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1/16/06 | 2/16/06 | 2/21/06 | 3/2/06
Rev. David A. Hawk, N. American Representative, Misión
Mazahua
763 Merrimak Drive, Berea, Ohio 44017-2246
[440] 234-9712 logoshawk3@aol.com
address correspondence to: mailmaster@mmab.org
Card #1 Week of 1/16/06
Misión Mazahua "Postcard" to our friends for January 16, 2006
Greetings to all our friends and intercessors in this new year! Looking
back over 2005, we can see the hand of God at work in a multitude of
ways at Mission Mazahua and among the Mazahua people! In large ways
and small, the Lord has continually demonstrated His faithfulness and
His creativity. There is already evidence that 2006 is flowing seamlessly
from that experience into a similar pattern. What the specific fruits
will be we don't know for sure. What we DO know is that your faithful
prayers make a marked difference. Thank you for the ministry you carried
out in 2005, and for the investment you will make during 2006. We are
relying on you to help us stay tuned and receptive to all that God
wants to pour out here!
Give thanks with us! The team that visited the Mission Dec.26-Jan.2
was an exceptional blessing; thanks for your prayers. The pattern of
giving tailored to current need held through the end of the year, and
has already shown up again in 2006. Only God could orchestrate that;
thanks for praying. Some long standing hindrances have finally begun
to give way, at least a little. We can only credit that to the fruitfulness
of prayer lifted up on our behalf!
Please pray for continued financial provision. This year we envision
significant expansion in several dimensions of ministry, and each will
require resources beyond anything we have invested in that
realm before. Pray for people to carry out the work, as well!
Jean Paul Cortes has moved to Olivet College in Michigan and began
winter semester as a student there. Pray for peaceful adjustment
to the new schedule, new community, and new patterns of daily life
that result from this move. Invite God to help JP to excel in
his studies!
The next several months are going to be busy with short term mission
teams. I have promised team leaders that we will be praying for team
members and for the team as a whole in each of the following instances:
True Friends (wheelchair sports camp) will host a small team
Feb. 11-19. We still need to find a number of team members,
and settle arrangements. Ask God to direct all planning.
Massachussetts Congregational
Churches will have over 30 people
at Misión Mazahua Feb. 16-24, both serving the Mazahua and
gaining an experiential introduction to the work being done at the
Mission. Pray for a week full of encounters with God.
Ashland University of Ohio will
have a student team at the hacienda March 5-11. This is their first
visit with us; pray for an inspirational week of service for them,
and a week of significant Kingdom impact among the people as these
students serve the Lord.
Special Friends Camp (for physically challenged
individuals) will
be held March 11-19, with a team including both veterans and newcomers.
Ask the Lord to do His life changing work with both campers and team
members as this event unfolds, to God's glory.
There are also at least two teams already scheduled for April, one
for May, a 7-week summer team, and potential teams being talked about
for the latter third of the year as well. Please ask God to coordinate
these and others of which we haven't heard yet all in a single
grand plan that opens whole new possibilities for Kingdom growth, impact
and community influence in the year ahead of us.
For Christ and His people,
Rev. David A. Hawk, N. American Representative,
Misión Mazahua
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Card #2 Week of 2/16/06
Misión Mazahua "Postcard" to our friends for February 16,
2006
Warm greetings to our friends and coworkers on the Mission Mazahua intercessors'
network. Today there are many people engaged in various elements of Mission ministries,
and we want to invite you to support their efforts in prayer! We have seen
some powerful response to your prayers after the last Postcard, and trust that
the Lord will continue to glorify Himself by honoring your faithfulness yet again.
Today is day #4 of the True Friends Camp, the wheelchair sports camp. The
venue was changed from a church camp in Morelos State to the hacienda with very
little notice, because the swimming pool was damaged and undergoing repairs during
the time we would have been using it! Pray for great grace as the camp moves
toward a Saturday completion. Ask the Lord especially to add to the fun and the
sports proficiency a clear awareness of His love for each camper and His call
upon their lives to live with and for Him.
As I write, the Massachusetts Congregational Churches team is in the air
on the way to the Mission. 30 people will arrive today, and two more will join
them on Sunday. Pray that all of the logistics will flow smoothly all week, that
they will have safe travel at every point along their way, that God will use
them to bestow significant blessings on the Mazahua people and on the Mission,
and that the Lord will fan up a towering passion for missions in the lives of
team members. Invite Him to use this week to shape many lives in surprising ways!
Lisa Cortes is in the United States at the moment, and will be for some time
yet. She came to attend the funeral of Dr. Jean Seay, a long time friend and
wonderful supporter of the Mission and of the Cortes family personally. Lisa
has since visited with other friends of the Mission, and is dealing with some
important family matters as well. Pray for her energy, for wisdom and guidance
in each initiative that she undertakes, and for a sustaining tide of the Lord's
joy and peace as she sorts through some thorny issues. Pray also for Yoshi, who
is with her (patience; school work; helpfulness) and for Norberto and the Mission
staff, who all miss her personal touch and creative involvement at home in Mexico.
There are many mission teams in various stages of preparation, many community
projects in Mexico developing nicely, and several developmental dreams moving
ahead after being static for some time. Thank the Lord with us for all those
who are involved in all of that activity, and pray that He will provide the strength,
vision and resources to carry their efforts to completion.
For Christ and His people,
Rev. David A. Hawk, N. American Representative, Misión Mazahua
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Card #3 Week of 2/21/06
Misión Mazahua "Postcard" to our friends for
February 21, 2006
The prayer requests to be shared today are URGENT, friends. It isn't that there
are any prayer requests given in these "Postcards" that are unimportant,
it is just that these will affect events that are happening very soon. Sometimes
we pray for wide issues that will affect the lives of many people; this time
we need to pinpoint several individuals or families who are in immediate need
of powerful intervention from God. Thanks so much for investing your time and
energy, your faith and your relationship with the Lord in helping others in need.
Late last night Rev. Don Bliss, one of the pastors who is with the Massachusetts
Team at the Mission this week, learned that his in-laws had died in a fire. As
this is being written on Tuesday morning, he is making an emergency return trip
home. Please pray that the Lord will open the way for him to get home with minimum
delay and hassle, and that the Spirit will provide sustaining comfort and peace
to Don, his wife and his family as they respond to this tragic loss.
Lisa Cortes has been seeking urgently after the means to improve her mother's
care, with a powerful preference for actually bringing Jean into her own home
for personal attention. Today could be a pivotal day in that search as a key
conference takes place. Please pray for wisdom and guidance, peace and even a
sense of freedom and joy for all who are seeking to help resolve the issues involved.
Israel Pacheco, the operations manager at the Mission, has a five year old daughter
named Fernanda, who has what sounds like tonsilitis. The doctors have warned
that surgery may be needed to bring her healing. Israel, naturally enough, would
prefer to avoid surgery if at all possible. Please pray that Fernanda will experience
a full, complete, uncomplicated healing. Pray for wisdom, guidance and peace
for Israel, his wife, and the doctors as they seek to discern the best course
of action they need take as they do their part to facilitate recovery.
The Massachusetts Team will be coming home on Thursday. Pray for their peace
and for continued effectiveness in ministry as they respond to Don's loss and
his departure. Then pray for their own safe and uncomplicated travel home.
The Mission Mazahua Advisory Board meets this Saturday, February 25. Because
she is still in Ohio, Lisa Cortes will be able to participate! Pray for wise
counsel, joyful celebration of God's grace, and powerful intercessory prayer
as the Board fulfills its commitment to advise and assist with Kingdom work among
the Mazahua people.
May the Lord bless you abundantly, even as you lift up the needs of our coworkers!
For Christ and His people,
Rev. David A. Hawk, N. American Representative, Misión Mazahua
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Card #4 Week
of 3/2/06
Misión Mazahua "Postcard" to our friends and intercessors for March
2, 2006
THANK YOU for your faithful prayers for the Mission staff, for the
Mazahua people, and for short term missions teams who travel to serve
in Mexico. Once again your prayer has been the prelude to an exceptional
outpouring of graces, for which we are grateful. The MA team that came
home just a week ago had a powerful experience, by all reports. The
team from WI that was there over the Christmas/New Year break has continued
to pour both resources and loving concern into the Mission, having
a substantial impact on ministries both recently completed and yet
to come. The MMAB meeting went well and promises to produce fruits
that will have lasting impact for the Kingdom. Today we received a
report, complete with pictures, of ongoing hurricane relief efforts
by a ministry partner supported through Mission Mazahua. These are
but four of many I could name. Your prayer is making a difference!
As I write, at 10:15 on Thursday morning, a team of 11 students from
Ashland University of Ohio is in the air, on the way to serve
at the Mission over their spring break! Please pray for safe travel,
smooth connections, and a powerful experience of God's grace, both
given through them and given TO them as they serve Jesus in Mazahua
country! They will return home on March 11; please pray for the Spirit's
work in their lives every day of their trip!
On March 11 a group of nine from ILL and MI will join two team
mates who arrived earlier to prepare for and serve at the Special Friends
Camp. This is the second camp for handicapped individuals, to be held
March 13-18. Please pray for the smooth completion of final preparations,
and for the modifications to prior patterns that are required by smaller
team size and by a smaller camper population.
On March 6, Dave Hawk will leave for the Mission, planning to drive
a small van/jitney, loaded with wheelchairs, camp supplies and other
ministry gifts, from Chicago to the Mission, arriving there on
March 9. Please pray for safe travel all along the route, for an uncomplicated
border crossing, for flawless performance by the bus, and for great
grace through the hours of driving. Pray as well for the flurry of
final details that need to be settled in the next four days.
Lisa Cortes continues to pursue an optimum care arrangement for
her mother, which is turning out to be a very complex endeavor. Please
continue to pray for wisdom, guidance, patience and grace as that process continues
to unfold. She will need the expertise of several others who can
help mold both the end result and the process for achieving it;
ask the Lord to put the right people in the right places at the right
times to accomplish His perfect plan for all parties concerned.
Lisa has asked us to notify you all of a change in her e-mail address.
She can now be reached directly at: mazahua2@gmail.com.
The old Yahoo address fills up so fast and so full of spam these days
that it is virtually useless, and if you send mail there it is most
likely going to be lost. Thanks for changing your address books.
May the Lord fill your own lives with His grace and peace, even as
you pray for these gifts to be poured out into the lives of others
at work among the Mazahua people!
For Christ and His people,
Rev. David A. Hawk, N. American Representative, Misión Mazahua
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