Play Story Eat Update December 2023!

Good morning everyone!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are beginning to enjoy the Christmas season. I know it’s been a bit since I last updated you on the mission projects that we have been working on. Since the last update, we have had friends from Forest Grove Baptist Church in Pleasant Hill, MO, join our update. Nola and I enjoyed spending a Sunday with them, their Pastor Sam Anderson, and his wife Judy—who are long-time partners in several cowboy mission trips we have done.

We also want to welcome more friends from the Sandhills of Nebraska, friends from Amazing Grace Church in Thedford, Nebraska, and Tallin Bible Church south of Arnold, Nebraska. Pastor Lee Wonch and his wife, Dandee, serve those two churches, and we have really enjoyed getting to know them and the wonderful ministry they are doing in Nebraska.

Bill Burrows and I had the privilege of spending a weekend with Lee Wonch and his two congregations in the Sandhills in October. Fortunately Lee is a big Kansas City Chiefs fan and didn’t mind taking a picture with me! Lee and his wife Dandee are doing a great job ministering and loving the folks in their part of Nebraska. The two congregations they pastor are 60 miles apart!

Be the Church Training

Bill Burrows continues to lead the charge in our Be the Church training, and in late August he made the rounds in Nebraska, speaking and teaching at First Baptist Church of Valentine and Amazing Grace Church in Thedford. In October I joined Bill, and we led the workshop “Building Relationships for Discipleship” at the Rural Church Workers Conference in Burwell, Nebraska, hosted by our good friend, Joel Wentworth. That same weekend Bill took me along to meet the good folks at Amazing Grace Church and Tallin Bible Church near Arnold, Nebraska. By the way, several members of those churches are interested in going to Guatemala to work with cowboys and ranchers in late January. If you are interested in being a part of that, get a passport and let us know!

Celebrating 25 years of Ministry in Oak Grove, MO

On November 19, 2023, Cross Creek Baptist Mission of Oak Grove, Missouri, celebrated their 25th anniversary as a church. Ray and Vickie Gurney, our good friends and partners on many a mission trip to Guatemala, invited Nola and me to be there on their special day. Thanks, Ray and Vickie! And happy anniversary, Cross Creek!

On Cross Creek Baptist Mission’s 25th anniversary, I presented a plaque of appreciation to pastor Ray Gurney and their church for many years of partnership in mission projects in Guatemala. In Ray’s hand are two bottles of his favorite Guatemalan hot sauce that Cesar Gonzalez, our ministry partner in Guatemala, wanted me to give Ray to thank him for being such a great friend!

Nicaragua Mission Trip

In October Nola and I had the privilege of being a part of a Lenexa Baptist team of 35 people who went to Managua, Nicaragua, to work with the various mission endeavors associated with Project Hope. As a part of that trip, Justin Pedigo (the tech team leader at Lenexa Baptist) and I got to spend one full day with Eduardo Mejia to shoot footage in several places across Nicaragua for the soccer videos we are producing. In the story down below the prayer requests, I’ll share more pics and especially a story about an incredible encounter we had with a professional soccer team!

Nola gives a girl a hug as our Lenexa Baptist team gets off the bus in the Nueva Vida village near the city dump. The team did a variety of projects including home construction, VBS with children, women’s ministry, a ministry to recovering drug and alcohol addicts, and a ministry to children and families at a place they call “Taellor’s” house.

Guatemala Soccer Project

As you are reading this update, I am in Guatemala with long-time friend, Nate Smith, and Eduardo Mejia (yes, the same Eduardo I was with in Nicaragua!). Nate has done a lot of video work through the years and will be helping us capture some of the stories of what God has been doing in Guatemala. On this trip we plan to crisscross the country to shoot some videos for our soccer project and to document some of the key stories and testimonies from both our ministry to cowboys and to our Kekchi friends who are starting new churches in the jungle.

Please be in prayer for this team. For two weeks in October, the country was shut down due to protests arising after the August presidential election. Protesters blocked streets and highways in over 200 key locations across the country, and for a time there was no gasoline available. Grocery stores were empty. People were forced to stay home. Thankfully the country is now open again.

This is a pic from a news article of a protest on September 18, 2023, in Guatemala City. This would have been just before the nationwide shutdown.

10:02 PRAYER

(Pray Luke 10:2 each day at 10:02 am or pm that the Lord of the harvest will send out laborers into His harvest fields.)

Pray for the above mentioned request for safety of our team as we travel and prepare for future teams to come to Guatemala. This team will also be working with several mayors to plan the next soccer tournaments in 2024. We are scheduled to be in the country December 3-13.
Pray that we are able to have a cowboy and rancher team ready to go on a mission trip in late January to Guatemala. Several of those interested are needing to get passports.
Pray for the health of Elba Gonzalez, wife of Cesar Gonzalez, our key leader in Guatemala. Elba had a mini-stroke a couple of months ago and thankfully has recovered well. Pray for continued health for Cesar as well.
Pray for our friends like Lee and Dandee Wonch, who are pastoring in rural areas in Nebraska. Pray for their stamina in traveling between towns and that their congregations thrive in being the church in their respective regions.

ENGAGE

If you are interested in being a part of any kind of mission trip in 2024—whether it is with soccer enthusiasts, cowboys, or Kekchi Indians, please let me know.

INVEST

Thank you so much for your generosity. Because of you, we have been able to travel unimpeded this year and fund the movements of guys like Eduardo Mejia to travel more frequently from Nicaragua to Guatemala in the soccer ministry. Muchas Gracias!

Please let us know of any of your prayer needs.

Love y’all!

Steve

And Now Some Stories and Pics!

More from Nicaragua

As promised I want to show you a few pics from the Nicaragua trip and conclude with the story of our time with a professional soccer team.

The first day in Pueblo Nueva Vida, Eduardo Mejia translates for Rhonda Reinhardt, of Lenexa Baptist, as she tells Bible stories of ordinary people who God used in a great way.

During Rhonda’s Bible story, a little pony came running out of nowhere! Here I took the picture as the little horse is catching the cables and about to pull down the speaker! And yes, the speaker did fall down!

The Lenexa team brought super hero outfits for all the kids to remember the Bible stories of how God takes ordinary people and makes them into super heroes!

Here, we are pouring concrete for one of the homes being built. The lady holding the shovel is the home owner. In this project everyone works together on all the homes until every house in a particular section is done.

The local mayor (in the blue shirt with the microphone) came out the last day to help celebrate the completion of a section of 45 houses.

The entire group of workers and well wishers walk from house to house for the official ribbon cutting ceremonies.

Nola and I got to celebrate the completion of a roof on the house of Martha, whose house had been completed a few weeks prior. We got to present her with a gift from a group of ladies at Lenexa Baptist who made decorative quilts for the new home owners. Martha is also a new believer and is part of a ladies Bible study in the village.

Here I’m with Eduardo (far right) and Justin Pedigo (left of Eduardo) as we prepared to make a video with several people who were impacted by a recent soccer tournament in Somoto, Nicaragua.

Justin Pedigo is setting up the camera to film a soccer testimony from our friend, Eyner Garcia, of Somoto, Nicaragua. In the background is the town’s sign and under it says “Capital of Friendship.”

The Soccer Harvest is truly Plentiful

We have been impressed by the receptivity of soccer enthusiasts and soccer players to the gospel. The next to last day in Nicaragua, we traveled to Matagalpa, Nicaragua, to get some video interviews with three professional soccer players who played with Eduardo when he was playing professionally. We planned to catch them after the evening practice, do the interviews and go. But when they got done and huddled up for their last word of the practice, one of Eduardo’s friends called over to us, “Come speak to the team!”

After the invitation to speak to the team, we all sat down as Eduardo shared his testimony. Because Eduardo knew several of them personally, they seemed very open to what he had to say. At the end, Eduardo invited them to pray a prayer of salvation if they would like. When he asked how many wanted to do that, about 10 of them raised their hands! We then used copies of my translated testimony that has a quick form to write down their response for a way Eduardo could get their info and stay in touch with them.

Here are several guys who played with Eduardo when he was playing professional soccer.

The team prayed together before leaving to go home.

The Easy Button to Invest Now

Thanks for your continued Prayers and Support!

Talk to you soon!