was just a leap forward as I just step out totally by faith not even having the funds to pay for my way back into Mexico, but God is exceedingly good, as the saying goes “all the time”. After Texas, I headed to Oregon, Washington State, cross country to Washington DC, Virginia, Arkansas, Oklahoma, then now back into Mexico.

Everything really went very well, a part from the tiredness of being on the road for over a hundred hours during the 10 weeks, I experienced different types of hospitality, people offering their beds, camp cabins, guest rooms, couches, mobile trailers, and some even their own master bedrooms with treadmills and gym equipment. I also had the opportunity to speak in various venues, such as 5 different churches 2 of which being Spanish, a school, bible studies and youth meetings. One part of the USA that God provided many opportunities for me to minister during my stay was with my friend Colin in Grants Pass Oregon. Grants Pass is a small Town with a population of about 30,000 people, this is one of the US towns where racism was practiced on a high level. I heard that about 20 years ago right on the highway before entering the town, there used to be a sign post reading... “IF YOU ARE BLACK, DO NOT LET THE SUN GO DOWN ON YOUR BACK”... in other words meaning do whatever you gonna do, the sooner you leave the town the better, otherwise you would be attacked and whoever accommodated you. But as it turned out, during the first week of September while I was preaching at Colin's Church, there was a lady so surprised seeing me at the pulpit, by the end of the week she had spreed the word around even beyond 40kms/23m to the near by town about this young black man who preaches the word of God with passion. And before I knew it, I had invitations to meet different Pastors and Preach in a Spanish church. How awesome is that?

Its just so interesting what happens in our lives when we dare to trust God with everything we have and who we really are, being in all these different states in the US has been in some way kinda a desert to me. I mean like I mentioned in the August's newsletter of a “compelled desire to spend time in Prayer” and just seeking God, right before I left Mexico I had started to burnout which wasn't wise nor good physically as I always felt the pressure of doing a lot and thinking that I don't know enough language, playing the guitar and so on. The way the US acted as desert to me (being a reciprocal as San Pedro where I live is encompassed by a desert) I just felt more carefree, sometimes even not knowing where my next destination would be 3days prior to my next journey, this is where I was always drown to spend hours in prayers, taking walks with God and just listening to Him.

Mexico
Just after my arrival back to Mexico, I am so surprised as always how these guys live. I was thrown a welcome back surprising party with everybody saying how much they really missed me with gifts during my absence, I mean no wonder being the only black person (don't get me wrong, its pretty much depending on CHARACTER than skin color) among the 100,000 plus people who live here in San Pedro.

I have just been talking to Paul about the missions school, a number of things have changed from last year, the classes started about 3 weeks ago so I need to catch up with them. I also had the opportunity to catch up with Stephen during my visit in Virginia where he will be for a few more weeks. I am also excited to say that we are sending out one of our graduate student from the missions school to Pakistan this December, her name is Tita, she is really so excited how God opened the door and learning some Arabic phrases.

I haven't been to Delicias yet, but during the trip God has been showing me a number of different things that I will be putting in the ministry, one of which is to set up a 24 hour weekend prayer tent for people from San Pedro and may be even Torreon, creating more opportunities for the Gospel to get to the Village. This is the idea that God put in my heart during my time in prayer last month, I don't know how its going to work out exactly and so this is an area where I really need your prayer more than anything else!

Prayer
Just pray that God will be reveling to me exactly what I will need to be doing in Delicias.

Pray for Tita as we send her out.

Last but not least, pray for our general safety, some of you who keep in touch with international affairs, there is a lot of killings that are taking place right now in the country, I was reading the BBC news yesterday, and they put the kidnapping rate in Mexico even higher than that of Iraq and Colombia. A few weeks ago the Tolmans received a phone call, from some gangs threatening to attack the property where we live, our response is simple we are only living here for God, and if anything else, I don't believe I would have been here!

If you would like to spare a day during this month and remember us in your prayers, just send me an email and will let you know what day is best.

Thank you so much for your friendship and all your prayers, just to say that if you really enjoy reading my newsletters, you can pass them on to someone who you think might be interested to read about missions. Thanks again,

Loveisking
Donald



*Written on 30th September, the rest of the newsletter on 1st October.

August's Newsletter

Dear Friend,

How great and awesome it is sitting here writing to you! Whenever I sit down to write this newsletter, I pray and ask God to guide me through, which makes it alive as I can imagine seeing all your faces as if I am right there talking to you one on one. I imagine different locations, settings, and even what kind of day it might be like. My day is sunny and cool, sitting on this couch and having rays of sunshine penetrating through the curtains, reminds me of the chilly wet days we have just left behind. As I mentioned in my previous newsletter how hot a summer it had been, I had no idea what Oregon would be like, but that was soon to change, as later arriving at this Youth camp, everyone wore sweaters and jumpers, chilly as it could get, I felt like being in a totally different country yet just another States.

Ministry news

I have spent most of the month on the road, since I got here 4 weeks a go I haven't been in any particular location more than a week. Right after being picked up from Portland airport by my friend Colin who Pastors a small church in Grants Pass Oregon, we headed straight to the youth camp where he had to teach a workshop for a week. Helping him during his classes, I also got so many opportunities to minister in the youth and staff devotions everyday for the entire week. At the end of the week I headed to Grants Pass which is 6 hours away from Portland, where I preached to Colin's congregation on the need of the “Holy Spirit”! The following week, I was invited to a young adults conference known as the WYI( Western Youth Institute) to Washington State near Seattle City about 9 hours a way from Grants Pass, where we spent a week in this 5 minutes drive into the forest camp site. During this week I felt God dealing with me on the need to spend more time in prayer, in the middest of this really tight schedule I made a commitment to spend an hour in prayer everyday in this place away from all outside interruption.

Coming back to Oregon, I spent 3 days in Salem Oregon with my friend Daniel Summers who is a very talented musician, it was a blessing when his family invited me to join then for a family vacation of three days near one of Oregon's clear lakes an hour drive up MT, Hood. Daniel and I had a wonderful time as he explained how God uses him to bless the people around him through his talent, and made me realize how affective music can be in ministry.

Now being back in Grants Pass where I will be for 2 more weeks, I still remember that week of prayer at the WYI, I feel a more compelled desire and need to spend time in prayer, relating to the vision God gave me at the beginning of this year, showing me that prayer is the “Backbone of every successful ministry”!


Mexico
I am in touch with everyone in Mexico while on the trip until I get back in 3 weeks time, Paul went back to the mission field last weekend, preparing for the mission school which will be starting in 2 weeks time. I have also started to prepare for my classes this year, teaching evangelism I am reading a number of books on the subject.

Call for prayer
I don't know exactly what is going on in your life right now, but I would love to invite you to join your faith together with mine this coming month, and dedicate it to praying and praising God.

I thank you so much for all of your prayers and support, I am always reminded that I am not alone in this calling, but encouraged that you are standing with me as we look to God who can do abundantly above and beyond that we can and ever dare to ask or think according to his might power that works in us all.

Have a prosperous month, and I am looking forward to sharing with you what God will be doing in and around me in this coming month.

Blessing
Loveisking
Donald

July's Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Here I am stirring at the clouds at over 40,000ft above the sea-level from this small airplane (American Easyjet type) trying to figure out how much time until the whole summer is over. This is one of the busiest summers I have ever had in my life, with a year going faster than I could hardly remember when it started, but just seeing the end point approaching sooner than my realization. I would also say the hottest I have ever had, having spent the first 10 weeks of it in San Pedro Mexico, where its really hot-dry due to the deserted climate, and spending 10 days in Corpus Christi Texas where its hot but very wet, marking the first time since I left Africa in 2002 wishing if it was a little bit colder!

I am on a 8 weeks trip, traveling around the United States, visiting different churches, in different states. This tripe came about as a result of different invitations by friends in the US, who are interested in the missionary work we do in Mexico, particularly the missionary School. As I mentioned in a couple of my previous newsletters that Paul and I were working on an information pack for the missionary school and were planing to visit different churches doing presentations. Our goal is to promote the missionary school by partnering with different churches for financial support, and also raising its awareness as we are accepting international students at the same time. We have just heard from a young man from Houston Texas, who would like to come and study with us for a year.

Right now I am on my flight from Corpus Christi to Oregon, where I will be for about 4 weeks. I had originally intended to take a road trip thinking it would be cheaper, but as most of you are aware that the gas (Petrol) prices are way high, after doing some research, flying come out to be cheaper than actually traveling on the bus for 3 days. I had a wonderful time in Corpus Christi, where I was invited by a Mexican Church as their guest speaker for the morning and evening services. What was so interesting, the Pastor had said that she was planing for me to speak, however, did not mention when she wanted me to. Yesterday just turning up at church in the morning, thinking that she had intended that I would be speaking in the evening, she said “are you ready?”, I said “ for what,” her, “your are speaking this morning” I was like OK. Then later she said, that she didn't have anybody to translate, and she asked if I was OK preaching in Spanish, to which I said “ I will do my best”. I had prepared nothing, thinking nothing, then just started speaking in tongues and asking the Holy Spirit to give me a message and guide me. Ten minutes later I was on the pulpit preaching a 50 minute message in Spanish of becoming on an “Over comer” to this church of about 70 people! Two people got saved, and about 1/3 of the people later come forward for prayer to make some adjustments in their lives. Later thanking God for this message, I remembered Pastor Rob Smilie ( My Pastor in the UK) say a couple of years ago “on the mission field, you don't always have time to prepare yourself, so you need to be ready 24/7”.

Ministry news

All the missions are going well in Mexico, this whole month we had different groups from the US visiting, we had many opportunities to visit different village and present dramas. I asked my friend Gerardo to keep the Delicias ministry going, Marcela also said that someone will be visiting the Village during the time I am going to be on the trip. Paul and Jason are also traveling to the US, visiting churches and family, so Stephanie who has just come back from Canada where she went to visit her family, is now overseeing the cell groups until we get back.

Thank you very much for all of you who are standing in faith, prayer and all the support you give me, I really appreciate you guys, but above all we know for sure that the Day of the Lord is sooner than we some times think, I like the way my friend James (African minister in Uganda) puts it “ keep reminding them that Jesus is not only the WAY, but that He is also ON HIS WAY back”.

Bless y'all
Loveisking
Donald

June's Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Happy Christmas!Right in the middle of summer, while humidity is set on its highest pitch, it might appear like “slipping a few cogs”, to hear someone shouting happy Christmas, I don't mean Midwinter Christmas, I mean “Christmas in July”! It is said that the Christmas in July celebration probably started in Australia in July, 1980 when a group of Irish tourists convinced their hosts in the Blue Mountains in New South Wales to hold a party, well known as "Yulefest". This comes about, when just a couple of weeks ago, while Paul and myself were in San-Rafael where we hold our cell group, one lady wanted to show me how many turkeys she owns, coming out of the blue she said “I would like you to chose a boy and girl turkey”. I said, “how do I know which one is a boy, and which one is a girl?”, She said, “well, I will tell you”. Later she pick out a pair of turkeys, and I named them, Fernando and Fernanda,which are pretty common masculine, and feminine first names in Mexico. I later thought, well, my Christmas (Midwinter) dinner is long way prepared for.

Ministry News

June came with a new level of tides in our work her in San Pedro, as I mentioned in May's newsletter that we were finishing off the new bathrooms which were bing constructed at the Property, after we build the roofing and all the plumbing pipes drilled in the walls, Stephen realized that we would need an electrician to help us to do the installation. Tilting my head while thinking, I said, “we don't need one, I think I can do it”. Way back when I was 14, I had studied a bit about electric installation, and a couple of years later saw me helping electricians to fix minor problems and being able to carry out basic installations. In less than 5 days, I had finished all the wiring in the bathrooms, and everything was functioning as it should.

The Delicias ministry is taking on a new level, I was there yesterday, we had about 18 people with us, which I think is the largest number of people who have come to the meeting so far, with one lady giving her life to Christ a couple of weeks ago.

The rehab-centers and Children's breakfast are also doing excellently, we have seen more than 32 salvations in June. A church in Torreon , near Cardboard land where the Children's Breakfast ministry is located, has been helping us to seize every opportunity to share the gospel with the mothers at the children's breakfast, who bring their children for Breakfast. As a result, we are seeing not only children transformed through the food, Songs and short bible messages we give, but their mothers are also impacted, who will be naturing then in the way of the Lord.

Farewells

Thank you very much to all of you my prayer partners, I feel very encouraged when I receive emails from you , letting me know that you are standing with me. May the peace of God that possesses all understanding lead you as we go through this summer,be blessed and encouraged.

This is Donald remanding you that Loverules, and Jesus is Lord.

Love is King
Donald

May's Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Recently I have been thinking much about how fast time is moving. It appears to me like it was just a couple of months ago when I was all getting prepared to get into the mission field in Mexico. Something that caught my attention this month making it different from all the other months I have been here , is the “RAIN” we received at the beginning of the month. I have been here for nearly 7 months now, but I hadn't witnessed having any showers at all, Oh, I mean rain! During the recent months we had a few dust storms, where by if you were walking or driving during the time, you would need to switch on your mental map navigating system, as your eyes saw only brown.


Ministry News

This month has been one of the busiest I have experienced so far, it kicked off with a group of 6 American guys coming down from Houston Texas, to help us construct new out-door bathrooms at the property, as we are expecting groups of Young Adults to come over during the summer, where by the first group will be arriving in about 2 weeks time. I had the pleasure helping them in whatever they wanted me to, and also found myself translating between them and some Mexican guys who did not speak any English at all. Where languages are concerned, I find it very thrilling to think about, how God's grace can always be present if we dare to trust him while stepping out to do the things we have never done before in outlives. I remember just after getting here, I went through a couple of frustrating weeks, as I desired to express myself and help people as much as I could, but I have to admit that at times I had to turn down or cut short my conversations as I run out of Spanish words. Some call it intelligence, some smartness, but I call it Operation Under Grace (OUG), as I didn't have any idea that I would be able to learn a new language this fast.

Paul and Myself have been doing a lot of planing for the second year of the missionary School, we have gone though the curriculum, and he's just finishing off an information pack, where by next week I will start visiting and giving presentations in different churches about the “Go therefore” missionary school, and also I estimate to speak to a number of young Adults who are interested in getting into missions.

The ministry in Delicious is running very well, a few weeks ago I started going there with my guitar, and its been so awesome how they are responding to worshiping with musical instruments, as they hadn't been exposed to much to the world of singing and playing instruments at the same time. We also had 3 more people added to the group of 6 ladies my friend Geraldo and I have been ministering to, there are now 9 people who are meeting with us at present. This coming week I will be going there with a couple more friends, we will be watching the “Passion of Christ” film, before the meeting.

Future planes

As the missionary students are finishing their academic year successfully, we have planned a missionary trip that will be assessing everything they have learned throwout the year, and giving them the opportunity to gain first hand experience in the mission field. We are planing a trip to one of the Mexican isolated Indian tribes known as Tepehuanes in the forests of Durango for 3 weeks. We will be traveling by road for about 7 hours from Torreon which is the nearest city, to the missions base of a Christian Couple, where we will be flying in a small Private plane into the middle of the mountainous forest, as there are no public road networks to the place where we are going. The nearest city is about 6 hours drive outside the outskirts of the mountains, so most of the time those who want to get to the tribe have to walk for a number of days. Its going to be the first time we are sending out missionaries from the school, Paul is really very excited about it but he won't be coming with us as he is planing a visit to the US with his wife around at the time we will be going. So its only the missionary students and myself, who will be going.

Thank you very much for all of you who are praying with me, I really appreciate all of you guys. Just to let you know that you are a part of everything that I get to do down here and you are so big in my heart.


Loverules
Donald

April's Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Buenos Aires. Thats the phrase that has been sweeping through my mind for the last couple of weeks. I came across it while reading a historic missionary journey to Argentina's capital, but before that I had never paid much attention to what the words meant, despite the fact that my first Spanish teacher in college was from Argentina. It captured my attention as I read it and translated it in English, which literally translates as “good airs”, but that wouldn't make much sense, so I will use it here to say........ “Good atmosphere friends”.

Talking about good atmosphere, last week was a pretty busy week for all of us here in San Pedro, as Paul got his fiancée (Clemen) and himself ready for their wedding on Saturday. It didn't however appear to me like there was any much extra stress that Paul had to take on during the preparation, it seemed much more like it was our responsibility to see on it that they enjoyed their day. Which indeed was fine, I just smiled seeing the grin on their faces as they said I do, and later heading to their honeymoon on the beach near Southern Mexico.

Ministry News
The cell groups that Paul, Jason and I co-lead are going really very well, we changed our location to meeting outside in a park in San Antonio, from the indoor meetings we were holding. As a result, we have witnessed more that 60 people coming to the meetings, which is more than a triple of the number we had, just 5 weeks ago. The rehab center and the prison are also running well, the prison council has been talking about, and now has started building an extra in-prison room, to be used solely for church activities. Its exciting, and the inmates who come to our meetings regularly are really so excited “ this is going to be a house of prayer”, said enthusiastically by Carlos one of the Christian inmates. The past few weeks I have been also very much involved in Calor, (the Professional football-soccer team managed by Stephan) last week was its last game in the 207 third division teams from all over Mexico. It come out first place, dominating the whole devision, right now they are in their final play-offs, if it wins the league, they will be acceding to the second division. Its interesting to see a Christin team really playing so well, as Stephan and Hugo who is the coach are not only committed to training the players physically, but also spiritually.


Three weeks a go Marcela asked me to start leading the worship in another cell group, at first I was nervous about it, thinking about having to learn at least 2 Spanish songs each week, not only that, but also having to play the guitar while singing. So I had to commit myself to playing a guitar for a couple of hours everyday, this week I was able to play 3 songs, thanks to my friend Ben for giving his books, which helped me to get the basics about guitars.

Last but not least, thank you to all of you who joined you faith with mine committing to pray for me for a day this month, and I was glad to hear encouragement from those of you who were able to get back to me after praying. This month I am doing the same thing, if you were not on April's prayer list and would like to be on May's, just drop me an email and let me know.

May God bless you all in this coming month, this is Donald reminding you that Loverules and Jesus is Lord.

Donald

March Newsletter

Dear Friends,

I am always filled with excitement when I sit down and just take a moment from everything around me to write to you, as you are so big in heart and I just thank God for all of you in my prayers.

A late happy Easter season greeting, I hope you all had a wonderful time with friends and family around. On my side, I must say it was a bit of a shock to me, as the entire Easter Sunday came and went without realization that it was actually Easter day until Jason started preparing for his back to school stuff. This was because here in Mexico most of the programs and activities usually never run on strict schedules but rather spontaneously, where by most of the time being in the flow, I forget all about checking the calendar, unless something really needs my attention. The whole Easter day just went by just like any other normal Sundays I have had here, no celebration or anything special at all! Despite the fact that I have always had an easy go on chocolate, just waiting for the big special occasions like Easter, yesterday I really missed chocolate badly as my entire mind was filled with memories of exchanging Easter eggs and cards during Easter time. I was so surprised as I saw none of those as they don't exist here in Mexico. Paul having been here for more than 3 years, he understood everything, I rarely talked to him during the day as he spent most of the time with his fiancée, but Jason being his first year in Mexico too, he kept talking about how Easter went by without his notice until midnight. Man, “I haven't felt like a Christian today after spending the whole day without remembering the resurrection of Jesus”, he said.

As I mentioned about all the miniseries that Paul, Jason and I are involved in my previous newsletters, it is in my perspective that God is really working in all of the areas we are involved in, and He is increasing the number of the people in our cell groups weekly. We had a ministry presentation in San Antonio where Jason, his girlfriend Elisa and I lead a cell group. The youth team from the church and ourselves performed dramas, sang songs and danced, attracting about 100 people. Last week we had a youth camp for 3 days and 3 nights, where by the whole day was filled with activities and classes for the 120 people at the camp. One of the classes was my dance class and I was scheduled to teach for 4 hours at once each day! At the end I was so drained and tired that I just wanted to go and have a good sleep. The Delicias ministry is also moving very well, Sometimes I go with my friend Gerardo who is only 18 years old. Gerardo is a high school drop out due to lack of school fees, but he is a passionate Christian and he is really very enthusiastic about missions. In all of the activities I was directly involved in this month, we saw 7 people receiving Jesus Christ for the first time in their lives, and 6 renewing their commitment to follow him daily.

Thank you so much for all of your prayers, I believe all of this is happening because of the decision you have taken to pray and join your faith with mine. I was praying and felt God speaking into my spirit, saying that each month I should get 31 people or a number equivalent to the days of the month, to pray, seeking and hearing from God with me during the time. He went on showing me that every successful ministry there is a strong backbone of prayer and hearing from Him than just one person could do by themselves. Jesus talking about the same issue in Matthew 18:18-20 He emphasized on two or more praying together than just one, also being the same principle for hearing from Him. Therefore, if you would like to join me in prayer and hearing from God for a day next month, just give drop me an email at loveiksing@hotmail.co.uk.

Thanks again to all of you, this is Donald remanding that loverules, and Jesus is Lord.

February Nesletter

Dear Friends,

I hope this newsletter finds well and in good health. Myself I am whole, although the past few weeks have been very windy here; being in a middle of a desert means that there has been a lot of dust in the air recently, but it seems like its settling now.

It has been very exciting for me since the year started, just before January came by I felt God asking me to do something a bit different apart from my daily devotional time with him, and I thought I could start off this year more focused by fasting. I fasted on a 1day-on 1day-off basis the whole of last month, apart from loosing a few pounds, I felt really very much devoted to Him than I have ever been before in my entire life. During this time of fasting and praying, I asked God to give me an opportunity to minister salvation to at least 2 people by the end of February. Thank you so much for those of you who have committed themselves to pray for me, earlier this month I was invited by a Mexican family to accompany them to their annual trip to visit their family for a week in a small town called Corpus Christi in Texas US, after getting there, one of their friends being a Pastor she invited me to lead her Youth meeting on a Thursday night and their Sunday service where a family of 4 people received Christ. It was very interesting as God not only answered my prayer for the opportunity to minister to those precious people, but also performed double of what I had asked Him for.

As I stated in my previous Newsletter about the ministry I am pioneering in Delicias, I have been there 2 times now. I was able to meet up with some of the leaders, who welcomed my involvement in their Town graciously and said they are looking forward to seeing me there. I was also able to visit two schools; one being a nursery school and another one the only secondary school in the town, which is lead and run by two teachers with their 24 students. I talked to them about volunteering to teach English in their school, and they also were joyous about it. I am planning to go back this week, where by I will be just visiting people and praying with them, as the people seem a bit very religious, so I am working on establishing relationships with them before actually starting up a cell group.

The cell groups we started up with Paul and Jason are going really well, the one Paul and I lead the number has increased by double, we started off with 8 people, but now we have 16. This week Jason and I are arranging a football game in San Antonio where our cell group is, and during this time we expect to invite more people to the meetings especially youngsters.

At the beginning of this Month I talked to Stephen about starting up a HipHop dancing ministry, as each night numerous groups of youngsters gather together on street corners. I said I will be inviting them to dance and after the youth Pastor and me we’ll be sharing God’s word with them. This past week I choreographed a dance on a Spanish song called Quien es en ti? (Who is in you?) which we performed in another Desert town called San Rafaia. I am still inviting more youngsters from the streets; so far I have had about 12 who have said that they will be definitely making it to the dance class, which I have named “Brilla Jesus Hiphop”, (Shine Jesus Hiphop), and I believe that God will use it also as an opportunity to expand the family.

Last but not least, I want to thank you all who are praying for me, my Spanish is getting better on a raped pace, at times I have to teach in the missionary school without the help of a translator. I just want to let you know that I really need your prayers, you might not have any idea what it means to me, but I just pray and thank God for you in my prayers just as the Apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 1:3-5.

I will be updating you on whatever is going on, if you would love to checkout my photos go to www.loveisking.blogspot.com.

Bless ya all,

Donald remaining you that loverules, and Jesus is Lord.

2008 January

Dear Friends,

A late happy new year for those of you whom I have not been able to get in touched with during these past weeks.
I enjoyed my first Christmas here in Mexico; it was fun experience traveling to Tepic Southern Mexico with the missionary family I work with, who always has a family reunion there during the season. As we were on the 14 hours non-stop bus, my entire mind was filled with memories of always having to eat turkeys on Christmas day. To my surprise, later after getting to our destination I was told that Christmas is celebrated at midnight of 24^th, and I thought, well, that’s going to be the first time I had Christmas dinner that early in my life, I dared not ask my hosts what we were going to feast, but at my surprise, when the food was being served, I said “wow, that’s a fat chicken”, he said “oh, no, that’s turkey!” I was so amazed that these guys eat turkeys on Christmas too, what I had only perceived as English tradition, not knowing it has spread all the way here. We were about 25 people all together, we all had fun that night, and I hardly slept, as I was too tired.

At the end of this month I will have been here for 3 months already, everyday is exciting and I find out more and more of how I can serve God in different ways. For those of you who don’t know what I am doing exactly, I work with a Canadian missionary Couple Stephan and Marcela Tolman in San Pedro Northern Mexico, who have been here for about 20 years. They run different ministries in the area, including a church of 250 people, 3 Drug rehab-centers and a professional football (Soccer) teem. Other people I work along side are Paul, Jason and Stephanie. Paul and Jason they are from Tennessee United States, Paul has been hear for about 3 years, and Jason over 6 months. Paul runs a missionary school which currently has 4 students, and Jason teaches in a near by university. Stephanie runs a Children’s breakfast ministry in a remote deserted place called Cardboard Land, where she goes every Saturday. Its known as cardboard land simply because most of the houses there are made of wood scraps and cardboard boxes.

About two weeks ago, we held a meeting discoursing about the specific ministries that I am going to be involved in, and also planed plating 2 cell groups which we estimate in future to develop into churches. Paul and I are going to lead our first meeting in one of the cell groups in a small town called Scrificio, and then Jason and I will be having another cell in 2 weeks time in another desert town called San Antonio. Last week Jason and I went to celebrate the opening of the cell in San Antonio, We took with us some guy We call (Superman) his name is Don Pablo, who was going to kill a huge pig. He asked if I could help him pin that pig on the ground so he could piece its heart, that’s exactly what happened, at 7:23am pacific time, I witness the death of this fat pig, and later as it was fried by its own fat.. I felt sorry for it as I wondered if that’s what makes some people vegetarians. I am planting another ministry in a small town known as Delicias about 2 hours from where I live, today I have been invited to go and meet the town leaders there, and discourse how it will be running.

I will be updating you on what am doing on a monthly basis, I ask you that you pray for me as I embark on all these missions with wisdom form God, and as I trust Him to meet all my necessaries to advance His Kingdom to a higher level.

I send all my greetings to you all and thank you for your time and interest in my ministry. I remain Donald reminding you that loverules, and Jesus is Lord.

Donald

About Donald

Donald was born in Uganda, East Africa, where he lived for 14 years of his life, and then he lived in Kenya for 3 years. When he was 17 years old, he went to live and further his education in the United Kingdom for over 5 years until he moved to Mexico.
Donald’s passion and enthusiasm for serving God started right after his conversion and dedication of his life to God in October of 2001. Since then, he has seized every opportunity to minister the Gospel of Jesus Christ to man, starting from a door to door ministry in Africa, running a Christian union in college, and ministering in various youth meetings in the USA.
In the spring of 2007 God started talking to him about moving to Mexico, “I didn’t know anybody in Mexico” he recalls, as he found out that he would have to believe God to direct and guide him.
Now Donald works as a full-time missionary in San Pedro, Coahuila, Mexico. Donald says “At first the idea of getting on an airplane and just heading to a country where I have never been seemed like crazy to me, but I considered Abram who only had faith when God called him, and that’s the simple step I took”.

Donald is not just a passionate missionary on fire for God, but has also lived and worked cross-culturally in Africa, Europe, North America, now within Central America and he’s conversant in 4 languages.

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