Thanks Giving!

Phil 1:3-5
"I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now,"

     More than words can express, I am grateful for what God is doing through His people in Mexico.  We  have grown in the Lord so much over these last five years!  A big reason we are able to be in Mexico is because so many of you who receive these letters have sacrificially and faithfully given since our move down here.  God has blessed us with an incredible support team, for which we are very grateful.  We couldn’t do this without you! (Hint: Income tax write off 2016)
     One of the perks of being a pastor at Calvary Chapel Rosarito is getting to go to the annual pastors and wives dinner.  After we ordered, Pastor Mike Vincent asked us all to share something we were thankful for.
    

One of the first things I spoke of was our church here in Rosarito.  I thanked the Lord for each one of the pastors that has invested in me and my family.  We have never grown so much in our lives. 
     We are so blessed to be serving in Mexico.  Ministry is very encouraging here because God is doing amazing things through His church.  He has prepared a harvest and we are simply reaping: the first time guests, the professions of faith, Life Groups, the Bible studies and so much more.  I was more than half way through teaching the book of Nehemiah and people were still adding the class!  The people here are hungry for The Word, and I would encourage any and all of you to come down and serve!  There is so much to do!

     God has blessed each one of us with talents and gifts to serve the “yet to believe”.  With regard to our family:  Melissa is on the worship team and doing a lot of Chiropractic!  She sees people two days a week as well as monthly outreaches.  Melissa and her ministry team (including Sister-in-Law Tammi) will provide three Chiro outreaches over the Thanksgiving weekend.  Caleb is serving on the security team, Sarah is working with the children's ministry, and Nathan serves with me on the greeting team. Nathan is now “vlogging” (“Nate_H_Vlogs” on YouTube).  Take a look to see life in Mexico from Nathan's perspective!

     We recently visited Santa Cruz and went to the Fall Festival at SCBC.  Melissa and I were greatly encouraged regarding how many Latino families came to visit the church.  Of the hundreds of people that came, 80-90% were Latino!  Of those I asked, most do not attend church.  God used this experience as another confirmation of our calling to plant a bilingual church in Santa Cruz.  Please pray for this challenging ministry God has called us to.  

Requests: 
1. God would raise His team for this new mission
2. Housing for us and a great school for our kids.

May God richly bless you,  The Hanson Family

555 Saturn Blvd. Suite B 320
San Diego CA 92154  
www.thehansonfamily.org

5 Years of Adventure!

     

This month marked five years of adventure for us in Mexico!  As many of you may know by now, our ministry here in Mexico will most likely not extend past 6 years.  The Lord has put on my heart a vision to plant a bilingual church back in Santa Cruz - as a sending hub to plant more bilingual churches in the surrounding areas.  This church would serve two purposes:  a missional outreach to the virtually unreached Latino families in the bay area, and a training center to equip others who are called to plant a

 church.  We believe the Lord has used our time in Mexico to prepare us for this new work.  Our pastor here in Mexico has poured his life into planting churches that function as sending hubs.  He is very excited to have my family and I as partners bringing this vision up north.  Santa Cruz Bible Church (our sending church) is 100% on board with this plan and they are anxious to see some details written down so they can plan out their involvement.  These are very exciting times for all of us.
     In order to help us prepare for this work, I (Michael) am now an ordained Calvary Chapel Pastor!  I’ve been given more responsibility at our church, and just did my first sermon there July 6 (www.calvarychapelrosarito.net)!  Melissa is continuing to expand her Chiropractic ministry and is praying about joining the worship team at church to practice leading bilingual worship.  Caleb has earned his California driver’s learner permit and has been putting it to good use helping with the recent drive to and from Santa Cruz as well as chauffeuring us around here in Baja.  Sarah is excited to begin school again this coming Fall.  Sarah said recently, “Done homeschooling Mom, no offense”.  Nathan is excited to continue homeschooling and has even begun surfing with me in the mornings!  It’s been awesome having a new surf buddy.
     The Lord is doing an amazing work here in Mexico.  We continue to do our best to follow His lead, reaping the fruit He has ripened before us.  Thank you for your continued love of Mexico and support!
     As the Lord leads, please pray:  for our finanical support, for wisdom and grace in parenting teens, for continued clarity as we define and train for the bilingual church plant.
Each of you who give and pray, partner in the work God is doing and share in the eternal blessing.  Thank you! 

May God richly bless you, The Hanson Family

555 Saturn Blvd.  Suite B 320
San Diego CA 92154
www.thehansonfamily.org

Mexico is Rich!

  Mexico is rich with opportunity to serve!  There is so much to do here; there just aren’t enough hours in each day.  This is a good time to be a servant of God.  Would you consider coming down with a team to help us serve some of these needs??  Our ministry update could be pages long, but in summary, the theme is “Teaching”.  Between Bible College, Life Group, guest speaking and Women’s Bible study, my wife and I have been busy encouraging those to whom the Lord has opened a door.  It’s been great.  The hours of study make us both feel like we are college students again! 
    I am a currently enrolled in a church planting class in our Bible college at church.  The Lord continues to impress upon my heart the need for a bilingual church fellowship in Santa Cruz.  The idea would be to replicate and plant other churches just like the one in which we minister in Mexico.  We are seeing a rich harvest of souls through church planting.  I just returned from a leadership conference in Southern California encouraging and instructing us on how to build a leadership team to effectively minister to the community, and raise up leaders.  Please keep us in your prayers, and that God would clearly reveal His will as we continue to pursue church planting.
 
  With regard to outreach, Melissa has a routine now of doing health clinics rotating through the church plants that have gone out from Rosarito.  Men, women and children come in and receive prayer, spiritual encouragement and physical help while connecting them to their local evangelical church.
    Our church has a seven week “Pillars Class” that is a prerequisite to serving at the church.  50 people just finished the course including around 15 kids from Grace Children’s Home!  I have three new volunteers from GCH working with me on the greeting team, and our son Caleb has three friends from GCH working with him on the Security Team.  It is awesome to still have contact with our loved ones from GCH.
    On the home front, all is well.  Our daughter Sarah will be resigning from her position as a homeschooler and is excited to get back to school with the kids in the community.  The boys are happy to continue on with homeschooling and heading to the soccer fields to play as soon as they finish up their studies.  We got a new puppy; because the kids wanted one (for the last 6 years).  I finally caved and the kids are happily caring for our TJ mutt we named “Cali”.  Good times.

    Back in January Melissa and I celebrated our 19th year of marriage.  It’s amazing what God has brought us through and brought us to.  We never would have imagined.  Thank you for your continued support.  We could not do it without you!



May God richly bless you, The Hanson Family

555 Saturn Blvd.  Suite B 320
San Diego CA 92154

Kauai Blessings

  

    God continues to pour out His blessing on our family and ministry in so many ways.  Many of you know by now that we just got back from Kauai!  In celebration of my parents 50th Wedding Anniversary, they took us with them for two weeks.  It was an incredible experience.  I hope my folks were blessed too, because I think we may have run them ragged!  We tubed, snorkeled, hiked, swam, kayaked, paddle boarded, sun burned and surfed ourselves silly.  It was awesome.  We had a couple of days in Santa Cruz with our family and friends before returning home to Rosarito.  What a vacation!

 
   We are back to work in Mexico now, settling into ministry and the kids into homeschool.  It is awesome to see what God is doing through each of our children.  They are now plugged into ministry at the church.  Caleb is working Security in the Parking Lot (gotta protect the cars during service), Sarah is helping teach Sunday School (in Spanish) and Nathan is a part time translator in the Sunday School Classes.  We are so proud of each one of them!  Right before we left for Hawaii, Melissa and I finished teaching a six week parenting class at the church on Sunday mornings.  It was well attended, and reminded us of some things we need to work on in our own home.  Melissa is serving on the Women’s Ministries Leadership Team, planning events, teaching and coordinating the logistics of our Home Group.  I am learning a LOT in the Church Planting Course, teaching classes at church and substitute teaching at the Calvary Chapel Bible College down in Ensenada.   We are in a GREAT season of blessing right now, and we thank the Lord for each one of you sharing in this ministry.

    Can I ask you to pray for something?  Bear with me for a minute while I give you some background.  When we were up at SCBC during Resurrection Sunday (Easter), the Lord really rekindled my heart for the people of Santa Cruz.  Over the years at our church here in Mexico, we have seen many people land here (for whatever reason) become strengthened in their faith at our church, and return back to where they came from to serve as pastors or missionaries to their own communities.  The first day of our church planting class, Pastor Mike Vincent gave us a “pop quiz”.  He said, "Go up to the pulpit, and in 3 minutes or less, tell us your church planting dream", and we began going in order around the table.  My turn was coming, and I really didn’t know what to say.  So I prayed, asking the Lord for something to share.  Pastor Mike said, “This may never happen, but share it anyway.”  As my turn came, I stood up and said that my dream would be to plant a bilingual church on the East Side of Santa Cruz bridging the gap between the Latino Community and the White Community.  This church would eventually become a training center continuing to plant bilingual churches down the Salinas Valley all the way to Santa Maria (near San Luis Obispo). 
    That dream kinda makes sense doesn’t it?  Maybe God brought us down to Mexico to teach us the language and culture, and introduce us to a different way of doing church.  Not “celebrating our diversity” but embracing our common bond in Christ and need for His salvation.  Would you pray as God continues to confirm or redirect that “dream” I communicated in class?
    Meanwhile, please get a group together and come down to Mexico to serve.  We need YOU!  We need you in our church, our community and orphanages.  Please contact me with possible dates so we can create an outreach to a city in need of the love of Jesus.
    Thank you to those of you who have continued your support through our
transition to SCBC Global Impact!  If you are still giving to YUGO please switch
now!  
    August was the last month YUGO will
forward your gifts to us.  :)

Change is Hard!

Our last group!  Grace Community Church of Sandy Utah.

Change is hard! 

If you haven’t heard yet, we have resigned from Grace Children’s Home and will officially begin as volunteer staff at Calvary Chapel Rosarito, August first.  Meanwhile, we say goodbye. 

We recently had an all YUGO staff meeting at the children’s home where they recognized our service at the home for the last 4 years.  That was very kind, but the real thanks have come from the kids at GCH.  In various times and settings, some of the kids have approached us with puppy dog eyes expressing their sadness that we are leaving.  We assure each one that our desire is to continue to be part of their lives even though we will not be living there anymore.  Just knowing that we had became part of their lives is thanks enough.  What a blessing.

Moving.  Super Fun.

Regarding the YUGO administration, I have never seen a group of leaders work harder to bring a bunch of strays together.  Over the years the various missionaries within the organization “drifted further out” and really began working independently.  Scott Wester and Nathan Alpert have bent over backwards showing love and support to all of us in the field.  Their love and concern for Melissa and I really came through as we assured them our transition was from the Lord, not some lack of support or disagreement.  The farewell to my hardworking YUGO friends has been tough.  I’ll see some of them on Sundays, but it’s not the same as working together.  We’ve made a good family. 

Lastly, we’ve been saying goodbye to the teams who we have built relationships with over the years.  We’ll miss them too! 

All this to say; it’s been a bittersweet month of transition.  I thought this move would enable us to slow down a bit.  However, in true Hanson Family style, I think we’ve packed our new lives to the brim.  More on that later. 

Now it’s time for me to bring up “the change” I need from our financial supporters.  Our switch from YUGO ministries means that we will need those of you support us, to switch your giving from YUGO Ministries to Santa Cruz Bible Church.  The good news is, you can do it all on your own online, very simply.  Just go to www.santacruzbible.org and hover over the “Giving Online” button on the top right hand corner of the web page; and pick the “Register for ACH Access” button.  .  Just follow the steps from there.  If you run into any snags, you can check out our newly reactivated blog for step by step instructions.  If that doesn’t work, just give Santa Cruz Bible a call (831 429 1162) and they can help you through the process.

Thank you for your diligence in this matter.  We cannot express the gratitude we have in our hearts for you financial sacrifice.  We are well aware money does not come easy.  We could not be here in Mexico without you.  There is a great harvest of souls happening down here in Mexico.  Your uninterrupted giving will help us continue in this work.  Thank you for your faithfulness.

May God Richly  Bless You,
The Hanson Family  - 831 430 9028

New personal mailing address!
555 Saturn Blvd.  Suite B320
San Diego CA 92154

Four Years of Blessing~

We have been so blessed over the last four years here at Grace Children’s Home!  The Lord continues to bless and do great things through our children and staff.  The ministry is at the beginning of a great season filled with some awesome teenagers!

With our new directors in place, and our awesome staff, we have enjoyed a new stability in the ministry of GCH since the Palau’s resignation.  This stability has allowed us the freedom to really examine ourselves and our primary ministry emphasis here in Mexico.  Through this process, we believe the Lord has called us into a new phase of ministry.  God’s calling for Melissa and I has always been to teach.  GCH has been that outlet for the last four years; and now we know the Lord is calling us into ministry in the local church.  Our time at GCH has given us so many insights into ourselves and into the hearts of the hurting.  We are so grateful for the privilege to have served there.  God is good.  We are resigning from YUGO and GCH near the end of June (the 19^th) and will begin as volunteer staff at Calvary Chapel Rosarito (CCR) a month later.  Santa Cruz Bible Church will be our new sending organization handling all the financial contributions and administration.  Our new jobs will consist of teaching, learning and doing.  We will be teaching classes at two Bible Colleges (Ensenada and Rosarito), facilitating some Adult Education classes at the church, learning at a church planting class, and facilitating outreach trips through CCR.  Please consider coming down and working with us!

We have mixed feelings about our move because we have come to love the children and staff at the home and the groups that come to visit us at GCH.  We will continue to trust the Lord to provide for all their needs and ours as we step away.  We will still get to see the kids on Sundays, but it is not the same as living there. 

We are so grateful to all of you who have supported us through your prayers and giving over the last four years, and would ask that you continue on with us into this new phase of ministry.  My next newsletter will contain instructions on how to switch your gifts over, through Santa Cruz Bible Church.  If you would rather continue to support GCH with your gifts, we understand.  Contact me via phone or email so I can point you in the right direction.

Walk to the Beach

Please don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions you may have.

Thank you for your faithfulness,

The Hanson Family, Michael, Melissa, Caleb, Sarah and Nathan

MaxDonalds

I would like to tell you a story about a man I met the other day named Max.  Last night we stopped by McDonald’s on our way to Wednesday night church to get ice cream (we had just eaten fantastic Zurdo’s quesadillas).  I was sitting at a table with two of my kids and 3 female interns from the baby home (Melissa was home sick L); when a Mexican gentleman saunters up, and sits down (with no food) at a table nearby.  I prepared myself for “The Pitch”.  “Here it goes”, I thought to myself, “He’s going to hit up the rich American for some dinero”.  He opened up with something friendly in choppy English and stuck out his hand.  I responded with a smile and a handshake, impressed with his English.  He asked about the five “kids” I was with assuming we were all family.  I told him we were part of a ministry, and that we all worked together.  He smiled a jealous smile wanting my job at that point, assuming I spent all day long with attractive female teenagers (BTW, that is not the case, I work with Jesse Martinez J).  He then asked what church I attended.  It was at that moment I realized I had the whole situation backwards.  I started off resisting sharing my resources with Max, when actually the Lord had brought this man to me in order to introduce him to True Riches!

I immediately felt convicted and wondered how many other times I had made incorrect assumptions and skipped over an opportunity to talk about my faith with someone.  Max and I chatted for another minute before he showed me an invitation someone else from our church had given him.  It had a map on the back, and he began to ask for directions.  At that point I felt I should offer him a ride.  We walked out together, and Max sat down in the front seat.  When we arrived, I introduced him to Jesse (the guy I work with), because I wasn’t going able to sit with him during the service.  I was scheduled to help out that night; so after the introduction, I ran off to the tech booth.  After the message, Pastor Mike in standard form, issued an invitation to receive God’s gift of salvation.  As he began, I prayed from the tech booth, asking God to open hearts.  After what seemed like a long pause, everyone began clapping.  I opened my eyes looking over the crowd, and there was Max with his hand held up high!  I was shocked and thrilled at the same time.  I had been a part in his salvation decision!  It was awesome. 

There was another night at church this month when no one raised their hand to receive God’s gift of grace (that is odd for us down here).  What surprised me most is what came next.  Pastor Mike chastised us for not bringing any new people!  Again, another revelation hit me at that moment.  Pastors don’t have magic sermons!  It’s not even their job to come up with one.  It’s our job as the church (you and me) to introduce others to Jesus.  If we don’t do our part, how are our pastors going to be able to invite them into heaven?  The responsibility is really on us, not “the clergy”.  We don’t see many converts during our church services, because the buildings are full of Christians!  That is “messed up” as my kids would say.

We are so blessed to be working here in Mexico.  We just got back from representing Grace Children’s Home at a church up in Los Angeles.  I was so proud of my family, seeing my kids jump in, helping sign up new sponsors, introducing them to the children, and explaining the details of the ministry.  I was humbled watching my capable children serve others with such enthusiasm and joy.  I didn’t have to do much of anything!  We have an action packed summer ahead of us here at GCH as we solidify our plans to host a bunch of teams this summer.  We could not do this work without your prayers and support!  We are so grateful for your partnership.  Thank you.

As my earlier story illustrated, in Tijuana, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few”.  Please continue to lift us up in prayer and consider what the Lord may be calling you to do to serve those around you.  May God richly bless you as you step out in faith. 

With love, The Hanson Family (Michael, Melissa, Caleb, Sarah and Nathan)